Six countries confirm attendance to chess championship in Bolivia - People's Daily Online

The Bolivian Chess Federation (FBA) said on Sunday that six countries have confirmed their attendance to the 7th South American Festival of Chess Youth, to be hosted from Dec. 1 to 6 in Sucre's Olympic Village in Bolivia.

Ecuador: 2 foreign oil companies could leave - MarketWatch

QUITO (MarketWatch) -- President Rafael Correa said on Saturday that two foreign oil private companies could leave Ecuador due to disagreements with the government on changing its oil-sharing deals to services contracts.

Chile's First Energy Efficiency Expo Begins Friday

On Friday and Saturday, Chile will host Latin America's first Efficient Energy Expo, which will showcase seminars, speakers, competitions and other activities to promote energy efficiency and sustainable development in the country.

Extinct Toromiro Tree To Be Cloned, Restored To Chile’s Easter Island

The Toromiro - a small tree once endemic to Easter Island but declared extinct in 1978 – may soon be “reborn,” with more than 5,000 trees to be planted on the island in 2011.
The last time the tree was seen on Easter Island was in 1962 in the Ranu Kao crater, when the last remaining exmple of the species on the island was cut for firewood.

Hundreds Across Chile Protest HidroAysen Project

Defying a morning rainstorm and a government that appears dead set in green-lighting the controversial HidroAysen dam project, more than 500 people and 50 vehicles paraded through the streets of Coyhaique on Saturday morning to show their rejection of the proposed energy project that would put build five dams in Chile’s pristine Patagonia region.

Chile Experiencing ‘Baby Boom’ Nine Months After February Earthquake

This week will mark nine months since the 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile on Feb. 27. And, according to officials, central Chile can expect a baby boom in the coming months.

“We have found a marked increase in obstetric consultations in the areas most damaged by the earthquake," said Health Minister Jaime Mañalich.

Can Chile Get Back Into The Antarctica Tourism Market?

Photo courtesy of IAATOTwenty years ago, Punta Arenas in southern Chile was the primary departure point for expeditions to Antarctica. But Ushuaia, the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, has developed and surpassed Punta Arenas to where it now controls 99 percent of tourism travel to Antarctica.

Today News

Ireland Is Second Euro Nation to Seek Aid as Banks Wobble Bloomberg By Joe Brennan and Dara Doyle - Mon Nov 22 11:48:22 GMT 2010 Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Michala Marcussen, head of strategy at Societe Generale Asset Management, talks about Ireland's bailout and the outlook for euro-zone economies. ... See all stories on this topic »

Bishops say Pope still anti-condoms for HIV The Australian Catholic leaders in Australia have rushed to quell speculation of a sudden U-turn by the church over its policy on condoms. Commenting on reports in a book published today that the Pope had endorsed their use against HIV, the head of the Australian ... See all stories on this topic »

29 escape flooded Chinese coal mine after rescuers pump out water Toronto Star Chinese rescuers assist a coal miner who was resuced from a flooded mine in Neijiang, southwest China's Sichuan province on November 22, 2010. Rescuers pulled 29 people trapped in a flooded mine to safety on Monday. Associated Press BEIJING ... See all stories on this topic »

Medvedev suggests Europe missile defence plan AFP MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed to NATO leaders that Europe be divided into sectors of military responsibility to better protect the continent from missile attack, reports said Monday. Medvedev did not go into details over the ... See all stories on this topic »

Suu Kyi's son granted Burma visa BBC News The younger son of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been granted a visa to visit his mother after her release from house arrest. Kim Aris, 33, who lives in the UK, travelled to Thailand before his mother was freed on 13 November. ... See all stories on this topic »

Japan Minister Quits In Setback to Premier Wall Street Journal By WILLIAM SPOSATO TOKYO—Japan's justice minister announced his resignation Monday following a weeklong furor over comments he made disparaging his job—the latest in a series of scandals undermining the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. ... See all stories on this topic »

Haiti's cholera epidemic caused by weather, say scientists The Guardian Weather conditions — not UN soldiers — may have triggered Haiti's cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 1000 people in less than a month, three leading researchers have told SciDevNet. A coincidence of several catastrophic events — from climatic ... See all stories on this topic » The Guardian

Roadside bomb kills 4 Afghan civilians on tractor The Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Homemade bombs killed four Afghan civilians, including two children, riding on a tractor Monday in eastern Afghanistan, while two NATO coalition service members were killed in the south, officials said. ... See all stories on this topic »

Germany closes off access to part of parliament building CNN International Police patrol near the Reichstag in Berlin in this file photograph -- access to the building by the public was restricted on Monday. Berlin, Germany (CNN) -- Germany has indefinitely closed off access to the general public to the cupola and the rooftop ... See all stories on this topic »

Should airplanes look like birds?

The modern airplane design works well, but from a fuel efficiency standpoint, could planes be designed more aerodynamically -- to lower drag and increase lift? (Credit: RJ Huyssen/NU,RSA)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2010) — Airplanes do not look much like birds -- unless you were to imagine a really weird bird or a very strange plane -- but

Multicolor quantum dots aid in cancer biopsy diagnosis

ScienceDaily (July 7, 2010) — The tunable fluorescent nanoparticles known as quantum dots make ideal tools for distinguishing and identifying rare cancer cells in tissue biopsies, Emory and Georgia Tech scientists have demonstrated.

An article to be featured on the cover of the July 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry describes how multicolor quantum dots linked to antibodies can distinguish the Reed-Sternberg cells that are characteristic of Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"Our multicolor quantum dot staining method provides rapid detection and identification of rare malignant cells from heterogenous tissue specimens," says senior author Shuming Nie, PhD, the Wallace H. Coulter distinguished professor in ...