First-time mums get a soft option CHILDBIRTH may become less gruelling with the help of a promising drug that is due to be tested in Scotland next summer. If it works, the drug could dramatically reduce the time a woman spends in labour. Shorter labour is likely to be less painful and lead to fewer surgical interventions by doctors. On average, … News
Water may harbour a nasty secret AUSTRALIAN groundwater is in places seriously contaminated by arsenic, according to recent research from the University of New South Wales. While such water contamination is a significant problem on the Indian sub-continent, few people suspected that it could affect the clean, coastal sand aquifers in Australia. Exposure to arsenic can cause a range of health … Opinion
Trouble in Paradise AT EIGHT o'clock one Tuesday morning, first and second graders in the village of Bwa Mawego on the Caribbean island of Dominica head for school. A line of kids in brown uniforms snakes down the steep road towards a two-room, yellow stucco schoolhouse. Girls, their hair plaited and tied with brightly coloured plastic bows, swing … Features
Outward bound Innate curiosity and many other motivating forces make it inevitable that there'll be manned landings on Mars this century, followed by colonisation. The possibilities are immense and so is the adventure. Malcolm Walter's The Search for Life on Mars is an up-to-date survey on what has been accomplished so far and what is planned. Mars … Books & Arts
Feedback WE USUALLY steer clear of perpetual motion and anti-gravity machines. The inventor is always just on the point of getting rid of the power source needed to make the prototype work and only needs another few million dollars of investors' money to finish the job. So we were intrigued by the carefully worded claim that … Regulars