The dangers to children from coconut tree trauma, in KiraKira, Solomon Islands: a retrospective clinical audit - Rehan R, Jones PD, Abdeen H, Rowas H, Dhaliwal J.
BACKGROUND: Kirakira is small community of 3,000 people and is the capital of Makira-Ulawa province in Solomon Islands. Kirakira is an impoverished community with a small 30 bed hospital with limited resources. This audit was conducted by final year studen... (Source: SafetyLit)
Source: SafetyLit - April 23, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Age: Infants and Children Source Type: news
Weekend Roundup: Tax Havens and Refugee Camps Describe Today's World
This week, two faces of globalization -- tax havens and refugee camps -- were dramatically on display. As the "Panama Papers" revealed, the super-rich and well-connected have been sending boatloads of money offshore to hide their wealth and escape taxation. Powerless and penniless refugees who risked their lives on rickety vessels to reach Europe's safe shores were being sent back from camps in Greece to an uncertain fate amid the violence, misery and insecurity of the regions from which they had escaped. Along with a consortium of other global media, The WorldPost this week has been following the continuing revelations i...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - April 9, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
Brian Hackman obituary
My friend and colleague, Brian Hackman, who has died aged 81, was a geologist and amateur linguist who twice narrowly escaped death on his extensive travels. As a geologist he worked for governments around the world – and as a linguist he spoke German, Russian, French, Spanish and Welsh, as well as Kiswahili, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.He graduated in geology from the Royal School of Mines in London, and joined the Royal Engineers for his national service in Germany and Egypt, where he saw action during the Suez crisis in 1956. Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 25, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Rodney Walshaw Tags: Geology Science modern languages and linguistics Education Solomon Islands Asia Pacific Source Type: news
Scientist under attack after he kills bird that took decades to find
Case of the moustached kingfisher pits those who think ‘collecting’ can save a species against those who believe we should never kill rare animalsFor Christopher Filardi of the American Museum of Natural History, there is nothing like the thrill of finding a mysterious species. Such animals live at the intersection of myth and biology – tantalising researchers with the prospect that they may be real, but eluding trustworthy documentation and closer study. Indeed, last month, Filardi waxed poetic on the hunt for the invisible beasts that none the less walk among us.“We search for them in earnest but they are seeming...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - October 17, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Sarah Kaplan and Justin Wm Moyer for the Washington Post Tags: Biology Science Birds Wildlife Animals Animal welfare Conservation Environment Solomon Islands Source Type: news
Scientific Collections: Threats to Species Survival or an Easy Scapegoat?
Over the past few years, there has been a troubling rise in the number of individuals claiming that scientific collections contribute to species loss. These accusations are often filled with hyperbole, characterizing the practice of field collecting as indiscriminate, unnecessary, and barbaric -- sometimes going so far as to describe it as "slaughter." In a recent piece, the scientific collection of a single bird -- a mustached kingfisher in the Solomon Islands -- was portrayed as the "totally unnecessary killing of this remarkable sentient being."
While debate in science is vital, these criticisms erroneously conflate t...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - October 15, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Art Expedition Accidentally Uncovers Glow-In-The-Dark Sea Turtle
This article originally appeared on artnet News. A marine biologist studying coral reefs off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific made an amazing discovery this week when he noticed a "bright red-and-green spaceship" approaching his way in the pitch dark waters. The glowing underwater body turned out to be a hawksbill sea turtle, a critically endangered species. While it is known that Hawksbill shells change colors depending on water temperature, the biofluorescent capacities of the marine reptile have never been recorded until now. The scientist, David Gruber, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, w...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - September 30, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Scientists Discover 'Glowing' Sea Turtle
Marine biologist David Gruber didn’t plan to find a glowing sea turtle, but he’s glad he did. The associate professor of biology at City University of New York was diving in the Solomon Islands in July doing research on biofluorescence -- an animal’s ability to absorb certain types of light, then re-emit that light as a different color -- in small sharks and coral reefs. This transformation is made possible through the presence of special proteins, Gruber said. Animals that exhibit biofluorescence typically absorb and transform blue light, meaning that their neon patterns are visible deep i...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - September 29, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Scientists Discover First Ever Glowing Sea Turtle
Marine biologists working in the Solomon Islands, in the south Pacific Ocean, captured video footage of a sea turtle exhibiting bioflourescence—glowing in the dark—the first reptile science has identified that exhibits the trait.
