IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO (RE)START LIVING

[Reproduced from New Scientist, 21st December 2012]

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death

Dead bodies can provide organs for transplants, now they might become a source of stem cells too. Huge numbers of stem cells can still be mined from bone marrow five days after death to be potentially used in a variety of life-saving treatments.

Human bone marrow contains mesenchymal stem cells, which can develop into bone, cartilage, fat and other cell types. MSCs can be transplanted and the type of cell they form depends on where they are injected. Cells injected into the heart, for example, can form healthy new tissue, a useful therapy for people with chronic heart conditions.

Unlike other tissue transplants, MSCs taken from one person tend not to be rejected by another's immune system. In fact, MSCs appear to pacify immune cells. It is this feature which has made MSC treatments invaluable for children with graft-versus-host disease, in which transplants aimed at treating diseases such as leukaemia attack the child instead.

Stem cell therapies require a huge numbers of cells though, and it can be difficult to obtain a sufficient amount from a living donor. Could cadavers be the answer? After death, most cells in the body die within a couple of days. But since MSCs live in an environment that is very low in oxygen, Gianluca D'Ippolito and his colleagues at the University of Miami, Florida, wondered whether they might survive longer than the others.

To investigate, D'Ippolito's team kept the finger bones of two cadavers for five days. The group then extracted MSCs from the bone marrow of each bone and let them grow in a dish. After five weeks D'Ippolito was able to transform the stem cells into cartilage, cells that form bone, and fat cells. He presented the results at the World Stem Cell Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this month. The team are now trying to get the cells to become nerve and intestinal cells, too.

While only limited amounts of bone marrow can be taken from a living donor, a cadaver represents a plentiful source of cells, says D'Ippolito. "From one donor, you could take the whole spine, for example. You are going to end up with billions of cells."

Paolo Macchiarini, who researches regenerative medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, describes the work as an excellent advance but says that the cells may not be as healthy as they seem. Their DNA may be affected by the death of surrounding tissue and exposure to cold temperatures. "We need to make sure the cells are safe," he says.

Corneal stem cells taken from the eyes of fresh cadavers have already been used to treat blindness in people with eye conditions that result from injury and scarring, but Chris Mason at University College London sees a potential hurdle in using such MSCs in therapy. "The work is novel and intriguing... but it would be better to use a living donor," he says. That's partly because medical regulators oppose treating individuals with stem cells from more than one source."You can always go back and get more stem cells from a living donor if you need them, but if you use a cadaver, you'll eventually run out."

LYRE BIRD: A WONDERFUL GIFT FROM NATURE

A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured tailfeathers.

Lyrebirds are among Australia's best-known native birds. As well as their extraordinary mimicking ability, lyrebirds are notable because of the striking beauty of the male bird's huge tail when it is fanned out in display; and also because of their courtship display.

Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEMS AND SPECIES

Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events – such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating – at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment.

Copy / Access and see the report:

www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3483&from=rss_home

PIGMY MARMOSET: A LITTLE MASTERPIECE OF AMAZONIAN NATURE

The pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey (Cebuella pygmaea) [in  Portuguese: "sagui-leãozinho"] is a New World monkey native to the rainforest understories of western Brazil, [SEE THE MAP BELOW] southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia, with an altitudinal range of 200 to 940 m. It is most common in river edge forests, but also can be found in secondary forest and moderately disturbed forest. The pygmy marmoset has been viewed as somewhat different from typical marmosets, most of which are classified in the genera Callithrix and Mico, and thus is accorded its own genus, Cebuellawithin the family Callitrichidae. Pygmy marmosets live 11-12 years in the wild, but in zoos, they live into their early twenties.

...AND WE THINK WE KNOW OUR PLANET !!!

New to science

Odd new primate species discovered



13 de dezembro de 2012 14h49 By Matt Walker Editor, BBC Nature

A new species of small nocturnal primate has been discovered by scientists in Borneo.

The primate is a type of slow loris, a small cute-looking animal that is more closely related to bushbabies and lemurs than to monkeys or apes.

Uniquely among primates, they have a toxic bite, belying their appearance.

Two previously known subspecies of slow loris have also been accorded full species status.

Details of the discoveries are published in the American Journal of Primatology.

The new species of slow loris, named Nycticebus kayan, has gone unrecognised until now, in part due to its nocturnal lifestyle.

Animals that are active by night often rely less on visual clues, and can therefore appear more similar to one another.

So the scientists had to look hard to discover the differences between the new species.

An international team of researchers, led by Professor Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and Rachel Munds from the University of Missouri in Columbia, US, surveyed slow lorises living in the forests of Borneo and the Philippines.

They focused on studying the primates' facial markings, which take the appearance of a mask, with the eyes being covered by distinct dark patches and the heads by varying patterns.

Part of Prof Nekaris's research was filmed by the BBC programme Natural World, which followed members of the team as they conducted surveys.

This research has revealed there are actually four species of slow loris in the Philippines and Borneo, each with their own, subtly different but distinct head markings.

Originally there was thought to be just a single species, called N. menagensis.

Two of these new species, N. bancanus and N. borneanus, were previously considered subspecies of N. menagensis.

While, N. kayan, is new to science.

"In Borneo in particular, from where three of the new species hail, this will mean that three new lorises will be added as threatened to some degree on the IUCN Red List of threatened species," says Prof Nekaris.

"With more than 40% of the world's primates already threatened with extinction, this brings the toll even higher."

Outside of Borneo and the Philippines, four other slow loris species are known, living across south and southeast Asia.

All have a difficult relationship with humans.

They are the only primates with a toxic bite, secreting the toxin from glands in their elbows.

Slow lorises lick this toxin, and mix it with their saliva. They then use it when they bite, or to coat the fur of their offspring, possibly as a way to deter predators from attacking their young.

