Reports

Just 90 companies have been responsible for almost two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions generated since the Industrial Revolution began, new research has suggested. It found that 83 of these companies are energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. If that is not worrying enough, the study by Richard Heede of the Colorado-based Climate Accountability Institute has concluded that half of all emissions have been produced in the last 25 years alone. What has got the goat of climate change...

Mysore will host India's first exclusive film and digital arts festival, which will showcase a buffet of curated films, and the latest in game cinematics, and visual effects. The ABAI Fest 2013, organised by the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI) is aimed at professionals and aficionados of cinema and television, and computer games developers to give them and the audience a taste of what it is to be part of this revolutionary new world of digital content creation. The two-day...

Things and times certainly have changed. Definitely from the times when you ordered a custom-configured computer from a manufacturer. Now, one can configure a high-end luxury television, and that too with a mobile app. The company that has come up with this cutting edge innovation is US-based Vu Technologies, that also operates out of Mumbai. One of the R&D centres of the company, which is known for its super TVs, is located in Bangalore. Vu Technologies CEO Devita Saraf, who was in the city for...

Leading medical researchers have called for a total overhaul of the global healthcare system. The entire structure of health-care delivery for effective antibiotics – from research and development, to distribution and rational use – needs to be re-engineered to address the looming global threat of antibiotic resistance, a global team of 26 scientists asserted in a report in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on Sunday. The report presents a comprehensive global overview of the growing...

Even as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Saturday was exhorting the IT sector to lead the country towards progress and his media managers putting brains together for the much-hyped rally here on Sunday, a fast one was being pulled on him. And that too in Bangalore itself — a multi-purpose cargo berth and a barge jetty of the Kandla Port Trust (which is located in the Gulf of Kutch) were remotely inaugurated by Union minister for shipping GK Vasan at a function in the city. The ostensible...

A conservationist, just recognised for his untiring efforts in saving the biodiversity-rich and ecologically-important Bhadra-Kudremuch landscape, says 'low-impact tourism' is the need of the hour. DV Girish, a coffee grower from Chikmagalur, has just been awarded the 'Protect the Tiger' award under the RBS Earth Heroes Award for 2013. Girish has been working closely with forest officials in the Bhadra Tiger Reserve area, and has emerged as an influential community leader in protecting the...

Scientists have reported on the world’s first confirmed case of human infection with a wild avian influenza A H6N1 virus. A genetic analysis of the virus identified in a Taiwanese woman shows that this virus has evolved the ability to target a receptor called SAa-2,6 found in the human upper respiratory tract, potentially enabling adaptation of the virus to human cells. The woman from central Taiwan presented to a hospital with flu-like symptoms and shortness of breath in May this year. She...

For parents with differently-abled children, things are better than they were a few years ago, but challenges remain. Maybe because perceptions haven't changed yet. To start with, things have to change at the policy level. "Making play spaces inclusive is not a matter of BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) policy. Those are still seen as 'special projects'. They (BBMP officials) 'agree' to do so because a bunch of us request/ demand them to," says Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, managing trustee...

For a leading sportswear brand that thinks Bangalore to be a 'fit' city, the launch of Reebok India's first Fit Hub concept store might appear to have come a bit late in the day. That's because more than 30 such stores have already been opened across the country in the last four months. But that contention might miss the point. Reebok has been rolling out these stores in phases, and it is only now that Bangalore's chance has come. And the size does matter here. Erick Haskell, managing director...

It took the Lokayukta more than six years to pass orders based on a complaint against the illegal widening of roads inside the boundaries of the Devarayanadurga State Forest, among the oldest reserve forests of India. It was on October 16, 2007 that a complaint was lodged with the Karnataka Lokayukta against "maladministration and looting of public wealth" in the Devarayanadurga State Forest. After hearing the respondents and taking in the complainant's responses to the objections of the...