Month: January 2017

  • NYC Toddlers Exposed to Potentially Harmful Flame-Retardants

    Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) within the Mailman School of Public Health report evidence of potentially harmful flame-retardants on the hands and in the homes of 100 percent of a sample of New York City mothers and toddlers. The study also found that, on average, toddlers in New York City had higher levels of…

  • IKEA Canada to purchase second wind farm in Alberta

    Burlington, ON – IKEA Canada has signed agreements to acquire an 88MW wind farm located near Drumheller, Alberta approximately 130km east of Calgary. Consisting of 55 turbines, the Wintering Hills wind farm will generate 275 million kWh (kilowatt hours) of energy, the equivalent to the electricity consumption of 54 IKEA stores or nearly 26,000 Canadian households.

  • Nordic countries are bringing about an energy transition worth copying

    What can we learn from the Nordic low-carbon energy transition given the new US leadership vacuum on climate change? A new study by Professor Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex offers some important lessons.The Trump administration's "First energy plan" criticises the "burdensome" regulations on the energy industry and aims to eliminate "harmful and unnecessary…

  • New tool helps oyster growers prepare for changing ocean chemistry

    For Bill Mook, coastal acidification is one thing his oyster hatchery cannot afford to ignore.Mook Sea Farm depends on seawater from the Gulf of Maine pumped into a Quonset hut-style building where tiny oysters are grown in tanks. Mook sells these tiny oysters to other oyster farmers or transfers them to his oyster farm on…

  • Researchers Work to Restore the Long-Lost Flavor of Tomatoes

    New research reveals which genes are needed to reinstate the rich, original flavor of tomatoes, now absent in many grocery shelf varieties of this fruit. The results are published in the 27 January issue of Science.

  • How Insects Decide to Grow Up

    Scientists discover key mechanism that controls when fruit flies sexually matureLike humans, insects go through puberty. The process is known as metamorphosis. Examples include caterpillars turning into butterflies and maggots turning into flies.But, it has been a long-standing mystery as to what internal mechanisms control how insects go through metamorphosis and why it is irreversible.

  • High-Tech Maps of Tropical Forest Diversity Identify New Conservation Targets

    New remote sensing maps of the forest canopy in Peru test the strength of current forest protections and identify new regions for conservation effort, according to a report led by Carnegie’s Greg Asner published in Science.Asner and his Carnegie Airborne Observatory team used their signature technique, called airborne laser-guided imaging spectroscopy, to identify preservation targets by…

  • Scientists Develop New Flu Vaccines for Man's Best Friend

    It’s that dreaded time of year – flu season. And we humans aren’t the only ones feeling the pain. Dogs can get the flu, too.Scientists at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry have developed, for the first time, two new vaccines for canine influenza. This research is not only important for improving…

  • Metallic hydrogen, once theory, becomes reality at Harvard

    Nearly a century after it was theorized, Harvard scientists have succeeded in creating the rarest – and potentially one of the most valuable – materials on the planet. 

  • Decarbonising the UK economy

    This week the UK Government published its long awaited industrial strategy, marking a distinctive break from the previous Conservative regime. Gone is David Cameron's more laissez faire attitude to managing the economy.  In its place is a more proactive approach, which seeks to stimulate industry with targeted investment.  Taking advantage of the greater flexibility afforded…