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High Population Density is Greatest Risk Factor For Water-Linked Diseases

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2012Healthbo lu, c k shum, central africa, dengue fever, diarrhea, disease transmission, doug alsdorf, e coli, eastern brazil, environmental change, environmental condition, gideon, global analysis, hazards, hot spots, infectious disease, insect bite, jeffrey lejeune, kun yang, latin america, legionella, malaria, model, northern india, ohio state database, population density, risk factor, routes, schistosomiasis, song liang, southeast asia, surface area, trypanosomiasis, water associated, water bodies, western europe

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Water-associated infectious disease outbreaks are more likely to occur in areas where a region’s population density is growing, according to a new global analysis of economic and environmental conditions that influence the risk for these outbreaks.

Ohio State University scientists constructed a massive database containing information about 1,428 water-associated disease outbreaks that were reported between 1991 and 2008 around the world. By combining outbreak records with data on a variety of socio-environmental factors known about the affected regions, the researchers developed a model that can be used to predict risks for water-associated disease outbreaks anywhere in the world. (more…)

Dr. Livingstone’s Lost 1871 ‘Massacre’ Diary Recovered; Discovery Rewrites History

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2011Culture, General1874, account of a massacre, adrian wisnicki, africa, arab slavers, birkbeck, british academy, british government, central africa, congolese village, david livingstone, doug emery, east african slave trade, eastern democratic republic of congo, evening standard, expedition, henry m stanley, horace waller, imperialist in africa, indiana university of pennsylvania, ink from berry seeds, keith knox, livingstone 1871 field diary, london standard, mike toth, national hero, new york herald, nyangwe, original diary, roger l easton jr, slave trade, spectral imaging, the last journals of david livingstone, the unspeakable horror, ucla, united states, university of london, victorian explorer

In Africa 140 years ago, David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer, met Henry M. Stanley of the New York Herald and gave him a harrowing account of a massacre he witnessed, in which slave traders slaughtered 400 innocent people. Stanley’s press reports prompted the British government to close the East African slave trade, secured Livingstone’s place in history and launched Stanley’s own career as an imperialist in Africa.

Today, an international team of scholars and scientists led by Dr. Adrian Wisnicki of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, publishes the results of an 18-month project to recover Livingstone’s original account of the massacre. The story, found in a diary that was illegible until it was restored with advanced digital imaging, offers a unique insight into Livingstone’s mind during the greatest crisis of his last expedition, on which he would die in 1873. (more…)

Ancient Humans Were Mixing it Up

By Guest PostSeptember 7, 2011Scienceafrica, archaic hominin forms, august woerner, central africa, chromosome, contemporary african populations, DNA, eurasia, fernando mendez, fossil, fossil specimens, genome, homo, homo sapiens, hybridization, jeffrey wall, joseph watkins, michael hammer, modern humans, molecular biology, morphologically diverged neighbors, neanderthal bones, neanderthals, sub saharan africans

*Anatomically modern humans interbred with more archaic hominin forms even before they migrated out of Africa, a UA-led team of researchers has found.*

It is now widely accepted that anatomically modern humans of the species Homo sapiens originated in Africa and eventually spread throughout the world. Ancient DNA recovered from fossil Neanderthal bones suggests they interbred with more archaic hominin forms once they had left their evolutionary cradle for the cooler climates of Eurasia, but whether they exchanged genetic material with other, now extinct archaic hominin varieties in Africa remained unclear.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, a team led by Michael Hammer, an associate professor and research scientist with the UA’s Arizona Research Labs, provides evidence that anatomically modern humans were not so unique that they remained separate. (more…)

Epic Journeys of Turtles Revealed

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 20111 commentNatureatlantic population, breeding colony, brendan godley, central africa, epic ocean spanning journeys, gabon, high seas, howard rosenbaum, leatherback turtle, leatherbacks, matthew witt, migration behavior, migratory routes, pacific ocean, parcs gabon, satellite tracking, south atlantic, turtle

The epic ocean-spanning journeys of the gigantic leatherback turtle in the South Atlantic have been revealed for the first time thanks to groundbreaking research using satellite tracking.

Experts at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter led a five-year study to find out more about these increasingly rare creatures and inform conservation efforts. (more…)

Tag Archives: central africa

High Population Density is Greatest Risk Factor For Water-Linked Diseases

Dr. Livingstone’s Lost 1871 ‘Massacre’ Diary Recovered; Discovery Rewrites History

Ancient Humans Were Mixing it Up

Epic Journeys of Turtles Revealed