SCIENCE: Smart Slime and Cola Spermicides – It's Ig Nobel Time

If you always thought there was something oddly intelligent about that slime slithering across your garden, you can rest assured that your hunch is supported by award-winning scientific research.

Q&A: "Future Prosperity Is in Green Technologies"

Achim Steiner, the eloquent executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), believes that Mexico could take a leadership role in the new "green" economy.

AGRICULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: GM Sorghum Test Approved

As Africa grapples with the question of food insecurity, biotechnology buffs seem to have an answer: genetically modified crops that could feed a continent vulnerable to famine and food deficits. But environmentalists warn of new dangers.

PORTUGAL: Waves of Energy Come Ashore

The mighty waves rolling in from the Atlantic ocean towards the northern coast of Portugal have been harnessed to produce electricity that will supply the homes of some 6,000 people.

DEVELOPMENT: IBSA Summit – Will South-South Cooperation Regain Clout?

The India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum will hold its third annual summit on Oct. 15 in New Delhi, India, the first such meeting after this trilateral body of countries of the developing South met with a serious setback at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations.

VENEZUELA: Multi-Tentacled PDVSA, a State Within a State

"I would have liked to be taken on by PDVSA, but I didn't win that lottery," Antonio Jiménez, a 52-year-old father of four and grandfather of three who is a pump attendant at a petrol station on the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital, told IPS.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Chemical Lobby Weakening Ozone Treaty

In hard economic times, protecting the environment is often seen as a luxury - or ignored completely. But had that attitude prevailed 20 years ago when it came to taking action to protect the ozone layer, skin cancer rates would have soared and climate change would be even more dramatic than it is today.

ENVIRONMENT-AUSTRALIA: Top Expert’s Emissions Target Slammed

The Rudd government’s hand-picked climate change advisor’s recommended targets for reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions have been widely denounced by environmentalists and leading scientists.

MALAYSIA: Genetic Fingerprinting Bill Under Flak

A major controversy is brewing over a rushed parliamentary bill that gives enormous powers to Malaysia’s police and the home minister to use a person’s DNA profile as evidence in criminal offences.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Arctic Oil and Gas Rush Alarms Scientists

As greenhouse gas pollution destroys Arctic ecosystems, countries like Canada are spending millions not to halt the destruction but to exploit it.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Arctic Meltdown Signals Long-Term Trend

Soaring temperatures have led to the collapse of several huge ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic over the past few weeks.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Free Rein for Biobanks?

Four years ago, when Guillermo Soberón - one of Mexico’s most prominent scientists - became a grandfather, the newborn's parents received a letter requesting a donation of biological material to be used for medical research.

HEALTH: Safe Sex With HIV – and Without a Condom?

The Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS set off a small firestorm of debate by asserting that people living with the virus can have sexual relations without a condom and without endangering their uninfected partners, under certain conditions.

HEALTH-US: HIV On The Rise

A new study shows that the annual number of HIV infections in the United States is greater than was previously believed. The findings place increased scrutiny on the country’s lack of a national HIV/AIDS program as well as the current Presidential candidates’ plans to combat the epidemic.

Q&A: “The Momentum of AIDS Prevention Is Waning”

Mexican virologist Dr. Luis Soto Ramírez, co-chair of the 17th International AIDS Conference, which opens Sunday in the Mexican capital, says that ramping up prevention efforts is the most urgent step to be taken in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Q&A: "Cancun’s White Sands Wouldn’t Exist Without Coral"

"There would be no white sands on the beaches of Cancún without the Mesoamerican reef," Professor Roberto Iglesias-Prieto, a marine ecophysiologist working at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told Tierramérica.

AGRICULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: Small Farmers Pushed to Plant GM Seed

Baphethile Mntambo has been farming organically for the past five years because she knows that avoiding chemicals will in the long-term benefit her yield. She decided not to plant genetically modified seeds because she has heard that they cannot be saved for the next season and will eventually deplete her soil. But she is not entirely sure how and why.

ENVIRONMENT: Cutting CO2 Could Save Dying Corals

The rapid decline of coral reefs around the world offers a potent warning that entire ecosystems can collapse due to human activities, although there is hope for reefs if immediate action is taken, coral experts agreed at the conclusion of a five-day international meeting Friday.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Small Islands’ Warning Went Unheeded

When the president of the Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, addressed the U.N. General Assembly about 20 years ago, he warned of the possible death of his tiny Indian Ocean island if steps were not taken to curb climate change.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Corals Collapsing in More Acid Oceans

Coral reefs need to be put on "life support" if they are to survive climate change, but their ultimate survival is dependant on major reductions in fossil fuel emissions, say experts.

ENERGY: Don't Write Off Biofuels Yet, Advocates Say

Japan wants countries to reconsider biofuels as an alternative technology to fight climate change by using fuel cell cars at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit on Jul. 7-9. The vehicles will transport the leaders of the world's major industrialised nations when they gather on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido.