A new report from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) and partners warns that an upsurge in hunting bushmeat—including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — in tropical forests is unsustainable and that it poses serious threats to food security for poor inhabitants of forests in Africa, who rely largely on bushmeat for protein.

The authors of the report call on policymakers in the region to develop policies protecting endangered species, while allowing sustainable hunting of "common" game, since there is no clear substitute available if common wild meat sources were to be depleted.

According to the report, large mammal species are particularly vulnerable. Many – such as elephants, gorillas and other primate species - have already become locally extinct, while fast reproducing generalist species that thrive in agricultural environments—such as duikers or rodents—may prove more resilient. The report makes an urgent appeal for a coordinated policy response to the crisis at the local, national and international levels, but warns that blanket bans on hunting and trade that don't discriminate between specific local contexts and species are bound to fail.

Researchers estimate that the current harvest of bushmeat in Central Africa amounts to more than 1 million tonnes annually—the equivalent of almost four million head of cattle. Bushmeat provides up to 80 percent of the protein and fat needed in rural diets in Central Africa, according to the report.

"If current levels of hunting persist in Central Africa, bush meat protein supplies will fall dramatically, and a significant number of forest mammals will become extinct in less than 50 years," said Robert Nasi of CIFOR, an author of the report.

The report, "Conservation and Use of Wildlife-Based Resources: The Bushmeat Crisis," was published by CBD and CIFOR, one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It also includes major contributions from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The report sums up the latest state of knowledge on this controversial issue and makes a strong case for developing a regulated and legalized bushmeat industry to ensure that the poorest forest-dwellers can continue to access this vital source of protein and livelihoods, but in a more sustainable way.

Local, national and regional trade in bushmeat has become a significant part of the informal sector's "hidden economy." Overall, international trade in wild animal products has an estimated value of US$3.9 billion. For West and Central Africa alone, the estimates range from $42 to $205 million a year. Yet, these statistics are still largely ignored in official trade and national policies regulating forest policy.

The report notes that it is important to make a clear distinction between commercial entrepreneurs, who engage in what they know to be an illicit activity, and poor rural people, for whom bushmeat represents both animal protein and a cash-earning commodity.

"If local people are guaranteed the benefits of sustainable land use and hunting practices, they will be willing to invest in sound management and negotiate selective hunting regimes," said Frances Seymour, Director General of CIFOR. "Sustainable management of bushmeat resources requires bringing the sector out into the open, removing the stigma of illegality, and including wild meat consumption in national statistics and planning."

"Reframing the bushmeat problem from one of international animal welfare to one of sustainable livelihoods—and part of the global food crisis—might be a good place to start," she added.

Wildlife is also adversely affected by the industrial extractive sector - logging, mining and oil drilling, for example – as these activities directly facilitate hunting through road construction and/or the provision of transportation for hunters. Salaried employees and their extended families that live in company camps or near the timber concessions are a major source of local demand for – and supply of – bushmeat.

European consumers are also partly responsible. Apart from the direct demand for bushmeat products from expat communities, European demand for African timber exports helps to drive this local timber extraction – both legal and illegal.

The report recommends that the local and international timber industry work with NGOs, local communities, and governments to develop forest policies and management plans that incorporate wildlife concerns, rather than focusing just on timber and other forms of natural resource extraction. Such plans should include conservation education, an agreed system of law enforcement, development of alternative protein supplies and an intensive monitoring program. If designed and applied appropriately, this will not only serve to enhance wildlife conservation, but will ultimately benefit the private sector and local communities as well.

According to the authors, the so-called bushmeat crisis is the focus of many conservation organizations, whose advocacy for a "crackdown" on the trade has fostered confusion and misunderstanding about the links between hunting, wildlife trade, livelihoods, and ecosystems.

Most people in tropical forests hunt, the report notes, and meat sales within the local village can be significant—including up to 90 percent of the catch sold in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such figures counter the conventional wisdom of many conservation groups that suggests banning all commercial sales of bushmeat will deliver a win-win solution for both conservation and the poor.

The report advocates a more secure rights regime as the key to any solution. "Only if the local hunter is bestowed with some right to decide what, where and how he may hunt—as well as the knowledge to understand the consequences of his decisions—will he embrace his responsibility to hunt sustainably," Nasi said.

