Food ‘tattoos’ better alternative to labelling fruits

WASHINGTON - Those small and inconvenient sticky labels in illegible print on consumer items like fruits are likely to be replaced by laser ‘tattoo’ technology, which is currently undergoing tests.

Scientists develop rice that requires no cooking

BHUBANESWAR - Indian scientists claim to have developed a rice variety that requires no cooking, only soaking in water.

Mind is a factor in health and healing

WASHINGTON - Mind does matter when it comes to health and healing, says a new research.

Nurse researchers and clinicians at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) and the Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) are working at this mind-body intersection.

Scientists create green packing foams from potato starch

WASHINGTON - Packaging foams like those that keep computer monitors firmly in place inside cardboard boxes could be made with eco-friendly starch from potatoes, wheat or corn, instead of from petroleum, says a new research.

Saudi king dismisses prominent cleric who criticized coed classes at new university

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi king dismissed a prominent hard-line cleric who criticized a university he recently launched for allowing men and women to take classes together.

Romans had a taste for French wine

NICOSIA - The survey of a Roman shipwreck dating back to the 2nd century AD has revealed the presence of over 130 ceramic jars, likely to have been carrying wine or oil, which indicates that the Romans may have liked French wine.

Cyrus the Greats’ palace in Iran on verge of total destruction

LONDON - Reports indicate that Cyrus the Greats’ palace in Iran is on the verge of total destruction if no action is taken soon.

Newly dug up brooch may belong to 6th century Saxon princess

LONDON - A metal detecting enthusiast has uncovered a brooch and skull in an Oxfordshire field in England, which may belong to a 6th century Saxon princess.

Flowering plants may have appeared 180 million years earlier than believed

SYDNEY - The discovery of a piece of fossilized amber that came from a plant living more than 300 million years ago, has led scientists to suggest that flowering plants may have started to appear a lot earlier than previously believed.

Brazilians see facial beauty differently than North Americans

WASHINGTON - When it comes to standard ideals of facial beauty and harmony, Brazilians differ in opinion over beauty ideals from North Americans, according to a study.

Indonesia calls off search for survivors under rubble, focuses on rebuilding after quake

PADANG, Indonesia — Helicopters dropped instant noodles and other aid to cutoff hillside communities that were without food for five days, as rescue workers gave up their search Monday for survivors from last week’s massive Indonesian earthquake.

The ‘elixir of life’ to lengthen lifespan beyond 100yrs comes closer to reality

LONDON - Taking a step closer towards a wonder pill that could extend people’s lifespan by up to 25 years, scientists have claimed that over half of babies born in the new future in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years.

‘Green roofs’ can significantly reduce CO2 emissions

LONDON - A new study has determined that ‘green roofs’, that is, roofs with a cover of plants, can significantly cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Graphite can mimic iron’s magnetism

WASHINGTON - Researchers of Eindhoven University of Technology and the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands have shown that ordinary graphite is a permanent magnet at room temperature because it can mimic iron’s magnetism.

40,000-yr-old baby mammoth reveals icy survival secrets

LONDON - In a new research, scientists have analyzed the ancient remains of a baby wooly mammoth that died after being sucked into a muddy river bed 40,000 years ago, to reveal prehistoric secrets of how the species survived in its icy habitat.

Clouds of soot melting glaciers in Himalayas and Tibetan plateau

LONDON - In a new research, scientists in India and China have determined that glaciers in the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau that feed the river systems of almost half the world’s people are melting faster because of the effects of clouds of soot from diesel fumes and wood fires.

The bum jab that may make condoms history

LONDON - It may be time for men to split the contraceptive burden with women, for Scottish scientists have come up with a new ‘Pill’ that drastically reduces sperm count in men.

Nanotubes can boost plant growth

LONDON - If the results of a new research are anything to go by, carbon nanotubes are able fertilizers that can boost germination in plants.

