China approves second-phase lunar probe program
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's State Council, the cabinet, has approved the country's second-phase lunar probe program, the Beijing Times reported on Wednesday. It cited Luan Enjie, the director-in-chief of the China Moon-orbiting Program.
"We are organizing people to make detailed plans for the program," Luan told a conference on Tuesday.
He also said that investment in the second phase would exceed that for the first lunar probe but didn't give specific figures, the Times said.
Indonesia launches tsunami early warning system
By DPA,
Jakarta : A tsunami early warning system developed and funded by five donor countries began operations Tuesday in Indonesia, nearly four years after the Asian tsunami of December 2004, which claimed 230,000 lives.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who attended the launch ceremony in Jakarta, expressed pride over the development of the technology in Indonesia but reminded the country that the equipment was not an end-all, be-all but would only provide help.
The German government financed the 45-million-euro ($58-million) project.
China installs largest optical telescope in Antarctica
By IANS,
Beijing : A Chinese expedition team to Antarctica has finished installing and testing the largest optical telescope in the snow-capped region, experts said.
Scientists work on ways to track terror bomb sources
By IANS,
Sydney : Organic peroxides are being increasingly preferred as explosives by terrorists because they can be easily prepared and don't required to be purchased off the shelf.
New techniques for tracking bomb-making materials, and possibly pointing the way towards the terrorists themselves, are being researched at Flinders University. The research being undertaken at Flinders has the potential to make a contribution towards fighting the global war on terror.
Microsoft unveils Internet Explorer 8, its response to Firefox
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft has unveiled a trial version of a new Internet Explorer designed to fight the growing challenge from Firefox.
But the new browser from the giant software company won't have it easy. Developers for the open-sourced Firefox released a trial version of a new application for the Internet, Ubiquity, which makes it easier to access and share information that combines intuitive commands with browser functionality.
New infotainment features to ease traffic jam frustrations
By DPA
Frankfurt : Manufacturers are looking at new ways of combining infotainment features in cars so that drivers can use time spent in a traffic jam more effectively.
Car parts supplier Siemens VDO is presenting systems linking the mobile phone, MP3 Player or mobile internet with vehicles' onboard computers at the Frankfurt Motor Show from Sep 13 to 23.
The features enable drivers to call up and answer emails or simply choose entertainment.
China’s lunar probe moves closer to final orbit
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, completed its second braking early Tuesday, which further decelerated the satellite to get it closer to its final orbit.
"The second braking was done just as accurately as the first one and the satellite has entered the orbit just as designed," said Zhu Mincai, head of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC).
Tata’s supercomputer adjudged fastest in Asia
By IANS
New Delhi : A supercomputer developed by the Tata Group has been adjudged the fastest in Asia and fourth fastest in the world.
The supercomputer called EKA has been built at Tata's Pune facility. It uses nearly 1,800 computing nodes and has a peak performance of 170 trillion floating-point operations per second.
"High performance computing solutions have an ever-increasing role in the scientific and new technological space the world over," Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata group, said in a statement.
We wrongly think world likes what we like: study
By IANS,
Washington : People have the tendency to presume the whole world likes what they like. But when it comes to things they dislike, they don't generalise the same way.
For example, people are shocked when a cherished product is discontinued for lack of sale or the favourite confectionary offered by them is not eaten, according to a study.
"The things we like are seen to contain primarily good characteristics, while things we dislike are seen to contain a mix of bad, neutral, or good characteristics," the study said.
Satellite launch boosts space agency’s morale
By IANS
Sriharikota : The successful launch of the communication satellite INSAT-4CR by the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV F04 Sunday here is a morale booster for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The organisation is mourning the death of three of its employees in a car accident Aug 24. The car in which two senior officials, Rajeev Lochan, scientific secretary, and S. Krishnamurthy, director of publications and public relations, met with an accident near the temple town of Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh.
Singapore plans to create animals with human DNA
By DPA
Singapore : Scientists eager to splice human genes with animal cells are seeking public feedback on the prospect of such controversial research, a news report said Wednesday.
As Singapore moves into performing clinical trials for drugs, research in this field could prove to be a boon for scientists," The Straits Times quoted Lim Pin, chairman of the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC), as saying.
Scientists can now predict quake effects within seconds
By DPA
Rome : Italian scientists have said they can now predict the destructive powers of an earthquake just seconds after the start of a tremor, thus providing a potentially life-saving advance warning to affected populations.
Researchers at the University of Naples and at the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) in Rome analysed more than 200 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 4.0 to 7.4 on the Richter scale and found that the waves generated in the first few seconds of a tremor carry enough information to determine its destructive potential.
