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 …
TUBERCULOSIS, the number one killer in India -- two million cases of active TB are diagnosed each year -- and the AIDS epidemic are showing a disturbing tendency of coalescing and infecting the same individual (WorldAIDS, No 23). The risk groups of both diseases overlap in many countries in the …
THE NEXT time you pluck a flower, take care: you could hurt it. And, if you are a plant-lover, stop talking to them and try touching them instead. Researchers say seemingly passive plants can feel and react to touch in their own special way (New Scientist, Vol 136 No 1843). …
VICTIMS of Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases have reason to cheer: scientists may soon be able to treat -- if not cure -- their illnesses. Cyto Therapeutics, a US firm that develops cell implants, has signed an agreement with biologists Sam Weiss and Brent Reynolds of the University of Calgary …
DOCTORS in Africa are debating whether severely anaemic children should be given blood transfusions because of the risk of their getting AIDS-infected blood. Researchers, however, have found ways to reduce the frequency of transfusions by 55 per cent without increasing mortality (The Lancet, Vol 340 No 8818). Severely anaemic children …
A BRITISH laboratory and a US firm are collaborating to produce artificial blood after scientists overcame two obstacles that had hampered this effort. Attempts to use haemoglobin isolated from the red blood cells as "artificial" blood failed because it caused kidney damage and was unable to give up oxygen -- …
GUAYULE is an arid-zone crop that is one of only two species yielding rubber in quantities substantial enough for commercial use. Unlike the rubber tree, guayule can be cultivated in marginal lands and provide income to desert dwellers. The whole plant, except the leaves, produces rubber. Scientists at Haryana Agricultural …
ZOOLOGISTS have always wondered why the females of two African antelope species repeatedly mated with only certain males. A further clue was provided by James Deutsch and Rory Nefdt of Cambridge University who discovered female antelopes always chose mates who occupied certain territories in the mating grounds. The researchers then …
NEXT YEAR, a longer-lasting and more efficient bulb known as the electronic light, or "E-Lamp," will hit the US market. A magnetic coil generates a radio signal that interacts with the gas inside the bulb, as a result of which a phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb starts …
RICE AS grown in India is a water-guzzler, because farmers use on an average 15,000 litres to produce one kg of paddy, though water technologists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi say no more than 600 litres is needed if proper water management techniques are followed. Given …
STAR MOSS, a primitive organism without roots or a vascular system that is common in the forests of North America, contains genes that could be used to engineer drought resistance in crops. Molecular biologist Mel Oliver of the US Department of Agriculture's Plant Stress and Water Conservation Lab in Texas …
THE UZI fly, a dreaded parasite of the valuable silkworm, may soon have to look for other ways to survive because a hyperparasite has been discovered that breeds in its cocoon. Scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad have identified a wasp-like insect (Trichopria khandalus) that …
ACCORDING to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God made Adam and then, not wanting him to feel lonely, took one of his ribs and created Eve. A simple explanation of why there are sexes and why there are only two. But try satisfying a scientist, or even a …
Can earthquakes be forecast? After investing one billion dollars in a 30-year earthquake prediction programme, Japanese scientists have virtually admitted failure (Nature, Vol 358 No 6835). A recent review of the programme by Japanese officials indicated several abnormal phenomena could not be objectively identified as quake precursors. For instance, earthquake …
The belief that more girls die of diseases because of neglect is not necessarily true, according to a study of measles in rural Senegal. The study suggests the severity of the disease is determined by the nature of infection and the sex of the person who transmitted it (The Lancet, …
Scientists at the US National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory have developed a portable laser scanner than can accurately measure soil roughness, a key determinant of erosion. The laser scans the microscopic ridges in the soil and transmits the data to a computer that produces a microtopographic map of the area. …
THE AMOUNT of rain falling in various parts of India has changed over the years, decreasing in some places and increasing in others. K Rupa Kumar and his colleagues at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune report in a recent issue of the International Journal of Climatology …
FEW OF the Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria have been inside a school and fewer still can read, but they have a very rich knowledge of the value of plants, especially browsable plants which can provide cattle food during the dry season. Researchers at the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) …
AFTER discovering that babies are not as passive and helpless as they appear to be, adults are trying to figure out whether infants can do sums. In 20 years of research, it has become known that babies can differentiate and even tell if someone's lip movements match the speech they …
A WORLDWIDE study of fertility research says men today have just about half the sperm count of men 50 years ago and there has also been an appreciable drop in the average volume of seminal fluid. These findings raise worries that male reproductive organs may be getting adversely affected by …
SCIENTISTS D S J Choy and P Altman working at the Investigative Cardiology Laboratory attached to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, USA, have turned their attention to dinosaur hearts (The Lancet, volume 340, number 8818). Intrigued by the sheer size of the Barosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur that …
