Weighing Security Against Convenience: What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Best for You [Security]

Everyone and their mother has a password security strategy, some better than others. Choosing the right one means weighing security against convenience so you can stay safe without losing your mind. But what's the best balance? Is it the same for everyone? With the help of a security expert, I decided to find out.

Over the years, we've posted several password security tips, tricks and techniques ranging from the simply memorable to the perfectly paranoid. Although I've always used strong passwords, many of my coworkers went through great lengths to heighten their security far beyond mine. I knew my passwords needed an audit, but the security measures put forth by my colleagues seemed so frustrating and inconvenient. I wanted safety but without all the hassle. To find out the best combination of security and convenience, I decided to audit all the methods we recommend with the help of security and investigations expert Brandon Gregg. Before we can get started, however, we need to know what makes our passwords vulnerable.

The Three Variables That Contribute to Weak Passwords

Brandon explained that weak passwords have three variables, and each makes them more vulnerable:

1. An easily guessed/cracked password: Brandon says, "With Amazon EC2, GPUs*, and software like Accessdata's Distributed Network Attack (DNA), guessing half a billion passwords per second is easy. My personal record is 370 million guesses per second?not crazy, but better than most Law enforcement agencies. It also appears that some sites, such as Twitter, allows these kinds of brute force attacks against user accounts as long as the ?password guess' is from randomized IP address each attempt." With so many guesses possible per second, you don't want an easily crackable password. Later in the post, we'll discuss which methods produce the most secure and reliable passwords.
2. An easily forgotten password: Your passwords don't help you if you can't remember them. Brandon says, "Always resetting your hard-to-remember password just leads to more mistakes and exposures in the future."
3. One password provides access to many sites: Using the same password for everything means that if a hacker cracks one of your accounts, they've cracked them all.

*GPUs or graphics cards are used to brute force passwords due to how they tackle parallel calculations. One GPU or clusters of GPUs can be made fairly cheaply and are multiple times faster at guessing passwords than their CPU brothers.

Eliminating one or two of the three variables doesn't require much effort, but removing all three causes the higher level of inconvenience I, and many people, hope to avoid. While no security strategy lacks vulnerabilities, in this post we'll audit several types of passwords, from weak and strong and methods of managing them to find out what's the best for convenience and what's the best for security.

The Four Levels of Password Security

Least Secure: Simple Alphanumeric Passwords

The weakest type of password involves combinations of numbers and letters, or just one of each. It may be easy to remember a word, your phone number, or both, but these passwords are easy to crack. Existing software has no trouble guessing dictionary words, phone numbers, or even combinations of both?especially when the password is under eight characters.

That said, you won't forget a simple password. If you use it for every account you own, you won't have to remember much at all. Of course, this is extremely insecure. If using a simple and short password, especially across many accounts, you're not far off from using no password at all. For more on why weak passwords are easy to crack, read this.

Examples: charlie, hotstuff, 8675309, mary212

Somewhat Secure: Complex 8+ Character Passwords

Complex passwords require more effort to type, but they also require far more effort to hack. A complex password consists of at least eight characters. You should include capital and lowercase letters, at least one number, and at least one symbol (e.g. !, ?, @, etc.). You should also avoid a single dictionary word (e.g. pantomime ? p@nt0m!me). Using a phrase as a starting point is better, but again, not perfect (e.g. "I love goats ? iLuVg0@ts).

This method fails when you use a unique password for every site because you have to remember many, many complex strings of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Examples: t@lk4Ev3r!, iLuVg0@ts, b3stFr13ndS4eVer?!

Very Secure: A Common Complex Base Password with Unique Identifiers

You can't easily remember a lengthy, complex password, so utilizing different ones for every account just doesn't work (unless you're also using a password manager, but we'll get to that later). Remembering just one, however, makes things much easier. It also makes your password less secure unless you add a unique identifier. That unique identifier can relate to the site so you won't forget it. For example, if you used iLuVg0@ts as your common base password and you wanted to create a password for Gmail, you could use iLuVg0@ts-gmail. Brandon prefers this method over others:

Having a common base password plus the site name actually removes all three variables. Due to length it won't be cracked by a dictionary or brute force attack. If Linkedin gets compromised your Gmail will remain safe and lastly you aren't going to forget your password. It's the best option available.