Marine algae most promising bet for green fuel
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists see marine algae as the most promising bet for a green fuel that would help ease the dependence on fossil fuel and power vehicles of the future.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Californa San Diego (UCSD), scientists along with their counterparts from its division of biological sciences are part of an emerging algal biofuel consortium that includes academic collaborators, CleanTECH, public and private partners.
Lockheed extends scientific support programme in India
By IANS,
New Delhi : Leading US fighter jet manufacturer Lockheed Martin Friday announced extension of its scientific support programme in India for the next two years.
Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMC) senior vice-president and chief technology officer Ray O. Johnson said the 'India Innovation Growth Programme', which started last year, was a great success and had helped many young entrepreneurs market their products.
Latest data storage device: your DNA
By IANS
New York : It may now be possible to encode and store digital information within the DNA, eliminating the need of expensive sequencing machinery.
The human genome embodies the equivalent of 750 megabytes of data, a huge storage space. However, only about three percent of DNA goes into the more than 22,000 genes that make us what we are.
The remaining 97 percent leaves plenty of room to encode information in a genome, allowing the information to be preserved and replicated in perpetuity.
Yahoo! hosting 24-hour ‘hacking’ event in India’s tech hub
By IANS,
Bangalore : Global search engine Yahoo! is hosting a non-stop 24-hour "hacking" event from Saturday noon in this tech hub where about 300 whiz-kids will use its web tools and services to develop new applications, a company official said Friday.
"About 300 developers across India will participate in the 24-hour hacking event, which involves using our web tools, services and application programming interfaces (APIs) to innovate new solutions for our global netizens," Yahoo! India Research and Development Head Shouvick Mukherjee told IANS here.
Atlantis roars into space after two-month delay
By DPA
Washington : The US space shuttle Atlantis has lifted off for the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver a long-awaited European-built laboratory.
After days of iffy weather, Atlantis roared off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2.45 p.m. (19.45 GMT) Thursday under clear blue skies and climbed steeply to orbit powered by seven million pounds of thrust.
Within minutes, Atlantis shed its booster rockets and external fuel tank as it departed the Earth's atmosphere, set to rendezvous with the space station Saturday.
Maveric Systems to set up research centre in IIT-Madras
By IANS,
Chennai : City-based Maveric Systems Ltd (MSL), an independent software testing company, will set up a 40-member research centre in the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) Research Park, a top official said here Wednesday.
"The company has set a goal of generating around 30 percent revenue from intellectual property (IP)-based services by 2012. The alliance with IIT-M Research Park will enable us to achieve that goal," MSL executive director V.N. Mahesh told reporters.
Dust to dust – outer space makes dust ‘come alive’
By DPA
Hamburg : The biblical admonition of all life going from "dust to dust" has taken a new twist with scientific findings that non-organic cosmic dust particles can in fact "come to life" under certain circumstances.
The new research, published in the New Journal of Physics, found non-organic dust, when held in the form of plasma in zero gravity, formed the helical structures found in DNA.
The particles are held together by electromagnetic forces that the scientists say could contain a code comparable to the genetic information held in organic matter.
US creates multi-disciplinary centre to study human origins
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : US scientists have founded a multidisciplinary centre bringing together various sciences to explore the origins of humanity, the University of California (UC) has said.
The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), comprising experts from across the world, has been established by UC in San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.
The initiative was the outcome of a 10-year independent study by scientists in the US.
US scientists find fresh evidence of life on Mars
By IANS,
Pasadena (California) : There is fresh evidence pointing to life on Mars in the distant past, US scientists claim.
In two new studies, the scientists report that Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the "potential to support life".
They reached this conclusion on the basis of data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and two other instruments on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
High tension in NASA before Sunday’s Mars landing
By DPA,
Washington : For nearly 10 months, the US space probe Phoenix has been travelling the 195 million km from Earth to Mars.
On Sunday comes the tense moment of truth. That's when NASA's planetary probe is to land on the north pole of Mars. Phoenix's mission is to look for signs of life in a region of the red planet where earlier missions showed evidence of ice.
But before it gets that far, it must land successfully, and nerves were strained in the run-up to touch down.
World’s tiniest camera perches on your finger
By IANS,
London : The one-square-inch camera that sits snugly on your finger can click two megapixel images and even shoot video.
US space shuttle Endeavour lands in California
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : US space shuttle Endeavour landed in California Sunday afternoon after a 16-day trip, as unfavourable weather conditions in Florida prevented the shuttle from landing in its home base in Cape Canaveral.
