• International Day for Biodiversity - 22nd May 2013
• Solar Impulse plane's trans-America bid continues
• UK: First crane egg in 400 years laid at Slimbridge

• New Transcendental Meditation websites launched in UK and Holland
• US: Meditation research conference hosted by New York Academy of Sciences
• Epigenetics sheds light on how transcending can alter gene expression

• Migratory 'flyways' decimated by human expansion
• World grapples with rise in cyber crime
• Carbon dioxide level crosses milestone at Hawaii site

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

International Day for Biodiversity - 22nd May 2013
22 May 2013 - Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural pattern it forms. In late 1993, following the Rio Earth Summit of May the previous year, the UN General Assembly sanctioned International Day for Biological Diversity. Between 1993 and 2000 this took place each year on 29th December. In December 2000 it was decided that since so many holidays occur in December, from henceforth the day would be celebrated on 22nd May to coincide with the date of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. (more)

Solar Impulse plane's trans-America bid continues
22 May 2013 - The Solar Impulse solar-powered plane has set off on the second leg of its trans-American journey. It took off at 04:47 local time (12:47 BST) from Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday, bound for Dallas, Texas. The craft will also stop over in St Louis and Washington DC before heading to New York in early July. It has the same wingspan as an Airbus A340 but at a weight of just 1.6 tonnes, its backers hope to show off the capabilities of renewable energy. By comparison, a fully laden A340 weighs about 370 tonnes. The Across America bid is the first cross-continental flight of a solar-powered plane. (more)

UK: First crane egg in 400 years laid at Slimbridge
21 May 2013 - The first crane egg in southern Britain in more than 400 years has been laid by a nesting bird. The Great Crane Project has been rearing cranes and reintroducing them to the West Country since 2010. The egg, the first from cranes released by the project, is under round-the-clock guard at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. Hunting and the loss of wetlands led to cranes becoming extinct in Britain. (more)

South Africa: Construction of MeerKat satellite dishes kicks off
17 May 2013 - The construction of the 64-dish MeerKat satellite dishes -- a precursor of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project -- had commenced, the Minister of Science and Technology Derek Hanekom said on Thursday. Government has injected R2 billion in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project over the next three years and Hanekom said the MeerKat would be completed by 2016. (more)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield: 'Space was too good not to share it'
16 May 2013 - Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has said his life in space had to be shared on social media, in his first public appearance since returning to Earth. Cmdr Hadfield, 53, said his experiences in space were 'too good' to keep to himself. He landed on Tuesday. With nearly 1 million Twitter followers, Cmdr Hadfield said he was pleased with the interest in his work. (more)

US: National Weather Service gets big computing boost
16 May 2013 - The US National Weather Service is getting a quantum jump in computing power that will significantly improve its forecasting and storm tracking abilities to better protect the country from severe weather. 'This is a game changer,' Louis Uccellini, who took over as director of the National Weather Service in February, told Reuters in an interview, calling it 'the biggest increase in operational capacity that we've ever had'. The Weather Service is a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is part of the US Department of Commerce. (more)

Dutch sociologist given Spain's Asturias prize
15 May 2013 - A Dutch sociologist has been awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias social sciences prize for her work in the field of globalization and urban sociology. The jury said that one of Saskia Sassen's greatest scientific contributions was 'her concept of the 'global city', now accepted and used worldwide.' The concept describes cities that are centres of the world economy. The 50,000-euro ($64,330) Asturias award is one of eight prizes handed out yearly by a foundation named for Spain's Crown Prince Felipe. Others categories include arts, sport, communications, and scientific research. (more)

Neutrinos from the cosmos hint at new era in astronomy
15 May 2013 - An experiment buried beneath the ice of the South Pole has for the first time seen high-energy neutrino particles originating outside our Solar System. They are produced in our atmosphere and in the cosmos's most violent processes, but the IceCube experiment has seen the first energetic 'cosmic neutrinos'. It detected 28 of the exceptionally fast-moving neutrinos -- but it remains unclear exactly where they came from. The pioneering finds could herald an entirely new branch of astronomy. (more)

