The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed online shopping behaviours, according to a survey of about 3,700 consumers in nine emerging and developed economies.The survey, entitled “COVID-19 and E-commerce”, examined how the pandemic has changed the way consumers use e-commerce and digital solutions. It covered Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, the Republic …
at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, Helmut Brandl and his colleagues of the Institute of Plant Biology have shown that the fungus, Aspergillus niger, can coax out most of the toxic metals from incinerator ash. This fungus usually produces citric acid for the foodstuff industry (New Scientist, Vol 152, …
human assault on the earth's atmosphere continues. Recently, the World Meteorological Organization ( wmo ), a un agency based in Geneva, revealed that the ozone hole measured over the Antarctic during the South Hemisphere spring, is already twice the size of Europe. The hole, first observed in the Antarctic in …
cows are creating news again. They have been instrumental in relieving the pain suffered by six terminally ill patients in Switzerland. When cultured cells from the adrenal glands of cows were implanted into the spines of these patients, they produced a cocktail of natural painkillers. The various painkilling molecules produced …
OF ALL the rhilitary weapons used, landmines have caused maximum devastation, more to unsuspecting civilians than to the actual targets. Realising this, the United Nations undertook a series of steps to persuade governments to avoid using landmines. At the final review session on the landmine protocol of the Conventional Weapons …
WHILE the debate on global warming -continues, the detection of an astounding 45 per cent depletion of the mone layer, over an area stretching froth Greenland to western Siberia, gives atmospheric scientists MoTe woorries. The discovery was repwted by the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agetcy, in Geilmeva, Switzerland, …
SCIENCE fiction teleserials like Star Trek may not be gifts of over-stretched imagination, after all. Two independent sightings of a planet around a sun-like star dispel the notion that our solar system is unique. This has freshly fuelled inquiries into the possibility of extraterrestrial life-forms. The star, 51 -Pegasus, is …
The Switzerland-based coalitim group, the Blumen-Kampag (Flower Campaign) which campaigns against pesticide usad worldwide has notched xipU-Actory. it-has forced Ciba-Geigy, the SVA4 company and AgrEvo, the Gertmin company to withdraw their mal controversial pesticides from the Colombian flower industry. Cibj Geigy will no longer sell phos- pharaidon, dichlorvos and di …
The peak tourist season has slalomed into controversy at Alpine ski resorts, particularly those in spick-and-span Switzerland. The annual deluge of millions of tourists to the Alps is giving both environmentalists and national authorities headaches. Alpine forests, they say, are declining at a frightening pace due to pollution and tree …
High mountains and deep gorges may no longer daunt the 3 million Nepalese who have to travel extensively in the trading season. A Swiss organisation, Helvetas, is building bridges there and training engineers. It was all praise for the indigenous bridge builders, especially from Baglung. "We studied the Nepali bridges …
Residents of Geneva, Switzerland, have opposed the building of 12 palaces by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. The king had received permission to build the 12 palaces and an underground car park, which are to cost about $30 million, next door to his Geneva residence. The protestors, however, say that …
THE CLINTON administration's policy on nuclear proliferation and the use of plutonium -- the main ingredient of nuclear warheads -- is being put to test by a Swiss request to ship used commercial nuclear fuel to Britain. The fuel was provided by the US on the condition that it retain …
The service life of refractory materials is an important cost factor in the clinker burning process. The lifetime of the refractory lining depends on a multitude of factors and above all on local stresses due to mechanical, thermal and chemical attack. In accordance with these stresses, suitable materials, types of …
