world – Page 3 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

By Guest PostNovember 19, 2012Environmentcatastrophic damage, cesium, contaminated sediment, contamination, dai ichi, earthquake, fish, fukushima, fukushima prefecture, implication, Japan, japanese coast, japanese public, ken buesseler, maff, marine environment, mitsuo uematsu, northeast, northwest, nuclear power plant, ocean, pacific ocean, public health, radiation, radiation level, radioactive isotope, radionuclides, reactor site, release, seafloor, seaweed, shellfish, tokyo, triple disaster, tsunami, university, world

Japan fisheries data provides a look at how the ocean is faring 18 months after the worst accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history

Japan’s “triple disaster,” as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world’s ocean: fish.

Events on March 11 began with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the fourth largest ever recorded. The earthquake in turn spawned a massive 40-foot tsunami that inundated the northeast Japanese coast and resulted in an estimated 20,000 missing or dead. Finally, the wave caused catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history, 80 percent of which ended up in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Speaking of Ethics

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Environmentatmosphere, baby albatross, bird, bottle caps, brown lab, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate crisis, delaware, distribution, earth, Environment, environmental ethics, environmental philosopher, ethical responsibility, extinction, gulf, history, human, human rights, joy, kathleen dean moore, life, Mexico, moral obligation, Nature, notion, ocean, oil companies, oil spill, oregon, organism, planet, plastic, principle, protect, relationship, species, spring creek project, state university, stomach, university, violation, world

Lecturer explores the imperatives of environmental ethics

Speaking to University of Delaware faculty and students and community members in Brown Lab on Monday night, Oct. 15, environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore discussed how important it is for humans to realize their ethical responsibility to save the world from a climate crisis.

In a lecture titled “Why It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future,” Moore reflected on the relationship humans have with the environment and argued that once humans realize the impact of their actions, they will naturally feel a moral obligation to care for the planet. (more…)

Yellowstone Wolf Study Reveals How to Raise Successful Offspring

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2012Naturearmies, arms race, body weight, bridgett vonholdt, canine distemper, carnivore population, cooperation, cooperative, dan macnulty, dan stahler, data, excellent model, factor, female, female wolves, gray wolves, group behavior, key ingredient, life history, life sciences, mother, national, national park, offspring, park service, predator, princeton university, pup survival, reproduction, robert wayne, social carnivores, sociality, soldiers, state university, study, survival advantage, utah, weight, wolves, world, yellowstone, yellowstone park, young adulthood

What are the key ingredients to raising successful, self-sufficient offspring? A new life sciences study using 14 years of data on gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park indicates that cooperative group behavior and a mother’s weight are crucial.

“A female’s body weight is key in the survival of her offspring, and cooperation in the protection and feeding of young pups pays off in terms of the production of offspring,” said Robert Wayne, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA and co-author of the new research, published this week in the online edition of the Journal of Animal Ecology. (more…)

Foreign Policy Takes Stage, Yet Most Voters Indifferent

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Politicsafghanistan, americans, Barack Obama, chaos, China, diplomatic approach, egypt, embassy, foreign policy, global issue, international security, iran, libya, matt zierler, michigan, middle east, mitt romney, nuclear power, presidential campaign, russia, state university, tension, united states, us troops, violence, war, world

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Foreign policy has taken center stage in the presidential campaign as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tout their differing plans – and take aim at one another’s vision for international security.

Unfortunately, voters pay little attention to these issues when electing a president, said Matt Zierler, associate professor of international relations at Michigan State University’s James Madison College.

“Foreign policy does matter, but voters traditionally don’t pay much attention to it,” Zierler said. (more…)

Documents that Changed the World: The Internet Protocol, 1981

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Politics, Technologychanged, documents, global communication, internet protocol, joe janes, nexus, platform, social media, that, the, ultra rational, world

Global communication platform and nexus of social media to some and just “a series of tubes” to others, the Internet certainly revolutionized communications. But how exactly does it work, and how did it get started?

Joe Janes, professor in the UW Information School, takes up the questions in the latest installment of his podcast series, “Documents that Changed the World.” (more…)

Microsoft YouthSpark Grants to Encourage Youth to Do Great Things

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2012Jobs, Technology21 st, akron, alex richards, america, anthony carmona, boys, brian hughes, brighton, century, Chicago, city year, clubs, create, cristian malpica, girls, high school, ja, marlin dacruz, megan pilbeam, Microsoft, new york, newton, nfte, nonprofit, ohio, opportunity, orion casey, ozone park, ryan gomes, samantha lewis, skill, stephanie foxworth, stephen hall, tiffany hill, travis holloway, US, Washington, world, year up, youth, youthspark initiative

As part of a commitment to create opportunities for 300 million youth around the world during the next three years, Microsoft announces support for five national U.S. nonprofits that focus on youth causes. Here’s a look at how these organizations are making a difference.

REDMOND, Wash. — As part of the launch of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, Microsoft announced national partnerships with five major nonprofit organizations with missions to give youth the skills, education and job training they need to succeed: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, City Year, Junior Achievement USA (JA), Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Year Up.

On the surface, the nonprofit grants aim to bolster programs that help youth learn important 21st-century skills, find jobs and connect with caring adult mentors. (more…)

Documents that Changed the World podcasts: Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2012Politicsbenjamin franklin, chairman, changed, China, cultural revolution, death, documents, joe janes, little red book, mao tsetung, monopoly, peter kelley, podcast series, population, quotations, that, the, wisdom, world

For the latest installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes takes a look at a small book that had a huge impact.

“Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung,” also known as Mao’s “Little Red Book,” was published in 1965 and became one of the most widely printed and distributed books in history. Publication ceased in 1979 following Mao’s fall from favor and death but started again sporadically in 1993.

During Mao’s heyday, Janes notes, “(T)he goal was for 99 percent of the population of China to read it; it was an unofficial requirement to own, read and carry it at all times during the Cultural Revolution.” (more…)

The Best Strategy to Defeat HIV in South Africa

By Guest PostSeptember 7, 2012General, Health'second line, aids prevention, allergy, defeat, drug, drug resistant, health organization, hiv, hiv epidemic, infectious disease, mathematical model, sally blower, South Africa, strain, strategy, symptom, test and treat, WHO, world

UCLA study challenges World Health Organization’s approach

The World Health Organization is about to roll out a new strategy for AIDS prevention in South Africa, a country where more than 5 million people are infected with HIV. Based on a mathematical model, the WHO predicts this strategy will completely eliminate HIV in South Africa within a decade.

But not so fast, suggests a group of UCLA researchers. Their work challenges the proposed strategy by showing it could lead to several million individuals developing drug-resistant strains of HIV. And further, they say, it will cost billions of dollars more than the WHO has estimated. (more…)

Tag Archives: world