Washington, October 28 : A team of University of Houston researchers are trying to determine whether fat cells can help beef up heart muscles damaged by heart attack.

Associate Professor Stanley Kleis and his colleagues in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering say that they do see the promise of using adipose-derived stromal cells (ADSCs), which are found in fatty tissue, as a therapy for heart attack patients.

The heart cells do not get enough oxygen-rich blood when a patient has a heart attack, and some of them die, leaving behind damaged tissue.

Washington, Oct 28 : Senior officials in the Bush administration have reportedly said that a draft recommendation in a classified White House assessment of US strategy in Afghanistan has called for talks with elements of the Taliban in a bid to ensure peace in Afghanistan.

The recommendation suggested talks to be led by the Afghan central government, but with the active participation of the US administration. The prospective talks would have two main goals -- extending the Kabul government''s authority across Afghanistan; and persuading some Taliban figures to cease their attacks against U.S. and Afghan targets, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Washington, October 28 : An expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that rapid digitising may ultimately lead to a “digital dark age”, where digital photographs will become unreadable to future computers.

Jerome P. McDonough, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the university, says that the issue of a looming digital dark age originates from the mass of data spawned by the ever-growing information economy — including electronic records, tax files, e-mail, music and photos.

He is afraid that data produced with ever-shifting platforms and file formats may eventually fall into a black hole of inaccessibility.

Washington, October 28 : An expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that rapid digitising may ultimately lead to a “digital dark age”, where digital photographs will become unreadable to future computers.

Jerome P. McDonough, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the university, says that the issue of a looming digital dark age originates from the mass of data spawned by the ever-growing information economy — including electronic records, tax files, e-mail, music and photos.

He is afraid that data produced with ever-shifting platforms and file formats may eventually fall into a black hole of inaccessibility.

Washington, Oct 28 : A new study by Purdue University researchers has determined that earthworms can change the chemical nature of the carbon in forest litter and soils, potentially affecting the amount of carbon stored in forests.

The Purdue scientists, along with collaborators from the Smithsonian Institution and Johns Hopkins University, studied the habits of earthworms originally brought to North America from Europe, to determine their effect on forest chemistry by comparing carbon composition in forests that vary in earthworm activity.

Some earthworms eat fallen leaves and other plant material - the litter of the forest floor - while others eat roots or soil organic matter.

Singapore  - Singapore's central bank said Tuesday it stands ready to intervene and manage the Singapore dollar exchange rate if volatility continues.

Citing the weakening external economic environment and its impact on Singapore's economy, the bank said its monetary policy would shift to keeping the currency from appreciating too much, which hurts exporters.

"This policy maintains the current level of the policy band, and there will be no re-centring of the band or change to its width," it said in its latest macroeconomic review.

The central bank said it expected economic growth to remain below potential due to the weak global economic environment and the crisis in financial markets.