SciDev.Net

India has banned the planting of genetically modified eggplant (Bt brinjal) until it is accepted as safe by both scientists and the public.

Water shortages are severe in the Middle East but farmers are set to benefit from a programme designed to make every drop count.

Women of low social position are less likely to adhere HIV/AIDS treatment, a Colombian study has found.

China plans to start farming genetically modified crops on an industrial scale, according to its first policy missive of 2010.

The discovery of how spiders' webs catch dew could lead to improved ways of harvesting water from the air.

Teachers from five Latin American countries are the first to have trialled a UNESCO course intended to bring science to schoolchildren in a safe, cheap way.

India is set to share local climate data with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the first time at an institutional level.

Haiti can use low-tech materials such as straw and rubber tyres to protect buildings from future earthquakes, say engineers.

Nepal will finalise its draft national wind policy in the next three months, to boost the use of wind power across the country.

Japan has given Bolivia US$3.8 million to study the evolution of glaciers that impact the water supply of the cities of La Paz and El Alto.

Rwanda is distributing climbing beans that are disease-resistant and high-yielding, and they are already proving a hit with farmers.

Ecuador aims to stop its rollercoaster science spending with a strategy to plough extra funds into research and training.

Low-tech 'cool boxes' that extend the shelf life of malaria tests in remote Cambodian clinics are being rolled out across the nation.

Colombia uses more technologies for increasing public participation than other Latin American countries, a report finds.

Dengue cases are almost five times more frequent than they were in the 1980s — and the disease is getting more severe, say researchers.

A model of HIV care developed in Haiti and successfully adapted in Lesotho reveals the importance of South–South collaboration, says a study.

The Gates Foundation will invest an additional US$10 billion towards the development and delivery of vaccines in the next ten years.

Two studies show that a vaccine against one of the leading causes of diarrhoea is effective in poor countries.

A researcher has calculated the impact that access to a phone has on incomes — and therefore schooling — in rural Peru.

Researchers say that China's effective water management techniques produce more food than those of many other countries.