Midwestern farming has introduced the equivalent of five Connecticut Rivers into the Mississippi River over the past 50 years and is adding more carbon dioxide annually into its waters, according to a study published in Nature by researchers at Yale and Louisiana State universities.

“It’s like the discovery of a new large river being piped out of the corn belt,” said Pete Raymond, lead author of the study and associate professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. “Agricultural practices have significantly changed the hydrology and chemistry of the Mississippi River.”

The researchers tracked changes in the levels of water and bicarbonate, which forms when carbon dioxide in soil water dissolves rock minerals.

BRUSSELS, January 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The European aluminium industry is committed to greenhouse gas reduction, having cut PFC emissions in Europe, by 83 per cent, since 1990. The aluminium industry is part of the answer to climate change, through solutions such as lightweighting in transport and energy efficiency of buildings. The sector supports emissions trading, as the preferred measure to address climate change. Primary and secondary aluminium production, however, would be severely impacted if included in the EU ETS, from 2013, unless adequately compensated for the CO2 cost pass through in electricity prices. Such compensation, to preserve our competitiveness, is required until industry in other regions of the world has similar obligations.

University of Alberta researchers in Edmonton, Canada, have developed a portable unit for genetic testing about the size of a shoebox, which has the same capability as a lab full of expensive equipment.

The device – along with other, even smaller units the team is now in the process of developing – paves the way for enormous savings to health-care systems and will improve care for patients. A wide variety of genetic tests that are available but not often used because their cost is prohibitive will become cheap, fast and easily accessible.

Prof. Christopher Backhouse, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, together with Dr. Linda Pilarski, an oncology professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and their research team, have received international recognition for the device.

REDWOOD CITY, California, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Inventor Paul Mockapetris Keynotes Commemorative Event Hosted by the Oxford Internet Institute and Afilias; Reflects on Past, Present and Future of Domain Name System

STOCKHOLM, Sweden and TORONTO, Canada, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- GuestLogix Allows Passengers on Thirty-Minute Flights to Benefit From its On-Board Full Retail Service Capability

The Skyways Group today entered into a multi-year agreement with Canadian company GuestLogix (TSX-V:GXI), for the provision of their Mobile Virtual Store(TM) on-board technology, that includes wireless POS devices and application service to assist Skyways' attendants with on-board sales transactions and enhance Skyways' in-flight service. The deal was secured in co-operation with Klarago AB, a Swedish airline caterer and wholly owned subsidiary of the Compass Group Plc (LSE:CPG.L).

SUNNYVALE, California, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Latest Chip Extends Market Reach with Support of Global Broadcast Standards

Telegent Systems, the company that makes television mobile with its high-performance single-chip mobile TV solutions, announced that it has now shipped five million units of its leading free-to-air mobile TV receiver. With volume production shipments beginning less than nine months ago, this dramatic ramp in demand underscores the importance of free and familiar content in driving consumer uptake of mobile TV. The company also announced availability of its latest chip, the industry's first single-chip CMOS mobile TV receiver delivering global support for free-to-air NTSC, PAL and SECAM TV and FM stereo broadcasts.

MANCHESTER, England, January 29 /PRNewswire/ -- School pupils are shunning school toilets which have become no go areas because they're either closed, dirty or unfit for purpose!

That's according to industry voice, the British Cleaning Council (BCC) which is throwing its weight behind the Bog Standard(i) campaign, which aims to promote better toilets for pupils.

Steve Wright, Chairman of the BCC said: "It's been brought to our attention that clean, safe, equipped and accessible toilets are becoming high on children's wish lists - but many UK schools are failing to provide this. Children are just as entitled as adults to clean toilet facilities - poor hygiene in loos can lead to increased infections such as bacterial diarrhoea and Hepatitis A."

BOSTON and TEL AVIV, Israel, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Disaster Recovery Management (DRM) Solution Finalist in Backup and Disaster Recovery Software Category

Continuity Software(TM), a leading provider of Disaster Recovery Management (DRM) solutions, today announced that its RecoverGuard(TM) software has been named a finalist for the SearchStorage.com and Storage magazine 2007 Storage Products of the Year Award, in the Backup and Disaster Recovery Software category. The finalists, chosen by the industry's leading analyst experts and the editors of SearchStorage.com and Storage magazine, were judged in the areas of innovation, performance, ease of integration, manageability and functionality.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070611/260049 )

While California has basic tracking system architecture in place to allow the state’s educators to closely follow the progress of students from kindergarten to post-secondary education, officials must overcome political and financial barriers, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

The study shows that by developing such a data system -- known as a “student unit record” data system -- California policymakers and educators will be better equipped to create policies and adopt changes that decrease student dropout rates, encourage a smoother transition from secondary to post-secondary education and increase student retention in college.

Despite being the nation’s most populous state, California lags much of the country in tracking and the study finds that California would need to overcome a number of challenges to integrate a student unit record system, such as eliminating the protective mindset that each of the state’s four education segments has developed.

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Patent and Trademark Researchers Have Instant Access to the World's Largest In-House Inventory

Thomson Scientific, part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and leading provider of information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities, today announced that research professionals can now order file histories directly through patent and trademark databases on Dialog(R), giving researchers the complete information on a patent or trademark in one place.