Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
YOUR SALIVA may give a clue to your personality, says James M Dabbs, professor of psychology at Georgia State University in the US. Dabbs is trying to establish whether a relationship exists between the levels of testosterone in saliva samples and human behaviour. Dabbs has collected about 2,500 saliva samples …
IN THIS age of the media, images are too quickly ingrained into popular imagination. If someone were to tell you that smoking, which has been shown to cause heart disease and lung cancer, may protect against disease, then you would surely think the person is either a fag-fanatic or downright …
COGNISANT of the limitations of various contraceptives, scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore and at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in Delhi have been trying to develop safe and effective contraceptive vaccines for both men and women. And, their efforts are soon to bear fruit. …
• Western mining companies are rushing towards a new eldorado: Cuba. This year, Joutel Resources of Canada became the first western firm to sign an exploration agreement with the Cuban mining agency Geominera. And, with a mining analyst calling Cuba a "genuinely under-explored area", Joutel is being followed by Australia's …
The claim by Ayurveda practitioners that it can combat the dreaded HIV virus is only now being examined by the India's scientific establishment. Researchers at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in New Delhi have begun investigating the anti-HIV properties of seven plants -- Tulsi (Ocimum), Brahmi (Centella), Ashwagandha (Withania …
When the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus was discovered a decade ago, researchers were confident of finding a way to check its growth. Today, about 13 million people have been infected with HIV, but science is still groping in the dark for a cure for AIDS. NEVER underestimate your enemy. But …
RESEARCHERS are unsure of being able to devise a simple series of shots that would give a person lifetime protection against AIDS. To do that, a vaccine will have to ward off all the current HIV strains as well as any future mutants. Vaccines are basically harmless imposters intended to …
HIV IS fast spreading its tentacles in India. According to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), more than 300 people have contacted AIDS since the first case was reported in India in 1986. It is feared that by the turn of the century, about five million persons in the country …
• WITH WESTERN governments trying to cut health-care costs and consequently, the pharmaceuticals market becoming more competitive, many companies including Glaxo are keen to move into untapped markets. Glaxo chief executive Richard Sykes insists that to be successful, the company must develop "innovative medicines". "Every week, 3,000 genes are being …
Scientists at the Jammu laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have found a Himalayan herb, which can considerably increase the absorption of tuberculosis (TB) drugs in the human bloodstream. Scientists Usha Zutshi and K L Bedi explain that because the human body can absorb less than …
GERMAN scientists say an understanding of car crashes could help childbirth specialists tell if a woman needs a Caesarean section (International Business Week, No 3327-657). The team of researchers at the Deutschland-based Electronic Data Systems, struck by the similarity of forces that come into play in a car crash and …
Many animal rights activists consider that all research carried out with animals is indefensible. This would apply especially to research with chimpanzees. I assume that chimpanzees are the closest relatives to humans and that they deserve ethical considerations which are similar to those accorded humans. Nevertheless, I believe that it …
THIS YEAR'S Nobel prize -- worth $825,000 -- for physiology and medicine has been awarded jointly to UK's Richard Roberts and USA's Phillip Sharp for their 1977 discovery of "split genes". The discovery took everybody by surprise because till then, the gene had been thought indivisible. The two scientists made …
WITH THEIR earlier attempts to conquer malaria having fallen through, researchers are now toying with a novel approach -- altering the mosquito's genetic make-up so that it cannot carry the parasite it now transmits to humans. Exterminating mosquitoes to check the spread of malaria has been the main goal of …
A COMMON parasitic disease of the human nervous system, neurocysticercosis, is often mistaken for tuberculosis of the brain. And, because doctors are unable to distinguish between the two, the disease claims numerous lives each year. But now, scientists at the Astra Research Centre India and the National Institute for Mental …
CANCERS occur when some cells break free from the body's control and multiply prolifically. That's the classical view. But now there is a new way of looking at cancer -- it may be because cells are not dying fast enough. Advocates of this novel view are confident that if death-defying …
VIOLENT aggression in humans may be because of a genetic defect, a recent Dutch study suggests. Han G Brunner and his colleagues at the University Hospital in Nijmegen report that a change in the gene coding for an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) may be responsible for unprovoked, aggressive …
GENETIC engineering -- the ability to manipulate the molecular blueprint of life -- is coming of age. Biotechnology is transforming medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry: In the not too distant future, cancer will no longer be a dreaded disease, crops will be able to resist pests and tomatoes will be …
ANAMICA, a computer software developed by scientists at the Advanced Numerical Research and Analysis Group (ANURAG) in Hyderabad, is poised to revolutionise medical diagnosis and surgery by producing three-dimensional images of the insides of organs such as the brain, heart and even bones. What ANAMICA -- ANURAG's Medical Imaging and …
UNDER pressure from women's groups, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is under orders to ensure that women and minorities are adequately represented in federally-funded clinical research projects. The requirement, imposed by the US Congress on June 10, 1993, would not apply if the NIH director determines such an …
