Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 33907
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2025/04/04 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
4/4     

2004/10/4 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:33907 Activity:low
10/4    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3686106.stm
        \_ If I was going to pick some random bbc web link to post, I'd
           have picked this one instead:
           http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3713134.stm
           Medicine Nobel prize awarded for learning how smell works.
           cool!
        \_ It's all because of flatulent cows, you vegetarian son of a bitch.
           Why do you hate humans?  -John
        \_ "An estimated 1 in 6 people suffer from hunger and malnutrition
           while attempts to grow food are damaging swathes of productive
           land."   Uh, if it damages it to "attempt to grow food" on it,
           what makes it "productive"?
           \_ Land can be kept productive if you don't overgrow things on it.
              You should let it rest once a while, or something like that, so
              that you can grow things over and over again.  Otherwise when the
              land is exhaused, it's very hard to recover.  People suffering
              from hunger don't have the time and probably the knowledge to
              rotate the farmland to use.
              \_ Rainforest is arguably productive, esp. of CO2.  When you burn
                 it down to grow crops of graze cattle, it is productive land
                 for a few years until all the topsoil washes away.
2025/04/04 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
4/4     

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1/28    "'Charities' Funnel Millions to Climate-Change Denial"
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2012/12/4-18 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:54545 Activity:nil
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news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3686106.stm
Printable version Introduction: Planet under pressure Planet under pressure is a six-part BBC News Online series looking at som e of the most pressing environmental issues facing the human race today. By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent Earth from above (Image: NASA) We are a successful breed. Our advance from our hominid origins has broug ht us near-dominance of the world, and a rapidly accelerating understand ing of it. Scientists now say we are in a new stage of the Earth's history, the Anth ropocene Epoch, when we ourselves have become the globe's principal forc e But several eminent scientists are concerned that we have become too succ essful - that the unprecedented human pressure on the Earth's ecosystems threatens our future as a species. We confront problems more intractable than any previous generation, some of them at the moment apparently insoluble. At-a-glance BBC News Online's Planet under Pressure series takes a detailed look at s ix areas where most experts agree that a crisis is brewing: Food: An estimated 1 in 6 people suffer from hunger and malnutrition wh ile attempts to grow food are damaging swathes of productive land. Water: By 2025, two thirds of the world's people are likely to be livin g in areas of acute water stress. Energy: Oil production could peak and supplies start to decline by 2010 Climate change: The world's greatest environmental challenge, according to the UK prime minister Tony Blair, with increased storms, floods, dro ught and species losses predicted. Biodiversity: Many scientists think the Earth is now entering its sixth great extinction phase. Pollution: Hazardous chemicals are now found in the bodies of all new-b orn babies, and an estimated one in four people worldwide are exposed to unhealthy concentrations of air pollutants. All six problems are linked and urgent, so a list of priorities is little help. It is pointless to preserve species and habitats, for example, if climate change will destroy them anyway, or to develop novel crops if the water they need is not there. Smog in Hong Kong Air pollution is a serious problem in the world's biggest cities And underlying all these pressures is a seventh - human population. There are already more than six billion of us, and on present trends the UN says we shall probably number about 89bn by 2050. Population growth means something else too: although the proportion of pe ople living in poverty is continuing to fall, the absolute number goes o n rising, because fecundity outstrips our efforts to improve their lives . Poverty matters because it leaves many people no choice but to exploit th e environment, and it fuels frustration. Above all, it condemns them to stunted lives and early deaths - both avoi dable. Difficult dilemmas Planet under pressure is more about questions than answers. Oil refinery in Iraq Dependence on fossil fuels is pushing up CO2 emissions How many of us can live at northern consumption levels, and what level sh ould everyone else be expected to settle for? How can we expect poor people to respect the environment when they need t o use it to survive? Are eco-friendly lives a luxury for the rich or a necessity for everyone? And how can we act when sizeable and sincere parts of society say we are already overcoming the problems, not being overwhelmed by them? For increasing numbers , the future offers living standards undreamt of even a generation ago. But we do have to think through the implications of our success and to re alise its weaknesses. Flood victims in Bangladesh Bangladesh is set to face increased flooding as climate change kicks in Living within the planet's means need not condemn us to giving up what we now assume we need for a full life, just to sharing it. The challenge we face is not about feeling guilty for our consumption or virtuous for being "green" - it is about the growing recognition that, a s the human race, we stand or fall together. Ingenuity and technology continue to offer hope of a better world. You do not need ingenuity and technology to save the roughly 30,000 under -fives who die daily from hunger or easily preventable diseases. And facing up to the planet's pressure points is about their survival, an d ours.
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news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3713134.stm
Printable version Secrets of smell land Nobel Prize Nose Smell is a complex sense Two US scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for unco vering the secrets of the human sense of smell. The way the brain recognises and remembers thousands of different odours has long baffled scientists. Professor Richard Axel, of Columbia University, and Professor Linda Buck, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, cracked the probl em. Until Axel and Buck's studies the sense of smell was a mystery. Professor Sten Grillner The scientists discovered a large gene family, made up of 1,000 different genes that control production of specialised protein receptors. These receptors are found on cells which line a small area of the upper p art of the nose and detect odour molecules when they are breathed in. However, each cell possesses only one type of receptor, and each receptor can detect only a limited number of substances. Therefore each cell is highly specialised for a few odours. The cells each send signals along tiny strands of nerve tissue directly i nto the area of the brain that controls the sense of smell - the olfacto ry bulb. However, each type of cell connects to a different area - or gl omerulus - within this tissue. From here the information is relayed to other parts of the brain, where t he information from several olfactory receptors is combined, forming a p attern which is recognised as a distinct odour. Professor Axel and Buck first published a joint paper identifying the key genes in 1991. Since then they have worked on a number of studies to pin down the organi sation of the olfactory system from molecular to cellular level. Professor Buck, during a lecture to the Karolinksa Institute, which decid es who should get the Nobel Prize, said it was thought that humans can d ifferentiate between up to 10,000 different odours. She said: "The discriminatory power of the olfactory system is immense. Well deserved Professor Sten Grillner, one of the panel of experts who judged the prize , said: "Until Axel and Buck's studies the sense of smell was a mystery. " Dr Peter Brennan, an expert in smell and behaviour at the University of C ambridge, said: "The discovery of this large family of genes has revolut ionized our understanding of this major sense. "Although this work is not directly related to any major human diseases, it has opened new windows on the way the brain interprets the world arou nd us and how this effects behaviour. "Smell is different from the other senses in that the sensory cells are c ontinually dying and being replaced by new cells that have to be wired u p correctly in the brain. "Their work, and that of their co-workers, has increased our knowledge of how the complex patterns of connections in the brain are formed during development."