NANOMEDICINE IN PORTUGAL

POLARIS Project | 3B's Research Group from MinhoUniversity obtains one of the biggest funding ever attributted to a portuguese scientific project.

Projeto POLARIS: Grupo 3B's da UMinho obtém um dos maiores financiamentos de sempre para um projeto científico português
O Grupo 3B’s – Biomateriais, Biomiméticos e Biodegradáveis da Universidade do Minho iniciou no passado mês de outubro o projeto POLARIS, que permitiu obter um dos maiores financiamentos de sempre para um projeto de Investigação Científica Português.
Coordenado por Rui L. Reis e financiado pelo 7º Programa Quadro da Comissão Europeia, o projeto POLARIS pretende potenciar a excelência da investigação do 3B’s-UMinho, fortalecendo as suas atividades na área da Nanomedicina.

http://www.3bs.uminho.pt/sites/default/files/Press%20Release_POLARIS_Novembro%202012.pdf

Donovan - Atlantis Lyrics

The continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean

So great an area of land that from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed to the south
And the North Americas with ease
In their ships with painted sails

To them East Africa was a neighbor
Across a short strait of sea miles
The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of the Atlantian culture
The antediluvian kings colonized the world
All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
In all legends from all lands were from far Atlantis

Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships
To all corners of the Earth, on board were the
Twelve, 'The poet, the physician, the farmer, the scientist
The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends'

Though Gods they were
And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice and let us sing
And dance and ring in the new
Hail Atlantis

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be, she may be
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be, she may be
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be, she may be

 

...

Tornado Watch / Tornado Warning / Tornado Emergency

IT'S TIME TO INTRODUCE PRECAUTION MEASURES AND WARNINGS AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL DISRUPTIONS IN PORTUGAL

A tornado watch (SAME code: TOA, sometimes referred to as a red box by meteorologists and storm chasers) is issued when conditions are right for a tornado to form. Since any thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado is defined as severe, a tornado watch is also automatically a severe thunderstorm watch. In most cases, the potential exists for large hail and/or damaging winds in addition to the tornadoes.
A tornado watch means that the conditions have created a significant risk of a tornado occurring.

A tornado warning (SAME code: TOR) is an alert issued by weather services to warn that severe thunderstorms with tornadoes may be imminent. It can be issued after a tornado or funnel cloud has been spotted by eye, or more commonly if there are radar indications of tornado formation. When this happens, the tornado sirens may sound in that area, letting people know that a tornado was seen or is forming nearby. Issuance of a tornado warning indicates that residents should take immediate safety precautions.

A Tornado Emergency is enhanced wording of tornado warnings used by the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States during significant tornado occurrences in highly populated areas. Although not a new warning type from the NWS, instead issued in a Severe Weather Statement (or in rare cases, in the initial Tornado Warning), a Tornado Emergency generally means that significant, widespread damage is expected to continue and a high likelihood of numerous fatalities is expected with a large, strong to violent tornado.

^{in Wikipedia}

Tornado in The Algarve

A rotating column of air ranging in width from a few yards to more than a mile and whirling at destructively high speeds, usually accompanied by a funnel-shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud; a whirlwind or hurricane.

in The Free Dictionary

Sandy Storm in New York City

Hurricane Preparation Tips For Sandy Superstorm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers tips on how to prepare for Hurricane Sandy and other tropical storms. Sandy is expected to be especially disastrous when it merges with a winter storm system, bringing powerful winds, rain, snow and storm surge along the Eastern Seaboard.
Before the hurricane:
— Know your surroundings and whether your home is in a flood prone area. Determine where you would go — and how you would get there — if you were ordered to evacuate
— Cover your home's windows, either with permanent storm shutters or marine plywood at least 5/8 of an inch thick
— Be sure trees and shrubs around your home are well-trimmed
— Clear clogged rain gutters
— Secure all outdoor furniture, decorations, trash cans and anything else that could blow away.
— Install a generator for emergencies
During:
— Listen to the radio or TV for information
— Secure your home, close storm shutters, and secure outdoor objects or bring them indoors
— Turn off propane tanks
— Avoid using the phone except for serious emergencies
— Ensure a supply of water for sanitary purpose such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Fill the bathtub and other larger containers with water
— Stay indoors during the hurricane and away from windows and glass doors
Do not:
— Drive into low-lying areas or over roads and bridges that are already under water
If evacuating, bring:
— Checkbooks
— Driver's license
— Credit card information
— Birth certificates
— Social Security cards
___
Source: FEMA.
www.huffingtonpost.com

