Global News Post: Science

El Niño Returns

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By
Steve Baragona<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Warm spots are beginning to appear<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">on the surface of the tropical Pacific<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ocean near South America. More warm<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">water below the surface suggests El Niño<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">is probably on the way. Photo © VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
climate phenomenon known as El Niño looks to be on its way back, forecasters
say, raising the odds of droughts in some places and floods in others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There
are early signs that this could develop into the biggest one on record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But
experts say they cannot know for sure yet, and local impacts are even harder to
predict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Global impacts<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">El
Niño occurs every few years, when tropical waters off the Pacific coast of
South America turn warmer than normal. Warm air rises off those waters and
changes the path of the major wind currents that blow around the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It
can weaken monsoons in South and Southeast Asia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Rainy seasons in southern Africa can turn
dry. Meanwhile, east Africa and South America can get soaked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
latest official forecasts give about two-thirds odds that El Niño will develop
by the end of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Under the surface<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But
what has really attracted attention is the huge body of warm water building up
below the surface of the tropical Pacific.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Meteorologists
say there is more energy stored up underwater now than at this point in 1997,
just before the strongest El Niño on record developed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
1997-98 El Niño led to catastrophic floods in Peru, forest fires in Indonesia
and Malaysia and record-high global temperatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">If
those warm waters in the eastern Pacific make their way to the surface and stay
there, it could mean a major El Niño event, weather havoc worldwide and
possibly new high-temperature records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No guarantee<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">However,
“just having a lot of warm water below the surface now is not enough to
guarantee that we’re going to have a strong El Niño,” notes Tony Barnston,
chief forecaster Tony Barnston at Columbia University’s International Research
Institute for Climate and Society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
warm water could dissipate. It could come to the surface but not linger.
Barnston says El Niño is notoriously difficult to predict at this time of year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Plus,
the atmosphere has been in a cooler cycle for the past several years, which
many say does not favor a strong El Niño.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And,
finally, a note of caution from Gary Eilerts,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
</span>who manages the Famine Early Warning System Network for the U.S. Agency
for International Development. Eilerts was in Africa for the 1997-98 El Niño.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We
said this is going to be a big one,” he said. “This could be the mother of all
impacts on food insecurity in southern Africa.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
rains came late, but when they came, “we had almost a normal season,” Eilerts
added. “And that was in the face of the largest El Niño ever recorded.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Future predictions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Forecasters
should have a better picture of what El Niño has in store by August.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What
the more distant future holds in a changing climate is even less clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“El
Niño goes back hundreds of thousands of years, so clearly, El Niño is not
related to climate change,” said Mike Halpert, head of the Climate Prediction
Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Now, the
question is, does climate change have an impact? And that’s still an open
question.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ---VOA News </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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El Niño Returns

By Steve Baragona Warm spots are beginning to appear on the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean near South America. More warm...

Indian Scientists Produce Lipstick from Squid Skin

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">KOCHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- Turning waste to wealth,
scientists of the Fisheries Research Institute here have developed a lipstick
using reddish brown spots from squid skin to give different hues instead of the
normally used chemicals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Squid skin has reddish brown spores called chromatophores which
have been isolated and used as natural pigment in the lipsticks; Press Trust of
India (PTI) quoted a senior scientist, who along with her team has developed
the lipstick, as saying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We extracted the chromatophores and tudied its
characteristics which was then used as colourant for the lipstick," said
Dr Femeena Hassan, Senior Scientist, Quality Assurance and Management Division
of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Instead of artificial colours, the colourants extracted from
squid skin can be used for lipsticks. Different shades were developed using
this pigment and they were screened for consumer acceptance applying hedonic
scale method. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The newly formulated lipstick was subjected to physical,
chemical and microbiological quality evaluation, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The product was compared with commercially available lipstick
brands and the new product she claimed was found to have superior properties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The new product also met with the national quality standards
laid down for such category of products, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Normally, lipsticks contain butylated hydroxyl toluene, Nylon
G, Ferric Oxide, Polyethelene and Titanium dioxide which are used to give
different shades. These chemicals can cause allergy and even cancer, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Stating that there would be no odour, Dr Femeena said food
grades can be used to give flavours to it to make it more acceptable. The squid
lipsticks will have a shelf life of 15 months. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Cost wise, also they would not be heavy on the pocket and would
be 10 per cent less than the products available in the market; she said adding
there were plans to commercially launch the product. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Dr Femeena was awarded the Dr Ravindran Endowment award for her
paper on 'Isolation of squid chromatophores and its commercial application as
natural pigment in lipsticks' at the 22nd Swadeshi Science Congress at
Kasaragod recently. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Indian Scientists Produce Lipstick from Squid Skin

KOCHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- Turning waste to wealth, scientists of the Fisheries Research Institute here have developed a lipstick ...

New Evidence Links Mayan Collapse to Climate Change

New Evidence Links Mayan Collapse to Climate Change

The ancient Mayan civilization, which developed a sophisticated culture in the Central American rainforests, vanished mysteriously a ...

Tiny Island Chain Becomes World's First Solar-Powered Territory

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
remote islands of Tokelau have become the first territory in the world to be
powered by the sun, officials say. The move is expected to save money and ease
the environmental burden of relying on imported fossil fuels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The
Tokelau Renewable Energy Project is a world first. Tokelau’s three main atolls
now have enough solar capacity, on average, to meet electricity needs,” said <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
foreign affairs minister Murray McCully in a statement.  “Until now, Tokelau has been 100 percent
dependent upon diesel for electricity generation, with heavy economic and
environmental costs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
group of islands situated in the South Pacific between <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region> and <st1:state w:st="on">Hawaii</st1:state>
are administered by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
  Zealand</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which estimated the cost of the
project to build three solar grids at around $7 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It
is estimated that oil imports account for up to 30 percent of national income
in some isolated parts of the Pacific, and the move to solar power could save
Tokelau about $1 million per year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tokelau
is comprised of three atolls Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo, and has about 1,500
inhabitants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
island nations of Samoa and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tuvalu</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are aiming to get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The <st1:place w:st="on">Cook Islands</st1:place> plans to start converting to solar panels
and wind turbines, while most houses in the South Pacific archipelago will
begin to use solar water heaters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">East Timor</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s government has promised that no
households in the capital, Dili, would be using firewood for cooking by 2015
and said 50 percent of the country's electricity would be from renewable
sources by the end of the decade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Building
on the success of clean and affordable energy solutions for Tokelau, Tonga, and
the Cook Islands, New Zealand will co-host a Pacific energy summit in March
next year,” said McCully.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tiny Island Chain Becomes World's First Solar-Powered Territory

The remote islands of Tokelau have become the first territory in the world to be powered by the sun, officials say. The move is expecte...

Amateur Dinosaur Tracker Uncovers Some Rare Fossils

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<b>By June Soh

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Photo © flickr.com/ <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottkinmartin/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Scott Kinmartin</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Many
Washingtonians would have difficulty relating their city to the age of the
dinosaurs.  But it's not a stretch for
Ray Stanford.   He believes dinosaurs
took the region as their home more than 100 million years ago.  And he has amassed dinosaur foot prints -
from fossils - that he found in the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
suburbs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On
most sunny days, Ray Stanford can be found along creeks in <st1:city w:st="on">College
 Park</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Maryland</st1:state>, in the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state> suburbs.  Stanford began hunting for fossil footprints
18 years ago. Since then, Stanford has collected more than a thousand
footprints of various kinds of dinosaurs. 
He turned his living room into what he calls the "<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Stanford</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Museum</st1:placetype></st1:place>."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Standford
says a fossilized baby dinosaur in his collection is one of the only known
hatchling dinosaurs of any kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It
is a natural cast of the mummy of a nodosaur fossil, an armored dinosaur that
grew to be very large and heavy as an adult," Standford notes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Standford
donated some of his findings to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural
History in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>.  They are displayed in the "Dinosaurs in
Our Backyard" exhibit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Most
importantly, he has found footprints of dinosaurs that we haven't found bones
of yet.  So because he has found the
footprints, you know that these dinosaurs lived here. We didn't have the
information before Ray discovered them," notes Matthew Carrano, the
museum's curator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Recently
Stanford surprised even scientists at the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
space agency by finding a dinosaur footprint on the grounds of NASA's Space
Flight Center in the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
suburbs.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Stanford
calls himself an amateur paleontologist. 
But he has co-authored scientific papers with other scientists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It
is a great pleasure. You are seeing something that no one has ever seen. That
gives you a great sense of discovery, which is very exciting to me," says
Stanford.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ray
Stanford plans to keep on tracking until "there is nothing left to
find."---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Amateur Dinosaur Tracker Uncovers Some Rare Fossils

