For India's Parsees religion, vultures are used to dispose of their dead-but the bodies are piling up. The Parsees have called in Western experts who hope to use a captive-breeding program to bring back the birds and save their faith. The researchers believe that modern humans are the product of worldwide gene flow between ancient hominids. A fresh analysis of a classic pollution study has confirmed its original conclusion that city-dwellers in Europe and the US are dying young because of microscopic particles in the air. This time the US study controlled for factors such as education, poverty, and health care.
Scientists think they know why so many houses in California remain standing after an earthquake.
An outer layer of stucco, a water-resistant coating commonly used on many of the houses in the State helps the buildings stick together, preventing damage during earthquakes. Engineers from Ohio University are building a filter that can be attached to a coal burning power station where the algae will absorb carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Japan's top sportswear maker, claims to have invented a material that dissipates heat, leaving the wearer's groin 1 C cooler. But by watching solar wind, weather forecasters may soon be able to predict solar storms more accurately, giving power companies enough notice to prevent dangerous surges of current to national power grids. Yet ecologists, wildlife biologists and governments alike are ignoring the main culprit for these catastrophic epidemics among wildlife-humans.