Lanka Sites

Speculation on the origin of the oval blue sapphire on the ring that Prince William gave Kate Middleton is now over. This ring is the same one as that given by his father, Prince Charles at his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. It is now known that the oval blue sapphire adorning this ring came from Sri Lanka.

A high thermal shock resistant red clay based cookware has been developed by the Materials Technology Section of the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI). These cookware are light in weight and thin walled. This is introduced as a replacement for traditional cookware and as a partial replacement for aluminium cookware. This is produced by mixing locally available mineral with a suitable frit.

A consignment of 10,000 bottles of much awaited Cuban biolarvicide BTI (Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis) reached the Colombo harbour yesterday and the Health Ministry is to utilize them in the dengue prevention campaign in all MOH divisions in the Kandy District as a pilot project. According to Health Ministry spokesman, the Cuban BTI bacteria would be used in dengue control activities in other districts too on the success of the pilot project. A high level meeting is to be held at the Ministry today to discuss on what quantity this bacteria should be utilized in the Kandy district initially.

The Colombo Plan will provide capacity-building training in both drug demand and supply reduction for its 26 member countries in the Asia-Pacific region under its Drug Advisory Program in 1973 in the region to address the drug abuse. Colombo Plan General Secretary Patricia Yoon Moi Chia said that responding to the needs of the region, the Colombo Plan will be implementing eight regional and in country training programs from September to December.

Planet Earth the only home we humans have is constantly subject to change. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes regularly change the surface of the Earth, sometimes causing great catastrophies. Many new fault lines and fractures have appeared on the Earth. In fact, seismologists say that the recent (January) Haiti earthquake was caused as a result of a new, undetected fault line. Even scientists cannot predict these movements of the Earth due to the fact that they are connected with the composition of the interior of the Earth. So, let's see what the composition of the Earth is.

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has decided to introduce a Public Health Insurance Scheme. The policy will be presented to Parliament next year, a Ministry spokesman said. Public organisations and individuals can present proposals, ideas and concepts during the next four months in connection with the proposed Public Health Insurance Scheme, he said. The scheme will be formulated especially for the benefit of the rural poor. It will also assist the public when obtaining medical treatment from the private sector.

In an unprecedented effort that was published online on the July 28,by the international journal Nature, a team of scientists mapped and analysed global biodiversity patterns for over 11,000 marine species ranging from tiny zooplankton to sharks and whales. The researchers found striking similarities among the distribution patterns, with temperature strongly linked to biodiversity for all thirteen groups studied. These results imply that future changes in ocean temperature, such as those due to climate change, may greatly affect the distribution of life in the sea. The scientists also found a high overlap between areas of high human impact and hotspots of marine diversity. Much research has been conducted on diversity patterns on land, but our knowledge of the distribution of marine life has been more limited.

A new superbug that appears resistant to even the strongest of antibiotics has emerged in India and soon could spread worldwide, according to an article published Wednesday in The Lancet medical journal.British scientists have discovered the NDM-1 gene, or New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1, in 180 people in India, Pakistan and the U.K. Of those, 37 were patients who had returned to the U.K.

The National Livestock Development Board will double the daily fresh milk production within three months, National Livestock Development Board Deputy Chairman Lakshman Hulugalle said. The NLDB produces 9,000 litres of milk daily which equals to three percent of national daily milk consumption. In line with short term milk production increasing program, the present daily milk production will be increased to 15,000 litres per day.

According to the WHO some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world's population is now at risk from dengue and estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year. In 2007 alone, there were more than 890 000 reported cases of dengue in the Americas, of which 26 000 cases were Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-east Asia and the Western Pacific. South-east Asia and the Western Pacific are the most seriously affected.

Newly detected rising sea levels in parts of the Indian Ocean, including the coastlines of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Java, appear to be at least partly a result of human induced increases of atmospheric greenhouse gases, says a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. The study, which combined sea surface measurements going back to the 1960s and satellite observations, indicates anthropogenic climate warming likely in amplifying regional sea rise changes in parts of the Indian Ocean, threatening inhabitants of some coastal areas and islands, said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Weiqing Han, lead study author.

Today we like to introduce you to a group of animals found in abundance in our country and most other tropical countries in the world too. They are none other than reptiles which comprise most of the slithering creatures many of us are generally afraid of. How many of you are really scared of snakes, chameleons or crocodiles? Perhaps most of you are. Not only children but also most adults are afraid of these creatures even though some of these animals are really harmless. So, let's check out on this particular group of animals to see if we are familiar with any of them. What exactly is a reptile? Well, it is an animal that is cold blooded and breathes air just like you and me. They are called vertebrates. Reptiles can be as small as your little finger or many times as big as you are.

The traditional local rice variety Masuran has been identified as the healthiest rice for diabetic patients in Sri Lanka, Industrial Technical Institute (ITI) Herbal Technology Head Dr. Sirimal Premakumara told a media briefing at the Government Information Department. “We have found that rice brand (outer cover of rice) is rich with the enzyme which converts sugar into glucose. A recent study showed a significant reduction in the sugar level of those who consumed the Masuran rice variety,” he said. The study was done by using 25 traditional rice varieties which included two white rice varieties.

Studies have revealed that high consumption of fish can reduce protein deficiency. Daily fish consumption of a Sri Lankan is 31 grams and in order to avoid protein deficiency the consumption of fish should be increased up to 60 grams per day. This was revealed at a progress review meeting of the Fisheries and Aquatic resources Ministry held at temple trees yesterday (15).

Is a bachelor’s degree today the financial equivalent of a high school diploma ten years ago? Do you need a master’s degree, or is an associate’s degree viable in today’s job market? Most of all, can you afford to go to college, and will you receive a financial return on your college expenses?

If there's one truism that goes virtually unchallenged these days, it's that a college degree has great value. Beyond the great books, beyond the critical reasoning skills, and beyond the experience itself, there's

A Spanish researcher and a Paraguayan scientist have presented the most complete and detailed European study into the repertoire (collection) of sounds used by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to communicate. The study reveals the complexity and our lack of understanding about the communication of these marine mammals.Until now, the scientific community had thought that whistles were the main sounds made by these mammals, and were unaware of the importance and use of burst-pulsed sounds.