Health & Science

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 06:59 UTC

  UK scientists decode wheat genome; vital to help feed growing population

  

  British scientists have released draft sequences of the wheat genome, which they think could make a vital contribution to securing global food supplies. The researchers say their efforts could help British farmers to develop new strains with greater yields.

• Friday, August 27th 2010 - 07:59 UTC

  European Southern Observatory In Chile Discovers New Solar System

  

  Some 127 light years away in the constellation of Hydrus, a new solar system has been discovered by a team of astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Cerro La Silla in Chile’s Coquimbo Region (IV).

• Thursday, August 26th 2010 - 02:21 UTC

  Chile asks NASA for technology and rations to keep trapped miners healthy

  

  Chile has appealed to the US space agency NASA for help in keeping 33 trapped miners alive during a rescue attempt which could take four months. Health officials compared the cramped conditions the men are in to those astronauts experience during long stints on the International Space Station.

• Wednesday, August 25th 2010 - 04:18 UTC

  Violence in some Latin American countries is an “epidemic” says OAS

  

  Organization of American States (OAS) chief José Miguel Insulza, said that the violence in some Latin American countries with high homicide rates can be compared to an “epidemic.”

• Monday, August 23rd 2010 - 03:41 UTC

  Chile celebrates contact with trapped miners; rescue “will take months”

  

  Thirty-three miners who have been trapped underground in a northern Chile mine for the past 17 days are all alive, President Sebastian Piñera announced Sunday. Rescuers heard hammering noises when they sent a new probe into the mine.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 03:47 UTC

  Harvard consolidates as top US academic research institution

  

  Harvard University took sole possession of first place in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 rankings of top United States academic research institutions. Princeton University, which tied with Harvard for the lead last year, fell to second place.

• Monday, August 16th 2010 - 05:05 UTC

  Argentina developing satellite launcher; ready by 2013 in Puerto Belgarno

  

  Argentina is in the process of developing a satellite launcher which could become operational in three years time, making it the sixth country in the world with that capacity, according to a Sunday edition report in La Nacion.

• Saturday, August 14th 2010 - 08:03 UTC

  Remains of extinct Falklands’ wolf, 'Warrah', discovered by 13-year old

  

  A natural history enthusiast since he was just three, now aged13, Dale Evans a native Falkland Islander has made a remarkable and significant scientific discovery.

• Saturday, August 14th 2010 - 03:02 UTC

  Crate of Shackleton’s Antarctic-hut whiskey shows liquor did not freeze

  

  A crate of Scotch whiskey that once belonged to famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was opened Friday, several months after having been rescued from a 100-plus old prison of Antarctic ice.

• Friday, August 13th 2010 - 06:51 UTC

  Grant to expand water services in Uruguayan rural communities and schools

  

  The Inter-American Development Bank approved a 6.85 million USD grant to expand access to better sanitation and water services in Uruguayan rural communities and schools.