David Gruber, a scientist with the City University of New York, was in the Solomon Islands in July conducting research on bioflourescence in sharks and coral reefs, species in which it has been observed previously, National Geographic reports. Bioflourescence, in which an animal reflects the blue light of the ocean as a different color, is different from bioluminescence, in which an a...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - September 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: denvernicks2014 Tags: Uncategorized animals bioflourescence endangered marine biology Oceans Science sea turtle Source Type: news
At the Mercy of Mother Nature (and of Policies of Larger Nations)
The Vienna Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer this month celebrates 30 years of environmental protection, including the establishment of the Montreal Protocol, which has successfully phased down hundreds of chemicals harmful to the ozone layer and to global climate. The one remaining challenge, the management of the powerful greenhouse gases called HFCs, is finally being negotiated after several years of calls for action by the Federated States of Micronesia and fellow island nations. Phasing down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is essential to global climate-change mitigation this century and would enhance int...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - September 21, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Extent, causes and impact of road traffic crashes in the Solomon Islands 1993-2012: data from the orthopaedic department at the National Referral Hospital, Honiara - Stewart MJ, Negin J, Farrell P, Houasia P, Munamua AB, Martiniuk A.
INTRODUCTION: Road traffic crashes constitute a considerable public health burden and represent the eighth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) globally. However, very little is known about the extent, ca... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - August 1, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Age: Adolescents Source Type: news
People Are Asking Google If Climate Change Is Real
This year is shaping up to be the hottest on record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday released temperature data for June, ranking it as the warmest June in history. As temperatures remain high, people are turning to Google to ask about climate change -- what it is, if it's real and how to stop it, among other queries. (Though Google's data doesn't necessarily reflect people's attitude toward climate change or other environmental issues, there is a consensus in the scientific community that climate change is happening, that humans are largely responsible for ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - July 21, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
A decade of peace: mental health issues and service developments in the Solomon Islands since 2003 - Maukera R, Blignault I.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the impact on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of the armed conflict that occurred in the Solomon Islands from 1998-2003 and the subsequent political unrest and natural disasters, and the developments in mental health service... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - July 12, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Alcohol and Other Drugs Source Type: news
New Guinea Flatworm, One Of The World's 'Worst' Invasive Species, Found In Florida
A worm called one of the world's "worst" invasive species by conservationists has been found in the United States for the first time, an international team of researchers announced on Tuesday. The Platydemus manokwari, also called the New Guinea flatworm, poses a major threat to the planet's snail biodiversity, according to an article published in the scientific journal PeerJ. "It is considered a danger to endemic snails wherever it has been introduced," the report states. The flatworm is thought to originate in New Guinea, but researchers say it has spread to Florida, New Caledonia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the Solomon ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 23, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
People on the Solomon Islands Have Killed Over 15,000 Dolphins For Their Teeth
Villagers in the Solomon Islands killed over 15,000 dolphins from 1976 to 2013 for their teeth, which are used as currency or personal ornamentation, according to a study published Wednesday in Royal Society Open Science.
In 2013 alone, more than 1,600 dolphins were killed by residents in the village of Fanalei. The extracted teeth are valued at 70 cents apiece.
The traditional hunting method involves up to thirty canoes driving dolphins to shore, where they are killed.
Such hunts have been going on sporadically since the early histories of the villages. There was a brief respite in 2010 when the Earth Island Institute pai...
Source: TIME: Top Science and Health Stories - May 7, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Sabrina Toppa Tags: Uncategorized Conservation dolphin teeth Dolphins Environment Fanalei solomon islands Source Type: news
Dolphins hunted to pay for brides
Killing in Solomon Islands continues despite attempts at compromise (Source: ScienceNOW)
Source: ScienceNOW - May 5, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
