Floods and fires across Europe captured from space
... dozen burning out of control. Peloponnese and the island of Cephalonia in the Adriatic off the peninsula's northwest coast are among the worst hit areas. Major fires are visible from space satellites detect not only the smoke billowing from major conflagrations but also the burn scars left in their wak...CryoSat-2 on the road to recovery
...nt, the two intrepid explorers will 'walk' from an island off the coast of Siberia to southern Greenland a route never before considered. In support of the CryoSat-2 Project they will be taking valuable measurements of snow depth throughout their journey. Regular updates are posted on the expedition web-si...Virtual activities: Virtuous or perilous?
...promotes public diplomacy; the center's use of its island in Second Life as a laboratory for experiments in virtual public diplomacy by the State Department, foreign ministries of state, and prominent think-tanks; and the advantages of virtual worlds over web sites or other media for public diplomacy and cu...2006 Science-in-Society award winners announced
...ture and People of Madagascar, www.wbur.org . The island of Madagascar has been isolated for 90 million years, and 80% to 90% of its species are found nowhere else. Within the next several years, Madagascar may be the place where a struggle to preserve the Earth's diversity of life will be won or lost. The...Just breathe: Ozone forecaster unveiled at University of Houston, available via Web
... on regional air quality, studying the urban heat island phenomenon that engulfs a city like Houston with hot air generated by the radiant heat emanating from the many paved areas and buildings, and observing how changes in the urban environment affect air pollution. "Improving Houston's air quali...Indonesia - disaster relief aid in action
...se to this latest quake - to strike the Indonesian island of Java - was to call once again on its Renal Disaster Task Force (RDRTF). Under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Vanholder, the Task Force acted rapidly by sending two scouts to join a team from Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF). The two Task Force members...Japanese encephalitis widespread in Bali
...-borne virus, in children living on the Indonesian island of Bali. The researchers found an incidence rate of 8.2 per 100,000 in children less than 10 years old. They conclude that contrary to previous findings, which were probably due to inadequate surveillance, the disease is widespread in Bali. Better su...Heart-healthy compound in chocolate identified
...pared to their mainland counterparts, the urine of island dwellers had more than twice the levels of urinary nitric oxide -- a chemical compound already known to be associated with healthy flow of blood through the arteries. The Kuna project was only one part of a five-pronged study approach that the resear...New cocoa evidence on why plant foods are beneficial to cardiovascular health
...be responsible for the lower blood pressure in the island dwellers. Linking Dr. Hollenberg's observations t... and colleagues found that the Kuna Indians on the island who regularly consume flavanol-rich cocoa had higher levels of flavanols, as well as higher levels o...ERS altimeter survey shows growth of Greenland Ice Sheet interior
...l warming. The ice sheet covering Earth's largest island of Greenland has an area of 1 833 900 square kilometres and an average thickness of 2.3 kilometres. It is the second largest concentration of frozen freshwater on Earth and if it were to melt completely global sea level would increase by up to seven ......bia and the Yukon. Tangier disease is named for an island off the coast of Virginia where the disease was first discovered. The disease is extremely rare. As of 1992, fewer than 50 cases had been identified worldwide....