Blog – Page 1116 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

U of T Researchers Explore Charcoal’s Potential to Reverse Climate Change

It’s black, it’s gritty, it’s essential for barbecues—and it just might save the world from global warming.

Biochar, a kind of charcoal that is rich in carbon, traps CO2 from the atmosphere and can store it in soils for hundreds to thousands of years, says Professor Nathan Basiliko, a soil scientist at U of T Mississauga’s Department of Geography. Now, Basiliko and colleagues in the Faculty of Forestry are poised to demonstrate that wood waste from Ontario’s forest industry could be used to produce energy and biochar, making the wood a truly carbon-negative biofuel. (more…)

Cyber Warriors: GTRI Creates Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory

Technology

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has created a new Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory (CTISL) to apply GTRI’s broad expertise and systems engineering experience in cyber-related research to a broad range of information security issues. (more…)

Greater Priority Should be Given to Stroke Prevention in Developing Countries

Health, Science

Increased global attention and research needs to be given to stroke prevention and the social and economic effects of the condition in developing countries, according to an academic at the University of East Anglia (UEA). (more…)

Dinosaurs Not So Fierce After All, says U of T Researcher

Science

A new species of dinosaur discovered in Arizona suggests dinosaurs did not spread throughout the world by overpowering other species but by taking advantage of a natural catastrophe that wiped out their competitors. (more…)

Up in Smoke: Quebec Prison Partial Smoking Ban is not Successful

Culture, General

The partial smoking ban in Quebec prisons is leading to a slew of new problems according to an investigative study involving the Université de Montréal. Their findings, part of a report conducted by the Institut National de Santé Publique, show that the courtyard-only policy for smoking has not led to quitting but rather to tension in the prison and cigarette-based economy. (more…)

UMD and UMass Chemists Design Cloaked, Anti-Cancer Toxin to Kill Tumors from Within

Health, Science

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A research team including University of Maryland chemistry and biochemistry Professor Lyle Isaacs and University of Massachusetts Amherst chemist Vincent Rotello has demonstrated that they can deliver a dormant toxin into a specific site such as a tumor for anti-cancer therapy, then chemically trigger the toxin to de-cloak and attack from within. It holds promise as a complex and sophisticated synthetic, therapeutic drug delivery system for living cells. (more…)

Poverty Grows in Suburbs, But Social Services Don’t Keep Up

Economy

Poverty has grown in America’s suburbs during the recent economic downturn, but poor people in many suburban communities are finding it hard to get the help they need, a report by University of Chicago researchers shows. (more…)

New Research Gets to the Heart of How Niacin Fights High cholesterol, Points to a New Pathway

Health

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— High blood lipids are a big risk factor for developing heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately one of every six adult Americans has high blood cholesterol and about every 25 seconds, an American will have a heart attack, and nearly one every minute will die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (more…)