Clean technology: overcoming the growth v environment debate
Sustainable development is a multi-dimensional concept with three interacting aspects—ecology, economics and ethics
What's the best way to go to the toilet – squatting or sitting?
Pauline Hanson’s concern about the ATO installing squat toilets to cater for its increasingly diverse workforce has prompted debate about …
Monsoon to arrive on time in A&N islands; weakening El Niño may increase rainfall
As neutral conditions are restored after a strong El Niño event, hopes for a better monsoon increase
Call the bluff
The JNU episode must force us to decipher the modus operandi of the modern `truth-telling' information machinery
Tropical depression forms in the Arabian Sea
An interesting fact about the present depression is that it is the first-ever to form in the Arabian Sea in October after seven years
Our complex world
Book>> The quantum universe, everything that can happen can happen •Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw • Allen Lane • Rs 699
Power shoe
Apart from fitness there is another good reason one should walk: charging mobile phone. Mandar Tulankar, an engineering student in Nagpur, has …
Perils of herd mentality
Book>> You are not a gadget • by Jaron Lanier • Alfred Knopf, US $16
Rock stars
Book>> Written in Stone, the Hidden Secrets of Fossils and the Story of Life on Earth • by Brian Switek • Icon Books • Rs 5,499
Debates on atom
Book>> The Age Of Entanglement, When Quantum Physics Was Reborn • by Louisa Gilder • Alfred A Knopf • Rs 650
Chimera of free speech
Book>> The offensive Internet, speech, privacy and reputation • edited by Saul Levmore and Martha Nussbaum • Harvard University …
Is information knowledge?
Book>> The Information, A History, A Theory, A Flood • by James Gleick • Fourth Estate • Rs 599
A lead from the past
Evidence trawled from lake sediments in Sweden traces atmospheric lead pollution back to more than 2 millennia
A deep breath of fatal dust
An incurable lung disease digs the grave for workers employed in sandstone mines and brick and cement factories
Gasping for breath
Entire tree species face the threat of extinction from the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Windows for the Third World
Scientists claim highly insulating windows called "Low-E (emissivity)" windows could save considerable amounts of power in developing countries.
Inducing cell death to fight cancer
Some scientists claim tumours might be formed because cells refuse to die -- and not because they multiply at a high rate.
Conflict in the womb
An American biologist claims that a pregnant woman and her foetus are constantly engaged in a struggle with each other
The guests who came to kill
A new study suggests that the more the number of hosts a parasite feeds on, the more virulent it becomes
The bacteria behind the iron curtain
Microbiologists say a species of bacteria was responsible for iron deposits in the sedimentary layers that run hundreds of kilometres deep in the …
Enzymes that came in from the cold
The ability of microorganisms found in the Antarctic region to produce enzymes at low temperatures could save energy used for heating in …
Foetal tissue can cure terminal diseases
Tissue taken from aborted foetuses and implanted into the bodies of patients suffering from several incurable diseases has shown encouraging results
A drop of wood alcohal helps to perk up plants
Plants grow taller and faster if sprayed with a solution of methanol, claims an American farmer
Removing the slouches and aches from keyboards
Computer manufacturers have come up with new designs for keyboards that they claim, will help users avoid painful wrists and hunched shoulders.
AIDS drug trial leaves bitter taste behind
AIDS victims the world over are dismayed by the discovery that taking azidothymidine as soon as HIV infection is confirmed does not delay death …