Residents across Southern California heard the twin booms around 1.25 p.m. (2125 GMT), when Endeavour broke the sound barrier under the sunny sky as it was gliding into local airspace en route to Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles.
Researchers uncover music’s secret structure
By IANS,
Washington : More than 200 years after Pythagoras discovered the orderliness of music, three professors have devised a way of analysing music that takes advantage of the deep, complex mathematics seemingly enmeshed in its very fabric.
Writing in the April 18 issue of Science, they have outlined a method called "geometrical music theory" that translates the language of musical theory into that of contemporary geometry.
Saeedi hopes Iran, IAEA will finalise issue of centrifuges
By NNN-IRNA
Tehran : Deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation for International Affairs Mohammad Saeedi has expressed hope that Iran and the IAEA would finalise the issue of P1 and P2 centrifuges in this round of negotiations.
Saeedi was speaking to reporters at the Mehrabad International Airport here Monday following the arrival of Deputy Chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for Safeguards Olli Heinonen.
Heinonen is to hold a fresh round of talks with Iranian officials within the framework of Iran-IAEA Aug 21 agreement.
SatNav Technologies launches new navigation solution
By IANS
Hyderabad : SatNav Technologies, a city-based IT products company, has added laptop and desktop navigation to its range of global positioning system (GPS) products, which are available under the brand SatGuide.
The company Monday announced the launch of its SatGuide turn-by-turn navigation and planning solution for laptops and desktops, focused on corporate houses.
"This is the first time in the country that such a solution is being launched," said a company statement here.
Just ten minutes of talking may improve memory
By IANS
New York : Talking to each other for just 10 minutes may boost intellectual performance and improve memory, a new study had found.
The study found that short-term social interaction boosted intellectual performance of people as much as engaging in so-called intellectual activities for the same length of time, reported science portal ScienceDaily.
"Socialising is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan said.
Are rare trees in Amazon rainforest on way to extinction?
By IANS,
Washington : Common tree species will survive deforestation and road-building, but half of the rare trees in the Amazon could become extinct, Smithsonian scientists have warned.
How resilient will natural systems be as they tide over decades of severe, human-induced global change? The debate is on between proponents of models that maximise and minimise extinction rates.
IIT alumni’s party wants to be agent of change
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : They gave up plush jobs to jump into politics two years ago - something not too many Indian professionals do. The party that 20 alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) floated has now fielded two candidates in the Nov 29 Delhi assembly polls.
After all, both techies and politicians are harbingers of change, say the founder members of Bharat Punarnirman Dal, or India Rejuvenation Force.
IT tool helps satellites pinpoint ancient settlements
By IANS,
Washington : A new computer tool that extracts clues about ancient human settlements from satellite imagery has uncovered thousands of sites which might otherwise have been lost.
New technology makes diagnosis of abnormal pregnancy cheaper
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : Indian scientists have developed a new technology that will help diagnose at a very early stage and at affordable cost abnormal pregnancies that can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths.
Reseachers working to make skies safer for flying
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers are developing an air traffic decision-making system that is not dependent on human controllers, but will act autonomously to optimise flight operations.
The computer model that Constantine Caramanis, professor at Texas University, lead researcher Cynthia Barnhart and other colleagues from MIT are developing, will monitor weather conditions as well as current airplane locations and probable routes.
Bus bombed to test new forensic video camera
By IANS,
Washington : Would cheap, lightweight video cameras survive a big costly blast and still retain images of the destruction?
That was the question bothering the US department of homeland security as well as scientists and managers who watched the blast from behind three feet of reinforced concrete.
Outside was an old public bus, rigged with explosives, a series of baseball-sized video cameras mounted on its walls.
New tech helps physically impaired enter virtual worlds
By IANS,
Washington : Relying on fleeting brain waves, a futuristic technology enables people with severe muscle disorder to operate computers and enter a 3-D virtual world to chat or stroll.
The technology, demonstrated by Junichi Ushiba of Keio University, opens up a world of possibilities for serious motion-impaired people to communicate with others and to work normally.
This marriage of leading-edge technologies in brain science and the Internet also heralds the world's first successful example to help the physically impaired meet people in the virtual world.
British varsity to train Indian multimedia students
By IANS
Bangalore : University of Teesside, a leading British university at Middlesborough in northeast England, will train students of Takshaa Academy for the Artist in multimedia, animation and gaming under an agreement signed here Monday by the two partners.
In a statement, Teeside deputy vice-chancellor Cliff Allan said the partnership was aimed at producing graduates with proficiency in the fast-emerging areas of multimedia and gaming to meet the growing demand for skilled artists in the animation industry.
Dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years
By IANS,
Toronto : A fossilised dinosaur bone unearthed in New Mexico shows that dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years, according to a new dating method.
US satellite still circling earth after 50 years
By IANS
Washington : Vanguard I, the oldest satellite still orbiting the earth, will complete 50 years in space Monday. It was launched March 17, 1958 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Vanguard-I, the first ever solar-powered space vehicle, is only six inches across and weighs about 1.5 kg. Its small size, compared to the Soviet Union's 200-pound Sputnik-I, caused then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to dub it "the grapefruit satellite".
Extreme weather can trigger epidemics, says study
By IANS,
Sydney : Climatic extremes like frequent droughts and floods, associated with global warming, can trigger epidemics that could potentially wipe out livestock or wildlife.
A new study suggests that such extremes are capable of altering normal host-pathogen relationships, causing a “perfect storm” of multiple infectious outbreaks.
US plans world’s largest biometric database
By DPA
Washington : The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is planning the world's largest databank of biometric information allowing it access to the physical characteristics of thousands of people, the Washington Post reported.
The $1-billion project of the FBI will give the federal police unprecedented access to information about people in the US and abroad in a massive computer database located in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
New Generation Of Cars To Be Launch In India
SILICON VALLEY, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- A global consortium of top students, professors and experts in various engineering fields plan to use the rapidly growing Indian automotive market as a launch pad for a new generation of cars that could revolutionise the international automobile industry.
Vehicle Design Summit, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology initiative, aims to develop a 4-passenger, 200MPGe, high-performance industry-standard car with minimal life cycle costs and wide appeal both in developed and developing countries.
Laptop fashion: Mobile computer makers discover colour
By DPA
Frankfurt : Black, grey or silver: laptop buyers have generally had to accept one of those three options. But colourful times lie ahead. The latest models from laptop makers now feature casings in blue, green, pink and yellow. After all, having increasingly impinged on the domain of the desktop PC, the laptop has now become a lifestyle accessory.
Russia’s carrier rocket blasts off with sixth space tourist
By RIA Novosti,
Baikonur : A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket lifted off Sunday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan with a crew of three, one of them the sixth space tourist, to the International Space Station (ISS).
The three-stage carrier rocket was launched at 11.01 a.m. Moscow time (701 GMT) as planned, with the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft subsequently removing from the rocket.
Lunar eclipse fails to hamper New Year revelry plans
By Nabeel A. Khan and Ankur Tewari, IANS,
New Delhi : The lunar eclipse that will start within minutes of the ushering in of 2010 may matter a lot to astrologers but is unlikely to affect plans of revellers who have booked pubs, lounges and restaurants in advance to party through the night.
"There is no effect of lunar eclipse on this New Year celebrations. We have already booked 50 percent of our seats at our branches," Sanjeev Anand, general manager of the bar BUZZ, told IANS.
Scientists writing foolproof computer security code
By IANS,
Washington : We often see websites asking us to key in wavy letters into a box to prevent computer robots from hacking into servers and databases. But these codes, which are becoming increasingly complex for an average person, are not immune to security breaches.
A project led by Danny Cohen-Or, computer science professor at the Tel Aviv University (TAU), shows how a new kind of video captcha code may be harder to outsmart. Captcha technology is intended to block spam e-mail and automated systems.
US rocket ready to crash into moon
By DPA,
Washington : A US rocket is to crash into the moon Friday in an experiment scientists hope will provide data about ice hidden in the perpetually dark lunar craters.
Astronomers around the world are prepared to capture the impact of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the moon's Caebus crater at 1130 GMT. The rocket will deliberately crash into the moon, kicking up a plume of dust that scientists hope to analyse for traces of water that they believe are abundant in the
cold, shadowy craters.
Scientists develop method to help regain hearing
By IANS,
Washington : Swiss and South African scientists have outlined a method to potentially overcome hearing defects, even remedying substantial hearing loss.
The method could help restore functional regions of the damaged ear to be able to recognise frequencies originally associated with them.
Existing hearing-aid and cochlear implant technology have only been partially successful in recreating the experience of the fully functioning ear.
Japanese scientists plans to send paper airplane into space
By Xinhua
Beijing : Japanese scientists hope to send into space a craft made in the tradition of Japan's ancient art of paper folding and learn from its trip back to Earth, media reported Friday.
A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, said project leader Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Yahsat signs letter of intent with Arianspace to launch satellite in 2010
By NNN-WAM
Abu Dhabi : Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, has signed a letter of intent with Arianespace, the world's leading launch service and solutions company, to launch the Yahsat 1A communications satellite.
