Could the oil crisis be triggered by images of Greenland's crumbling ice cap? Project Syndicate

Brain senses smell, the way it recognizes musical notes THE fragrance of almonds is closer to that of roses than of bananas. Scientists from Weizmann Institute, Israel, have, for the first time ever, mapped odours and determined the distance between them. This helped them distinguish one odour from another.

SUN Pharmaceutical Industries, the country's most valuable drugmaker, has decided to launch a hostile bid for Israel's Taro Pharmaceutical Industries. This is a rare instance of an Indian company making an unsolicited bid for a foreign firm. The move follows Taro's rejection of a merger agreement with Sun last month. Taro had termed the offer

Israel-based Taro Pharmaceuticals has sued its proposed buyer Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in an Israel court, for allegedly thwarting attempts to sell off Taro's subsidiary with drug-making facilities in Ireland to a group of investors. In a letter to Taro shareholders, the firm's Chairman Barrie Levitt said on June 15 that it had commenced litigation in Israel to stop Sun from engaging in "practices that we deem detrimental to our ability to maximize the value of the Irish operations in a sale". THE LAWSUIT

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who said that his party's efforts would be at disentangling India from the US and Israel, ruled out any concession to the government at the meeting of the nuclear deal on Wednesday. "We will not allow the government to wrap up the safeguards agreement with the IAEA,' he said.

>> A national debate on the energy reform project started in the Mexican Senate on May 13. The debate, which will run for 71 days, will not only involve legislators and political leaders, but also

India could learn a thing or two from Israel when it comes to supplying municipal water to meet ever-rising demands. "Manufactured water' is probably the ideal solution, says Mo Provizor, director of the Israeli Water Authority. Speaking to The Indian Express on the sidelines of WATECH 2008, an international conference on industrial and urban water management technologies, he said Israel currently meets about 25 per cent of its water needs with recycled sewage water and desalinated seawater and brackish water; it has hopes of upping the number to 50 per cent by 2013.

Former US president Jimmy Carter has said Israel holds at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a US president has publicly acknowledged the Jewish state's atomic arsenal. Asked at a news conference at Wales' Hay literary festival yesterday how a future US president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, Carter put the risk in context by listing atomic weapons held globally.

Efforts are on worldwide to make desalination units more energy efficient and environment-friendly. Water has always been a volatile topic in Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent. Yet, protesters are complaining that a planned desalination facility outside Melbourne, Victoria, will generate too much freshwater. The $3-billion government-owned plant will produce more than 300,000 cubic meters of drinkable water a day when it opens in 2011, placing it among the world's biggest.