18 posts · 5,470 views
A blog which seeks to provide an increased awareness and appreciation of our fragile planet. We generally believe in conservation and prudent utilisation of the environment through sustainable development. We aim at encouraging healthy discourses which could be eventually translated into feasible policies.
Sarah Stephen
18 posts
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- October 9, 2011
- 07:17 PM
- 166 views
A matter of the heart
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Some years ago, I accompanied a young relative, a very eager science graduate working on particulate matter, as she conducted her research survey on public perception of particulate matter and its effects in a certain borough of London Particulate matter (PM) is used to describe solid matter suspended in a gas or liquid phase. In the environment, particulates may occur naturally (as consequence of forest fires, volcanoes, dust storm, sea sprays etc) or via anthropogenic activities, such as the b........ Read more »
Bhaskaran K, Hajat S, Armstrong B, Haines A, Herrett E, Wilkinson P, & Smeeth L. (2011) The effects of hourly differences in air pollution on the risk of myocardial infarction: case crossover analysis of the MINAP database. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). PMID: 21933824
- September 11, 2011
- 05:26 PM
- 362 views
Marine mammals and their future
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Marine mammals have borne the brunt of mankind’s unsustainable overexploitation, resulting in population decline and species extinction. Hunting for fur, blubber, and meat in the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in the extinction of three species – the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis), Atlantic gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), and the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas). The most recent extinction, due to its use in traditional medicine, was that of the Baiji (Li........ Read more »
Pompa S, Ehrlich PR, & Ceballos G. (2011) Global distribution and conservation of marine mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(33), 13600-5. PMID: 21808012
- August 28, 2011
- 08:27 AM
- 452 views
Mr Wolf, I presume?
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Those of us who have a long-standing interest in Egyptian mythology would remember Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead, who held the unappealing portfolio of funerals, afterlife, mummification, fate of souls, and protection of the dead and their tombs. This was presumably because Anubis’ animal counterpart, the Egyptian Jackal (Canis aureus lupaster; Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833), preferred to occupy burial grounds. C.a.lupaster was considered to be a large, rare subspecies of the gold........ Read more »
Rueness EK, Asmyhr MG, Sillero-Zubiri C, Macdonald DW, Bekele A, Atickem A, & Stenseth NC. (2011) The cryptic African wolf: Canis aureus lupaster is not a golden jackal and is not endemic to Egypt. PloS one, 6(1). PMID: 21298107
- August 23, 2011
- 12:29 PM
- 371 views
More scientific grub on migration
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
A previous post presented how those characteristic summer chorus of the English countryside may be soon an event of the past. This rapid decrease in the population of migratory birds in the UK was attributed to habitat destruction and other such anthropogenic factors, probably somewhere along the migration corridor. So what does habitat destruction and other anthropogenic influences bode for migrating organisms? Vishwesha Guttal and Iain Couzin, of Princeton University, try to predict this (am........ Read more »
Guttal V, & Couzin ID. (2010) Social interactions, information use, and the evolution of collective migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(37), 16172-7. PMID: 20713700
- August 9, 2011
- 07:06 PM
- 231 views
Stuck in traffic
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
As you sit in the rush hour queues, pity the poor guy or girl directing the traffic, and imagine the fumes they are breathing in. In Brazil, with rapidly expanding car ownership, but not necessarily expanding road space, this is an increasing problem.
A recent study* in the city of Santo Andre, part of the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, focused on traffic controllers. The study focused on male, non smoking, traffic controllers who had been exposed for over 3 years. As the authors note, one........ Read more »
Sérgio Chiarelli P, Amador Pereira LA, Nascimento Saldiva PH, Ferreira Filho C, Bueno Garcia ML, Ferreira Braga AL, & Conceição Martins L. (2011) The association between air pollution and blood pressure in traffic controllers in Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil. Environmental research, 111(5), 650-5. PMID: 21570068
- June 27, 2011
- 03:43 PM
- 288 views
Yellow gold : Turmeric and its promise
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Growing up in Southern India, we cultivated several vegetables and spices in our backyard, one of which was turmeric. Turmeric (Curcuma longa) belongs to the same family as ginger. It is rhizomatous herb and normally pieces of the rhizome are planted in the rainy months of July. In our hands, the plants did not require much care at all. No artificial fertilizers were used nor wwere the plants watered but only left to the mercy of nature. But our part of South India is blessed with rains anyway........ Read more »
