GENEVA, September 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. of Switzerland has won an auction by the Sao Paulo Municipal Government in Brazil of 713,000 certified emission reduction (CER) credits, representing 713,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. The winning bid was 19.20 Euros ($28.20) per credit-a total of over 13.68 million Euros.

The auction took place under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty under which signatory nations agree to create a market for carbon emissions, in order to try to reduce CO2 emissions into the earth's atmosphere.

The auction was held by the BM&FBOVESPA Exchange in Brazil. Eight bidders participated in the auction.

This kind of Mother Goose is no fairy tale. A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 meter wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent. These giant ocean-going relatives of ducks and geese also had a rather bizarre attribute for a bird: their beaks were lined with bony-teeth.

Described today in the journal Palaeontology, the skull belongs to Dasornis, a bony-toothed bird, or pelagornithid, and was discovered in the London Clay, which lies under much of London, Essex and northern Kent in SE England. The occurrence of bony-toothed birds in these deposits has been known for a long time, but the new fossil is one the best skulls ever found, and preserves previously unknown details of the anatomy of these strange creatures.

Wile E. Coyote has nothing on this guy.

Yves Rossy, aka Jet Man, zoomed into the record books this morning, flying across the English Channel strapped to a single jet-powered wing, with only a helmet and flight suit for protection.

The 22-mile (35-kilometer) France-to-England journey took 13 minutes. Bad weather had twice postponed the event this week. But this morning—with clear blue skies and a nice tailwind—turned out to be an ideal flight day for the Swiss airline pilot.

Around 2 p.m., local time, Rossy leaped from a plane abound 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) above a beach near Calais. Within seconds he had opened his wing, fired up his four miniature jet turbines, and pointed his nose toward Britain.

NEW YORK and GENEVA, September 26 /PRNewswire/ -- WISeKey today announced a new commitment with the initial focus to target over 100 million people in the Mediterranean region still unbanked but already connected via voice with their mobiles phones. WISeKey will provide the trusted, secure and interoperable m-payments technology required to operate a Mobile Payment Telco Platform in selected geographical areas in partnership with financial institutions, telecommunications and technology companies in the region.

MONHEIM, Germany, September 26 /PRNewswire/ --

It is the most common cause of death(1) in older cats, but one so subtle it often remains undetected until the cat falls suddenly ill. Chronic Renal Disease (CRD) affects the kidney functions of one-third of cats over 15 years(2), with an estimated 10% of all cats over 7 years at risk. And once it strikes, up to 85% of kidney function may be permanently lost(3) compromising both the quality and duration of the cat's life.

Today Bayer HealthCare's Animal Health division unveils a new solution to aid the management of chronic feline renal disease. Renalzin(R) is an innovative, easy-to-administer feed additive proven to support kidney function in ageing cats.

PARIS, September 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Revenues +31% / Operating Profit +41% / Net Profit +51%

LeGuide.com S.A. (Alternext - ALGUI), the ndegrees1 French independent editor of Internet shopping guides, shows strong growth as well as profitability in its results for the 1st semester of 2008.

Consolidated Figures 30 June % 30 June % Evolution in MEUR* 2008 Turnover 2007 Turnover S1 '08 / S1 '07 Turnover 7.5 - 5.7 - +31% Operating Profit 2.1 28.5% 1.5 26.6% +41% Gross Profit 2.6 34.8% 1.7 29.2% +57% Net Profit 1.8 23.5% 1.2 20.4% +51% *Audited figures (review engagement), before dooyoo integration

Strong organic growth in 14 European countries

Scientific happenings, big and small, on this day in history

But first: today’s quiz. What inventor, who died on this day in 1902, developed and patented a highly popular (and much beloved) item of clothing in 1873? Trust me, you most likely have this item of clothing in your wardrobe, and in fact may be wearing it right now – especially since it’s Friday. The answer can be found at the end of this article.

On to other historic happenings…

17 years ago, September 26, 1991, 8 brave souls locked themselves inside a sealed dome to simulate what it would be like to live in an artificial closed ecological system.

It was called Biosphere 2 (the original 'biosphere' being Ma Earth here) and was made in Oracle, Arizona by Space Biosphere Ventures.

The idea was to learn about ecology but it ended up being about anthropology as well - as fellow Scientific Blogging scribe Jane Poynter says, they discovered that even in tiny groups, and much as they might have protested the notion in advance, they broke into factions.

HEEMSTEDE, The Netherlands, September 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- The Contents of Europe's National Libraries Will Soon be Available in Most European Languages

With funding from the European Commission and the Conference of European National Libraries (CENL), The European Library has undertaken an important decision to make its collections accessible in most of Europe's native languages. As a first step, the titles and descriptions of 330 digital collections and catalogues are being made available in 27 languages. Additional languages will follow in the near future.

LONDON, September 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The dating industries watchdog the Association of British Introduction Agencies are pleased to announce the dating industry is thriving amongst the doom and gloom of the credit crunch!

In the eight months up to and including 31st August 2008 Association members have seen an amazing 17.5 per cent increase in business.

Commenting, Press Officer for the Association Karen Mooney says, "This shows when times are hard and people are struggling to pay the bills those who are single, think about the quality of their life and finding a loving partner becomes their top priority. Somehow it puts the important things in life in priority. The new car or designer sunglasses are no longer important and finding a partner is."