Top Sciences Free Pdf
‘World’s Most Useful Tree’ Provides Low-Cost Water Purification Method for Developing World
Posted by wideant in Cell & Microbiology on March 20, 2010
A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons’ Corporate Citizenship Initiative.
A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age. Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author, and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.
“Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world’s most useful trees,” said Lea. “Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost.” Read the rest of this entry »
Investors need not lose sleep over daylight saving
The changeover to and from daylight saving does not have a detrimental effect on financial markets, according to new research.
While previous studies suggested stock markets weakened on the Monday after daylight saving began or finished, possibly due to the effect on investors’ sleep patterns, Massey finance specialists and a Dutch research colleague have produced a paper showing there is no discernable impact.
Associate Professor Russell Gregory-Allen, Professor Ben Jacobsen and Wessel Marquering of Erasmus University in the Netherlands found that sharemarket returns in 22 countries were no different from any other day.
“The results reject earlier conclusions that a change in the mood of investors as a result of changes in sleep patterns significantly affects stock returns,” Dr Gregory-Allen says. Read the rest of this entry »
Scientists investigate transport of nanoparticles in the human body
Posted by wideant in Bio & Medicine on March 20, 2010
The question of whether or not nanoparticles have an effect on the human body – and if so, how – is still largely unanswered. There is little information, for instance, on whether pregnant women exposed to these minute particles pass them on to their unborn babies. Scientists from Empa and the University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland) now show first results.
Nanotechnology is not only expected to help overcome existing challenges in the realms of medicine, energy supply and environmental protection; it is also considered one of the motors of innovation for the Swiss economy. This new technology will, however, only be able to establish itself in the long run if potential risks associated with it – such as those posed by free nanoparticles – are fully investigated and understood. Read the rest of this entry »