Howes MJ, & Perry E. (2011) The role of phytochemicals in the treatment and prevention of dementia. Drugs , 28(6), 439-68. PMID: 21639405
Rajasekaran SA. (2011) Therapeutic potential of curcumin in gastrointestinal diseases. World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology, 2(1), 1-14. PMID: 21607160
Wilken R, Veena MS, Wang MB, & Srivatsan ES. (2011) Curcumin: A review of anti-cancer properties and therapeutic activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Molecular cancer, 12. PMID: 21299897
Park J, & Conteas CN. (2010) Anti-carcinogenic properties of curcumin on colorectal cancer. World journal of gastrointestinal oncology, 2(4), 169-76. PMID: 21160593
Pocernich CB, Bader Lange ML, Sultana R, & Butterfield DA. (2011) Nutritional Approaches to Modulate Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer's Disease. Current Alzheimer research. PMID: 21605052
Huang J, Plass C, & Gerhäuser C. (2010) Cancer Chemoprevention by Targeting the Epigenome. Current drug targets. PMID: 21158707
- June 11, 2011
- 11:25 AM
- 262 views
Dams on the Xingu
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
On June 1st Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, controversially gave permission for the company Norte Energia to begin building a hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river in the northern state of Para. This follows the granting of a provisional licence in January by the previous president, Lula da Silva, to begin land clearance and road construction, and years of court cases. A total of eleven cases have been filed against the project by the Federal Public Prosecutor, over various irregularitie........ Read more »
Fearnside, P. (2006) Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazil’s Hydroelectric Development of the Xingu River Basin. Environmental Management, 38(1), 16-27. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-005-0113-6
- June 2, 2011
- 06:51 PM
- 485 views
Super bugs and Super sleuths
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Earlier this week on Monday came reports from Germany that 6 people who consumed raw vegetables were killed and hundreds rendered ill . Initial investigations pointed towards consumptions of raw cucumber, lettuce and tomatoes. The fatalities were attributed to hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS, from E. Coli. Since then, more people have died and the infection has spread to different parts of Europe . Cases have been reported from Sweden, Austria, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Swit........ Read more »
Kumarasamy KK, Toleman MA, Walsh TR, Bagaria J, Butt F, Balakrishnan R, Chaudhary U, Doumith M, Giske CG, Irfan S.... (2010) Emergence of a new antibiotic resistance mechanism in India, Pakistan, and the UK: a molecular, biological, and epidemiological study. The Lancet infectious diseases, 10(9), 597-602. PMID: 20705517
Poirel L, Hombrouck-Alet C, Freneaux C, Bernabeu S, & Nordmann P. (2010) Global spread of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1. The Lancet infectious diseases, 10(12), 832. PMID: 21109172
- January 29, 2011
- 01:12 PM
- 335 views
Waste lands
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Modern cities generate huge amounts of rubbish, and disposing of this is one of the most pressing environmental problems. One can bury it of course, or burn it in incinerators, or just dump it in a big pile just outside the city. This is the approach chosen for the Jardim Gramacho in Rio, Brazil, one of the worlds largest rubbish dumps, which is the subject of the Oscar nominated film, Waste Land.*Seventy percent of Rio's rubbish arrives at Jardim Gramacho, which is an astonishing 7,0........ Read more »
Porto MF, Juncá DC, Gonçalves Rde S, & Filhote MI. (2004) [Garbage, work, and health: a case study of garbage pickers at the metropolitan landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]. Cadernos de saude publica / Ministerio da Saude, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Escola Nacional de Saude Publica, 20(6), 1503-14. PMID: 15608851
- August 27, 2010
- 02:55 AM
- 370 views
Effect of climate change on human morbidity and mortality and sea levels
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Climate change has been resulting in quite a many detrimental manifestations which tend to have a domino effect: fluctuations in temperature and precipitation (resulting in climate variability), as well as extreme manifestations such as drought, storms, rise in sea levels, and frequent severe weather events.Consider the research by Grinsted et al (2009) who used a ‘physically plausible four parameter linear response equation’ to relate nearly 2,000 years of global temperatures and sea level......... Read more »
Patz, J., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Holloway, T., & Foley, J. (2005) Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature, 438(7066), 310-317. DOI: 10.1038/nature04188
Grinsted, A., Moore, J., & Jevrejeva, S. (2009) Reconstructing sea level from paleo and projected temperatures 200 to 2100 ad. Climate Dynamics, 34(4), 461-472. DOI: 10.1007/s00382-008-0507-2
- August 19, 2010
- 10:04 AM
- 240 views
Where did the oil go?
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico released, as we have all seen on tv, a lot of oil. Quite how much is a "lot" is a bit of a guess, but roughly 4.9 million barrels, or 784 million litres*. What actually happened to this oil was reviewed recently in an article in Science (Kerr 2010). Only about 0.1% was recovered from beaches and marshes (that´s still an awful lot of oil!). About 17% was siphoned away at the well head, 5% burned off at the surface, and only 3% skimmed off........ Read more »
Kerr RA. (2010) Gulf Oil Spill. A lot of oil on the loose, not so much to be found. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5993), 734-5. PMID: 20705818
Kintisch E. (2010) Gulf Oil Spill. An audacious decision in crisis gets cautious praise. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5993), 735-6. PMID: 20705819
Vila, J., Nieto, J., Mertens, J., Springael, D., & Grifoll, M. (2010) Microbial community structure of a heavy fuel oil-degrading marine consortium: linking microbial dynamics with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon utilization. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.00902.x
- June 16, 2010
- 08:47 AM
- 222 views
Paper of the Week : A Whale of the waste matter
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
The way by which living organisms in our planet are intricately connected is beautiful beyond comprehension. Like pieces in a puzzle they all fit together with the activities of each organism however trivial it may appear to be, affecting the existance of others. We will never fully understand this marvel, but a noteworthy example is the elegant finding by Lavery et al published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences)- Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon expo........ Read more »
Lavery, T., Roudnew, B., Gill, P., Seymour, J., Seuront, L., Johnson, G., Mitchell, J., & Smetacek, V. (2010) Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0863
- May 31, 2010
- 05:26 AM
- 353 views
Paper of the Week: Humans and Biodiversity
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
A new study interestingly implies that human activities may not always be bad for biodiversity. Long before the colonizers arrived in South America, indigenous farmers, belonging to the Arauquinoid cultures, had already interfered with the Amazonian biodiversity. Their novel agricultural engineering methods had changed the savannah ecosystem, resulting in increased biodiversity. Thus states the solid paper, on 'Pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchi........ Read more »
McKey D, Rostain S, Iriarte J, Glaser B, Birk JJ, Holst I, & Renard D. (2010) Pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchiness in Amazonia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(17), 7823-8. PMID: 20385814
- May 31, 2010
- 05:23 AM
- 327 views
Paper of the week: Effects of prenatal exposure of pthalates
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Pthalates are esters of pthalic acid that are commonly added to plastics but also are found in diverse products ranging from cosmetics to pharmaceutical pills. As could be expected, studies that monitor phthalate metabolites in human populations have shown that they are widely present. Over the years, there have been many concerns over their effect on human health notably as hormonal disrupting agents. This has led to the regulation of some phthalates in consumer products in Europe and the Unite........ Read more »
Engel SM, Miodovnik A, Canfield RL, Zhu C, Silva MJ, Calafat AM, & Wolff MS. (2010) Prenatal phthalate exposure is associated with childhood behavior and executive functioning. Environmental health perspectives, 118(4), 565-71. PMID: 20106747
- May 29, 2010
- 01:27 PM
- 265 views
Paper of the Week: Beware the Lead
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Staunch supporters of game will find little to be pleased with the research published by Deborah Pain (of Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Gloucestershire) and colleagues, on Potential Hazard to Human Health from Exposure to Fragments of Lead Bullets and Shot in the Tissues of Game Animals in PLoS. The findings would also shock those who happily dig into the cooked game, seldom pondering about how much lead is ingested in the process.Lead ammunition (pellets/bullets) is often used to shoot down game........ Read more »
Pain DJ, Cromie RL, Newth J, Brown MJ, Crutcher E, Hardman P, Hurst L, Mateo R, Meharg AA, Moran AC.... (2010) Potential hazard to human health from exposure to fragments of lead bullets and shot in the tissues of game animals. PloS one, 5(4). PMID: 20436670
- February 26, 2010
- 02:38 PM
- 203 views
Sunlight on the sea
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
In this last week the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Recife have experienced records levels of UV exposure. While a UV index of 6-7 is ¨high risk", and "very high risk" is 8-10, Sao Paulo was scorched with an index of 14. As the sun burns us it also beats down on the ocean surface and the algae that live there. What happens next is the subject of the CLAW hypothesis, which proposes a negative feedback loop, as follows.....Dimethylsulphide produced by phytoplankton is oxidised by bacteria to ........ Read more »
Miles, C., Bell, T., & Lenton, T. (2009) Testing the relationship between the solar radiation dose and surface DMS concentrations using in situ data. Biogeosciences, 6(9), 1927-1934. DOI: 10.5194/bg-6-1927-2009
- February 21, 2010
- 12:39 PM
- 382 views
Paper of the week: What ocean acidification means for the plankton
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
It appears that we humans had taken oceans for granted for too long. A widely known fact is that most of what we discard makes its way to oceans. Oceans are sinks for all things including 1/3 of the carbon dioxide that has been released in the last 200 years. This has resulted in the acidification of the oceans. The science behind is that carbonic acid is formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in sea water. This raises the hydrogen ion concentration and bicarbonate ions, but limits carbonate ions......... Read more »
Shi D, Xu Y, Hopkinson BM, & Morel FM. (2010) Effect of ocean acidification on iron availability to marine phytoplankton. Science (New York, N.Y.), 327(5966), 676-9. PMID: 20075213
Fabry, V. (2008) OCEAN SCIENCE: Marine Calcifiers in a High-CO2 Ocean. Science, 320(5879), 1020-1022. DOI: 10.1126/science.1157130
- February 16, 2010
- 06:27 AM
- 156 views
Paper of the Week: The link between snowfall increase in Antarctica and drought in southwest Western Australia
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan, of the Australian Antarctic Division, published a paper ‘Snowfall increase in coastal East Antarctica linked with southwest Western Australian drought’ in Nature Geosciences.Turns out that this region of Australia has been facing a 40-year drought which was attributed to several factors, such as ‘natural variability, changes in land use, ocean temperatures and atmospheric circulation’. After evaluating the precipitation records of the two regions (East Antar........ Read more »
van Ommen, T., & Morgan, V. (2010) Snowfall increase in coastal East Antarctica linked with southwest Western Australian drought. Nature Geoscience, 3(4), 267-272. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo761
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