The toxin is powerful enough to potentially cause fatal anaphylactic shock in people.

But the slow lorises' cute appearance also makes them a favoured target of the pet trade.

Captured animals often have their canine and incisor teeth pulled out before being sold on as pets, in a bid to protect their potential owner.

Harming the animals this way, though, can quickly lead to their death, as the toothless primates are unable to feed properly.

The discovery that more slow loris species exist also has implications for their survival.

"Well-meaning groups rescue lorises and rarely follow proper guidelines when releasing them back to the wild," says Prof Nekaris.

"That means that the wrong species of loris has found itself in many a new place throughout Asia, if they have survived the traumatising practice of hard release to the wild in the first place."

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

BBC © 2012

HOW DOES RADIOCARBON DATING WORK ?

See it by watching this quite simple explanation from SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=how-does-radiocarbon-dating-work--i2012-11-30

PERMACULTURE: WHY NOT AN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY IN OUR SCHOOLS!?

When I was a student in the secondary school, in the middle of the 1950s, our school used to have extracurricular activities; and I chose photography, which helped me later in my professional activity: teaching and research in ecology.

This remembrance occurred to me as I accessed information in the internet about permaculture.

Its concept is given in the Wikipedia as follows:
Permaculture is a branch of ecological design and ecological engineering which develops sustainable human settlements and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.
The core tenets of permaculture are:
Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply.
Care of People: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.
Setting Limits to Population and Consumption: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.

Permaculture draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, and applied ecology. "The primary agenda of the movement has been to assist people to become more self reliant through the design and development of productive and sustainable gardens and farms. The design principles which are the conceptual foundation of permaculture were derived from the science of systems ecology and study of pre-industrial examples of sustainable land use."

The photos below show its practice:




Pet bottles can be easily reused for this purpose.


Plastic boxes are advantageously durable.



A bit of an 'exaggeration', maybe!



An apparently useless small site just shows the opposite.



Young students must get involved with Nature. It's not only a therapy, it builds communities!

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION. That's it!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

SMALL PLOT INTENSIVE FARMING

"Innovation of the Week: Small Plot Intensive Farming", reproduced from NOURISHING THE PLANET ((http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/innovation-of-the-week-small-plot-intensive-farming-growing-food-in-unlikely-places/?utm_source=The+Nourishing+the+Planet+Project&utm_campaign=5715698611-NtP_Draft_2_5_11_2012&utm_medium=email)

Earlier this year Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, submitted a report arguing that agroecological farming methods “outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production,” particularly in developing countries where access to resources is limited. Practicing this low-input, diversified farming style on a small scale has been gaining popularity in the U.S. in recent decades due, in part, to rising fuel and land prices. Farming intensively on tiny acreages, particularly in urban areas, may offer a sustainable solution to many of the U.S. food system’s ills.

Farmers Wally Satzewich, Gail Vandersteen, and Roxanne Christensen have created SPIN Farming, a business that trains would-be farmers how to farm profitably on as little as 5,000 square feet, or roughly the size of two 4-bedroom homes. SPIN farming, or Small Plot INtensive Farming focuses on the business side of farming, from keeping overhead costs low to finding easy-to-access markets. Using SPIN’s model, farms are cropping up in unlikely spaces. Somerton Tanks Farm, for example, operates in the shadow of two five-million-gallon water tanks on land owned by the Philadelphia Water Department. And in Wilkes-Barre, PA, students at Wilkes University founded the first-ever campus-based SPIN farm by reclaiming an abandoned lot on the edge of the campus.

[This initiative is quite similar to the 'Projeto Mandala', developed in the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil]



- See vídeo, in Portuguese, by accessing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3IgK-IAio&feature=youtube_gdata_player. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

FIGHTING MALARIA WITH ENGINEERED SYMBIOTIC BACTERIA FROM VECTOR MOSQUITOES

[Reproduced from PNAS - Proceedings from the Academy of Sciences of the United States] [Published online before print July 16, 2012, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204158109
PNAS July 16, 2012]

Abstract

The most vulnerable stages of Plasmodium development occur in the lumen of the mosquito midgut, a compartment shared with symbiotic bacteria. Here, we describe a strategy that uses symbiotic bacteria to deliver antimalaria effector molecules to the midgut lumen, thus rendering host mosquitoes refractory to malaria infection. The Escherichia coli hemolysin A [= an exotoxin that destroys erytrocytes] secretion system was used to promote the secretion of a variety of anti-Plasmodium effector proteins by Pantoea agglomerans, a common mosquito symbiotic bacterium. These engineered P. agglomerans strains inhibited development of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei by up to 98%. Significantly, the proportion of mosquitoes carrying parasites (prevalence) decreased by up to 84% for two of the effector molecules, scorpine, a potent antiplasmodial peptide and (EPIP)4, four copies of Plasmodium enolase–plasminogen interaction peptide that prevents plasminogen binding to the ookinete surface. We demonstrate the use of an engineered symbiotic bacterium to interfere with the development of P. falciparum in the mosquito. These findings provide the foundation for the use of genetically modified symbiotic bacteria as a powerful tool to combat malaria.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

