• Web-based programme developed by US student gives the blind Internet access
• Researchers develop efficient solar power devices
• Scotland: National Museum opens new gallery covering significant events

• German scientists inspired by correlations between quantum physics and consciousness
• Professor Eckhart Stein honoured for lifetime of achievements
• Maharishi University of Management to host conference on Transcendental Meditation Technique and brain function

• US: Researcher says Gulf dead zone bigger than ever
• Mother's smoking tied to oral birth defect
• Severe danger to coral reefs caused by acidifying oceans

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Web-based programme developed by US student gives the blind Internet access
20 July 2008 - A free new Web-based programme for the blind aims to make Internet access easier. It's called WebAnywhere, and it was developed by a computer science graduate student at the University of Washington. Unlike software that has to be installed on PCs, WebAnywhere is an Internet application that can make Web surfing accessible to the blind on most any computer. (more)

Researchers develop efficient solar power devices
11 July 2008 - Using sheets of glass covered with organic dyes, scientists have devised an efficient and practical solar power device that they believe can help make this clean, renewable energy source more affordable. Writing on Thursday in the journal Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers describe the development of a new type of 'solar concentrator' that may provide a better way to extract energy from the sun. (more)

Scotland: National Museum opens new gallery covering significant events
11 July 2008 - Scotland's National Museum has opened a major new gallery covering the dramatic changes the country has undergone over the past 100 years as part of a refurbishment of the museum complex in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town. The gallery runs the gamut through weaving tweed cloth on the Hebridean island of Harris, extracting North Sea oil, the glory years of shipbuilding on the Clyde river, and inventions by Scots. (more)

Window coatings can channel solar energy
10 July 2008 - Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that turns windows into a solar collector, letting people see clearly while collecting energy. A coating on the glass channels photons of light to a solar collector around the edge of the window. The glass coatings absorb incoming light and then re-emit the energy into the glass, which conducts it to solar cells. (more)

UK study shows how broccoli fights cancer
1 July 2008 - Just a few more portions of broccoli each week may protect men from prostate cancer, British researchers reported on Wednesday. The researchers believe a chemical in the food sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors, said Richard Mithen, a biologist at Britain's Institute of Food Research. There is plenty of evidence linking a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables to reduced cancer risk. However, the study published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS One is the first human trial investigating the potential biological mechanism at work, Mithen said. (more)

Mexico: Researchers recreate pre-Columbian sounds that may have been used to treat illness
29 June 2008 - For years, many archaeologists who uncovered ancient noisemakers dismissed them as toys. Museums relegated them to warehouses. But while most studies and exhibits of ancient cultures focus on how they looked, Roberto Velazquez, a mechanical engineer, said the noisemakers provide a rare glimpse into how they sounded. Velazquez, who has devoted his career to recreating the sounds of his pre-Columbian ancestors, is part of a growing field of study that includes archaeologists, musicians, and historians. Medical doctors are interested too, believing the Aztecs may have used sound to treat illnesses. (more)

Booming China splashes out on science
28 June 2008 - China's booming economy has allowed it to increase spending on research and basic science. On Friday, Peking University opened the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in a Chinese-style building overlooking the Yuan Ming Yuan summer palace. China's spending on research and development hit a record high of 300 billion yuan ($43.73 billion) last year. About one third came from the government, and the remainder from corporations. China has leapfrogged to become the fourth largest economy in the world. (more)

Canada plant turns throwaways into energy
27 June 2008 - A garbage sorting plant in Edmonton, Alberta will be home to an ethanol facility that will turn 100,000 tonnes of plastic, cardboard, and paper into the fuel additive starting in 2010, an official involved in the project said on Friday. The C$70-million ($69.3-million) plant will produce 36 million liters of ethanol per year, making it the world's first industrial scale ethanol plant using waste as a feedstock, said Don Pierce of Greenfield Ethanol. (more)

US: Alaska plans geothermal leasing at volcano
24 June 2008 - In Alaska, a state rich in oil and gas, officials are seeking to stir interest in a different source of underground energy -- the geothermal heat simmering beneath the volcanoes and hot springs that dot the landscape that could power thousands of homes. The state Division of Oil and Gas is preparing a lease sale that would allow companies to explore the geothermal resources beneath Mount Spurr, a snowcapped 11,070-foot volcano along Cook Inlet that could potentially send power to thousands of homes 75 miles to the east in Anchorage. (more)

