Cecilie's Journal

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Science breakthrough.. with damaged DNA...

Swedish researchers have discovered a new mechanism which repairs damaged DNA. The finding, which was published in the journal Science, could have major implications for solving the riddles of cancer. By understanding how a healthy cell works it is also easier to understand what has gone wrong in a cancer cell. The new results focus on DNA, which is replicated every time a cell divides. Up until the splitting process itself, the two bits of DNA are bound together by a protein called cohesin. If the cohesin does not work properly then the two new cells can inherit the wrong number of chromosomes, which is often the case in tumour cells. The research group has now shown that cohesin is also used for reparing damaged strings of DNA, contradicting scientists' previous understanding of the process. Knowledge of the cell's own repair process could be a major step forward in developing anti-cancer drugs.

Now we know that cohesin is important for fixing damaged DNA. The next step is to research in more detail what it is about proteins and enzymes that influences the building of cohesin. But this new understanding of cohesin's properties is also important within research areas other than cancer. Chromosome defects are the cause of several conditions such as Downs Syndrome. As far as Downs Syndrome is concerned, the condition depends on an incorrect distribution of chromosomes. The cohesin is important for making sure that that distribution is correct. Science is one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals and only a handful of Swedish researchers see their results published in it each year.

Posted at 5:29:36 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Nuclear waste export.. the first time in Sweden for twenty years...

Sweden's government has come under fire from Greenpeace for exporting weapons-grade plutonium to Britain for processing. The move is the first time that a licence to export radioactive waste has been issued in Sweden for twenty years. The 4.8 tonnes of waste is to be taken to the Sellafield plant in northern England in August. The waste comes from Sweden's first research reactor, R1, at the Royal Institute of Technology. The reactor was used from 1954 to 1970, as part of a programme to create a Swedish nuclear bomb.

Greenpeace is protesting at the move, saying that the Sellafield reprocessing plant pollutes the sea with radioactive substances. The facility in Sellafield releases radioactive substances into both the sea and the air. The people get the remaining products back through the sea. The environmental group said that the government had also bypassed proper decision-making processes for approving waste exports.

The waste is set to be transported by Svafo, a part of the Studsvik industrial group. Andreas Carlgren, Sweden's environment minister, said that the government had no choice but to export the waste, as Sweden has no facilities for processing it at home. The reason for this approach is environmental, but this is also about the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Carlgren said. The Environment Department said the impending closure of the Sellafield reprocessing plant meant that there was a need to expedite the export of the waste.

Posted at 7:07:47 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Less Baltic algae.. with a cool summer...

Fears that poisonous blue-green algae would this summer once again turn the Baltic Sea into a stinking soup have not been borne out, thanks to the cool start to the Nordic summer. Experts had warned last winter that this year's algal blooms could reach record levels, after record-low levels of oxygen were measured in the water. But the algae has so far not been as widespread as first feared. At this time last year, algae was blooming much more fiercely. According to the latest report from the Information Office for the Baltic Proper, no major algae outbreaks have been discovered, with only local outbreaks in parts of the Stockholm Archipelago and the Gulf of Finland.

'This is primarily due to two things. First, the temperatures have not been as high as usual in the summers; second, there has been a good deal of wind,' said the secretary general of the Swedish branch of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, WWF. Still, relatively large amounts of algae have been observed in the area south of the �land Sea down to the southern Baltic. Most of the algae is not of the poisonous Nodularia spumigena variety, but scientists say that it should be treated as dangerous, as non-poisonous and poisonous variants are hard to tell apart. The problem could still get worse if the weather stabilizes and becomes warmer.

The secretary general said he was not worried that the lack of visible blue-green algae would lead to reduced public awareness of the issue. Even though it is easier to get results for the proposals for solutions when the symptoms are obvious, he still thinks that there has been a lot of discussion of algae this year. He also added that the over-fertilization of the Baltic Sea and its consequences have taken root in the consciences of politicians and the public. The Baltic Sea nations are due to launch an action plan later in the autumn. The intention is to give a good environment for the Baltic Sea by 2021.

Posted at 7:07:29 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Increasing tourism to Sweden...

Increasing numbers of foreign tourists are choosing to holiday in Sweden and they are spending more money than ever, according to new figures from Visit Sweden. The number of 'guest nights' spent in the country in 2006 increased by 9 percent compared to the year before. While the most frequent visitors are from neighbouring countries, new budget airline routes mean that more and more Russian and Chinese tourists are coming.

Managing director of Visit Sweden, pointed to his own organisation's efforts as a key reason for the rise. 'The foreign tourists we're targeting with our marketing of Sweden are very interested in different and exotic experiences. Reporting on the internet, in newspapers and on television has proven to be an effective method of reaching these travellers,' he said. He also noted that 'the product itself' is improving, partly due to Swedes' mastery of foreign tongues. 'You have to be able to speak Italian, Russian or Chinese if you're going to have tourists from there. We can do that,' he said. The most frequent visitors to Sweden come from Norway, Germany, Denmark, Holland and the UK. But the number of Russian, Spanish and Chinese holidaymakers is increasing rapidly.

