http://www.seeddaily.com/index.html Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST en-us have made a discovery in southern subtropical China which could revolutionise thinking about how ancient humans lived in the region. They have uncovered evidence for the first time that people living in Xincun 5,000 years ago may have practised agriculture -before the arrival of domesticated rice in the region. Current archaeological thinking is that it was the advent of rice cultivation a]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Parasitic wasps switch off the immune systems of fruit flies by draining calcium from the flies' blood cells, a finding that offers new insight into how pathogens break through a host's defenses. "We believe that we have discovered an important component of cellular immunity, one that parasites have learned to take advantage of," says Emory University biologist Todd Schlenke, whose lab led]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Farmers have resumed planting rice for market only 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a local official said Wednesday. It was the first time since the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster that farmers have gone inside the former 20-kilometre "no-go" zone around the doomed plant to sow rice intended for sale. The zone has been]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don't always agree on where rainfall patterns will shift in particular regions within the tropics. A new study, published online May 19 in the journal Nature Geoscience, looks to the past to ]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Physicists may have created the smallest drops of liquid ever made in the lab. That possibility has been raised by the results of a recent experiment conducted by Vanderbilt physicist Julia Velkovska and her colleagues at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle collider located at the European Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland. ]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST US online giant Amazon has unveiled plans for a futuristic greenhouse style headquarters "where employees can work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting." The Internet company revealed photos and sketches this week of the plan to be submitted to Seattle city officials, becoming the latest of the technology heavyweights to unveil a bold new headquarters plan. "The generative ]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Hong Kong on Tuesday joyfully welcomed the return of a giant inflatable rubber duck, which drew tens of thousands of visitors before it was abruptly deflated for maintenance for almost a week. The southern Chinese city has taken the 16.5-metre-tall (54-feet) yellow inflatable duck, conceived by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, to its heart since it was towed into the harbour on May 2 to cheer]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST To the joy of neighboring rivals, Argentina's beef exports are dwindling and traders blame government policies. At the same time as Argentine beef exports plummet, neighboring Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are raising their market share, indicating a recovery in Argentina's beef exports will be an uphill task for both government and traders. Argentine beef exports fell from 771,00]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Among its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers. The hitch from a technical ]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Fierce competition for water could trigger conflict unless nations cooperate to share the diminishing resource, leaders from Asia-Pacific nations warned Monday. From Central to Southeast Asia, regional efforts to secure water have sparked tensions between neighbours reliant on rivers to sustain booming populations. Breakneck urbanisation, climate change and surging demand from agricultur]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST French food industry group Danone said Monday it is ramping up its presence in the growing Chinese market for dairy products with two deals to tap sales of yogurt and health foods. Danone said it was investing about 325 million euros ($418 million) to strengthen its place in the potentially vast Chinese market, via two joint ventures in distribution and production. The intention is to bu]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST New technology offers the promise of reducing billions of dollars of losses that occur each year from the silent, invisible killer of fruits, vegetables and cut flowers - a gas whose effects are familiar to everyone who has seen bananas and other fruit ripen too quickly and rot. That's the conclusion of an article in the ACS journal Chemical Reviews. Nicolas Keller, Marie-Noelle Ducamp, Di]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Namibia's president declared a state of emergency for the whole of the desert-fringed country on Friday, due to a severe drought. "Namibia has been badly affected by drought due to poor rains," said Hifikepunye Pohamba announced at the State House. "Our people are facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions as a result of the devastating drought, I declare an emergency situation." "]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address a forum on water security in Thailand next week, an embassy official said on Friday, just weeks before he stands down from the post. His scheduled appearance in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from Sunday comes as Iran gears up for elections and as world powers press the Islamic republic over its suspected nuclear program and s]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST An invasive insect from Asia first spotted in Michigan two years ago could pose a major threat this year to fruit growers, officials say. The brown marmorated stink bug was reported in 12 counties last year, The Detroit News reported Saturday. While it has not yet been seen in Macomb County, just north of Detroit, growers there are apprehensive. Paul Blake grows strawberries, pea]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 12:33:00 AEST