US: Technology could combat energy challenges - International Energy Agency
24 June 2008 - Leveraging new and existing technologies can help curb carbon emissions and slow global warming, part of a transformation needed for a more sustainable energy future, the International Energy Agency said on Monday. The IEA, a Washington think tank backed by 27 governments, has been seeking to spread its message about how clean energy technologies might reduce reliance on oil while slashing emissions. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

German scientists inspired by correlations between quantum physics and consciousness
24 June 2008 - Speaking 17 June 2008 on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Col Gunther Chasse, International Deputy Minister of Invincible Defence for the Global Country of World Peace, reported on his recent meeting with a top physics professor at the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich. The professor later corresponded with Raja John Hagelin, world-renowned quantum physicist and Raja of Invincible America, to discuss topics of quantum physics and consciousness. (more)

Professor Eckhart Stein honoured for lifetime of achievements
21 June 2008 - Speaking 17 June 2008 on Maharishi's Global Family Chat, Raja Emanuel Schiffgens, Raja of Invincible Germany for the Global Country of World Peace, honoured Dr Eckhart Stein, world-renowned physicist and pioneer in Consciousness-Based Education. (more)

Maharishi University of Management to host conference on Transcendental Meditation Technique and brain function
31 May 2008 - Speaking recently on Maharishi Global Family Chat, Dr Robert Roth, National Director of Expansion for the Global Country of World Peace in the United States, reported plans for an international conference on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation Technique on brain functioning, to be held at Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. (more)

Maharishi Vedic Observatory: Ancient technology revived - Part III
2 May 2008 - Aligning one's vision with this ancient observatory aligns our individual awareness with Nature's Intelligence leading to life lived in accord with all the Laws of Nature for greater harmony, balance, and success in life. (more)

Revival of an ancient technology: The Maharishi Vedic Observatory - Part II
20 April 2008 - With the rapid rise of global invincibility, and expansion of educational programmes offering total knowledge of Natural Law through all the disciplines of Maharishi's Vedic Science, Global Good News continues this series of articles about the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, a collection of instruments used to observe the movements of the stars and planets. Aligning one's vision with this ancient observatory aligns individual awareness with Nature's Intelligence, leading to life lived in accord with all the Laws of Nature for greater harmony, balance, and success in life. (more)

The Maharishi Vedic Observatory: Ancient technology revived - Part I
13 April 2008 - As Maharishi's teaching of Total Knowledge continues to expand in colleges and schools around the world, Global Good News presents articles about the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, a collection of instruments used to observe the movements of the stars and planets. Aligning one's vision with this ancient observatory aligns our individual awareness with Nature's Intelligence, leading to life lived in accord with all the Laws of Nature for greater harmony, balance, and success in life. (more)

Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, USA: Dr Arenander addresses Iowa Brain Injury Association
5 April 2008 - Dr Alarik Arenander, director of Maharishi University of Management's Brain Research Institute, was recently invited to give a keynote address to the Brain Injury Association of Iowa -- the third time he has addressed this group. Approximately 350 specialists heard about the potential of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Technique for rehabilitating individuals with brain injuries. (more)

Science Daily reports: Transcendental Meditation can lower blood pressure
15 March 2008 - A new University of Kentucky study, which appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, reports that Transcendental Meditation can effectively control high blood pressure without causing the possible negative side effects associated with anti-hypertension drugs. (more)

Maharishi School students in Iowa, USA win four international photography awards
1 March 2008 - Four photography students at the Maharishi Middle and Upper School in Fairfield, Iowa, USA recently won awards in the 2008 PIEA (Photo Imaging Education Association) International Photography Competition. The 2008 contest received 6,150 entries from 1,309 participants from 115 schools in nine countries. (more)

Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace gives introduction to the Unified Field conference series - Part I
23 February 2008 - On the Maharishi Channel's 'News from Around the World', Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace, gave a live inaugural address for the launching of a new series of videotaped lectures on the Unified Field by renowned physicist Dr John Hagelin, Raja [Administrator] of Invincible America for the Global Country of World Peace. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: Researcher says Gulf dead zone bigger than ever
23 July 2008 - A 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas-Louisiana coast this year is likely to be the biggest ever and last longer than ever before, with marine life affected for hundreds of miles, a scientist warned. The phenomenon is caused when salt water loses large amounts of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia that is typically associated with an area off the Louisiana coast at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The fresh water and salt water don't mix well, keeping oxygen from filtering through to the sea bottom, which causes problems for fish, shrimp, crabs, and clams. (more)

