Tag Archives: united states

West Nile Virus Transmission Linked with Land-Use Patterns and “Super-spreaders”

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Scienceagricultural fields, american robin, atlantic in an airplane, bird hosts, disease causing organisms, ecology of infectious diseases, Environment, house sparrows, human activities, human infections, key species, knowledge, land use, marm kilpatrick, mosquito borne, mosquito vectors, national science foundation, new york, north and south america, nsf, robins, sam scheiner, santa cruz, tick borne viruses, transmission rates, united states, university of california, west nile virus

*Spread highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats*

After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America.

Both the mosquitoes that transmit it and the birds that are important hosts for the virus are abundant in areas that have been modified by human activities.

As a result, transmission of West Nile virus is highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats. (more…)

Personal Relationships Key to Successful Diplomacy: Mulroney

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Politicsacid rain accord, alan gotlieb, brian mulroney, canada, canadian prime minister, collapse of communism, george bush, influential player on global security, north american free trade agreement, ottawa, peter munk, prime minister, ronald reagan, second world war, united states, university of toronto, us president, Washington

*Former prime minister’s speech honours Alan Gotlieb, former ambassador to U.S.*

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney, the man entrepreneur Peter Munk described as “one of our greatest statesmen,” attributed much of his success – and Canada’s under his leadership – to the personal relationships he and his ambassador cultivated with leaders south of the border.

Mulroney spoke at a University of Toronto conference, Diplomacy in the Digital Age, Oct. 13, an event held in honour of Alan Gotlieb, the former ambassador to the United States who served three prime ministers. (more…)

Oil Exploration Would Endanger The Most Biodiverse Region in The Western Hemisphere, Say Scientists

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Environmentamphibians, anthony di fiore, australia, biodiverse region, biodiversity, birds, canada, Colombia, ecuador, ecuadorian amazon, italian government, mammals, oil exploitation, peak diversity of plants, peru, peter english, president rafael correa, reserves of oil, royal bank of canada, turkey, united nations general assembly, united states, university of texas at austin, western hemisphere, yasuní ishpingo tambococha tiputini trust fund, yasuní itt initiative, yasuní national park

AUSTIN, Texas — An international team of scientists that includes two University of Texas at Austin researchers has found that Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, which sits on top of massive reserves of oil, is in the single most biodiverse region in the Western Hemisphere.

The announcement is part of a final push for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative at the United Nations General Assembly. The initiative proposes that Ecuador receive compensation for half of the revenues the nation would lose by protecting the estimated 846 million barrels of oil that lie beneath the forest. (more…)

There Are No Clear Lines When It Comes To Homeland Security, Says Napolitano

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2011Politicsamerica, amsterdam, canadian airspace, Christmas day, cyber security, cyberspace, detroit, ghana, homeland security and national security, international in nature, jackson institute of global affairs, janet napolitano, nation, nigeria to amsterdam, nigerian citizen, northwest airlines flight, not easy to draw red lines, secretary of defense, secretary of homeland security, terrorism, underwear bomber, united kingdom, united nations, united states, yemen

Protecting the nation from terrorism, breaches in cyber security and other threats inside its borders is such a massive undertaking it is “not easy to draw red lines” that can chart individual or departmental responsibilities, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said during a campus visit on Oct. 6.

In a talk hosted by the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, Napolitano used the example of the so-called “Underwear Bomber” — a suspected terrorist who attempted to blow up (using explosives hidden in his underwear) a Northwest Airlines flight between Amsterdam and Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 — to illustrate the partnerships that are required to ensure the nation’s safety. Her talk in the Law School’s Levinson Auditorium highlighted the importance of international partnerships in that mission. (more…)

When It Comes To Charitable Giving, People Respond To Their Immediate Emotions, Cu Study Says

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2011Culture, General2010 earthquake in haiti, diseases, doctors without borders, dresden university of technology, famine and genocide in africa, Germany, giving money to humanitarian crises, haitian earthquake, immediate emotions, laura johnson graham, leaf van boven, malnutrition, michaela huber, peter mcgraw, red cross, tragic events, tuberculosis, united states, university of colorado boulder

When considering giving money to humanitarian crises people often donate in response to events that grab their immediate emotions, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Dresden University of Technology in Germany.

