News: December 2018

Hen harriers and red grouse: Finding common ground in a persistent conflict

A conflict between those working to conserve numbers of hen harriers and those maintaining commercial shooting of red grouse in the English uplands has existed for decades with little sign of progress. Drawing on work conducted in psychology, a new study published recently in the journal People and Nature investigated the underlying values that shooters and conservationists hold that make it so hard to find shared solutions.

Publication date: 21 December 2018

British Science Association | final newsletter of 2018!

Publication date: 20 December 2018

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Publication date: 20 December 2018

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Publication date: 17 December 2018

£1.85m study to investigate microbes “hitch-hiking” on marine plastics

Experts at Bangor University are working with the Universities of Stirling and Warwick on a new £1.85 million project investigating how marine plastics transport bacteria and viruses – and the impact that may have on human health.

The scientists are aiming to understand how plastics act as vehicles, with the potential to spread pathogens within coastal zones, or even from country to country, and how that affects health.

Publication date: 13 December 2018

Administrative justice affects us all- now is the time to give it some more thought

You may never have considered administrative justice, but it affects each one of us- and a large amount of it is devolved in Wales. This means that we have access to specific bodies to seek redress if we’re unhappy about the service we’ve received in a wide range of settings.

Sarah Nason, a Law Lecturer at Bangor University has just published a report which reviews where we are and asks where next for administrative justice in Wales by  bringing together the administrative decisions already devolved to Wales and making recommendations for the future.

Publication date: 13 December 2018

Administrative justice can make countries fairer and more equal – if it is implemented properly

There is a little known, but hugely important, justice system which impacts everyone’s life – administrative justice. Made up of various different bodies (including courts, tribunals, complaint handlers and more), it is concerned with the laws surrounding decision-making and dispute resolution of public bodies. In many countries, it deals with more cases than criminal or private civil justice.

This article by Sarah Nason, Lecturer in Administrative Law and Jurisprudence, Bangor University is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 13 December 2018

Coastal light pollution

Have you ever given a thought to how light pollution in our coastal towns may be affecting our marine neighbours?

The School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University is leading a new four year project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, that will improve our understand of how light pollution from coastal towns and cities impacts life along our shores.

Publication date: 13 December 2018

Addressing Food Poverty

Three members of staff at Bangor University attended the inaugural meeting of The North Wales Food Poverty Alliance (NWFPA) in The OpTIC Centre St Asaph recently. 

The North Wales Food Poverty Alliance NWFP is a round table of multi-sector organisations chaired by Flintshire County Council, which aims to address the multiple challenges of food poverty in North Wales.

Publication date: 7 December 2018

Agroforestry can help the UK meet climate change commitments without cutting livestock numbers

Some 12m hectares of the UK is currently covered by agricultural grasslands which support a national lamb and beef industry worth approximately £3.7 billion. However, proposals have been made that this landscape should undergo radical changes to aid the country’s climate change commitments. A controversial government advisory report recently produced by the independent Committee on Climate Change calls for UK lamb and beef production to be reduced by up to 50%. It claims that by replacing grazing land with forestry the UK will be able to substantially decrease its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.T

his article by Charlotte Pritchard, PhD Researcher, at the School of Natural Sciences is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 7 December 2018

Ocean acidification will increase the iodine content of edible seaweeds and their consumers

Evidence is rapidly accumulating that ocean acidification and elevated temperatures will have catastrophic consequences for marine organisms and ecosystems. In fact, it is something we are already witnessing. Coral reefs are bleaching, while snails and other calcifying marine organisms struggle to build their shells, scales and skeletons and juvenile marine animals even struggle to navigate to suitable habitats.

This article by Georgina Brennan, Postdoctoral Research Officer, School of Natural Sciences; Dong Xu, Associate Researcher, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, and Naihao Ye, Professor, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 7 December 2018

Why alcohol makes some people violent

National study examines dangers of adults with traumatic childhoods drinking heavily

Heavier drinkers are much more likely to be involved in violence if they have suffered high levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEsi), according to a new study. 

Publication date: 7 December 2018

Madagascar: fear and violence making rainforest conservation more challenging than ever

"People are too afraid to return to the village so they are sleeping in the forest or have left altogether. They have lost their stored grain and all their belongings. I don’t know how they will get by."

These are the words of Riana*, a young woman from Bevoahazo, a tiny village in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar. Bevoahazo sits on the edge of Ranomafana National Park in a UNESCO world heritage site teeming with endangered and endemic species. Security in the area has been deteriorating over the last few years but things have escalated recently.

This article by Julia P G Jones, Professor of Conservation Science at the School of Natural Sciences, is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Publication date: 5 December 2018

What does gathering from the seashore mean to the modern hunter gatherer

Liz Morris-Webb, a researcher at Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences is looking for people who gather from the seashores of Wales to take part in her research.  If you forage for food, bait, money, education, medicine, research or something more unusual, you can take part.

Publication date: 5 December 2018

Bowel Cancer challenge revealed by international research

Bangor University’s North Wales Centre for Primary Care Research has been involved in an international large–scale review of treatment times for people with bowel cancer.

Co-ordinated in the UK by Cancer Research UK, with Cancer Research Wales funding the Welsh arm of this study, and reported in BMJ Open, the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP) – a collaboration between countries with similar healthcare systems and high-quality data – tracked each step people with bowel cancer went through before treatment. They examined questionnaires, completed by 2,866 international patients and their doctors, as well as medical records of patients diagnosed between 2013 and 2015.

Publication date: 3 December 2018

British Science Association | November 2018 newsletter

Publication date: 3 December 2018