Authorities in
northeastern India have asked the army to help protect endangered
one-horned rhinoceroses from poachers and have made the soldiers
honorary wildlife wardens, officials said Saturday. (Full story in the Guardian)
"Described by local residents as magical, a native herb called yerba mansa, known as the "the calming herb," has been used for centuries throughout the Southwest by American Indians and Hispanics for ailments ranging from toothaches to sinus infections. Anticipating the herb's rising popularity, a researcher has made yerba mansa a viable and desirable agricultural crop for New Mexico's small farmers, helping to protect the ecologically threatened plant from depletion." (Chicago Tribune Business section)
NASA has solved some of the mystery behind the Northern lights. Explosions of magnetic energy between Earth and the moon are behind the sparkles and wavy glows of the Northern Lights that color the night sky, NASA said Thursday. A fleet of five satellites on a mission known as THEMIS studied the phenomenon of energy that leads to the spectacular brightening of the aurora borealis.
Africa's white rhinos were driven to the brink of extinction in the
early 20th century as poachers hunted the animal for its horn. A
breeding program launched in Botswana has been successful in bringing
the white rhino back to Botswana's bush and it gives hope that black
rhinos, which are still seriously endangered, may also survive.
"The Ganges, revered as a symbol of spiritual purity for more than 2,000 years, is today a filthy soup. This is especially true in the ancient pilgrimage site of Varanasi, where 32 old pipes on the riverbank disgorge raw sewage into the flow."
Veer Bhadra Mishra is a scientist, but also a Hindu high priest who is expected to swim daily in the holy river (and does so with trepidation that he may contract a disease). But, "with his spiritual clout in a country that's more than 80 percent Hindu and his scientific expertise, Mishra has won government approval for a pilot sewage-treatment program that will bring to fruition a 20-year river cleanup campaign." (Christian Science Monitor has the story/photos )