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Greek villages are famous for their glittering white walls and beautiful blue painted accents, which make them a dazzling sight whether you’re approaching the sea or looking out across them from the windows of your blessedly cool room — which stays cool even in the height of summer heat. If you look around, you might notice that there’s no air conditioning. The Greeks don’t need it, because their homes are specifically designed to control temperatures and keep people comfortable. Thick walls insulate rooms to keep temperatures stable, while those handsome white roofs and walls reflect heat.

The rush to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in the last few months has generated years’ worth of new information about the previously little understood infectious disease, including simple but effective prevention measures, according to Lindsey Baden, deputy editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology faculty.

“We’ve learned as much about Ebola in the last two months as we normally would in 5-6 years,” Baden told an HSPH audience at his November 20, 2014 talk, “Ebola: Reporting on and Responding to an Evolving Outbreak.” The talk was sponsored by the Office of the Dean as part of a lecture serieson the current Ebola outbreak.

Cada año, el planeta hace un balance de su presupuesto. El dióxido de carbono absorbido por las plantas en la primavera y el verano, cuando convierten la energía solar en alimento, es liberado a la atmósfera en otoño e invierno. Los niveles de gases de efecto invernadero caen, sólo para subir de nuevo.
Pero el presupuesto ha crecido. Durante las últimas cinco décadas la magnitud de este ascenso y caída ha crecido casi un 50 por ciento en el hemisferio norte, conforme la cantidad de gases de efecto invernadero absorbida y liberada ha aumentado

The drugs we release into the environment are likely to have a significant impact on plant growth, finds a new study led by the University of Exeter Medical School and Plymouth University. By assessing the impacts of a range of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the research has shown that the growth of edible crops can be affected by these chemicals – even at the very low concentrations found in the environment.

El calentamiento climático causado por una sola emisión de carbono toma sólo unos 10 años para alcanzar su máximo efecto. Esto es importante porque refuta la idea errónea de que no se dejarán sentir las emisiones actuales durante décadas y que son un problema para las generacones futuras.
Por primera vez, un estudio realizado por Katharine Ricke y Ken Caldeira del Instituo Carnegie de Ciencias, ha evaluado cuánto tiempo se tarda en sentir el efecto de calentamiento máximo causado por una sola emisión de carbono. Su trabajo se ha publicado en Environmental Research Letters.