Examples: iLuVg0@ts-gmail, iLuVg0@ts-linkedin, iLuVg0@ts-facebook

Of course, if a savvy hacker managed to crack one password they might figure out the others. Brandon suggests:

In my own passwords I mix up the "site" password not with a direct label of GMAIL or LinkedIn, but with email for gmail or resume for linkedin. Something again that is easy to remember, but hard to guess if your account is compromised.

Examples: iLuVg0@ts-email, iLuVg0@ts-resume, iLuVg0@ts-friends

With common basename passwords, you have another secure option: using a three word phrase with spaces (e.g. "goats love gmail"). This method may seem less secure because it includes simple dictionary words, but it works because spaces are in play. (You can read more about the three word method here.) Brandon notes that this method sometimes fails because of how sites and applications restrict your password options:

The three word method is a good idea, but limited by many of the websites and applications you use. It solves the hard to crack problem and easily compromised issue, but not the easy to remember. Why, you ask? Most sites don't allow spaces as a special character, so you are stuck using "goats@love@gmail." Some sites even prevent the number of special characters you use, so you might have one application that allows password A and another that does not. The next thing you know you have five different password styles and you can't remember which style belongs to which login.

Examples: goats love gmail, goats@love@facebook, goats!love!pinterist

As mentioned, neither solution comes without vulnerabilities. If all your sites allow spaces or don't restrict special characters, the three word method offers greater simplicity. Either way, a common base password and a unique identifier offers both security and convenience.

Extremely Secure: Two-Factor Authentication and Passwords Even You Don't Know

No password is more secure than a lengthy, complex string of characters that nobody knows. The obvious problem? You can't enter a password you don't know. Password managers like LastPass solve this problem by storing all your passwords in a single database, unlocked by one unique password of your choosing. Of course, as Brandon points out, this comes with one major flaw:

Personally, I am fearful of any password manager used to centralize my accounts. As someone who "monitors" many systems I can personally tell you that if I capture your LastPass master password it's like opening up a nicely wrapped present. I was only going to target your Twitter account, but you just gave me a one stop shop to all your accounts, even the banking accounts I had no idea you had. Thank you LastPass and the lazy user.

Using a password manager suffers from a similar vulnerability to using the same password for every site: you crack one, you crack them all. While LastPass, in particular, makes great efforts to keep your passwords safe, you're putting yourself at risk by using one password to rule them all. The solution? Two-factor authentication, something you may have heard about recently. Brandon explains how it works:

Two-factor authentication adds a layer of security that is almost impossible to bypass. After using one of the password options above, Google (and other sites) send a text message to your phone. Not only is it hard for hackers to obviously be watching your phone (unless this installed FlexiSPY or other cell monitoring tools) it gives you a heads up to being attacked. If you suddenly get a text message with an authorization code at 2:00 AM, it might be a sign your ex-girlfriend is trying to get into your account.

When using a password manager like LastPass, you should enable two-factor authentication or you are, as Brandon puts it, potentially offering up your passwords as a nicely wrapped present. While we often argue this method secures your accounts better than any method, it also creates the most inconvenience. You'll need to decided whether that inconvenience matters to you or not.

How Do I Choose the Best Password Security for Me?

Securing your accounts means choosing a balance between convenience and protection. If you're willing to tolerate regular security checks and use randomly-generated passwords you don't know, you can put your paranoia to rest. Most Lifehacker writers and editors use this level of password security because they don't want to assume the risk and find little inconvenience in the extra effort. In fact, many adjusted to the new methods and haven't found two-factor authentication to be inconvenient at all. You may feel the same way.

Personally, I find this method excessive and too much of a burden. As a result, I've opted for our third level of security ("Very Secure") described above for two reasons. First, using a method that requires a password manager involves trusting someone else with your data. When you give someone else your data you take a risk that they may lose it or share it (whether intentionally or not). If you've ever told a friend a secret, you understand the potential risk. The only well-kept secret is the one you keep yourself. While you can't avoid sharing your information entirely, as that would lead to a horribly insulated life, I believe in keeping how much you share that information to a minimum. Second, I want reasonably easy access to my data and I'm okay with assuming some risk. As someone who's had his fair share of hardships, I don't believe in trying to live life risk-free. Bad things happen. We should take reasonable measures to prevent them, but sometimes they still happen. To me, a tiny bit of added security isn't worth the inconvenience.

