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. …
The 'innocent-looking' telephone directory has been the target of the ire of US environmentalists. Recently, they had much to cheer about when the city council of Santa Monica, California, passed a resolution banning the clearcutting of temperate rainforests. The resolution was in response to concerns over the logging of old.growth …
Fire-fighting could cause other problems like flooding and electrical damage. In an effort to come up with a better fire extiriguisher,the US-based firm Charged Injection ofPrinceton,New Jersey, is developing a method to douse fires using an electrostatically-charged mist of water. The spray will inject a beam of charged electrons -fired …
Researchers, using needles thinner than human hair, have injected mosquitoes with an aJtered virus that blocked the insects' ability to transmit dengue fever, a major killer i&the; tropics, "We don't know how practical this is," said Ken Olson, a researcher at the Oregon State University, US, "But we have shown …
A RECENT report could throw open the portals of the us research and development (R&D;) industry to let in foreign talents. A committee of the National Academy of Engineering has recommended that the government should avoid limiting foreign access to the nation's R&D; efforts except when such participation poses a …
FEELING poorly? You might get to know what is wrong deep inside you by swallowing a snake- a robotic snake, that is -designed to wind its way through your intestines and photograph any abnormality there by its miniature video cameras. If it is a robot that slithers or wriggles or …
OBESE women are more than twice as likely to have babies with neural tube defects (NTO) such as spina bifida, as women of average weight, say American researchers. But the two teams of researchers from Boston and California also pointout that they do not yet understand why extra fat should …
Specialists at the Stanford Research Institute in California, US, have pioneered a remote surgery system for the US Army , which could mean that doctors will not longer have to work in thefrontlines. In the system, the surgeon operates on a virtual image of the patient which is created by …
A radar system on a microchip, costing less than $10.5 has been developed by American scientists. It is so sensitive that it can monitor the breathing of a baby to cut down cotdeaths, pinpoint human heartbeats in collapsed buildings, detect burglars, find landmines, replace the doctor's stethoscope or simply help …
Less water will now be needed while you use the toilet. The US government has passed a law restricting toilet flushes to a maximum of 1.6 gallons (about 7 .3Iitres} per flush. Eljer Industries Inc has come up with new models that depend on gravity to flow away the wastes. …
A recent federal court ruling spelled victory for the Environment Protection Agency over the chemical industry. The US district court for the District of Columbia, upheld the agency's decision to expand the requirements for public disclosure of emissions of certain toxic chemicals. The ruling would mean that chemical companies and …
Charitable Net Non-profit groups are putting up their web sites to extend support to people in need. The free-to-browse sites disseminate information ranging from how to conserve oil to evil effects of free licensing of firearms. The American Red Cross Society calls for donations through its website, and surfers have …
In another attempt to improve their green image, the Republicans issued a new set of guidelines for their future environmental proposals. Prepared by the 70-member study group set up by Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Republican from Georgia, the 'vision statement' calls for consensus, innovation and a greater role for states, …
A partially mummified skeleton of the Spirit Cave Man lying in the Nevada State Museum in the US, is at the centre of a controversy. Recent tests have revealed that the Cave Man was at least 10,000 years old and several dozen artifacts found with it provide a rich view …
ALL the diatribe and deliberations about protecting the ozone layer have not been just a lot of talk. Recently scientists reported that the concentration of ozone-depleting chemicals in the lower atmosphere began decreasing for the first time last year since their introduction in the early '60s. The discovery has revived …
A NEW report from a committee of the Institute of Medicine in the us has put across some sane advice to a federally funded, state-run programme that provides food, nutrition, education, and health care for mothers and children. The programme could better address the unmet needs of poor children by …
A two-drug therapy that promises to cure stomach ulcers and prevent their recurrence has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Under the newly approved regimen, patients will take the existing ulcer drug Prilosec in conjunction with an antibiotic called Biaxin for 14 days, then continue to take …
Goodyear, the US tyre giant, is developing sensitive truck tyres, which will provide information on the pressure, temperature and mileage oftyres. Goodyear is Currently checking the reliability of computer chips which will be embedded in the tyres. The chips will provide a method of measuring the mileage and will give …
After Japanese, American haemophiliacs have followed suit. They have turned down aUS $640 million settlement offer made by four major drug companies. An estimated 10,000 haemophiliacs in the US contracted the AIDS virus by injecting tainted blood-clotting products made by the companies in the early '80s. Attorneys representing the haemophiliacs …
Human endeavours like the building of dams are now being held responsible for the planet spinning a wee bit faster. Benjamin Chao, a geophysicistat NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, US, says that the days are shortening by about O;2millionthsofa second per year. Chao's observations are based on …
Massive earthquakes that shook the American midwest in the last century were attributed to movements in the New Madrid fault zone in southern Missouri. Reportedly, there are innumerable such weak zones which can cause earthquakes iQmidcontinental US, according to Stephen Marshak and Timothy Paulsen of the University of Illinois in …
