Health & Science

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:24 UTC

  Duke of Edinburgh remains under observation; misses Boxing Day shoot

  

  Duke of Edinburgh is to remain under observation after a third night in hospital, and is set to miss the Royal Family's Boxing Day shoot. The shoot, usually led by the Duke, is expected to go ahead as planned.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:16 UTC

  Brazil joins the club of countries with strict no smoking legislation

  

  President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday signed a law banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Brazil. The new text will make Brazil, which has a population of more than 191 million, the largest country in the world to go smoke-free.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2011 - 03:40 UTC

  Scientists find signs of Higgs bason, crucial particle in the creation of Universe

  

  International scientists said on Tuesday they had found signs of the Higgs boson, an elementary particle believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe after the Big Bang.

• Tuesday, December 13th 2011 - 14:26 UTC

  Norwegian expedition unable to re-edit Amundsen’s South Pole 1911 feat

  

  The Norwegian expedition which was planning to celebrate the centenary of the South Pole discovery by Ronald Amundsen failed in their last leg of their mission with two of them abandoning and the other two not reaching on time for Wednesday’s party with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

• Thursday, December 8th 2011 - 20:01 UTC

  Falklands’ land mine clearance set to enter a new expanded phase in early 2012

  

  Robin Swanson, head of the Demining Program Office and visiting the Falkland Islands this week ahead of the new phase of land-mine clearance due to start early next year, confirmed that the forthcoming planned clearances will advance the demining process from the pilot stage to a more advanced “land release” phase.

• Tuesday, December 6th 2011 - 15:20 UTC

  Uruguay prepares to combat leishmaniasis, which threatens to spread from Argentina

  

  The advance of the mosquito transmitted leishmaniasis in South America, (Uruguay and Chile are the only countries with no registered cases) motivated a recent symposium to address the challenge in Punta del Este.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 22:00 UTC

  With summer rainfall dengue outbreak threatens fifty major Brazilian cities

  

  Some fifty Brazilian cities are exposed to serious outbreaks of dengue during the austral summer and another 236 are on ‘alert’ for the same reason, according to a paper presented Monday by Brazil’s Health minister Alexandre Padhilla.

• Wednesday, November 30th 2011 - 06:06 UTC

  IDB calls for democratizing access to internet broadband in Unasur members

  

  Members of the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, need to improve cooperation and stimulate private investment to increase access to broadband services, a move that will lead to a reduction in costs and greater usage, according to two studies by the Inter-American Development Bank released at a meeting of UNASUR communication ministers.

• Wednesday, November 30th 2011 - 00:18 UTC

  US engineers create limbo-dancing soft-body robot inspired in the squid

  

  US Harvard University engineers have built a limbo-dancing robot that can squeeze under obstacles in its path for search and rescue missions.

• Tuesday, November 29th 2011 - 02:14 UTC

  Peru admits 32.477 TB cases as part of the campaign to combat the disease

  

  Peru has 37% of all multi-resistant tuberculosis cases in the Americas and one in four patients of the disease abandon medication in a mild stage of the disease according to the World Health Organization.