The report emphasizes that it is of critical importance to craft a specific, tailored approach for different cases and species, while also recommending that policymakers look to other renewable resource sectors, such as fishing and logging, for clues on how to develop a sustainable management strategy for bushmeat.

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Over 1,000 Congolese army troops and their families – a total of 6,000 people – have left Virunga National Park and moved outside the protected area in an effort to reduce human presence in the area and preserve the flora and fauna of Africa's oldest national park, also a World Heritage Site.

The decision to re-deploy the army troops – about 10% of the total number in North Kivu - came after intense negotiations between Virunga National Park Director Emmanuel de Merode and General Vainqueur Mayala, the army's commanding officer for the conflict-ridden province.

“De-militarizing Virunga National Park remains our greatest and most difficult challenge. The Congolese National Army has taken the first step, which represents a major breakthrough at a time when the threats to the park have never been greater,” said de Merode.

“The occupation of Rwindi park station was strategic,” said Colonel David Kitenge of the 8th Military Region. “We had to have a strong presence at Rwindi and other nearby stations to safeguard the main road north of Goma, and to prevent attack by the FDLR and the Mai Mai rebels. Today we wish to support the Congolese Wildlife Authority in their efforts. Human populations, of all kind, are detrimental to environmental conservation.”

The Congolese army – also known as FARDC - has approximately 10,000 troops in North Kivu that are stationed throughout the province. Rwindi, a main park station in the center of Virunga some 130km north of Goma, had been the army’s headquarters in the area since December 2007, when violence in the region escalated. This deployment operation, that does not affect the occupation of the Gorilla Sector by rebels loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda, also included the removal of over 200 troops in Vitshumbi, on the southern shores of Lake Edward .

The entire operation took 3 days and required additional trucks and funds for fuel. The total cost of $10,000 was covered by World Wildlife Fund, at the request of the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN). WWF is one of the conservation groups operating in Virunga to support ICCN.

Virunga National Park , which borders on Uganda and Rwanda and covers 8,000km2, is often used as a hideout and an operating base by armed groups, including the FDLR and the Mai Mai.

Portland, OR– Medical students who attend racially and ethnically diverse medical schools say they are more prepared to care for patients in a diverse society, a new study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association finds. The study is the first of its kind to examine the link between medical school diversity and educational benefits.

Dr. Somnath Saha of the Portland VA Medical Center and colleagues examined whether the proportion of minority students within a medical school made a difference in whether students said they felt prepared to care for diverse patient populations; their attitudes about access to health care; and plans to care for patients in areas that are traditionally underserved by the health care system. The researches defined diversity as the proportion of students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the degree to which the medical schools promoted interracial interaction. They excluded data from historically black and Puerto Rican medical schools, where minority groups comprise the majority of students.

The survey of more than 20,000 graduating medical students from 118 medical schools found that white students who attend racially diverse medical schools said they felt better prepared than students at less diverse schools to care for racial and ethnic minority patients. They are also more likely to endorse access to adequate health care as a right. However, the researchers found no association between the diversity of a medical school and whether white students intended to provide care in underserved areas.

“Diversity matters when it comes to training the next-generation of medical leaders,” said Saha, an associate professor at the Oregon Health and Science University and a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar. “Students who train in diverse medical schools are better prepared to meet the needs of our diverse population.”

Many medical schools have policies and programs to achieve racial diversity and increase the numbers of American American, Latino and Native American students, who are underrepresented in the physician workforce. These policies have come under scrutiny in recent years as being unnecessary and discriminatory. However, Saha and colleagues argue that racial and ethnic diversity in medical education are key components of creating a physician workforce that can best meet the needs of a rapidly increasing diverse population, and help end racial disparities in health care. The study lends support to U.S. Supreme Court decisions that racial diversity in the student body is associated with measurable, positive educational benefits, they write.

The study also found that student body diversity is necessary, but not sufficient by itself for all students to realize the educational benefits of diversity. Medical schools must actively promote positive interaction among students from different backgrounds, as well as have a critical mass of minority students, to achieve the full educational benefits of diversity.

