Cheerful outlook helps you see a larger vision

September 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration- two of the leading causes of blindness. The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

September 22nd, 2009 MANILA - The overall economic expansion of developing Asia this year was expected to rise to 3.9 percent, sustained by the region's larger economies like China and India, the Asian Development Bank said in a report Tuesday. The update to ADB's flagship annual economic publication Asian Development Outlook, upgraded its forecast of the region's growth from a slightly lower 3.4 percent projection made in March and said it is likely to top 6.4 percent in 2010.

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered a naturally occurring hormone that helps plants rid themselves of certain pesticide residues. Scientists in China are reporting the "intriguing" discovery that a natural plant hormone, applied to crops, can help plants eliminate residues of certain pesticides.

September 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The USGS (US Geological Survey) National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) has developed a new search engine that helps users hunt through massive amounts of online information about plants and animals. NBII's revamped search engine offers a variety of new features, including the ability to search multiple databases at the same time and the ability to return results that arrive in "clusters," or automatically generated categories associated with the search topic.

August 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, a team of scientists has determined that the warped shapes of the dust-filled disks where new planets may be forming around other stars, may be due to interstellar wind. The dust-filled disks where new planets may be forming around other stars occasionally take on some difficult-to-understand shapes.

August 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has said that a bill aimed at addressing the concerns of the minorities would soon be tabled in the National Assembly. Bhatti said that a draft of the bill would be finalised after consultation with all political parties, representatives of minorities, Islamic scholars and other stakeholders.

July 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has lauded his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh after positive remarks by the Indian premier in parliament on the peace process with Pakistan. Gilani praised Manmohan Singh "for his bold vision of peace and prosperity in South Asia and the statesmanship he demonstrated", the Nation newspaper reported on its website Thursday.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, s team of scientists has detected cones and their visual pigments in two flower-visiting species of bat, which has lead them to conclude that bats' eyes are adapted for both daylight and UV (Ultraviolet) vision. The research was conducted by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the University of Oldenburg, in Germany.

July 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, US, have discovered in fish yet another type of cell that can sense light and contribute to vision. The team of neuroscientists shows that retinal horizontal cells, which are nerve cells once thought only to talk to neighboring nerve cells and not even to the brain, are light sensitive themselves.

July 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A chemical produced by male fruit flies and transferred to females during mating enables the female to tell other males to buzz off. Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers, along with German colleagues, discovered the chemical pheromone, which they named CH503.

July 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have developed a new water desalination and filtration system that helps cut costs and time in producing clean water. The new mini-mobile-modular (M3) "smart" water desalination and filtration system has been made by researchers at the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

July 7th, 2009 LONDON - A new research has indicated that although trees might hog the bulk of the resources, they still leave enough "crumbs" for smaller neighbouring plants to eke out a living. The finding contradicts previous notions of plant competition and adds support to a new view of how a plant's size affects the survival and composition of its neighbouring species.

June 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the ocean can cause abnormally large growth in the otoliths, or ear bones, of fish, say researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Considered a fundamental bodily structure in fish, otoliths serve a vital function in fish by helping them sense orientation and acceleration.

June 25th, 2009 Surprise: Fish in acidic waters grow bigger earsWASHINGTON — Listen up! Carbon dioxide being absorbed by the oceans is having a puzzling effect on fish — their ears get bigger. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to reel in the Mr.

June 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Making a startling discovery, a scientist has claimed in his new book that the evolution of vision has provided humans with four real superpowers: telepathy, X-ray vision, seeing the future, and speaking with the dead. And, as it turns out, these superpowers have been instrumental in shaping the way people interact with one another and see the world.