SETimes.comScience and Technology: Romania to produce swine flu vaccine
29/06/2009
The Romanian government will spend 11m euros on a swine flu vaccine. Also in science news: a Turkish scientist develops a special tool for heart surgery, and ancient water wells are found in Cyprus.
The Romanian government will grant 11m euros to the Cantacuzino Institute to the produce about 5 million doses of swine flu vaccine starting July 15th. So far 19 cases of the A/H1N1 virus have been reported in Romania.
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Turkish scientist Murat Dikmengil from the Trakya University School of Medicine developed a special needle and thread that will shorten heart surgeries and add to their success rates, the Anadolu news agency reported on June 21st. The Turkish invention was manufactured in Germany.
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The Bank of Greece set up a committee of scientists and academics to conduct a study on the possible economic, social and environmental repercussions of climate change in Greece, media reported on June 19th. The study, funded by the bank, is expected to take about two years.
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While excavating in Cyprus, Edinburgh University archaeologists discovered a set of water wells believed to date back to the Stone Age, making them among the oldest in the world. The skeleton of a woman was found at the bottom of one of the wells. A total of six wells between 9,000 and 10,500 years old were unearthed.
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The Kosovo Culture Ministry allocated 100,000 euros this year for the excavation and reconstruction of an archaeological park in Ulpiana, near Pristina. The most valuable object unearthed at the location is a sarcophagus, believed to have belonged to an important Illyrian woman.
(Various sources – 22/06/09-29/06/09)