General In Command
As the US attack on Afghanistan continues, the divergent pulls of pro-Taliban Islamists and pro-West "pragmatists" heighten tensions in Pakistan, forcing President Pervez Musharraf to sack some of his most powerful deputies.

Gains And Losses
The war in Afghanistan changed all the regional equations. The Taliban and the jehadis were abandoned by Pakistan and India got a chance to regain a foothold in Afghanistan. A report on the diplomatic balance sheet.

A Prize For Sir Vidia
The new Nobel laureate in literature is a civilisational man who travels in great style.

NEWSNOTES

Mounting On Viagra: If you're planning to go mountaineering, here's a tip: take some Viagra along. Scientists from the UK and Kyrgyzstan have shown that Viagra, which boosts sex lives, can also help people breathe more easily at high altitudes. The scientists found that the same enzyme that constricts blood flow to the penis, thus preventing erection, also produced breathlessness at high altitudes by constricting the arteries in the lungs. As Viagra blocks the action of the enzyme, it could help people in such situations-if its other effect doesn't make climbing difficult. Clinical trials still need to be carried out. So don't junk the oxygen cylinders yet.

Anthrax Overkill: Among the many monsters of its creation that have returned to haunt the US, anthrax is one. The bacterium was developed into a biological weapon by American scientists. Now as Florida lives a scare after two people died of the disease, scientists-again from the US-have found a gene resistant to anthrax in mice. Variants of this gene protect cells in the immune system called macrophages, which are the first to be attacked by anthrax. But a treatment for humans is still a long way; Osama bin Laden has time on his side.

Weight and Watch: Women's buttocks and thighs apparently have functions beyond those that spring first to the mind: they help women retain (physical) balance during pregnancy and lactation, says a Polish researcher. A report in Current Anthropology says women have an additional load in front when pregnant or nursing; this brings the centre of gravity forward, skewing the balance. The added weight behind compensates for this. This evolutionary pressure to remain on their feet while pregnant spurred the growth of the fatty deposits. And chocolate alone is not to blame.

HEALTH

DIARRHOEA
Sipping Back to Life

That diarrhoea is a leading child killer in India is tragic. What is worse is that the deaths can easily be prevented. A fifth of infants below five who die in India are victims of diarrhoea. That should not be the case, is the verdict of an international conference on diarrhoeal diseases and nutrition held in Delhi recently. Diarrhoea kills because it dehydrates and the body loses vital salts. The body becomes weak, and in severe cases, the kidneys may fail. There's an old, simple, cheap, life-saving solution-oral rehydration therapy (ORT) or oral rehydration solution (ORS)-but it is not being used widely enough. Statistics show that if 30 per cent of those struck with diarrhoea in the country use ORS, 40,000 deaths can be prevented every year.

The World Health Organisation has also endorsed a new, more effective version of ORS, called Low Osmolarity ORS, which will be available in India soon. But the problem, says M.K. Bhan of AIIMS, is the gap between awareness and action. "Seventy per cent of mothers know about ORS, but only a third use it in a crisis," he says. That's ironic since it can be bought without a prescription for just Rs 12 a packet.

"ORS packets should be part of a home medical emergency kit," advises Bhan. It's important that the salts are reconstituted in the correct concentration-one packet dissolved in five glasses of boiled water. ORS can also benefit the elderly who are often dehydrated because they are slow to recognise thirst. The solution is simple. Making people realise that is proving a great deal more difficult.

-Supriya Bezbaruah

NOBEL PRIZES

Divide Rule: Britons Paul Nurse and Timothy Hunt and American Lee Hartwell won the Medicine prize for discovering separately the key genes and proteins involved in cell division.Their discovery has huge implications in finding a cure for cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Mirror Pace: Molecules that are mirror images of each other are called "chiral". Medicines often have these molecules, and the wrong form can be harmful. That is why it is vital to be able to produce each chiral form separately. William S. Knowles, Ryoji Noyori and K. Barry Sharples won this year's Chemistry prize for developing chiral catalysts for hydrogenation and oxidation reactions.

Atom Song: Making "atoms sing in unison" has won three scientists-Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman of the US, and Germany's Wolfgang Ketterle-this year's Nobel Prize for Physics. Their work involved freezing matter into a new pure, coherent state called Bose-Einstein condensate. This promises faster computer circuits and more accurate guidance systems for aircraft.

-Compiled by Supriya Bezbaruah with Pavan Keswani

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Mumbai Restaurant Busaba

Mumbai Museum Guides: Prince of Wales Museum

Mumbai Beauty Care: L'Occitane

Mumbai Clothes Store: Vikram Phadnis