| German Military Braces for Scarcity After 'Peak Oil' A leaked German analysis plots a peak in global oil supplies, followed by an irreversible decline that drives up transportation prices and fosters product shortages. feeds.nytimes.com |
Urban living helps people develop resistance to disease, say scientists Scientists have discovered that generations of urban living develops resistance to TB, leprosy and other diseasesLiving in urban areas has helped people develop an immunity to diseases, a study published today suggested. Researchers discovered that people who have a history of living in more populated regions are more likely to have a genetic variant which gives them a resistance to diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.Poor sanitation and high population densities provided an ideal breeding ground for disease in ancient cities. Past exposure to pathogens led to disease resistance spreading through populations because ancestors passed it on to their descendants, scientists said. Dr Ian Barnes, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway College, said: "This seems to be an elegant example of evolution in action."It flags up the importance of a very recent aspect of our evolution as a species, the development of cities as a selective force. It could also help to explain some of the differences we observe in disease resistance around the world."Researchers analysed DNA samples from populations across Europe, Asia and Africa and compared rates of genetic disease resistance with urban history. They found that in the areas with a long history of urban settlements, today's inhabitants were more likely to possess the DNA variant which provides some resistance to infection.The study, which was conducted by researchers at Royal Holloway, the University of London, University College London and Oxford University, is published in the journal Evolution.EvolutionBiologyHealthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Undocumented language found hidden in India By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 2010-10-06T11:31:40ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- A "hidden" language spoken by only about 1,000 people has been discovered in the remote northeast corner of India by researchers who at first thought they were documenting a dialect of the Aka culture, a tribal community in the foothills of the Himalayas.... hosted.ap.org |
'People don't get biodiversity' Jane Smart, of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, explains how the human race is dependent for its survival on biodiversity. news.bbc.co.uk |
[press release] Greenland Ice Core Team Reaches Bedrock Professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen with the last icecore drilled at a depth of 2537,36 m. The last 2 m of ice above the bedrock contains rocks and other material that has not seen sunlight for hundreds of thousands of years.Bedrock has been reached Tuesday July 27 2010 at the deep ice core drilling site North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) on the Greenland Ice Sheet at the depth 2537.36 m. Th... antarctica.ac.uk |