Munrothuruthu (‘Munroe Island’) is a place renowned for continuous settlement, in the Kollam district of Kerala. The Indian Ocean earthquake and Tsunami of 2004 triggered this major problem. The island is located at confluence of the Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada River. Low lying regions of the island are facing progressive settlement which has become pronounced since the occurrence of Tsunami. The area has been affected by upward seepage of saline water during High Tide events, denoting the axial lowering of land mass.

Biochar, a carbon-rich, porous pyrolysis product of organic residues may positively affect plant yield and can, owing to its inherent stability, promote soil carbon sequestration when amended to agricultural soils. Another possible effect of biochar is the reduction in emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O). A number of laboratory incubations have shown significantly reduced N2O emissions from soil when mixed with biochar.

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Telomere length and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content are markers of aging and aging-related diseases. There is inconclusive evidence concerning the mechanistic effects of airborne particulate matter (PM) exposure on biomolecular markers of ageing. The present study examines the association between short- and long-term PM exposure with telomere length and mtDNA content in elderly and investigates to what extend this association is mediated by expression of genes playing a role in the telomere-mitochondrial axis of aging.

Palustrine wetlands(PWs) include all bogs, fens, swamps and marshes that are non-saline and which are not lakes or rivers. They therefore form a highly important group of wetlands which hold large carbon stocks. If these wetlands are not protected properly they could become a net carbon source in the future. Compilation of spatially explicit wetland databases, national inventory data and in situ measurement of soil organic carbon (SOC) could be useful to better quantify SOC and formulate long-term strategies for mitigating global climate change.

Carsharing exemplifies a growing trend towards service provision displacing ownership of capital goods. We developed a model to quantify the impact of carsharing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The study took into account different types of households and their trip characteristics. The analysis considers five factors by which carsharing can impact GHG emissions: transportation mode change, fleet vintage, vehicle optimization, more efficient drive trains within each vehicle type, and trip aggregation.

Ongoing research and technology developments hold the promise of rapid production and large-scale deployment of strain-specific or cross-protective vaccines for novel influenza viruses. We sought to investigate the impact of early vaccination on age-specific attack rates and evaluate the outcomes of different vaccination strategies that are influenced by the level of single or two-dose vaccine-induced protections. We developed and parameterized an agent-based model for two population demographics of urban and remote areas in Canada.

The much-awaited Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted by all members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Saturday. The Agreement will now be open for ratification by each member nation from April 2016 onwards

In a bid to fast-track environmental clearances for industrial projects, the Narendra Modi government constituted a high-level committee in 2014 under T S R Subramanian to review key environmental laws. In the context of the controversial recommendations made by the T S R Subramanian Committee to ease environmental norms and dilute people’s participation in environmental governance to stimulate economic development, the article takes a critical look at the functioning of the Environmental Impact Assessment regime in India since its inception in 1994.

Successive Governments of India have promised to transform India's unsatisfactory health-care system, culminating in the present government's promise to expand health assurance for all. Despite substantial improvements in some health indicators in the past decade, India contributes disproportionately to the global burden of disease, with health indicators that compare unfavourably with other middle-income countries and India's regional neighbours. Large health disparities between states, between rural and urban populations, and across social classes persist.

In 2002, Munk defined an important enigma of 20th century global mean sea-level (GMSL) rise that has yet to be resolved.