Life from 2,000-year-old seed in Israel
Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date seed that is nearly 2,000 years old. The seed, nicknamed Methuselah, was taken from an excavation at Masada, the cliff fortress
International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
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Drought cuts Australian wheat forecast 29%
Australia slashed its production forecast for wheat by 29 percent because of a drought in the country's southeast. Output may reach 16 million metric tons, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural &
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Farther? Faster? Cleaner?
For the past 18 months, Gregg Kelly has driven a hydrogen-powered car that he leases from the American subsidiary of Toyota Motor. Kelly is part of an experiment, allowing the Japanese automaker to
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Europe's freight trains pick up
Economic growth and integration have sent freight traffic soaring in the European Union, but railroads have failed to keep pace. In the past 30 years, the railroads' share of all freight transport in
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Doing the right thing
Next month could be a historic turning point for the more than 300 million Africans who live on the equivalent of less than a dollar a day. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain has been busily lining
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An avian flu pandemic could kill millions
When we think of major threats, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat is lurking, one from nature, not humans - an avian
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Companies call on Bush for emission guidelines
A growing chorus of utilities, manufacturers and investors is asking the Bush administration for a clear federal standard on emissions of so-called greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, saying the
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For Congo's forests, the war isn't over
The guard post in Congo's Virunga National Park, where Bisimwa and 32 other park staff were based, had been attacked in the middle of the night by nearly 100 well-armed assailants. One guard was
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Thai economy shrinks as drought hurts crops
Thailand's economy shrank for the first time in four years last quarter as drought parched rice and sugar crops and higher fuel costs curbed consumer spending, the government reported. Gross domestic
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Building dams, once a World Bank specialty, has new rules
To the uninitiated, little was remarkable about the decision by the World Bank this spring to help finance the construction of a hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Mekong River in Laos. It was