MEXICO: Expelled British Cavers Barred from Country for Two Years

The Mexican government expelled 13 British cavers late Monday after their exploring activities in the country sparked a diplomatic row with London, in an episode that a local caver association described as ''embarrassing.''

DEVELOPMENT: Billions Suffer Lack of Vitamins, Minerals

Simple and cheap measures, similar to fortifying salt with iodine, could help control vitamin and mineral deficiencies that afflict up to a third of the world's people, particularly children, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a study released Wednesday.

ENVIRONMENT: Climate Change Lays Waste to Global Treaty

Retreating glaciers and more forest fires, floods and other severe weather events are arriving as predicted, 10 years after the world community agreed to limit the greenhouse gas emissions believed to cause global warming, says a new report.

DEVELOPMENT: Biotech for the Poor, Too – Forum

Scientists and government representatives have called for democratising biotechnology and ensuring that its benefits also reach poor countries, but they agreed during a meeting in Chile that, as always, there is a great divide between good intentions and reality.

AGRICULTURE: Will Global Rules for GMOs Be Too Late?

As activists celebrated the emergence of a strong Biosafety Protocol to control genetically-engineered organisms (GEO) last month, U.S. scientists reported that contamination of GEOs is spreading and might be impossible to stop.

SUSTAINABILITY: Water ‘Scarcity’ Can be Fixed – Report

Despite a worldwide rise in consumption, there would still be adequate water on planet Earth for everyone if waste was ended, says a new report by an independent research group.

AGRICULTURE: Racing to Construct the Perfect Rice Plant

Rice, a crop that feeds half the world's people and supplies income for a billion more, will have to keep pace with surging demand using far fewer resources, a goal for which many scientists believe biotechnology will be indispensable.

U.S.: Opposition Hardens as Bush Boosts Nuclear Waste Plan

Critics are condemning as irresponsible and illegal the Bush administration's recent proposal to increase the budget for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump in western Nevada State despite unresolved safety issues and legal challenges.

SCIENCE: Mars a Dangerous Destination for Humans

The crew chosen for the first human voyage to Mars must learn to deal with obligatory confinement and to survive amidst serious health threats during an extended period, as long as three years, say U.S. experts in space travel.

SCIENCE-EUROPE: A Long Trek to Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced plans to send the first manned mission to Mars by 2033. But it faces three decades of hard work in creating crucial life-support technologies to meet that goal.

URUGUAY: Nazi Warship Emerges from the Mud

After resting for 65 years on the muddy bottom of the Rio de la Plata estuary, the wreck of the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee began to be recovered Monday.

HEALTH-CUBA: Scientists, Healers Share Aim of Fighting Cancer

Fighting cancer is the shared aim of Cuban scientists and folk healers who have produced vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and formulas based on the poison of the blue scorpion and the bark of the mango tree.

POLITICS: Greenbacks Set to Colour Biodiversity Meet

Control of the trade in genetically modified products and who should profit from the exploitation of natural resources are just two of the controversial items on the agenda of this month's global meeting on biodiversity.

ENVIRONMENT: Bio-Pirates of the Antarctic

Antarctic bio-prospectors are acting like bio-pirates, plundering the continent's biological treasures before global measures to control its biodiversity can be put in place, experts warn in a United Nations University report released Monday.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Nano Divide’ No Small Matter

Research in nanotechnology is thriving in developing countries but high-profile criticism of the new process from the likes of Prince Charles and Greenpeace will hurt investment, and threatens to create a "nano divide" between rich and poor countries, says a new report.

SCIENCE-MEXICO: Kids’ Museum Offers a Passport to the Stars

Mexico is a long way from the "space race", but is opening the door for people to leave Earth and the Milky Way for the edge of the known universe, in a virtual voyage that is impossible in any other Latin American country.

AGRICULTURE: Canadian Farmer to Face Monsanto in Court

The future of world agriculture and countries' ability to protect their biodiversity is on the line in a final legal battle next week between Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser and agri-business giant Monsanto.

HEALTH: South Unprepared for ‘Flu’ Pandemic – Experts

To the list of killer diseases that threaten millions of people in the developing world, add one more - influenza, commonly known as the flu.

ENVIRONMENT: Oil-Eating Bacteria for Antarctica

Argentine scientists are developing a biological process for combating oil spills in the extremely cold temperatures of Antarctica, where petroleum exploitation is banned, but leaks and spills occur in handling and storing fuels at research stations.

ENVIRONMENT: World’s Woes Need More, Not Bigger Answers – Report

Despite the troubles surrounding the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, scientists are "guardedly optimistic" about humankind's ability to manage such critical common resources as the oceans and the climate, according to a new report.

SCIENCE: Experts Probe How to Apply Knowledge Beyond Creating ICTs

As the acknowledged engine behind the sweeping technological advances of our time, scientific discoveries and innovations are at the heart of discussions on how the information society - which science itself has made possible - can better serve the needs of humanity, particularly of peoples in the developing countries.