SAVING FORESTS

[Reproduced from http://www.conservation.org/learn/climate/forests/Pages/overview.aspx] Protecting forests has always been central to CI's mission [CI, Conservation International]. Now it is more important than ever. Did you know the burning and clearing of forests contributes approximately 16 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and fuels climate change? Human activity is the main cause of deforestation, usually tied to economic development, increasing consumption rates – in both developed and developing countries – and extractive industries such as logging. Pristine jungles are burned and cleared for farming and ranching, or for plantations to produce biofuel crops. Cities and villages expand, prompting industrial development that supplants forests. Loggers extract more trees than the forest can reproduce, destroying ecosystems and leaving roads that invite other exploitative forces. Science in Action: Putting out Fires The loss is irreplaceable. Tropical forests are home to more than half of all species on Earth, and their destruction means the extinction of countless plant and wildlife species, many still unknown to science. Burning and clearing forests emits approximately 16 percent of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, more than all the world's cars, trucks, and airplanes combined. If left intact, these tropical forests are reservoirs of massive amounts of carbon. IPCC-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change data Protecting and restoring forests then is an essential first response to climate change. According to the IPCC, halting deforestation and restoring already degraded areas while adopting more forest-friendly agriculture and management practices would prevent the emission of more than 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 40 years. That is more than total U.S. emissions over that same period, based on current levels. Forest Carbon Initiatives These nature-based initiatives aid in global mitigation efforts by preserving or restoring standing forests, which absorb massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. See illustrations below

CLIMATE CAUSES LEAVES TO NARROW

[Reproduced from BBC News in 4th July 2012 - US independence day - the day physicists revealed they obtained Higgs boson or the particle of God, coincidentally or not]




Herbarium samples helped the researchers compare leaf widths over more than a century.


Leaves are getting narrower on some plant species as a result of changes to the climate, a study has suggested.

A team of Australian researchers studies specimens from the wild and from herbarium collections stretching back more than 120 years.

Analysis of the herbarium samples found that leaf width had decreased by two millimetres.


Lead author, Greg Guerin, from the University of Adelaide, said the team chose narrow-leaf hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa subsp. angustissima) as it appeared to display different leaf characteristics in different climates.

The researchers looked at more than 250 herbarium specimens collected from one region: Flinders Ranges, southern Australia's largest mountain range.

Dr Guerin observed: "Historical herbarium collections provide immediate access to wide sampling throughout a geographic region and through time".

"You just can't replicate that kind of sampling, covering hundreds of kilometres... from one region over 130 years."

To support this data, the team gathered 274 field samples from a mountain, collecting specimens at every 50m drop in altitude.

"This gave us information on variation within populations and the local influence of altitude on leaf shape and size," Dr Guerin explained.

The analysis revealed a two-millimetre decrease in leaf width over 127 years across the region.

Between 1950 and 2005, the team added, there had been a 1.5C (2.7F) increase in the maximum temperatures in the region but there had been little change in rainfall patterns.

Next steps
Dr Guerin said: "The next step is to test whether similar patterns are emerging in other species and in other regions."

He acknowledged that because the study was the first of its kind, there was no comparable data at this stage.

"We chose a likely candidate species - one that appeared to vary in leaf shape with latitude - but given that the first species we tested revealed strong change over time, it may well be that similar shifts are occurring more widely."

Dr Guerin said that the shift in leaf shapes could, in some cases, have wider ecological consequences.

"The study is a new example of significant climate change responses to date," he said.

"We now know that every degree of warming is ecologically significant and generating ecological disequilibrium<"./b>

"There is some good news here in that some Australian plant species may have the potential to respond to and cope with increasing temperatures."

But he warned that other species might be less well suited to adapt.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

MAMMALS OF BRAZIL, AN ANNOTATED LIST FROM CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

Annotated list of mammals of Brazil. Conservation International, 2nd ed., IN Portugueses and English. Access site and download the pdf: http://www.conservation.org.br/publicacoes

DEAD ZONE: THE SOURCE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO HYPOXIA

A satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico and coastline.


Every summer for the past several decades, a large dead zone has threatened the economic and ecological health of the Gulf of Mexico, the nation’s largest and most productive fishery.

This dead zone occurs because of excessive nutrients entering the rivers, lakes, and estuaries that feed into or make up the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen and phosphorus are essential nutrients for plant growth, but too much of them can stimulate algal growth. And as algae die, they sink to the bottom of the water and decompose, all the while robbing the water body of the oxygen needed for aquatic life to thrive.

The result? Oxygen levels can drop too low to support most life in bottom and near bottom waters, creating a hypoxic or dead zone.

The size of each year’s hypoxic zone is primarily determined by the amount of nutrients flowing from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin into the northern Gulf of Mexico – particularly the nutrient flow during April and May. Agricultural inputs are the largest source of these nutrients, though inputs from atmospheric deposition, urban areas, and wastewater treatment plants also contribute.

Complete information in:

http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/dead-zone-the-source-of-the-gulf-of-mexicos-hypoxia/?from=textlink


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

AN INTRODUCTION TO EVOLUTION

The definition
evolution, simply put, is descent with modification. This definition encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in gene frequency in a population from one generation to the next) and large-scale evolution (the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations). Evolution helps us to understand the history of life.

The explanation
Biological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time. Lots of things change over time: trees lose their leaves, mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren't examples of biological evolution because they don't involve descent through genetic inheritance.

The central idea of biological evolution is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your cousins share a common grandmother.

Through the process of descent with modification, the common ancestor of life on Earth gave rise to the fantastic diversity that we see documented in the fossil record and around us today. Evolution means that we're all distant cousins: humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.




Leaves on trees change color and fall over several weeks.


Mountain ranges erode over millions of years.



A genealogy illustrates change with inheritance over a small number of years.



Over a large number of years, evolution produces tremendous diversity in forms of life.

See complete information in: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_02

THE RIO+20 WE DO NOT WANT

[Reproduced from SOS MATA ATLÂNTICA: www.sosma.org.br, 21st June 2012]

The Future We Want is not to be found in the document that bears this name. The Future We Want is not what resulted from the Rio +20 negotiation process.

