Science and Technology - Briefs

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Shield melts off

Emergence of South

RISE of the developing world, or the South, has resulted in a shift in the dynamics of the global market. This is the underlying theme of the 2013 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Despite being low on human development index (HDI), a measure of health, education and income, developing countries like India and China have become strong enough to influence international decision-making on policies relating to trade and environment, claims the report.

Worm wipeout

MOST children suffer from worm infections in their intestines sometime or the other. Such infections cause low appetite and weight loss, making their parents overfeed them. If studies on mice are any indicator, it would be better to starve the kids a little to get rid of the worms than overfeed them.

Proof in the pee

A SIMPLE urine test is now enough to spot Kawasaki disease. It is a poorly understood illness that hits children and affects their mucus membranes, lymph nodes, walls of blood vessels and heart. Diagnosis is difficult as most of the symptoms of the disease—fever, rashes and enlarged lymph nodes—are similar to most viral and bacterial infections in children.

Plants have proteins

When people hear calls for 25 per cent less industrial cattle ranching, or even calls for “Meat-Free Mondays”, their usual misgivings centre around protein. Protein needs vary somewhat with age, between men and women, infants, children, and during pregnancy and lactation, but a safe rule of thumb is 50 g/day.

Science and Technology - Briefs

COMPUTER SCIENCES Super disc Typical compact discs (CDs) store 600-700 megabytes (MB) of digital data. A new technology can now help develop CDs that can hold 2 terabytes or 2,000,000 MB of data. Instead of packing more data on the surface, the idea is to make an optical film with 64 data layers.

Science and Technology - Briefs

HEALTH SCIENCES The villain gets nastier The toxin bisphenol A (BPA) is found in plastics, dental sealants and grocery receipts. It is a known hormone disrupter. But its impact on the hormones produced by the thyroid gland remain unknown. These hormones are essential for cognitive development of children.

The beauty & beast of malnutrition

Lack of governance, not figure-conscious girls, behind undernourished Gujarat

Big pharma’s dirty tricks

Blog Intro:  Drug giants from GSK, Abbott and Pfizer to Bayer have been fined for serious malpractices. They should be under close watch in India Drug giants from GSK, Abbott and Pfizer to Bayer have been fined for serious malpractices. They should be under close watch in India

Science and Technology - Briefs

Health sciences Shrink the tumour Basal cell nevus syndrome is a genetic condition that can cause dozens, even thousands, of skin cancers known as basal-cell carcinomas all over the body. The current treatment is frequent surgery, which can result in scarring. Scientists have now found that a recently approved drug, Erivedge (vismodegib), can keep the cancer at bay.