By June Soh Photo © flickr.com/ Scott Kinmartin Many Washingtonians would have difficulty relating their city to the ...

Hurricane Sandy Reignites Climate Change Debate

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By
Brian Padden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
devastation to <st1:city w:st="on">New York City</st1:city> and the eastern
seaboard of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
  States</st1:country-region></st1:place> from Hurricane Sandy has reignited
the debate over global warming.  Many experts
believe the warming of the planet is largely caused by the burning of fossil
fuels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Hurricane
<st1:city w:st="on">Sandy</st1:city> cut power to about 8 million homes, shut
down 70 percent of East Coast oil refineries, and will exceed, economists say, the
$15 billion worth of damage caused last year when Hurricane Irene hit <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">New
York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state must adapt to the reality of
more frequent extreme weather events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Carol
Werner with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute says climate change
scientists have long predicted that intense storms, droughts, and forest fires
would result from the rising temperatures and sea levels caused by global
warming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Scientists
have been warning us about this for decades, and unfortunately it is all happening
much earlier than what they had originally predicted back in the 80s,” Werner
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
climate change skeptics take issue with the argument that global warming is to
blame for intense storms.  Patrick
Michaels with the Cato Institute says <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
  York</st1:place></st1:state> has just been unlucky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“It
was the moon’s fault.  This storm hit at
full moon which raises the tide there a couple of feet, so the storm set a
record.  If it had occurred any other
time in the lunar cycle, that wouldn’t have happened,” Michaels said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Climate
change believers and skeptics agree that plans for coastal and low-lying areas
must adapt to rising sea levels.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
there is still no consensus to mandate the reduction of carbon fuel emissions
to mitigate the effects of global warming. 
Michaels says the private sector will change over time as innovations
bring down the costs of clean energy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The
best policy is not to do very much about it because technologies will change
dramatically over the course of a century. 
Consider what it was like a century ago, you know.  What’s nuclear power or what’s this box I
have in my pocket that can access all the information in the world?,” Michaels
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Werner
says the government needs to lead on the issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Yes,
the private sector is critical in terms of investment, but the private sector
will also tell you, industry after industry will say we need government
leadership.  We need certainty in terms
of policy.  That is the most critical
thing to enable us to truly move forward,” Werner said.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">She
says the lesson of Hurricane Sandy is that the cost of doing nothing is rising.
---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Hurricane Sandy Reignites Climate Change Debate

By Brian Padden The devastation to New York City and the eastern seaboard of the United States from Hurricane Sandy has reig...

Italian Scientists Convicted of Not Warning of Earthquake

Italian Scientists Convicted of Not Warning of Earthquake

An Italian court on Monday convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for underestimating the risks of a killer earthquak...

