Today the new Global Carbon Budget was launched simultaneously by Global Carbon Project co-chair Michael Raupach in France at the Paris Observatory, and in the USA at Capitol Hill, Washington by GCP Executive Director Pep Canadell.

The Global Carbon Project posted the most recent figures for the worlds' carbon budget, a key to understanding the balance of carbon added to the atmosphere, the underpinning of human induced climate change. Despite the increasing international sense of urgency, the growth rate of emissions continued to speed up, bringing the atmospheric CO₂ concentration to 383 parts per million (ppm) in 2007.

Some of the world’s rarest and most precious metals, including platinum and iridium, could owe their presence in the Earth’s crust to iron and stony-iron meteorites, fragments of a large number of asteroids that underwent significant geological processing in the early Solar System.

Dr Gerhard Schmidt from the University of Mainz, Germany, has calculated that about 160 metallic asteroids of about 20 kilometres in diameter would be sufficient to provide the concentrations of these metals, known as Highly Siderophile Elements (HSE), found in the Earth’s crust. Dr Schmidt will be presenting his findings at the European Planetary Science Congress in Münster on Monday 22nd September.

Siderophile (iron-loving) elements are a group of high-density transition metals that tend to bond with metallic iron in the solid or molten state. The HSE group includes rhenium (Re), osmium Os), iridium (Ir), ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh), platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and gold (Au).

An artificial meteorite designed by the European Space Agency has shown that traces of life in a martian meteorite could survive the violent heat and shock of entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. The experiment’s results also suggest that meteorite hunters should widen their search to include white rocks if we are to find traces of life in martian meteorites.

The STONE-6 experiment tested whether sedimentary rock samples could withstand the extreme conditions during a descent though the Earth’s atmosphere where temperatures reached at least 1700 degrees Celsius. After landing, the samples were transported in protective holders to a laboratory clean-room at ESTEC and examined to see if any traces of life remained. The results were presented by Dr Frances Westall at the European Planetary Science Congress on September 25th.

Life has been discovered in the barren depths of Rome's ancient tombs but it's not zombies or Knights Templars protecting secret treasure; it's two new species of bacteria found growing on the walls, and though they're not protecting any treasure, they may be helping to protect our cultural heritage monuments, according to research published in the September issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

American children are approximately three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medication than children in Europe, according to a new study published Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. The study claims that the differences may be accounted for by regulatory practices and cultural beliefs about the role of medication in emotional and behavioral problems.

Julie Zito led a team of researchers from the USA, Germany and the Netherlands who investigated prescription levels in the three countries. She said, "Antidepressant and stimulant prevalence were three or more times greater in the US than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater".

BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Theme for 2008 World Diabetes Day - November 14 - is "Diabetes in Children and Adolescents"

BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 25 /PRNewswire/ --

The International Diabetes Federation announced today that it is calling on groups and individuals worldwide to get involved in activities to raise awareness of diabetes in the 50 days leading up to World Diabetes Day on November 14. The theme for this year's campaign is "Diabetes in Children and Adolescents."

LONDON, September 25 /PRNewswire/ --

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) has responded to the 2008 Which? report, A test of your own medicine.

David Pruce, Director of Policy at the RPSGB says: "The RPSGB was pleased to see that, since the 2004 Which? report, there have been significant improvements reported in the provision of pharmacy services, particularly with regard to the use of private consultation areas, the supply of Emergency Hormonal Contraception and Medicine Use Reviews being well received by Which? members.

TORONTO, Canada, September 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- RedMAX(TM) 4C Mobile WiMAX Subscriber Devices Join Redline's Roster of Proven WiMAX Forum Certified Product; Enables Mobile Service Providers to Offer High-Revenue Personal and Commercial Broadband Services

Redline Communications Group Inc. ("Redline") (TSX and AIM: RDL), a leading provider of WiMAX and broadband wireless infrastructure products, today announced its RedMAX 4C Mobile WiMAX products have been awarded the WiMAX Forum Certified(R) mark for conformity to the IEEE 802.16e standards for Mobile WiMAX.

NEW YORK, September 24 /PRNewswire/ --

As the United Nations General Assembly convenes this week, the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) is encouraging foreign leaders to collaborate on a global effort to advance a dialogue about minimizing the impact of Alzheimer's disease on the 26 million people worldwide currently living with the disease and those who will be affected in the future.

Eric J. Hall, AFA's president and CEO, said the increasing incidence of the disease worldwide - expected to quadruple by 2050 - warrants further awareness-raising on a global level, similar to the national advocacy efforts that AFA has been advancing in the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO, September 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- KPN's Eelco Blok Joins Cisco, IBM, Ingencio, Microsoft, Siemens and Royal Dutch Shell on Keynote Stage; Microsoft to Reveal OCS Release 2