Heavy fighting between DR Congo's army and rebels erupted at 3.30am today around the Gorilla Sector in Virunga National Park, according to Emmanuel de Merode, Director of Virunga National Park for the Congolese Wildlife Authority.

Mortar and grenade fire have been exchanged non-stop all day between the army and the rebels, the reverberrations of which can be heard in the park and the Gorilla Sector. De Merode said at present there was no intention to evacuate the Rangers but that if the situation worsened they would leave the park station that is in close proximity to the fighting.

"This latest escalation of the conflict undermines our efforts to resume our work in the Gorilla Sector. It is almost 1 year to the day since this conflict started, but we are as determined as ever to get back in. It is critical that we know the status of the mountain gorillas," said de Merode.

Fighting between rebels, loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda, and the army has been ongoing in this area for 1 year , but the situation had calmed in recent months following January peace talks between armed groups in eastern DRC. Rangers however have been unable to patrol the Gorilla Sector for 12 months.

This sector - known as the Mikeno Sector - was attacked repeatedly in 2007 during which 10 mountain gorillas were killed. It was attacked in January 2007, when two Silverbacks were killed. An adult female was executed in June 2007 and in July 2007, 5 were massacred causing an international outcry. In September a dead infant female was found in the hands of alleged traffickers.

Some 1,100 Wildlife Rangers protect the National Parks of Eastern Congo, a region affected by a 10-year civil war and current political instability. These parks are home to mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, forest elephants and rhinos. The Rangers have remained active in protecting these parks, four of which have been classified as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Mountain Gorillas are critically endangered, with only 700 remaining in the world, about 380 in the Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area (shared by DRC, Rwanda and Uganda ) and 320 in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Despite the conflict in the region, their decline had been reversed up until January 2007 thanks to international support and courageous conservationists coupled with the popularity of gorilla-watching tourism. At September 2007 there were 72 habituated Mountain Gorillas in DR Congo.

The Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) and its Rangers work throughout the country to protect the National Parks of Congo and their wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners and land invasions. Over 150 Rangers have been killed in the last 10 years protecting the 5 parks of eastern DRC, and Rangers worked throughout the civil war without receiving a salary.

Virunga National Park, Africa ’s oldest national park (established in 1925) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, is home to 200 of the world’s mountain gorillas. Formerly known as Albert National Park, Virunga lies in eastern DR Congo and covers 7,800 square kilometers.

Oxygen is constantly leaking out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space. Now, ESA’s formation-flying quartet of satellites, Cluster, has discovered the physical mechanism that is driving the escape. It turns out that the Earth’s own magnetic field is accelerating the oxygen away.

The new work uses data collected by Cluster from 2001 to 2003. During this time, Cluster amassed information about beams of electrically charged oxygen atoms, known as ions, flowing outwards from the polar regions into space. Cluster also measured the strength and direction of the Earth’s magnetic field whenever the beams were present.

Hans Nilsson, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, headed a team of space scientists who analysed the data. They discovered that the oxygen ions were being accelerated by changes in the direction of the magnetic field. “It is a bit like a sling-shot effect,” says Nilsson.

Having all four Cluster spacecraft was essential to the analysis because it gave astronomers a way to measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field over a wide area. “Cluster allowed us to measure the gradient of the magnetic field and see how it was changing direction with time,” says Nilsson.

Before the space age, scientists believed that Earth’s magnetic field was filled only with particles from the solar wind, the constant sleet of particles that escapes from the Sun. They thought this formed a large cushion that protected the Earth’s atmosphere from direct interaction with the solar wind.

“We are beginning to realise just how many interactions can take place between the solar wind and the atmosphere,” says Nilsson. Energetic particles from the solar wind can be channelled along the magnetic field lines and, when these impact the atmosphere of the Earth, they can produce aurorae. This occurs over the poles of Earth. The same interactions provide the oxygen ions with enough energy to accelerate out of the atmosphere and reach the Earth’s magnetic environment.

The Cluster data were captured over the poles with the satellites flying at an altitude of anywhere between 30,000 and 64,000 kilometres. Measurements taken by earlier satellites during the 1980s and 1990s showed that the escaping ions were travelling faster the higher they were observed. This implied that some sort of acceleration mechanism was involved and several possibilities were proposed. Thanks to this new Cluster study, the mechanism accounting for most of the acceleration has now been identified.

