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. …
US SPACECRAFT Galileo has recently sent pictures of a tiny moon orbiting 243 Ida -- a 56 km-long asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is the first confirmed evidence of a natural satellite kowtowing to an asteroid (Nature, Vol 368, No 6470). The miniature moon, astronomers …
What do you think are the emerging trends in the field of zoo design? Earlier, zoos were human-dominated. They were not only run by people for people, but also presented animals in settings dominated by humans. For a decade and half, zoos have copied each other, and the model for …
SCIENTISTS have established beyond doubt the efficacy of inorganic fertilisers in helping mop up oil spills, an idea suggested over 2 decades ago. Although nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers had been shown to encourage, in the laboratory, the action of microorganisms capable of breaking down oil, the technique when applied to …
A NEW type of safety catch will prevent children from accidentally triggering firearms. The US Department of Justice and the Pentagon are jointly developing "smart" guns that will fire only when held by their legitimate user (New Scientist, Vol 142, No 1921). Smart guns become operational only when sensors embedded …
A FIERCE battle, albeit verbal, has broken out in the US between scientists and native Indians. The bone of contention is the remains of ancient Indians dating back to 800 BC, that lie in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland. The Indians want the bones of their ancestors back, so …
SWELLING concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are threatening the diversity of tree life on Earth, say 2 US ecologists (Science, Vol 263, No 5149). O L Phillips of the Missouri Botanical Garden, USA, and the late A H Gentry (1945-1993) analysed independent surveys of tropical forests worldwide and …
THE TRADE sanctions imposed by the United States on Taiwan for the latter's alleged reluctance in cracking down on trafficking in tigers and rhinoceroses is bound to further fuel the debate over use of the levers of trade as a means of enforcing environmental discipline. Predictably, the US move has …
FROM its earliest days, the environmental movement in the United States has been animated by competing visions. In the 19th century, it was the clashing approaches of Gifford Pinchot, the founder of the US Forest Service, and John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club. Pinchot supported "wise use" policies, …
INTEL Corp has introduced a new generation of chips by launching two fast versions of its Pentium microprocessor. This is part of an aggressive marketing drive by the computer giant, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, the International Herald Tribune reports. The company's is anxious to garner a share of the …
A NEW rapid dipstick method to detect the presence of the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, could prove a boon to diagnosticians. The test, which has a sensitivity as high as 95 to 100 per cent, has been successfully tried in Kenya and the US (The Lancet, Vol 343, No 8897). …
NOT ONLY are chubby babies adorable, scientists now say they are less prone during adulthood to disorders such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Recent studies indicate that the nutritional status of the developing foetus and that of the infant in the early stages of growth have an …
WHAT'S good for the stomach is good for the earth. Reclaiming clay soils contaminated with toxic waste is a pain at the best of times. Now a technology, inspired -- believe it or not -- by the layered Italian pasta, lasagne, may do the trick. Already Monsanto, General Electric, Du …
FIRST the myth: the spectacular light dance -- the massive vibgyor curtain of northern and southern lights that shift every decade or so from their polar homes to produce vivid displays in the temperate skies -- is orchestrated by solar flares, which are streaks of fiery clouds flying away from …
KEEP the Great Lakes surrounding the US-Canada border clean or fall prey to cancer and impotency, warns the International Joint Commission, the watchdog for the five lakes -- Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. A recent report of the organisation expresses concern about the apparent nonchalance of the US and …
Simple urine and blood tests could soon be used to detect cancer. Scientists at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School have detected increased levels of a tumour-related protein in the urine of patients suffering from cancer. Further, researchers at the Massachusetts-based Matritech Inc have reported finding proteins …
MUCH to the dismay of environmentalists in the UK, British Nuclear Fuels has been given a go-ahead for its Thorp plant by the High Court. The decision marks the end of a long battle between the British government and two organisations -- Greenpeace and the Lancashire County Council. The organisations …
METHANE, a key greenhouse gas that has been growing alarmingly in the atmosphere, suddenly stopped in its track beginning 1992. Although previous studies had shown that the rate of methane increase slowed down in the '80s, a new analysis carried out by Edward Dlugokencky of the US's National Oceanic and …
Fitness-conscious mothers can now safely put aside doubts and swing to Jane Fonda's aerobics. According to a study conducted over 12 weeks by a team of American researchers, lactating mothers run no health risk from exercises while breast feeding (The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 330, No 7). The …
THE US firm Agracetus is at the centre of a controversy in its home country, too. In 1992, it was awarded a patent that gives it rights over all forms of genetically engineered cotton - even ones that are to be invented (New Scientist, Vol 141, No 1913). The consequences …
THE distasteful task of grading beef by inspecting carcasses can now be bypassed. Two researchers at Iowa State University in the US have come up with a far more accurate technique to rate meat. They use ultrasound readings of fat deposits on live animals to offer gourmets "select", "choice", or …
