India gets its ‘spook’ on to celebrate Halloween

By Karishma Saurabh Kalita  New Delhi “Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble,” said the three witches in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The day of the dead, better known as Halloween, will be celebrated all across the world Friday and Indian restaurants, cafes and nightclubs are in full swing to get their “spook” […]

Power supply restored in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Nov 2 (IANS) Electricity supply resumed in Bangladesh, nearly 10 hours after the breakdown of the national grid. Masum-Al-Beruni, managing director of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, said power supplies were restored in parts of Dhaka and all other divisional cities, including Chittagong, Saturday night, Xinhua reported. Al-Beruni expressed hope that there will not be […]

Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer’s

Washington, Nov 2 (IANS) Debunking a prevalent theory of Alzheimer’s development, researchers have now found that it is not the amyloid-beta (A-beta) protein fragments but the tau tangle proteins which are the real culprits behind the disease. Plaque made of beta-amyloid protein fragments and tangles formed from tau proteins are familiar hallmarks of disease in the […]

Quake-slowing rocks found in Earth’s crust

London, Nov 2 (IANS) A team of scientists has discovered unusual rocks deep inside the Earth’s crust that could slow down earthquakes. Using computer models to create underground 3D images of the Chile earthquake (magnitude 8.8 on Richter scale) in 2010, researchers from the University of Liverpool found a mass of rocks, deep in the active […]

Urban landscapes influence bio-diversity

New York, Nov 2 (IANS) Planting trees and creating green space in cities is good for attracting insect species but it may not be enough to ensure bio-diversity, said a study. The team found insect abundance was lacking in two common, urban trees in Iowa in the US, suggesting insect movement may be limited by barriers, […]

Jamaat leader sentenced to death for war crimes

Dhaka, Nov 2 (IANS) Mir Quasem Ali, a top leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death Sunday for crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War. The International Crimes Tribunal-2, chaired by Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the sentence, nearly six months after a case against him was wrapped up, bdnews24.com reported.

A glass of red wine worth an hour of exercise

Toronto, Nov 2 (IANS) According to a research, a glass of red wine could provide one with the same benefits an hour’s exercise would give. Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red grapes, improves muscle and heart functions in the same way as an hour of exercise would, Canadian researchers noted. “I think resveratrol could help patient […]

Another Burkina Faso army officer claims power

Ouagadougou, Nov 1 (IANS) Burkina Faso’s senior military officer Isaac Zida, who was in command of the presidential guard, Saturday announced via a televised speech that he has seized power as head of state during the interim period. “I now assume… the responsibilities of head of the transition and of head of state to assure the […]

Drugs to abet cancer cells suicide found

London, Nov 1 (IANS) British scientists have found a drug combination that can trigger the self-destruct process in lung cancer cells — paving the way for new treatments. The combination of two drugs, called TRAIL and a CDK9 inhibitor, forced the cancer cells to self-destruct, the findings showed. When healthy cells are no longer useful, they […]

Space plane crash: Sir Branson ‘shocked’ but to ‘persevere’

New York, Nov 1 (IANS) Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, was “shocked and saddened” by the news of the Virgin Galactic passenger space plane crash but said that he would “persevere”. The space plane developed by Virgin Galactic crashed Friday after suffering an “in-flight anomaly” during a powered test flight over California. “All our […]