At present, the escape of oxygen is nothing to worry about. Compared to the Earth’s stock of the life-supporting gas, the amount escaping is negligible. However, in the far future when the Sun begins to heat up in old age, the balance might change and the oxygen escape may become significant. “We can only predict these future changes if we understand the mechanisms involved,” says Nilsson.

For now, Cluster will continue collecting data and providing new insights into the complex magnetic environment surrounding our planet.

The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) is mounted on Mars Express, ESA's deep-space probe now orbiting the Red Planet. It originally provided simple, low-tech images of Beagle lander separation, and is now back in action as the 'Mars Webcam'. It's not a scientific instrument, but it does provide fantastic views of Mars - including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth.

The semiconductor silicon and the ferromagnet iron are the basis for much of mankind's technology, used in everything from computers to electric motors. In this week's issue of the journal Nature (August 21st) an international group of scientists, including academic and industrial researchers from the UK, USA and Lesotho, report that they have combined these elements with a small amount of another common metal, manganese, to create a new material which is neither a magnet nor an ordinary semiconductor. The paper goes on to show how a small magnetic field can be used to switch ordinary semiconducting behaviour (such as that seen in the electronic-grade silicon which is used to make transistors) back on.

The new material exists in a quantum halfway house between magnet and semiconductor - in the same way that much more complex materials such as ceramics which exhibit high temperature superconductivity exist in quantum halfway houses between metals and magnetic insulators. The research is of fundamental importance because it demonstrates, for the first time, a simple recipe for reaching this halfway house, whilst also suggesting new mechanisms for controlling electrical currents and magnetism in semiconductor devices.

Professor J.F. DiTusa of Louisiana State University and a co-author of the paper said: "It's amazing that something which was thought to exist theoretically in mathematical physics could actually be found in an alloy which was simply formed by melting together a few common elements."

Professor Gabriel Aeppli of UCL (University College London), another member of the research team and Director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology, added: "It might be possible to see similar effects in devices made using materials and methods found in laser pointers. This would put what we've seen firmly in the realm of that which can easily be achieved using current technologies."

The first author of the paper, Dr. N. Manyala of the National University of Lesotho, said: "We are looking forward to investigating whether we can see these effects using thin layers of the same materials deposited directly on the silicon wafers. These wafers are the same as those used by mass market electronics manufacturers as the basis for integrated circuits." Dr. Ramirez, who is now with LGS-Bell Labs Innovations echoed this thought, noting that, "with the end of Moore's law in sight, mechanisms for controlling and understanding possible new information bits such as spins in solids are actively being sought after."

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers monitoring daily satellite images here of Greenland’s glaciers have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers in the last month.

They expect that part of the Northern hemisphere’s longest floating glacier will continue to disintegrate within the next year.

A massive 11-square-mile (29-square-kilometer) piece of the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland broke away between July 10th and by July 24th. The loss to that glacier is equal to half the size of Manhattan Island. The last major ice loss to Petermann occurred when the glacier lost 33 square miles (86 square kilometers) of floating ice between 2000 and 2001.

Petermann has a floating section of ice 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide and 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) long which covers 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers).

What worries Jason Box, an associate professor of geography at Ohio State, and his colleagues, graduate students Russell Benson and David Decker, all with the Byrd Polar Research Center, even more about the latest images is what appears to be a massive crack further back from the margin of the Petermann Glacier.

That crack may signal an imminent and much larger breakup.

“If the Petermann glacier breaks up back to the upstream rift, the loss would be as much as 60 square miles (160 square kilometers),” Box said, representing a loss of one-third of the massive ice field.

Meanwhile, the margin of the massive Jakobshavn glacier has retreated inland further than it has at any time in the past 150 years it has been observed. Researchers believe that the glacier has not retreated to where it is now in at least the last 4,000 to 6,000 years.

“If the Petermann glacier breaks up back to the upstream rift, the loss would be as much as 60 square miles (160 square kilometers),” Box said, representing a loss of one-third of the massive ice field.

The Northern branch of the Jakobshavn broke up in the past several weeks and the glacier has lost at least three square miles (10 square kilometers) since the end of the last melt season.