Read the following article by The Guardian and do the tasks below:

a) What is a cryologist?

b) What will be the social impact of global warming in the polar region?

c) What is shown by the graph?

Arctic sea ice levels to reach record low within days

The dramatic melt expected over the next week signals that global warming is having a major impact on the polar region

• John Vidal, environment editor
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 August 2012 14.11 BST
• 

North Pole webcam picture taken on 22 August 2012 showing 

ice cap melting. Climate scientists expect the Arctic sea ice is

 on course to plummet to its lowest levels ever this weekend.

 Photograph: University of Washington/ North Pole Environmental

 Observatory/NOAA

Arctic sea ice is set to reach its lowest ever recorded extent

 as early as this weekend, in "dramatic changes" 

signalling that man-made global warming is having a major

 impact on the polar region.

With the melt happening at an unprecedented rate of more than

 100,000 sq km a day, and at least a week of further melt expected

 before ice begins to reform ahead of the northern winter, 

satellites are expected to confirm the record – currently set in 2007 – within days.

"Unless something really unusual happens we will see the record broken

 in the next few days. It might happen this weekend, almost certainly 

next week," Julienne Stroeve, a scientist at the US National Snow and

 Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, told the Guardian.

"In the last few days it has been losing 100,000 sq km a day, a record 

in itself for August. A storm has spread the ice pack out, opening up

 water, bringing up warmer water. Things are definitely changing quickly."

Because ice thickness, volume, extent and area are all measured differently,

 it may be a week before there is unanimous agreement among the

 world's cryologists (ice experts) that 2012 is a record year. Four out of 

the nine daily sea ice extent and area graphs kept by scientists in 

the US, Europe and Asia suggest that records have already been broken.

 "The whole energy balance of the Arctic is changing. There's more

 heat up there. There's been a change of climate and we are

 losing more seasonal ice. The rate of ice loss is faster than the 

models can capture [but] we can expect the Arctic to be ice-free in

 summer by 2050," said Stroeve.

"Only 15 years ago I didn't expect to see such dramatic changes – no one

 did. The ice-free season is far longer now. Twenty years ago it was

 about a month. Now it's three months. Temperatures last week in the

 Arctic were 14C, which is pretty warm."

Scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Arctic

 Regional Ocean Observing System in Norway and others in Japan 

have said the ice is very close to its minimum recorded in 2007.

 The University of Bremen, whose data does not take into account ice

 along a 30km coastal zone, says it sees ice extent below the

 all-time record low of 4.33m sq km recorded in September 2007.

Ice volume in the Arctic has declined dramatically over the past decade. 

The 2011 minimum was more than 50% below that of 2005. According

 to the Polar Science Centre at the University of Washington it now

 stands at around 5,770 cubic kilometres, compared with 

12,433 cu km during the 2000s and 6,494 cu km in 2011. The ice volume for 

31 July 2012 was roughly 10% below the value for the same day in 2011.

 A new study by UK scientists suggests that 900 cu km of summer

 sea ice has disappeared from the Arctic ocean over the past year.

Arctic sea ice Photograph: guardian.co.uk

The consequences of losing the Arctic's ice coverage 

for the summer months are expected to be immense.

 If the white sea ice no longer reflects sunlight back into space, 

the region can be expected to heat up even more than at present. 

