Wiping out all of Africa’s elephants could accelerate Earth’s climate crisis by allowing 7% more damaging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, scientists say. But conserving forest elephants may reverse the trend, providing a service worth $43billion in storing carbon, the academics found. The research, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that …
are scientists free from scientisation and cultural influence? Can they be completely objective? To be sure, scientists have acknowledged their personal limitations. Even great physicists like Newton and Einstein acknowledged it. But when it comes to placing our species in evolutionary terms, scientists along with the humanists have believed that …
for centuries, the human body clock has puzzled scientists. This "inner' clock, according to experts, drives our behavioural responses and is responsible for
scientists in the us have developed a hydro-electric generating system. The device can either convert the energy potential of a river or canal as it flows downhill, or extract energy from in and out movements of tides. The system does not require a dam for generating energy because it operates …
And now a solar air heating system that would help keep your house warm. Scientists at the Turkish International Co-operation Agency have devised the system. It is designed to transfer solar energy acquired in the southern sunspace of an apartment to the northern glazed space through air ducts placed in …
A new, aggressive strain of the dreaded potato disease late blight ( Phytophthora infestans ) is devastating potatoes and tomatoes throughout the US and eastern Canada, warn American scientists. The fungus was thought responsible for the disastrous Irish potato famine in the 1840s. William Fry at Cornell University in New …
Botulinum toxin, a poison used in many chemical weapons, might prove to be a boon for people who perspire excessively. Scientists claim that the chemical can cure excessive perspiration. A disorder called hyperhidrosis makes people sweat excessively. Recently, a team from Julius Maximilian University in Wurzburg, Germany, injected small doses …
Lloyd Davis, zoologist at University of Otago, New Zealand, says that penguins use a practice similar to prostitution in order to obtain stones for their nests. Davis has made nine visits to Antarctica to study penguin behaviour. "They are not nearly as faithful as we thought,' he says. "They swap …
At a recently concluded Kerala Science Congress in Calicut, 275 papers on various subjects were presented by young scientists. Only men below the age of 35 and women below 40 years are allowed to present papers. The scientists urged to strike a balance between development and environment with a view …
that necessity is invention's mother is a well-known theory in science. Now, two American physicists have taken this theory a little further, applying it to the Universe itself. They say that the Universe might have been its own "mother'. According to them, this possible explanation may give us a more …
in an effort to gather data regarding temperature, wind flow and other climatic factors in the Arctic Ocean and to minimise the ambiguity in global climate forecasting, a us $19.5-million study is being carried out in the Arctic. The project, known as Sheba (short for Surface Heat Budget of the …
thousands of fish in North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay in the us have been killed by Pfiesteria , a dinoflagellate (unicellular, pigmented, aquatic organisms). This phenomenon is being attributed to an increase in the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that wash off the land from fertilisers and …
Radio gaga If you are curious about the history of radiology then you should not miss the site at http.//www.xray.hmc. psu.edu/rci/contents_4.html. This contains a philatelic history of radiology. Did you know that Marie Curie alone has appeared on stamps printed in Cameroon, North Korea and Dahomy (now Benin). The site …
Scientists at Oxford University, UK, have found a way to increase the starch content of potato, maize and rice. Starch is the single largest energy source in human diet. The researchers have discovered that suppressing the activity of an enzyme called nad-malic, starch production can be increased sharply. The new …
scientists in the us , Finland and India have reported significant breakthroughs in research that could help develop vaccines for rotavirus infection. Rotavirus infection is caused due to ingestion of the viral particles in water or other means of child-to-child infection. According to the World Health Organisation, the disease accounts …
robot fish could soon be searching the ocean floor for hazardous chemicals. Researchers at the University of Central Florida, usa, have developed the Micro Electronic Fish Robot (mefir) that would be used for studying aquatic life. The 0.6 m long robot has been designed to look and move like fish. …
ever since deformed frogs were found in Minnesota, usa , scientists have been attempting to know the reason of such unusual cases. Recently, John Bantle, a researcher at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, usa , has discovered that when methoprene
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a non-governmental organisation providing agricultural scientists a forum to Interact on important agricultural issues, released a policy paper entitled Fertiliser Policy Issues (2000-2025) - agricultural scilentirts perreptions - in New Delhi on April 15,1997. Based on a symposium held in 1996 on the use …
tuberculosis (tb), the giant killer, may be effectively contained with the help of a microbe Mycobacterium vaccae, which is closely related to the bacterium that causes the disease. Researchers from the London-based company Stanford Rook Holdings (srh), have claimed that an injection of killed M vaccae, which is usually found …
to put a brake on vanishing Himalayan glaciers and shrinking snow cover, a 'Society of Indian Glaciologists' was recently proposed by eminent environmental scientists and glaciologists all over the country. The proposal was made at a two-day national symposium on 'Himalayan glaciers and snow cover' in New Delhi in early …
Charles Darwin spent 20 years perfecting his ideas on evolution and how it operates. What motivated him to channelise his energy and focus for so long on his work? Thomas J Barloon and Russell Noyes Jr of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, US, have suggested that he suffered …
