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 …
GOAT RAISERS in the Philippines have discovered that ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), which has been planted in several parts of the world including India, and is a panacea for environmental ills, from soil degradation to fuelwood and fodder shortages, can also deworm goats. Young seeds ground into a paste and mixed …
OXFORD researchers have found children are more likely to inherit asthma and hay fever from mothers than fathers. The gene responsible, found on chromosome 11, is only active when inherited from the mother. An international team of scientists, led by Bill Cook and Julian Hopkins, speculates that maternal inheritance of …
SCIENTISTS have good news for tea and coffee drinkers: they need not kick the habit for fear that the caffeine in the beverages causes cancer. Research indicates that caffeine may actually help prevent cancer caused by radiation and certain chemicals and that it can be useful in radiotherapy. Till 20 …
ROUND logs can be transformed into square ones without using a saw. The process yields wood that is stronger, denser and less liable to split and warp (New Scientist, Vol. 135, No. 1828). The method, evolved by Japanese scientist Yoshinori Kobayashi, involves baking the logs to around 1000 C in …
KIDNEY stones, a human nerve disorder and a fungal crop disease may all be relegated to history, thanks to the discovery by scientists at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi of a gene that helps to break down oxalic acid, the main culprit. Asis Datta, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, …
COCONUTS may look alike and most may even taste alike. But not the kati variety of Thailand, also known as the makapuno in the Philippines, whose thick, white and creamy texture makes it king of the crop -- and costs 20 times more than ordinary nuts. Coconut fanciers throughout south …
THE GRAVITY-FREE environment in space will form more perfect crystals of certain proteins and scientists hope that by understanding their protein structure, they will be able to design better drugs to combat diabetes and arthritis, along with some other diseases. A protein derived from the deadly toxin found in castor …
THE INCREASE in phosphate wastes released into rivers over the last 20 years may in turn have increased the frequency of "red tides" (coloured springtime algal efflorescences) which poison and kill numerous fish in American estuaries. Certain single-celled algae called dinoflagellates , which make up a large part of ocean …
BACTERIA large enough to be visible to the human eye have been discovered within the gut of a surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) caught off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (Science, Vol. 256, No. 5064). These symbiotic bacteria, about one million times larger than ordinary bacteria, probably digest the algae the …
THE "arms race" between plants that produce defence mechanisms to ward of foragers such as deer and animals who attempt to evolve mechanisms to counter these defences, have long intrigued evolutionary biologists. Scientists say the moose (Alces alces), a large herbivorous mammal found in temperate regions, appears to be leading …
MEDICAL practitioners in the West are resorting to traditional oriental medical systems in seeking to cure diseases that do not respond to conventional treatment. British dermatologists say they have confirmed that traditional Chinese herbal therapy can be used to treat resistant skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (The Lancet, Vol. …
AN ADVANCED, ultraviolet (UV) light-water disinfection system has been installed at a water pumping station in UK. The system, developed by Hanovia Ltd, differs from earlier systems in that it can automatically regulate UV intensity in response to changes in water quality and water flow. UV disinfection has normally been …
SOLAR cells used to tap energy from the sun are made up of photovoltaic substances such as silicon which, when combined with suitable additives and exposed to sunlight, produce electricity. Extracting crystalline silicon from the compounds in which it is found is highly energy-intensive and the element itself accounts for …
THE GOOD old radio is getting set to replace an entire record library. Using digital audio broadcasting, as against the present analog system of transmission, listeners will be able to tune in from a very large number of programmes and make their own high quality digital recordings from the hi-tech …
COIR IS excellent for making the nettings or grids used on denuded hill-sides to fix soil and promote growth of vegetation, which, in turn, prevents landslides and improves the ecological balance in the area. "Since coir is highly water-absorbant, ideal conditions are created for the germination of seeds", said P …
GLOBAL attention was drawn to the cholera bacteria (Vibrio cholerae) following the epidemic raging in Peru since January 1991, which claimed as many as 4,000 lives and affected another three lakh lives in the country. In all, till early July 1992, 5.3 lakh cases of cholera and 4,700 deaths were …
PROLONGED use of chlorinated drinking water can cause cancer, says a study by scientists at the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). When chlorine gas reacts with naturally occurring organic contaminants in water, minute concentrations of carcinogenic compounds are formed. The risk is greater in water got from rivers and …
EUROPEAN spacecraft Giotto created history mid-July when it swept past the comet, Grigg-Skjellerup, some 240 million km away in space. Giotto flew within 200 km of the comet's nucleus at 14 km a second and collected valuable data, despite being handicapped after its 1986 encounter with Halley's Comet. Fragments from …
SOUND waves can be used to measure factory emissions, say scientists at the Open University in UK. Pollution monitoring systems using light waves are often inadequate and direct sampling of air emissions is time-consuming as well as expensive, specially for smaller firms who need to monitor their own pollution levels …
BIRD-WATCHERS, studying the mating habits of different species since the early 1970s, are discovering that faithlessness is common and most birds fancy a romp outside their nest. The cuckoo's waywardness is well-known, but this is so even among birds hitherto thought to be monogamous, such as the guillemot (Uria aalgae), …
