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Tropical island nations should team up to ban coral-killing sunscreen products, following the example of Hawaii, a conference has heard. Chemical compounds in sunscreen lotions cause irreparable damage to reefs, which are crucial to the livelihoods of 500 million people in the tropics, scientist and policymakers said at the IUCN World Conservation Congress on 3 September. Hawaii is leading a legistlative effort to ban the use of sunscreen that contains oxybenzone or similar harmful agents at its beaches.

A team involving Oxford University scientists has, for the first time, discovered tiny magnetic particles from air pollution lodged in human brains – and researchers think they could be a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers led by Lancaster University found abundant magnetite nanoparticles in the brain tissue of 37 individuals aged three to 92 who lived in Mexico City and Manchester. This strongly magnetic mineral is toxic and has been implicated in the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) in the human brain, which are associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease.

The results have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Las organizaciones a menudo gastan una gran cantidad de tiempo en reunir la información, dar forma y publicar un informe de sustentabilidad y dedican poco tiempo a las consideraciones más difíciles que harán que el informe brinde un reflejo de la forma en que la empresa ética y responsable ofrece un rendimiento financiero superior, esto debe ser un elemento clave, el brindar a los tomadores de decisión e inversionistas la idea, basada en hechos y números, que el invertir en temas de sustentabilidad (ambiente, sociedad, etc.) con los grupos de interés (comunidad, empleados, etc.) sí arroja resultados económicamente satisfactorios.

Los beneficios de los informes de sustentabilidad comparten un entendimiento común sobre el papel de la empresa en la sociedad y la capacidad de centrarse en cuestiones ambientales y sociales y que tienen una gran capacidad de crear valor para los accionistas.

En una carta que se dirigió a los directivos de las 500 empresas más importantes en el indicador “Standard and Poor’s” se menciona que la “Generación de retornos sustentables en el tiempo requiere una mayor atención no sólo sobre la forma de administrarse, sino también de factores ambientales y sociales que enfrentan las empresas hoy en día” Además se menciona que “A largo plazo, el medio ambiente, la sociedad y las relaciones con los grupos de interés, tienen impactos financieros reales y cuantificables”.

There has been a massive boom in wind power capacity both in Europe and worldwide. In 2015 global installed capacity was around 350 gigawatt (GW), with 135 GW installed in Europe, distributed across some 87,000 wind turbines. Wind power now provides a bigger share (13 percent) of electricity than nuclear power stations. In countries such as Spain, Denmark and Germany, the amount of wind power already installed is in theory enough to cover nationwide demand for electricity under ideal conditions, i.e. maximum wind power output and low consumer demand.

Global fisheries stand to lose approximately $10 billion of their annual revenue by 2050 if climate change continues unchecked, and countries that are most dependent on fisheries for food will be the hardest hit, finds new UBC research.

Climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and changes in ocean salinity, acidity and oxygen levels are expected to result in decreased catches, as previous research from UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries has found. In this study, the authors examined the financial impact of these projected losses for all fishing countries in 2050, compared to 2000.