Canadian Chris Hadfield: astronaut, troubadour, tweeter - and a true Space Oddity
13 May 2013 - Chris Hadfield, Canada's first commander of the International Space Station, stint in space marks a shift in the astronaut breed, away from the robotic iciness of NASA's early crews to the more modern species that openly revels in the wonder of falling round the Earth. According to the Canadian Space Agency, Hadfield's YouTube videos have been watched 22m times. In December, at the start of the mission, he had 20,000 Twitter followers. That is now 800,000 and rising. Gone are the days of the reticent astronaut who spoke with the calm detachment the job seemed to demand (more)

Finnish electric solar wind sail being tested in space
13 May 2013 - An electric solar wind sail, or e-sail, developed in Finland, is being tested for the first time in space. An Estonian small satellite, EstCube-1, was launched from France on Tuesday, 7 May. The satellite will deploy a ten-metre-long electric sail, which was developed by ETLA, the Electronics Research Laboratory of the University of Helsinki's Department of Physics. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

New Transcendental Meditation websites launched in UK and Holland
6 April 2013 - Two new Transcendental Meditation websites have been launched in the last month, one in the United Kingdom and one in the Netherlands. Both are test runs for a new design and template that can be applied to Transcendental Meditation websites in every country. Transcendental Meditation teachers can easily adopt the template without having to enlist web programmers or software engineers. (more)

US: Meditation research conference hosted by New York Academy of Sciences
4 March 2013 - This January, the New York Academy of Sciences held a groundbreaking conference entitled Advances in Meditation Research. Meditation researchers from around the country came together to share findings from new studies on a wide range of different meditation traditions, ranging from mindfulness and Zazen to Qi Gong and the Transcendental Meditation technique. Conference speaker Dr Fred Travis, a prominent brain science researcher who specializes in the effects of Transcendental Meditation on brain functioning, is director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. (more)

Epigenetics sheds light on how transcending can alter gene expression
2 March 2013 - 'We know that genes can change in their expression,' said Alarik Arenander, PhD, a UCLA-trained neuroscientist. The real question, he said, is how to change gene expression consistently for the better. A recent finding in epigenetics is that histones, proteins that help locate and read genetic information, change the way they function depending on a person's lifestyle and experiences. Decades of research on Transcendental Meditation have shown that the practice promotes beneficial changes on many levels, from physical to emotional to mental health, said Dr Arenander. 'Now we know at least the beginning stages of how transcending . . . can have a profound effect on how our genes are functioning.' (more)

Lifestyle may influence gene expression and DNA: Neuroscientist reports on new discoveries
2 March 2013 - A new breakthrough in the understanding of genetic potential is taking place now. The role of histones, formerly thought to be little more than spare parts, is increasingly understood. Alarik Arenander, PhD, a UCLA-trained neuroscientist, said histones have been found not to be inactive, but rather they are quietly writing the script for gene expression. What is more, they seem to function according to what one does in life. Dr Arenander, a longtime expert researcher on Transcendental Meditation and the brain, discussed how the experiences we have in daily life have the ability to change our brains, even aspects of brain functioning that were previous thought to be fixed. (more)

More complex understanding of histones and DNA emerges
2 March 2013 - In order to understand new findings in the field of DNA and gene expression, it is important to first know about histones and their function. Histones are made of protein and act as spools around which DNA winds. They play a role in gene regulation, and it is this role that is now better understood than ever before, and which also may shed light on the mechanisms through which Transcendental Meditation promotes beneficial changes in physiological functioning. (more)

The practice of meditation can change genes, neuroscientist says
2 March 2013 - New knowledge about histones, proteins that 'write the script' for gene expression, is giving scientists more understanding of the many beneficial effects produced by the practice of Transcendental Meditation in the physiology. 'That opening and closing of the histone structure and the winding and unwinding of DNA is sensitive to your life experience. What you do in your life, what you experience during your day, alters the mechanics of how those histones function,' said Dr Alarik Arenander, who has studied Transcendental Meditation and the brain. 'We now know that every experience we have has a cascade of biochemical impacts' that reaches the nucleus of our cells--'that reaches our genes and histones and alters how they're packaged.' (more)

