London, September 19: The different reactions about Sarah Palin’s selection as the U. S. Republican vice presidential candidate may have a basis in biology, if the findings of a new study are to be believed.

"Traditionally, political scientists have focused on the environmental aspects: school, the media, the family, the church, as the things that lead to beliefs they have," New Scientist magazine quoted Douglas Oxley, a political scientist at the Lincoln-based University of Nebraska, as saying.

London, Sept 19: A leading US think tank in its latest report has warned that in order to pursue cooperation with the US-led war on terror, newly elected Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will have to strike a balance between the growing US’ pressure on Islamabad for military strikes in tribal areas, and the Pakistan Army’s decreasing tolerance for such strikes.

Zardari must prioritise fighting militancy along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said the report.

Washington - A mammoth bailout by the US government to contain the ongoing financial crisis could cost as much as half a trillion dollars, media reports said Friday.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke briefed congressional leaders on comprehensive measures late Thursday, in what could become the largest-ever intervention in US financial markets. The new move represents a broader approach to dealing with the crisis, as opposed to the ad hoc and stop-gap measures taken since the beginning of this year.

Washington, September 19 : A new analysis of dust from the halo of the comet Wild 2, has challenged common views about the history and evolution of the solar system and has shown that it may be more mixed up than previously thought.

Collected in 2004 by NASA''s Stardust mission, the comet dust has revealed an oxygen isotope signature that suggests an unexpected mingling of rocky material between the center and edges of the solar system.

Washington, Sept 19: US’ unilateral strikes on Pakistani soil was not a viable long term solution to the prevailing situation along the Pak-Afghan border, instead co-operative efforts between the anti-terrorism partners - Pakistan and the US – would provide the best way forward, said US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Washington, September 19 : Two separate research teams have claimed to have converted sugar from agricultural waste and non-food plants-into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals.

The two teams are Chemical engineer Randy Cortright and his colleagues at Virent Energy Systems of Madison, Wisconsin, and researchers led by NSF-supported chemical engineer James Dumesic of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The teams are going to announce this month that sugars and carbohydrates can be processed like petroleum into the full suite of products that drive the fuel, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.