The immediate response by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has consisted of:
* Analysis of regional maps depicting Tsunami flooded zones, affected population and natural resources.
A preliminary estimate of the inundation zone was produced by calculating the area of less than 10m and 20m elevation contour lines within 5km of the coastline for the entire region. This information was cross-checked with global population density data to estimate the likely population
A new study of the earth’s 13 biomes compares the location of parks and other protected lands to the extent of habitat loss and finds that some of the most altered biomes are also the least protected. The study also found the opposite: that some of the least altered biomes are the best protected. In the forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, Hoekstra, Boucher, Ricketts and Roberts suggest that more conservation activities should be focused in the neglected biomes.
The study found that te
The diversity of life varies predictably with climate and is greatest where it is warm and wet (the humid tropics). But the question “why” has puzzled biologists for over a century. In the December issue of Ecology Letters, Currie and colleagues examine three hypotheses about the origin of climatic gradients of diversity.
The “Species-energy” hypothesis proposes that high tropical plant productivity allows more species to maintain populations large enough to escape extinction. However
Milky, turquoise-colored “dead zones,” some as large as the U.S. State of New Jersey, that are appearing repeatedly off the coast of southwest Africa, may be a sign of things to come for other areas of the coastlines of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Toxic gas eruptions, bubbling up from the ocean floor, kill sea life, annoy human seaside residents, and may even intensify global warming. But the simple sardine may save the day, according to a study from the Pew Institute for Ocean Scien
In a pilot randomized controlled trial a group of researchers of the Technion Institute of Technology (Israel) suggest the usefulness of pet therapy for improving apathy in schizophrenic patients. The paper was published in the January issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
Anhedonia, a component of the negative symptom dimension and a core phenomenon in schizophrenia, is associated with poor social functioning and is resistant to treatment. We tested the hypothesis that animal-assisted
A group of researchers headed by Giovanni A. Fava (University of Bologna) reports on a new method for treating anxiety, well-being therapy, a psychotherapeutic strategy for increasing psychological well-being.
There is increasing awareness that the goal of treatment in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) should not simply be a response, but restoration of normal function. The aim of this study was to apply a novel psychotherapeutic approach for increasing the level of remission i
Deal unites firms with shared vision of affordable access to space
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the British world-leader in advanced small satellites, has announced the sale of a ten percent stake to California-based commercial rocket company SpaceX. The transaction enables the two companies to work together closely to achieve their shared vision of making access to space significantly cheaper and more responsive.
Rapid response microsatellites and minisatellit
On Christmas Day 2004, the Cassini spacecraft flawlessly released ESA’s Huygens probe, passing another challenging milestone for Cassini-Huygens mission. But, with no telemetry data from Huygens, how do we know the separation went well?
At 3:00 CET on 25 December, the critical sequence loaded into the software on board Cassini was executed and, within a few seconds, Huygens was sent on its 20-day trip towards Titan. As data from Cassini confirm, the pyrotechnic devices were fir
An international project in nanobiotechnology is being launched at the University of Kent 30-31 January 2005. The project’s primary objectives are the establishment and maintenance of a European centre of excellence in the area and it is funded for five-years in the first instance.
Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries and Apparatus for Nano-Biotechnology (NACBO) is co-ordinated by the University of Kent and is funded with a total of 15.6m Euro, of which 8m Euro is grante
To commemorate 100 years since the term ’hormone’ was first coined, the Society for Endocrinology’s flagship journal will be publishing a series of special, free, reviews that recognise the past 100 years of hormones, and look to the future of the expanding science of endocrinology.
Published in January’s issue of Journal of Endocrinology is a fascinating biography of Ernest Starling, the man who addressed the Royal College of Physicians in June 1905 and first used
Individual and family attributes may make some adolescents more ‘resilient’ to the effects of living in a disadvantaged community, according to new research sponsored by the ESRC.
How inner city young people feel about their own psychological and social health and the area where they live is influenced by differences in home and social life as well as the physical environment, says a study led by Professor Sarah Curtis, of Queen Mary, University of London.
Research based o
Cotton plantations are highly important in Egypt, covering between 400 000 and 500 000 ha, 1/6 of all cultivated land. These crops are a vital source of foreign currency revenue through exports, and their state of health is therefore permanently under close surveillance. Cotton plants are indeed the target of a leaf-eating insect, the noctuid Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera), or Egyptian Cotton Leafworm.
Known to be the main pest of cotton, it also attacks the leaves of cereal
The Southwest Securities Financial Markets Center will allow graduate students and senior finance majors hands-on learning in the truest sense of the word as they manage one of the largest student-run portfolios in the nation – currently worth $6 million – from the new facility.
Baylor University will officially dedicate this world-class investment facility at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 12, at the Hankamer School of Business, located at the corner of 5th Street and Speight Avenu
A team of scientists from the University of Delaware has discovered that brown dwarfs–celestial bodies that are often referred to as failed stars–can be surrounded by clouds of very hot and very cool gas.
The UD research team of John E. Gizis, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, Harry L. Shipman, Annie Jump Cannon Chair of Physics and Astronomy, and James A. “Rusty” Harvin, researcher in physics and astronomy, used the Hubble Space Telescope to show for the first time
Astronomers say a dusty disc swirling around the nearby star Vega is bigger than earlier thought. It was probably caused by collisions of objects, perhaps as big as the planet Pluto, up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,200 miles) in diameter.
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has seen the dusty aftermath of this “run-in.” Astronomers think embryonic planets smashed together, shattered into pieces and repeatedly crashed into other fragments to create ever-finer debris. Vega’s l
Many asylum seekers in Leeds are destitute or homeless because of flaws in the benefits system according to researchers at the University of Leeds. The project, which was funded by ESRC, reveals that forced migrants in the city are often denied benefits and accommodation because of the time constraints imposed by section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act (2002), which is currently under review.
“The system simply isn’t working,” says Dr Peter Dwyer, who led th
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