The Costs of War project is assessing the total cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. Findings thus far put the cost at more than 300,000 lives and $4 trillion. The project’s findings are continually updated. (more…)
Dissolution or creation of huge gypsum deposits changed sulfate content of the oceans
Scientists have discovered a potential cause of Earth’s “icehouse climate” cooling trend of the past 45 million years. It has everything to do with the chemistry of the world’s oceans.
“Seawater chemistry is characterized by long phases of stability, which are interrupted by short intervals of rapid change,” says geoscientist Ulrich Wortmann of the University of Toronto, lead author of a paper reporting the results and published this week in the journal Science.
“We’ve established a new framework that helps us better interpret evolutionary trends and climate change over long periods of time. The study focuses on the past 130 million years, but similar interactions have likely occurred through the past 500 million years.” (more…)
A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu mythology.
Once extending more than 1 million square kilometers across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what is now Pakistan, northwest India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization was the largest—but least known—of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. Like their contemporaries, the Harappans, named for one of their largest cities, lived next to rivers owing their livelihoods to the fertility of annually watered lands. (more…)
Normative support for equality can make the difference
Countries that more strictly uphold their cultural norms are less likely to promote women as leaders, unless those norms support equal opportunity for both sexes, shows a new paper from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
“Cultural tightness can prevent the emergence of women leaders because tighter cultures may make a society’s people more resistant to changing the traditionally-held practice that placed men in leadership roles,” said Professor Soo Min Toh, who is cross-appointed to the Rotman School and the University of Toronto Mississauga, and co-wrote the paper with Professor Geoffrey Leonardelli at the Rotman School and U of T’s Department of Psychology. (more…)
*Disruption of wind shear enables stronger storms*
Pollution is making Arabian Sea cyclones more intense, according to a study in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.
Traditionally, prevailing wind shear patterns prohibit cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms.
The Nature paper suggests that weakening winds have enabled the formation of stronger cyclones in recent years–including storms in 2007 and 2010 that were the first recorded storms to enter the Gulf of Oman. (more…)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Rates of HIV have increased in Pakistan’s general population, as the virus has spread beyond at-risk groups to women and their children, according to an international team of researchers, including a University of Florida scientist.
The researchers raise concern that the transmission across subgroups into Pakistan’s general population may serve as indication that the virus may be spreading into populations within neighboring Afghanistan. The team’s epidemiological findings were published in July in the journal PLoS One. (more…)
*India vs. South Africa Match Drives More than 1.4 Million Visitors to ESPNCricInfo.com in India*
Mumbai, India, March 28, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results from a study of 
Internet traffic to cricket websites during the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The report found that the tournament caused a surge in visitation to cricket sites in India as fans went online for the latest results and match updates. Sites reached their highest volume of traffic for the month during the week ending March 13, with 16.4 percent of India’s online population visiting ESPNCricInfo.com and 13.4 percent of web users visiting Yahoo! Cricket. (more…)
India became the world’s largest importer of arms during 2006-2010, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. The share of India’s world arms shipments made up nine percent. China’s share was evaluated at six percent. The list of other active arms importers includes South Korea (6%) and Pakistan (5%). The largest exporters of arms in the world are the USA, Russia and Germany.
According to SIPRI experts, Russia remains the primary supplier of arms and military hardware to India. Russia’s share in arms transfers to India during the recent five years was evaluated at 82 percent. (more…)