Stockholm is still the most popular destination, with almost 3 million guest nights in 2006. The popularity of the Baltic island of Gotland growing fastest, with a 36 percent increase in guest nights. Norrbotten, with its ice hotel in Jukkasj�rvi, the northern lights and Sami culture, saw a 26 percent increase in its inbound tourism. The country's rising popularity has also meant a surge in spending. In 2006 foreign tourists spent 75.4 billion kronor in Sweden, an increase of 20 percent on the previous year.

Posted at 6:59:55 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Heavy metal addiction.. classified as a handicap...

A Swedish heavy metal fan has had his musical preferences officially classified as a disability. The results of a psychological analysis enable the metal lover to supplement his income with state benefits. Mr Tullgren, 42, from H�ssleholm in southern Sweden has just started working part time as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. Because heavy metal dominates so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service has agreed to pay part of Tullgren's salary. His new boss meanwhile has given him a special dispensation to play loud music at work.

Tullgren have been trying for ten years to get his addiction for heavy metal classified as a handicap. He spoke to three psychologists and they finally agreed that I needed this to avoid being discriminated against. Mr Tullgren first developed an interest in heavy metal when his older brother came home with a Black Sabbath album in 1971. Since then little else has mattered for the 42-year-old, who has long black hair, a collection of tattoos and wears skull and crossbones jewelry.

The ageing rocker claims to have attended almost three hundred shows last year, often skipping work in the process. Eventually his last employer tired of his absences and Tullgren was left jobless and reliant on welfare handouts. But his sessions with the occupational psychologists led to a solution of sorts: Tullgren signed a piece of paper on which his heavy metal lifestyle was classified as a disability, an assessment that entitles him to a wage supplement from the job centre.

He signed a form saying: 'Roger feels compelled to show his heavy metal style. This puts him in a difficult situation on the labour market. Therefore he needs extra financial help'. So now he can turn up at a job interview dressed in my normal clothes and just hand the interviewers this piece of paper. The manager at his new workplace allows him to go to concerts as long as he makes up for lost time at a later point. He is also allowed to dress as he likes and listen to heavy metal while washing up. But not too loud when there are guests, he said.

Another occupational psychologist in Stockolm, who admitted to being baffled by the decision. He thinks it's extremely strange. Unless there is an underlying diagnosis it is absolutely unbelievable that the job centre would pay out. 'If somebody has a gambling addiction, we don't send them down to the racetrack. We try to cure the addiction, not encourage it,' he said. The deputy employment director for the Sk�ne region, is also puzzled by the move; 'an interest in music' is not usually sufficient to qualify for wage benefits. 'Certain cases are confidential but in general there is always a medical reason that is well-documented,' she said. Tullgren currently plays bass and guitar in two rock bands and says that he tends to get a lot of positive reactions for daring to be himself. Some might say that he should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but he can't. Heavy metal is his lifestyle, according to himself.

Posted at 6:00:20 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Saturday, July 07, 2007

Consumerism may cause.. African famines...

Food production in developing countries will halve in the next 20 years unless wealthy nations lower their rate of consumption, the Stockholm Environment Institute warned at a weekend conference. The livelihoods of more than three billion people in the world are being undermined by the wealth of the privileged few, the institute's executive director warned. 'The risk is that we might halve ... food production in sub-Saharan Africa because of our lifestyles,' he said on the sidelines of an international conference on climate change and sustainable development, held in the Swedish town of T�llberg. He also said that as wealthy countries increase consumption they also increase their exploitation of the world's natural resources, and in turn emit more greenhouse gases. That ultimately speeds up the desertification of sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world.

According to scientists and experts, greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise by two percent a year despite hundreds of environmental agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol. James Hansen, a climate expert and the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said tree lines moving north and melting glaciers were not only a consequence of global warming, they were also an accelerating factor. 'Forests are moving forward and that ... amplifies climate change. Ice sheets are beginning to melt earlier in the season. They become darker when they become wet and they absorb more sunlight' which warms the planet's temperature, he said. As a result, experts have predicted that the world has at least a decade to lower emissions before it is too late.

The Stockholm Environment Institute is one of the world's top five research organizations in climate change and it is pushing for a broader dialogue on social and economic change. 'We have come to the end of the road of sustainable development as we know it today. Science alone cannot deal with this. The risk of environmental refugees, the risk of societal collapse is imminent,' said the executive director. 'We need to make massive changes in the equity and stewardship of the planet which goes way beyond climate change,' he added. The founder and chairman of the T�llberg Forum, agreed. 'We cannot continue with business as usual, rather we must change our ways to business as sustainable,' he said.

