In The News

Development of Biotech Crops is Booming in Asia

David Barboza February 21, 2003
Despite unease in some parts of the world about the safety of genetically modified food, farmers in some Asian countries are jumping on the biotech bandwagon. Because GM crops are already increasing production in places like the United States, many Asian farmers have little choice but to plant them if they want to stay competitive. Governments are scrambling, too, investing huge sums of money...

North Korean Threat Exaggerated

Ivan Oelrich February 14, 2003
Current American assumptions of North Korean missile capabilities are based upon the monitoring of North Korean missile tests, and scientist Ivan Oelrich believes that it is incorrect to make the assumption that North Korean missiles could reach the United States. North Korea has yet to demonstrate this capability, and looking at its known missiles, will find it very difficult to obtain such...

E-JUNK: Loophole in dumping law 'hurts public'

Sirinart Sirisunthorn February 11, 2003
Technological junk from around the world is finding its way to Thai ports, where it becomes the government's property – and the government's responsibility. Since Thailand is not a member of international agreements banning trade in hi-tech garbage, it cannot send unclaimed shipping containers back to their country of origin. Instead, Thais must pay to have the contents processed and...

Will Travel, Wreak Havoc: How Invasive Species Affect Ecological Diversity

Michael Richardson January 14, 2003
Flora and fauna have long moved around the globe along with wandering human beings. As the native Indians in North America learned after the arrival of diseases from the Old World, not all these exchanges have been beneficial. In recent years this problem has become even more acute, as increased travel and commerce have enabled invasive organisms to spread with alarming speed. In the United...

In Virtual Museums, an Archive of the World

James Gorman January 12, 2003
Museums around the US are attempting to move their collections into cyberspace. Once completed, digitization projects such as that at the American Museum of Natural History will allow anyone around the globe with a connection to the internet to browse and study images and notes on millions of fossils, plants, animals, and – of course – pieces of art. "The goal, officials at several museums...

U.S. Threatens to Act Against Europeans Over Modified Foods

Elizabeth Becker January 10, 2003
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said yesterday that the European Union's position on genetically modified (GM) foods was "immoral" and caused greater suffering in starving African nations. The EU has banned imports of GM foods, and earlier last year several African nations refused American food aid for fear that GM foods from the US would contaminate their own local crops...

No Sugar Coating, Just Tea Please

Amira El-Noshokaty December 18, 2002
Modern 'Western' medicine – consisting now of pharmaceutical drugs manufactured in factories – has spread around the world as the norm for medical treatment. Despite its popularity, though, traditional medicine forms, such as acupuncture and herbal treatments, are also reaching out from their original bases to benefit people around the globe. The International Seminar on the...