Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic?

We review the salient evidence consistent with or predicted by the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology. Much of this physical and biological evidence is multifactorial. One particular focus are the recent studies which date the emergence of the complex retroviruses of vertebrate lines at or just before the Cambrian Explosion of ∼500 Ma.

Clean air strategies: an environmental nongovernmental organization perspective on the science-policy interface.

Environmental nongovernment organisations (ENGOs) in Europe have been hardly involved in AIRNET, in part because the technicalities deter access. However, ENGOs should be seen as representing the public as well as acting as stakeholders in their own right. ENGOs can be intimately involved in assessing the public information, as in the UK example criticized here, and can spotlight an issue like ultrafine particulate pollution that is being avoided for reasons of institutional inertia and special interests.

Exposure to multiple environmental agents and their effect.

Introduction: All children are exposed to multiple physical, chemical and biological challenges that can result in adverse health effects before and after birth. In this context, the danger of multiple exposures cannot be assessed from a single-chemical approach as used in classical toxicology.

Aim: To open up a 'negotiation space' for the problem of multiple exposure to environmental stressors, defined as any physical, chemical or biological entity that can induce an adverse response.

Air pollution: a threat to the health of our children.

Background/methods: Current air pollution levels pose a threat to the health of children starting from conception. The scientific evidence is presented for mortality, morbidity, and sub-clinical effects. The first section deals with exposure data, the following sections with the evidence of health effects from epidemiology and toxicology leading to recommendations.