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Fukushima Reactor Water Level Shallower Than Thought

Tue, 2012-03-27 23:19 — Kathy Gilbeaux

yomiuri.co.jp - March 28, 2012

The water level in the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is only about 60 centimeters deep, far shallower than previously assumed levels of about four meters, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The lower-than-expected water level was discovered for the first time when the power utility used an industrial endoscope to check the crippled reactor's interior on Monday, TEPCO said.

According to some experts, it is possible that nuclear fuel that melted through the reactor's pressure vessel and accumulated on the bottom of the containment vessel in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami may not be completely covered in the water.

TEPCO said the water temperature in the vessel remained relatively low within a range of 48.5 C to 50 C. The discovery of the unexpectedly shallow water level will not affect TEPCO's judgment that the reactor is in a state of "cold shutdown."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120327006202.htm

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Japan
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Radiation
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Insights from Past Millennia into Climatic Impacts on Human Health and Survival

Tue, 2012-03-27 11:20 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Janine Rees

      

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - by A. J. McMichael - National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.

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United States
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Climate
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Antimicrobial Resistance in the European Union and the World

Fri, 2012-03-16 23:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

The EU’s contributions to the solutions of the global antimicrobial resistance problem Keynote address at the conference on Combating antimicrobial resistance: time for action
Copenhagen, Denmark

14 March 2012

Your Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary, excellencies, distinguished delegates, experts, representatives of regulatory authorities, agencies for disease control, and civil society, ladies and gentlemen,

You are meeting to explore what EU Member States can do to solve what you rightly recognize as a serious, growing, and global threat to health.

Drug-resistant pathogens are notorious globe-trotters. They travel well in infected air passengers and through global trade in food. In addition, the growth of medical tourism has accelerated the international spread of hospital-acquired infections that are frequently resistant to multiple drugs.

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Global
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Health
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Dwindling Resources Trigger Global Land Rush

Thu, 2012-03-15 22:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

Caudalosa workers clean up mining tailings in Peru's Opamayo River. - Credit:Milagros Salazar/IPS

by Stephen Leahy - ipsnews.net

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 1, 2012 (IPS) - A global scramble for land and mineral resources fuelled by billions of investment dollars is threatening the last remaining wilderness and critical ecosystems, destroying communities and contaminating huge volumes of fresh water, warned environmental groups in London Wednesday.

No national park, delicate ecosystem or community is off limits in the voracious hunt for valuable metals, minerals and fossil fuels, said the Gaia Foundation’s report, "Opening Pandora's Box". The intensity of the hunt and exploitation is building to a fever pitch despite the fact the Earth is already overheated and humanity is using more than can be sustained, the 56-page report warns.

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Global
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Ecosystems
Environment
Land Use
Pollution
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An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report: Climate Change and Human Health

Thu, 2012-03-15 21:13 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society - March 15, 2012

Worldwide increases in the incidences of asthma, allergies, infectious and cardiovascular diseases will result from a variety of impacts of global climate change, including rising temperatures, worsening ozone levels in urban areas, the spread of desertification, and expansions of the ranges of communicable diseases as the planet heats up, the professional organization representing respiratory and airway physicians stated in a new position paper released today.

The paper is published online and in print in the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/uoc--lde030912.php

An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report: Climate Change and Human Health

http://pats.atsjournals.org/content/9/1/3.abstract

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Co­lo­ni­al­ism in Africa Helped Launch the HIV Epidemic a Century Ago

Thu, 2012-03-08 21:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

To export ivory and rubber from what is now Cameroon, traders created routes that enabled the first cases of HIV to reach large population centers. This photograph is from a collection by Alice Seeley Harris and her husband, John Harris, who were missionaries in the Belgian Congo at the turn of the century. They documented the horrific abuses of the indigenous people of the Congo by Belgian King Leopold II's regime.  Anti-Slavery International/PANOS

Without “The Scramble for Africa,” it’s hard to see how HIV could have made it out of southeastern Cameroon to eventually kill tens of millions of people, according to a new book by Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin.

By Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin - The Washington Post - February 27, 2012

We are unlikely to ever know all the details of the birth of the AIDS epidemic. But a series of recent genetic discoveries have shed new light on it, starting with the moment when a connection from chimp to human changed the course of history.

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Global
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Health
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The Coming Entanglement: Bill Joy and Danny Hillis

Tue, 2012-02-28 23:07 — Kathy Gilbeaux

scientificamerican.com - February 15, 2012

Digital innovators Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and Danny Hillis, co-founder of the Long Now Foundation, talk with Scientific American Executive Editor Fred Guterl about the technological "Entanglement" and the attempts to build the other, hardier Internet. Web sites related to this episode include http://compass-summit.com and The Shadow Web

(LISTEN TO THE PODCAST IN THE LINK BELOW)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=the-coming-entanglement-bill-joy-an-12-02-15

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Global
US - West
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Communication
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DISASTERS: Smart Weather Data Can Make a Difference

Sat, 2012-02-25 10:50 — Kathy Gilbeaux

irinnews.org

NAIROBI, 15 February 2012 (IRIN) - “When should we plant?” is a question increasingly being asked by small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa who depend on rain-fed agriculture. To help answer such questions, climate scientists are being urged to provide more reliable and relevant local climate data, and better communicate their knowledge on climate adaptation techniques. 

"When we think about preparing for imminent disasters it is not possible to prepare for flooding, for example, just a few days in advance, which we get from the weather forecast. We need to think about preparedness further in advance and think in terms of what kind of decisions we can make, say, three months in advance, such as moving important resources away. We need a continuum of information,” said Simon Mason, the chief climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) in the USA.

According to Mason, more effective short, mid-range and seasonal weather forecasting is needed for the development of useful early warning systems. 

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Global
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Agriculture
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Solutions
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2010 Russian Heat Wave Caused by Both Manmade, Natural Causes

Thu, 2012-02-23 17:04 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - February 23, 2012

The heat wave that struck western Russia in summer 2010 killed 55,000 people and caused $15 billion in damage; a new study concludes that soaring temperatures were within the natural range for a Russian summer, but that due to human-induced climate change, the chance of such an extreme heat wave has tripled over the past several decades

The heat wave that struck western Russia in summer 2010, killing 55,000 people, broke July temperatures records and caused $15 billion in damage. Searching for a culprit for the soaring temperatures, research teams have identified either natural or manmade causes. A new study concludes, however, that the devastating heat wave had both. Soaring temperatures were within the natural range for a Russian summer, the researchers found, but due to human-induced climate change, the chance of such an extreme heat wave has tripled over the past several decades.

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Global
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Climate
Environment
Extreme Weather
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Invisibility Cloak to Protect Buildings from Earthquakes

Sat, 2012-02-18 01:01 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett and Linton Wells

Homeland Security News Wire - February 15, 2012

Scientists show that by cloaking components of structures with pressurized rubber, powerful waves such as those produced by an earthquake would not “see” the building — they would simply pass around the structure and thus prevent serious damage or destruction

University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a Harry Potter-style cloaking device which could protect buildings from earthquakes.

Dr. William Parnell’s team in the University’s School of Mathematics has been working on the theory of invisibility cloaks which, until recently, have been merely the subject of science fiction.

In recent times, however, scientists have been getting close to achieving cloaking in a variety of contexts. A University of Manchester release reports that the work from the team at Manchester focuses on the theory of cloaking devices which could eventually help to protect buildings and structures from vibrations and natural disasters such as earthquakes.

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United States
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Disaster Risk Reduction
Earthquake
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