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. …
From environment-friendly cars, researchers move on to an environment-friendly aircraft, which derives all its energy from sunlight. Developed by a team of scientists from AcroVironment, an engineering company based in Simi Valley, California, this new version of Pathfinder, a 18 1 -kg acroplane, is to begin test flights soon (Nature, …
COMPU RECORDS: The staff at River Hills West Healthcare Center in Pewaukee, Wis.,in the US are done forever with the tiresome patient logbook, where they maintained the minutest details of the multiple doses of the myriad drugs that the 245 resident patients have to be administered daily. Now all they …
Alarm has been sounded by the us Agriculture Department (usad) which, in its crop report for June, says that the world grain carryover stocks for 1996 are about to crashland to a record low level -- worth a mere 52 days of consumption. According to Lester R Brown, president of …
The tiny fruit fly (Drosophila bifurca) holds the record for the longest sperm. Researcher Scott Pitnick of Bowling Green state university, Ohio, found that the fly produces sperm that are 60mm long - about 20 times its own length. In comparison, the human sperms are just 50 thousandth of a …
"Shut up and die," the orchid's flower tells its petals once it is pollinated. But the language used is not known to us - it is chemical talk and in orchids, ethylene does the talking. Now, botanists have found a way of tapping into the chemical talk of plants using …
Cyberspace technology has hit Hollywood. While actors are shooting at sites in Hollywood, the back- drop is being built inside the memories of computers in London. Lawntnower Man 2: lobe's War, which is to be released by the end of the year, involves scenery being sent down each night via …
Big Daddy has finally been forced to sell himself. In what the Washington-based ngo Development Gap termed a "desperate and amateurish attempt at public relations", in May the World Bank (wb) paid to advertise itself through American newspapers. Washington's plans slashing its international aid has put the International Development Association, …
The international commercial fishing industry is posing a serious threat to Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, an invaluable living laboratory of evolution 650 miles west of the mainland. A growing demand for sea cucumbers in Asia and parts of western Europe has led to an influx of non-native fishing companies into the …
Buried under the weight of injury claims filed by thousands of women who have used silicone breast implants, the Dow Corning Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Bay City, Michigan, US in May. This move will preempt all new lawsuits and efforts to settle existing litigation …
Big pharmaceutical companies in the US are rejoicing over a new Food and Drug Administration ruling that gives them an extension of 3 years on their drug patents. Consumer groups are not exactly delighted at the change because it could cost consumers billions of dollars, since companies that make cheaper …
IS HOMOSEXUALITY in the genes? Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, report that a single gene transplanted into fruit flies made the males show homosexual behaviour. This display of homosexuality is interesting to scientists because a gene similar to that transplanted into the fruit …
After days of water cannon debate, the Republican-initiated bill proposing a revision of the Clean Water Act has ultimately been passed by the us House of Representatives by a vote of 240 to 185. The revised version drastically handcuffs the Federal government's regulatory power and gives an industry chafing against …
After the muckraking about the Clean Water Act's revision is over, the Republicans have now turned to the long-besieged Endangered Species Act (ESA), which seeks to protect wildlife habitats and frames strict regulations on developing forest areas and wetlands development, known to be the homeground of rare and exotic species. …
A NEW study by the Harvard Medical School (the first of its kind) -- presented recently to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali -- warns of an alarming rise in mental health problems in developing nations, caused by changing demographic, political and economic conditions, wars, natural disasters and abuse of women …
J. Craig Venter, till now just another scientist who once worked with Washington's National Institute of Health and whose only claim to fame, or rather notoriety was his much-publicised row with the Institute authorities which refused to grant funds for his project on human genome sciences, has finally hit the …
ONE of the most challenging tasks in the wake of devastating earthquakes, floods and other such natural calamities is the repair of roads and railway supply lines. In particular, mending bridges poses the greatest problem because conventional methods to construct bridges require a lot of time and expenditure. But now, …
Those tiny, unseeable lifeforms that one so puzzled about till a few decades ago are all set to take noticeable strides into our lives in the future...though they aren't exactly in a hurry. Today, fundamental scientific insights from molecular biology are beginning to feed into a string of bio-technological product …
The tadpoles of the red-eyed tree frog can choose to hatch early to avoid being eaten by snakes, says Karen Warkentin from the University of Texas in Austin (New Scientist. Vol 146, No 1974). The eggs hatch in a matter of minutes and can do so when they are 5-7 …
Edible vaccines made from plants? This seemingly unusual proposition is on the verge of becoming a reality. Preliminary studies in the US indicate that genetically altered potatoes, bananas, alfalfa sprouts and other foods could revolutionize medical care by providing cheap and plentiful sources of "edible" vaccines and other medicines to …
The international community may agree to do without chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -- the chemicals identified as being primarily responsible for the depletion of the earth's ozone shield -- but the state of Arizona is not about to be bullied into doing so. The state legislature has passed a law allowing the …
