Image: Smoke rises from a chimney of a garbage processing plant on the outskirts of Chandigarh December 3, 2011. Reuters/Ajay Verma/Files

in.reuters.com - October 2nd, 2015 - Tommy Wilkes

India has promised to shave a third off the rate at which it emits greenhouse gases over the next 15 years, in a long-awaited contribution towards reaching a deal to slow global warming at a U.N. climate summit in December.

The world's third-largest emitter and last major economy to submit plans ahead of the Paris summit did not, however, commit to any absolute cuts in carbon emissions.

Of the top two polluters, China has promised its emissions will peak by around 2030, and the United States is already cutting, but India says its economy is too small and its people too poor to agree to absolute cuts in greenhouse gases now.

guineenews.org - September 28, 2015

(Translation to English via Google Translate)

Four new cases of Ebola this weekend in Forecariah: she wants Guinea to end the epidemic?

Two people reported positive for Ebola test this Saturday and two on Sunday yesterday: the sad accounting revealed in the villages and Kintinia Taramassi (Forecariah) by the local coordinating the fight against Ebola. These cases were reported while the prefecture had over two weeks without a new case.

http://www.globalgoals.org/

World Leaders have committed to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done. In all countries. For all people. If the Goals are going to work, everyone needs to know about them. TELL EVERYONE.

globalgoals.org - September 24, 2015

“Home" - Directed by Mark Grimmer, 59 Productions and produced by Richard Curtis in association with Global Citizen. Home is a reminder that the space we inhabit extends beyond our house, neighbourhood, country and even continent - and it’s up to us to take care of it.

http://www.globalgoals.org/

The United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will be held from 25 to 27 September 2015, in New York and convened as a high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/summit

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

ASSOCIATED PRESS                               Sept. 23, 2015

(Scroll down for links to WHO reports.)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations says it's now planning for Ebola response activities to last into 2016, suggesting the battle against the virus won't be over by year-end after all.

In a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization and its humanitarian partners, health officials said that there are plans for the Ebola response to continue until midyear 2016.

Those so-called Phase 3 efforts include stopping transmission, indicating cases are still anticipated.

Read complete story

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/23/un-ebola-response-now-planned-to-continue-into-2016

WHO SITUATION REPORT                      Sept. 23, 2015
http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-23-september-2015

Scientists from the respected Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics insist the process by which a series of craters formed was caused by the melting of gas hydrates and the emission of methane. Picture: Vladimir Olenchenko/Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics

More craters expected to form due to such eruptions as permafrost melts - and they ARE caused by global warming releasing methane gas.

siberiantimes.com - by Anna Liesowska - September 22, 2015

A new expedition to one of the mysterious Siberian giant holes found in recent years has concluded that it is a warning sign of a deadly threat to northern regions as the climate warms. . . .

. . . A pingo believed to be poised to explode 'at any moment' is now being constantly monitored by a Russian space satellite in an attempt to catch the moment when the eruption occurs. . . .

. . . The scientists also warn of a dire threat to both towns and cities in the extreme north, and natural gas exploration facilities and associated pipelines.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened on Feb. 26, 2008. Carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds, it's a Noah's Ark of food crops to be used in the event of a global catastrophe. AFP/Getty Images

npr.org - September 23rd, 2015

A tall rectangular building juts out of a mountainside on a Norwegian island just 800 miles from the North Pole. Narrow and sharply edged, the facility cuts an intimidating figure against the barren Arctic background. But the gray building holds the key to the earth's biodiversity.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: Many young Ukrainian children are not vaccinated

bbc.co.uk - September 22nd, 2015

Health officials in Ukraine are gripped by fears of a major polio outbreak, after it was announced this month that the disease had paralysed two children in the south-western region of Trans-Carpathia.

Concerns that the virus could cut a deadly swathe through the country has mobilised officials to launch a national immunisation campaign that would embrace all children up to 10 years old.