Distinct brain wave patterns emerge during meditation practice
5 February 2013 - Dr Norman Rosenthal, a clinical neuropsychologist, explained that scientists can now measure what happens in the brain during meditation. He said, 'What you see here is that [different meditation practices] will generate different electrical patterns, once again illustrating that these are different techniques, all of which might have their advantages, but they are not exactly the same.' He added, 'Higher levels of coherence have been found when people meditate with Transcendental Meditation.' (more)

Conference aims to unify meditation research approaches
29 January 2013 - An upcoming conference in California, USA, will focus on meditation research and finding a common scientific language for the many different forms and traditions of meditation. The conference is organized by the Esalen Institute, Maharishi University of Management, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). Dr Fred Travis, Director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at MUM, discussed several areas on which he hopes to see progress, such as agreement on 'a common profile of measures' to investigate--for example emotional intelligence, happiness, brain functioning and other measures of physiological functioning--that would capture important aspects of growth and development through meditation. (more)

First 'Advances in Meditation Research' conference in NYC brings together researchers from many traditions
29 January 2013 - Dr Fred Travis, Director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management, presented at a recent conference -- Advances in Meditation Research: Neuroscience and Clinical Applications -- hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City. The conference was the first of its kind, he said, in that many different meditation techniques and traditions were fully represented and respected, in a very harmonious gathering. In his presentation, which was received with great interest and appreciation, Dr Travis described his research on different categories of meditation, according to differences in EEG brain wave activity; and on brain functioning in higher states of consciousness in Transcendental Meditation practitioners. (more)

Meditation conferences aim to establish scientific understanding of ancient practices
29 January 2013 - Scientific study of meditation is gaining momentum and legitimacy, said Dr Fred Travis, an expert in brain research on Transcendental Meditation. He recently spoke on this topic at a conference in New York City, Advances in Meditation Research: Neuroscience and Clinical Applications, hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences. One goal of the conference was to examine scientific research on meditation and encourage the use of common research standards among different types of meditation. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Migratory 'flyways' decimated by human expansion
17 May 2013 - Migratory birds, which play an important role in the complex web of life known as ecosystem services, are under threat as never before, with some species facing extinction within the next decade. Ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May, focussed this year on water resources, experts are calling for greater international cooperation to find sustainable and cost-effective solutions to the problem of species loss and environmental degradation. 'Both water management boundaries and ecosystems rarely conveniently align with geopolitical boundaries,' notes the report Natural Solutions for Water Security, published by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). According to Francisco Rilla, information and capacity building officer at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), anintergovernmental treaty signed in 1979 in Bonn, Germany, 'The 'Big Five' primary causes of biodiversity loss ... are habitat destruction, overharvesting and poaching, pollution, climate change, and introduction of invasive species.' Migratory species are especially vulnerable 'as they depend entirely on a network of well-functioning ecosystems to refuel, reproduce and survive in every 'station' they visit and upon unrestricted travel,' Rilla told IPS. (more)

World grapples with rise in cyber crime
11 May 2013 - International law enforcement agencies say the recent $45 million dollar ATM heist is just one of many scams they're fighting in an unprecedented wave of sophisticated cyberattacks. Old-school robberies by masked criminals are being eclipsed by stealth multimillion dollar cybercrime operations which are catching companies and investigators by surprise. Bank fraud, ATM scams, and phishing are common in Romania, one of the most corrupt countries in the European Union, according to Transparency International which monitors and measures graft. The EU is the world's largest market for payment card transactions and it is estimated that organized crime groups derive more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) a year from payment card fraud in the EU. (more)

