Down To Earth

• In early August, indigenous artists from the Australian state of Queensland collaborated in an exhibition. They wove thousands of metres of discarded fishing nets into sculptures. Much marine life gets trapped in these nets. • Switzerland’s data protection watchdog demanded that Google immediately withdraw the “Street View” facility it has started offering on its map of

THERE are some pathogens that disguise themselves and prevent detection by the host’s immune system. There are others that save themselves by mimicking the defence molecules produced by the host’s body. Then there is the tuberculosis bacterium. Regarded as the world’s most successful infectious agent, the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills 1.3 million people every year. 30 per

FORTY-FOUR people died of Japanese encephalitis, a viral infection, at the Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh on July 28. The same day another 68 patients suffering from the viral disease were admitted to the hospital that receives patients from across the state. T R Borborah, principal of the medical college, confirmed the deaths. Health officials in Assam said the disease has

PLANT SCIENCES Never too late Flowers are more resilient than they appear. They shoot up against all odds. The credit goes to genetic matter called microRNA that inhibit protein formation crucial to flowering in young plants. External cues like sunlight make them flower. But in the absence of cues, too, flowers do blossom; the activity of

ON AUGUST 8, a stretch of National Highway (NH)-33 caved in due to an underground coal fire. The road connects Ranchi in Jharkhand with Bihar’s capital, Patna. The subsided half-kilometre stretch is near Kujju in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand. Another such underground fire is inching close to the Bermo-Chandrapura-Dhanbad highway and is threatening the railway tracks running parallel to

FAT in the liver is the new marker for obesity-related complications such as diabetes, heart diseases and strokes. People trying to reduce belly fat to avoid these diseases will have to rethink their lifestyle. The finding is good news for metabolic scientists who have hypothesized for long that liver fat is the most important metabolic disruptor of the body but there were

NO SUITS, TIES, IN SUMMER: In a bid to save electricity, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has asked all male colleagues and male government employees to wear suits, jackets and ties only in winter. During the hot months, between March and November, they have been asked to wear trousers and shirts which need not be tucked in. Doing so, said Hasina, would minimize the use of

VIEW FINDER NOT A USUAL EXERCISE Soldiers smell the ground to detect bodies of flash flood victims in Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot battered the island"s southern region in the second week of August. The typhoon, which Met officials call the deadliest in 50 years, also triggered mudslides; one such mudslide

TWENTY years from now, India’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions will be below the 2005 global average of 4.22 tonnes CO2-equivalent. The estimate is the result of five studies carried out by various research bodies including The Energy and Resources Institute, a Delhibased non-profit. The Union ministry of environment and forests released the report on September 2. Ministry officials