The director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies suggested the possibility of introducing punitive measures to help protect the environment. 'Oil and gas, which are being exploited now and will (continue to) be, are going to take us close to the dangerous level and there are huge reservoirs of coal and unconventional fossil fuels. Countries across the world are continuing to build or plan to build coal-fired power plants and we simply can't do that,' he said. 'We're going to have to put a price on carbon emissions,' he said.

Posted at 5:29:21 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Global forest meet...

Some 500 politicians, scientists, business leaders and aid workers from 60 countries gathered in a small Swedish forest town this past week to discuss innovative ways of tackling climate change. Burden sharing versus free-runner effect, negotiating platforms, living to learn versus learning to live... to many these catch phrases may be nothing more than mumbo jumbo but to participants at this year's T�llberg Forum they offered new ways of looking at the global warming conundrum.

The annual conference is held in the resort village of T�llberg, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the Swedish capital of Stockholm. The village's forests, lake and mountain vistas, and the typically Swedish red timber homes provided the backdrop for the gathering, held from Thursday to Sunday. Members of the Swedish and Dutch royal families, Jordan's Queen Rania, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and European Commission vice president Margot Wallstr�m were among those taking part in what has been dubbed the 'Summer Davos.'

Speaking to an audience of over 1 000 at the opening ceremony, Queen Rania criticized current international efforts to address climate change. She said, 'too many of us are pushing each other away at precisely a time when we should be pulling together. So let me take a provocative stand and call for a new global warming, a positive collective climate change within our heads and in our hearts.' Nature walks, outdoor concerts, informal group discussions and stage dramas during the forum helped establish a cosy, relaxed ambience. But behind the smiles lay serious thoughts as the discussions emphasized the urgency in lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

A leading climate scientist, the head of the NASA Goddard Institute James Hansen, warned that 'we are on the brink of a climate crisis and much closer than we realize. The world has already passed several tipping points in terms of climate change.' Participants discussed the recent G8 announcement that it would consider halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with some scepticism voiced over the level of commitment. The executive director of the European Environment Agency, said the goal was achievable but major changes.. such as promoting collective interests over national interests... had to be made first. 'What we really need is an internet of energy. We need distributed energy sources that utilise the whole of environment, the whole of the European continent to deliver energy to local sources and that's a whole mind shift and I'm not convinced that governments we have today are really understanding that this is what is required for the future,' she said.

The EU has abundant renewable resources and an EU energy grid could be instrumental in developing a 'free-runner' model in which all countries, regardless of the level of natural resources, could benefit from the grid contributions, she said. This would be a move away from the 'burden sharing' approach promulgated in the Kyoto Protocol. The T�llberg Forum is sometimes criticized as a mere talkfest, since its resolutions are non-binding. Yet a number of the delegates are major decision makers, and participating scientists and non-governmental agencies are able to push the urgency of the issues to the politicians in a non-confrontational atmosphere. Hans Joachim Schellnuber, advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said talkfests were a must. 'There is a lot of talking and it's agonizing and there is no alternative to setting an international political framework for climate protection. On the other hand, we need a lot of concrete actions on the ground, and these two processes need to drive each other,' he said. McGlade called meanwhile for more civil society participation at the top political decision making processes.

Delegates agreed that climate talks in Bali in December to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol would be pivotal in deciding the Earth's environmental future. All eyes will be on China and India as both countries have so far been reluctant to adopt initiatives which could slow down their economic growth. The United States and other developed countries are pressuring China to take more forceful measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Such criticism has been labelled 'green imperialism' by Asian business and government leaders. Participants also agreed on the need to develop multilateral and multinational models of negotiation, programmes and sustainable methods to reduce emissions. Bo Ekman, founder of the forum, was adamant that the political and economic climate was right for serious discussions on the issue. But, he warned, 'it's very important that the intellectual organization of the upcoming negotiations (in Bali) free themselves from the short-term interests of the superpowers.'

Posted at 7:07:10 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Sunday, July 01, 2007

The best place to live in Sweden.. is Lund...

Lund is the best place in Sweden to live, according to a ranking by Fokus magazine. The magazine rated all 290 Swedish municipalities based on factors ranging from unemployment to teacher-pupil ratios, property prices number of people on benefits and tax rates. The worst place to live according to the survey is Munkfors, a small industrial community in V�rlmland, 350 kilometres west of Stockholm.

Munkfors has the smallest proportion of students qualified to go to upper secondary (gymnasie) school of any municipality in Sweden. It also has the ninth highest divorce rate in the country and the seventh highest suicide rate. Its inhabitants were also among the most likely to be unemployed or living on sick benefits, and fifteenth most likely to die of alcohol-related causes. But Munkfors's mayor said he was not downhearted following the survey, although he admitted it was not the result he would have liked. He also questioned the survey's choice of criteria, saying that too many of them were based on economic factors.

