Physiology

Bytes

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 …

Masking noise

Scientists at the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences dipas), New Delhi, have recently developed a gas mask containing five per cent carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) and 95 per cent oxygen ( O 2 ), that reduces hearing loss among industrial workers. dipas director, W Selwamurthy said …

Ears for music

What makes a person dance to loud music? Neil Todd, a psychologist at the University of Manchester, UK, thinks that the urge has its roots inside the ears. Basing his arguments on studies on animals, Todd suggests that sacculus, a chamber in the inner ear of vertebrates is responsible for …

Earful of noise

DON'T turn a deaf ear if someone told you that ears not only receive sounds but also produce them. Now, a team of scientists led by Nicholas L Powers at the Hearing Research Laboratory in Stat.e University of New York, USA, has confirmed that the inner ear sometimes acts as …

Gay markers

The link of male homosexuality to q28 gene on the X chromosome was recently reinforced by scientists, exactly 2 years after the first evidence in its favour was produced. After studying a sample of 33 pairs of homosexual brothers, a team led by Stacey Cherny in USA has now reported …

Demystifying migraine

RESEARCHERS in Germany recently provided some vital clues about migraine and its origin by watching it in action. Carnelius Weiller and his colleagues at the University of Essen suggest that the real source of a migraine attack lies in the brain stem though the pain is experienced at the temples …

UNITED NATIONS

"Learn a lesson from the past, and stop the bombings and the blastings..," said UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros Ghali in a message on Hiroshima peace day. "This is an anniversary to remind us what we can do and just how far it is possible for us to go," he declared. …

Engendering global development

DESPITE all efforts to marginalise the chasm between the genders, the Human Development Report (hdr), 1995, has documented gender disparities still existing in the world. Prepared against the backdrop of the Fourth World Conference on Women which began in Beijing in early September, the report specifies that human development needs …

Chemical bonding

Human behaviour may, after all, be the upshot of molecular games. Scientists working with voles -- mouse-like creatures -- found that monogamy and parenting among these animals depended critically on the ebb and flow of certain chemicals in the brain. These hormones -- oxytocin and vasopressin -- are present in …

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