the herbal fuel invention claim ( Down To Earth , Vol 5, No 10) of P Ramar has entered the stage of a high drama, with scientists withdrawing themselves from the scene and politicians and public at large getting into the act. Less than a week after officials of the Union ministry's department of science and technology (dst) declared that Ramar's demonstration at the Indian Instititute of Technology, Madras, "could not establish the scientific validity of the claim', and that his use of a stirrer with fuel in it and a hole at the bottom plugged with wax showed that his claim is the result of "a dishonest act', Ramar gave a couple of