What should you choose? Brandon sums up the decision-making process nicely:

Security is not always about who has the best alarms, tallest fences, or latest technology. There are many variables in security that often times people overlook including cost and convenience. We can lock down our computers, phones, and Internet with full encryption, bio-readers, and multi-level authorization, but if you don't assess your own realistic risk you can easily weigh yourself down by high costs and slow access. While two-factor authentication is currently one of the best methods of protecting your data, the added time for the second level of authorization can become a nuisance and maybe overkill. Are you afraid of China snooping in your Gmail? If not, no two-factor authentication is needed. Is there a real concern your savings account can be hacked? Use two-factor authentication on all banking sites that offer it. Better understand your risk to better choose the level of security you need.

The level of risk you want to take depends on your personal needs and the level of risk you're willing to take. Just remember?while you can implement extreme security protocols, nothing prevents the possibility of a hack. Everything is vulnerable. Back up your data. Keep a close eye on your accounts. Security involves more than locking everything down with good passwords. You should prepare yourself for the worst. In the meantime, however, lock down your accounts in a way that's secure enough for you and fits well into your life.

Special thanks to Brandon Gregg for his expert advice. Brandon has worked investigations for numerous Fortune 500 companies over the last 12 years investigating theft, fraud, organized crime, corporate espionage, and many high profile cases as well as being an educator, published author, and featured speaker on surveillance, computer forensics, complex investigations, and ethical hacking. You can find out more about him here.

Photos by edel (Shutterstock) andStock Elements (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/786bGuhsr50/the-four-tiers-of-password-security-what-works-what-doesnt-and-whats-best-for-you

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A novel oncogenic network specific to liver cancer initiation

Monday, October 8, 2012

Researchers headed by Erwin Wagner, the Director of the BBVA Foundation-CNIO Cancer Cell Biology Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), have deciphered how a stress-inducible gene regulator, AP-1, controls the survival of liver tumor-initiating cells. These results, published in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology, could provide new preventive strategies and identify potentially targetable molecules to prevent liver cancer.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes more than 500,000 deaths per year worldwide. While patients with chronic hepatitis virus B and C infections or liver cirrhosis are high-risk populations for HCC, measures aiming at preventing HCC development in these patients are limited. In addition, the long-term prognosis after surgical resection of HCC remains poor, due to the high rate of de novo recurrence and the lack of effective preventive therapy.

The critical step for developing effective preventive therapies, but also diagnostic markers and preventive strategies is to identify targetable molecules and pathways responsible for cancer initiation.

Using genetic mouse models specific for liver cancer initiation, researchers have discovered how the stress-inducible AP-1 gene regulator modulates liver tumor cell death in early stages of liver cancer. Mechanistically, AP-1 controls the expression of the epigenetic modulator SIRT6. Subsequently, SIRT6 represses Survivin, which is involved in programmed cell death.

Importantly, altering these proteins in mice even transiently during the initiation stage markedly impaired liver cancer development in mice.

The relevance of these findings was tested in more than 150 human tissue samples collected in patients from Asia and Europe. A clear correlation between these proteins and liver cancer initiation, but not in advanced HCCs, was observed.

These results connect liver cancer initiation with epigenetics and cell death, and give new insights into why patients with metabolic diseases where SIRT6 is important, are at risk of developing of liver cancer.

"Our study provides not only novel implications for the development of preventive therapies for high risk cirrhotic or post-resection patients, but also a new paradigm how one can molecularly dissect cancer initiation using mouse models in combination with the appropriate human samples", states Latifa Bakiri, author of the study.

The study was initiated in Erwin Wagner?s group at the IMP in Vienna and subsequently carried out at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and at the State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, in Shanghai China led by Lijian Hui.

The study also involves the participation of clinical researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai and the Medical University of Graz, Austria.

