Feature Article

As the next IPCC assessment nears, scientists use palaeoclimatic data to hone their models.

Proposed fuel economy standards for cars are so lax that some car makers can get away by not doing anything for the first few years. This can jeopardise energy security and climate mitigation plans.

The technology for biodegradation of pig manure by using houseflies in a pilot plant capable of processing 500–700 kg of pig manure per week is described. A single adult cage loaded with 25,000 pupae produced 177.7±32.0 ml of eggs in a 15-day egg-collection period. With an inoculation ratio of 0.4–1.0 ml eggs/kg of manure, the amount of eggs produced by a single cage can suffice for the biodegradation of 178–444 kg of manure.

Aedes aegypti dispersion is the major reason for the increase in dengue transmission in South America. In Brazil, control of this mosquito strongly relies on the use of pyrethroids and organophosphates against adults and larvae, respectively. In consequence, many Ae. aegypti field populations are resistant to these compounds. Resistance has a significant adaptive value in the presence of insecticide treatment.

The Indian government announced its intention to partially repeal a recent ban on the export of cotton on Monday, just one week after originally enacting the measure.

In a landmark move, the Indian Patent Office announced on Monday that it has issued its first compulsory license to a domestic generic drug-maker. The decision effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG's monopoly over an anti-cancer drug and authorises the production of a low-cost version for the Indian market.

A group of Europe's top aviation companies have jointly called upon the bloc's political leaders to stop an escalating conflict over the inclusion of aviation into its emissions trading scheme (ETS). Brussels insists, however, that the legislation requiring airlines to surrender carbon permits for the emissions they produce during all incoming and outgoing flights will stand until a global agreement regarding aviation emissions has been reached.

From the safety of a computer screen in the control room, I can see a robot scoop up a chunk of asbestos from the reactor floor. I am at Sellafield, the nuclear complex on the coast of Cumbria in north-west England, watching remotely controlled machinery crawl through the defunct Windscale Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor, gradually stripping out the last of its guts. The mammoth task of dismantling the reactor started in the early 1990s but is only now finally nearing completion.

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants will become a huge global business in the 21st century.