In this study the possibilities of the North American oak (Quercus rubra L.) as an afforestation alternative in the Basque Country Autonomous Community were investigated. The aim was to expand the range of possibilities in forestry production, avoiding monospecific plantations but, at the same time, meeting the needs of the current economy on the basis of sustainable development.
The study centred on 6 plantations of various ages in Bizkaia, firstly studying the wealth of epigeous
Earth’s wetlands are havens for wildlife and vital to the water cycle, but they are also under threat. An ESA-led initiative aims to develop a global wetland information service based on Earth Observation for conservation efforts. The Globwetland project has now entered a new phase, with prototype products being developed based on sites across four continents.
Abundant water makes wetlands the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, more productive even than tropical ra
Currently, the density of transistors that electronic devices now allow is such that the integration of complete digital systems in a single integrated circuit is now possible. With the aim of reducing the period of design and development and enabling the tackling of these kinds of designs possible, these are made up of a base of modules or cores. Given their complexity, these modules often include one or more processors, whereby, in these cases, multi-processor systems are possible.
Water from the Indian Ocean does not reach the South Atlantic Ocean continuously, but in separate packages. These are called Agulhas eddies, after the current along the east coast of Southern Africa where they originate from. Dutch researcher Astrid van Veldhoven characterised the fate of these rapidly rotating, three hundred kilometre wide and five kilometres deep, warm eddies during their journey to the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the past four years, the Royal Netherlands Institut
A relatively large number of algae grow in the North Sea. These form the basis for a much richer food chain than that found in the Atlantic Ocean. Dutch-sponsored researcher Yann Bozec calculated that coastal seas such as the North Sea remove about three times as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than would be expected on the basis of their small surface area.
The measured annual increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is only 60 percent o
Dreams can help in coming to terms with major events and in taking difficult decisions in life. This is what Dutch-sponsored researcher Elizabeth Mohkamsing-den Boer concluded after her research into the function of dreams in indigenous Surinamese and Australian tribes.
’Dreams prepare your emotions’, is a comment that Mohkamsing-den Boer frequently heard during her research. This statement reaches to the heart of her study, namely the function of dreams during important
ESA PR 44-2005. Today at 21.00 CEST Mr Yuri Bakhvalov, First Deputy Director General of the Khrunichev Space Centre on behalf of the Russian State Commission officially confirmed that the launch of CryoSat ended in a failure due to an anomaly in the launch sequence and expressed his regret to ESA and all partners involved.
Preliminary analysis of the telemetry data indicates that the first stage performed nominally. The second stage performed nominally until main engine cut-off was
An intervention program designed to promote screening for colorectal cancer – and thereby decrease the number of cancers diagnosed – failed to increase screening rates in the managed care setting, a UCLA study has found.
During the two-year period monitored in the study, less than 30 percent of eligible patients received any screening for colorectal cancer in participating managed care practices, said Dr. Patricia Ganz, director of cancer prevention and control research at UC
Chinese men spurn traditional virility medicines
Chinese men are selectively switching from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction, but sticking with tradition for ailments such as arthritis, indigestion and gout, according to new research published in Environmental Conservation.
The finding supports a prediction made by Australian and Alaskan researchers at the advent of Viagra’s commercial release in 1998 that the new impot
Researchers have found provocative evidence that the brain dysfunction that underlies epilepsy may also determine whether people are at risk for suicide. The study, published online October 10, 2005 in the Annals of Neurology, also suggests that depression and suicide may have different brain mechanisms.
“For reasons that are not understood, depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures,” said
“Take two cheeseburgers and call me in the morning,” may sound like far-fetched medical advice. After all, high fat foods can worsen blockages in blood vessels. But a new study in the October 17 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that high fat foods can, at least in the gut, soothe inflammation. This action may stop immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader.
Eating — particularly eating fat-rich foods — causes cells in the small intestine to produ
With oil and gas prices in the United States hovering at an all-time high, interest in renewable energy alternatives is again heating up. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science hope to meet the growing demand with a new and more affordable way to harness the sun’s rays: using solar cell panels made out of everyday plastics.
In research published today in Nature Materials magazine, UCLA engineering professor Yang Yang, postdoctoral resea
Enlisted to help fight viral infections, immune cells called macrophages consume virus-infected cells to stop the spread of the disease in the body. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered how macrophages keep from succumbing to the infection themselves. Boosting this mechanism may be a way to speed recovery from respiratory infections.
The researchers found that a specific protein produced in the course of respiratory viral infecti
Discovery has implications for wide range of diseases
A team of international researchers has discovered that a specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation, a finding with implications for a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and infections. The findings are published in the October 9 online issue of Nature Genetics.
Investigators believe this discovery will be of great interest to biomedical
Pediatric surgeon looks to fetal cells to repair birth defects
Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston report using tissue engineering to reconstruct defective tracheas (windpipes) in fetal lambs, first using cells from the amniotic fluid to grow sections of cartilage tube, and then implanting these living grafts into the lambs while still in the womb.
The tracheal repair technique is one of several tissue-engineering approaches pioneered at Children’s that use the
Imagine being able to paint your roof with enough alternative energy to heat and cool your home. What if soldiers in the field could carry an energy source in a roll of plastic wrap in their backpacks?
Those ideas sound like science fiction þu particularly in the wake of the rising costs of fossil fuel.
But both are on the way to becoming reality because of a breakthrough in solar research by a team of scientists from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest Universi
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