Scientists Discover Planet Covered in Diamonds

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Scientists
have found a planet outside of our solar system which could be a true diamond
in the rough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This
gem of a planet is twice Earth’s size, according to the US-Franco team that
found it, and its surface appears to be covered in graphite and diamond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Researchers
estimate that at least one-third of the new planet’s mass could be diamond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
gemstone planet, called ’55 Cancri e’, has a radius twice that of Earth’s and a
mass that’s eight times greater, making it a “super-Earth.”  The planet is one of five found orbiting ’55
Cancri’, a sun-like star about 40 light years from Earth.  Located in the constellation of Cancer, scientists
say the star can be seen with the naked eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Astronomers
first spotted the planet last year as it was transiting its star, which allowed
them to measure its radius for the first time. 
Using that information, along with their most recent estimate of its
mass, researchers used computer modeling to speculate on the chemical
composition of the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Previous
research revealed that the host star, 55 Cancri, has more carbon than it does
oxygen, leading the US-French team to confirm that significant amounts of
carbon and silicon carbide, with only a small amount of water ice, were
available during the planet’s formation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Astronomers
initially assumed the diamond planet’s chemical composition was similar to
Earth’s and that 55 Cancri e contained a substantial quantity of super-heated
water.  However, according to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Yale</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>
researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, the new research suggests the planet has no water
at all and is primarily made up of carbon – such as graphite and diamond – as
well as iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
identification of a carbon-rich super-Earth means scientists can no longer
assume that all distant rocky planets have chemical elements, interiors, atmospheres
or biologies similar to Earth, according to Madhusudhan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Which
means there could be other gemstone planets out there just waiting to be
discovered. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Scientists Discover Planet Covered in Diamonds

Scientists have found a planet outside of our solar system which could be a true diamond in the rough. This gem of a planet is tw...

Can We Feed the World?

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Joe DeCapua<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Decades
after the Green Revolution took place in many parts of the world, food
shortages, high prices, hunger and poverty are major problems. It’s estimated
there are about one billion chronically hungry people. Now, a new book poses
the question – can we feed the world?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sir
Gordon Conway is the author of One Billion Hungry. He says the answer to the
question – can we feed the world? – is yes, but a qualified yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We
can feed the world if we focus our efforts. If we provide sufficient aid and
investment. If we utilize new technologies. If we create fair and efficient
markets. If we really utilize the power of women as farmers and as mothers as
nutritionists, as it were, and if we tackle climate change,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conway
described hunger as not having enough food of the right nutritious quality to
lead a reasonable active life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However,
he added, “It varies of course in terms of whether you’re a man or a woman,
whether you’re old or young. I think the worst hunger is child malnutrition.
We’ve got about 170 / 180 million children in the world under the age of five
who are stunted in their growth. In other words, they’re below the height they
ought to be for their age. And that comes about because they don’t get enough
micronutrients. They don’t get enough Vitamin A. They don’t get enough zinc.
They don’t get enough iron.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Green Revolution saw increased agricultural research and technology, much of
which occurred in the late 1960s. The development of high yield crops, modern
farming techniques, fertilizers and hybrid seeds have been credited with
helping to save the lives of over a billion people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conway
said, “It was a success because it allowed food production to keep pace with
population growth. And it was particularly successful in India and south Asia,
generally. You have to realize that at the time of the Green Revolution India
was highly dependent on shipments of grain from the United States. And they
wanted to gain independence. So they wanted to be able to produce their own
grain and that’s what the Green Revolution did for them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
it had its limitations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It
only focused on the best lands in India. It was over-reliant on pesticides and
fertilizers. Only some of the poor really benefitted. There were many poor who
were left out, even in India and South Asia, generally. And of course it passed
Africa by. So those were big limitations,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conway
calls for a new Doubly Green Revolution. A revolution that produces just as
much food, but takes it a few steps further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“To
ensure that productivity goes to the poor and in particular that it doesn’t
have a negative effect on the environment. So it’s green in two ways. It’s
green because you’ve got fields of green wheat and rice and it’s green because
it’s environmentally friendly,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">During
the Green revolution, the environment often took a back seat to productivity.
Conway says there are “four routes” that should be pursued to ensure food
security: innovation, markets, focusing on people and political leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If
we take innovation first, what we’re trying to do there is to produce
appropriate innovations -- innovations that bring about high productivity, but
don’t have the side effects that maybe occurred in the past. And with markets,
we want fair markets and efficient markets. With people, it’s particularly
about engaging women, because a large number of farmers in Africa and the
developing world as a whole are women. And political leadership – it’ll only
work if leaders really focus on agricultural development and food security,” he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Imperial College London professor said this also hinges on mitigating and
adapting to the effects of climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If
you take Africa, the prediction is by 2050 the growing seasons will have
shortened by five percent. I was in northern Ghana last year and the growing
season was very short. In other words, the rains came a month late and they
finished a month early. Secondly, the temperatures are going up. In Africa, as
the temperatures get above 30 degrees [Celsius] the maize crop begins to
suffer,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Food
security on the household, country and global levels becomes even more
important as the world population grows. The U.N. estimates it will rise to
more than nine billion by 2050. That’s about two billion more than we have now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conway’s
book -- One Billion Hungry: Can We feed the World? --will be published October
9th.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Can We Feed the World?

