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NAIROBI: Kenyan researchers have hailed a humble fish as the latest weapon in the battle to curb the spread of malaria. Nile tilapia, a fish more usually seen on Kenyan dinner tables, was introduced to several abandoned fishponds in the west of the country. By consuming mosquito larvae it managed to reduce numbers of two of the main malarial mosquitoes by more than 94%. The BMC Public Health study noted the fish could prove critical as mosquitoes are becoming resistant to pesticides. Nile tilapia’s taste for mosquitoes has been known since 1917 but this is the first time field data has been published detailing their use in mosquito control, the researchers from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology said. The authors suggested that for Kenyans, the fish could prove a win-win investment. In addition to limiting mosquito populations they could also be used for food, and even generate income, too. – BBC

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ARIZONA: An international team of astronomers has discovered the largest known planet orbiting another star. The “transiting” planet – meaning one that passes in front of its parent star as seen from Earth – is about 70% larger than Jupiter. But the presumed “gas giant” has a much lower mass than Jupiter – the biggest planet in our Solar system – making it of extremely low density. Details of the work are to appear in the Astrophysical Journal. The new exoplanet, called TrES-4, is located in the constellation of Hercules and was discovered by a team working on the Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES). It lies about 1,435 light-years away from Earth. In order to accurately measure the size of the TrES-4 planet, astronomers used the 0.8m telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, the 1.2m telescope at the Whipple Observatory, also in Arizona, and the 10m Keck telescope in Hawaii. – BBC
 

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PARIS: Police arrested a teenager suspected of posting his own translation of the latest Harry Potter novel on the internet weeks before the official French release, the book’s publishers said on Wednesday. The 16-year-old schoolboy, from the Aix-en-Provence region in southern France, was taken into custody by a police anti-counterfeiting unit and later released, a spokeswoman for the Gallimard publishing house, which handles the French editions of the novels, said. “Concerned that such acts of counterfeiting are threats to basic authors’ and creators’ rights, (author J.K. Rowling and Gallimard) immediately agreed to support the investigation.” – Reuters

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