###

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO): http://www.cnio.es

Thanks to Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO) for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124259/A_novel_oncogenic_network_specific_to_liver_cancer_initiation

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Egypt's new president gives himself high grades

CAIRO -- Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has given himself high grades on his handling of some of the nation's pressing problems, spending much of a nearly two-hour speech late Saturday talking in painstaking detail about fuel, trash and bread, while sidestepping key issues in the nation's transition to democratic rule.

But the speech in many ways was also as much about style as it was about substance, and the 61-year-old Morsi, the first freely elected president in Egypt's history, used his address to project the image of an energetic leader in touch with the needs of the people. That appeared aimed at drawing a sharp contrast with his 83-year-old predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who was widely perceived in the waning years of his long rule as out of touch with reality.

Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest and best-organized political group, made a slew of promises during his campaign, vowing to end Egypt's fuel shortages, improve the quality of the heavily subsidized bread, check surging crime, clean the streets of trash and ease traffic congestion.

Speaking to a crowd of tens of thousands in Cairo at Egypt's largest sports stadium, Morsi claimed that scientific methods used to gauge progress on the five issues gave him a success rate of 80 percent on bread, 60 percent on traffic, 40 percent on garbage collection, 85 percent on fuel and 70 percent on security.

But he also sought to stress the magnitude of the challenges he faces, and hit back at critics who charge that he was spending too much money and time traveling abroad and that his habit of offering Friday prayers at a different mosque every week was costly and disrupted traffic on what is supposed to be the quietest day of the week.

He said his nine foreign trips to date - Saudi Arabia (twice), China, Iran, Belgium, Ethiopia, Turkey, the United States and Italy - secured for Egypt pledges of billions of dollars of investment and monetary aid and that his Friday prayers, which entails the deployment of hundreds of policemen and troops, were cost free.

"I am still living in a rented apartment," he said to bolster his argument that he was not abusing his authority. "If anyone sees me driving a new car that is not owned by the state should report it."

"They are trying to find a hole in a seamless white dress," he said of his critics. "We have a glorious future ahead of us."

But his speech touched only in passing on the simmering dispute over the drafting of a new constitution. Liberals, women and minority Christians say the process has been hijacked by Morsi's fellow Islamists. He also did not touch on the restrictions that critics say have been placed on freedom of expression in the three months since he took office and the return of abuses by the police - documented by human rights groups.

Morsi also offered no vision for the future of the nation, where nearly half of its estimated 83 million people live below or just above the poverty line. He declared himself married to the fight against corruption, but offered no ways to improve basic services such as medical care, education or housing for the poor.

The president's critics remained unimpressed, by both the speech and the successes he touted in it.

"He spoke about the importance of reducing energy subsidies but didn't tell us how he plans to do so. He promised to eradicate the former regime's corruption, but didn't say how he will prevent corruption in the future," Ziad Bahaa-Eldin, a former lawmaker for a social democratic party, wrote in a commentary on his Facebook page.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/07/3039008/egypts-new-president-gives-himself.html

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Important Things To Consider During E-commerce Web Development

Miscellaneous Written by Anonymous ??Monday, 08 October 2012 04:19 The trend for majority of businesses today is using the internet to capitalize on returns. The increasing use of e-commerce web development is one that cannot be overlooked. Every business wants to be identified with a shopping cart or website application shop. E-commerce development in essence, isone of the most reliable and efficient ways for a business to get ahead. While this is the case, in order to get the most out of it, there are a couple of things that must be taken into consideration. Some of these are as highlighted below.

??? Product information: The aim of e-commerce development is to help you sell your products. For this reason, you need to provide all relevant information needed by your clients and this includes the materials, sizes, weights and dimensions of the product. If you have any other information that is relevant to the product, make sure it is included in the product information.
??? Checkout process: Every e-commerce web development needs a checkout process. An ideal one is where the procedure includes single web page. If you have one that has more than this, it is going to be a hustle for your customers.
??? Contact information: You should give your customers enough contact information. This is the only way to build their confidence in your business. In this respect, you should include your contact number, email, fax and any other contact information that they might consider essential. This also proves that you are committed towards serving them in the best way possible.
??? Sign in: Any e-commerce web design is incomplete if it does not include the sign in. This helps your business collect information about your customers and also proves that you are a professional and reputed website.
??? Search option: Majority of customers who use e-commerce websites do not want to waste time looking for a product. For this reason, make sure that you include a search option on your site. Ideally, this should be addressed during the e-commerce web design process in order to avoid any inconveniences that might arise at a later date.
??? Product image: Since your clients are not able to see the product physically, you should include high quality product image on your website. In order to pull this off, it is advisable to work with a reputable e-commerce web development company. This is the only way to ensure that the web design overland park you end up with meets your e-commerce development needs to perfection.

