In The News

Fossil Find May Back 'Out of Africa' Theory

Guy Gugliotta June 12, 2003
Scientists now have more evidence to support the claim that modern humans arose from one common ancestor in Africa. The recent discovery of the remains of two adults and a child from 160,000 years ago in northeast Ethiopia closes "a temporal and geographical gap" in the route on which human ancestors moved north out of Africa, to the Middle East and other regions of the world. Other...

The New Global Food Fight

Kathleen McAfee June 6, 2003
Genetically modified (GM) food offered as aid by the US is not simply manna from the heavens for people in famine-stricken countries, says Yale scholar Kathleen McAfee. African nations have refused GM food aid from the US not just because they fear losing access to the European Union market, where imported GM foods are subject to substantial restrictions. They also worry about environmental...

The GM Mirage Will Not Help the Poor

Alex Wijeratna June 4, 2003
It is profits and not an altruistic desire to end world hunger that is behind the emergence of the genetically modified (GM) agriculture industry, argues Alex Wijeratna of the UK based international development agency, ActionAid. Wijeratna's essay adds to the US's concern over export restrictions on GM treated food from the US to countries in the European Union. Recently, US President...

Chinese Scientists Say SARS Efforts Stymied by Organizational Obstacles

May 26, 2003
This article summarizes in English a story concerning SARS that appeared in the China Youth Daily. The story reveals the non-scientific reasons why Chinese scientists at the Beijing Genomic Institute, part of the global network on the Human Genome Project, did not succeed in contributing more to the scientific research on the Sars virus. According to the summary, the biggest lesson is how...

Getting Our Bearings

Joan Johnson-Freese May 23, 2003
Human beings have occupied most of the inhabitable surface of the earth for tens of thousands of years, but only recently have we had the means to accurately determine where on Earth we actually are. The technology that supports this is one of a new breed of global utilities and, surprisingly enough, comes free - compliments of Uncle Sam. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology allows or...

America's Broadband Dream is Alive in Korea

Ken Belson May 5, 2003
According to a vision of Internet technology, one would be able to watch television programs, attend training workshops, sing karaoke, shop, and play interactive games – all of it online. Although Internet has changed patterns of consumption and sociality in the US, it has not yet realized its full potential. But that is not to say it has not happened anywhere. South Korea is a remarkable...

The SARS Virus is Going High-Tech

April 23, 2003
A new SARS-related computer virus might become troublesome for computer users. The virus sends itself to random e-mail addresses from users’ address books, and modifies the recipients’ Internet browsers to display WHO’s webpage describing SARS outbreak. Because it spreads via Windows e-mail programs by hiding in messages regarding SARS, the virus does not affect users of other operating systems....