Economic factors had indeed worked against Munkfors: there are fewer millionaires per head of population in Munkfors than in almost any other place in Sweden. Only two areas are home to fewer rich people. The local taxes, however, are the 44th highest in Sweden. Not that it was all bad news for Munkfors: housing in the municipality is among the cheapest in Sweden. Only 13 places have more expensive homes, calculated on houses' taxation values.

The contrast with Lund is enormous. The university and cathedral town near Malm� in the far south of the country has Sweden's second lowest proportion of people with low levels of education. Lund also has the third lowest level of sick leave and is well down the divorce league, 73 from bottom. The town had the 26th highest proportion of millionaires and the 20th highest net wealth. Living there doesn't come cheap, however. House prices in Lund were 27th highest in Sweden. Lund has in common with many other municipalities at the top of the list that it is close to one of Sweden's large cities. Second placed was Lomma, only 11 kilometres from Lund. Stockholm neighbours Liding� and Danderyd, and Kungsbacka near Gothenburg were also in the top ten. Stockholm itself was sixteenth, Gothenburg 136th and Malm� 164th.

Posted at 3:40:21 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Friday, June 22, 2007

Midsummer...

Held on the evening of the Friday between June 19th and 25th, Midsummer marks the the longest day of the year. In Sweden, a country with dark winters and short summers, celebrating the light and the warmth is a natural thing to do. Strong pagan elements to the festival persist, although their exact links to pre-Christian Sweden are hard to pin down. Pagan societies in northern Europe were known to celebrate summer solstice, but there are no sources to indicate exactly how pagan Midsummer celebrations in Sweden might have looked. Attempts by the church to adapt the day to the feast of St. John the Baptist never really took off in Sweden, and celebrations retain a reassuringly profane feeling.

Most Swedes do not spend midsummer in the big cities. Midsummer is a definite outdoor activity, even if the summer weather traditionally gives way to rain just as Swedes are about to settle down to their sm�rg�sbord. Most Swedes would picture a traditional Midsummer party being held in a little red cottage by a lake. At a Midsummer party one drink pretty much. One way to soak up the alcohol is to stock up at the sm�rg�sbord. This is where the raw fish comes in.. the buffet usually includes herrings pickled in various different flavours, as well as boiled potatoes, sour cream, chives and crispbread. This is often followed by freshly-picked Swedish strawberries.

There are plenty of myths surrounding the festival. One such myth is that if young people pick flowers at Midsummer they will dream of their future spouse. On a more sinister note, it is said that people should be careful about swimming, for fear of falling victim to N�cken, the Evil Spirit of the Water. As with most myths, there's something in it, although the name of the evil spirit causing swimmers trouble is far more likely to be O.P. Andersson.

Posted at 6:49:57 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Monday, June 18, 2007

Midnight sun summit calls for.. post-Kyoto road map...

Delegates from 28 countries called Thursday for the creation of a 'road map' at a climate summit in December to chart the future following the expiration of the 1997 Kyoto agreement. Negotiations will resume on the Indonesian island of Bali in December. There was a broad consensus that the Bali conference should establish a road map with both a timetable and concrete steps for the negotiations with a view to reach an agreement by 2009, said the Swedish Environment Minister at the end of the meeting.

Environment ministers or their representatives from 28 countries attended the informal ministerial four-day 'Midnight Sun' dialogue at Riksgr�nsen in northern Sweden. Countries represented included Britain, China, France, Germany, India and the United States. Talks begin in Bali in December on the follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol which is the only international treaty on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and expires in 2012. The meeting 'really led to some important progress in the preparation for Bali. We think we had the possibility (...) to establish a platform for negotiations,' said our Environment minister.

Before the meeting it was made clear that the aim was to exchange points of view on ways to combat global warning frankly and without the need to produce a final statement. 'Several countries, particularly in the developing world, are already suffering and we should take care that they are given the best assistance from the rest of the world,' said the Indonesian Environment Minister at the same news conference. It was essential that carbon dioxide emissions by industrialized countries be cut. 'It is necessary to help the people who are not responsible for the consequences of climate change, for climate change and for the emissions, to adapt to the consequences,' said German Environment Minister. 'Today we have more refugees as a consequence of climate change than from civil wars in Africa, he said. 'What we now see, after (the recent G8 summit in) Heiligendamm (in Germany), after the remarkable change of the position of the United States, after the announcement of China, we see there is progress.'

The Riksgr�nsen meeting was the third of its kind, following earlier gatherings in Greenland in 2005 and South Africa in 2006. The next is due to take place in Argentina in 2008.

Posted at 5:59:51 am by Sophie Cecilie
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