Companies that use wood grown in Cameroon - from makers of guitars to electricity poles - are helping revitalise endangered tree species to better sustain their businesses and bolster the fight against climate change. The firms have teamed up with the government and villagers in public-private partnerships to restore forests …
willow trees are drying up in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh. The Himalayan Forest Research Institute (hfri), Shimla, says that in the past decade more than 3,000 trees have died from aphid attacks, monoculture plantations, old planting stocks, decrease in water flow, wrong choice of planting sites, rise in …
• South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who is standing trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement for his team's research on stem cells, has resumed work on animal cloning. He has opened a biological research facility in southern Seoul and is working with about 30 of his former lab associates. …
Hwang Woo-Suk, who cloned the first human embryo for harvesting stem cells for therapeutic use in 2004, resigned as the head of the World Stem Cell Hub, an international research body. The resignation follows reports that some of the eggs used for the 2004 study were "bought'. South Korean ethical …
forthe first time, two unrelated clones of a wild species have bred naturally. Eight wildcat kittens were recently produced in two litters at Audubon Centre for Research of Endangered Species (acres), Audubon Nature Institute, New Orleans, the us, by crossbreeding cloned adults: two mothers Madge and Caty (cloned from female …
1996: Dolly (sheep): The first mammal cloned from the cell of adult sheep 2001: Gaur (wild ox): Born to a cow surrogate, dies within 48 hours 2001: a Mouflon lamb: Clone of an endangered wild sheep native to the Mediterranean region 2003: a banteng (a threatened Javanese cattle): Cloned from …
Brazil's parliament is debating a wide-ranging bioethics bill, covering subjects from human cloning to genetically modified (gm) crops. The new legislation proposes the creation of a National Council of Biosafety. It will be directly linked to the President's office, and remain responsible for formulating and implementing the country's national biosafety …
Maize is undeniably humanity's greatest, and the first, feat of genetic engineering. But the success story cannot be attributed to modern humans. A recent research shows that it is only due to the selective breeding efforts of ancient Americans that maize today has its huge ears, each packed with firmly …
In the beginning of November 2003, the us Food and Drug Administration (fda) released the findings of its risk assessment study on whether the meat and milk from cloned animals and their progeny was as safe to eat as conventionally bred livestock. It was "likely to be as safe', the …
Cloning constraint: The cloning of humans and other primates may not be possible with current techniques, indicates an experiment. Normally, during the natural division of healthy cells, chromosomes duplicate and line up on a structure in the cell known as the
The hazards of cloning were revealed yet again after scientists in the us had to put to sleep one of two banteng calves they had cloned. The researchers took the step as the animal was "abnormally large'. While the "healthy' calf was normal in size (20 kilogrammes or kg), the …
bored with the humdrum life of the office? Time to take some action, but Michael Keaton should not be your rolemodel. In the famous movie, Multiplicity, Keaton made his clone do all the dirty work, while he had the time of his life. However, the fun did not last too …
If Bahamas-based cloning company Clonaid is to be believed, the world's first cloned baby, Eve, was born on December 26, 2002. The birth, at an undisclosed location, went "very well', according to Brigitte Boisselier, head of Clonaid. Boisselier is connected to the Raelian Movement, a group that believes that life …
RIGHTS ISSUE: A patent on atta chakkis (flour mills). It sure was unexpected. But it's been granted. The latest victim of the patent rights regime is the Asian traditional knowledge of producing atta. The US patent office has given patent rights to Nebraska-based ConAgra Inc for the "method for producing …
with the recent genome decoding of both the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and its vector Anopheles gambiae, scientists have got a vital framework for exploring new ways to block disease transmission at molecular and cellular levels. The feat is particularly significant as both the parasite and the vector are associated …
The ethical implications of human cloning have spurred the un General Assembly's legal committee into action. The panel is laying the groundwork for an international treaty that would ban the creation of human clones. In this regard, a working group has already been assigned the task of drafting the clauses …
The Brazilian government will provide about us $2 million to support research in areas such as therapeutic cloning, which involves using cells and tissues from cloned human embryos to replace those damaged by cancer, heart attacks, car accidents, burns and other kinds of mishaps. The new fund known as the …
the debate regarding the viability of cloning technique was once again refuelled with a recent research revealing that cloned mice may develop obesity when they reach adulthood. The research was carried out by Randall R Sakai and colleagues from the University of Cincinnati, usa . They studied a batch of …
Researchers have recently successfully cloned a domestic cat. Although the two-month-old kitten is just another addition to the growing list of successfully cloned animals, her birth may mark the beginning of a pet cloning era. The carbon copy kitten has been named
Research carried out by scientists of Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases has revealed that cloned mice die earlier than mice conceived naturally. The research indicates that cloning causes subtle abnormalities that may take time to show up. Although the study is not definitive, it is indicative of the possible …