By Joe DeCapua Decades after the Green Revolution took place in many parts of the world, food shortages, high prices, hunger and pove...

Mystery Stick Insect Discovered in Philippines

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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUnoZtQ7Kr0HGxrc8YaB59XSuCp60AWd2VRGYMlui092YWzHLt-kZ4lF1SJxdywvxCe1qKH8smYdJzO_Z6S99Oiic1DyKTEiRFKkts3Jvu-2mVMvhdroecBJZZQDHIbQe0-ZXQGIhQSk/s1600/2012090513164566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUnoZtQ7Kr0HGxrc8YaB59XSuCp60AWd2VRGYMlui092YWzHLt-kZ4lF1SJxdywvxCe1qKH8smYdJzO_Z6S99Oiic1DyKTEiRFKkts3Jvu-2mVMvhdroecBJZZQDHIbQe0-ZXQGIhQSk/s640/2012090513164566.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">NNN--- Entomologist Oskar Conle discovered a stick insect called Conlephasma enigma with very unusual colorings in Mount Halcon, the Philippines, and fellow scientists agreed that it is a new species on 4 September 2012. The stick insect is wingless, lives on the ground rather than in trees and is spectacularly coloured, having a green-blue head and orange body. The insect also vents a foul-smelling spray to deter predators. The stick insect is so unique that scientists have given it its own genus and do not yet know its relationship to other stick and leaf insects. The insect was found on the third highest mountain in the archipelago, which is considered one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. Photo courtesy Oskar conle---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Mystery Stick Insect Discovered in Philippines

NNN--- Entomologist Oskar Conle discovered a stick insect called Conlephasma enigma with very unusual colorings in Mount Halcon, the Phil...

NASA Discovers Millions of Black Holes in Space

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Cindy Saine<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, also known as WISE, has led to a bonanza discovery of supermassive black holes and rare galaxies called hot DOGS, or dust-obscured galaxies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WISE scanned the sky twice in infrared light, completing its survey early last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>NASA released all of the data from the mission, allowing scientists around the world to continue to make new discoveries of their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Using WISE, astronomers have identified some 2.5 million actively feeding supermassive black holes, some of them more than 10 billion light years away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>About two-thirds of these black holes previously were unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>A black hole is an object whose gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it once inside a particular region.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA astronomer Daniel Stern says the latest findings are helping astronomers better understand how galaxies, and the black holes at their centers, grow and evolve together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"One of the biggest results in the past decade has been a realization that every galaxy appears to have a large black hole at its center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our own Milky Way [galaxy] has a black hole weighing about 4 million times the mass of the sun [our sun]," said Stern.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WISE researchers also report finding the rarest and brightest galaxies known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>WISE project scientist Peter Eisenhardt says these are called "hot DOGS" because they are very hot, dust-obscured galaxies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"And now, with the WISE survey in hand, we are finding that is actually the most obscured objects in the WISE sky that are among the brightest in the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>WISE has found about 1,000 of these brilliant "hot DOGS," said Eisenhardt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eisenhardt says these galaxies are the brightest because they are the most powerful, emitting the most energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, even though they might not be easily visible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Experts say these galaxies are more than twice as hot as other infrared-bright galaxies and that they might be seeing a new, rare phase in the evolution of galaxies - another clue in understanding the mysteries of the universe.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

