Order of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Haripriya Patel Vs State of Odisha & Others dated 24/03/2025. The matter related to the dumping yard at Baliapanda which is situated 50-100 meter away from Puri sea beach and a few km away from Puri …
HAEMOGLOBIN, the ubiquitous component of red blood cells (RBC), known to be a transporter of gases - ferrying oxygen from the lungs to tissues and carbon dioxide (c02) on the return journey - has been found to distribute a third gas on its rounds through the body. This gas is …
THE battle to conquer this killer disease is on. Scientists work relentlessly to devise better ways of diagnosing and eliminating deadly tumours. Recently, two groups of researchers, working separately, made yet another breakthrough in this direction, reports New Scientist, Vol 148, No 1998. Two techniques were developed - one for …
IF WILHELM Roentgen was to see a modern medical imaging laboratory today too years after the first x-ray images he would not recognise it. From ultrasound to magnetic resonance imaging machines, from PET (positron emission tomography) scanners to radionuclides, the range of devices used today for probing the human body …
WITH threats of fatal diseases and genetic disorders on the rise, genetic testing becomes an essential tool in diagnosing an ailment or assessing the possibility of a person acquiring one. However, being prohibitively expensive, such speculative genetic screening is restrict- ed to patients in research projects or to those with …
A new device to detect the much feared AIDS virus, is now available in Malaysia. The test is done on the oral fluid of the suspected patient, instead of the usual procedure of testing the blood. This could be of help to children and people who object to have their …
DETECTING the deadly hepatitiS-B virus will now be easier, thanks to a new technique developed at the Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. Instead of the usual uncom fortable procedure of puncturing a vein to get gobbets of blood to conduct the test, just a little prick in …
WHAT do you think would happen if someone were to discover, god forbid, that either of the 2 Homo sapiens sexes is biologically more gifted than other? Ever since Mary Wollstonecraft laid the foundation of feminism -- as we know it today -- late last century and right through suffragetism …
Complex Women had more activity in the cingulate gyrus, an evolutionarily recent region that controls complex expressions of emotions, such as showing anger by looks, not punches Simple Men had more activity in their temporal limbic system. This evolutionarily ancient region controls emotions linked to action, especially aggression
WOMEN • Women perform better than men on tests of perceptual speed -- in which subjects must rapidly identify matching items, such as pairing a picture with its twin in a given set of photos. • Women can remember if an object or series of objects have been displaced, or …
The human instinct and obsession to explore, and discover in all ways, shaped the world we know. Humans have visited virtually every desolate face on the face of Earth, have lifted off the planet to walk on the moon, and continue to inspect the solar system and the limitless reaches …
Take a look at this scenario: researchers trying to trace the causes of the Bosnian war, in deficiencies in seratonin-reuptake mechanisms, in the brain of the Radovan Karadzic(Bosnian Serb leader), or studying a corrupt politician in a bid to identify the genes that make him corrupt. The emerging synthesis of …
IMAGING technology has come a long way since W Roentgen discovered x- rays in 1895. A variety of techniques, using a range of the electromagnetic spectrum, has been used to study biological tissues as well as materials. And imaging technologies such as Nuclear electromagnetic spectrum is Magnetic Resonance and Positron …
SLIM figures are in vogue. Flab is consid- ered ugly aesthetically and unhealthy scientifically. Recently, researchers at the London-based Hammersmith Hospital developed a state-of-the-art technique for mapping fat deposits in the body through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that leaves no place for fat to hide (New Scientist, Vol 146, No …
A US company, T Cell Sciences, has developed a cheaper and easier diagnostic test for people infected with AIDS. Called TFAx CD4, the test measures levels of critical white blood cells, known as CD4 cells, that steadily decline in people with HIV. Current techniques are not only expensive, but can …
IN THEIR quest for better cancer detection techniques, researchers are now looking towards Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), as a faster and safer means of detecting breast cancer. MRI screens for breast tumours by probing the human body with a combination of magnetic fields and radio waves (Scientific American, Vol 272, …
If an abnormality shows up in an ultrasound scan of a foetus, the image can now be transmitted to experts hundreds of kilometres away through a special fibre optic cable and their opinion received - all within a matter of minutes (Spectrum, No 245). The new technology is being tried …
AGONISING biopsies to detect cancer, which bring as much trauma as the following invasive surgery, might become a nightmare of the past if a technology developed by us-based Matritech Inc receives the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The technology works on the basis of at least one …
ALZHEIMER's disease can now be diagnosed much before the accursed. symptoms mature. Gary W Small of the University of California (Los Angeles School of Medicine), Allen D Roses of the Duke University School of Medicine arrived at a new method by ccmparing the results of positron emission tomography - PET …
WHO says that dead men tell no tales? They do, but in a tearing hurry: cadavers can't be preserved for too long. But now "The Visible Man" -- a cyberspace cadaver, actually a highly detailed atlas of the human body available over Internet-- has been unveiled by American researchers. The …
HIGH temperature (high Tc) superconductivity is one of the most revolutionary developments in the field of physics in the past decade. This phenomenon not only provides a new insight into the structure of matter but also opens up exciting possibilities for applications. One such application is high Tc Superconducting Quantum …
