Scientist Warned of Japan Tsunami, Gabon’s Eco-Tourism Efforts
Japanese medical personnel check a woman evacuated from her home near the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant for radiation exposure in Japan. (Photo: Asahi Shimbun/epa/Corbis)
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This Week: We meet a Japanese paleontologist who had long warned his country that a massive tsunami was overdue. The pharmaceutical industry and much of the scientific community selectively publishes only positive results of medical research. Now, the British Medical Journal and many scientists are criticizing this practice and encouraging scientists to publish all results. A decade ago, Gabon produced big and positive headlines by setting aside more than ten percent of the country in a network of new national parks. The idea was to conserve the country’s rainforests and wildlife and profit from it through eco-tourism. But those efforts weren’t as successful as expected.
Scientist Warned of Japan’s Tsunami: Long before the tsunami hit Japan last year, paleontologist Koji Minoura had been warning of the danger. Minoura found evidence that a huge tsunami hit Sendai in the year 869, and he cautioned that a similar disaster was overdue.
Read more here.
Watch Nuclear Aftershocks Preview on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
Click here to watch the Frontline documentary ‘Nuclear Aftershocks.’
Should All Medical Research be Published? The British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently printed an editorial attacking the pharmaceutical and science community for the long-existing habit of only selectively publishing the results of clinical trials. BMJ editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee and neuroscientist Colin Blakemore discuss whether a false picture is being put forward by medical science.
Gabon’s Eco-tourism Efforts Stumble: A decade ago Gabon established more than a dozen new national parks. The country aimed to bring in revenue through eco-tourism. But the story of one big tourism investor shows the difficulty of actually getting tourism dollars flowing.
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