Reply by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in compliance to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order dated January 21, 2024 in the matter of ‘News item titled “Feeling anxious? Toxic air could be to blame” appearing in Times of India dated 10.10.2023’. NGT had directed CPCB to file a …
A software programme called Computer Imaging Sperm Selection (CISS) that scientists working with rare animals incarcerated in zoos use to enhance the chances of fertilisation, is now being tested on humans. Recently in London, a woman gave birth to a 4 kg child with the help of this programme. The …
Research indicates that there is still a place for that much maligned pesticide DDT, in controlling the Tse-tse fly, a vector in the debilitating disease trypanosomiasis -- the dreaded sleeping sickness. Scientists from Britain's Natural Resources Institute, who studied the impact of DDT in Zimbabwe, found that the pesticide had …
WHO would have thought of archaeologists and anthropologists using cutting-edge computer and laser technology in their disciplines? Now, the scribble pads beloved of anthropologists and archaeologists' calipers could well be given a decent burial for all time to come. At the University of Texas at Austin, for instance, researchers are …
LIGHT emitting diodes (LEDs) -- devices that emit intense light of particular colours when electricity is passed through them -- are set to revolutionise the world of artificial illumination. With the recent finding that gallium nitrides and allied compounds can produce intense blue-green light, LEDs now span the entire range …
INDIAN scientists, in collaboration with Dutch researchers, have developed the technology to convert agricultural residues -- like rice husk and groundnut shell -- into briquettes for use as an efficient, economical and a non-polluting fuel. The screw press technology for briquetting biomass compacts low-density agricultural residues into cylinders with a …
A recent study conducted by scientists from the Regional Engineering College (REC), Kurukshetra, reveals that all energy needs of a village can be met locally from the available biomass, using fluidised bed technology -- an industrial technique for efficient combustion. The technology involves suspending the material to be burnt by …
Semiconductors have 2 energy bands -- valence band and conduction band. The valence band is filled with electrons; the conduction band has practically none. The electrical conductivity of a material is due to the flow of electrons in the conduction band; in semiconductors, this flow can be manipulated by incorporating …
PROVISIONAL data gathered from over 95 Earth-based stations of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reveal record low ozone levels during most of January and the first half of February over Siberia and western Europe. Ozone deficiencies during the second half of January, says Rumen Bojkov, special advisor to the WMO …
PLANETS in our solar system share a mysterious mathematical relationship. If you take the sequence 0, 3, 6, 12, add 4 to each number and divide by 10, you arrive at a ratio repeated in other systems -- the distances of particular planets from the Sun: distance of Earth from …
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 …
WATCHING the Bollywood blockbuster, Deewar, one marvelled at the facial expressions of the angry young man that Amitabh Bachchan portrayed. But in case you failed to detect any emotion on Bachchan's face, or generally cannot identify any human expression, get your grey matter examined: you'll probably find that you have …
American chemists have identified some strains of sulphur-munching bacteria, Sulfolobus, from the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, that can help recycle rubber from old tyres (New Scientist, Vol 145, No 1963). According to Bob Romine of the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington, powdered rubber from tyre …
Scientists from the Kochi-based Central Institute of Fisheries Technology have developed surgical suture -- a fibre for stitching up a wound -- from fish gut that can be absorbed by the body. "This is significant," says M K Mukukundan who specialises in biomedical products from fishery wastes, "because their manufacture …
Sundaram-Abex Limited, an Indian firm, has begun producing clutch facings free of asbestos. The company, which has been producing asbestos-free brake linings for years, recently imported technology for clutch facings with the same feature from a Spanish company, Saluda, at a cost of Rs 6 crore. The clutch facings will …
Researchers associated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 12 countries have embarked on a project that aims to develop new varieties of food crops that will be better at absorbing critical minerals directly from the soil. Says Howarth E Bouis, director, CGIAR Micronutrients Project, "This is …
California-based Apple Computer Inc has recently introduced a software technology called AppleScript that allows users to work with several Indian languages on Macintosh PCs. AppleScript, says Alok Sharma, education and development services programme manager, Apple Computer Inc, is a software tool that recognises graphics, thereby enabling the computer to respond …
A waste recycling plant in Bottrop, Germany, has developed a technology to convert assorted plastic wastes into oil. The synthetic waste -- plastic bags, yoghurt cartons and computer casings -- is mixed with heavier oil residues and water added to it. This results in the breaking up of chemical compounds …
THE once-forgotten architectural concepts that manipulate the sun's energy to create a conducive environment within a building are being revived the world over. A recent study by the International Energy Agency, a worldwide consortium of government energy departments and industry, investigated 48 commercial buildings in Western Europe and Canada built …
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 …
DEVIANT behaviour is not limited to humans: a sponge found in the Mediterranean Sea is a killer carnivore. Unlike other sponges that feed primarily by filtering small particles from seawater, this creature preys on small crustaceans (Nature, Vol 373, No 6512). French scientists J Vacelet and N Boury-Esnault of the …
