CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Wot no conference bag?

Leading by example is important in public health. How can you convince someone to change if you haven't tried yourself? UKPHA was leading by example by reducing its carbon footprint this week in Bournemouth.

Bag making workshop at UKPHA. (photo courtesy Wendie Norris)

World Water Day 2010 - Clean Water for a Healthy World

World Water Day is held annually on the 22nd of March and this year’s UN selected theme is “Clean Water for a Healthy World.” With over 1.1 billion people (around one sixth of the world’s population) in the world today lacking access to clean water and with less than 1% of the world’s freshwater being accessible for human use, Green Cross International (GCI) launched a project called ‘Smart Water for Green Schools’ earlier this month in Geneva, together with Pureology Serious Colour Care®. Read on to find out more about the project.

Too much tourism traumatising dolphins

 

Dolphin watching. Image: Zanzibar-island.com
 

In many parts of the world, watching whales and dolphins in their natural habitat has become a vital and growing part of the tourist industry. Cetacean tourism is also often used in arguments for the protection and conservation of whales, dolphins and other iconic marine animals, by presenting a potentially sustainable source of income for coastal communities and an economically viable alternative to whaling. However, too many tourist boats, and approaching too close to the marine animals, have also been found to create disturbance resulting in behavoural changes which may be long-term and life-threatening, both at the individual and population level (Bejder et al., 2006).

 

The latest contribution to research into impacts of dolphin tourism has just been published in Endangered Species Research by a team of scientists led by Dr. Per Bergggren of Newcastle University, UK. The study of bottlenose dolphins living off the coast of Zanzibar has found that the many tourist boats operating in the area are harassing the animals, preventing them from resting, feeding and nurturing their young.

 

The research also highlighted swimming with dolphins - in particular where tourists swim in very close and try to touch the dolphins - as being incredibly stressful for the animals.

Vitamin D and flu

Since my recent post on the growing health claims for vitamin D (see: Bring on the sunshine!), the 'sunshine vitamin' has continued to appear in the headlines.

Of note is a study from Japan (just published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)¹ suggesting that the risk of children contracting influenza A may be reduced if they take vitamin D supplements during the winter.

Invasive plant to meet its match

Today sees an important milestone in a CABI project, led by Dr Dick Shaw. Defra gave the go-ahead to release an insect, a psyllid, to stop the spread of the non-native invasive plant, Japanese Knotweed. 

What killed the dinosaurs?

 

A new study presented this week at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, USA, gives compelling evidence, which shows the most likely cause of the dinosaurs’ extinction 65 million years ago. The two main theories up to now were that a giant asteroid hit Mexico and wiped them out or that super volcanic eruptions in India caused them to die. Read on to find out what really killed the dinosaurs…