International Conference on Science, Health and Engineering

  IMAGE SOURCE, Image caption, UK forests lock away twice as much planet-warming carbon as previously thought, a new study reveals. The study using lasers and 3D scanning showed that old trees in particular were critical to fighting climate change. The research mapped almost 1,000 trees in Wytham Wood in Oxfordshire. "We've found significantly more carbon stored here," said Dr Kim Calders, from Ghent University. IMAGE SOURCE An accurate calculation of the amount of carbon trapped in UK woodland could help inform decisions about how to manage it - in addition to highlighting the cost to the environment of losing that woodland. Before 3D scanning techniques were available, weighing a tree would mean cutting it down. The latest research, published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, produced laser-scanned maps of each tree and converted those into a model. That gave a measure of each tree's volume which the scientists used to calculate the amount of carbon

While Japan has weathered the COVID-19 storm better than most, new data shows Japan’s infectious diseases research effort has been lagging behind for years, drawing criticism from the country’s researchers. “We are standing on the brink of a global crisis in infectious diseases. No country is safe from them. No country can any longer afford to ignore their threat.” Dr Hiroshi Nakajima (1928–2013) Former Director-General of WHO (1996) These prophetic words from the late Dr Hiroshi Nakajima headlined the release of the World Health Organization’s World Health Report 1996 , warning of “fatal complacency among the international community” and urging preventative action in the face of impending crises for the globe. Just one generation later, all nations globally have been subjected to a one-in-100-year pandemic that has so far killed more than 6.6 million people and infected more than 650 million. One wonders what Dr Nakajima would say of his home country, Japan, which has fare