Climate Change News and Research

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Laser measurements show pollen has major influence on air quality

Leipzig, Germany. Pollen reflects more sunlight than previously known, and makes up to one third of the total amount of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Aerosol particles influence optical depth which provides a measure of the opacity of the atmosphere.

19 Dec 2013

Probiotics could be next potential weapon to fight malnutrition

The University of British Columbia public affairs office has published today a story on probiotic intervention as the next potential weapon against malnutrition.

17 Dec 2013

Research reveals that deletion of Epac1 gene protects from fatal rickettsiosis

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered a way to block a disease pathway that could be a breakthrough in defeating some of the world's most devastating human infections.

14 Dec 2013

Climate change may lead to decline in snail fever

The dangerous parasite Schistosoma mansoni that causes snail fever in humans could become significantly less common in the future a new international study led by researchers from the University of Copenhagen predicts. The results are surprising because they contradict the general assumption that climate change leads to greater geographical spread of diseases. The explanation is that the parasite's host snails stand to lose suitable habitat due to climate change.

13 Dec 2013

Climate differences drive gene changes, find Virginia Bioinformatics Institute researchers

Interplay between genes and the environment has been pondered at least since the phrase "nature versus nurture" was coined in the mid-1800s.

12 Dec 2013

Scientists discover novel chemical lurking in atmosphere that appears to be LLGHG

Scientists from U of T's Department of Chemistry have discovered a novel chemical lurking in the atmosphere that appears to be a long-lived greenhouse gas (LLGHG). The chemical - perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA) - is the most radiatively efficient chemical found to date, breaking all other chemical records for its potential to impact climate.

10 Dec 2013

Scientists to deliver lecture on innovations in chemistry at ACS meeting

One scientist is developing breakthrough electronic sutures and medical implants that dissolve when their jobs are done. Another is a pioneer in the field of energy conversion that could lead to development of high-performance solar cells and new types of electronic devices that could integrate into the body.

6 Dec 2013

Research article assesses climate impacts of global warming

PLOS ONE publishes "Assessing Dangerous Climate Change: Required Reductions of Carbon Emissions to Protect Young People, Future Generations and Nature" from James Hansen and colleagues, and announces call for papers on responses to climate change:

4 Dec 2013

Europe needs to plan for future probabilities of extreme weather, reports EASAC

Europe needs to plan for future probabilities of extreme weather. Heat waves, floods and storms do not respect national frontiers, so there is a need for action at both national and EU levels.

3 Dec 2013

Bangladesh outperforms Asian neighbours despite low spending on health care

Exceptional improvements in the survival of infants and children under 5 years of age, life expectancy, immunisation coverage, and tuberculosis control in Bangladesh are part of a remarkable success story for health in the South Asian country, according to a major new Series published in The Lancet. This is despite low spending on health care, a weak health system, and widespread poverty.

21 Nov 2013

New paper highlights correlations between changes in natural systems and potential health outcomes

A new paper from members of the HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) consortium delineates a new branch of environmental health that focuses on the public health risks of human-caused changes to Earth's natural systems.

20 Nov 2013

USGBC-NCC officially launches Building Health Initiative at Super Heroes Awards Gala

Adobe, CalPERS, Genentech, Google, Kaiser Permanente, salesforce.com, University of California, San Francisco and 20 other corporations and institutions are committed as founding partners in a fast-growing movement to elevate green building as a public health benefit and accelerate the development of transparency standards in building materials.

30 Oct 2013

World Bank must define life expectancy, say international public health experts

The World Bank must define life expectancy, its key poverty indicator, as starting at the time of conception and not at the time of birth if millions of lives are to be saved from injury or death. International public health experts, writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, said that definitional oversight, in which the life of the child is inadvertently cut into two, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the womb, covers up risks to the fetus and is particularly unfair to children born in areas increasingly at risk to disasters and already disadvantaged by poverty, hunger and social deprivation.

25 Oct 2013

Climate change associated with increased mortality, especially during extremely hot periods

The increased temperatures caused by ongoing climate change in Stockholm, Sweden between 1980 and 2009 caused 300 more premature deaths than if the temperature increase did not take place.

23 Oct 2013

EcoHealth Alliance to study land use alteration in disease emergence, climate change in Asia

EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced the award of a three-year, $2 million award to address land use alteration as a significant driver of both disease emergence and climate change in Asia.

24 Sep 2013

Clean water and growth of children: an interview with Dr Alan Dangour

Growth in children is known to be directly affected by two critical factors: food intake and incidence of disease. It is known that access to good quality water, improved sanitation and enhanced hygiene (WASH) practices lead to decreased levels of infectious disease in children. We were interested to know whether this decline in disease would lead to improvements in child growth.

23 Sep 2013

Dust storms in Africa affect air quality in US and the Caribbean

You might find it hard to believe that dust clouds from the African Sahara can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, but it does every year and in large quantities. In a recent study, Joseph Prospero, professor emeritus at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and collaborators at the University of Houston and Arizona State University found that the average air concentrations of inhalable particles more than doubled during a major Saharan dust intrusion in Houston, Texas.

19 Sep 2013

Researchers explore challenges involved in urban agriculture

In many cities around the world, patrons of high-end restaurants want quality food that is flavorful and fresh. To satisfy their guests, chefs are looking closer and closer to home - to locally grown produce from neighboring farms or even from their own, restaurant-owned gardens.

18 Sep 2013

Climate change not likely to make malaria situation worse in West Africa, say researchers

As public-health officials continue to fight malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers are trying to predict how climate change will impact the disease, which infected an estimated 219 million people in 2010 and is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide among children under age 5.

16 Sep 2013

New filtering system may one day help remove carbon dioxide from smokestacks

The amazingly efficient lungs of birds and the swim bladders of fish have become the inspiration for a new filtering system to remove carbon dioxide from electric power station smokestacks before the main greenhouse gas can billow into the atmosphere and contribute to global climate change.

12 Sep 2013