Permafrost degradation on a warmer Earth: Challenges and perspectives

Challenges for coring deep permafrost on Earth and Mars.

A scientific drilling expedition to the High Lake region of Nunavut, Canada, was recently completed with the goals of collecting samples and delineating gradients in salinity, gas composition, pH, pe, and microbial abundance in a 400 m thick permafrost zone and accessing the underlying pristine subpermafrost brine. With a triple-barrel wireline tool and the use of stringent quality assurance an...

Challenges of a Changing Earth: Past Perspectives, Future Concerns

Paleoclimatic research has revealed an astonishing picture of past changes in the earth system. Over the last 2 million years, climate has varied widely from ice ages to warm interglacials. Between these extremes global sea-level varied by up to 130m, alternately exposing and submerging land bridges that provided gateways between continents for the migration of early humans. Ice sheets grew to ...

On Defining African Philosophy: History, Challenges, and Perspectives

Impacts of permafrost degradation on arctic river biogeochemistry

Over the next century, near-surface permafrost across the circumpolar Arctic is expected to degrade significantly, particularly for land areas south of 70°N. This is likely to cause widespread impacts on arctic hydrology, ecology, and trace gas emissions. Here, we present a review of recent studies investigating linkages between permafrost dynamics and river biogeochemistry in the Arctic, inclu...

Challenges and Perspectives toward Development of more Effective Influenza Vaccine

Influenza viruses continue to be a major health threat in human and bird populations. The improvements in formulation and production level of the current influenza vaccines are not sufficient to afford complete protection. The continuous antigenic drifts and emergence of endemic and zoonotic strains make influenza vaccine planning difficult. Concern about the emergence of new influenza pandemic...