NASA Discovers Millions of Black Holes in Space

By Cindy Saine NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, also known as WISE, has led to a bonanza discovery of supermassi...

IIT Bombay Joins Foreign Varsities to Set Up Research Centre in New York

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has joined a consortium of foreign universities for setting up a research centre in New York, Prss Trust of India reported. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">IIT had joined New York University, Carnegie Melon, Toronto University and Warwick University with New York University as the lead partner to bid for setting up an Applied Sciences Research Institute in New York city. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The bid document envisaged setting up a Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP)," Minister of State in the Human Resources Department Ministry D Purandeswari told the Upper House of Parliament. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In April this year, the consortium bid was declared second winner and the group was requested to set up CUSP in Brooklyn, New York. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CUSP will explore solutions to complex urban problems focussing on New York city before eventually concentrating on other global cities such as London, Toronto, Mumbai and others. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Some industry partners like IBM, Cisco, Xerox, Siemens, ARUP have also joined the consortium to help it achieve its goals," said Purandeswari. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">IIT-Bombay has also envisaged setting up a research centre in Mumbai with a similar theme focused on Indian cities in future. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
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IIT Bombay Joins Foreign Varsities to Set Up Research Centre in New York

NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has joined a consortium of foreign universities for sett...

Researchers Make Critical Antibiotic Alternative Discovery

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Phil Mercer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXzjlEeiVVeqXhfMK2Gg0S-0BZ-pVYMXUojI8O4in9zSOl1Hpjg0lG5EI7tHi_kp6P0gxSkJTJbrk0VRjyCqEtaU_XcoxDGD8yLTPeUwmKvebbRzvzyWcEa0Kc8qV27Yo2nrJxsoEKrY/s1600/5F55CD9B-E1AC-4FB3-B6E3-04CC95B64504_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy21_cw0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXzjlEeiVVeqXhfMK2Gg0S-0BZ-pVYMXUojI8O4in9zSOl1Hpjg0lG5EI7tHi_kp6P0gxSkJTJbrk0VRjyCqEtaU_XcoxDGD8yLTPeUwmKvebbRzvzyWcEa0Kc8qV27Yo2nrJxsoEKrY/s320/5F55CD9B-E1AC-4FB3-B6E3-04CC95B64504_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy21_cw0.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Researchers say anti-bacterial protein; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">PlyC could be effective antibiotic alternative.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Photo © VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">SYDNEY — Researchers in Australia say they have made a critical discovery in the search for an alternative to antibiotics.  Scientists say it is important to find new ways to treat illnesses without antibiotics, many of which are becoming less effective because microbes are becoming more resistant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A team at Monash University in Melbourne believes an antibacterial viral protein called PlyC could be used as an alternative to antibiotics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was first identified as a possible treatment for infections in 1925 but research was abandoned following the discovery of antibiotics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After six years studying the structure of the protein with colleagues at the Rockefeller University and University of Maryland, Australian researchers have worked out how it kills the bacteria that cause sore throats, pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Sheena McGowan from Monash University describes the protein as a potent bacterial killing machine that resembles a flying saucer carrying a pair of warheads.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It works by locking onto the surface of the bacterium and then boring though the exterior to destroy it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">McGowan says it could be invaluable when conditions such as pneumonia do not respond to traditional treatments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“There are antibiotics at the moment for those particular types of diseases. We sort of see that there's a bit of resistance being built up in the bacterial community almost, and some of our antibiotics aren't quite as effective as they used to be," McGowan said. "So this kind of ground route, basic research needs to be done quite early so that we have some time to develop them as safe human therapeutic over the timeframe when the antibiotics can keep working.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Australian and U.S. researchers have been decoding PlyC's atomic structure, which is an important step in developing the protein into a drug.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The breakthrough has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An effective human treatment delivered by nasal spray or pill is thought to be at least a decade away, but scientists have had success in treating streptococcal infections in mice. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">--- VOA News</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
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Researchers Make Critical Antibiotic Alternative Discovery

