The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
the Rhone-Poulenc Foundation of France, in a collaboration with unesco and the Archaeological Survey of India ( asi ), has launched an ambitious restoration programme for the majestic Taj Mahal. The us $236,000 three-year programme will include extensive research on the conservation of materials used originally in the construction of …
thousands of tiny transparent balls could soon make it easy to manufacture television screens the size of an average living-room wall. The technique has been developed and perfected by the French Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble, France. The conventional cathode-ray tubes are far too bulky to be used in widescreen …
Was it a case of the green-eyed monster? On Valentine's day French authorities decided to blow away a consignment of Indian roses meant for women in France. The reason behind the action claim French authorities is violation of breeders' rights by Bangalore based floriculturists in India. It all happened in …
france may soon shut down the country's controversial fast-breeder Superphoenix reactor. At present, France is the world's largest generator of nuclear power. The closure would be a victory for the green movement in the country. The move to close the plant has come 20 years ahead of schedule. At the …
researchers in France have found a secondary genetic mutation that could help provide resistance to the aids virus. Alberto Beratto of St Joseph's hospital, Paris, and Luc Montagnier of the prestigious Pasteur Institute
a group of French researchers has come across a bubonic plague bacterium that is resistant to multiple antibiotics. The bacterium, called Yersenia pestis (y pestis), was isolated from a 16-year-old boy from Madagascar in southern Africa. It has developed resistance to all first-line antibiotics and principal alternate drugs used to …
Electric charges are known to come in integral multiples of the smallest charge called electron. But in certain cases, these charges are also found in fractional units. Scientists in Israel and France have separately confirmed the quantum Hall effect. According to the law, when electrons are restricted to flow in …
THE COMPLETE PICTURE: Televisions all over the world display only 88 per cent of the image broadcast by TV stations. Now, Korean-based electronics company, Samsung is developing televisions that will display the missing 12 per cent. Called HiTron TV sets, these televisions are 2.5 centimetres wider than usual. Conventional TV …
Sorting of waste by robots may soon eliminate dumping sites in France. One of the companies that have developed such a system is Pellenc. The robot has a sensing system to separate various types of household packaging, including glass and plastic bottles, cardboard cartons and aluminium cans. Waste is tipped …
Unusually small babies have a high risk of getting diabetes, say French researchers. A study conducted on 230 adults by Juliane Leger and colleagues at France's national research organisation, INSERM, reveals that those who are born small tend to have high levels of blood sugar
researchers in France have found that plants that had been genetically engineered to ward off destructive insects could also harm beneficial ones such as bees, shortening their lives and impairing their ability to recognise flower smell. Minh-Ha Pham-Del
pollution alerts have become frequent in France. Paris authorities issued pollution alerts twice last month. The first was issued on August 13, when a northwesterly wind significantly reduced levels of oxygen. Authorities urged city residents to leave their cars at home and use public transport. Later, they lifted the alert …
france's forests have come a long way. From being heavily exploited before the 18th century for primarily firewood, they are currently expanding at the rate of approximately 37,000 ha per year. The condition of the country's forests may have changed, but France's common people are yet to assert their rights …
high levels of radioactive discharge into the English Channel from a reprocessing plant at La Hague, France, have increased the incidence of leukaemia in children of the region. The alleged removal of an underwater monitoring equipment by Cogema, the company that operates the plant, has led to the serious problem. …
• DENGUE DETECTION KIT: Casil Health Products Ltd, Ahmedabad in colla-boration with Pan Bio Pty Ltd, Australia has developed a rapid detection kit for the dreaded dengue fever . The detection kit confirms the presence of the dengue flave virus in only five minutes without the aid of any other …
Fish meal sprinkled on a beach polluted by an oil slick helps the bacteria in the sand clean it up. Stephane Lefloch, chemist at the Centre for Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution, Brest, France, says the fish meal rekindles microbes and provides the sustenance and the time …
the agricultural revolution in France is over 50 years old. And now, the French are headed in a different direction. A new paradigm of agricultural development is striking roots, seeking to undo the ill-effects of the previous one. It aims at arresting soil erosion, conserving water and biological diversity and …
Before Jacques-Yves Cousteau churned the depths of the ocean, people saw only its surface. It is only his endeavour that made millions of people aware of the vast treasure trove and home to several lifeforms, that covers three-fourths of the surface of the earth. Veteran oceanographer Cousteau who revealed the …
Plans to convert the world's largest fast-breeder reactor Superphenix into a research centre and nuclear waste incinerator, may have to be shelved. Ruling on a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, the Council of State, France's highest court, recently struck down a 1994 government order authorising operation of the nuclear …