Mother's smoking tied to oral birth defect
11 July 2008 - Pregnant women who smoke or regularly breathe second-hand smoke may be raising the odds that their baby will be born with a cleft lip, a new study shows. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common types of birth defect. They arise when the tissues that form the roof of the mouth and the upper lip do not fuse properly, sometime between the fifth and ninth week of pregnancy. In the current study, Norwegian researchers found that women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day during their first trimester were nearly twice as likely to have a baby with a cleft lip as nonsmokers were. Similarly, nonsmoking women who were near a smoker for at least two hours each day had a 60 per cent higher risk than women who were not exposed to passive smoking. (more)

Severe danger to coral reefs caused by acidifying oceans
11 July 2008 - The carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere by factories, cars and power plants is not just raising temperatures. It is also causing what scientists call 'ocean acidification' as around 25 per cent of the excess CO2 is absorbed by the seas. The threat to hard-bodied marine organisms, such as coral reefs already struggling with warming waters, is alarming, and possibly quite imminent, marine scientists gathered this week for a coral reef conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said. (more)

This summer may see first ice-free North Pole
28 June 2008 - There's a 50-50 chance that the North Pole will be ice-free this summer, which would be a first in recorded history, a leading ice scientist says. The weather and ocean conditions in the next couple of weeks will determine how much of the sea ice will melt, and early signs are not good. Preliminary February and March data from a NASA satellite shows that the circle of ice surrounding the North Pole is 'considerably thinner' than scientists have seen during the five years the satellite has been taking pictures, NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally said. The explanation is a warming climate and a weather phenomenon. (more)

US: Survey suggests research misconduct is common
19 June 2008 - Research misconduct at US institutions may be more common than previously suspected, with 9 per cent of scientists saying in a new survey that they personally had seen fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism. The findings come at a time of concern among US lawmakers and others about research integrity in the United States and abroad, financial conflicts of interest by scientists who get paid by drug companies, and study results being warped by the influence of pharmaceutical industry research funding. The findings indicate that more than 2,300 cases of misconduct may be occurring each year at US research sites. (more)

Mediterranean shark numbers drop dramatically
11 June 2008 - The number of sharks in the Mediterranean has fallen by 97 per cent in the last 200 years, putting the sea's ecological balance at risk, a report released on Wednesday said. 'It will have a major impact on the ecosystem because large predatory sharks are at the top of the food chain,' said Francesco Ferretti, the report's lead author. A report last month by the International Union for Conservation of Nature found 11 kinds of shark faced extinction due to overfishing, partly caused by booming demand for shark fin soup in Asia. Fishers from all over the world catch and trade sharks for their lucrative fins, often discarding their carcasses, the report said, noting Indonesia and Spain are among the top culprits. More of a problem in the Mediterranean is 'by-catch' -- where sharks are caught in long-line fishing meant to snag tuna and swordfish. (more)

China's shoreline waters seriously polluted - expert
8 June 2008 - Vast stretches of China's coastal waters are seriously polluted, and the country's coastal wetlands and mangrove forests are vanishing, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, citing a marine specialist. Severely affected areas included waters near East Liaoning, Bohai, and Hangzhou bays, and the estuaries of the Yellow, Yangtze, and Zhujiang rivers, as well as inshore areas of major coastal cities. (more)

US report: Caribbean monk seal declared extinct, monk seal population in serious danger
7 June 2008 - Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo. Humans hunting the docile creatures for research, food and blubber left the population unsustainable, say biologists who warn that Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals could be the next to go. The Hawaiian monk seal population, protected by NOAA, is declining at a rate of about 4 per cent annually, according to NOAA. The agency predicts the population could fall below 1,000 in the next three to four years, placing the mammal among the world's most endangered marine species. (more)

Rising ocean acidity threatens low-lying islands
2 June 2008 - Rising acidity in the ocean caused by seas absorbing greenhouse carbon dioxide could make low-lying island nations like Kiribati and the Maldives more vulnerable to storms as their coral reefs struggle to survive, say scientists. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at its highest level in the past 650,000 years, and half has now been dissolved into the oceans making them more acidic. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are expected to reach about double pre-industrial levels within this century, resulting in an acidification of oceans three times the level experienced during the last major rise in carbon dioxide during the last glacial period 15,000 years ago. (more)

World failing to monitor biotech trade: UN
28 May 2008 - The world is failing in efforts to control an international biotechnology trade ranging from genetically modified crops to the building blocks of biological weapons, a UN University study said. The study said a lack of controls was 'a potentially contributing factor to the spread of bioterrorism'. It also revealed that more than 100 developing nations lack the ability to implement the UN's 2003 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, meant to help regulate trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) including crops such as maize, tomatoes, rice, or soybeans. (more)