Mashelkar report says modified organisms are intellectual property THE expert group on patent law headed by R A Mashelkar has recommended that microbes like bacteria, fungi and virus should be patented if they have been modified. The committee has also said India cannot limit its patents to new chemical substances in pharmaceutical products. The recommendations were submitted to the Union
Study tells why virgin olive oil protects from heart attacks olive oil is good for health. This fact is widely known but not the reason behind it. Grown in the Mediterranean countries, its oil is said to be the reason behind the low incidence of heart attacks and strokes in these areas. Researchers have now revealed why. Bad cholesterol, ldl, is produced in the body in response
Olive Ridley turtles missed their annual nesting trip to the Orissa coast last year. Conservation groups blamed the upcoming port at Dhamra. The turtles are back this year, and port proponents Tata and L&T claim vindication. They overlook the violations that have allowed the port at Dhamra in the first place On March 23, 2009, environmental group Green-peace International issu-ed a full-page
Government sets up panel to set norms for relocation THE National Tiger Conservation Authority has set up a panel to formulate guidelines for translocating tigers from one reserve to another. The need for the guidelines was felt after tiger conservationists raised concerns when a tigress from Bandhavgarh tiger reserve was tranquillized and taken 200 km by road to Panna tiger
Concern over the survival of Olive Ridleys persist WHEN the Olive Ridley turtles did not turn up on the islands off Gahirmatha beach in Orissa last year for mass nesting, the Dhamra port under construction less than 15 km away, was blamed. The turtles were back in droves this March and jostled to find suitable nesting ground. Preliminary estimates of the forest department said
India is on the verge of clearing its first genetically modified food crop, Bt brinjal, with several others in the pipeline. Does India need GM crops? Are they safe? How much does the consumer know?
New science predicts climate is changing faster than estimated SCIENTISTS from around the world who met in Copenhagen, Denmark, from March 10 to 12, suggested sea level increase due to global warming could be more than the earlier projections. There is worse news. Forests may not be effective carbon sinks that can save the planet from the negative impacts of temperature rise as they would not
Floods in India to be avoided using fuzzy logic IF A washing machine can figure out how dirty the laundry is, then it can calculate how long it should wash, how much detergent to add and how much water is needed. This is called the fuzzy logic technology and it works on a simple