The future that we want has commitment and action, not just promises. It has the urgency needed to reverse the social, environmental and economic crisis, not postpone it. It has cooperation and is in tune with civil society and its aspirations, and not just the comfortable position of governments.

None of these can be found in the 283 paragraphs of the official document that will be the legacy of this Conference. The document entitled The Future We Want is weak and falls far short of the spirit and the advances made over the years since Rio-92. It even falls far short of the importance and urgency of the issues addressed. Fragile and generic agendas for future negotiations do not guarantee results.

Rio +20 will go into History as the UN conference that offered global society a outcome marked by serious omissions. It endangers the preservation and social and environmental resilience of the planet, as well as any guarantee of acquired human rights for present and future generations.

For all these reasons, we, as many civil society groups and individuals, register our profound disappointment with the heads of State, under whose guidance and orders the negotiators worked, and we state that we do not condone or endorse this document.


Who signed the letter

Aiton Krenak
Ashok Khosla
Bill McKibben
Brittany Trifold
Camilla Toulmin
Carlos Alberto Ricardo
Carlos Eduardo Young
Christina Robertson
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami
Ester Agbarakwe
Fabio Feldmann
Hamouda Soubhi
Ignacy Sachs
Jim Leape
José Eli da Veiga
José Goldemberg
Juan Carlos Jintiach
Kelly Rigg
Kumi Naidoo
Luis Flores
Manuel Rodrigues Becerra
Marcelo Furtado
Marina Silva
Marina Silva
Marvin Nala
Mathis Wackernagel
Megaron Txucarramãe
Michel Lambert
Mohamned El-Ashry
Nay Htun
Nitin Desai
Oded Grajew
Peter May
Pierre Calame
Raoni Metuktire
Ricardo Abramovay
Ricardo Young
Roberto Klabin
Rubens Born
Sara Svensson
Sharan Burrow
Sergio Mindlin
Severn Suzuki
Thomas Lovejoy
Vandana Shiva
Wael Hmaidan
William Rees
Yolanda Kakabadse

Tags

Rio +20



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Postado por ecologiaemfoco às 11:11 AM 0 comentários

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rio+20 closed with "more of a whimper than a roar"

[Reproduced From WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE]




["more of a whimper than a roar" = mais um gemido do que um rugido] The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) comes to a close today. In total, more than 100 heads of state and tens of thousands of representatives from government, business, and civil society came together over two weeks to advance solutions on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro.

“Rio+20 closed with more of a whimper than a roar. Expectations for the conference were understandably low, but the outcomes were even more modest. The agreed upon text was simply not forceful enough to meet the environment and development challenges of our times. This was a missed opportunity to re-energize the global conversation and importantly drive greater action around sustainability.

“There were a few bright spots— the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals, support for better governance around environmental issues, and progress on sustainable transport, among others. But, still, that is not enough.

“Certainly, there are reasons why the conference fell short: economic and political crises on the global stage; the challenge of taking on complex issues; and the struggle of coming to a unanimous decision among the diverse views. These challenges are real, but they should not be an excuse for inaction.

“So then, what comes next?

“We cannot lose sight of the big picture. It would be a mistake to conflate the outcome here with what’s happening on the ground around the world. Real action is taking place on national and local levels in many countries. Just look at Germany’s shift to clean energy, Niger’s efforts to re-green its landscape, or Rio’s just launched bus rapid transit system.

“We understand the challenges. We know the solutions. What we need is to build the political will for bolder leadership.

“As we leave Rio and return to our homes around the globe, we must not give up on the vision of a more sustainable pathway. Given the urgency of the challenges, we must continue to push forward with ambitious solutions that will create a more sustainable future.”

–




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

RIO SUMMIT: LITTLE PROGRESS, 20 YEARS ON

[From BBC, 22 June 2012]




Twenty years after the first Rio summit, campaigners say this global gathering has failed to achieve similar results.

On the final day of the UN sustainable development summit in Rio, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged governments to eliminate hunger from the world.
The secretary-general said in a world of plenty, no-one should go hungry.

The final phase of the summit has seen pledges from countries and companies on issues such as clean energy.

But a number of veteran politicians have joined environment groups in saying the summit declaration was "a failure of leadership".

And UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the outcome as "insipid".

The meeting, marking 20 years since the iconic Earth Summit in the same city and 40 since the very first global environment gathering in Stockholm, was aimed at stimulating moves towards the "green economy".

But the declaration that was concluded by government negotiators on Tuesday and that ministers have not sought to re-open, puts the green economy as just one possible pathway to sustainable development.

Despite the fact that the world produces enough food to feed everyone, there are more hungry people today than when the world last met in Rio in 1992”

The former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, who chaired the 1992 Earth Summit, said the declaration did not do as much for environmental protection as for human development.

"This old division between environment and development is not the way we are going to solve the problems that we are creating for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren," he said.

"We have to accept that the solutions to poverty and inequality lie in sustainable growth, not growth at all costs."

'Ray of hope'

In the meeting's final phase, he [Ban Ki-Moon] challenged governments to do more.

The summit was supposed to ensure access to water, food and energy for the world's poor. "In a world of plenty, no-one, not a single person, should go hungry," he said.

"I invite all of you to join me in working for a future without hunger," he told the estimated 130 heads of state and government in Rio.

Currently, it is estimated that almost one billion people - one seventh of the world's population - live in chronic hunger, while another billion do not receive adequate nutrition.

Measures that could help address this include eliminating food waste - about one-third of food is thrown away in rich countries and an even higher proportion in the poorest, for different reasons - and doubling the productivity of smallholdings.

The challenge is partly based on Brazil's own "hunger zero" programme, started by President Lula de Silva.


There is no new money, and no changes to the way the UN organisation itself approaches the issue of hunger.

