Rats eat our crops, contaminate our stored food, damage our buildings and possessions and spread dangerous diseases to people and livestock. Compared to insect pests, controlling rats and mice can seem difficult. Experience has shown, however, that armed with the right knowledge and tools it is possible to sustainably reduce pest rodent populations in a cost-beneficial way. In recent years, applied research on ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) has taken place in many countries throughout Asia and Africa. Dec 2007

Mizoram has recently sought central aid to check the fallout of an increasing rodent population in the state. The state disaster management and rehabilitation department (dmrd) recently submitted a

humans are more prone to cancer because of their body mass. However, nature has protected us somewhat from this risk by disallowing the secretion of an enzyme that rapidly heals damaged cells but

global warming can lead to more cases of plague, warns a recent study. Warmer springs and more moist summers may create conditions for Yersina pestis

Rats can tell the direction an odour comes from

To study Down syndrome

In 2006-2007, a bamboo species will flower over vast swathes of Mizoram, Tripura and Assam. When bamboo flowers, it dies; usually a famine follows. How prepared, asks nitin sethi, is northeast India this time? Can they turn dis

mosquito repellent: A bird found in Alaska is believed to emit a natural mosquito repellent, according to Hector Douglas, a researcher at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The crested auklet

Changes outside the genetic material can last generations

A new species of rodent, with long whiskers, stubby legs and a dense hairy tail, has been discovered in Laos. Though the animal resembles other animals like squirrels, rats, guinea pigs and

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