Worldwide climate change and loss of biodiversity are issues of global scope and importance that have recently become subjects of considerable public concern. Unlike classical public health issues and many environmental issues, their perceived threat lies in their potential to disrupt ecological functioning and stability rather than from any direct threat that may pose to human health. Over the...

Over the past 60 years, Earth observing has evolved from aerial photographic studies to high-tech airborne 3-D imaging and global satellite-based monitoring. These technological advances have been driven by an increasing call for quantitative and information-rich data on changes in Earth properties and processes. Within the biospheric remote sensing arena, focus has mostly been placed on change...

On the diversity of biological therapeutics Increasingly precise defi nition of the molecular nature of disturbances in cellular homeostasis that characterize different disease is leading to an astounding array of novel and effective therapeutics. These are appearing at a rate unrivaled in history. Certainly, not all of these are simply the product of new development. For instance, the idea of ...

In contrast with animal communication systems, diversity is characteristic of almost every aspect of human language. Languages variously employ tones, clicks, or manual signs to signal differences in meaning; some languages lack the noun-verb distinction (e.g., Straits Salish), whereas others have a proliferation of fine-grained syntactic categories (e.g., Tzeltal); and some languages do withou...

The world has made great strides in reducing hunger, yet the problem of malnutrition, particularly the “hidden hunger” caused by missing micronutrients, constitutes a formidable challenge for the future. Biodiversity has a crucial role to play in mitigating the effects of micronutrient deficiencies, which are debilitating hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, particularly chil...

THE CATASTROPHIC GLOBAL IMPACT of rainforest destruction on the species that inhabit tropical areas is now receiving increased attention in the media. In contrast, the slow but inexorable changes in climate that are a by-product of rainforest destruction have only recently entered the limelight. The accumulation of gases in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels and the reduced photo...

At the last possible moment, agreement was reached in Japan to create a new international plan to protect biological diversity around the world. There was considerable scepticism. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) held up 2010 as the year when efforts to conserve species would bear fruit. But ahead of the key meeting in Japan, there was much concern that the issue had been downpla...

The recognition of dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been hampered by the belief that it is not a specific diagnostic entity because it has variable and culture-specific manifestations. In line with this belief, we found that Italian dyslexics, using a shallow orthography which facilitates reading, performed better on reading tasks than did English and French dyslexics. However, all...

It is expected that this working group will present a report to the Permanent Committee, at least six months before the next Alpine Conference. The proposed system for monitoring and information concerning the Alps was under discussion. The Permanent Committee received the mandate to re-examine the regime at the end of the transitional period on the basis of information obtained and to make pro...