The Jakobshavn Glacier dominates the approximately 130 glaciers flowing out of Greenland’s inland into the sea. It alone is responsible for producing at least one-tenth of the icebergs calving off into the sea from the entire island of Greenland, making it the island’s most productive glacier.

Between 2001 and 2005, a massive breakup of the Jakobshavn glacier erased 36 square miles (94 square kilometers) from the ice field and raised the awareness of worldwide of glacial response to global climate change.

The researchers are using images updated daily from National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellites and from time-lapse photography from cameras monitoring the margin of these and other Greenland glaciers. Additional support for this project came from NASA.

British mining company Vedanta is under intense pressure over its plans to mine the Dongria Kondh tribe’s land in India, as a Scottish investment group sells its shares and Amnesty International joins the campaign in support of the tribe.

Martin Currie – an Edinburgh-based investment management company – has sold its £2.3million stake in Vedanta following pressure from Survival International. The company’s director of corporate communications, Scott White, said, ‘It is fundamental that we expect companies to behave both within the law and morally… The doubts over the issues with the bauxite project … led to exiting the stock.’

Last year the Norwegian government’s Council of Ethics recommended that Norway sold its shares in Vedanta due to an ‘unacceptable risk of complicity in current and future severe environmental damage and systematic human rights violations.’

Since the Supreme Court of India gave its clearance for Vedanta’s mine at Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa earlier this month, Amnesty International has added its voice to those calling for the mine to be stopped because of the devastating impact it would have on the Dongria Kondh. Local politicians also met this week to discuss ways of halting the mine, and a gathering of 15,000 local Kondh people is planned.

The Dongria Kondh have vowed to resist the mine. On hearing the Supreme Court’s decision, 40 Dongria Kondh from several villages blockaded the road to the proposed mine site. They held banners across the road with the slogan, ‘We are Dongria Kondh. Vedanta cannot take our mountain.’ Dongria activists swore not to leave Niyamgiri and stated, ‘Niyamgiri is Dongria land. Vedanta cannot come here without our permission. We say no.’

The Dongria Kondh also recently claimed they were ‘tricked’ into praising Vedanta on a video posted on YouTube. Sahadev Kadraka, one of the Dongria men filmed ‘praising’ the company, has said, ‘There were three people from Vedanta. They said, ‘We have brought some clothes for your village and we will give them to you.’ They asked us ‘Do you support Vedanta and do you want to mine bauxite?’ We said no, we don’t want to give our mountain. Then they said, ‘Everyone from the other side of the mountain has agreed to mine. If you refuse, we will not give anything to you. If you complain then we won’t provide anything to you again.’’

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Bribery and intimidation are weapons of the bully and have no place in a reputable mining company. They work against the legal principle of consent which Vedanta must obtain if it is to work within the international law on tribal peoples. Vedanta has agreed this and must stick to its word. 'Development' which destroys local tribes has no place in 21st century India. If the mine goes ahead, the Dongria Kondh will be destroyed and Vedanta's balance sheet will be stained forever.’

The study is the largest in the world so far and was performed in collaboration with the Queen Mary University of London. More than 7,600 Swedish twins (men and women) aged 20-47 years responded to a 2005 - 2006 survey of health, behaviour, and sexuality. Seven percent of the twins had ever had a same-sex sexual partner.

"The results show, that familial and public attitudes might be less important for our sexual behaviour than previously suggested", says Associate Professor Niklas Långström, one of the involved researchers. "Instead, genetic factors and the individual's unique biological and social environments play the biggest role. Studies like this are needed to improve our basic understanding of sexuality and to inform the public debate."

The conclusions apply equally well to why people only have sex with persons of the opposite sex as to why we have sex with same-sex partners. However, the conclusions are more difficult to transfer to countries where non-heterosexual behaviour remains prohibited.

Overall, the environment shared by twins (including familial and societal attitudes) explained 0-17% of the choice of sexual partner, genetic factors 18-39% and the unique environment 61-66%. The individual's unique environment includes, for example, circumstances during pregnancy and childbirth, physical and psychological trauma (e.g., accidents, violence, and disease), peer groups, and sexual experiences.