Outside the main negotiations in Rio, companies and governments have made well over 200 pledges of voluntary action in various areas.

Energy, water and food are all in that mix - though outnumbered by pledges to include sustainability issues in education programmes.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

[Reproduced from NATURE | NEWS, 13 June 2012;
Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10822]

'Hippie chimp' genome sequenced
Genetic sequence could solve mystery of why bonobos are more peaceful than other




When the Congo River in central Africa formed, a group of apes was forever stranded on its southern banks. Two million years later, the descendants of these apes — the bonobos — have developed distinct social patterns. Unlike their chimpanzee relatives on the northern shore, they shun violent male dominance and instead forge bonds through food-sharing, play and casual sex.


Unlike common chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, bonobos, Pan paniscus, seem to use sex to resolve disputes.

An 18-year-old female named Ulindi has now become the first bonobo, Pan paniscus, to have its genome sequenced. Scientists hope that the information gleaned will explain the stark behavioural differences between bonobos and common chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, and help to identify the genetic changes that set humans apart from other apes.


Distant relatives
Humans, chimps and bonobos all share a common ancestor that lived about 6 million years ago in Africa, when the human lineage splintered off. By the time that our Homo erectus ancestors were roaming the African savannah 2 million to 1.5 million years ago, populations of the common ancestor of chimpanzees and bonobos had been separated by the Congo River.

The main result, published in, NATURE (2012) doi:10.1038/nature11128, was:

On average, the two alleles in single-copy, autosomal regions in the Ulindi genome are approximately 99.9% identical to each other, 99.6% identical to corresponding sequences in the chimpanzee genome and 98.7% identical to corresponding sequences in the human genome.

Little and probably no interbreeding has occurred since then, says Kay Prüfer, a bioinformatician at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who led the sequencing study. Comparisons of the bonobo genome and sequences of chimps from various populations showed that chimps living just across the Congo River were no more closely related to bonobos than were populations living as far away as Côte d’Ivoire. That implies that the separation was quick and permanent, says Prüfer.

Once the ancestors of bonobos had been separated from those of chimpanzees, they may have found themselves in a very different ecological world. North of the Congo River, the ranges of chimpanzees and gorillas overlap, so those animals compete for food. But no gorillas live south of the river, so bonobos face much less food competition, says Victoria Wobber, a comparative psychologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has worked with bonobos including Ulindi.


In the absence of competition, the ancestors of bonobos may have been free to forage a wider range of foods in large groups, and share the spoils freely. “When food is more consistently available, a lot of the aggression you see in chimps, you don’t need anymore,” says Wobber.

Bonobos also treat sex as casually as a handshake, earning them the nickname ‘hippie chimps’. The sex is often non-procreative and can occur between pairs of the same sex. Chimps tend to have sex only when females are in estrous. “Instead of resolving their disputes aggressively, maybe they’re resolving them with sex,” says Wobber. And whereas chimpanzee groups are dominated by hyper-aggressive males, bonobo groups are less hierarchical and are often headed by females.

Genetic discrepancies between chimps and bonobos must be involved in these behavioural differences, says Prüfer. But identifying which genetic changes are involved and how they influence behaviour will take time.


However, the sequence of a single bonobo is not enough, says Varki. Other bonobos may share different genomic regions with humans, and these genes would be missed by relying on a single bonobo sequence. Varki says that researchers are planning to sequence the genomes of dozens more bonobos, chimps and gorillas to fill the gaps.

And Ulindi may not be representative of most bonobos in behaviour, either. Wobber has noticed vast behavioural differences in her work with bonobos, and says that the genomic model of the hippie chimp isn’t a peacenik. Ulindi sometimes lashed out at Wobber. “She’s just a mean bonobo. That’s my own personal experience with her,” says Wobber. “I might have picked a different one to sample.”



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:OUR CLOSEST COUSIN: BONOBO, THE 'HIPPIE CHIMP'

TESCO SUPPLIER (UK) ACCUSED OF CONTRIBUTING TO AMAZON RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION

[Reproduced from http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian]




Cattle at an illegal settlement in northern Brazil: such ranches are the leading source of rainforest destruction in the Amazon.


British consumers are unwittingly contributing to the devastation of the Amazon rainforest by buying meat products from Tesco, according to Greenpeace.

The environmental group says in a report that canned beef from the supermarket chain has been found to contain meat from ranches that have been carved out of the lands of indigenous peoples, and farms the Brazilian government believes have been sited in illegally deforested lands.

The allegations stem from an 18-month investigation carried out by Greenpeace into the practices of JBS, a big Brazilian supplier of meat and cattle byproducts .The campaigning group claims it unearthed evidence of serious violations of thecompany's own ethical code, and those of companies it supplies, including Tesco.


British consumers are unwittingly contributing to the devastation of the Amazon rainforest by buying meat products from Tesco, according to Greenpeace.

The environmental group says in a report that canned beef from the supermarket chain has been found to contain meat from ranches that have been carved out of the lands of indigenous peoples, and farms the Brazilian government believes have been sited in illegally deforested lands.

The allegations stem from an 18-month investigation carried out by Greenpeace into the practices of JBS, a big Brazilian supplier of meat and cattle byproducts. The campaigning group claims it unearthed evidence of serious violations of the company's own ethical code, and those of companies it supplies, including Tesco.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

VARROA MITE SPREADS LETHAL HONEYBEE VIRUS

[By Victoria Gill, BBC Nature]




Some honeybee colonies in Hawaii are still free from the parasitic mite which
has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe, say scientists.

A team studying honeybees in Hawaii found that the Varroa mite helped spread a particularly nasty strain of a disease called deformed wing virus.

The mites act as tiny incubators of one deadly form of the disease, and inject it directly into the bees' blood.