By Phil Mercer Researchers say anti-bacterial protein; PlyC could be effective antibiotic alternative. Photo © VOA News SYDNEY — Rese...

Schoolboys from India Discover Asteroids

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- In what is being considered a rare feat by experts, four schoolboys from Delhi have discovered two asteroids. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shubham Sharma and Mayank Sharma of DAV Centenary School, Paschim Vihar and young Astronomicans (amateur astronomer's wing of SPACE) Sahil Wadhwa and Akshay Gupta, who were part of two separate teams, have made two provisional discoveries of asteroids doing the country proud, SPACE Director C B Devgun told Press Trust of India (PTI). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"This marks a rare achievement for SPACE and its associated educational institutes, as asteroids are hard to search for and needs dedication and continuous efforts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Provisional discoveries are the asteroids which have been confirmed by further observations," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The teams used exclusive data to look at specific parts of the sky and by using a complex procedure called 'Astrometrica' they tracked objects by looking at the images of the sky provided by telescopes-based in the United States to see which of the objects moving over time could be a possible asteroid, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The discoveries were made as part of the programme All Indian Asteroid Search Campaign (AIASC) conducted jointly between April and August this year by Science Popularisation Association of Communicators (SPACE) and International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), Devgun said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">IASC Director Patrick Miller has congratulated the two school teams for achieving the rare feat. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sahil Wadhwa had made provisional discoveries in 2010 and 2011 as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">About 75 schools or organisations had been selected from different parts of India, including Delhi and NCR, and other states to participate in the programme. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar System; they are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Congratulating the successful participants for their rare achievement, SPACE group CMD Sachin Bahmba said, "These children will eventually become the torch bearers of the scientific temper in the coming future." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">IASC is an international educational outreach programme which includes Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley and Global Hands-on-Universe Association (USA) and other International organizations, which conduct programmes enabling students to be involved in hands-on, real time astronomy.--NNN-BERNAMA <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Schoolboys from India Discover Asteroids

NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- In what is being considered a rare feat by experts, four schoolboys from Delhi have discovered two aster...

India to Launch 5 Satellites This Year

India to Launch 5 Satellites This Year

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- India is to launch at least five satellites this year, Xinhua news agency reported. "Three satellites n...

NASA Set to Land Rover on Mars

NASA Set to Land Rover on Mars

By VOA News NASA is set to land an exploratory vehicle on the planet Mars early Monday morning. The nuclear powered, one-ton rover, c...

Indonesian Researcher Identifies New Frog Species

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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1aov0Ow4JKu1cZRtYrMG-t7i7aHd7ws50WsJWxc6frsDSINlulMEIOCfDjR0d-tBy7wPhv7ZkNQ-9u-M_vbm9yBjWS-zMOb9h0LWmT9jNfR8BH_04ei1NVsGd39jFgZ9T1r5KnMFinY8/s1600/2012080116053888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1aov0Ow4JKu1cZRtYrMG-t7i7aHd7ws50WsJWxc6frsDSINlulMEIOCfDjR0d-tBy7wPhv7ZkNQ-9u-M_vbm9yBjWS-zMOb9h0LWmT9jNfR8BH_04ei1NVsGd39jFgZ9T1r5KnMFinY8/s1600/2012080116053888.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">NNN--- Leptobrachium ingeri (right) has a spotty ventral color, while Leptobrachium </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">kanowitense (left) ventral colour is more predominantly white. Indonesia Researchers identified two new species of a frog named Leptobrachium ingeri and Leptobrachium kanowitensein following research conducted in the Pacific Islands on 27 July 2012 (Indonesia) and Sarawak (Malaysia) from 2008 to 2012. Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) researcher Amir Hamidy said that the two new frog species were genetically different from other frogs in the world. "Usually, if two frogs have more than a 3 percent difference in genetic length, they can be categorised as different species. However, in the case of L.ingeri and L.kanowitense, there is a difference of more than 9 percent," "Morphologically, the new frog species have unique hands and feet. The position of membrane on their feet, the colour of their ears and ventral parts are all different," he added. Photo courtesy antara---NNN</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Indonesian Researcher Identifies New Frog Species

