• Sandy exposes weaknesses of antiquated sewage systems in N.Y., N.J.

    Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, apartments, and entire communities, and it also exposed the outdated sewage systems in New York and New Jersey; since Hurricane Sandy, millions of gallons of raw sewage have infiltrated waterways in both states, and it could take several years and billions of dollars to fix the systems; New York governor Andrew Cuomo estimated that it will cost about $1.1 billion to repair treatment plants; officials in the field say that much more will have to be done

  • Technique used to nab serial killers helps in controlling pests and disease and in counter-terrorism

    A technique designed to help criminologists catch serial killers is being used by scientists to locate sources of disease, control pests, and study animal behavior; locating a serial killer’s home is similar to finding the nests of animals or centers of disease outbreaks; ecological approaches have applications in counter-terrorism work, as terrorist cells tend to have more than one anchor point within the area in which they operate, exactly so they can avoid detection

  • U.S. intelligence forecast: growing interstate conflicts over food, water

    The U.S. National Intelligence Council, the research arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, yesterday released its Global Trends 2030; the report’s authors say that food, water, and energy will be more scarce; “Nearly half of the world’s population will live in areas experiencing severe water stress,” the report notes; Africa and the Middle East will be most at risk of food and water shortages, with China and India also vulnerable; one bright spot for the United States: energy independence sometime between 2020 and 2030

  • Bugs without borders: epidemics spread as bugs acquire resistance to antibiotic

    Researchers show that the global epidemic of Clostridium difficile 027/NAP1/BI in the early to mid-2000s was caused by the spread of two different but highly related strains of the bacterium rather than one as was previously thought; the spread and persistence of both epidemics were driven by the acquisition of resistance to a frontline antibiotic

  • Predicting, preventing, and controlling pandemics

    About 60 percent of infectious diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens that make the jump to humans from other species; this includes some of the most devastating disease outbreaks of the past thirty years, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and SARS; despite the huge and rising toll of such diseases, many gaps remain in our understanding of how these “zoonoses” evolve, develop, and spread — gaps that must be filled if we are to succeed in preventing or at least reducing the impact of a next pandemic

  • Engineers awarded $2.2 million grant for research on new toilet design

    A University of Toronto engineering team has received a major grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to continue work on designing for a waterless, hygienic toilet that is safe and affordable for people in the developing world

  • Pacemakers, other implanted devices, vulnerable to lethal attacks

    IT experts reported that security flaws in pacemakers and defibrillators could be putting lives at risk; the experts say that many of these devices are not properly secured and therefore are vulnerable to hackers who may want to commit an act that could lead to multiple deaths

  • Social media as preventative method for infectious diseases

    When it comes to stopping illness, social media posts and tweets may be just what the doctor ordered; researchers are studying whether a well-timed post from a public authority or trustworthy person could be as beneficial as flu shots, hand-washing, or sneezing into an elbow

  • Water resources management in a changing world

    Visualize a dusty place where stream beds are sand and lakes are flats of dried mud; are we on Mars? In fact, we are on arid parts of Earth, a planet where water covers some 70 percent of the surface; how long will water be readily available to nourish life here? In the United States, more than thirty-six states face water shortages; other parts of the world are faring no better

  • World’s great rivers running on empty

    Four of the world’s great rivers are all suffering from drastically reduced flows as a direct result of water extraction, according to new research; the researchers found that in all four river basins, over a long period of time, outflows have greatly reduced as a direct result of increased water extractions, and that urgent changes in governance of water are needed to ensure the systems remain healthy and viable

  • World public health authorities alarmed about a new coronavirus related to viruses from bats

    The virus which is causing alarm among global public health authorities after it killed a man in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earlier this year and is now linked to two other cases of disease, is a novel type of coronavirus most closely related to viruses found in bats, according to a genetic analysis

  • The challenge of securing food and water supplies in the twenty-first century

    Participants in the Food Security in Dry Lands (FSDL) conference, held last week in Qatar, agreed that the task of managing food and water resources more efficiently and improving the security of supply are set to become one of the biggest challenges for policy makers in the twenty-first century

  • Protecting U.S. troops against sand flies

    Sand flies are vectors of Leishmania parasites that cause leishmaniasis, a devastating disease for which there is no vaccine or medication; people who are bitten by infected sand flies do not know whether they have the disease until it becomes apparent three or four months later; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are helping deployed American troops protect themselves against sand flies, which are major pests in Afghanistan, Africa, and the Middle East

  • Biosecurity paramount to ensure Australia retrains healthy agricultural output

    Experts at the State Biosecurity Forum, held ten days ago in Australia, recommend strong partnerships and global strategies to secure protection of present and future agriculture for Western Australia (WA); the participants at the event discussed issues ranging from the effects of climate change and UV radiation on biosecurity to the implementation of computer modeling in agricultural policy making decisions

  • Scanning social media as a tool for biosurveillance

    DHS is considering observing and scanning social media Web sites to collect and analyze health-related data which could help identify outbreaks of infectious diseases and other public health and national security risks