You may have heard about avian flu, and how migratory birds may be spreading the virus around and potentially allowing for new strains to emerge, but you may not have heard about birds carrying disease causing protozoans. In this peer-reviewed journal article published by EcoHealth, researchers are able to connect the migration of birds throughRead More
Ditching the bottle and making the switch to solid shampoo bars
There has always been something alluring about a nicely packaged shampoo or personal care product. The packaging designers definitely tap into some kind of psychology of the consumer so that they can project the image that they want us to have of their product. Somehow, we might unconsciously link a pretty bottle to the qualityRead More
EcoHealthNet: program for graduate students interested in infectious disease research
EcoHealthNet is an awesome program for anyone who is interested in learning more skills to use in the infectious disease research field, or to get involved with some super interesting projects around the work. I was lucky enough to become involved with planning for this program through work, and I also got to participate inRead More
Glowing infections: bioluminescent bacteria in human soft tissue
Have you ever wished that you could glow in the dark? If you have, attempting to imitate marine species by acquiring bioluminescent bacteria is not the way to do it. A journal article published in Emerging Infectious Diseases details 2 cases of Australians who had soft tissue infections from the Photorhabdus species. There have beenRead More
Where is sustainable development research headed?
The 17th International Sustainable Development Research Conference is being held at Columbia University on May 8-10, 2011. The main topic of the conference is “Moving Toward a Sustainable Future: Opportunities and Challenges,” and one of the things I’m interested in seeing is if there are any researchers who will present work that is based moreRead More
Two videos, two governments
In an interesting contrast of perspectives on governments’ takes on environmental issues, these two videos highlight air pollution in Hong Kong and electronic waste in Toronto. The first is a comedic public service announcement (PSA) put out by the Clean Air Network (CAN), which is a nonprofit advocating for more action to control air pollutionRead More