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 …
Stomach ulcers have long been associated with excess gastric acid in the stomach. But researchers at Monash University at Melbourne have identified a bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, as the culprit, for which they have devised a week-long treatment (Australian Science and Technology Newsletter, August, 1994). The conventional treatment of stomach ulcers …
Would you agree that in recent years researchers have become more communicative? You're quite right. In the past 10 years, the scene has changed. Scientific institutions have been teaching scientists the techniques of public relations, publishing and writing for science journals and holding press conferences. These days, we even have …
The deficiency of vitamin A -- the cause of nictalopia, or night-blindness -- has now been linked to the transmission of the AIDS virus from pregnant women to their babies (Science, Vol 265 No 5170). The study could spur foetal protection. Conducted by Richard Semba and his colleagues at the …
The Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute (cdri) is awaiting permission from the Drug Controller of India to commence the testing of a memory drug among human volunteers. cdri director V P Kamboj claims that significant advances have been made in testing constituents from the medicinal plant Brahmi (Bacopa monniea). Kamboj …
HOW do you ensure that a cancer drug injected into the bloodstream reaches its target without being mauled by enzymes stalking the blood highway? And how do you pack ever greater information on to ever diminishing silicon wafers without causing a "traffic jam" on the chip? To cope with these …
THE defining feature of modern, Western medical perception is the dominance of the laboratory -- it is the biomedical laboratory which determines whether you are 'sick' or 'healthy', it gives you the drugs, and in the medical profession has the highest prestige attached to it. And, of course, as preventive …
ONLY 50 years ago, cancer was the Demon of Death spoken of in hushed whispers. What appeared to be a perfectly normal cell suddenly turned into a stealthy, lethal killer, rampaging through the body and destroying its victim from within. Even as recently as the "70s, many theories and myths …
How do you fix faulty genes that cause cellular havoc by sending out all the wrong signals? Using molecular genetic techniques, scientists are trying to insert bits of foreign DNA into cancerous cells to correct them. But the problem is: how do you do it for every tumour cell? To …
In India, medical research has concentrated on communicable diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy. Cancer research is still at a preliminary stage and most research centres have focused on the epidemiology of the disease or developing better surgery and radiotherapy techniques. Some laboratories, like the Cancer Research Institute at the Tata …
GENES •Mary Claire King, a University of California geneticist, discovered the breast cancer gene BRCA1, which lies on chromosome 17 •Two groups simultaneously discovered the 2 genes, HMSH2 and hMLHI, which cause hereditary colon cancers VIRUSES •The Epstein-Barr virus, closely related to the herpes virus, is associated with cancers of …
Cells are not immortal. But cancer scientists have only recently taken this fact seriously. Apoptosis, a Greek word meaning the shedding of leaves in autumn, refers to the tendency of cells to commit suicide. Billions of cells kill themselves every hour as other cells proliferate continuously to maintain a constant …
BRITISH physicist Stephen Hawking, arguably one of the brightest minds of the century and author of the bestseller A Brief History of Time, has been described as a "cerebral man". But his is no mind-over-matter story, nor is he the proverbial Jack-of-all-work-and-no-play. He is a victim of a debilitating affliction …
Scientists have now been able to reason why black Americans suffer higher rates of hypertension, heart disease and stroke than their white counterparts. The new findings of Randall Tackett and his team at the University of Georgia in the US reveal that Afro-Americans may have less flexible veins (Science, Vol …
The International Olympic Committee (ioc) is now ready to set the pace, not for sports, but for scientific research. It has announced the a new prize to recognise "the evolution of scientific research related to human development". The prize, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company, Parke Davis, will include a medal …
INDIAN scientists have developed indigenous radioactive compounds for easier detection of cancerous and other tumours. Whereas radioactive elements conventionally used to detect cancer had to be often imported, making them expensive, the new radiopharmaceuticals -- radiation-emitting chemical compounds that illuminate specific organs -- are based on technetium-99, a radioactive element …
Irving Weissman and Fang Qian of California's Stanford University have discovered a protein that mimics the adhesive action of Velcro fasteners, a trait that could help in preventing cancer cells spreading from a tumour to other parts in the body (New Scientist, Vol 143, No 1933). Called integrin alpha4-beta1, the …
DESIGNING vaccines has never been an easy task. Vaccines are modified disease-causing viruses or bacteria that provoke the body's defences to knock out them out with antibodies. Now, using the vaccine principle, Indian scientists have been able to simulate a similar effect with hormones. D M Salunke and his colleagues …
A STUDY carried out by a team of researchers in Belgium has found a significant relationship between renal disorders and cadmium pollution (The Lancet, Vol 343, No 8912). The study was carried out on 703 randomly selected residents in 10 districts, 6 of which are close to zinc smelters that …
MEN with low sperm counts should insist on organic agricultural products. A Danish study of 41 male organic farmers showed they had a significantly higher sperm count than blue-collar workers. The average consumption of organic dairy products of 28 of these farmers was at least 50 per cent during the …
A carnivorous pack of bacteria has struck terror in parts of the US and Europe. Known as group A streptococcus, the bacteria, say researchers, can cause a fatal drop in blood pressure, toxic shock and organ failure. In their most macabre form, they eat away human flesh. Over the past …
