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 …
BIOLUMINESCENCE detection is changing the face of microbial contamination. A new biotechnology device is now being exploited worldwide to detect microbial contamination in industries ranging from cosmetics, to foodstuffs to pharmaceuticals. According to a report in the Financial Times, London, about 2.5 billion such tests were performed worldwide last year, …
Bacteriologists are now taking the help of molecular 'bar codes' made from dna to identify and disable genes that enable bacteria to cause diseases. Once the virulant genes have been identified, researchers can develop antibiotics acting specifically against them and the protein these bacteria make. The new screening system is …
The legend goes that drops of nectar being carried to heaven fell on earth and out grew garlic plants. Though the role of garlic in curing various human ailments has long been established, recently its spray has been found to ward off infestation of ergot-causing fungus Claviceps sorghi in cereal …
TAKING a cue from the traditional method of using moldy bread to treat wounds, scientists have developed dressings that employ fungi to provide the healing touch. Researchers have established that myceliurn (filaments) of fungi can be harnessed to enhance natural healing by promoting activities of cells to repair the damaged …
Ancient plants may have been responsible for the disappearance of a number of sea animals which became extinct more than 360 million years ago, say University of Cincinnati (US) researchers Thomas Algeo and his colleagues. The chain of reasoning goes like this::t that point of time, land plants were perfecting …
When oil seeps into water supplies, it is more of a problem than a solution. But a group of American scientists think otherwise. John Hunter and John Cary of the US Department of Agriculture at Fort Collins, Colorado, intend using vegetable oil to help remove nitrate pollution from wells, usually …
The US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, has recruited an army of microorganisms to clean soils and underground water tainted with nitrate and carbon tetrachloride - an industrial solvent that is a suspected carcinogen. In this bioremediation process, native bacteria which can be coaxed into degrading contaminants …
In an effort to save the world's dwinilling stock of fish, pharmaceutical and nufritign products industry are turning towards algae-derived polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Two firmis - Scotia Pharmaceuticals from Britain and Heliosynthese Research and Development from France - will harvest the PUFAs from microalgae grown in specially created photo-bioreacton …
British scientists on a worldwide drive to screen marine fungi for possible use as rugs have found one on the Malaysian coast that can destroy leukaemia (blood cancer) cells (Spectrum, No 245). Gareth Jones of Portsmouth University, whose researchers did the screening, confirmed the lethal effect of the fungus on …
Scientists have identified Helico- bacter pylori, a bacteria that causes stomach ulcers, in contaminated water, thus giving a clue to the source of infection. Earlier studies were unable to detect the presence of Hpylori in the environment, but its strong link with drinking water was never discounted. Preliminary results of …
Bacteria that feast on garbage may provide an environmentally benign way to dispose household waste, say British engineers who are testing a new anaerobic digester -- that does not require air -- for treating dustbin waste. The bacteria, which are anaerobic, break down the organic portion of household waste and …
IN THE days when "information superhighway" is the buzzword, one may find it hard to believe that fungus may have already been leading the communication network of life on land, some 400 million years ago. Mark A S McMenamin, professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College and Dianna L S …
A GHANAIAN research institute says that after 9 years of research, it has identified a bacteria which can control breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Janet Ofori, principal research officer of the Accra-based Institute of Aquatic Biology, says, "We have identified a bacterial strain, Bacillus sphaerius, which has been found to have …
A FUNGUS, Aspergillus fumigatus, which can kill people with damaged immune systems, has provided an important weapon for fighting against coronary heart disease (CHD), according to researchers from Tokyo's Kitasato University. They found that a previously unknown group of compounds produced by this fungus can block an enzyme responsible for …
A team of Californian scientists has synthesised a poison which contributes to the lethality of "red tides" -- the sudden population explosion of certain microscopic algae in coastal waters. This work promises to boost the search for antidotes to treat red tide poisoning and the development of tests which would …
WHILE scientists debate the reality of global warming, an extraordinary experiment in the Pacific has dredged up impressive evidence in favour of the seemingly preposterous idea that pumping iron into the sea might stave off the heating of the planet. The theory is that many parts of the ocean lack …
EVEN as scientists flood the environment with genetically-customised microbes, there is no certainty that these designer creatures will not turn into Frankensteinian horrors. Lest this happens, DNA-manipulators are now tailoring microbes that commit suicide once they serve their purpose. While it is easy to keep a check on the microbes …
FOR Russians, 'genetic engineering' may soon become a medical Chechnya... to be done away with. Currently, the Russian government is debating over a draft law that would strictly regulate all genetic experiments, from basic research involving recombinant DNA to industrial efforts, in order to engineer transgenic plants and pollutant-eating microbes. …
With a growing scarcity of high-grade metal ores, industry is compelled to resort to exploiting low-grade reserves to extract valuable metals. However, low-grade metal reserves contain silica as a common impurity whose removal using traditional chemical methods of metal extraction is an expensive process. Now, an alternative method of getting …
TAKE some silk cotton. Add a dash of the bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum. Keep aside for a few days. Sieve and dry. This, in essence, is the recipe for a new environment-friendly method of paper manufacture that scientists at the A M M Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre (MCRC) in Madras have …
