Like a cranberry cocktail, biking on Cape Cod in the fall is cool and colorful

Cape Cod’s scenic _ and mostly flat! _ bike trails

Gas drilling industry, environmentalists set for EPA’s upstate NY hearings today, Wednesday

EPA holding upstate NY hearings on gas drilling

Whole Foods puts new seafood ratings in stores to help shoppers select sustainable fish

Whole Foods to post seafood environmental ratings

Haryana flood threat rises after Yamuna headwork damaged

CHANDIGARH - The flood threat in Haryana has risen after the Tajewala headwork on the Yamuna in Yamunanagar district suffered extensive damage Monday, allowing the fast flowing waters to inundate low-lying villages, officials said.

India’s fast breeder reactor set to achieve fourth milestone

CHENNAI - The Rs.5,600 crore ($1.25 billion) prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) under construction at Kalpakkam, around 80 km from here, is expected to get its fourth critical component, the inner vessel, this week.

‘Women’s brain as powerful as men’s’

LONDON - Don’t underestimate women’s brains, which are as capable as that of men, says a neuroscientist.

Heavy rains lash Delhi, more to come

NEW DELHI - Heavy rains lashed Delhi for the third consecutive day Monday causing waterlogging in some low lying areas of the city. The weatherman has predicted more rains Tuesday.

Cuban Pewee bird makes rare appearance in Florida, spotted in Everglades National Park

Caribbean bird makes rare appearance in Florida

How to fight loneliness (re-issue)

WASHINGTON - A new research has suggested that changing how a person perceives and thinks about others is the most effective intervention for loneliness.

Twins help Oz researchers find genes for blindness

WASHINGTON - Several studies in Australia have found new genes that affect eyesight, all thanks to twins.

Witnesses likely to ‘choose faces they dislike’ at ID parades

LONDON - A new research has suggested that people are more likely to point the finger at a suspect in a line-up if they dislike the person and less likely to identify someone they like.

Google damaging users’ brain by offering quick assistance

LONDON - An author has claimed that Google is damaging the brain of its users by providing information almost instantly, leading people to lose their intellectual capacity to store information.

Scientists modify rice to grow well on saline soil

SYDNEY - Scientists have successfully used genetic modification (GM) to improve the salt tolerance of rice, often grown on salty soil.

Biker rumble: California law would force noisy motorcycles to pipe down or pay up

Bikers make noise on attempt to quiet motorcycles

Consistent brain activity allow people remember faces, words effectively

WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that people would remember specific information such as faces or words better if the pattern of brain activity remains consistent every time the information is studied.ussell Poldrack of University of Texas and his colleagues challenged the long-held belief that people retain information more effectively when they study it several times under different contexts and, thus, give their brains multiple cues to remember it.

Gentler ways of handling mice keeps them calm and supportive in lab

LONDON - A new study has suggested that cupping a mouse in the hand or carrying it in a small tunnel reduces stress and encourages cooperation during lab experiments.

Long-standing mystery of protein ‘quality control’ mechanism solved

London, Sept 13, 2010: Scientists have apparently solved a long-standing mystery of how cells conduct “quality control” to eliminate the toxic effects of a certain kind of error in protein production.

Misfolding neural proteins linked with autism

WASHINGTON - Misfolding and other molecular anomalies in a key brain protein is associated with autism spectrum disorder, international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego have identified.

Method to enhance solar energy found

LONDON - MIT chemical engineers have found that by using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms) solar energy can be concentrated 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell.

Bats too have regional accents

MELBOURNE - It’s not only humans who have accents, for even bats from different regions speak differently, say Aussie scientists.

Intravenous drips need not be changed every few days

WASHINGTON - Small intravenous drips commonly used in the hand or arm do not need to be moved routinely every 3 days, say researchers.

How kids adapt their ‘mental number line’ affects their memory for numbers

WASHINGTON - The more linear a child’s mental number line becomes with time, the better he or she is at remembering numbers, according to a new study.

Function found for protein that causes Alzheimer’s disease

WASHINGTON - Researchers have found a function for the amyloid precursor protein (APP for short) that yields the prime ingredient in amyloid plaques, which lead to Alzheimer’s disease.

A pot belly increases your risk of bowel cancer

LONDON - That beer belly or a “muffin top” your friends find cute is more dangerous than it appears-it can dramatically increase the risk of bowel cancer, according to a study.

New Eagle chip to power nextgen super smartphones

LONDON - You seem to think your iPad is pretty cool? Wait for a new chip that will help make even more advanced generation of ’super smartphones’.

Chefs, foodies seek the newest thing in food in oldest way: foraging for roots, flowers, nuts

Foodies turn to foraging to connect with nature

MRSA infection linked to high mortality

WASHINGTON - Scientists have found that a MRSA infection with a reduced susceptibility to the antibiotic drug vancomycin is linked to high mortality.

You are likely to pay more for goods you can touch

WASHINGTON - Disagreeing with popular predictions that online shopping would soon take over shopping in stores and malls, researchers have suggested that people are almost 50 percent more likely to buy products they could touch as compared to the ones with pictorial representation.

Rapidly freezing sperm offers fresh hope for IVF couples

LONDON - Scientists have apparently found a new technique for rapidly freezing sperm that could be a fresh hope to couples undergoing IVF.

Swimming in indoor pools could increase cancer risk

WASHINGTON - Taking a dip in indoor chlorinated pools may induce genotoxicity (DNA damage that may lead to cancer) as well as respiratory problems, revealed a study.

Now, artificial skin made of nanowires

LONDON - Using semiconductor nanowires, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic material that could one day give new meaning to the term “thin-skinned.”

Gene discovery could pave way for nearsightedness treatments

LONDON - Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have uncovered a gene linked with myopia or nearsightedness in Caucasian people from several different regions, including Dutch, British and Australian subjects.

Online war despatch: Officer to tweet from Afghan frontline

LONDON - A senior British Army officer will start using the online social networking site Twitter from next month to inform the world about the frontline in war-ravaged Afghanistan.