Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
genetically modified maize can restrain the growth of caterpillars in the fields, shows recent studies conducted in North America's grain belt. The studies are the first to show damaging ecological effects of Bt maize in and around the fields. Diane Stanley-Horn of the University of Guelph, Ontario, found that monarch …
China will soon set up a reserve for the endangered Siberian tigers. According to the us -based Wildlife Conservation Society (wcs), the protected area called Hunchun Reserve will be set up along China's border with Russia. The wcs , which is helping China to establish the reserve, recently marked the …
The number of coral reefs in the world is far less than what scientists had believed. They are also shrinking fast due to pollution, climate change and fishing. This was revealed during the most comprehensive mapping of the corals done by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The mapping showed …
A judge of a US superior court has ordered five major oil companies to clean up sites in San Francisco that have been contaminated with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). This order was given in response to a lawsuit filed by Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), …
Sri Lanka is facing a severe drought and the number of affected people is estimated to be around 1.5 million across seven of the country's 25 districts. The US-based World Vision Organisation said government agencies would need to distribute an estimated 45,000 tonnes of food over the next six months …
imagine a whale running to catch a prey, instead of swimming in the ocean to gulp one? The picture may be unimaginable today, but it was a reality about 50 million years ago. Scientists have found that the primitive hoofed mammals were actually predecessors to the whale family. The evidence …
the us Environmental Protection Agency (usepa) has greatly underestimated the cancer risks of arsenic in drinking water, indicates a study of the National Academy of Sciences. Following the report, for the first time, usepa under the Bush administration is conceding that it will be hard-pressed not to accept stringent arsenic …
The ongoing debate on the role of private funding for public research is of vital importance. Already, the prestigious scientific journal, Nature , has asked its authors to disclose any financial interests related to their studies. Thirteen leading medical journals, including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of the …
What is often missed is that ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) with 10 parts per million (ppm) sulphur is not clean fuel per se . But that the low sulphur content at that level allows manufacturers to instal particulate trap to control emissions of tiny and deadly particulates. If the …
buckling under the pressure of the industry, the Sri Lankan government has indefinitely postponed its plans to impose one of the world's stringent bans on genetically modified (gm) food. The ban was initially imposed in May 2001. But it was postponed a month later due to pressure from the World …
Low-frequency radio waves could someday be used instead of chemicals to control zebra mussels, which cause millions of dollars in damage by clogging water intake pipes at power plants and other installations in the US, say researchers based in the US. Zebra mussels in an aquarium that were exposed to …
The carbon-injection process for removing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants has been successfully completed at the University of Illinois Abbott Power Plant, in the US. The technology demonstration trials tested a commercial activated carbon and a corn-derived activated carbon developed by researchers at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) …
us president George W Bush's position on a recent trade agreement with Jordan sends mixed signals on the issue of whether his administration will enforce the use of labour and environmental safeguards in trade relations. The us-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (fta) was negotiated in October 2000. It is considered
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has proposed a two-year US $11 million study to determine whether there is a link between air travel and fatal blood clots
A US federal judge rejected a request to extend protection to beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet. This ruling was given in response to a lawsuit filed by six environmental groups and an Alaska Native from the Cook Inlet region. They wanted the whale population listed as endangered because pollution …
it is one of the unwritten assumptions of physics that the laws of nature are the same not only in all parts of the Universe but also at all times. This assumption is what allows us to say meaningful things about very distant realms of our Universe and also about …
methyl tertiary butyl ether (mtbe) has been found in the Midwest region of the us even though it is not used there, shows a recent research. mtbe, which is a gasoline additive, is said to be carcinogenic and has been known to contaminate groundwater. It was found in 70 per …
Vanishing coastlines may not be the only peril in a warming world; disease-carrying Asian tiger mosquitoes may find the hotter temperatures more to their liking and may show up in places they've never been seen before, according to new research. "Our research shows that, like many mosquitoes, this species breeds …
new crops that help constrain industrial contamination could be a part of the future ways of controlling pollution. The genes that allow plants to accumulate large amounts of metal in their tissues have been identified and cloned at Purdue University, usa . The finding is expected to lead to new …
there is a relation between coal plant emissions and toxic levels of mercury in the air, shows new research conducted by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, usa. The study shows that the level of mercury in sediment at the bottom of New York's Central Park Lake is at least 10 …
