Science and Technology Archives

CULTURE-THAILAND: Hill Tribes Go High-Tech to Preserve Way of Life

As the sun sets, all the traits of a community light years away from modernity emerge in this northern Thai village. There is, after all, no electricity to illuminate the homes made of bamboo walls and thatched roofs, and to keep out the invading darkness.

CULTURE: In Search of Columbus’ Bones

By IPS Correspondents

Scientists from four countries are engaged in the process of unveiling the true burial site of the remains of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and believe that their conclusions, which are some six months away, will be the last word on the subject.

SCIENCE: Vials and Trials Inch Closer to Malaria Vaccine

By Sanjay Suri

The development of a vaccine against malaria could be five to eight years away, a leading researcher says.

ENVIRONMENT: EU Draws Closer to U.S. over Biotech Foods

By IPS Correspondents

New genetically modified foods may be sold in the European Union for the first time, bringing the 15-nation grouping a step closer to ending a trade row with the U.S.

SCIENCE: Activists Say U.S. Manipulating Meet to Promote GM Food

By IPS Correspondents

Activists have gathered at a California conference this week to counter what they call the U.S. administration's attempts to force-feed genetically engineered (GM) crops on developing countries.

ENVIRONMENT-ANTARCTICA: New Secretariat to Improve Protection

By Tito Drago

The announcement of the creation of a permanent secretariat to enforce environmental protection goals in the Antarctic, which will be based in Buenos Aires, culminated the 26th Consultative Meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, which ended Friday in Spain.

ENVIRONMENT: Caribbean Calls on World to Help Save Conch Fishery

By IPS Correspondents

Caribbean fisheries experts are urgently calling for more international regulations to protect one of the world's largest conch reserves from relentless assaults by poachers.

DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Scientists Lead Charge in Favour of GMOs

By Mario Osava

Scientists in Brazil are on the move to defend continued research of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), enlivening a debate that is already having major impacts on the world agricultural markets.

ENVIRONMENT: Doubts on Whether 20th Century the Hottest Ever

By IPS Correspondents

Assertions that the 20th century was the warmest of the millennium and that within a hundred years the earth's average temperatures could rise 3.5 degrees centigrade are two of the most publicised hypotheses in the battle to curb climate change.

ENVIRONMENT: Doubts on Whether 20th Century the Hottest

By IPS Correspondents

Assertions that the 20th century was the warmest of the millennium and that within a hundred years the earth's average temperatures could rise 3.5 degrees centigrade are two of the most publicised hypotheses in the battle to curb climate change.

ENVIRONMENT: Subsidies in North Help Drain Oceans of Fish

By Stephen Leahy

Fishing subsidies in the world's rich countries and development that pushes poor farmers off their land are two reasons why the world's oceans have been over-harvested, leading to a drastic drop in fish stocks, say experts.

BRAZIL: To Ukraine, in Search of Technology Refused by Rich

By Mario Osava

A Brazilian cabinet minister is in the Ukraine as part of the government's mission to seek technology exchange with nations at a similar level of development that are more willing to cooperate than the industrialised North.

DEVELOPMENT: Brazil Uses Genome in Bid for Tenderest Beef

By Mario Osava

Cattle that are more disease resistant, mature earlier and produce the tenderest beef is the aim of the Cattle Functional Genome Project, which could give Brazil the technological footing for future leadership on the global beef market.

MEDIA: What the Information Society Should Know

By IPS Correspondents

The Global Knowledge Partnership will be a key participant at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva this December.

ENVIRONMENT: Nuclear Hope for Fresh Water Debated

By Mehru Jaffer

About 300 experts from around the world concluded an international symposium on water resources management here Friday, but could not discuss the acute crisis in Iraq.

TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: High Tech No Longer Restricted to Rich Nations

By James Hall

Satellite imagery and other high tech innovations are no longer restricted to rich developed countries, but are finding applications throughout Africa.

SCIENCE: ‘A Clone Would Be Uglier, Sicker and Dimmer’

By IPS Correspondents

Human cloning would serve no purpose; all it would do is create imperfect beings, Carlos Alberto Redi, the Italian scientist who created the first mouse clone, said in an interview with Tierramérica.

TRADE: EU Defies U.S. in Row over Genetically Modified Foods

By IPS Correspondents

The European Commission has condemned the U.S. decision to file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against the European Union's de facto ban on genetically modified foods.

HEALTH: Decoding Environment-Disease Links in Human Genome

By IPS Correspondents

What is the relationship between the development of an illness, the environment and our genes? Are there people who are genetically more vulnerable to pollution? Will we be able to control illnesses, like respiratory diseases, caused by environmental agents?

RIGHTS: Group Strips Racist Scientist’s Name from Award

By IPS Correspondents

A cancer research prize named for a controversial U.S. scientist who expressed racist views and reportedly conducted secret experiments that led to more than a dozen deaths in Puerto Rico, will be renamed, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced.