Euphorbia tirucalli L.: Family: Euphorbiaceae Genus: Euphorbia Species: tirucalli, insulana Common names: English: Indian tree spurge, Milk hedge, Petroleum-plant, aveloz, milk bush, pencil tree,…

The plants of family Euphorbiaceae are mostly monoecious herbs, shrubs, and trees, sometimes succulent and cactus-like. With about 300 genera and 7,500 species, Euphorbiaceae is one of the largest…

Biofuels According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [NREL] (see http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_biofuels.html): “Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly…

Okay, I know Michigan is practically an island, but that water is fresh, and there are no freshwater cephalopods (curious, yes? I will muse on that later!). So we can consider it landlocked from a…

No matter what their profession, all the letter writers behaved the same way. They adhered to a circadian cycle; they tended to write a number of letters at one sitting, which is more efficient; and…

The NIH has made public how often they fund grants below the payline. 18% of R01s scored below the nominal cutoff get funded anyway. A good chunk of those are grants from new investigators. This is…

A biopharma is hoping to add to the deluge of drugs by the end of this year, but in virgin territory for the pharma industry. A new orphan indication? A disease that has previously been ignored? Nope…

Isolated hamlet in Indian forest gets electricity from seed-powered generator Deep in the tropical forests of southern India, the Kolam people were untouched by telephones, cars or television, and…

Biofuels with special reference to ecological impacts of biofuel cultivation Why Bio Diesel ? Many alternative Bio Diesel fuels have been shown to have better exhaust emissions than traditional…

On Tuesday, BBC News' Day In Pictures included a photo of a northern bottlenose whale, washed up dead on a beach in Southern England. (The bottlenose whale is a member of the beaked whale family,…

Well, now we know that spanking results in lower IQs for children than those that aren't spanked.  Of course, maybe once we figure out what IQ really means (if anything) this study might…

VEGETATION The vegetation of the area has been classified as “scrub jungle”. Plants which can either adapt themselves to high temperatures or to low temperatures and discouraging conditions of soil…

On important occasions, when man feels that his efforts and work are enough to bring forth result, he begins to depend on good and bad omens and oracles and totems Anonymous (1959). To get leaves…

I'm not one of the more fundamentalist types in the broad science community who had any issue with Francis Collins leading the NIH.   His credentials are impeccable and the same people who were…

This is too funny. A website called Kill or Cure? has been compiling links to science stories in The Daily Mail (UK) and their apparent "ongoing effort to classify every inanimate object into those…

Just came across this nice video by C0nc0rdance summarizing the work of Susumu Ohno and the original concept of junk DNA. (Oh, and it gets bonus points for using one of my figures!)

Does an ideal marriage exist?   Before we start this discussion, we ought to, as a beginning, ask ourselves: What is an 'ideal marriage'?   Presumably an 'ideal marriage' is one where there…

  WHY WE STARE AT THE STARS   September 17, 1989       Ayad Izzet Gharbawi       The people are tired, the people are weary; bored in their life styles; bored…

Aonla, Aonla Mewar Bawul, Bawul Marwar: Here plants are used to distinguish Mewar from Marwar. English rendering would be Cassia auriculata Linn. Characterizes Mewar, whereas Acacia nilotica Indica.…

ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES ON SOME IMPORTANT HERBAL MEDICINES Ethnobotany is a distinct branch of natural science dealing with various aspects such as anthropology, archaeology, botany, ecology,…