Although spending on science has risen worldwide, greater investment is needed in the face of growing crises, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recommended in a new report published. The latest edition of its Science Report, which is published every five years, further reveals that there is …
thirty years after they were abandoned for good, nuclear reactors are making a fatal comeback in the us spacecrafts. In 2003, the us National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa) was notified about a federal commitment of us $3 billion to develop nuclear-fuelled engines in the next five years. The sum …
an impending shortage of science and engineering (s&e) personnel in the us has forced the country to look inward for talent. The country, which is the biggest beneficiary of brain drain in the post-world war ii era, has recently admitted that
ON NOVEMBER 6, 2003, the legal committee of the UN General Assembly decided that a vote to ban research on the reproductive cloning of human beings need not be taken up till the end of 2005. During deliberations, a little twist related to the research aspect of the issue generated …
simple remedy: Garlic not only keeps the vampires at bay, but also pests such as slugs and snails, which cause millions of dollars worth of damage in countries with cool or temperate climates. Scientists from the uk-based University of Newcastle upon Tyne have found that the pungent herb could act …
science and technology It is "payback' time for the scientific establishment too! The incumbent Indian government, keen to amass political capital well before the next year's general elections, hasn't spared scientific research in the country either. An increasing number of ads
a new gravity map of the Earth suggests if you want to feel one per cent lighter you should be in India, where the pull of gravity is a bit less than elsewhere due to the type of mantle material beneath the country's crust. The map, a colourful tapestry of …
In 2002, the Survey of India began a year-long programme which celebrated 200 years of the Great Trigonometrical Survey (gts), a mammoth cross-country exercise the colonial government undertook in the nineteenth century to map the terrain of the (then) Indian subcontinent. A scientific endeavour that made perfect political and economic …
on june 28, 1993, the Supreme Court of the us passed a verdict that tilted the scales of justice in favour of polluters by undermining the role of science in the country's judicial arena. This fact was made public during a recent press conference of the Tellus Institute, a Boston-based …
an effort to replicate the world-famous Media Lab in India suffered a major setback recently following angry recriminations exchanged between the Indian government and the management of the us-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit)
Electronic display Scientists in the us have developed an ultra-thin electronic display that could well transform into an e-newspaper. The black and white display is constructed from steel foil and is less than 0.3 millimetres thick. It can be viewed from most angles and can be even be bent to …
As we peek into our past, the number of our ancestors seems to double in every generation. For every human being has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great great grandparents and so on. By this yardstick, the number of ancestors that each of us had about 50 generations …
At first sight, two humans may seem to differ enormously. But looks can be misleading. Among animals, humans make up an unusual group. All humans belong to the same species (Homo sapiens, meaning
The recent imbroglio on interconnectivity between cellular and WILL (wireless in local loop)/CDMA (code division multiple access) subscribers left many of us speechless. Literally. The response came through a proxy war involving Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). This is worrying; for interconnectivity is the …
Neurologist Hugo Moser's unveiling of a 10-year-long study into the effects of Lorenzo's oil has shown that perseverance and logic are a powerful substitute to conventional research. When Lorenzo, the son of Augusto and Michaela Odone, was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ald), there was no cure for the disease. Unable and …
