Blinding with science
Uncertainty can never really be eliminated, even in the best of sound science. Science is the tool, not to bring policy reform, but to delay, prevaricate and to dismiss. And scientists are the hired guns, used by various interests to intimidate with their superiority of knowledge and to disinform with …
Rubbish science!
The administration's alleged hijacking and perversion of science has particularly stark implications for the environment, as pointed out in a recent cover story in The Nation entitled The Junk Science of George W Bush by Robert F Kennedy, Jr, one of the Bush administration's most vociferous environmental critics. Kennedy's article …
Expert favours blending of flyash with cement
India is still in the "dark ages' in concrete technology and lacked trained and well-equipped technical manpower to give practical shape to the Rs 70,000 crore initiative taken by the Vajpayee government for infrastructure development, feels Dr P.K. Mehta, Prof emeritus, University of California. Referring to advancements in concrete technology …
Technology developed for extracting metals from sea
A research and development project on polymetallic nodules initiated by the government is making significant contributions to a United Nations-backed programme for exploration of marine non-living resources. The technology for extracting strategic metals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt, besides manganese and iron, has been indigenously developed and a pilot …
NASA experts report drought forecast breakthrough
Climate experts at NASA believe they have found a way of forecasting droughts and floods months in advance, the New Scientist magazine reported. The magazine said until now forecasting more than a week ahead had proved impossible because the atmosphere is so unpredictable. But it said NASA's Goddard Space Flight …
- Biotech helping to check toxic wastes
Biotechnology has made tremendous progress in the last twenty years. Now-a-days it is controlling environmental pollution and the current approaches include both minimisation of industrial waste by substituting the waste generating steps by biotechnological steps, and cleaning up of general pollution when this became inevitable. This was stated by N …
Grass study adds to worry on genes
A new study shows that genes from genetically engineered grass can spread much father than previously known, a finding that raises questions about the straying of other plants altered through biotechnology. Critics worry that the grass, a form of creeping bentgrass developed to be resistant to Roundup, the most widely …
Clearing the air for our kids
Air pollution is often accepted as part of life in urban areas. But new studies have shown that our complacency could come at the expense of our health. And we need to do more if we want to avoid an increasingly smoggy future. Results of a long-term study on the …
Eco damage from soap
Washing your hands with soap may clean them for you, but according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, toxic chemicals used in hand soaps, cleaners and other personal care products to kill germs is deposited and remains in the environment long after the products are …
Earths magnetic field helps migratory birds find their way
Scientists believe that they may have solved the mystery of how birds migrate vast distance without losing their way: they can actually see the Earth's magnetic field. New research suggests that a bird's eyes contain cells that can detect magnetism as well as light. It is thought that the birds …
Global warming related to evolution of wildlife: Experts
Scientists have for the first time, found a direct relationship between global warming and the evolution of contemporary wildlife, report UNI. The scientists saw a decline in the population of both species during the Medival Warm Period (850 - 1350 A.D.) when their habitats dried up and an increase during …
Eco-design: recycling the menstrual cycle
British artist Lyn Huso, has used organic tampons in her latest exhibition. She use recycled bikes, bags and phones to illustrate her view of the female menstrual cycle. "To demonstrate the ideas of rebirth, renewal and regeneration, I feel it is poignant that I use recycled and recovered materials," the …
Air pollutioin can cause heart attacks
A rise in air pollution levels may provoke heart attacks, especially among smokers, according to a study released on Sunday at a cardiology conference in Orlando, Florida. Studies in France done in the 18 days a year when air pollution was at its worst showed a 250 per cent increase …
Ultra-thin `blankets` cut ponds evaporation
Spreading an ultra-thin layer of organic molecules on the surface of reservoirs could prevent millions of cubic metres of precious water evaporating each year, according to a Canadial company that is the first to commercialise the technique which conducted tests in India, according to science web sources.
Sound option
A team of researchers from Sctoland has employed ultrasound technology to clean up organic wastes from factory water.
RRL scientist develops lab-scale defluoridation technique
As fluorisis continues to claim an ever-increasing number of hapless victims, a former scientist of the Regional Research Laboratory in Jorhat, Sri Amal Chandra Phukan, has finally come up with panacea. Having successfully developed a laboratory-scale technique, he claims, "it is now possible to remove excess dissolved fluoride from contaminated …
Let scientists have a say
Before the Taj Corridor scandal broke out, the environmental issue that troubled the public most was the control of urban pollution. It was left to the SC to find a solution to the problem and the government was reduced to an enforcement agency. Not much of science was involved. But …
Orders flow in for water made from air
Pure water from thin air, literally. Singapore has produced a seemingly magical device that turns air into water, and it has started rolling off the production lines. Orders are pouring in from across the Asia Pacific for the appliance. Hyflux, the water treatment specialist which makes it, said 1,000 units …
Scientists have found a Green bug
Green not as in colour but eco-friendliness. One of the biggest environmental headaches is vinyl chloride. Chemical firms around the world are under pressure to tackle aquifer pollution from this highly useful but dangerous main ingredient in PVC products.Now, say a group of scientists, there's an answer. It is a …
