Scientists have found a very unique fossil that is relevant in more ways than one. The fossil belongs to a 70 million year-old ancestor of horned toads. It was found in Madagascar where the species was first thought to have never inhabited.

The find also proves that Madagascar and South America were indeed linked together during the latter years of the dinosaurs. More on this after the jump!

India is now taking even more steps towards the realization of their goals in space exploration, with the completion of their deep space tracking facility. The facility will serve as their base station for planetary exploration in the future. More details in the full article!

Is America recycling e-waste properly, or do the electronic muck actually end up in other countries' backyards? An article in The News Times reveals the darker, grittier side of e-waste recycling. Read on to find out more.

To prove that the land of the rising sun has the technology to reach for the moon, Japan recently launched the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the biggest lunar mission since the Apollo landings. An orbiter named after the moon princess in a fairy tale, Kaguya, which weighs three metric tons was sent from Tanegashima island to explore uncharted polar areas of the moon.

The princess stripped 45 minutes into the flight, separating from its rocket near Chile's airspace. Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) planned for two successful orbits around the Earth before Kaguya reaches the moon to release two satellites equipped with high-definition cameras.

It took quite an effort before SELENE successfully took off, after previous failed attempts of rocket H-2 and H-2A which lost its path in 2003. Around US$ 479 million went to making the mission possible, but the Japanese scientists are quite proud with what they achieved.

Other countries are expected to follow suit in what seems to be a space race. China will launch its own craft later this year to do their own exploration, while India plans to join the scene by launching another rocket into space. The US has ideas for its own ventures, with a launch expected to kick off in 2008.

New Delhi has stepped up and joined forces with neighboring Nepal to draft a proposal to the UN that will renew efforts to conserve tigers and other endangered big cat species. This comes after repeated advances from the Chinese to re-open the tiger trade which was initially banned in 1993 by a UN resolution. The support of neighbors that have significantly large tiger populations is crucial, thus China's bid for Indian support.

Some believe that the Chinese government's initiative for the re-opening of the trade is motivated by pressure from powerful businessmen who fund the numerous tiger farms in the nation that breed the cats in captivity. If the trade is made legal again, the investors will make huge profits peddling tiger parts as delicacies or reagents for traditional Chinese medicine.

Reports say that in China's more than 5,000-strong tiger population, only 30 are estimated to be living in the wild. The rest are in the breeding farms. India's proposal is to have nations with big cat farms get a program to lower the number of animals in breeding cells and have them propagated back in the wild.

Debates are expected to come up soon when UN sessions get underway. India is expected to get popular support from European states as well as other global conservation organizations.

Indian zoologist Sushil Kumar Dutta has found a new specie of lizard, and this one doesn't have any limbs. "Preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus Sepsophis," revealed Dutta, who was the team leader for the researchers from the non-governmental organization "Vasundhra", and the North Orissa University.

The lizard that is causing all this ruckus in zoolandia is a seven inch long lizard that looks like a small snake. According to him, what makes this discovery significant is the fact that the specie is new to science, and cannot, in fact, be found anywhere else in the world.

It was discovered about more than a week ago in the forested region of Khandadhar near Rarukela, Orissa, India during a field study. "It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones," further described Dutta.

It has been said many times before that we, as a race, should look for alternative energy sources. When it comes to diesel fuel, the world currently is relying mostly on gasoline and ethanol. However, there's a problem here because most of our ethanol resource come from corn plantations.

While most countries are still looking into this crop, (which we should have been using as a source for food if we may add) the farmers of China, Brazil, and India are trying to tap the potential of jatropha. Many experts believe that the plant is the most viable and promising source of biodiesel.

As a matter of fact, tens of thousands of acres for the cultivation of jatropha have been set aside in the above mentioned countries. China, for example, is planning to have 80,000 acres of jatropha plantation by 2010 in one province alone. However, Fuels from Agriculture in Communal Technology's (FACT) Kees Daey Ouwens in The Netherlands cautions,

Nations and corporations have acted rashly coming to the idea that it is the final answer for many problems. Jatropha is very promising. But there is not enough information to start on such large scales. If they are patient enough, they will find some buyers very soon, because the message is getting out.

The good thing about producing jatropha oil is that it only has one conversion stage. All one has to do is use a hydraulic press to squeeze the oil from the seeds and a chemical solution to create and filter the fuel. It really is much more economical for most nations, not to mention more environment-friendly.

Ideally, one hectare of of jatropha produces 1,892 liters of fuel. But as mentioned, there is still only few available information about the plant that scientists are still considering several factors like ideal conditions for growth, susceptibility to disease, or expected yields per acre.

The University of Pittsburgh backed claims long made by Indian scientists that the herbal drug Triphala inhibits the growth of cancer and outright kills tumor cells, drastically reducing the lesion's size in half.

Scientists in Pittsburgh have just finished preliminary research with mice grafted with human pancreatic tumors. Fed orally with a milligram of Triphala each day, the mice showed remarkable results by the end of the research. More importantly, the Indian herbal medicine  has proven to have preventive properties as far as cancer is concerned.

The herbal drug is a mixture of powdered leaves coming from three plants. In India, it has long been used as a laxative and a digestion aid. Indians have also used it to boost appetite and treat diarrhea. It also can also boost red blood cells and aid in fat reduction.

Herbal drugs have been popular in developing countries but a lot of doubt has been cast on these medicines in the west because of the many incidents of exaggeration entailed in them. Now, American medical research units are realizing the value embedded in plant-based cures and are looking more closely at the possibility of discovering truths behind the hype.

In the Heart of India, Madhya Pradesh (in Central India) three amateur explorers discovered over 100 dinosaur eggs dating back to the Cretaceous Era.

The fossilized eggs were categorized to belong to three types of Sauropod dinosaurs. The Sauropods (lizard foot in Greek) were basically giant herbivores with long necks and walked on four feet. The best known of the species are the Apatosaurus and the Diplocodus. Remember Jurassic Park? They were the ones the children fed while perched on the giant tree.

These gentle giants reportedly travel from their usual habitats to the sandy riverbanks of the Lameta bed to lay their eggs. The three-man amateur team also uncovered dinosaur footprints which they believe could help them track the route the dinosaurs took. Earlier the team uncovered fossilized dinosaur bones in the same region.

The team, known as Mangal Panchayatan Parishad, is a group of amateur explorers, members of which are Vishal Verma, Rajesh Chouhan and Govind Verma. The former director of Geological Survey of India praised the trio, saying, "It's a good job done by amateurs. With this find, the scientists would be able to know more about the spread of the dinosaurs. It can also throw light on the reasons of extinction."

The nesting site would also give information in how many species were active in the area during the Cretaceous.

In this day and age, one would wonder why an ancient disease such as polio still exists. That's not to say there have been no developments in the field of vaccine formulation and immunization. In fact, polio has been eliminated in developed nations. The sad part is that polio still persists in India, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan - all emerging countries (read: poor countries). The infectious disease continues to cripple populations with overcrowded living conditions and poor sanitation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will have none of that... in the next decade, that is. Experts have identified new vaccine strategies that could get rid of polio, for good. The solution is in the form of "monovalent vaccine against the strain in India from the standard trivalent vaccine that protects against three types of polio virus". 

It's been almost 19 years since WHO launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. If the new vaccine strategy works, we can all say goodbye to the debilitating disease. Sayonara. Au revoir. Arrivederci. Hasta la vista...