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Sitting for 11 hours or more in everyday life increases our chances of dying within three years, irrespective of whether we are physically active or not, an Australian study has found. According to the study by University of Sydney, the people who remained sedentary for half day had a 40 percent increased risk, even when physical activity and weight was taken into account, the Daily Mail reported. "These results have important public health implications. That morning walk or trip to the gym...

LONDON: A British ethics group has launched a debate on the ethical dilemmas posed by new technologies that tap into the brain and could bring super-human strength, highly enhanced concentration or thought-controlled weaponry. With the prospect of future conflicts between armies controlling weapons with their minds, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics launched a consultation on Thursday to consider the risks of blurring the lines between humans and machines. "Intervening in the brain has...

TILONIA: It gives no degrees and the teachers and pupils often do not share a common language, but India's Barefoot College has been transforming the lives of rural women for four decades. Located in Tilonia village, 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the capital of the western desert state of Rajasthan, Barefoot is a collection of environmentally friendly dome-shape buildings. Inside, about a dozen teachers give classes in subjects ranging from the basics of solar engineering, dentistry,...

LONDON: A photographer has spotted a giant moth on a trip to document the biodiversity of the eastern Himalayas. Early one morning Sandesh Kadur was driving through Arunachal Pradesh in the far north-east of India, when he rounded a bend in the road and saw "a ginormous moth" sitting by a pothole. He got out to take photos, and as he did so the moth went into a defensive posture, spreading its wings and leaning forward to make itself look as big as possible. It remained still for several...

TORONTO: Paleontologists have traced the origins of humans and other vertebrates to a worm that swam in the oceans half a billion years ago, said a study published Monday. A new analysis of fossils unearthed in the Canadian Rockies determined that the extinct Pikaia gracilens is the most primitive known member of the chordate family, which today includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. The research published in the British scientific journal Biological Reviews identified a...

TOKYO: A Japanese scientist said Tuesday he has made violin strings out of spider silk and claims that -- in the right hands -- they produce a beautiful sound. Thousands of the tiny strands can be wound together to produce a strong but flexible string that is perfect for the instrument, said Shigeyoshi Osaki, professor of polymer chemistry at Nara Medical University. Osaki, who has been working with spider silk for 35 years, has previously suggested the material could be used for surgical...

SYDNEY: Most Australian children in their last year of primary school think cotton socks come from animals while one-quarter believe yoghurt is from plants, a study warning of the growing gap between city and country found. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) survey of almost 1,000 students in grades six and 10 found widespread misconceptions about food processing and farming. An overwhelming majority knew where potato chips and coffee came from but almost 20 percent of...

78-year-old Indian woman is believed to be the world's oldest female professional sharpshooter. Chandro Tomar has entered and won over 25 national championships across India as well as raising six children and 15 grandchildren. "I wanted to do something useful with my life and show people my capabilities," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. "As soon as I shot my first pistol I was hooked. And now I've shown everyone there's no disadvantages to my age. If you're focused you can do...

SYDNEY: Australian farmer Phillip McCauley has grown a massive 385.1 kg pumpkin in his farm. The dairy farmer from Cora Lynn, Victoria, says he has given up on gourds now after growing a piffling metre-long one, and quit with the huge tomatoes too. In the extreme vegetable world, the Atlantic Giant pumpkin stands tallest. It is the biggest thing going and Phillip's best shot at glory. And after growing Victoria's biggest ever pumpkin, a 385.1kg monolith that has smashed the old record by...

SURABAYA: A male giraffe that died in an Indonesian zoo was found to have 20 kilograms of plastic in its stomach, officials said Saturday, the latest suspicious animal death at the facility. Kliwon, 30, was born at Surabaya Zoo, the biggest in the country, and was its last remaining giraffe, living alone in its pen for 13 years. It died on Thursday. "We got the autopsy results last night. They found a plastic lump weighing around 20 kilograms and 60 centimetres in diameter in his stomach,"...

KARACHI: Art reaches beyond all social, cultural and religious bounds and so its significance is far-reaching and profound. Where people may think that the importance of arts is ebbing away, Samrah Tariq proves it otherwise. Setting a world record in CIE exams 2011 in Art, Samarah, from Happy Home School, Karachi, is the only student from Pakistan to have set benchmarks of accomplishments and achieved CIE Outstanding Achievers Awards this year. In a subject less opted in Pakistan yet drawing...

LONDON: Could "green" be the new black? Perhaps only if you can imagine wearing stilettos made from pistachio nuts and coffee beans and clothes from orange peel, fungi and mould. While the fashion pack are hitting the catwalks at Paris Fashion Week, students at London's Kingston University have taken up the challenge of trying to lower the industry's carbon footprint by using biodegradable materials to produce luxury clothes, shoes and accessories for home and car interiors. The fashion...

NEW DELHI: United Nations drug report 2011 has said that India is the biggest consumer of heroin. Of the 40 tonnes produced in south Asia, nearly 17 tonnes are consumed in India, the biggest consumer in the region with the trade valued at $1.4 billion. While speaking at the release of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) annual drug report for 2011, Narcotics Control Bureau director general O P S Malik said the rising student population in some cities in south and western India...

PORTLAND: The biggest lobster ever caught in Maine, a 27-pounder (12.25 kg) nicknamed "Rocky" with claws tough enough to snap a man's arm, was released back into the ocean after being trapped in a shrimp net last week, marine officials said. The 40-inch (one-meter) male crustacean, about the size of a 3-year-old child, was freed in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, said Elaine Jones, education director for the state's Department of Marine Resources. "All the weight is in the claws," Jones...

Gigantic dinosaurs weighing more 30-tons and longer than four-storey buildings made love just like dogs do, scientists have revealed. It is a well known fact that dinosaurs ruled the Earth at some point and they could only have done this by being good at mating, but how they actually made love had been a mystery till now. "The most likely position to have intercourse is for the male behind the female, and on top of her, and from behind, any other position is unfathomable," the Daily Mail...