Antibiotic-resistant bacteria mean that the infections that we usually regard as minor become more complicated or even life-threatening. Infected wounds don’t heal; pneumonia can lead to death. Microbiologists Tobias Olofsson and Alejandra Vásquez see living bacterial cultures, which produce lots of different antibiotic substances, as a solution to the problem....
Lactic acid bacteria are not only good for the stomach. Researchers have discovered that they are also a wiz at producing green chemicals. THE DEMAND FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY chemicals and sustainably developed products is increasing. Nevertheless, basically all so-called platform chemicals are made by crude oil and natural gas. Platform...
Africa is very vulnerable to climate change. However, challenges remain in understanding the full set of climate impacts for the region. Improved climate models may help contribute to solutions for reducing vulnerability. A step in the right direction, according to the researchers Minchao Wu and Markku Rummukainen, is to incorporate into todays climate models how regional ecosystems are affected by, and affect, the climate....
Most African countries contribute only marginally to the increase of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The impact varies across the continent and also within individual countries. An improved set of data increases the...
Tropical rainforests have long been considered the Earth’s lungs, sequestering large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and thereby slowing down the increasing greenhouse effect and associated human-made climate change. Scientists in a global research project now show that the vast extensions of semi-arid landscapes occupying the transition zone...
Africa’s great apes, apes and monkeys thrive in forests with plenty of fruit-bearing trees. They eat of the fruit and subsequently spread the trees’ seeds. People, on the other hand, hunt apes and other wild animals for food, and have done so for over 40 000 years. When only small groups of people subsist on game meat, the balance of...
African countries are showing an increased interest to invest in agriculture. Many welcome this development, but there are also those who warn that conventional modernised agriculture is likely to disadvantage both the vast majority of smallholder farmers and the environment. Sustainability researcher Ellinor Isgren is investigating so-called agroecological farming and...
The need for food, animal feed and fuel in the Sahel belt is growing year on year, but supply is not increasing at the same rate. New figures from 22 countries indicate falling availability of resources per capita and a continued risk of famine in areas with low ‘primary production’ from plants. Rising temperatures present...
The wings of the fruit fly are extremely thin, transparent, and apparently colourless. But, in secret, the wings in fact shimmer with beautiful colours thanks to a refraction phenomenon. The colours are only visible against a dark background, and were first discovered only a few years ago by researchers at...