NNN--- Leptobrachium ingeri (right) has a spotty ventral color, while Leptobrachium kanowitense (left) ventral colour is more predomina...

Iran to Launch Monkey into Space

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Iran will orbit a rocket with a live monkey on board later this month, Iranian Space Agency chief Dr. Hamid Fazeli said on Wednesday, the country's IRNA news agency reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Kavoshgar-5 satellite carrier with a bio-capsule holding a rhesus monkey is to be launched between August 19 and 20, he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The rocket will be orbited at an altitude of 120 to 130 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We have fully packed the cargo which is to be launched into space with a solid-fuel rocket,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Iran to Launch Monkey into Space

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Iran will orbit a rocket with a live monkey on board later this month, Iranian Space Agency chief Dr. Hamid Fazeli...

Coconut Oil Has Medicinal Value: Indian Scientist

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">MADURAI (Tamil Nadu,India) NNN-Bernama) -- An Indian scientist has claimed that coconut oil has medicinal value and could help those affected by Alzheimer and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to effectively fight the diseases, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Quoting the report of a recent research carried out in the United States, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) deputy director General H P Singh said that pure coconut oil can improve the immunity level of HIV infected patients.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"HIV infected patients who took their medicine along with food cooked in coconut oil showed better immunity among other things," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He also dismissed the theory that coconut oil contained high saturated fat and said it was spread by some vested interests who wanted to sell corn, sunflower and soya oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"A total of 12 new coconut varieties, including hybrid, had been developed recently," he said adding that the focus was on widespread cultivation of coconut as the trees were best suited to fight heat and carbon pollution. --NNN- BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Coconut Oil Has Medicinal Value: Indian Scientist

MADURAI (Tamil Nadu,India) NNN-Bernama) -- An Indian scientist has claimed that coconut oil has medicinal value and could help those affec...

World’s Rarest Snake Found in St. Lucia

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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz35OQGutot3QWj791nmv2v7RG-Dv2SGXxIP6KmmCheHyCIzRhhJGse7mgcklHtuo7hyOAi5zhIsbrnd1vTanE5YOuSYaSk3AiXVr4AL4UJ13VxNcfR0sWoh2lYelBp36EBXtZcZlA7hI/s1600/2012071117173977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz35OQGutot3QWj791nmv2v7RG-Dv2SGXxIP6KmmCheHyCIzRhhJGse7mgcklHtuo7hyOAi5zhIsbrnd1vTanE5YOuSYaSk3AiXVr4AL4UJ13VxNcfR0sWoh2lYelBp36EBXtZcZlA7hI/s1600/2012071117173977.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Saint Lucia racer (photo), one of four endemic snakes in the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia, declared extinct in 1936, has been found by conservationists during a five month search on the rocky, steep-sided islet just 12 ha in size. Sightings of the racer, a small non-venomous snake, have been rare, leading to fears that these harmless snakes may have been lost forever following the introduction of predatory mongooses from India in the late 19th century. The study revealed as few as 18 of the world’s rarest snakes remain in the now mongoose-free islet.Photo courtesy phys.org---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
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World’s Rarest Snake Found in St. Lucia

The Saint Lucia racer (photo), one of four endemic snakes in the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia, declared extinct in 1936, has been found...