This could lead to an increase in ocean temperatures with 

unknown effects on weather systems in northern latitudes.

In a statement, a Greenpeace spokesman said: "The 

disappearing Arctic still serves as a stark warning to us all. 

Data shows us that the frozen north is teetering on the brink. 

The level of ice 'has remained far below average' and appears

 to be getting thinner, leaving it more vulnerable to future

 melting. The consequences of further rapid ice loss at the top of

 the world are of profound importance to the whole planet. This is 

not a warning we can afford to ignore."

Longer ice-free summers are expected to open up the Arctic 

ocean to oil and mining as well as to more trade. This year at 

least 20 vessels are expected to travel north of Russia between

 northern Europe and the Bering straits. Last week a Chinese

 icebreaker made the first voyage in the opposite direction.

"Every one of the 56,000 Inuits in Greenland have had to adapt to 

the retreat of the ice," said Carl-Christian Olsen, president

 of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Nuuk, Greenland. "The permafrost

 is melting and this is jeopardising roads and buildings.

 The coastline is changing, there is more erosion and storms, 

and there are fewer mammals like polar bears. It means there

 can be more mining, which is good for the economy, 

but it will have unpredictable effects on social change".

Research published in Nature today said that warming

 in the Antarctic peninsula, where temperatures have risen about

 1.5C over the past 50 years, is "unusual" but not 

unprecedented relative to natural variation. The research 

by Robert Mulvaney of the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge,

 based on an ice-core record, showed that the warming

 of the north-eastern Antarctic peninsula began about

 600 years ago. Temperature increases were said to be within

 the bounds of natural climate variability.

The difference between the rate of warming at the two poles

 is attributed to geographical differences. "Antarctica is a 

continent surrounded by water, while the Arctic is an ocean

 surrounded by land. Wind and ocean currents around 

Antarctica isolate the continent from global weather patterns,

 keeping it cold. In contrast, the Arctic Ocean is intimately

 linked with the climate systems around it, making it more sensitive

 to changes in climate," said a spokesman for the NSIDC.

UNDER A CLOUD

It's the vineyards, the cork, Madeira. What else will happen this summer?


As far as the fires are concerned, they are mostly of  human origin, either by negligence and accidents or intentionally. The fires of natural causes account for a small percentage of the total number of occurrences.

It is urgent to adopt preventive measures!

• Do not throw fireworks in the forest or in a 500 meters distance to its limits.
• Do not burn garbage within the forest or in a 300 meters distance to its limits.
• Do not make light of any kind in the forests and roads that cross it, and clean the bushes, a minimum of 50 meters around the houses, warehouses, workshops and other facilities.

About summer storms, I only recall a thunderstorm night in August many years ago. My most vivid memories are about  those hot summer nights in the Douro with no wind at all. 

Granizo devasta vinhas no Douro - País - Notícias - RTP

Granizo devasta vinhas no Douro - País - Notícias - RTP

For those who still think GLOBAL WARMING is a fake...

Greenland ice sheet melted at unprecedented rate during July

Scientists at Nasa admitted they thought satellite readings were a mistake after images showed 97% surface melt over four days.

The Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate this month than at any other time in recorded history, with virtually the entire ice sheet showing signs of thaw.

The rapid melting over just four days was captured by three satellites. It has stunned and alarmed scientists, and deepened fears about the pace and future consequences of climate change.

In a statement posted on Nasa's website on Tuesday, scientists admitted the satellite data was so striking they thought at first there had to be a mistake.