All these factors are essential for the purpose of ensuring you end up with a reputable ecommerce site. However, it is also important to ensure that you hire an e-commerce web design company that is known for delivering high quality work.

We are provider of the most comprehensive and customized SEO serviceses, Web design services, Web development services and also provide e-commerce web design and e-commerce development services in overland park, lees summit and Kanas city.

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Last Updated on Monday, 08 October 2012 04:19

Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/reviews/miscellaneous/219166-article.html

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FALL SUNDAY: ESCAPE TO LUXURY IN THE DESERT | Telluride ...

I?ve visited Moab lots. I?ve climbed off Pot Ash Road, rafted the Daily Run, biked on Slick Rock and Poison Spider and camped with my family alongside the Colorado River. But, I?ve never experienced Moab like I did last weekend at the Sorrel River Ranch.

Located about 20 miles northeast of Moab along the Colorado River, The Sorrel River Ranch combines real adventure with genuine luxury ? two elements I hadn?t formerly thought of as symbiotic ? especially in the desert with kids.

In my world, a desert weekend includes a mountain bike ride followed by a Pabst Blue Ribbon? (slightly warm from sitting in the melted ice at the bottom of the cooler); a rinse in the river; and a plate of pasta (more often than not strained through the mesh of my baseball cap).

As it turns out, in the Sorrel world, things are done a little differently. The folks behind the place have mastered something I came to call ?understated luxury?.

At the Sorrel River Ranch, my husband and I still got our bike rides in, and our kids got to explore the desert. But this time, at the end of our adventures, we relaxed on the oversized porch swing outside our private cabin, cooled down in the outdoor pool overlooking the Colorado River, then ate an eight-course meal ? each course thoughtfully paired with a carefully selected glass of wine and made from ingredients hand-picked from one of the two gardens on the Ranch?s property.

And it was during this meal that we recognized the brilliance of the Ranch. We sat in the Homestead Garden enjoying the culinary genius of third-generation chef Richard Potts under a perfect, desert moon. A long, wooden table hosted thirty strangers who leisurely exchanged stories, sipped wine and shared their days? adventures as one exquisite course came out after another ? Sorrel River Farm Ratatouille with St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc; Toasted Fennel Pollen, Tasmanian King Salmon, Kurobuta Bacon and Palisade Peach Preserve with Elk Cove, Pinot Noir; and Baby Pumpkin Bisque, Muscovy Duck, Candied Seeds, and Aged Utah Cheddar with Duckhorn Merlot.

On one side of us sat the Garden Manager, Jason Matz, who told us about the farm and the dream of working directly with an executive chef like Potts. A retired English journalist sat on the other, divulging the plot of a novel she was working on. And all the while, Keith Battaglia, the Ranch?s Director of Sales & Marketing, excitedly hopped from guest to guest gushing about the Ranch like a proud parent.

With the far backdrop of desert buttes and ?the ranch?s horses grazing behind him, he explained this was the first of the Farm to Table dinners. He told us about star gazing events and talk of developing a helicopter menu for those guests who want to base out of Moab but also explore more of Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

He then casually asked if I had tried the Goat?s Head Martini (named after little prickly buds that seem to find every bare foot in the desert), asked what type of massage I?d be getting the next day at the Ranch?s spa and passed me a blanket for my daughter. (Not missing a detail, Battaglia had arranged for two glasses of sparkling cider to be amidst the platter of champagne for our girls at the dinner?s welcoming).

As I listened to Matz, the mellow farmer, and Battaglia, the excited salesman, I saw oddly how well they complimented each other and it struck me that there were many other ?contradicting factors working symbiotically at the Ranch. Most evident was the ?delicate combination of the ?property?s simple roots with the promise of the vast ?possibilities inherent to the West.

