Global warming a constant upward trend, WMO figures reveal

As governments meeting in the Danish capital of Copenhagen work to hammer out a global deal to tackle climate change, new figures from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) place 2009 among the top 10 hottest years since records began in 1850. The figures show that temperatures are rising steadily, with the years from 2000 to 2009 hotter than the 1990s, which were in turn hotter than the 1980s. Meanwhile, scientists have developed a new tool that demonstrates the scale of the impacts of climate change. According to the WMO figures, above-average temperatures were recorded in most parts of the world except North America, which experienced cooler-than- average temperatures. Many extreme weather conditions were recorded by the WMO, including floods, droughts and heat waves. China suffered its worst drought in five decades, and severe and prolonged droughts also occurred in Argentina, south-eastern Australia, East Africa, India and Mexico. In Kenya the drought caused a 40% decline in the country's maize harvest. In West Africa, rainfall was so intense in September that more than 100,000 people were affected. Burkina Faso experienced the worst rainfall in the region for 90 years, more than 263 mm of rain in less than 12 hours. Many other parts of the world were also badly affected by extreme rainfall. Floods, tornados and heavy thunderstorms caused much damage across Germany. The United Kingdom also experienced severe flooding and more than 300 mm of rain was recorded in less than 48 hours in south-eastern Spain as well as across other regions of the Mediterranean. South and central America were also hit by unusual rainfall which led to flooding in Argentina, north-eastern Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. Landslides caused by flooding also led to hundreds of deaths in Colombia and El Salvador. Canada experienced many extreme weather conditions including almost double the normal number of avalanches and a record number of tornados which resulted in 25 deaths. The northern plains region of the US also experienced the wettest October for 115 years and record flooding during March. The data from the WMO is based on a variety of data sources including land-based climate stations, ships and satellites. The final figures for 2009 will be published in March 2010 in the annual WMO Statement on the Status of Global Climate. Meanwhile, the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) has released details of a new tool, called the IGBP Climate Change Index, to track global warming. The index was the brainchild of a group of IGBP scientists who were concerned that current climate change data are often confusing and not clear enough about the scale of the changes that are happening; it constitutes an attempt to simplify data and reveal general trends in climate change. The index charts changes in four key indicators of climate change: temperatures, sea ice, sea level, and carbon dioxide. It reveals a clear upward direction in climate change since 1980, the first year covered by the tool. 'We needed an oceanic measure and chose sea-level rise because the impact is global and of high public interest,' said Professor Steven Running from the University of Montana, US, one of the creators of the index. 'The fourth metric concerns the cryosphere. Growing concern about the rate of loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic led us to choose this metric. This parameter broadly represents the Earth system and it is interesting that the summer sea ice extent is shrinking much faster than models predicted five or two years ago.' The IGBP is a research programme that is studying global climate change in order to provide scientific evidence to help make the Earth and its ecosystems more sustainable.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-09

Europe’s plant communities losing uniqueness, study warns

A combination of extinctions and alien invasions is causing Europe's plant communities to become less unique, according to new EU-funded research published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). EU support for the study came from the DAISIE ('Delivering alien invasive species inventories for Europe') and ALARM ('Assessing large scale risks for biodiversity with tested methods') projects, both of which are financed under the 'Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). One of the commonest ways of assessing biodiversity in a given region or area is to simply count the number of species living there. However, as this latest study reveals, it is also important to work out how closely related the species in a given community are to each other. This is important because a plant community made up of largely unrelated species is more likely to be able to withstand pressures such as changing temperatures or drought. In contrast, in a community of closely related species, if one is unable to withstand high temperatures, for example, chances are that closely related species will also struggle to survive. In this study, the researchers analysed data on the plant species found in different regions of Europe since the year 1500. There are around 11,000 native species of plant in Europe. Since 1500, around 1,600 non-native plant species have arrived in Europe, and 1,700 European species have invaded other European regions to which they are not native. This means that some 53% of plant invasions in Europe can be attributed to species moving from one European region to another. Over the past few centuries, only two European plant species have completely died out. However, around 500 species have become extinct at regional level. For example, the plant blue woodruff (Asperula arvensis) has disappeared from Germany and Austria, largely as a result of the intensification of agriculture, but is still found in Italy and Spain. The fact that invasions vastly outnumber extinctions means that the total number of plant species in European regions has risen. However, the species that have disappeared tend to be relatively rare, and come from plant families that have comparatively few members. In contrast, the invasive species tend to come from species-rich families and are often closely related to species already living in the region. In practice, this means that while the total number of species in the regions studied is rising, the plants within the regions are increasingly similar and the differences between regions are disappearing as the same plants increasingly crop up everywhere. 'Our studies have demonstrated that although the number of species in European regions is rising as the new species outnumber the species that have disappeared, the regions are increasingly losing their phylogenetic and taxonomic uniqueness,' commented Dr Marten Winter of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Germany. 'When discussing biological diversity, as well as the pure species number, people should also consider other measures of biological diversity, such as the relationships between the species, for example. These can provide important additional information on the condition and possible risks to the ecosystem.' Researchers participating in the PNAS study come from the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-09

