We all know that the bird flu H5N1 is bad, some people argue that millions will die as a result of it. Ouch. Don’t despair though!
A team of researchers have noticed that a certain aspect of H5N1 itself can be used to fight other influenza strains. Still it’s a mixed bag because the same property can render existing H5N1 flu solutions null.
“Researchers have discovered a detail of the H5N1 bird flu virus’s structure that could be exploited to make new, targeted influenza drugs.â€
Universal health care for all is still years away, but the number of people receiving HIV antiretroviral therapy has reached the one million mark in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a huge milestone that was announced this week at the International AIDS Conference.
“The one million figure represents a tenfold increase since December 2003, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for 70 per cent of the global unmet treatment need, however, and 95 per cent of the 38.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS live in the developing world, where countries face tremendous challenges in dealing with the epidemic.”
Companies that address global warming head-on is where you should put your money. Green companies in the KLD Global Climate 100 Index outperformed the market by almost 5 percentage points!
It’s easier than ever to put your money where your beliefs are.
“This past July marks the first birthday of KLD’s Global Climate 100 Index, which lists 100 global companies that are committed to positively influencing climate change.
The diverse index is made up of companies varying drastically in size that focus on issues of renewable energy, “future†fuel, or clean technology and efficiency. “
Two men used Google Earth for disaster release according to Ahmedabad News. I think this is an absolutely wonderful use of technology, I wonder if anyone predicted that Google Earth could be used in this way. It shows how a complex technological tool can be used to solve some really basic problems.
“Using Google Earth maps of Surat city, the duo passed on exact locations of societies, houses and apartments in need of rescue and relief, to airport authorities.
The co-ordinates were then relayed to helicopter captains to be logged on to their GPS devices and locate the homes. By Friday evening, they had managed 47 targeted air drops.”
As a quick aside, if you google earth you get Google Earth (kinda spooky).
A Sante-Fe based architect has started the 2030 Challenge to encourage sustainable architecture. Modern buildings are notoriously inefficient when it comes to energy use and hopefully we’ll all benefit from green buildings in 2030.
“Simply put, he challenges architects, engineers and contractors to cut the carbon intensity of buildings by 50% from the average of their peers today, 60% below peer average in 2010, 70% below peer average in 2015, and so on, until 2030 by which all buildings should be carbon neutral (zero net carbon emissions).”