Malaria up-date

I understand that Mrs W has given you quite a lot of work on malaria to do this week and that some of it involves accessing some of my older postings on malaria from last session. In addition to that, you might like to follow up some of these links which have all appeared on the BBC health pages in the last few months..... (Click images to link to each)

Firstly a study which suggests that "Sea cucumbers could provide a potential new weapon to block transmission of the malaria parasite"

Secondly "Nets boost Africa's malaria fight " Insecticide-treated nets can reduce overall child mortality by 20% .Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are making significant progress in fighting malaria, new statistics from Unicef and the World Health Organisation show.

Next ..."Scientists and global health campaigners have welcomed the early results of a malaria vaccine trial in African infants" and finally.....

"Targeting a key protein may help overcome the malaria parasite's increasing resistance to conventional drugs, UK researchers say."

Remember... it is the detail you can glean from articles like this that will make your answers stand out from the crowd!

"We will fight them on the beaches!"

Just as we are about to start looking at coastal deposition, the Times on-Line has delivered up an excellent article relating the story of the disappearing beach at Dawlish Warren (above). It seems that the sand (which is essential for the resort function of Dawlish) has been drifting across the estuary of the River Exe and ending up on the beach at Exmouth. ....and the people on the Dawlish side want their beach back! Unfortunately, the natural coastal process of longshore drift works in the opposite direction and unless the beach at Dawlish is managed, it will continue to drift!

Click on the image to link to the article.

There's no business like snow business!

Happy New Year! I hope you all have your 'pencils sharpened' and are ready for the term ahead!

Firstly the answer to the little puzzle I set you before the holidays.... Why should Santa relocate and where should he relocate to? The answer is that he should relocate to Kyrgyzstan in order to optimise the efficiency of delivering Christmas presents. The explanation is here.

Secondly, as many of you are aware, I spent Christmas amidst the snow of the French Alps in the Three Valleys area. One of the resorts of the Three valleys is Val Thorens which advertises itself as the highest ski resort in Europe. (The resort is at 2300m). Below is a photo I took looking down on Val Thorens from Cime Caron (3240m) on Christmas Day (it certainly beats cleaning sprouts and stuffing a turkey!). The highest peak on the skyline is Mont Blanc.

The history of Val Thorens is that it was created as a year round ski resort back in the 1970s. Summer skiing was possible then on the glacier below..... (spot the ice and erratics!)

Over the last 30 years, however, the glacier has receded to the point that summer skiing is no longer possible. However, because of its altitude, Val Thorens still has a very long skiing season. Despite this, poor snow in lower resorts in recent years meant that skiers were becoming increasingly cautious - even about booking up for Val T. As a result, to combat the bad press of global warming, they have launched a 'snow guarantee' , promising 70% of all pistes open from 25th December until the 1st May, or your money (for lift passes) back! In the 32 year history of the resort there has never been a shortage of snow between those days so they are not taking too much of a gamble and a lready it is proving to be a clever way of attracting advance bookings for the late season from March onwards.

You can read more about Val Thorens and its snow guarantee here.