Ocimum genus contains between 50 to 150 species of herbs and shrubs from the tropical regions of Asia (Bailey, 1924 and Darrah 1980). Plants have square stems, fragrant opposite leaves and whorled…

Scientific Name Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers. Family Menispermaceae Used Part Stem Distribution Area A large, glabrous, deciduous climbing shrub found throughout tropical India,…

Scientific Name Sesamum indicum Linn. syn. S. orientale Linn. Family Pedaliaceae Used Part Seeds Distribution Area An erect, branched or unbranched annual, 60-180 cm. high, cultivated throughout…

Scientific Name Elaeocarpus sphaericus (Gaertn.) K. Schum. syn E. ganitrus Roxb. Family Elaeocarpaceae Used Part Fruit, seed kernel. Distribution Area Nepal, Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh…

Sixth sense or extrasensory perception (ESP) is an ability to perceive the subtle dimension or the unseen world of angels, ghosts, heaven, etc. Sixth sense (ESP) includes the ability tounderstand…

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere". Groucho Marx

When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life 150 years ago next month, he avoided conjecture…

Virtually every study in the last two years has blamed neighborhoods for obesity rather than the people who eat too much - but living near a variety of restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets…

On Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, the "Roadrunner" supercomputer exceeded a sustained speed of 1 petaflop/s, or 1 million billion calculations per second. "Petaflop/s" is computer jargon—peta signifying…

Well, it seems that the issue surrounding the runaway balloon has finally been resolved with the entire event being a hoax. Certainly there are many people that are angry and there's much talk about…

Bhutanese Medical System: The Bhutanese medical system goes well beyond the notion of medicine in the narrow western sense. It forms a part of their culture and tradition, in which "Buddhism" is the…

1.1 Biomass currently supplies about one third of the developing countries energy varying from about 90% in countries like Uganda, Rawanda and Tanzania, to 45 percent in India, 30 percent in China…

There has been much discussion lately on this blog and elsewhere about the relationships among skepticism, atheism, and politics. I have roundly criticized Richard Dawkins for extending scientific…

Nepotism has a bad connotation in the workplace or French politics but being surrounded by relatives does lead to better group dynamics and more cooperation in some animals, and certainly spiders,…

In light of recent discussions about vaccines and scientific consensus it is sobering to consider that fully one-third of medical studies turn out to be wrong. "A study in 2005, published in the…

Art is many things, but not often enough is it scientific. Fear not, art/science lovers, for Sir Isaac's Loft in the Franklin Institute is here to save the day! I began describing the Loft in my…

In a religious quandary? Don't know which traditional/cult/New Age group to join? Fear not, the Holy Taco has worked it out for you. Simply follow the flow chart to your transcendental bliss: The…

Caltech researchers have created a nanoscale crystal device that allows them to confine both light and sound vibrations in the same tiny space. The interactions between sound and light in this…

Later this evening I’ll be giving a talk to a group of astronomers on what its like to see like an alien. The beauty of this is that I can speculate until the cows come home without fear of any…

Body builders will tell you that protein is key to bigger, stronger muscles.   For the truly elite, that may be the case but for the all but 50 of you who are not elite muscle builders, a…