This has led to "one of the most widely-distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet".


The findings are reported in the journal Science.

The team, led by Dr Stephen Martin from the University of Sheffield, studied the honeybees in Hawaii, where Varroa was accidentally brought from California just five years ago.


Bees have different colour detection systems from humans, and can see the world in ultraviolet. This helps them to detect the flowers they pollinate and take nectar from
Pollination is essential for agriculture, as well as the reproduction of non-food flowers and plants. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, pollinators including bees, birds and bats are involved in more than a third of the world's crop production.

This provided the team with a unique natural laboratory; they could compare recently-infected colonies with those free from the parasite, and paint a biological picture of exactly how Varroa affected the bees.

The team spent two years monitoring colonies - screening Varroa-infected and uninfected bees to see what viruses lived in their bodies.

Dr Martin explained to BBC Nature that most viruses were not normally harmful to the bees, but the mite "selected" one lethal strain of one specific virus.

"In an infected bee there can be more viral particles than there are people on the planet," Dr Martin explained.

"There's a vast diversity of viral strains within a bee, and most of them are adapted to exist in their own little bit of the insect; they get on quite happily."

But the mite, he explained, "shifts something".

In Varroa-infected bees, over time, the vast majority of these innocuous virus strains disappear and the bees' bodies are filled with one lethal strain of deformed wing virus.

And when it comes to viral infection, it's the sheer quantity that kills; each viral particle invades a cell and takes over its internal machinery, turning the bee's own body against itself.

Although it is not clear exactly why this strain thrives in mite-infected bees, Dr Martin explained that it could be the one virus best able to survive being repeatedly transmitted from the mites to the bees and back, as the mites feed on the bees' blood.

The effect appears to take once the mites have changed this "viral landscape" in the bees' bodies, the change is permanent.

"So the only way to control the virus is to control the levels of the mite," said Dr Martin.

Prof Ian Jones, a virologist from the University of Reading said the findings mirrored "other known mechanisms of virus spread".

He added: "[This] reinforces the need for beekeepers to control Varroa infestation."




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

LOST THERE FELT HERE

[From CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL] Visualizar

READ ON BRAZILIAN FORESTRY CODE AND PRACTISE YOUR ENGLISH

[Received from my friend Sergio Rolim Mendonça who handed over this English lesson from Charles Valadão; selected and edited by Orlando Eduardo] Winners and losers still in dark in Brazil forest fight By Samantha Pearson May 26, 2012 It couldn’t have been a bigger anticlimax. Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff had until today to announce whether she would veto a controversial new forestry bill(1) that will help decide the fate of the Amazon rainforest. Would Dilma give in to the powerful agricultural lobby that has pushed the bill, watering(2) it down as it progressed through the legislative process? Or, faced with the potentially embarrassing prospect of hosting the Rio+20 UN conference on sustainable development next month, would she throw out the whole text in disgust? Furthermore, after so many alterations, was the patchwork(3) text still even enforceable in practice? After numerous delays the government finally called a press conference at 2pm, but Dilma was nowhere to be seen. Instead, her agricultural and environmental ministers turned up(4) and declared there would be a partial veto (12 articles, 32 alterations in total)but said we would have to wait until Monday to know what they were. Only a few concrete details were given, such as the way in which the minimum requirement for vegetation alongside rivers would be calculated in accordance with the size of the land owned. While promises were made about not granting(5) farmers amnesty for past illegal logging(6)– a key issue – it is still too early to tell how this will be reflected in the changes made to the bill. For the hardcore environmentalists, it was somewhat of a defeat – after all, they had hoped for a full veto of the text. However, it seems we will have to wait until Monday to see who the winners and losers really are. VOCABULARY 1 *bill (n) proposed piece of legislation; a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion 2 watering (v) water down - to reduce or temper the force or effectiveness of : They watered down the plan 3 patchwork (n) ASSORTMENT, miscellany, mixture, melange, medley, blend, mixed bag, mix 4 turned up (verb phrase) the police turned up: ARRIVE, appear, present oneself; show (up), show one's face. 5 *granting (v) GIVE, award: he granted them £20,000. 6 logging (n) practice or work of cutting down trees into logs (block of wood) for lumber (the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material); business of felling trees for timber (wood prepared for use in building and carpentry)

THE TOP 10 WATER CONSUMERS IN THE WORLD

[Reproduced from Scintific American site]

A vast amount of water is used to produce the food and products that nations consume. Large population is the greatest factor, but inefficient agriculture or dependence on water-intensive cuisine can exacerbate demand; meat consumption accounts for 30 percent of the U.S. water footprint. Certain countries, such as India and the U.S., also export significant quantities of water in the form of food and products, despite their own robust consumption. Populous nations that have little land or little water are huge net importers. Those insights come from engineers Arjen Y. Hoekstra and Mesfin M. Mekonnen of the University of Twente in the Neth­erlands. Over the long term, net exporters may want to alter trade policies to avoid creating their own water shortages or raise prices to reflect the cost of increasingly scarce water resources. Inefficient water nations might improve agricultural practices. And net importers might lower exports to save water for domestic use. We have in Brazil, actually in Northeastern region of our country, a 'perverse situation' when relating water consumption in that region, 5000 cubic meter per habitant per year, to water consumed in Israel, 800 cubic meter per habitant per year. One third of water in that region of Brazil is known to be wasted in irrigation for crops.

THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF BRAZIL: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOTSPOTS IN THE WORLD

[From CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL - THE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS] In South America: the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (see the map0

A Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) from the Atlantic Forest, Brazil © CI/Photo by Haroldo Castro

The Atlantic Forest of tropical South America boasts 20,000 plant species, 40 percent of which are endemic. Yet, less than 10 percent of the forest remains. More than two dozen Critically Endangered vertebrate species are clinging to survival in the region, including three species of lion tamarins and six bird species that are restricted to the small patch of forest near the Murici Ecological Station in northeastern Brazil. With almost 950 kinds of birds occurring in this hotspot, there are many unique species including the red-billed curassow, the Brazilian merganser, and numerous threatened parrot species. Beginning with sugarcane plantations and later, coffee plantations, this region has been losing habitat for hundreds of years. Now, with the increased expansion of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the Atlantic Forest is facing severe pressure from the issues tied to urbanization. VITAL SIGNS Hotspot Original Extent (km²) 1,233,875 Hotspot Vegetation Remaining (km²) 99,944 Endemic Plant Species 8,000 Endemic Threatened Birds 55 Endemic Threatened Mammals 21 Endemic Threatened Amphibians 14 Extinct Species† 1 Human Population Density (people/km²) 87 Area Protected (km²) 50,370 Area Protected (km²) in Categories I-IV* 22,782 †Recorded extinctions since 1500. *Categories I-IV afford higher levels of protection. OVERVIEW The Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica stretches along Brazil's Atlantic coast, from the northern state of Rio Grande do Norte south to Rio Grande do Sul. It extends inland to eastern Paraguay and the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina, and narrowly along the coast into Uruguay. Also included in this hotspot is the offshore archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and several other islands off the Brazilian coast. Long isolated from other major rainforest blocks in South America, the Atlantic Forest has an extremely diverse and unique mix of vegetation and forest types. The two main ecoregions in the hotspot are the coastal Atlantic forest, the narrow strip of about 50-100 kilometers along the coast which covers about 20 percent of the region. The second main ecoregion, the interior Atlantic Forest, stretches across the foothills of the Serra do Mar into southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. These forests extend as far as 500-600 kilometers inland and range as high as 2,000 meters above sea level. Altitude determines at least three vegetation types in the Atlantic Forest: the lowland forest of the coastal plain, montane forests, and the high-altitude grassland or campo rupestre.

EARTH DAY INTERNATIONAL

YES!!! It´s today, April 22nd. Visit the site: http://www.earthday.org/ The most beautiful planet in the Universe is at risk! Like the Titanic!!!

ARE WE LUCKY!? BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS!!!

Access the site of the USGS - United Satates Geological Survey, and see the undiscovered world reserves of these two conventional forms of fuel. Not renewable, of course.

Visualizar


But, if you ar quite good on understanding the Portuguese language, please access the video below (from Globo TV) and see the risks of exploiting such endowment in the Amazonas:
Visualizar

PHYTOPLANKTON IS THE BASIS OF EVERY LIFE IN OCEANS

Received, with thanks, from my dear friend Dr Rosa Leonel.
Wonderful!!!

Visualizar

[Se não abrir automaticamente, clicar em Arquivo e depois Fazer download no formato original]

ILLEGAL LOGGING AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: IN BRAZIL AND OTHER COUNTRIES

Click in 'Visualizar' and read the document in pdf, from the World Bank

Visualizar

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

EPA - Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.)

From site: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/#inv

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2012 Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks

Prepared annually by EPA, the national greenhouse gas inventory report presents estimates of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for the years 1990 through 2010. This report also discusses the methods and data used to calculate the emission estimates.

Greenhouse Gas Overview

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are often called greenhouse gases. This section of the EPA Climate Change Site provides information and data on emissions of greenhouse gases to Earth’s atmosphere, and also the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. For more information on the science of climate change, please visit EPA's climate change science home page.

Total GHG Emissions in 2005 [From site of WRI-World Resources Institute)
(excludes land use change)
CO2, CH4, N2O, PFCs, HFCs, SF6


The greatest 20 countries that contribute to green house gas emission in the world:
(Position in the world rank in parenthesis)
     
Country MtCO2e Rank % of
World Total Metric tons
CO2e Per Person Rank

China 7,242.1 (1) 19.16% 5.6 (82)
United States of America 6,900.9 (2) 18.26% 23.3 (9)
European Union (27) 5,046.7 (3) 13.35% 10.2 (42)
Russian Federation 1,939.6 (4) 5.13% 13.5 (21)
India 1,865.0 (5) 4.93% 1.7 (148)
Japan 1,349.2 (6) 3.57% 10.6 (40)
Brazil 1,010.5 (7) 2.67% 5.4 (86)
Germany 977.5 (8) 2.59% 11.9 (28)
Canada 741.8 (9) 1.96% 23.0 (10)
United Kingdom 642.2 (10) 1.70% 10.7 (39)
Mexico 631.0 (11) 1.67% 5.9 (76)
Indonesia 576.5 (12) 1.53% 2.5 (120)
Iran 568.1 (13) 1.50% 8.1 (61)
Korea (South) 567.8 (14) 1.50% 11.8 (30)
Italy 565.6 (15) 1.50% 9.7 (49)
Australia 560.6 (16) 1.48% 27.5 (7)
France 550.3 (17) 1.46% 8.7 (55)
Ukraine 493.6 (18) 1.31% 10.5 (41)
Spain 436.7 (19) 1.16% 10.1 (45)
South Africa 422.6 (20) 1.12% 9.0 (51)
)
.

DOLPHINS WERE SAVED BY BEACH GOERS IN BRAZIL

Dolphins in Arraial do Cabo beach in Rio de Janeiro, may have gone astray due to fishing net, or sonar effect, or just were washed ashore by a strong current.
An expert in dolphins  said that pulling them up by their flippers could damage some of their bones; and that an expert should have been brought to the beach to save those lovely mammals. He probably does not know that nor would  be easy to find an expert in dolphins neither to bring him/her quickly to the beach, while the dolphins would struggle for survival in shallow water.
Please watch the video and conclude by yourselves if the alternative of bringing an expert would be advisable!

