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 …
WANT to get vaccinated against malaria? Just chew a few tobacco leaves instead. Researcher Thomas H Turpen of the California-based Biosource Technologies Inc and his colleagues at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, the US, have worked out a way to produce an experimental vaccine against malaria by genetically …
Radioactivity should be added to the list of potential carcinogens in motor-vehicle exhausts, say scientists from the University of Bristol, UK. Denis Henshaw and colleagues have found raised concentrations of radioactive polonium-210 in the environment and in the teeth of children living up to 10 km from the country's busy …
THE universe is bloated almost beyond measure but about 90 per cent of its bulk is invisible. Intrigued cosmologists have postulated several theories about the missing folds of mass, but so far not one has as much as poked its nose out. Now, scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory …
An ungulate species belonging to an entirely new genus has been identified in Vietnam and Cambodia's northwestern districts (BBC Wildlife, Vol 13, No 1). German biologist Wolfgang Peter from the Zoological Gardens of Mun-ster found a pair of black horns - 45 cm long, twisted to the side with regular …
American biomedical researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, have devised a simple instrument to accurately measure carbon monoxide (co) in a person's lungs (Environment Science Technology, Vol 29, No 1). The device, invented by the Harvard scientists Kiyoung Lee and Yukio Yanagisawa, consists of a mouthpiece, an …
A new adult skeleton of the 4.4 million year old hominid, Australopithecus ramidus, has been unearthed at Aramis in Ethiopia by Yohannes Haile-Selassie, who was representing a multinational team called Middle Awash Research Team (MART) (Nature, Vol 373, No 6512). Earlier, in 1992 and 1993, MART discovered the same species …
Fruits and vegetables that turn brown within minutes of being bruised or sliced may soon be guaranteed against discolouration, if ongoing field trials in The Netherlands and Australia on genetically-engineered potatoes succeed (New Scientist, Vol 145, No 1961) The browning occurs because of an enzyme called polyphenol oxiclase (PPO) reacting …
Biologists use vibrating blades to neatly slice tissue for microscopic examination. While scientists thought of this technique only about 50 years ago, a biological version has existed for millions of years, sayl a team of scientists led by Jurgen Tautz of the University of Wurzburg, Germany (Science. Vol 267, No …
A CLASS of pesticides called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has pushed European otter to the brink of extinction. A Dutch study now reveals why: PCBs have a serious effect on this aquatic animal's reproductive cycle. PCBs have also been known to cause patches on the skin, immunotoxicity, kidney damage, weight loss …
RESEARCH at the Delhi-based Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) have developed an ecofriendly and biodegradable insecticide from marigold flowers. Scientists have found that 2 compounds present in the flower -- alphateriophene, or alpha-T, and erythrosin-B -- are effective against the larvae of the malaria-causing Anopheles mosquito as …
TILL a few years ago, all abdominal surgeries left the patient with a long scar. But thanks to laparoscopy -- a surgical technique that obviates the need to cut open the abdomen -- most patients can now leave the operating table without carrying the ugly legacy of the surgeon's scalpel. …
Insulin injections seem to be the only weapon diabetics have against coma, and even death. But not only are these injections painful, the blood-sugar balance may still fluctuate enough to damage blood vessels, leading to blindness, kidney failure, and amputations. Further, techniques for transplanting healthy insulin-producing cells from another human …
IRON alloys are usually hardened before they are shaped into products -- by a technique that is slow, polluting and expensive. But recently, scientists at the Pune-based Institute of Applied Research claim to have developed a process that is little of the above. The hardening process, called nitriding -- from …
While scientists have long known that all mammalian embryos have the basic female attributes -- uterus, fallopian tube and vagina -- what triggers some of them to change their sexual identity 30-45 days following conception was a mystery. Now scientists know how. Michael Weiss and his colleagues at the University …
SCIENTISTS from the Delhi-based National Institute of Immunology (NII) have developed a drug called MUJ-7, which they claim could be a potential weapon against cancer of the colon and rectum. The new drug's modus operandi is to starve the cancer cells of the growth factors that sustain them, explains Rama …
YOU are posted as a fire officer in a metropolis. One morning, you receive an emergency assistance call about a firebreak. The hysterical caller does not mention the house number -- he just blurts out that it is in "Jaipur colony", near a dilapidated monument. Because there is also a …
How do sperms find the ova? Solomon Snyder and his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, say that the male sex cells virtually sniff out their female counterpart (New Scientist, Vol 145, No 1961). The scientists found that rat sperms possess odour receptors, which are also present …
Researchers from Magellan Technology, a firm based in western Australia, have developed radio signal-based bagtags to ensure that the luggage of air passengers is not misplaced during transit (New Scientist, Vol 145, No 1961). Unlike the currently used optical scanners, which 'read' the codes inscribed on the tags, the new …
Two British genetic engineers have developed a blood substitute that could sustain the body for long periods on little oxygen. The inspiration for developing the artificial blood -- which could be useful in transfusions during heart and lung transplants -- came from the crocodile's ability to stay underwater up to …
European scientists claim that a new generation of artificial limbs that are controlled by the brain and similar to a "natural" extension of the body may soon become a reality. Says Paolo Dario, head of a consortium of research institutions from 4 European countries called INTER, "Our goal is to …
