Washington, Oct 31 : When it comes to the decision to grow, the bacteria "listen in" to find out what their neighbours are doing and then follow the crowd, a new study has found.

The research team found that the spores of soil-dwelling bacteria could sense the presence of so-called muropeptide fragments released from the cell walls of other growing bacteria.

Those muropeptides act as powerful germinants, stimulating the spores to exit the safety of their dormant state and start growing.

The researchers hope that the discovery could lead to a new kind of anti-microbial agent that works by keeping dormant bacteria—which typically resist traditional antibiotics—inactive.

London, October 31 (ANI): A tiny bug-eyed camera, which provides a field of view six times that of the conventional camera, has been tested by researchers at a defence company in the UK.

Experts at BAE Systems at Great Baddow have revealed that the new system, called BugEye, has been developed primarily for use on missiles to keep track of targets.

The researchers add that the prototype camera is so small that it can also be used on endoscopes, giving an improved field of view in keyhole surgery.

Washington, October 31 : Two Kent State University sociology professors have likened U. S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s debating style to the technique boxing legend Muhammed Ali relied on during his matches.

Drs. Will Kalkhoff and Stanford W. Gregory Jr. say that Obama demonstrates a “rope-a-dope” debating style, which is similar to the way Ali would hang back during the beginning of a fight until his opponent exhausted himself, and then would dominate the end of the match, winning most of his contests with this style.

Lahore, Oct 31 : Geoff Lawson believes his sacking as the Pakistan cricket coach had nothing to do with his performance but was influenced by political changes in the country and the change in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) set-up.

The former Australian bowler will return home on Friday after just over a year as coach of the national team.

The PCB cleared his financial dues with a final payment of 80,000 dollar, which included a bonus for guiding the national team into the final of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last year.

Lawson had refused to leave until the PCB cleared all his payments and this was done on Monday by the board, the Daily Times reported.

Lahore, Oct 31 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is confident of getting all its stadiums ready to host the home series against India in January and February.

The board has decided to spend Rs. 800 million on refurbishing all five venues for the tour, which includes three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20.

Salim Altaf, the PCB’s director general, is confident the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will be ready in time to host the second Test and third one-dayer.

The venue was dropped from the Champions Trophy as the renovation work wasn’t complete and the ICC wasn’t convinced about the security situation there.

The tournament was eventually postponed due to security concerns, the Daily Times reported.

Wednesday night’s 11:00 p.m. half-hour campaign ad special on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart featuring Democratic presidential candidate – Barack Obama, pulled in its biggest audience averaging 3.6-million viewers, managed to beat its own 8th October record by 600,000 viewers, when Michelle Obama appeared on the show.