Mexico is considered one of the leading countries in papaya production but its crops are affected by the virus of the ringed spot, which leaves ring marks in the skin of the fruit and causes softening of the papaya, where fungi start to digest it.

More than 80 per cent of the production is exported to the United States and, according to the Mexican Association Industry of Plant Sanitation (AMIFAC), Europe and Asia are possible markets for 2014, so the fruit has to comply with sanitation laws of other countries, being free of microorganisms, and having the right appearance (no spots, indentations or softening of the fruit) is important.

Chronic unemployment, dependence on government welfare and internal social division are the result of Canadian social welfare for natives - despite the substantial resources devoted, according to a new study. The work, jointly performed by the University of Alicante, the University of Granada and Laurentian University, was prepared by University of Alicante lecturer in sociology Raúl Ruiz Callado. 

Want yogurt but don't like the exploitation of dairy cows?

Researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de València have some good news. They have used  plant-based “milks” to create products fermented with probiotic bacteria from grains and nuts - an alternative to conventional yogurts. They say the products are ideal for people with allergies to cow milk, lactose or gluten intolerance.

A new estimate says that up to 80 percent of scientific data is lost within two decades.

The culprits? Old e-mail addresses and obsolete storage devices.

Bullying has become a frequently discussed problem but most of the stories involve young people.

Less discussed is its prevalence in academia but a Rutgers–Camden nursing scholar is shedding some light on how it is becoming increasingly common.

Platinum is used in catalytic converters to transform toxic fumes from a car's engine into more benign gases, to produce high octane gasoline, plastics and synthetic rubbers, and to fight the spread of cancerous tumors. But it's not cheap, which you know if you have ever shopped for an engagement ring knows. 

In a new study, researchers from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering used computational methods to identify dozens of platinum-group alloys that were previously unknown to science but could prove beneficial in a wide range of applications. If one of the compounds identified in the new study is comparable in performance but easier on the wallet, it would be a boon to many industries worldwide as well as the environment. 

Many people can recall reading a cherished story that they say changed their life and now researchers have detected what may be biological traces related to this feeling: Actual changes in the brain that linger after reading a novel.

Essentially, reading a novel may cause changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain that persist.

#2 ‘Implementing a Jabberwocky Gibberish Generator’.

In contrast to some computer-programme developers who create gibberish by jumbling word-orders (see Progress In Gibberish Computing #1 ) others take a different approach, and scramble the letters of English words (somewhat) to generate pronounceable nonsense words known as pseudowords or logatomes, similar to those found in ‘ Jabberwocky‘ by Lewis Carroll.

The oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant – a cluster of 18 tiny flowers from the Cretaceous Period, with one of them in the process of making some new seeds for the next generation - has been found in a 100-million-year old piece of amber. 

The perfectly-preserved scene, in a now-extinct plant, appears identical to the reproduction process that "angiosperms," or flowering plants still use today.  The fossils were discovered from amber mines in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, known to most as Burma. The newly-described genus and species of flower was named Micropetasos burmensis.

From the earliest days on record, earthquake lights - rare, luminous phenomena associated with some seismic events - have mystified people and intrigued geologists.