The 5Ws and H of Science
Reading Time: 7 minutesCompiled by NARVIINYA MURUGAPPAN What is a Portuguese Man o’ War? IT MAY look like a plastic bag drifting in the ocean, but it’s in fact a carnivorous sea creature that can paralyse and kill small fishes and inflict searing pain on humans upon contact. The Portuguese man o’ war ( Physalia physalis ) is […]
Nod for digital council for food, agriculture
Reading Time: 3 minutesBERLIN: The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) drew to a close today with the agriculture ministers of 71 nations, thanking FAO and the other International Organisations for developing a concept for the establishment of an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture, as requested in the 2019 GFFA Final Communiqué. They welcomed FAO’s […]
The scientist who enabled the precise measurement of weather
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAnna Mani (23 August 1918 – 16 August 2001) was an Indian meteorologist who contributed significantly to the understanding of solar radiation, ozone and wind energy by developing a wide range of measurement tools. One of India’s pioneering female scientists, Mani excelled in the male-dominated area of meteorology and became the Deputy Director-General of the […]
The 5Ws and H of Science
Reading Time: 6 minutesWhy are clownfishes not stung by sea anemones? THE partnership between clownfish and sea anemones is one of the most iconic in the animal world. Unlike in Pixar’s film Finding Nemo, clownfish seldom stray far from their anemone. The clownfish live within the sea anemone’s poisonous tentacles. Those tentacles keep would-be predators at bay, including […]
‘Loneliness epidemic’ may be due to increasing aging population
Reading Time: 3 minutesDESPITE some claims that Americans are in the midst of a “loneliness epidemic,” older people today may not be any lonelier than their counterparts from previous generations — there just might be more of them, according to a pair of studies published by the American Psychological Association. “We found no evidence that older adults have […]
Study: Asian rivers transport more plastic than Europe’s waterways
Reading Time: 2 minutesIN the first study of its kind, researchers from the Netherlands examined the amounts of floating plastic debris at 24 locations on rivers in seven European and Asian countries. Lead author Caroline van Calcar, from Delft University of Technology, said: “Land-based plastics, washed into the ocean by rivers, are believed to be the main source […]
COP 25 ends on a low note
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE United Nations Climate Talks sat for 12 days in Madrid but ended on a low note on Dec 15 – without any strong conclusive consensus. Delegates from nearly 200 nations attended the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) and were kept 40 hours past their planned deadline. But some of the […]
Human teeth as jewelry in Turkey 8,500 years ago
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAT a prehistoric archaeological site in Turkey, researchers have discovered two 8,500-year-old human teeth, which had been used as pendants in a necklace or bracelet. Researchers have never documented this practice before in the prehistoric Near East, and the rarity of the find suggests that the human teeth were imbued with profound symbolic meaning for […]
Singapore scientists engineered yeast to produce butanol
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSCIENTISTS from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed an efficient way to recycle food waste that the country produces. They have genetically engineered Yarrowia lipolytica to convert fats in food waste into butanol. In 2015, Singapore produced 785,500 tons of food waste in which only 13% was recycled. This prompted the NUS Synthetic […]
Anti-arthritis med stops growth of TB bug
Reading Time: 2 minutesIMMUNOLOGIST Johan Van Weyenbergh (KU Leuven) and his Belgian-Brazilian colleagues have shown that a drug used to fight arthritis also stops the process that allows the tuberculosis bacillus to infect and hijack blood stem cells. Tuberculosis (TB) may affect any part of the body, but the spread [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] of the disease […]