Climate change drove woolly mammoths to the edge of extinction and then humans finished them off, according to a Spanish study that adds to the debate over the demise of the Ice Age behemoths. Using climate models and fossil remains, the researchers determined that warming temperatures had so shrunk the mammoths' habitat that when humans entered their territory about 6,000 years ago the species were already hanging by a thread.

Researchers have uncovered evidence to support what mothers have long been saying: immune system needs food to function properly. Working on mice, University of Chicago researchers found that restricting their subjects' diet by 30% decreased the amount of available B cells, which produce antibodies and maintain immune memory.

For the first time, medical experts have challenged the established view that the tuberculosis bacteria coughed up in sputum by infected individuals multiply rapidly. Experts at the Universities of Leicester and London have identified that the TB bug lays down body fat that may help it survive passing from one person to another. In the process, the bacteria increase their resistance to anti-TB drugs. The Leicester team discovered that, unlike TB bacteria growing in test tubes, many of the bugs in sputum are loaded with fat droplets.

For the first time in Britain, researchers at Newcastle University have created human-animal hybrid embryos, amid an ongoing political row about a disputed embryo research bill which is due to be put to parliament next month. The research, which was announced on Tuesday, has yet to be published or verified, with a spokesman for the university saying that the institution "wouldn't claim it to be final at all'. It was first presented at a lecture in Tel Aviv on March 25.

Historically, if we wanted to understand what someone's income level was, all we had to do was ask what country they were from. In the future, this will no longer be true. Instead, we'll ask what level of education they have achieved. This is because information and communications technology is opening up enormous opportunities for many more people to participate in the global economy, no matter where they may live.

This refers to the two contrarian views about global warming that are in currency

With Election Commission announcing dates for the Karnataka assembly polls, the latest water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the Hogenakkal drinking water supply project is in danger of taking a serious turn. A large number of policemen stood guard in Hosur town bordering Karnataka even as buses between the two states did not ply fearing attacks by protesters.

According to a Planning Commission report, while India is short of six lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and two lakh dental surgeons, Indian doctors who have migrated to developed countries form nearly 5% of their medical workforce.

In a political message to West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that the party is supreme and his industrialization drive needs to be reworked, he was made to announce an industrial policy that for a change emphasizes on land acquisition with caution, proper compensation and rehabilitation.

In a career of 18 years as a migrant labour, Kalicharan Barar has seen many bad days. Once a contractor who owed him Rs 2,000 simply vanished. On another occasion, his wife suddenly fell ill and he had to spend Rs 70,000 for treatment. But nothing really comes close to the moment, when a heap of cement, sand, bricks and iron rods fell over and around him on Tuesday.

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