Safer flights thanks to the SUPRA project

A new EU-funded project will help to improve air safety by training pilots to deal with hazardous situations and extreme air conditions and studying how they become disoriented during dangerous situations while in flight. The SUPRA ('Simulation of upset recovery in aviation') project, funded at EUR 3.7 million under the Transport Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), is a consortium of nine scientific research institutes and industrial concerns coordinated by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) which will provide the use of two completely new types of flight simulators. One of the partners, the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, is investigating the motion perception of pilots in extreme situations and is studying how the brain analyses both balance and visual information in extreme flight conditions. Pilots already receive a lot of training on flight simulators as well as real aircraft flight training. During training, tricky flight manoeuvres such as take-off and landing are already carried out with flight simulators, but extreme flight situations are much more difficult to carry out tests for. The SUPRA project, which began in September 2009, is choosing relevant training scenarios for its array of tests and is working in collaboration with professional test pilots to study how pilots perceive aircraft motion during extreme situations and how and why they become disoriented. The research team is especially interested in interactions between the pilots' vision and the signals that the brain receives from the inner ear. A robotic arm will be used to expose test pilots to a variety of accelerations while they simultaneously view a computer-generated environment. By using both visual and balance systems, the tests are intended to 'trick' the brain, so the test pilots believe they are actually involved in a flight manoeuvre rather than an experiment. For example, the tests will give pilots the impression of experiencing acceleration exclusively through visual stimulation and not with real motion - the same type of technique that is used in flight simulator models. Professor Heinrich H. Bülthoff from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, said, 'In these times of ever increasing mobility, thorough training of new pilots is an important theme. We are pleased that the European Union has provided us with the opportunity to work with an international team to make an important contribution to flight safety by improving pilot training.'
Quality validation date: 2009-12-08

Experts call for new approach to research and innovation in Europe

Research and industry experts have called on the European Commission and the European Parliament to initiate a radical change to research and innovation policy in Europe. In a joint statement presented on 7 December on the premises of the European Parliament, they emphasised the need not only for improvements, but also for better long-term planning so that the EU can maintain a competitive edge. Choosing the transition to a new Commission and the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty as an opportunity to voice their concerns, the experts made a set of recommendations that - from their point of view - would help the EU weather current and future challenges. First, the focus should be on the greatest societal challenges. This means the focus should be shifted from the pace of technological change to the direction of that change. In this context, the experts also call for more coherent programmes and a more systematic approach in the European institutions to analyse long-term trends. Second, the five expert groups point out that the establishment of new networks, institutions and policies for open innovation should be encouraged. Their joint opinion is that research and innovation require open collaboration, which in turn requires an open environment for knowledge, talent and services to flow. 'We have more than 2,000 innovation clusters in Europe, few of global significance,' the statement reads. 'Despite 30 years of trying, we still have no common, EU-wide patent system. Mobility of researchers remains limited. To change this, we need policies that encourage new networks, knowledge institutions and mobility to integrate European innovation into global value creation.' Furthermore, the statement recommends that the EU should spend more on research, education and innovation, in part through bolder co-investment schemes. At the same time, research, development and innovation (RDI) programmes should be coordinated and planned better, both in Brussels and in the Member States. Finally, the experts stressed that open competition should be standard in EU programmes: 'Excellence must be the watchword of EU research, development and innovation programmes. [...] RDI programmes must focus scarce resources on the best. Only this way can we compete globally.' 'The European Union needs a new industrial narrative that will push the discussion and the agenda around innovation and knowledge,' commented Maria Da Graça Carvalho, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Portugal, who hosted the meeting together with her colleague James Elles from the UK. 'That narrative is just now emerging as industries across Europe begin to lay the groundwork for a post-carbon Industrial Revolution.' 'While the US and China take long-term planning seriously, the EU still has no long-term planning system in place,' added Mr Elles. 'There is a need to establish an inter-institutional system identifying long-term trends facing the EU. This would allow policymakers to identify the key long-term trends underway and to develop the best responses to them. Long-term trends show that there is an urgent need to focus on research to remain competitive in global markets.' The five expert groups included the European Research Area Board (ERAB), the Business Panel on future EU innovation policy appointed by the European Commission's Directorate-General (DG) for Enterprise and Industry, the Expert Group on the role of Community research policy in the knowledge-based economy, made up of experts convened by DG Research, the European Technology Platforms Expert Group and the non-profit Science|Business Innovation Board.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-08

