Health & Science

Tuesday, December 15th 2009 - 07:57 UTC
Indigenous “medicinal plant” tourism a few miles from Punta Arenas

When most of us need digestive, analgesic, anti-inflammatory or antibiotic medicinal treatments, we walk down the street to the nearest pharmacy. When the indigenous Huilliche in the south of Chile need medicine, they stroll into the forest.
Thursday, December 10th 2009 - 07:28 UTC
Outbreak of Q-fever in Netherlands forces massive culling of goats and sheep

An estimated 15 to 20,000 goats and sheep in the Netherlands are to be slaughtered in connection with Q-fever. Dutch Ministers of Health Ab Klink and Agriculture Gerda Verburg have agreed that on infected farms where animals have not been vaccinated, all pregnant animals must be slaughtered, whether or not they have the virus.
Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 02:56 UTC
Mosquito transmitted dengue is back in Paraguay with 59 reported cases

Paraguay has admitted 59 cases of the mosquito transmitted disease dengue mostly concentrated in the north of the land-locked tropical country.
Friday, December 4th 2009 - 04:49 UTC
Trained African rats help to clear of mines areas of Mozambique

Rats have been effective in the detection of antipersonnel mines and home-made explosives in Mozambique, Africa, and based on the experience an estimated 700.000 square metres (70 hectares) have been cleared.
Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 06:00 UTC
On the 150th anniversary of “On the origin of species”, Darwin’s missing notebook

Charles Darwin's encounter with the first of the two creatures that would provide him with the early clues for his theory of evolution was not a dramatic one. “Met an immense Turpin; took little notice of me,” the 26-year-old jotted in his notebook in 1835.
Sunday, November 22nd 2009 - 15:41 UTC
Senate healthcare vote clears the way for formal debate to begin

The US Senate has narrowly voted to hold a full debate on a landmark bill designed to overhaul the country's healthcare.
Friday, November 20th 2009 - 10:29 UTC
Papua New Guinea cannibal tribe could hold clue to “mad cow disease”

Darwinian natural selection could help halt human “mad cow disease”, experts say after finding a tribe impervious to a related fatal brain disorder. The Papua New Guinea tribe developed strong genetic resistance after a major epidemic of the CJD-like disease, kuru, spread mostly by cannibalism.
Thursday, November 19th 2009 - 06:44 UTC
“Passion mousse” (containing Viagra) an instant success in gastronomy fair

A dessert under the name of “Passion mousse made out of Viagra and Mburucuyá (Passion flower) fruit, the inspiration of four gastronomy students has been the great success at Bogotá, Colombia, national Gastronomy Fair which closed this week.
Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 09:28 UTC
Chile in select group of eleven countries with insignificant mad-cow risk

Beginning Tuesday Chile belongs to the select group of eleven countries who have insignificant risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. This places Chile among the nations with the best sanitary conditions on the planet.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:05 UTC
Plan to recover two crates of Shackleton’s whisky buried in Antarctica

Explorers are planning to recover a rare batch of whisky lost during explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated voyage to the South Pole a century ago. Two crates of the now extinct “Rare Old” brand of McKinlay and Co whisky have been buried in the Antarctic ice since Shackleton was forced to abandon his polar mission in 1909.