Carbon dioxide level crosses milestone at Hawaii site
10 May 2013 - The amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million at a key observing station in Hawaii for the first time since measurement began in 1958, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Friday. To many scientists, crossing the 400 ppm threshold, which means that there are 400 molecules of carbon dioxide for every million molecules in the air, is a bit like the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising above 15,000 points. For many years scientists have said that concentrations need to be kept below, or pushed back to, 350 ppm for countries to meet an international target of keeping the average temperature increase below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) this century. Carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. It is emitted by fossil-fuelled vehicles and coal-fired factories and power plants as well as by natural activities such as breathing. (more)

Many causes for dramatic bee disappearance
2 May 2013 - A new federal report blames a combination of problems for a mysterious and dramatic disappearance of US honeybees since 2006. The intertwined factors cited include a parasitic mite, multiple viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss, and pesticides. The multiple causes make it harder to do something about what's called colony collapse disorder, experts say. The disorder has caused as much as one-third of the nation's bees to just disappear each winter since 2006. Bees, especially honeybees, are needed to pollinate crops. (more)

Study links insecticide use to invertebrate die-offs
1 May 2013 - The world's most widely used insecticide is devastating dragonflies, snails and other water-based species, a groundbreaking Dutch study has revealed. On Monday, the insecticide and two others were banned for two years from use on some crops across the European Union, due to the risk posed to bees and other pollinators, on which many food crops rely. However, much tougher action in the form of a total worldwide ban is needed, according to the scientist who led the new study. (more)

Declining bee populations pose a threat to global agriculture.
30 April 2013 - One of every three bites of food eaten worldwide depends on pollinators, especially bees, for a successful harvest. And in the past several months, a scramble in California's almond groves has given the world a taste of what may lie in store for food production if the widespread -- and still puzzling -- decimation of bee colonies continues. (more)

Indigenous tribes say effects of climate change already felt in Amazon rainforest.
30 April 2013 - Tribal groups in Earth's largest rainforest are already being affected by shifts wrought by climate change, reports a paper published last week in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. The paper, which is based on a collection of interviews conducted with indigenous leaders in the Brazilian Amazon, says that native populations are reporting shifts in precipitation patterns, humidity, river levels, temperature, and fire, and agricultural cycles. These shifts, measured against celestial timing used by indigenous groups, are affecting traditional ways of life that date back thousands of years. (more)

Germany's clean energy drive fails to curb dirty brown coal
26 April 2013 - Germany's green energy drive is proving surprisingly good for dirty brown coal as utilities squeezed by rival renewables and low wholesale gas prices use more of it. East Germany was a huge user of brown coal, or lignite, and Germany remains the world's biggest producer, but its use poses a problem for Berlin's environmental plans. Germany needs nuclear, coal, or gas for so-called base power to ensure steady supply alongside volatile wind and solar energy. And it is coal that is winning out because German utilities can turn a profit using it to generate electricity, something they are failing to do with gas. While Germany's carbon output held steady in 2012 helped by improved energy efficiency, its broader emissions (of gases monitoured under the Kyoto Protocol) rose 1.6 per cent partly due to pollution from brown coal. (more)

GM salmon's global HQ - 1,500m high in the Panamanian rainforest
24 April 2013 - Supersized, genetically-modified salmon grown fast and fat and after years of wrangling, are ready for market -- but is the market ready for them? And why is the firm hidden away in Panama? It is hard to think of a more unlikely setting for genetic experimentation or for raising salmon: a rundown shed at a secretive location in the Panamanian rainforest miles inland and 1,500m above sea level. It was not entirely clear why AquaBounty chose this out-of-the-way location to raise GM fish for market, or indeed why it chose Panama at all -- the company refused to comment for this article. (more)

Pesticide suspected in bee die-offs could also kill birds
15 April 2013 - Controversial pesticides linked to catastrophic honeybee declines in North America and Europe may also kill other creatures, posing ecological threats even graver than feared, say some scientists. According to a report by the American Bird Conservancy, the dangers of neonicotinoid pesticides to birds, and also to stream- and soil-dwelling insects accidentally exposed to the chemicals, have been underestimated by regulators and downplayed by industry. (more)