Global mass extinction 250 million years ago triggered fungus explosion

SYDNEY - A new study has determined that the world’s worst mass extinction 250 million years ago was the trigger for a fungus explosion, which puts to rest the idea that an asteroid impact may have had a hand in the massive destruction.

Victims of Indonesian quake threatened by storms, possible landslides

PADANG, Indonesia — Heavy rain threatened to trigger more landslides and hamper delivery of desperately needed aid Monday on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where thousands of people were buried by last week’s powerful earthquake.

Some students get classes in tents after Indonesian quake ravages school system

PADANG, Indonesia — Hundreds of children went back to class Monday in schools set up in tents in Indonesia’s earthquake zone to get counseling on the loss of loved ones and homes, as authorities tried to restore normalcy after the disaster.

Cyber crime generates more money than drug trafficking

BANGALORE - With more and more people going online and social networking becoming pervasive, cyber crime now generates more money than drug trafficking, says global cyber security solutions provider Symantec.

Femtosecond comb lasers help formation flying in space

WASHINGTON - Researchers at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions.

Scientists create ‘artificial ionosphere’ using radio waves

LONDON - An experiment that fires powerful radio waves into the sky has created a patch of ‘artificial ionosphere’, mimicking the uppermost portion of Earth’s atmosphere.
According to a report in Nature News, the experiment is called the ‘High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program’ (HAARP), near Gakona, Alaska.
It has spent nearly two decades using radio waves to probe Earth’s magnetic field and ionosphere.
One of the most obvious results of the experiments is that they can create lights in the sky that are similar to auroras, the glowing curtains of light that naturally appear in the polar skies when electrons and other charged particles pour down from Earth’s protective magnetosphere into the upper atmosphere.
There, at an altitude of about 250 kilometres, the charged particles collide with molecules of oxygen and nitrogen and make them emit light, similar to the process inside a fluorescent light bulb.
HAARP’s high-frequency radio waves can accelerate electrons in the atmosphere, increasing the energy of their collisions and creating a glow.
The technique has previously triggered speckles of light while running at a power of almost 1 megawatt1.
But since the facility ramped up to 3.6 megawatts - roughly three times more than a typical broadcast radio transmitter - it has created full-scale artificial auroras that are visible to the naked eye.
But in February last year, HAARP managed to induce a strange bullseye pattern in the night sky.
Instead of the expected fuzzy, doughnut-shaped blob, surprising irregular luminescent bands radiated out from the centre of the bullseye, according to Todd Pedersen, a research physicist at the US Air Force Research Laboratory in Massachusetts, who leads the team that ran the experiment at HAARP.
The team modelled how the energy sent skywards from the HAARP antenna array would trigger these odd shapes.

10 mn SIM cards used for crime, terror in Bangladesh: Police

DHAKA - Over 10 million subscriber identity module (SIM) cards not registered by Bangladesh’s six mobile phone operators are being misused for criminal activities and fomenting Islamist militancy, police said.

India’s thirst for groundwater raising global sea levels

LONDON - India’s thirst for groundwater is threatening a major water crisis, and adding to global sea level rise, says a report.

T. rex fails to attract minimum price at Vegas auction, officials hopeful deal is imminent

LAS VEGAS — A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex is still looking for a home after bidders failed to meet the minimum price Saturday at a Las Vegas auction.

5 years after private spacecraft wins X Prize, space tourism has yet to take to flight

LOS ANGELES — When a private spaceship soared over California to claim a $10 million prize, daredevil venture capitalist Alan Walton was 68 and thought he’d soon be on a rocket ride of his own.

5 years after private spacecraft plans win X Prize, space tourism have yet to take to flight

LOS ANGELES — When a private spaceship soared over California to claim a $10 million prize, daredevil venture capitalist Alan Walton was 68 and thought he’d soon be on a rocket ride of his own.

Who owns the past? A town collects and sells Indian artifacts, and pays the price

BLANDING, Utah — High above the spiky sandstone spine known as Comb Ridge that snakes for 120 miles through the desert, archaeologist Winston Hurst treads carefully through a cave of ruins.