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. …
it may escape one's notice, but every time we breathe, we inadvertently inhale an invisible stream of gases, aerosols, particles, microbes, pollen and dust into our lungs. Although many take it for granted, it is an act that is not easy on millions of people all over the world. The …
True, prevention is better than cure, but what about inherited diseases? To tackle the problem of a particular disease going on in families, the National Institute of Health and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, will set up a centre for inherited disease research. The project which will analyse the …
According to a report in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine , one out of five intensive care nurses in the US has intentionally hastened the death of a terminally ill patient without the knowledge of the patient's doctor. An overdose of painkilling opiates has been …
in a new procedure being developed at nasa's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, us , a robotic probe will learn the brain's characteristics by using neural net software; the same type of software technology that helps focus camcorders. A tiny pressure sensor in the
who needs a roof? Cover your house with solar cells instead. The idea may seem weird, but this is exactly what the architects of a us-based engineering and architectural firm have done while designing William and Deborah Lord's home in Kennebunkport, Maine, us. Now, when the morning sun breaks over …
In an 11-to-one decision by the Texas state court jury, US-based oil company Exxon Corporation won US $250 million from Lloyd's of London, underwriting syndicates, and other insurers that sold policies to save Exxon from liabilities like the one that came after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The court said …
Concerned by high levels of smog in the Washington area, the Sierra Club and three other groups have sued the environment protection agency (EPA) of the US to force Virginia, Maryland and the District to take better steps to clean up the smog. The environmental groups said in their lawsuit …
Scientists of the University of Leicester, UK, have demonstrated an easy technique by which crushed seeds from the tropical tree Moringa oleifera (drumstick tree) can be used for cleaning contaminated streams. The technique is very effective and works out much cheaper than chemicals such as alum, used for the purpose. …
Are the nations of the world serious in their much-touted efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions? Vinayak Rao examines the motives, moods and manifestoes in the run-up to the forthcoming climate change conference in Geneva.
A company in the US has developed a new rinsing agent known as advanced vapour degreasing (AVD). AVD, a zero-ozone depletion potential process, is used to clean electronic circuits, metal parts and high-performance components. Designed to improve cleaning capabilities, AVD can carry higher concentrations of contaminants, oils and flux residue …
Patients having heart diseases or those suffering from symptoms like recurrent rapid heart beat despite drug treatment, are now introduced to an electrical device -the defibrillator, manufactured by Guidant Corporation of Indianapolis, US. About the size of a cassette tape, it is implanted in the abdomen or chest and linked …
THE latest addition to the endangered species list is not an exotic animal or bird, but the humble frog, albeit with red legs. After a year-long legal battle, the Californian red-legged frog (Rana aurora) has won a victory of sorts. It will enjoy 'the protection given to rare endangered species. …
The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first home screening test for the HIV virus, submitted recently to it by Elliot J Millenson, founder of University Hospital Laboratory of Bethesda, US. A person using the kit would draw blood from a finger, put it on a special laboratory paper …
Ants, who else! Fire ants were believed to communicate mainly through pheromones -chemical signalling messages. Researchers also knew that the insects made sounds, whose function they were unclear about, by moving the abdomen up and down. Robert Hickling and colleagues from the University of Mississippi, US, have now recorded the …
Men lose brain tissue as they age at almost three times the rate women do; this could reduce their memory, concentration and reasoning power, says Ruben C Gur, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, US. His findings are based on a study of the brain functions -measurement …
THALASSAEMIA patients have reason to rejoice. Dominic Ciavatta and his colleagues at the University of Alabama, us, have managed to generate thalassaernic mice which can help in finding genetic methods for treatment of the disease in humans (Proceedings of the us National Academy ofSciences, Vol 92, 1995). Haemoglobin, responsible for …
William Snyder went through an open-heart surgery at St Joseph's Hospital in Paterson, US, in August 1984, and came out HIV -positive due to a pint of tainted blood that he received during the operation. Early last month, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the organisation was negligent for …
RICHARD Grace, a sensor-systems scientist at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh, us, is a busy man. He has been involved in figuring out how to prevent truck drivers from falling asleep during their hectic highway journeys - a cause for nearly 30-40 per cent heavy- truck accidents in the us. …
WHERE dams are concerned, the most ridiculous arguments are put forward by their proponents. The most expensive dam in the US history is proposed to be built on the American river in California. The Auburn dam is awaiting nod from the Congress. The dam is supposedly being built to protect …
A NEW route used by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to sneak into the body has been tracked by scientists. A series of studies on rhesus monkeys has suggested that the virus that causes AIDS can infect individuals through the mouth, and this includes even those persons who do not …
