CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

UFO or IFI?

I read in the news and heard in the radio this morning about the release of Ministry of Defence (MoD) archive files, from 1994 to 2000, which contains reports on sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and aliens around Britain. As I often do, whenever I read something unusual and interesting in the news, I searched the CAB Abstracts database to see what I could find on the subject – it has almost become a challenge – and I always find we have scientific papers on just about everything I have searched so far, including one article on UFOs. Read on to find out about UFO sightings reported in a scientific paper!

Bring on the sunshine!

I have recently come across a number of interesting articles highlighting the health benefits of maintaining sufficient/high levels of vitamin D. The headlines grabbing my attention include: UK experts calling for milk to be fortified to halt a rise in rickets; high levels of vitamin D can reduce heart disease and diabetes in the middle aged; and high vitamin D intake in pregnancy may lower the risk of the baby developing MS as an adult.

The main way in which we obtain vitamin D is by synthesizing it in our skin during exposure to sunlight - for this reason it is sometimes referred to as 'the sunshine vitamin'. However, in parts of the northern hemisphere where we have more limited sun exposure (and we are tending to spend more time indoors), food sources of vitamin D become important. Oily fish is a good source and many countries fortify foods. Here in the UK, vitamin D is added to margarines, infant formula and breakfast cereals. In the USA and Canada, milk is also fortified.

I was surprised to read that a recent UK survey of white adults (all 45 years old) found that more than 50% of the participants had insufficient levels of vitamin D, with 16% having severe deficiency during winter and spring¹. This is concerning as, in addition to the well-known musculoskeletal effects of vitamin D deficiency, many health problems including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, several cancers and autoimmune conditions have recently been associated with vitamin D insufficiency².

Now wash your hands

Handwashing. So simple, so easy, and so effective at preventing the spread of diseases. Use soap and water, rub all surfaces of the hand while singing Happy Birthday twice! The result? Up to 50% reduced diarrhoea and respiratory infections. Handwashing is the most cost effective health activity there is, says the World Health Organization. Read on to find out more….

Canada strikes gold, but Olympics given a bronze rating on climate change

 Canada's gold medal winner - Picture by BBC Sport.

Yesterday, Canada ended its 34 year wait for an Olympic gold medal won on home soil, with a win for Alexandre Bilodeau in the men's moguls event in Vancouver. But the 2010 Winter Olympics were given only a bronze medal for climate protection initiatives by the Vancouver-based David Suzuki Foundation in a "climate scorecard" released on 3 February. The scorecard gives the Olympic organizers credit for energy-efficient venues, but is more critical on transport for the Games.

Prior to the Olympics, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (Vanoc) had claimed that it would host the first ever carbon neutral Olympics ever staged. However, Vanoc later said that rather than offsetting all carbon emissions (estimated at 268,000 tonnes, including those from sponsors, partners and spectators), they would only offset what they determined were “direct” operational emissions, which amount to 118,000 tonnes, less than half of the total emissions generated by the Games.

Could new rubber plantations cause malaria re-emergence in northeastern Thailand?

If you’ve been to Thailand recently you probably enjoyed a week or two in a stunningly beautiful country with great tropical weather and lots of interesting culture. What’s more you were probably relieved to be able to enjoy all this without the inconvenience of taking anti-malarial drugs every day unlike many other tropical destinations. However, this may change in future, especially if you’re planning to go to the northeast of the country.

A recent article in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases predicts that malaria may re-emerge in northeastern Thailand due to the recent, rapid increase in rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations in this area. According to Trevor Petney and colleagues, the area covered by rubber plantations has increased from ~284 km² in 1993 to 948 km² in 2003 and to 5,029 km² by 2007. This exponential increase is due to the major economic importance of natural rubber – it cannot be replaced by synthetic alternatives and so the demand for and production of this commodity has consistently increased.

Where now for GM food in India?

India has this week deferred commercial cultivation of what would have been its first genetically modified (GM) food crop. Production of Bt aubergine has been put on hold while further research is done. India has grown transgenic cotton since 2002, and GM varieties now account for 80% of plantings, but aubergine would have been the first GM vegetable crop to be approved in the country.

Few topics in agriculture and food divide opinion - or arouse such debate in world trade - as much as that of genetically modified (GM) food. GM crops have been widely cultivated in the USA and now account for over 90% of soyabeans grown there, and some 85% of maize (up from 25% in 2000). A number of countries in South and Central America also grow GM crops. Europe has so far been more wary, but the UK's Chief Scientist, Professor John Beddington, gave growers and farmers at this year's Oxford Farming Conference a clear indication that Britain must embrace the technology, warning them that it is no longer possible to rely on improving crop yields through traditional methods.

"Techniques and technologies from many disciplines, ranging from biotechnology and engineering to newer fields such as nanotechnology, will be needed," he says.

GM proponents have long argued that the technology, rather than just being about increasing the profits of multinationals or allowing the use of particular agrochemicals, offers a way to produce healthier food (much GM research is now about increasing levels of nutrients or health-promoting compounds in crops), or engineer crops capable of growing in stressful conditions, and more resistant to pests and diseases. Thus, the news that India has deferred the commercial cultivation of what would have been its first GM vegetable crop is a blow to those who think that GM is a way to promote food security in Asia and Africa.

Can ecotourism help save the tiger?

Last week, fellow hand-picked blogger Vicki Bonham posted an article about the problems facing tigers in the wild. Coincidentally, a few days after reading this a set of news alerts on tigers hit my inbox. At the end of January, a high-level meeting in Thailand for the first time laid the groundwork for joint action among Asian countries on tiger conservation, and set a target of doubling the number of wild tigers - but there is still much to be done before the targets set become reality.