Press releases

Despite the improvement in newborn health care services neonatal and infant mortality rate has not significantly declined. In India 26 million babies are born every year, out of which 1.2 million die before completing the first four weeks of life.

A solid acid catalyst that can convert vegetable oils into 'biodiesel' fuel could replace the expensive and inefficient process used today, according to a Brief Communication in this week's Nature.

Nature press release - Vol.438 No.7065 Dated 10 November 2005 - Wafer-thin graphite is a quantum conundrum; Gravity tractor could move dangerous asteroids

The commonest method for committing homicide in Benin City was by firearms, while ingestion of poisons, particularly ‘Otapiapia’ an insecticide, is the commonest method for committing suicide in this region.

Quality control and standarization of herbal and other natural products are the fundamental step towards developing and modernizing such products into evidence based medicines.

Nature and the Nature research journals press release - For papers that will be published online on 6 November 2005

WCS has played a key role in the vaccine currently being developed for avian flu, using birds our vets recently sampled in Mongolia. Drs. Billy Karesh (expedition leader to Mongolia in August) and Bob Cook are available for interviews on this breakthrough

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the major causes of diarrhoea in human and animals especially in developed countries. EZ Campy DNA kit was designed and developed to detect for Campylobacter jejuni within 3 hours.

The black hole at the centre of our Galaxy is as wide as the radius of the Earth's orbit, according to research published in this week's Nature.

Highlights from Nature, Vol.438, No.7064 Dated 03 November 2005 including Bacteria use light to drive 'animal' metabolism; Bridging a wobbly gap

Doctors think they have hit on a way to double supplies of the scarce antiviral drug Tamiflu, reports a news exclusive in Nature this week.

Discussions on avian influenza dominated this inter-governmental conference that took place from 23-27 October.

3rd Session of the meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on the conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), 23 – 27 October 2005, Dakar, Senegal

Removal efficiencies of above 95% have been achieved for ethyl acetate at 300 degrees Celcius at a flow rate of about twice that of conventional oxide catalysts.

NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE - For papers that will be published online on 30 October 2005

This study was formulated with an objective of studying the factors influencing the utilization of health services in the spectrum of antenatal, intranatal and postnatal periods of a mother.

Researchers have turned human embryonic stem (hES) cells into a cell type found in human embryos that ultimately forms the pancreas, liver, lungs, and other organs.

Scientists caution against premature finger-pointing at migratory wild birds, indicating that more needs to be known about their precise migratory routes and where they stop, and to understand which species may be more susceptible to such a virus.

International Scientists warned against panic responses based on the assumption that wild birds are the only cause of avian flu

Voltage fluctuations have been minimized, greater supply made available, and costs reduced. All this was achieved through the ABT (availability-based tariff) introduced in 2000.

Experimental investigation has shown that an energy saving of as high as 25% in fuel usage can be obtained when HTRP is used in an incinerator. The HTRP can also be used in hazardous chemical, radiochemical and power plant.

Dr Taej Mundkur and Dr. Sharifah Syed Hassan

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Russian Far East recently fitted three wild 40-day-old Siberian tiger cubs with tiny radio-collars, marking the youngest wild tigers to be tracked by scientists

The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus is expected to be carried by migrating birds into east Africa within weeks; US doctors have launched a clinical trial to assess the effects of allowing couples to choose the sex of their unborn children

Shark has mammal-like swimming muscles; Prometheus bound to Saturn's rings; Promoting brain cell growth in adult rats; Rocket-fuelled bacteria clean up waste; Molecular motor spins on a surface; Einstein's and Darwin's letter-writing habits

This URSI General Assembly will be held in New Delhi in 2005. Around 1000 delegates (inclusive of 150 young and talented scientists) from different parts of the world in the telecommunication sector are expected to participate in the event.

Mining is carried out in India in different geological, topographical, and climatological settings. As a result, a variety of environmental management practices, suitable for individual mineral deposits and locations have been developed.

Nature and the Nature Research Journals Press Release-For papers published online on 23 October 2005

A simplified strategy for modifying complex sugar molecules, could dramatically increase the ease and speed with which scientists tackle important issues relating to tumor detection and the pathology of infectious diseases.

Commercial haemosthetic agents available in the market are expensive and most of them are produced from animal gelatine and therefore not acceptable for some segments of the community