The supply of blood for patients and emergencies has always fluctuated. Generally it is dependent on adequate donations from the public. A more dependable source would be useful. While local and temporary blood shortages have occurred periodically, the nation’s blood supply generally is considered adequate. There is also a problem of genetic compatibility. In a…

Communities on the Isle of Islay are moving forward with plans for tidal energy and renewable fuels while maintaining age old methods of agriculture and whisky distilling.

In ecology class, students are taught the effects of keystone species, the dominant species in the ecosystem. They are the top dogs, the big fish. The keystone species have a disproportionate effect on their environment and can determine the types and numbers of species in their ecosystem, not just their prey. A recent study published…

Some like it hot, including the plants living in South America’s tropical rain forests 56 million years ago. As global average temperatures spiked 5 degrees Celsius over a period of 10,000 years — a geologic blink of an eye — plant diversity in northern South America also soared, researchers report in the Nov. 12 Science.

A new study in Science has found that the incredible biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest goes back much further than expected, perhaps upending old ideas about how the Amazon basin became arguably the world’s most biodiverse ecosystem. According to the study, the origin of rich biodiversity in the Amazon likely goes back more than 20…

Chocolate was once the drink of Mayan and Aztec kings. Now a cocoa shortage may make chocolate an exclusive luxury again. Chocolate could become as rare as caviar, said John Mason of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council. Which means chocolate treats may become unaffordable for the average person. The price of cocoa, the raw…

Mount Merapi(literally Mountain of Fire in Indonesian/Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It has erupted repeatedly this fall. The most recent eruption saw almost 200 killed and more than 360,000 people flee…

Dogs have been used by the humans for many years. Their greatest tool, which has been prized by authorities in particular, is their incredibly sensitive nose. Some experts believe that their sense of smell is 100,000 times better than that of humans. However, their reputation as bomb-sniffers is now being put to the test with…

Most people will be surprised, but Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways. In fact, the A8 “Milano-Laghi” motorway (“Milan-Lakes”, as it connects the city of Milan to Lake Como and Maggiore) was completed in 1926. Time has passed and all developed nations now boast wide motorway networks, a strategic infrastructure…

The first ever peer-reviewed study of BPA levels in specific US foods was just published, and the results are surprisingly comforting. The headline you might read is that BPA levels are 1,000 times lower than the health levels for “tolerable daily intake” set by US and European food safety authorities.