What made 30 dolphins come ashore in Brazil? - environment - 09 March 2012 - New Scientist

BRAZIL: BIKE MADE FROM PLASTIC

Video from CNN - Ecosolutions. Please notice: the artist and inventor got funding NOT from Brazilian bank! despite the project being developed in São Paulo!!! Copy and paste in your navigator.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/02/16/darlington-brazil-bicycle-eco.cnn

BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT: ATLANTIC FOREST

[From the site of CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL - BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT]

 
The Atlantic Forest of tropical South America boasts 20,000 plant species, 40 percent of which are endemic. Yet, less than 10 percent of the forest remains. More than two dozen Critically Endangered vertebrate species are clinging to survival in the region, including three species of lion tamarins and six bird species that are restricted to the small patch of forest near the Murici Ecological Station in northeastern Brazil. With almost 950 kinds of birds occurring in this hotspot, there are many unique species including the red-billed curassow, the Brazilian merganser, and numerous threatened parrot species.

Beginning with sugarcane plantations and later, coffee plantations, this region has been losing habitat for hundreds of years. Now, with the increased expansion of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the Atlantic Forest is facing severe pressure from the issues tied to urbanization.

Hotspot Original Extent (km 2) 1,233,875
Hotspot Vegetation Remaining (km 2) 99,944
Endemic Plant Species 8,000
Endemic Threatened Birds 55
Endemic Threatened Mammals 21
Endemic Threatened Amphibians 14
Extinct Species† 1
Human Population Density (people/km 2) 87
Area Protected (km 2) 50,370
Area Protected (km 2) in Categories I-IV* 22,782
†Recorded extinctions since 1500. *Categories I-IV afford higher levels of protection.
OVERVIEW

The Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica stretches along Brazil's Atlantic coast, from the northern state of Rio Grande do Norte south to Rio Grande do Sul. It extends inland to eastern Paraguay and the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina, and narrowly along the coast into Uruguay. Also included in this hotspot is the offshore archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and several other islands off the Brazilian coast.
Long isolated from other major rainforest blocks in South America, the Atlantic Forest has an extremely diverse and unique mix of vegetation and forest types. The two main ecoregions in the hotspot are the coastal Atlantic forest, the narrow strip of about 50-100 kilometers along the coast which covers about 20 percent of the region. The second main ecoregion, the interior Atlantic Forest, stretches across the foothills of the Serra do Mar into southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. These forests extend as far as 500-600 kilometers inland and range as high as 2,000 meters above sea level. Altitude determines at least three vegetation types in the Atlantic Forest: the lowland forest of the coastal plain, montane forests, and the high-altitude grassland or campo rupestre.

Overview | Unique Biodiversity | Human Impacts | Conservation Action

WATER IN OUR PLANET: AN OVERVIEW OF OVEREXPLOITATION

This is a document in PDF from UNEP-United Nations Environment Programme, mainly on the intensive use of groundwater in the world. Just click in 'Visualizar' (below).

Visualizar

TOUR EIFFEL: AND ITS ECOLOGICAL COVER

[Reproduced from CNN-Eco Solutions, www.cnn.com]

Can you believe it? It's just an artist impression!

The Eiffel Tower in Paris has reduced its energy consumption with a low energy LED lighting system. This artists impression however envisions further carbon reductions by growing 600,000 plants on the world famous structure. The company behind the project claims that 87 tons of CO2 could be removed from the Paris sky each year.

USGS Multimedia Gallery: Burmese Python Caught in the Everglades

This giant snake from Burma was caught in Florida. The introduction of exótica species threatens ano ecosystem. Access the site:

USGS Multimedia Gallery: Burmese Python Caught in the Everglades


HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The study, the first to document the ecological impacts of this invasive species, strongly supports that animal communities in this 1.5-million-acre park have been markedly altered by the introduction of pythons within 11 years of their establishment as an invasive species.  Mid-sized mammals are the most dramatically affected.


Bobcats are one of the predators that may be negatively affected by pythons, which both compete with them for prey and prey on them. Once-common opossums are now rarely seen in Everglades National Park, likely because of being preyed upon by Burmese pythons. The most severe declines, including a nearly complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits and opossums, have occurred in the remote southernmost regions of the park, where pythons have been established the longest.  In this area, populations of raccoons dropped 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent and bobcats 87.5 percent.  Marsh and cottontail rabbits, as well as foxes, were not seen at all.  

Cancer rates triple among New York police officers who responded to 9/11

Cancer rates triple among New York police officers who responded to 9/11
Cancer rates among police officers who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York have tripled, according to new figures.
Acess:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/september-11-attacks/9064530/911-Cancer-rates-triple-among-New-York-NYPD-officers-who-responded-to-al-Qaeda-attack-on-World-Trade-Center.html

AMAZON ALIVE: MORE THAN 1,200 NEW SPECIES FOUND IN THE AMAZON

In the lush rainforests of the Amazon, scientists have discovered a blue-fanged bird-eating spider, a black and blue-colored poison dart frog, a pink river dolphin and a camouflaged anaconda. These and thousands of other species were discovered in the Amazon between 1999 and 2009, at the average rate of one new species every three days, according to a new WWF report.

WWF hopes the report, Amazon Alive: A Decade of Discoveries 1999-2009, will raise awareness about the need for large-scale conservation initiatives that are supported by heads of state.

Click in, below and visualize the document:

Visualizar

WWF Brasil - Marina: pressure from the people will make Dilma veto Forest Law changes

WWF Brasil - Marina: pressure from the people will make Dilma veto Forest Law changes