In 2005 and 2010 the Amazon basin experienced two strong droughts, driven by shifts in the tropical hydrological regime possibly associated with global climate change, as predicted by some global models. Tree mortality increased after the 2005 drought, and regional atmospheric inversion modelling showed basin-wide decreases in CO2 uptake in 2010 compared with 2011. But the response of tropical forest carbon cycling to these droughts is not fully understood and there has been no detailed multi-site investigation in situ.

Private finance can drive the energy transformation needed to meet global emissions goals — if backed by the right policies, says Nathan Fabian.

One of the most devastating consequences of the Ebola outbreak will be its impact on maternal health.

In the southwestern United States, where years of drought are leading water managers to consider drastic water-provision measures such as desalination and cloud seeding, entrepreneurs have suggested reviving a water-saving technique that was tried and abandoned half a century ago. They propose to stretch dwindling water supplies by slowing down evaporation from reservoirs by means of a surface barrier of cheap, non-toxic, biodegradable chemicals just one molecule thick — two-millionths of a millimetre.

aenia solium cysticercosis is a neglected parasitic zoonosis occurring in many developing countries. Socio-cultural determinants related to its control remain unclear. Studies in Africa have shown that the underuse of sanitary facilities and the widespread occurrence of free-roaming pigs are the major risk factors for porcine cysticercosis. The study objective was to assess the communities’ perceptions, practices and knowledge regarding latrines in a T.

Flash floods have occurred frequently in the urban areas of southern China. An effective process-oriented urban flood inundation model is urgently needed for urban storm-water and emergency management. This study develops an efficient and flexible cellular automaton (CA) model to simulate storm-water runoff and the flood inundation process during extreme storm events. The process of infiltration, inlets discharge and flow dynamics can be simulated with little preprocessing on commonly available basic urban geographic data.

Concerns over climate change and climatic variability are growing in South Asia because of the potential detrimental impacts of these phenomena on livelihoods. Such growing concerns demonstrate a need to assess how farmers simultaneously cope with extreme events and adapt to climatic variability.

A new generation of an Earth system model now includes a number of land-surface processes directly relevant to analyzing potential impacts of climate change. This

East–Southeast Asia is currently one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world, with countries such as China climbing from 20 to 50% urbanized in just a few decades. By 2050, these countries are projected to add 1 billion people, with 90% of that growth occurring in cities. This population shift parallels an equally astounding amount of built-up land expansion.

Air pollution is a suspected developmental neurotoxicant. Many schools are located in close proximity to busy roads, and traffic air pollution peaks when children are at school. We aimed to assess whether exposure of children in primary school to traffic-related air pollutants is associated with impaired cognitive development.

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