The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
ANTHRAX, a deadly disease, is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. In humans, infection usually affects the skin, causing development of a pustule, or the lungs, causing Woolsorters' disease, a kind of pneumonia. In animals, especially sheep and cattle, it takes the form of fatal acute septicaemia (poisoning of blood …
life is possible on Mars or on a frozen-moon of Jupiter, say scientists. While drilling through ice that fills shallow lakes in Antarctica, they have found colonies of bacteria inside blocks of ice. Scientists say that these bacteria have been living in temperatures that rarely go above 0
several horrors from South Africa's apartheid era are gradually coming to light. During a recent testimony before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (trc), several witnesses revealed how undetectable ways of murdering political opponents figured high on the priority of chemical and biological warfare campaigns. Millions of dollars were spent …
if two types of bacteria that cannot naturally live together are forced to do so, they can rapidly clean up sites contaminated with toxic metals. Geoffrey Gadd and colleagues at the uk's Dundee University claim to have designed a system that allows two types of soil bacteria to work in …
In the recent years, scientists have employed diverse means to protect the environment, among which bioremediation has shown great potential as an effective method to clean up toxic wastes. But how do we know whether the genetically-modified bacteria that are used in this process are doing their job or not? …
it could finally be possible to prevent common cold, say researchers who claim to have figured out the molecular "handshake" that lets the cold viruses sneak into human cells. About 70 per cent of colds are caused by rhinoviruses. These invade cells in the respiratory tract after binding to a …
several mineral water sachets in Chennai have been found with coliform bacteria. Recently, the health department of the Chennai Corporation had conducted a survey to determine the quality of different brands of soft drinks and mineral water sold in Tamil Nadu. After studying nearly 191 samples, the corporation has found …
Hundreds, perhaps, even thousands of migratory birds are dying in the eastern US and Canada due to salmonella bacteria, the US National Wildlife Health Center (nwhc) announced recently. The organisation has found the bacteria in dead birds form over American 10 states since January this year and is in the …
The mysterious pathogen that has been killing coral near the coast of Florida, USA, for the last three years has been finally identified. Scientists Laurie Richardson and his team at the Florida International University in Miami, USA, have said that a bacterium called Sphingomonas is single-handedly responsible for the coral …
Microbes seeking extreme heat do not seem to care much about how their genes are organised, say scientists who have completed the second DNA sequence form such a creature. Unlike genes in most other organisms, genes that work together
infections are a pretty simple affair to most of us. It is usually something we "catch' inadvertently, and then pop in some pills and forget the whole episode. The cycle lasts for about a week. However, despite exceptions such as leprosy (which brings prolonged misery), or perhaps, tuberculosis
Researchers have developed a hybrid pollution sensor in the form of a bioluminescent bacteria placed on a standard microchip. A common bacteria is genetically altered to glow in the presence of certain pollutants. This is placed in a porous polymer on the surface of a chip which contains a photo-detector. …
algae , bacteria and fungi play an important role in cloud formation, helping in condensation of water droplets, a process known as nucleation, under which, water molecules adhere to small microscopic particles. Bill Hamilton, biologist at Oxford University, uk , and Tim Lenton, biologist at East Anglia University, uk , …
it was an experiment right out of science fiction: scientists taking different species, extracting their genetic sequences and then combining these to get a new sequence that promises some amazing powers. However, before telling you how they did it, some background information is essential. Evolution, through sexual reproduction, enables new …
thousands of fish in North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay in the us have been killed by Pfiesteria , a dinoflagellate (unicellular, pigmented, aquatic organisms). This phenomenon is being attributed to an increase in the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that wash off the land from fertilisers and …
the development of a relatively unstructured embryo into a structured and highly differentiated adult is guided to a large extent by certain cues that are intrinsic to it. This process, known as self-organisation, occurs within the embryo in micro-organisms, in groups of cells of higher animals and plants and also …
Even ordinary plants can produce vital proteins like antibodies, hormones and enzymes with a little help from viruses engineered to wear an "overcoat.' Scientists at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) in Invergowrie, near Dundee, are producing proteins attached to the virus' own protein coats. Experiments have revealed the products …
Cement-eating bacteria are the main causes of deterioration of bridges, roads and other structures. But now, their appetite for destruction can be used for a cleaner world. The microbes can decontaminate nuclear plants by "eating' away radioactivity from the structures. The bacteria produce a chemical that dissolves concrete, loosening the …
ABOUT 2.21 tonnes of beef which was imported to South Korea will be sent back to the US after a strain of bacterium was detected in the meat. Chang Soo Hyang, a spokesperson for Korea's ministry of Agriculture and fishery said that the listeria bacteria was detected in the beef …
drug-resistant bacteria have been posing serious threats to human life for long. Now, researchers have developed a genetic engineering technique that helps render such bacteria drug sensitive. A team of researchers led by Sidney Altman at the Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, usa , used plasmids to infiltrate drug resistant …