"This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?" Son Nghiem of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said in the release.
He consulted with several colleagues, who confirmed his findings. Dorothy Hall, who studies the surface temperature of Greenland at Nasa's space flight centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, confirmed that the area experienced unusually high temperatures in mid-July, and that there was widespread melting over the surface of the ice sheet.
Climatologists Thomas Mote, at the University of Georgia, and Marco Tedesco, of the City University of New York, also confirmed the melt recorded by the satellites.
However, scientists were still coming to grips with the shocking images on Tuesday. "I think it's fair to say that this is unprecedented," Jay Zwally, a glaciologist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, told the Guardian.
The set of images released by Nasa on Tuesday show a rapid thaw between 8 July and 12 July. Within that four-day period, measurements from three satellites showed a swift expansion of the area of melting ice, from about 40% of the ice sheet surface to 97%.
Scientists attributed the sudden melt to a heat dome, or a burst of unusually warm air, which hovered over Greenland from 8 July until 16 July.
Greenland had returned to more typical summer conditions by 21 or 22 July, Mote told the Guardian.
But he said the event, while exceptional, should be viewed alongside other compelling evidence of climate change, including on the ground in Greenland.
"What we are seeing at the highest elevations may be a sort of sign of what is going on across the ice sheet," he said. "At lower elevations on the ice sheet, we are seeing earlier melting, melting later in the season, and more frequent melting over the last 30 years and that is consistent of what you would expect with a warming climate."
Zwally, who has made almost yearly trips to the Greenland ice sheet for more than three decades, said he had never seen such a rapid melt.
About half of Greenland's surface ice sheet melts during a typical summer, but Zwally said he and other scientists had been recording an acceleration of that melting process over the last few decades. This year his team had to rebuild their camp, at Swiss Station, when the snow and ice supports melted.
He said he had never seen such a rapid melt over his three decades of nearly yearly trips to the Greenland ice sheet. He was most surprised to see indications in the images of melting even around the area of Summit Station, which is about two miles above sea level.
It was the second unusual event in Greenland in a matter of days, after an iceberg the size of Manhattan broke off from the Petermann glacier. But the rapid melt was viewed as more serious.
"If you look at the 8 July image that might be the maximum extent of warming you would see in the summer," Zwally noted. "There have been periods when melting might have occurred at higher elevations briefly – maybe for a day or so – but to have it cover the whole of Greenland like this is unknown, certainly in the time of satellite records."
Jason Box, a glaciologist at Ohio State University who returned on Tuesday from a research trip to Greenland, had been predicting a big melt year for 2012, because of earlier melt and a decline in summer snow flurries.
He said the heat dome was not necessarily a one-off. "This is now the seventh summer in a row with this pattern of warm air being lifted up onto the ice sheet on the summer months," he said. "What is surprising is just how persistent this circulation anomaly is. Here it is back again for the seventh year in a row in the summer bringing hot, warm air onto the ice sheet."
He also said surfaces at higher elevation, now re-frozen, could be more prone to future melting, because of changes in the structure of the snow crystals. Box expected melting to continue at lower elevations.
About half of Greenland's surface ice sheet melts during a typical summer, but Zwally said he and other scientists had been recording an acceleration of that melting process over the past few decades. This year his team had to rebuild their camp, at Swiss Station, when the snow and ice supports melted.
Lora Koenig, another Goddard glaciologist, told Nasa similar rapid melting occurs about every 150 years. But she warned there were wide-ranging potential implications from this year's thaw.
"If we continue to observe melting events like this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome." she told Nasa.
The most immediate consequences are sea level rise and a further warming of the Arctic. In the centre of Greenland, the ice remains up to 3,000 metres deep. On the edges, however, the ice is much, much thinner and has been melting into the sea.
The melting ice sheet is a significant factor in sea level rise. Scientists attribute about one-fifth of the annual sea level rise, which is about 3mm every year, to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
In this instance of this month's extreme melting, Mote said there was evidence of a heat dome over Greenland: or an unusually strong ridge of warm air.
The dome is believed to have moved over Greenland on 8 July, lingering until 16 July.

 The Guardian

Tavira

The fire which broke out in the area of ​​Catraia , Tavira,  spread to the neighbouring county of São Brás and it was feared that it reached  Loulé, which never happened.