European LeukemiaNet takes cancer research to new heights

European researchers are steadfast in their efforts to improve the care of patients suffering from leukaemia. However, an EU-funded team of researchers is raising the bar by integrating the work of leading trial groups, their partner groups, industry and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe to establish a cooperative network for advancements in leukaemia-related research and healthcare. The ultimate objective of the 'European LeukemiaNet' (ELN) project, which is funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme to the tune of EUR 6 million, is the launching of the European Leukaemia Trial Registry. The project was recently presented in Cancerworld magazine. Since the start of 2009, the ELN ('Strengthen and develop scientific and technological excellence in research and therapy of leukaemia (CML, AML, ALL, CLL, MDS, CMPD) by integration of the leading national leukaemia networks and their interdisciplinary partner groups in Europe') partners have succeeded in bringing together national leukaemia study groups consisting of 147 institutions in 28 countries. On the whole, over 1,000 researchers and around 10,000 patients are participating in the study. The ELN consortium has already implemented new treatment guidelines, made substantial progress with standardising monitoring techniques and initiated several clinical trials and registries for certain leukaemias. An annual symposium with impressive participation numbers also got off the ground. ELN is being coordinated by the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and Professor Rüdiger Hehlmann is leading the team. The project is modelled on a German Competence Network for acute and chronic leukaemias, which received nearly EUR 12 million in financial support from Germany's Ministry of Research and Education. The objective of the Competence Network was to address the deficiencies found in research and healthcare, such as duplication and fragmentation of clinical trials, and lack of definitions and standards for diagnostics and therapeutic criteria. In an editorial published in the journal Leukemia in 2004, Professor Hehlmann and colleagues wrote that the Competence Network targeted the support of excellence in research and care and sought to 'incorporate insights from gene array research into clinical practice, and to migrate rapidly to molecular classification of leukaemias. The network offers a competitive advantage for participating doctors and scientists from Germany and neighbouring countries.' Thanks to ELN, this advantage will be extended to more countries. The project comprises 16 Work Packages (WPs) targeting the integration of 95 leukaemia trial groups (covering all leukaemia types), their 102 interdisciplinary partner groups (e.g. diagnostics, treatment, guidelines) and industry. Six of the WPs are for clinical trials for disease types: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), chronic lymphoblastic leukaemia (CLL), chronic myeloproliferative diseases (CMPDs) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs). The remaining packages cover interdisciplinary topics. ELN has also established a network management centre, and communication and information technology support is available. The ELN project has its roots in existing European support groups, including those for CML, but it has successfully expanded the number of participating countries, said Dr Susanne Saussele, ELN's scientific network manager. 'We have over 20 now for CML, more than double the original number, and the new participants include several from eastern Europe,' noted Dr Saussele, an oncologist at the University of Heidelberg. ELN is making huge strides in the development of a content management system for its website, enabling project details like papers, reports and contacts to be accessible. Project partners are from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and Ukraine.
Quality validation date: 2009-12-08

« Раньше