Science and Conservation

Turtle Park, Malaysia Green turtle conservation on Pulau Selingaan, Sabah, Malaysia
Bauhinia - Hong Kong orchid tree Bauhinia, emblem of Hong Kong, is a tree with beautiful, orchid-like flowers.
Hong Kong Wild Stars Hong Kong's rare dolphin, spoonbill, tree frog, and a dragonfly
Reptile search in HK Chek Lap Kok will be levelled to make way for runways, leaving only a token hill... this is the last survey Lazell and Goodyear will make on the island...
Captive breeding Philippine Eagles Domingo Tadena: Captive breeding Philippine eagles
Healing Power of Pets Pets can help people heal from illnesses
Black-faced Spoonbill Birders though Black-faced Spoonbill was common, till they found it was almost extinct.
Openbill Storks Visits to openbill stork colonies in Thailand
Not BB i birding humour The magazine for the serious birdspotter
Not BB ii The magazine for the serious birdspotter, Vol II
Not BB III The magazine for the serious birdspotter, Vol III
Southwest Yunnan birding inc Gaoligongshan and Hornbill Valley A family holiday, with strong birding - and photography - elements, in Yunnan, sw China.
Wuliansuhai Birds, Inner Mongolia Birds at Wuliansuhai
Deep Bay wetland in Hong Kong Deep Bay wetland, Hong Kong - internationally important, especially for water birds
Hong Kong Black Kites Black Kite is one of Hong Kong's most familiar birds.
Hong Kong Birding intro Birding in Hong Kong
Basic info on wild birds and H5N1 avian influenza Notions that migratory birds are responsible for spreading the New n Nasty H5N1 Bird Flu Variant around Asia are quackers (chiefly looking at 2003/2004 outbreaks)
Bird Flu inc H5N1 Info Info and links re bird flu, especially the nasty H5N1 variant in Asia
Beidaihe - Bird Migration Hub of the Orient Beidaihe is one of the world's migration hotspots.
Beidaihe Autumn Bird Migration Report Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe, China, 1986-1990
Beidaihe autumn report - species accounts Beidaihe autumn bird migration report (1986-1990): species systematically treated
Beidaihe autumns conclusions Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe 1986 to 1990 conclusions
Beidaihe Can Create Exciting Bird Reserve I believe that at Beidaihe, we have the chance to create the world’s most exciting reserve for migratory birds.
Checklist of Beidaihe Birds Checklist of the birds of Beidaihe, east China
Conservation Plan for Beidaihe A conservation plan for Beidaihe, China
Fightback Needed as Science and Life Support System Under Attack Instead of environmental enlightenment, swathes of society have lurched towards anti-science; yet this planet is our life support system.
Secret World of Hong Kong Water Supply While it’s all too easy to turn on a tap and take the flow of water for granted, Hong Kong’s water supply system has been vital to its development as a “world city”.
Tick Tock Goes the Population Bomb It is only unforeseen events like the industrial revolution and the “green revolution” that helped feed many more people and stave off catastrophe.
Unrelenting China eco horror show threatens us all Although much has since been said and written about the need for China to reverse its environmental decline, recent years have abounded with news reports telling of the nation’s earth lurching from bad to terrible.
Waste incineration alternatives including plasma arc gasification Can Hong Kong find no better way of dealing with waste than shipping it to a beautiful coastal area and setting fire to it?
Hong Kong Belching Buffaloes n Bubbling Paddies and the Mystery Methane Rise Euan Nisbet leads science team to Hong Kong in quest to find why levels of potent greenhouse gas methane are rising in the atmosphere
James Hansen Godfather of Climate Change retires yet will be very busy Instead of aiming for a leisurely life after work, Hansen plans to better focus his time on climate science, along with communicating the science and its policy implications.
A Man for All Sequences Frederick Sanger Frederick Sanger made pivotal contributions to studying the chemistry of life.
And Man Created the God Particle World’s biggest machine surely discovers the elusive Higgs boson, helping explain mass. Further quests await.
Anti-science idiocy threatens catastrophic consequences We humans seem smart yet have a great fondness for irrational codswallop.
Blue light at last wins Nobel for LED titans While last year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was for an esoteric advance in knowledge — theoretical work on sub-atomic particles, n
Dreamliner Troubles yet Lithium Batteries Flying High Lithium batteries have proven especially attractive as they produce high power relatively to their size.
Ebola’s inner rampage and praise for dirt plus optimum sex Though “immune system” is a familiar term, there is still much to be learned about how our bodies defend against diseases.
Fusion Power and Human Failings There is potential for deriving virtually unlimited clean energy from fusion power, without the severe downsides of nuclear power based on splitting atoms apart.
Genius of the Jungles: Alfred Russel Wallace Much as Darwin was influenced by his findings on the Galapagos, Wallace drew on discoveries he made on tropical islands where sea level changes played vital roles in determining species distributions.
