Are climate change and carbon emissions inextricably linked? New research published in Carbon Balance and Management suggests that this may not be the case, although it may be some time before we reach this saturation point.

The land and the oceans contain significantly more carbon than the atmosphere, and exchange carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 emissions absorbed by the land or the oceans vary in response to changes in climate (including natural variations such as El Nino or volcanic eruptions). So current theories suggest that climate change will have a feedback effect on the rate that atmospheric CO2 increases; rising CO2 levels in turn add to global warming.

The link between the carbon cycle, and human effects caused by emissions, energy use and agriculture, may only be relevant for the next 'several centuries,’ suggest Igor Mokhov and Alexey Eliseev from the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics RAS, in Moscow, Russia. The authors used a climate model known as IAP RAS CM to study how feedback between our climate and the carbon cycle changes over time. In their simulations, the authors assumed that fossil fuel emissions would grow exponentially with a characteristic timescale from 50 to 250years.

Nitric oxide has emerged as an important signaling molecule in plants - as in mammals including people. In studies of a tropical medicinal herb as a model plant, researchers have found that nitric oxide targets a number of proteins and enzymes in plants.

In collaborative work with the research group of Renu Deswal, a faculty member, and her doctoral student at the Botany Department, University of Delhi, India, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Autar Mattoo has identified 19 such targeted proteins and enzymes in Kalanchoe pinnata, also known as "miracle leaf."

These proteins and enzymes are involved in regulating processes from seed germination to cell development to plant death.

TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- In Five of 22 Categories at Least One Taiwan Institution Ranks Within the World's Top 100 for 2003-2007 Period

As a futurist I speak and write about trends and the future. I am often asked questions about the future of one thing or another. In most cases I speak to general trends, not specific outcomes. In some areas I can be somewhat specific as I have taken the time to analyze and then cross reference what I have learned with the trends and forces I see. One of those areas is the price of oil. In early 2007, when the price of oil was $53 a barrel I was invited on a business program to predict what I thought the price of oil might be by the end of the year. At that time I said that I thought that oil would exceed $80 a barrel and could well approach $100, though I didn’t think it would cross that barrier in 2007. The reporter, who had never spoken with a futurist, calling me a ‘so-called futurist’ was trying to contain her sputtering disbelief. The opposite side was some ‘oil industry analyst’ who spoke about a price fluctuation between $50-70 for the remainder of the year. About eight months ago, I wrote that I thought that the near term trading range for the price of oil for the next couple of years would be $80-125. At the time I stated that while there was little on the horizon to create a downward pressure below $80, there was much on the horizon that could cause an upward pressure to $125 and that the long term trend would be ever upward and that downward pressure would provide only temporary dips.

PHILADELPHIA, April 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Patients' Vision Improved from Detecting Hand Movements to Reading Lines on Eye Chart

In a clinical trial at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to safely restore vision in three young adults with a rare form of congenital blindness. Although the patients have not achieved normal eyesight, the preliminary results set the stage for further studies of an innovative treatment for this and possibly other retinal diseases.

Depending on which variant of the gene CYP1A2 a woman has, a coffee consumption rate of at least two cups a day can either reduce the total risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer, according to new research from Lund University and Malmö University in Sweden.

The effect of coffee is related to estrogens - female sex hormones. Certain metabolic products of these hormones are known to be carcinogenic and various components of coffee can alter the metabolism so that a woman acquires a better configuration of various estrogens.

Coffee, of course, contains caffeine, which also hampers the growth of cancer cells.

'Functional foods' are those that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition and more people are recognizing that they are an important part of a lifestyle that leads to long-term fitness and even longevity.

Liz Sloan, writing in Food Technology, has identified the top 10 trends in functional foods. The article noted that a majority of Americans, 69 percent, are incorporating foods into a preventative lifestyle, while 27 percent are utilizing food as a treatment to manage a preexisting health condition. One-third of shoppers (36 percent) are trying to reduce the risk of developing a health condition, follow a doctor’s advice (30 percent) or manage/treat a specific condition on their own (25 percent), according to the Food Marketing Institute¹ data.

“Today’s consumers are extremely sophisticated, and they are attracted to functional foods’ ability to help manage health and wellness,” said Institute of Food Technologists(IFT) spokesperson Roger Clemens, PhD. Simply put, Americans are relying heavily on the foods they consume to improve their well-being.

Top 10 Food Trends

LONDON, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Grangemouth oil workers have taken out a series of adverts in the Scottish media today (Monday 28th April), to explain to the people of Scotland the reasons for their strike and to ask for their understanding and support.

Seven adverts have been placed in newspapers covering the whole of Scotland on behalf of the1,200 Grangemouth workers. They express regret for any potential inconvenience caused to the general public but explain that the workers have been left with no choice but to strike to defend their pensions.

LONDON, April 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Calling Notice

- Sunday 27th April 2008

Grangemouth community demonstrates solidarity with striking workers The people of Grangemouth are turning out at the plant this morning to show their support for the striking oil workers.

Hundreds of people from the local community are due to attend the rally alongside Michael Connarty MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk and Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East.

Rally details

Venue: Technical Building, Grangemouth Plant, Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth (between gates 4 and 5) Time: 11 am.

MP Michael Connarty and MSP Cathy Peattie will be at the event and available for interview.

At Abercrombie & Fitch, little girls were sold thong underwear tagged with the phrases "eye candy" and "wink wink." In Britain, preschoolers could learn to strip with their very own Peekaboo Pole-Dancing Kits, complete with kiddie garter belts and play money. And 'tween readers of the magazine Seventeen discovered "405 ways to look hot" like Paris Hilton.

This kind of sexualization of 'tween girls - defined as those between the ages of 8 and 12 - in pop culture and advertising is a growing problem fueled by marketers' efforts to create cradle-to-grave consumers, a University of Iowa journalism professor argues in her new book.

"A lot of very sexual products are being marketed to very young kids," said Gigi Durham, author of The Lolita Effect. "I'm criticizing the unhealthy and damaging representations of girls' sexuality, and how the media present girls' sexuality in a way that's tied to their profit motives. The body ideals presented in the media are virtually impossible to attain, but girls don't always realize that, and they'll buy an awful lot of products to try to achieve those bodies. There's endless consumerism built around that."