MUSIC: Our World theme
Straight ahead on "Our World" ... The global warming controversy heats up ... health experts sound an alarm on drug-resistant tuberculosis ... and we cast a light on the genetic treasures of the deep, dark ocean floor...
SALVATORE: "There are micro fauna species that can be found there. They look pretty much like other species like shrimp but they function in a totally different way."
Bio-prospecting for extremophiles, medical records online, and more. ... I'm Art Chimes. Welcome to VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."
Eleven of the world's national science academies issued an unusual joint statement this week urging prompt global action to address the causes of climate change.
The declaration blames human activities for most of the earth's warming in recent decades. It urges leaders at next month's G-8 summit to acknowledge that the threat of climate change is "clear and increasing," and to take the lead in science, technology and politics to address the consequences of warmer temperatures on Earth.
The statement was endorsed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Russian and Chinese Academies of Sciences, and similar bodies in Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, and Japan.
Two of the G-8 leaders met in Washington this week -- U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two men have very different views on the issue. President Bush withdrew the United States from the United Nation's Kyoto treaty on industrial "greenhouse gas" emissions, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy, and that the connection between industrial emissions and climate change has yet to be proved. Still, at a news conference with Mr. Blair, President Bush stressed the U.S. commitment to continue studying the issue.
BUSH: "I don't know if you're aware of this, but we lead the world when it comes to dollars spent, millions of dollars spent on research about climate change."
The United States, he went on, is "spending a lot of money on developing ways to diversify away from a hydrocarbon society."
For his part, Tony Blair acknowledged their differences on the issue --
BLAIR: "But I also think that it's increasingly obvious, whatever perspective people have and whatever -- from whatever angle they come at this issue, there is a common commitment and desire to tackle the challenges of climate change, of energy security and energy supply. And we need to make sure that we do that."
The British leader was more forthright after returning to London, telling the House of Commons that, long term, climate change is "the single biggest issue that we face." Mr. Blair hosts the G-8 summit in Scotland next month. He has been working to get the G-8 leaders to adopt an aggressive plan of action on global warming.
One of the world's leading medical journals has devoted its latest issue to one of the world's biggest health threats.
The journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, focuses this week on tuberculosis. Editor Catherine DeAngelis notes that TB kills two million people every year, and infects an astonishing one-third of the world's population.
Health officials say intensive efforts are needed to reach an international goal of cutting in half the number of TB infections and deaths by 2015. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.
BERMAN: Ninety seven percent of the TB cases are in the developing world. Half of the afflicted live in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.
The lung disease is curable if caught and treated in time. Treatment usually consists of faithfully taking one or two inexpensive antibiotic drugs for a period of six-to-nine months.
But officials are alarmed by the growing threat of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, or MDR TB, when the disease does not respond to antibiotics. Officials say MDR TB occurs when people with tuberculosis do not take their medications long enough, or they spread MDR TB to those who are not infected.
Reuben Granich is the author of an article in the June 8 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) devoted to tuberculosis.
Dr. Granich of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says MDR TB can be lethal, especially to AIDS patients with compromised immune systems, and it's harder to treat. He says MDR TB also threatens conventional tuberculosis control efforts.
GRANICH: "It has a more prolonged infectious period. It is harder to kill the bacterium, and people spread it for longer. It's very, very expensive. Most cases [of MDR TB] can be treated for $200,000, but some individual cases can cost over one-million dollars to treat and control."