WASHINGTON: Chimpanzees scampering on a treadmill have provided support for the notion that ancient human ancestors began walking on two legs because it used less energy than quadrupedal knuckle-walking, scientists said.
Writing on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said people walking on a treadmill used just a quarter of [...]
LONDON: Scientists have found that taking a daily supplement of Vitamin C may not protect you from common cold.
Many people take daily doses of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) supplements because it is widely believed that it prevents coughs and colds.
But a review of 30 studies conducted over several decades that looked at over 11,000 people [...]
WASHINGTON: Boffins have found that a short course of corticosteroids to patients after they get discharged from hospital for an asthma attack reduces the chances of a relapse.
Giving the steroids also reduces their use of inhalers and the benefit lasts for about three weeks.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers including Professor Brian [...]
Be Open
Living in an information age, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the constant influx of scientific studies, breaking news, and even spiritual revelations that fill our bookshelves, radio waves, and in-boxes. No sooner have we decided what to eat or how to think about the universe than a new study or book [...]
Botanical Name: Valeriana officinalis (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Valerianaceae
Indian Name : Jalakan.
Latin Names: Valeriana officinalis
Synonyms: Phu (Galen). All-Heal. Great Wild Valerian. Amantilla. Setwall. Setewale Capon’s Tail.
Part Used-: Root.
Habitat: Europe and Northern Asia.
Two species of Valerian, Valeriana officinalis and V. dioica, are indigenous in Britain, while a third, V. pyrenaica, is naturalized in some parts. The [...]
Leaves of three, let them be.†No doubt you’ve heard this warning about poison ivy, a weedy plant that each year causes more than 350,000 reported cases of human contact dermatitis, and probably many thousands more unreported cases.
Anecdotes from doctor’s offices indicate that this year is shaping up as a particularly nasty one for poison [...]
Also called: Herpes zoster, Postherpetic neuralgia
Shingles is a disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus - the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have chickenpox, the virus stays in your body. It may not cause problems for many years. As you get older, the virus may reappear as shingles. Unlike chickenpox, you can’t catch [...]
NEW YORK: Scientists in the US have claimed that scorpion venom may help in the treatment of a wide range of cancers.
Scorpions occur naturally in parts of Africa, America, India and the Caribbean. The majority of scorpions are harmless to human beings although the sting is extremely painful and requires treatment.
Researchers have found that when [...]
Botanical Name: Salvia Verbenaca
Family: N.O. Labiatae
Synonyms: Wild English Clary. Christ’s Eye. Oculus Christi.
Common Name: Wild clary
Parts Used: Leaves, seeds.
Habitat and Possible Locations: In Britain it is found wild in only one place on sand dunes at Vazon Bay in Guernsey. In Europe it is found in dry grassland, avoiding acid soils [...]
LONDON: Scientists in Britain have found that drinking approximately half a litre of milk every day can keep the heart healthy by protecting it against a range of serious conditions, including heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes.
The findings are the latest to emerge from a 25-year study of 2,400 men aged between 45 and 59 [...]
Adolescence is a developmental period fraught with the physical and psychological changes that accompany the transition from childhood to adulthood. Teenagers must cope with the establishment of independence from parents, the creation of personal identity, the development of intimate relationships with members of the opposite sex, and the bodily changes that herald adulthood. Often, the [...]
Morning Meditation:
Just before the coming of the pale rays of dawn, Mother Nature exists in a state of flux. Earth’s energy is stable, free of the disordered vibrations that are a by-product of humanity’s comings and goings. In these first moments of day, when the sun’s golden light is only just peeking over the horizon, [...]
Botanical Name : OPERCULINA TURPETHUM
Family Name : CONVOLVULACEAE
Common Name : INDIAN JALAP, TURPETH, ST. THOMAS LIDPOD, Nisoth
Part Used : Roots,Stem bark
Habitat : Throughout India upto 900 m, cultivated occasionally.
Description :
It is a perennial climber. It exudes a milky juice. The roots are long, slender, fleshy and much branched. Stems are very long, twining, twisted and [...]
Botanical Name : Salvia sclarea
Family: N.O. Labiatae
Synonyms: Clary. Horminum. Gallitricum. Clear Eye. See Bright.
(German) Muskateller Salbei.
Parts Used: Herb, leaves, seeds.Parts Used—The herb and leaves, used both fresh and dry, dried in the same manner as the Garden Sage. Formerly the root was used, dry, in domestic medicine, and also the seeds.
Habitat: [...]
LONDON: Grapefruit may help keep heart and gum diseases at bay, but a new study has found that it can be dangerous for women, as it increases the risk of breast cancer by almost a third.
Researchers believe that this happens because eating the fruit can give the levels of oestrogen – the hormone associated with [...]
BRUSSELS: Researchers working on two European Union-funded research projects have unravelled the structure of a key enzyme that can trigger allergies and asthma, giving hopes for more effective therapies, said the European Commission.
The enzyme, termed LTC4 synthase, is part of a complex process that leads to the production of leukotrienes, which cause allergic symptoms, and [...]
Onions come in many varieties and three main colours — yellow, white and red. They are rich in nutrients including vitamins B and C, protein, calcium and iron.
It’s not the strong odour of the onion that makes us cry, but the substances that are released when we chop it. The vegetable contains some sulphur compounds [...]
LONDON: University of Zurich researchers have created a spray that can relieve people of shyness, and help them socialise with others.
The spray is very easy to use, and an individual can boost self-confidence just by squirting it up the nose.
The researchers say that the spray harnesses the powers of a feel-good hormone called oxytocin, a [...]
LONDON: People with a large numbers of moles on their skin may age slowly, a study suggests.
Scientists from King’s College, London, compared key ageing DNA with the number of moles a person had in a study of 1,800 twins.
A mole is a spot on the skin that is usually round or oval in shape and [...]
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Saussurea
Species: lappa
Botanical name: Saussurea lappa.
Pharmaceutical name: Radix Saussureae.
Common Names: Costus, Kuth, Kushta, Kust, Mu Xiang, Patchak, Quang Mu Xiang
Family Name: Compositae (Asteraceae)
Local Name: Kuth
Urdu Name: Minal
English name: Costus
Part used: Roots
Flowering: June - July
Properties: acrid, bitter, warm.
Habitat: The species grow on moist, open slopes between the altitude of 2,600 to 3,600m, surrounding [...]
