Tag: "threatens" at biology news

Fragile US vaccine system needs improvement despite dramatic gains in health over past century

...ompliance with regulations and liability concerns, threatens the widespread availability of vaccines for children. The most recent estimates (2000) of the cost to develop a new vaccine range from $110 million to $802 million, and five vaccines recently reviewed by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee took f...

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Many of 2 billion dryland dwellers at risk as land degrades

Growing desertification worldwide threatens to swell by millions the number of poor forced to seek new homes and livelihoods. And a rising number of large, intense dust storms plaguing many areas menace the health of people even continents away, international experts warn in a new report. Thi...

Crisis in African fish supplies looms, experts warn Africa leaders

...irector-General Patrick Dugan. The situation also threatens one of Africa's leading sources of export revenue, with an annual value of US$ 2.7 billion. Dr. Dugan notes that aquaculture, which has grown explosively in other regions, now provides 38% of fish production worldwide but less than 2% in sub-Saharan...

Leptin-signaling Protein Maintains Normal Body Weight And Energy Balance In Mice

...irector-General Patrick Dugan. The situation also threatens one of Africa's leading sources of export revenue, with an annual value of US$ 2.7 billion. Dr. Dugan notes that aquaculture, which has grown explosively in other regions, now provides 38% of fish production worldwide but less than 2% in sub-Saharan...

New book on rain forests, slash-and-burn agriculture

...rt forests to agriculture. The loss of the forests threatens Earth's biodiversity and climate. The new book also identifies the costs and benefits of alternative uses of forests and cleared land in several benchmark sites throughout the developing world. It is based on the first decade of work by the Alternat...

Sustainable farm practices improve Third World food production

...ood and agriculturally driven environmental damage threatens to worsen the problem. "Although it is uncertain whether these approaches can meet future food needs, there are grounds for cautious optimism, particularly as poor farm households benefit more from the their adoption," Pretty says. ...

Too much sugar not good for coral reefs

...evelopment can mean more nutrient rich runoff that threatens the very coral reefs attracting tourists in the first place. David Kline at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and colleagues find that bacteria on coral reefs grow out of control as the level of simple sugars in seawater increases. "I se...

Laos ?a lost world for frogs

... 55 percent) and over-exploitation of many species threatens much of Laos's wildlife. Already, a newly described salamander species found by Stuart in Laos has turned up earlier this year in the Japanese pet trade, where it is commanding a high commercial price. This species is currently known only from two, ...

The critical importance of mangroves to ocean life

...peculate that the rapid decline in mangrove extent threatens the delicate balance and may eventually shut off the important link between the land and ocean, with potential consequences for atmospheric composition and climate. ...

Surprising symbiosis: Glassy-winged sharpshooter eats with friends

...s plant disease, including Pierce's disease, which threatens vineyards," Eisen says. "In order to design methods to fight the insect, we've got to understand how it works and its weaknesses. We knew symbionts were doing something for this insect--but until this study, we had no clue what that was." In particu...

Mother knows best: Plant knowledge key to childhood health in remote Amazon

...e, explained Reyes-García. "However, globalization threatens this knowledge to the extent that formal schooling and jobs in emerging markets devalue folk knowledge and provide access to products not made from local resources, but without providing adequate medical treatment substitutes," said Reyes-García. "In...

Cellulosic ethanol: Fuel of the future?

...hanol will require widespread deforestation, which threatens biodiversity. ''It depends on what acres of land o...on.'' According to Somerville, ''Climate change threatens biodiversity more than anything that I know. For example, in British Columbia they are losing each y...

Custom-made cancer cell attacks

...hanol will require widespread deforestation, which threatens biodiversity. ''It depends on what acres of land o...on.'' According to Somerville, ''Climate change threatens biodiversity more than anything that I know. For example, in British Columbia they are losing each y...

ESA launches new project to protect biodiversity

...net's six billion people. The loss of biodiversity threatens our food supplies, energy and medicines. For instance, up to 80% of the world's population currently relies on plant and animal-based medicines for their primary health care needs. The sustainable use of biodiversity's components will not only save e...

Need oxygen? Cells know how to spend and save

...unt is available at the moment. Too little oxygen threatens life by compromising mitochondria that power it, so when oxygen is scarce, cells appear to adjust by replacing one protein with an energy-efficient substitute that "is specialized to keep the motor running smoothly even as it begins to run out of gas...

Potent possibilities for parasite attack

...hat affects about two million people each year and threatens one-fifth of the world's population and new treatments are desperately needed. In their report in Nature Genetics, published online on Sunday 17 June 2007, the researchers compared the genomes of L. infantum and L. braziliensis, which cause life-th...

1