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Forecasting Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks

By

rat

From Ebola and bird flu to Lyme disease and West Nile virus, most emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from animals to humans, with more than a billion people suffering each year. Safeguarding public health requires effective surveillance tools. But to date, most outbreaks are dealt with as they happen.

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Useful Byproducts From Coffee Roasting

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coffee

Coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world after oil.  This $100-billion-dollar-a-year industry plays a major role in the global economy.  It also has a significant impact on the environment.  Processing coffee produces more than 2 billion tons of byproducts annually.

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Renewable Energy And Jobs

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Solar Job

 

 

There is no doubt that the renewable energy industry is booming.  Renewable energy sources are seen as the primary and best way to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and other forms of environmental pollution that threaten human health and the world’s ecosystems.  For this reason, investment in and deployment of renewable energy has been an area of tremendous growth.

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Good News On Ozone

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ozone

In 1985, scientists discovered a hole in the earth’s ozone layer over Antarctica.  By 1987, the hole had increased to the size of the continental United States.   Ozone, a modified form of oxygen, is present in only small amounts in the stratosphere, but performs a crucial function to life on earth.  It absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation, protecting humans and other forms of life from skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system deficiencies.

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Reducing Food Waste

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Wasted Food

 

Wasted food is one of the greatest economic and environmental problems in the world today.  According to a United Nations study, one-third of the world’s food winds up spoiled, rotting in fields, or is thrown away.  This amounts to 1.3 billion tons of food wasted annually while at the same time nearly 900 million people around the world go hungry every day.

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Recycling Cigarette Butts

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cigarette butts 

Cigarette butts are widely considered to be the world’s number one litter problem.  Cleanup projects at beaches gather twice as many cigarette parts as either food wrappers or beverage containers.  New York State produces about 1.5 million tons of cigarette butts each year.  In Texas, butts account for 13% of all highway litter to the tune of 130 million butts per year.

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WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)