This Science Perspective provides a review about the process of neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus:

http://www.sciencemag.org./content/339/6127/1534.full.pdf?sid=ca66d276-ff72-4c2a-8db8-4b174aa4ee06

In addition to the formation of new blood vessels in the vascular nervous system, the formation of new neurons is an interesting area of neuroscience research.

Read more in Science Magazine:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/06/another-fountain-new-neurons-found

This paper has been discussed in The Scientist magazine:

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41581/title/Platelets-Fan-Inflammation/

Neutrophil extracellular traps are one of the mechanisms employed by neutrophils to trap extracellular pathogens. They are known to be induced when neutrophils come in contact with a pathogen or other cell types, including platelets.

http://www.actabp.pl/pdf/3_2013/277.pdf

Acute Lung injury includes several different symptoms that ultimately lead to excess inflammation in the lungs followed by loss of the ability of the lungs to exchange gases. Functional capacity of the lungs diminishes. Sometimes, during blood transfusions, the presence of donor antibodies may attack recipient leukocytes and this can lead to a cascade of immune activation leading to neutrophil influx into the lungs and release of toxic agents. This causes fluid accumulation in lungs and manifests in several symptoms of ALI.

http://www.transfusionmedicine.ca/articles/transfusion-related-acute-lung-injury-trali

For more information on Cyclone Klaus, click here.

And for access to the report that is cited here by Gardiner and colleagues, click here.

Hansen and colleagues found that the rate of forest loss in Brazil has slowed considerably from 2000 to 2011 (Figure 3).

This effect is likely the result of Brazilian laws such as the Forest Act, which protects both publicly and privately owned land (e.g., farms) from development (e.g., the trees cannot be removed for slash-and-burn farming).

However, in 2012 measures were passed to change the Forest Act to open up a large portion of this land for development. Find more information here.

Here, Hansen and colleagues show how science (in this case, imaging data and processing) can inform policy, and thereby show just one way that science and society are intertwined.

The United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation was started in 2008 to reduce carbon emissions through forest degradation.

Yet, this program only works with tropical forests and does not regulate temperate or boreal forests.

Find out more here.

Find out more about mountain pine bark beetles on the U.S. Forest Service website.

Also, check out this figure from Kurz and colleagues on the extent of mountain pine beetle infestations (in red) in British Colombia, Canada.

W. A. Kurz, C. C. Dymond, G. Stinson, G. J. Rampley, E. T. Neilson, A. L. Carroll, T. Ebata, L. Safranyik, Mountain pine beetle and forest carbon feedback to climate change. Nature 452, 987–990 (2008).

In 2010 Indonesia and Norway signed the Oslo Pact, which gives Indonesia a $1 billion incentive to reduce their carbon emissions by conserving forests rather than clearing them for oil palm plantations, for example.

However, this pact isn't exactly perfect and has its own loopholes.

For instance, forests in the lowlands of Indonesia have been previously used for logging and thus do not qualify in the terms of the Oslo Pact. Therefore, logged forests that may still hold considerable carbon and be home to rich biodiversity are not protected.

In recent decades, global average temperatures have been increasing and typical weather patterns have been changing.

Scientists agree that this is caused by human activities, especially the release of excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from burning oil, coal, and natural gas.

See this link for more information.

Violence is a social problem particularly troubling in Chicago. This is an issue that President Obama has discussed as important to address. This link shows you some trends:

http://crime.chicagotribune.com/

Water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) can be described as connecting the water cycle into urban design to try to eliminate the negative effects of stormwater. Examples of WSUD can be:

-Green roofs,

-Rainwater tanks for stormwater harvesting and reuse,

-Porous pavements,

-Undergroundwater recharge and reuse, etc.

For additional information, visit

The World Health Organization (WHO) is an important world-wide organization that measures human health, makes important recommendations to countries to help maintain the health of its citizens, and provides support during epidemics, outbreaks, and other human crisis.

They report on the importance and impact of measles disease, even with an available vaccine.

• Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.
• In 2013, there were 145 700 measles deaths globally – about 400 deaths every day or 16 deaths every hour.
• Measles vaccination resulted in a 75% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2013 worldwide.
• In 2013, about 84% of the world's children received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services – up from 73% in 2000.
• During 2000-2013, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 15.6 million deaths making measles vaccine one of the best buys in public health.

Read more here: WHO Measles Key Facts

Vaccine hesitancy refers to the choice of some individuals to not have their children vaccinated against measles.

The debate surrounding vaccination began with a now discredited paper in 1998 that falsely claimed a component of the MMR vaccine was linked to autism. This paper was based on false patient data, but it got a lot of press and scared many parents. Read more about the history of this debate and it's impact on public health in this BBC article.

Watch a short CNN video here about why the MMR vaccine is safe.

Alaska is already experiencing the effects of climate change. See this article and this video for more information.

This article and this video describe the effects that climate change is already having on native Alaskans. Understanding how climate change will progress is important for maintaining these peoples' ability to live.

Carbon release from permafrost has been a hot topic in the news, because of its potential importance for climate change. For more information, see this article from Cambridge University and this article from the Woods Hole Research Center.

Because we can not guarantee external validity, the author suggests that studies similar to this one take place in other cities to better identify why summer jobs programs affect youth participation in violence.

The possibilities raised by these findings suggest that prevention is a cost efficient way to decrease youth involvement in violence. Prevention is more cost effective than remediation.

How do you think Landsat-like data will influence future forest change around the world? How could Landsat-like data influence global phenomena, such as climate change?

For more information about Sweden's 2005 Cyclone Gudrun, click here.

Check out this Landsat time-lapse video from 1984-2012 of Brazil's Amazon Basin.

You can check out these "legislative scorecards" yourself, here.

In his book, Gross National Happiness, Brooks examines the "happiness gap" in the United States and argues that values such as faith, hard work, and individual liberty cause happiness, whereas factors like secularism and an overreliance on government promote unhappiness.

The book focuses on culture, politics, religion, and economics. Brooks's conclusion includes suggestions on how the U.S. government can help facilitate happiness.

The National Sleep Foundation released new recommendations for the amount of sleep people should be getting this year.

Click here to see how much the NSF thinks you should be sleeping

California public defenders are focusing on combating implicit bias in the court system.

Click here for the news story

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