sterilising produce: A new method to sterilise fruits and vegetables has been developed, which literally sucks life out of germs. It could replace ozone-depleting chemicals, like methyl bromide, which are currently used to sterilise fresh produce. Called metabolic stress disinfection, the technique was developed by Manuel Lagunas-Solar and his team …
sterilising produce: A new method to sterilise fruits and vegetables has been developed, which literally sucks life out of germs. It could replace ozone-depleting chemicals, like methyl bromide, which are currently used to sterilise fresh produce. Called metabolic stress disinfection, the technique was developed by Manuel Lagunas-Solar and his team …
it is one of the unwritten assumptions of physics that the laws of nature are the same not only in all parts of the Universe but also at all times. This assumption is what allows us to say meaningful things about very distant realms of our Universe and also about …
people living in the villages near the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (ucil), Jaduguda, Bihar, are suffering from a large number of radiation-induced diseases, deformities, mental retardation as well as disturbances in reproductive physiology. This was revealed in a recent survey by a team led by B N Pandey of …
have you ever had a mouthful of curry that had too much chilly powder and, two seconds later, felt your mouth explode in searing, white hot burn? Well, get used to the feeling because the chemicals that make your mouth explode are becoming increasingly fashionable in medical circles as pain …
after about 10 weeks in the mother's womb, the human foetus already shows a distinct left- or right-handedness, say scientists from Northern Ireland. They say their finding could mean that contrary to the conventional idea that the brain dictates
It is known that women are more prone to migraine and that such attacks are usually related to menstruation cycle. Women also appear to be more prone to motion sickness and this susceptibility seems to follow their hormonal levels. This was examined in a group of mariners participating in yacht …
frog embryos that are a mirror image of their usual form have been created by American researchers using a protein that marks which part of the animal is going to be left side. The protein is the earliest step yet found in the pathway by which embryos differentiate one side …
Employers who seek optimal efficiency and productivity from their older workers should put them on morning shifts. Why? Because recent research at John Morris University in Liverpool, UK, has shown that people aged 47 years and above are less likely to adapt to the disturbed sleep patterns and biorhythms caused …
decreasing sperm count and infertility in recent years may have not much to do with chemicals that mimic female hormones in the environment. Recent research shows that sperm actively needs female hormones, oestrogen, to mature fully, thrive and function effectively ( Nature , Vol 390, No 6659). Ever since sex …
Missed your stations too often just because you fell asleep during the journeys? Well, there is some good news for you and all other people who habitually sleep through their train stations. All of you could soon be woken up in good time to get off, thanks to an "intelligent' …
no need to get e x cited, but in a major step towards understanding human baldness, American scientists have discovered a gene that appears to activate hair follicles in humans. They say that this will help them work out all the biochemical processes that lead to hair production. And ultimately, …
the development of a relatively unstructured embryo into a structured and highly differentiated adult is guided to a large extent by certain cues that are intrinsic to it. This process, known as self-organisation, occurs within the embryo in micro-organisms, in groups of cells of higher animals and plants and also …
an old dogma in developmental biology is that there are two classes of developmental systems. Each class embodies principles that ensure the orderly progression of a relatively unstructured fertilised egg to the highly structured adult. The classes are called mosaic and regulative. A mosaic embryo is believed to come pre-equipped …
A new study suggests that men who have frequent sex are likely to live longer. Researchers George Davey Smith, from University of Bristol, UK, found that men who had sex less than once a month had twice the death rate of those who had sex at least twice a week. …
nearly 60 years ago, a researcher H Turner had pointed out that females lacking one of the two x chromosomes, display a variety of abnormalities. The abnormalities include below-average height, poor development of sexual characteristics and other less serious anatomical signs. The defect in sexual development is caused by a …
Infants who take water in addition to breast milk or formula food may be at a serious health risk, say Paula Scariatt and her colleagues at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA. Such infants are likely to develop altered mental state, abnormally low body temperature, bloating and …
Women who gain weight between the age of 18 years and post-menopausal years may be twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those who do not. Zhiping Huang and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, say that staying within 2-4 kg of one's weight …
nerve cells help detect an object even if it has been seen just once. They are stimulated by vision, but continue to respond in the dark as if the stimulus is present and visible. M S A Graziano and his colleagues of the Department of Psychology, Princeton University, usa , …