The Ranch?s tie to its history was best illustrated by the graceful presence of the original, homestead cabins in the garden and from which ?Potts and his staff busily prepared ?the very dinner we were eating. ?In 1903, Fred and Ida Stearns, the homesteaders, used a horse and plow and Colorado River water to farm the land and provide all of the food they needed for their family. Currently the ranch provides 60% of the food for its guests from their gardens and greenhouse, showcasing their efforts in signature Farm to Table wine dinners. The cabins seemed to anchor today?s Ranch to the surrounding land and adjacent river ? ?the spirit of the newer ranch to the old.

It also seemed that it was a combination of ?this strong connection to the land, and the Ranch?s understated elegance? that allowed visitors to focus on why they?d come ?to not only experience luxurious accommodations and desert adventure, but to also experience desert solitude manifested in the surrounding red-rock walls; delicately, carved, rock towers; and serene flow of the Colorado River.

Then there is the Ranch?s endearing spirit of Western possibility ?- luxury in the desert, Goat Head Martinis, paddle-boarding down the Colorado River, a private hiking trail, guided tours to Arches National Park, a garden, and children welcome at a wine dinner.?Amongst this rugged and inspiring landscape, the ranch?s detailed amenities emphasized that this is after all, a vacation.

Now when I talk about my favorite experiences in Moab, the Sorrel River Ranch is right there with the Daily, Poison Spider and Slick Rock.

As it turns out, in the world of Sorrel River Ranch, adventure and luxury are symbiotic?even in the desert and even with kids.

For more information about Sorrel River Ranch go to?http://www.sorrelriver.com.

Related posts:

1. Escape Telluride: Apple Picking at Avalanche Ranch
2. Dog?s Best Friend: Fall Day at Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel
3. Telluride Inside? and Out, Denver: ?Mariela in the Desert? at The Ricketson
4. Escaping Snowy Telluride: A Trip to the Desert
5. 24 Hours of Moab Bike Race: Possibilities in the Desert

Source: http://www.tellurideinside.com/2012/10/fall-sunday-escape-to-luxury-in-the-desert.html

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Obama: Fatherhood over schmoozing (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/245318235?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Research reveals contrasting consequences of a warmer Earth

ScienceDaily (Sep. 3, 2012) ? A new study, by scientists from the Universities of York, Glasgow and Leeds, involving analysis of fossil and geological records going back 540 million years, suggests that biodiversity on Earth generally increases as the planet warms.

But the research says that the increase in biodiversity depends on the evolution of new species over millions of years, and is normally accompanied by extinctions of existing species. The researchers suggest that present trends of increasing temperature are unlikely to boost global biodiversity in the short term because of the long timescales necessary for new forms to evolve. Instead, the speed of current change is expected to cause diversity loss.

The study which is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) says that while warm periods in the geological past experienced increased extinctions, they also promoted the origination of new species, increasing overall biodiversity.

The new research is a refinement of an earlier study that analysed biodiversity over the same time interval, but with a less sophisticated data set, and concluded that a warming climate led to drops in overall diversity. Using the improved data that are now available, the researchers re-examined patterns of marine invertebrate biodiversity over the last 540 million years.

Lead author, Dr Peter Mayhew, of the Department of Biology at York, said: "The improved data give us a more secure picture of the impact of warmer temperatures on marine biodiversity and they show that, as before, there is more extinction and origination in warm geological periods. But, overall, warm climates seem to boost biodiversity in the very long run, rather than reducing it."

Dr Alistair McGowan, of the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow said: "The previous findings always seemed paradoxical. Ecological studies show that species richness consistently increases towards the Equator, where it is warm, yet the relationship between biodiversity and temperature through time appeared to be the opposite. Our new results reverse these conclusions and bring them into line with the ecological pattern."

Professor Tim Benton, of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds, added: "Science progresses by constantly re-examining conclusions in the light of better data. Our results seem to show that temperature improves biodiversity through time as well as across space. However, they do not suggest that current global warming is good for existing species. Increases in global diversity take millions of years, and in the meantime we expect extinctions to occur."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/YqMiJNxCSlY/120903153803.htm

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