The flames consumed two thousand acres in Tavira and devastated 20-35 percent of the territory of São Brás in a range from 30 to 40 kilometers. No comments!

Most fires in Madeira did not have a natural origin!

Madeira has been devastated by a series of fires that broke out in different parts of the island with the most critical scenarios in the districts of Funchal, Santa Cruz, Calheta, Porto Moniz and Ribeira Brava.

Dozens of houses, barns and vehicles were fully affected by the flames, hundreds of people were evacuated from homes and other buildings and a vast forest area was destroyed.

Despite the weather  (high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity)  in some cases police suspected of criminal activity and found some incendiary torches.

Wildfires are  a crime against  Planet Earth!

Whoever commits such a crime can only be a severely disturbed person!

EARTH SUMMIT RIO + 20

The Future We Want Rio+20 Outcome Document

View more documents from uncsd2012

Midway

It's a must!

What's 100,000 times thinner than a strand of hair? A nanometer. Discover the nanotech boom in Berkeley, where researchers are working to unlock the potential of nanoscience to battle global warming, and disease.

EARTH DAY

WHAT FUTURE are WE leaving for FUTURE GENERATIONS?


pollution, lack of natural resources, depletion of the ozone layer, greenhouse effect, global warming, poaching, acid rain, extinction of species, ice melting, destruction of the rainforests...

DEMAND A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE!

Monet captured the beauty of the WORLD and made it live forever in his Water Lilies.

2012 MS Balmoral

I have never been very fond of ships and cruises, but RSM Titanic has always fascinated me so much, due to the mystical power of nature, that I would happilly embark on MS Balmoral to retrace the voyage of the fateful ship.

By Jason Zasky
Miles Morgan Travel promises it will be the “voyage of a lifetime.” On April 8, 2012, the MS Balmoral—operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, whose parent company (Harland and Wolff) built Titanic—will set sail from Southampton, United Kingdom, on what is being billed as the Titanic Memorial Cruise. No, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will not be on board, but the voyage figures to be surreal nonetheless.

Save for the fact that the Balmoral bears little resemblance to Titanic (and that everyone aboard the 100th anniversary cruise will be decidedly upper class), the passage figures to mimic that of Titanic in ways both large and small.

To begin with, bookings are available for 1,309 passengers—the same number that sailed on Titanic’s maiden voyage—and Balmoral will follow the same route as Titanic, docking at the Irish port of Cobh on April 11, 2012, where the star-crossed vessel made its final port of call exactly a hundred years earlier.

Continuing on across the Atlantic, on April 14 at 11:40 p.m., Balmoral is scheduled to arrive at the spot where Titanic struck an iceberg, and a memorial service will be held at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, to coincide with the time the massive ship went down.

Then the Balmoral will make its way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where passengers will have the opportunity to disembark and visit Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where 121 victims of the disaster are buried. Finally, it’s on to New York, the intended final destination for Titanic.

Along the way, passengers will dine on the identical menu as that of Titanic, and enjoy the same type of music and entertainment as would have been performed in 1912. Naturally, there will also be lectures and presentations, courtesy of Titanic historians. 

Advertised prices for the 12-night cruise (including return flight from New York to London), range from £3,350 per person up to £7,995 per person for an “Owners Suite,” though the most expensive suites and least expensive cabins are already sold out.

Interestingly, there is no mention of safety or lifeboats on either the official Web site or brochure. Anyway, it’s not like the Balmoral (built in 1988) hasn’t experienced rough seas before.

1912 RMS TITANIC

A massive solar storm may spark an intense northern lights display for skywatchers at high latitudes tonight and Thursday (March 8) as a wave of charged particles reach the planet. Two huge solar flares erupted from the sun late Tuesday (March 6), triggering one of the most powerful solar storms in more than five years. The solar tempest is expected to intensify aurora displays (also known as the northern and southern lights) on Earth, according to space weather scientist Joseph Kunches, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. SPACE.COM

Activist Erin Brockovich

Watch more