“The question we wanted to answer with our study is what is the impact of people’s emotions on their decisions to make charitable donations,” said CU-Boulder psychology Professor Leaf Van Boven, who co-authored the study. “We demonstrated that people act on what is immediately emotionally arousing to them. In other words, they respond to what makes them upset in the here and now.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab’s Saul Perlmutter wins Nobel Prize in Physics

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2011Science2011 nobel prize in physics, accelerating expansion of the universe, adam riess, anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation, astrophysicist, berkeley lab, brian schmidt, Chile, dark energy, department of energy, expansion of the universe, france, george smoot iii, gravity, high z supernova search team, international supernova cosmology project, Japan, knowledge, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mysterious force, nature of dark energy, nobel prize, nobel prize in physics, paul alivisatos, saul perlmutter, spain, supernova cosmology project, supernovae, Sweden, swedish kroner, united kingdom, united states, university of california at berkeley

BERKELEY, CA — Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.” Perlmutter heads the international Supernova Cosmology Project, which pioneered the methods used to discover the accelerating expansion of the universe, and he has been a leader in studies to determine the nature of dark energy.

Perlmutter shares the prize with Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, leader of the High-z Supernova Search Team and first author of that team’s analysis, respectively, which led to their almost simultaneous announcement of accelerating expansion. (more…)

NASA Leads Study of Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2011Science1989 montreal protocol, alfred wegener institute for polar and marine research, amount of ozone, Antarctic, antarctic ozone hole, Arctic, arctic ozone loss, arctic polar vortex, arctic stratospheric temperatures, aura and calipso spacecraft, boulder, canada, chemical ozone destruction, chlorine monoxide, denmark, depletion of earth ozone layer, finland, Germany, gloria manney, Japan, jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena, low temperatures, NASA, new mexico institute of mining and technology in socorro, noaa earth system research laboratory, ozone hole, potsdam, russia, spain, stratosphere, stratospheric ozone layer, the netherlands, ultraviolet rays, united states, winter

PASADENA, Calif. – A NASA-led study has documented an unprecedented depletion of Earth’s protective ozone layer above the Arctic last winter and spring caused by an unusually prolonged period of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere.

The study, published online Sunday, Oct. 2, in the journal Nature, finds the amount of ozone destroyed in the Arctic in 2011 was comparable to that seen in some years in the Antarctic, where an ozone “hole” has formed each spring since the mid-1980s. The stratospheric ozone layer, extending from about 10 to 20 miles (15 to 35 kilometers) above the surface, protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. (more…)

Breaking Down Plastics: New Standard Specification May Facilitate Use of Additives that Trigger Biodegradation of Oil-Based Plastics in Landfills

By Guest PostSeptember 27, 2011Environmentanaerobic biodegradation, anaerobically biodegradable and recyclable, anaerobically biodegradable conventional plastics, anaerobically biodegradable in municipal landfill facilities, atmospheric warming gases, biodegradation, biodegrade, biogas methane, biogenic carbon, bioplastics, carbon dioxide, charles lancelot, chemical additives, electricity, erin prowett, gautam patel, georgia institute of technology, georgia tech research institute, global climate change, gtri, humus, landfills, lisa detter hoskin, methane, north carolina state university, oil derived plastics, organic substances, oxobiodegradables, oxygen and ultraviolet light, pec, pet products, plastic materials, plastic packaging, plastics environmental council, polyethylene, polymer biodegradation, polypropylene, recycling, recycling of plastic water bottles, styrofoam, typical us landfills, united states, us plastics industry, walton collins

Despite efforts to encourage the recycling of plastic water bottles, milk jugs and similar containers, a majority of the plastic packaging produced each year in the United States ends up in landfills, where it can take thousands of years to degrade. To address that problem with traditional polyethylene, polypropylene, Styrofoam and PET products, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are working with the Plastics Environmental Council (PEC) to expand the use of chemical additives that cause such items to biodegrade in landfills.

Added during production of the plastic packaging, the compounds encourage anaerobic landfill bacteria and fungi to break down the plastic materials and convert them to biogas methane, carbon dioxide and biogenic carbon – also known as humus. These additives – simple organic substances that build on the known structures of materials that induce polymer biodegradation – don’t affect the performance of the plastics, introduce heavy metals or other toxic chemicals, or prevent the plastics from being recycled in current channels. (more…)