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 …
THE BATTLE of wits between the hunter and the hunted calls for increasingly ingenious strategies on the part of each. Recently, two Danish scientists reported that certain species of fish may be evolving the ability to detect sonars -- high-frequency sound signals -- used by whales, dolphins and humans alike …
A RECENTLY developed species of a native Australian tree -- the northern black wattle (Acacia auriculiformis) -- may save the precious tropical teak forests from being wiped out by offering high-quality furniture wood. Already well-established in China, India and south-east Asia, the black wattle is not a favourite for good-quality …
AFTER designer clothes and designer food, will designer babies be next? Are you a black who wants a white baby or a 65-year-old woman who wants to conceive? No problem, except that of ethics. Made-to-order babies are now possible with the rapid development of assisted reproductive technologies (See box). Till …
A JAPANESE company has introduced a bathing system that helps conserve water. The Full Time Bath enables the same water to be used for upto a month of body-scrubbing. The computer-controlled system, equipped with double-filtration and anti-bacterial function, keeps the recycled water as sparkling clean as tap water. The company …
IS CAFFEINE, which is present in tea, coffee and coke, harmful to pregnant women and foetuses? Although there have been indications to the contrary, a recent Canadian study has found evidence that expectant mothers who take caffeine before and during pregnancy may run a greater risk of foetal death (Journal …
IN THE near future, plastic won't be an environmental pejorative. The Japan Corn Starch Co Ltd, in collaboration with US business firm Grand River Technologies of Michigan, will produce a fully biodegradable plastic from corn starch that decomposes readily and can be used as compost for the corn crop (New …
A LONG-STANDING mystery about how bees -- considered completely deaf -- hear has been solved. Bees are known to convey information about the distance, direction and potential of a new food source or nesting site through a complicated dance language involving the wagging of the abdomen and vibrating the wings …
SCIENTISTS have now discovered that huge quantities of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, produced when fossil fuels are burned, are mopped up by boreal forests -- coniferous forests in the northern hemisphere -- which are themselves coming under the loggers' axe (New Scientist, Vol 141, No 1907). It is established …
PEOPLE who suffer wild swings of moods -- from ecstatic highs to melancholic lows -- have their mother to blame. At least this is what researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA, suggest: Every woman on a sprawling family tree they have drawn up passes this disorder, called the manic-depressive psychosis, …
TWO RESEARCHERS have produced genetically altered potato tissue that can detect compounds like alcohol and drug products in body fluids. Garry Rechnitz and Ae-June Wang of the University of Hawaii in Manoa say the tissue contains an enzyme that produces a fluorescent product when exposed to the target molecule (New …
HOW DO Chinese tots outperform their American counterparts? Psychologist David C Geary of the University of Missouri at Columbia, USA, who has studied the performance of Chinese and American schoolchildren, found the Chinese kids got three times as many items right in a test and they could hold more digits …
Lockheed Corp of the US has developed an inexpensive, part liquid, part solid telephoto lens that guarantees a sharper and better-contrasted picture than the conventional lens. Besides correcting colour distortion from light bending through glass, the new lens is unaffected by imperfections on its surface, reducing the need for polishing …
CONTRARY to common sense, foul air may not be the cause of the rise in the number of asthmatics, at least not in Britain. Though the number of Britons with asthma has risen rapidly in recent years, with the number of deaths doubling over the past two decades, a recent …
NOT ONLY do smiles reflect happiness, they can even induce it, says psychologist Paul Ekman of the Human Interaction Lab at the University of California (Science, Vol 262, No 5132). However, not any smile will do. In 1862, French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne noted that half-hearted smiles only involve mouth …
THERE must be something in the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, that attracts scientists in pursuit of life's mysteries. Charles Darwin spent a good chunk of his life wandering in these islands before formulating his theory of natural selection. And now, the waters around the islands have yielded …
ASTRONOMERS say the sun is losing its brightness and some billions of years from now -- a short period in astronomy -- it will disappear into cosmic darkness. But life on earth may still continue as particle physicists have conceived of a sun in the lab. Particle-hunters in the US …
OCTOPUSES, sting rays and other marine creatures may soon have their first encounter with a personal computer (PC). Bruce W Macdonald, a marine engineer at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville, Queensland, has developed a WetPC that can help divers to count fish, check maps and diagnose equipment …
If you're worried about your heart, there's good news and bad. First the good: there is strong evidence to support the theory that a couple of beers or glasses of wine daily help to prevent coronary heart disease. Now, the bad part: most heart attacks occur at dawn. Researchers at …
ADDING the genes of broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower to those of rapeseed could yield an oil that can be used to make superstrong plastics. Presently, rape-seed oil yields only 66 per cent erucic acid and is expensive to purify. Researchers at the National Research Council of Canada's Plant Biotechnology Institute …
YOUR SALIVA may give a clue to your personality, says James M Dabbs, professor of psychology at Georgia State University in the US. Dabbs is trying to establish whether a relationship exists between the levels of testosterone in saliva samples and human behaviour. Dabbs has collected about 2,500 saliva samples …