Goodbye dinosaurs Hello birds Stunning fossils from Mesozoic Pompeii illuminate the dawn of birds.
Happy 100th Birthday to the Bohr Atom! Picture an atom, and you may imagine spherical electrons orbiting a nucleus packed with particles like neutrons.
How to Spot a Scientific Dud Even with science reports, it’s worth remembering the adage: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Laughter n more science in the Xmas season In this season to be jolly, even normally serious scientists may loosen up a little, perhaps publishing frivolous research, and looking on the brighter side of life.
Leaps of Logic and Faith versus Evolution Science Like all scientific theories, Darwinism has been questioned and tested wherever possible. Among scientists, it has held up well, becoming a pillar of modern science. But this has not prevented attacks, chiefly from outside the scientific community.
Mapping Our Way to Mind Control? Beyond producing a pretty music album cover, mapping the brain’s circuitry may lead to significant medical advances
Monster Plants and the Fears of Our Fathers A field called epigenetics concerns ways the DNA code is actually expressed and implemented.
Of Mice and Men and Memory, Plus the Inception Deception Our memories play vital roles in defining who we are. Yet can you really trust your memory?
Primordial soup and the life from Mars theory Did life start in a primordial soup on earth, or with chemicals carried from Mars?
Rise of the Superbugs The age of the wonder drug seems to be drawing to a close, bringing to an end modern medicine as we know it
Robots Rising Worldwide, there are many developments in robotics, several of which are weirder and wackier than a talking version of a dead novelist and a robot board member.
Scientific Dieting Cooks Up a Moveable Feast While we can thrive on a variety of diets, it also makes it very tough or even impossible to recommend an ideal human diet.
Sleep Science plus insomniac fruit flies, angry women and brain-washing Though we spend almost a third of our lives asleep, sleep science did not really begin till 1953, the same year the structure of DNA was discovered.
So You Want to be a Cyborg? Off-the shelf headsets and DIY implants can help get you started.
Solar System Weirdness inc Diamond Rain and Ice Volcanoes Earth’s neighbours are far more than simply gas giants and rocky worlds
The butterfly and the remarkable Professor Hofstadter Hofstadter’s butterfly is a remarkable spectrum first drawn by a remarkable man.
The Cat in the Box and a Real Eureka Moment October 2012 the announcements of the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, both of which were for work centring on transfers of information.
Thorium can Power the Planet …. Maybe Thorium, which just might prove key to a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Volcanoes: Where the Earth Screams From volcanoes on Java, to a supervolcano in Hong Kong, and dormant supervolcanoes today.
Wonderful World of 3D Printing 3D printing is developing rapidly, with applications including rapidly making complex prototypes, and even creating aeroplane parts.
A Tale of Two Spoon Bills and East Asia Wetland Threats For all their differences, Black-faced Spoonbill and Spoon-billed Sandpiper have one thing in common. Both are teetering on the brink of extinction.
Blog post on holiday in Wallacea After a holiday in Wallacea - northeast Sulawesi and the north Moluccas - in August, I've written an article on travels and som
Catfish Farm Catfish at fish farm in Java fed dead chickens - helping show integrated fish farming may play role in spreading H5N1 bird flu.
Confessions of a crazy conservationist I’m about to confess to long-term crazy behaviour on my part. And then, I will read your mind. First, the confession. For over a quarter of a century, I have devoted considerable effort to what may well be a lost cause: trying to encourage far stronger environmental protection.
Forest Conservation in Indonesian Borneo Visiting Borneo to learn about deforestation and imeet people working to save the remaining forests.
Gurney's Pitta in Thailand Gurney's Pitta back from oblivion
No use captive breeding rare species if there is no habitat left for them This past summer, a team of biologists scoured Siberian tundra in search of nests and eggs of one of the world’s most threatened species, spoon-billed sandpiper. Aim was for captive breeding; yet this is far from ideal way of saving species.
Philippine Eagle Mindanao Philippine Eagle conservation on Mindanao, the Philippines
Saving Yunnan snub-nosed monkey Xi Zhinong - helping save Yunnan snub-nosed monkey
South China tiger Hunting and habitat destruction have brought these magnificent cats perilously close to extinction. Can the most threatened of the sub-species claw its way back?
Sundarbans in Bangladesh Here's part 1 of a video I shot, on a trip to the Sundarbans mangrove forest in October 2009:
Taman Negara rainforest, Malaysia Taman Negara - rainforest national park in Malaysia
TCM and Conservation Traditional Chinese Medicine and conservation
Wind farms and migratory birds On wind farms and actual or possible threats to migratory birds, including in China.
Wonders of Bird Migration - and Threatened Asian Wetlands Birds may undertake marathon flights using astonishing navigation skills – yet are threatened by careless habitat destruction