American and Israeli scientists have found a way to clone a wild wheat gene that they say boosts the protein, iron and zinc content in the grain. The discovery might even help ease nutritional deficiencies affecting millions of children worldwide, they say. “Wheat is one of the world’s major crops, providing approximately one-fifth of all calories consumed by humans, therefore, even small increases in wheat’s nutritional value may help decrease deficiencies in protein and key micronutrients,” research leader Professor Jorge Dubcovsky, of the University of California, Davis, said in a prepared statement.
Archive for November, 2006 - Page 4
Cosmic duffer Mikhail Tyurin was late for his tee off time in space Wednesday evening, but 220 miles above Earth there are no foursomes behind him pressuring him to get his golf shot off. After fixing an overheating spacesuit and then a stuck exterior hatch, the spacewalk began 77 minutes behind schedule.
Because delays put his arrival at the tee in orbital darkness, Tyurin figured he’d wait a bit until dawn to make his shot with a gold-plated six-iron. The promotion for a Canadian golf club manufacturer was to be the first task for Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria during a six-hour spacewalk.
The mass of Web users and Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other major Internet providers dodged a legal morass Monday when the California Supreme Court ruled they cannot be sued for posting or distributing libelous material written by others. In a 34-page ruling, the state’s high court overturned a lower court decision that had stripped immunity against such lawsuits and alarmed free speech advocates who warned it could chill expression on the Internet.
The Supreme Court unanimously concluded that federal law is clear on insulating Internet providers and Web sites against lawsuits for the inflammatory statements of others. The ruling does not, however, protect the original authors of defamatory material.