Paris, France | AFP | Baboons make sounds that are similar to the vowels a,e,i,o and u, researchers said Wednesday, suggesting that some monkeys have had the physical capacity for language for millions of years. The findings in the journal PLOS ONE add a new dimension to the long-running debate …
Read More »Study warns of world’s groundwater depletion by 2050
Washington, United States | AFP | Groundwater resources could be depleted in the next few decades in dry areas of the world where people use lots of water for drinking and irrigating crops, researchers said Thursday. The research was presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in …
Read More »Progress toward long-acting malaria pill
Miami, United States | AFP | Scientists have made progress toward a pill that lingers in the stomach and releases its contents over a span of two weeks, an advance that could boost the fight against malaria and other diseases, a study said Wednesday. The research, funded by the Bill …
Read More »West Nile virus can kill years after infection
Miami, United States | AFP | West Nile virus may be three times more deadly than previously thought, because many deaths associated with the mosquito-borne virus occur years after the initial infection, researchers said Monday. The findings were based on a study of 4,144 people in Texas, and were presented …
Read More »Heading the ball ‘affects memory’ – study
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Heading a football can significantly affect a player’s brain function and memory up to a day, a study by researchers at Scotland’s Stirling University has said. Memory performance was reduced by between 41 percent to 67 percent following heading practice, according to the research, …
Read More »Trio win Nobel Chemistry Prize for tiny molecular machines
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | A French, British and Dutch trio of scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for developing the world’s smallest machines that may one day act as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs. Jean-Pierre Sauvage of France, Fraser Stoddart of Britain …
Read More »From America to Viagra: the art of finding what you’re not looking for
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | It’s serendipity: from America to Viagra, history is full of great discoveries helped along by chance, as more than a century of Nobel prizes can attest. Among the chance discoveries that have been honoured with the prestigious prize are X-rays (physics, 1901), penicillin (medicine, 1945), …
Read More »Prostate cancer options show little difference in survival
Miami, United States | AFP | Men with localized prostate cancer were unlikely to die in the 10 years after diagnosis regardless of whether they chose surgery, radiation or no intervention at all, researchers said Wednesday. The findings in the New England Journal of Medicine included more than 1,600 men …
Read More »Who says you need an egg to create an embryo?
Paris, France | AFP | We all grow up to accept certain unassailable facts: water is wet, the Earth is round, and to produce a baby you need an egg and sperm. As it turns out, the last of these may turn out not to be true. On Tuesday, scientists …
Read More »Sci-Hub: The case for open access
The online repository Sci-Hub changed the way to 51 million scientific research, academic papers and articles COMMENT: By Nimrod Muhumuza A dark web pioneer releases a treasure trove of stolen/leaked documents, flees to another country for safety, has a multi-million dollar law suit filed against them, is denounced as a …
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