Turn greenhouse gases to stone? Transform them into a treacle-like liquid deep under the seabed?

The ideas may sound like far-fetched schemes from an alchemist's notebook but scientists are pursuing them as many countries prepare to bury captured greenhouse gases in coming years as part of the fight against global warming.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The head of an Israeli-backed electric car project estimated on Sunday that its partner, the Renault-Nissan alliance, would likely invest $500 million to $1 billion in the swappable-battery electric cars.

"This is the cost for a three-year car program," Shai Agassi, the founder and chief executive of California-based Project Better Place, said on the sidelines of a news conference to introduce the electric car prototype.

USING fuel cells powered by hydrogen will help the next generation of harbour tugs to cut emissions, according to Michiel Wijsmuller, managing director of WorldWise Marine Engineering (WWM).

Part of the Offshore Ship Designers group, WWM is working with tug operators Ijmuiden-based Iskes and Rotterdam-based Smit to develop a 50 tonne bollard pull harbour tug that will have zero emissions when on standby and very low emissions in service.

Researchers have been unable to build an ideal “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.

Six dietary supplements sold by Herbalife Ltd contain dangerous amounts of lead if taken in the recommended dosages, according to information posted on Monday on a Web site linked to a long-time critic of the firm.

Herbalife disputed the claim, saying its weight-loss and nutritional products met regulatory requirements in all of its markets.