Feature Article

Indian scientists must develop domestic genetically modified crops rather than rely on unsuitable foreign technology.

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Rapidly falling renewable technology costs and new business models mean that decentralized energy solutions hold great promise to accelerate universal sustainable energy access. Across developing countries, women are typically the primary household energy managers. Close to their customers, women entrepreneurs have the potential to lower customer acquisition and servicing costs and drive these new decentralized solutions. However, they remain under-represented in the industry.

The potential negative impact for human health of veterinary use of antimicrobials in prophylaxis, metaphylaxis and growth promotion in animal husbandry was first established in the 1960s and 1970s. Determination of the molecular structure of antimicrobial resistance plasmids at that time explained the ability of antimicrobial resistance genes to disseminate among bacterial populations and elucidated the reasons for the negative effects of antimicrobials used in food animals for human health. In this issue of Environmental Microbiology, Liu et al.

This study unravels the physical link between the weakening of the monsoon circulation and the decreasing trend in the frequency of monsoon depressions over the Bay of Bengal. Based on the analysis of the terms of Genesis Potential Index, an empirical index to quantify the relative contribution of large scale environmental variables responsible for the modulation of storms, it is shown here that the reduction in the mid-tropospheric relative humidity is the most important reason for the decrease in the number of monsoon depressions.

The impact of a changing climate on the Amazon basin is a subject of intensive research because of its rich biodiversity and the significant role of rainforests in carbon cycling. Climate change has also a direct hydrological impact, and increasing efforts have focused on understanding the hydrological dynamics at continental and subregional scales, such as the Western Amazon.

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Tropical dams are often falsely portrayed as 'clean' emissions-free energy sources. The letter by de Faria et al (2015 Environ. Res. Lett. 10 124019) adds to evidence questioning this myth. Calculations are made for 18 dams that are planned or under construction in Brazilian Amazonia and show that emissions from storage hydroelectric dams would exceed those from electricity generation based on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels need not be the alternative, because Brazil has vast potential for wind and solar power as well as opportunities for energy conservation.

Climate change is exerting significant impacts on global agricultural production. Climatic variations adversely affect crop production and, thus tend to impose a key constraint of agricultural production, primarily on how to cont inuously enhance the winter wheat yields worldwide. The high uncertainties in predicting the effects of climate change on wheat production are most likely due to rare understanding on the responses of wheat production to extreme climatic factors, e.g. high temperatures, low humidity as well as high wind speed.

Early life environment is essential for lung growth and maximally attained lung function. Whether early life exposures impact on lung function decline in adulthood, an indicator of lung ageing, has scarcely been studied.

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Large herbivores and carnivores (the megafauna) have been in a state of decline and extinction since the Late Pleistocene, both on land and more recently in the oceans. Much has been written on the timing and causes of these declines, but only recently has scientific attention focused on the consequences of these declines for ecosystem function.

Current cancer mortality statistics are important for public health decision making and resource allocation. Age standardized rates and numbers of deaths are predicted for 2016 in the European Union.

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