The threat has also mobilised international organizations, as well as Bill Gates, whose foundation promotes increased vaccinations worldwide and who spoke to President Petro Poroshenko about the polio danger last week.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Credit: David J. Phillip / Associated Press

"It is now unstoppable."

huffingtonpost.com - by Nick Visser - September 22, 2015

NEW YORK -- The amount of money the world has pledged to divest from fossil fuels now exceeds $2.6 trillion, a group of policymakers, philanthropists and activists announced Tuesday. The figure is 50 times higher than the $52 billion that had been divested exactly one year ago.

The news was announced at a press conference in New York, hosted by groups including the United Nations, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and environmental and faith leaders. The hosts said the $2.6 trillion figure was calculated by Arabella Advisors, a private consulting company that works with philanthropic groups.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Arabella Advisors - Measuring the Growth of the Global Fossil Fuel Divestment and Clean Energy Investment Movement (27 page .PDF file)

CLICK HERE - About - 2015 Report - Divest-Invest

CLICK HERE - WHO - Developing Global Norms for Sharing Data and Results during Public Health Emergencies

blogs.bmj.com - by Trish Groves / The BMJ - September 8, 2015

The whole debate on sharing clinical study data has focused on transparency, reproducibility, and completing the evidence base for treatments. Yet public health emergencies such as the Ebola and MERS outbreaks provide a vitally important reason for sharing study data, usually before publication or even before submission to a journal, and ideally in a public repository.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Wikipedia - Ingelfinger rule

CLICK HERE - Ebola Virus Mutations May Help It Evade Drug Treatment (2 page .PDF file)

CLICK HERE - Cell Reports - Emergence of Ebola Virus Escape Variants in Infected Nonhuman Primates Treated with the MB-003 Antibody Cocktail

CLICK HERE - Emergence of Ebola Virus Escape Variants in Infected Nonhuman Primates Treated with the MB-003 Antibody Cocktail (11 page .PDF file)

usamriid.army.mil - September 11, 2015

Genetic mutations called “escape variants” in the deadly Ebola virus appear to block the ability of antibody-based treatments to ward off infection, according to a team of U.S. Army scientists and collaborators. Their findings, published online this week in the journal Cell Reports, have implications for the continued development of therapeutics to treat Ebola virus disease, which has claimed the lives of over 11,000 people in West Africa since last year.

submitted by Gavin Macgregor-Skinner

Temperature-Independent, Portable, and Rapid Field Detection of Ebola via a Silk-Derived Lateral-Flow System

googlesciencefair.com - 2015

I developed a “stable and stored at room temperature” Ebola Assay Card, applicable as an ELISA-based diagnostic for diseases such as HIV, Lyme and certain cancers, that will allow for water-activated, timed-release detection of Ebola antigens, with detection limits that are analogous to current sandwich ELISA techniques. Reagents become chemically “stabilized” when mixed into silk, which enables them to remain “chemically active” without refrigeration. This Ebola Assay Card will allow for shipment and storage without refrigeration, and provide detection of the Ebola viral antigens based on color change in as little as 30 minutes.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

submitted by George Hurlburt

Raymond Koundouno using a MinION - Sophie Duraffour

The MinION, a pocket-sized, USB-powered sequencing machine, lets scientists track the spread of deadly diseases in real-time.

theatlantic.com - by Ed Yong - September 16, 2015

. . . Unlike rival sequencers, which are as big as microwaves or fridges, the MinION is the size of a chocolate bar. . . . These devices quite literally bring the power of modern genomics to the palm of your hand. And at a cost of just $1,000, they herald a new era where sequencing moves away from well-equipped institutions and into places where it is most needed, from hospitals to epidemic-afflicted hot zones.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(CLICK HERE - MinION - Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

(CLICK HERE - YouTube - MinION - Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

wired.com- September 15, 2015 - Mary-Rose Abraham

A pile of puppies cower under a parked car. The men grab one, but two escape down the street, forcing them to give chase. Five scrappy adult shorthairs – of an indiscriminate breed commonly known as an ‘Indian dog’ – appear from nowhere.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)