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. …
computer processing speeds will increase at a faster rate than earlier thought. Intel Corporation, the us based company, has invented a way that would double disk-drive capacity every nine months or even faster. The breakthrough has gone beyond the observations made by Gorden Moore, a semiconductor engineer that chips tend …
chemists in the us have developed carbon dioxide ( co2 ) soluble detergents that could be used for dry-cleaning purposes. The liquid co2 would be used in dry cleaning machines as a solvent. With the use of the detergents, dry-cleaners would lose their characteristic smell. The detergent would also reduce …
the Defence Research Technologies (drt) in Rockville, usa, has developed a method to amplify sound without using electricity. It would help crew members communicate amidst noisy atmosphere. The non-electrical sound-amplification technology is an upgraded version of a technology devised by Tadeusz Drzewiecki and others at the us Army's Harry Diamond …
manufacturing accurately shaped metal components has always been a difficult task for industry. Now, a technique called laser-engineered net shaping (lens) has been developed by a team of researchers led by Clinton L Atwood at Sandia National Laboratories, usa that would help fabricate precise and complex parts such as tools …
Stamp on the NetAn electronic postage stamp is being developed in the US that Internet users could buy with a click of the mouse instead of walking down to the neighbourhood post office. A firm led by an Indian American is expected to produce the system that would enable users …
Blood donation may reduce the risk of heart attack in men, say researchers at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Kansas University Medical Center, USA. A study conducted on blood donors and non-donors shows that those who had never given blood were twice as likely to have sustained a heart attack …
researchers in the us say that people exposed to second-hand smoke during their daily lives have shown to absorb a chemical that is strongly suspected to cause lung cancer. Stephen Hecht of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center in Minneapolis told last week's meeting of the American Chemical Society in …
houseflies are a greater menace than earlier believed. A team of microbiologists led by Peter Grubel at St Elizabeth's Medical Centre, Boston, has found that houseflies spread a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori that causes ulcers. They transport the bacterium on their skins and intestinal tracts, and pass it from one …
researchers say that more than 40 per cent of patients with chronic pain are misdiagnosed. It affects men and women equally and is undertreated in children, according to reports presented at a seminar of the American Medical Association (ama) held in New York recently (British Medical Journal , Vol 315, …
grassroots movements and the people of northwest California have won a major battle over keeping the state's highways pesticide-free. The victory has been scored over Caltran, the California agency that manages 24,135 km of land running along freeways. One of the largest and most powerful organisations of its kind, Caltran …
Lee Schiel, an amateur palaeontologist and a dealer in rare fossils in Los Angeles, USA, has claimed to have discovered a dinosaur egg containing an embryo of the prehistoric creature. His find is yet to be studied by experts. Schiel released a CAT scan image at a press conference on …
when Ken Paige of the University of Illinois, Urbana, usa , reported a decade ago that scarlet gilia, a delicate red-flowered herb found in the mountains of northern Arizona, produced more seeds when deer nibbled at them, there were few takers. Ecologists were skeptical and were not ready to accept …
reserchers in the us and Japan are trying to device methods of using lasers to deflect lightning bolts and prevent the harm that ensues. The significance of this can hardly be underestimated. Since time immemorial, people have sought ways to prevent lightning from causing destruction. In the ancient times, sacrifices …
Lead poisoning in children is causing a storm in New York. A large number of cases seeking action against lead poisoning are pending in courts. Lead is present in numerous forms in the environment of most cities of the world. Children are most susceptible to its ill effects as it …
in st Louis, Missouri, usa , hundreds of healthy people are leasing their bodies to medical research and contributing to the development of a vaccine for aids . They are receiving injections containing canarypox viruses that cause disease in birds but are harmless to humans. After being genetically-engineered, the viruses …
the brightly lit skyscrapers of North American cities attract migrating birds. But these skyscrapers are also the cause of their death, as every year hundreds die after crashing into them. But in Toronto their prospects are being made worse by local seagulls, which have learnt to guide the birds towards …
studies in the us show that special proteins can prevent rejection of transplanted organs in monkeys without the need of immune suppressant drugs. If the same technique applies to human, patients would not have to take long-term drugs to avoid rejection of the foreign tissue. A brief course of protein …
two anti-obesity drugs are to be withdrawn from worldwide sale amid growing evidence that they may caused heart abnormalities. The us Food and Drug Administration has said that there is "new evidence about significant side-effects'. This will mean that appetite suppressants, Adifax and Ponderax, will no longer be available in …
emergency contraception is a safe and effective method to protect women from induced abortions, according to American researchers. At present, steroid hormone pills and copper releasing intrauterine devices ( iud s) are the two emergency contraceptives mainly used by people. Among the steroidal preparations, high dose oestrogens, oestrogen-progesten combinations and …