The satellite is currently being manufactured by the consortium of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. The expected launch date is the second half of 2010.
India seeks Israeli technology to boost litchi output
By Imran Khan, IANS,
Patna : India is eyeing Israeli technology to increase the life span of the litchi fruit after searing heat destroyed much of the crops in Bihar, which accounts for 70 percent of domestic production.
"Israel has got the technology that will help litchi growers as well as those engaged in its marketing to earn lucrative prices," K.K. Kumar, director of the National Research Centre for Litchi at Muzaffarpur, told IANS.
Nanoscale process to help computers run faster, better
By IANS,
Washington : A new nanotechnology will help make computers much smaller, faster and more efficient.
A team led by Craig Hawker, materials professor at California University Santa Barbara, (UCSB) with professors Glenn Fredrickson and Edward J. Kramer, has developed a novel process for creating features on silicon wafers that are between five and 20 nanometres thick. (A nanometre is as thin as a thousandth of human hair).
The new process has been described in Science Express, the online version of Science.
Science alliance strengthened during Merkel’s India visit
By T. V. Padma, IANS
New Delhi : The deepening and strengthening scientific collaboration between India and Germany, that included the setting up of a joint science and technology centre here, was in some ways overshadowed by the media focus on the nuclear deal during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit this week.
The two nations have agreed to enhance collaboration and networking across a range of issues, with a focus on reducing the impact of climate change and developing clean energy technologies, according to the science portal www.scidev.net.
Humans survived ice age by sheltering in ‘Garden of Eden’
By IANS,
London : The Garden of Eden, a strip of land off Africa's southern coast, had provided shelter to a handful of humans who survived mass extinction on earth during the ice age, say scientists.
Researchers believe the small patch of land at 384 km east of Cape Town was the only place that remained habitable during the devastating ice age 195,000 years ago when sudden change in earth's temperature wiped out many species.
Some scientists believe the population of human race may have fallen to a few hundred who managed to survive in one location, according to Daily Mail.
Pyrobolt failure caused Soyuz bumpy re-entry – Roscosmos
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A failure of a pyrobolt separating spacecraft's modules caused the ballistic landing of Russia's Soyuz TMA-11 capsule in April this year, the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Saturday.
On April 19, the Soyuz-TMA-11 capsule, carrying U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko, and Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon from the International Space Station, made a bumpy re-entry, landing 420 km (260 miles) off-target in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan.
Behind India’s rise as IT power lies 25 years of C-DOT
By Sam Pitroda, IANS,
This month marks the 25th anniversary of what is now widely acknowledged to be India's first defining steps towards an information and communications revolution. It was in August 1984 that the Centre for Development of Telematics or C-DOT was set up with the specific intention of indigenising digital switching technology to meet India's unique requirements.
Astronauts install ammonia tank on space station
By DPA,
Washington : Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery completed a more than six-hour-long spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) Friday, installing a new ammonia tank used in the cooling system, NASA said.
US astronaut John "Danny" Olivas and Swede Christer Fuglesang ended their mission successfully at 0451 GMT. They got started nearly an hour later than planned because of problems with a communications device in Olivas' spacesuit.
9,000-year-old rhino remains found in Russia
By RIA Novosti,
Yekaterinburg (Russia) : Archaeologists in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia's Urals have discovered 9,000-year-old bones of a rhinoceros, a local museum worker said Monday.
The excavations during which the bones were discovered were carried out at a site on the bank of the Lobva River, said Nikolai Yerokhin from the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology department.
It was generally assumed that rhinoceros last wandered the Urals some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Amphibian 70 mn years older than dinosaurs found
By IANS,
London : A 300-million-year-old fossil of an amphibian that roamed the planet 70 million years before the dinosaurs has been found, a media report said.
Daily Express reported Tuesday that scientists have found the well preserved five-inch long skull of an invertebrate named Fedexia striegeli, which is one of the earliest amphibian fossil discoveries.
Researchers said that the creature lived more than 70 million years before the first dinosaurs.
Endeavour undocks from ISS, winds up longest mission
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S. space shuttle Endeavour on Monday undocked from the international space station and headed for home, ending an "extraordinary mission" marked by a record five successful spacewalks, media reported.
The shuttle has been at the station 12 days, the longest mission ever of its kind.
During their stay, the seven shuttle astronauts, working with the three-member station crew, attached the first piece of a Japanese laboratory to the station and assembled a Canadian maintenance robot known as Dextre.
China asks US for data on shooting down of satellite
By Xinhua
Beijing : China Thursday called on the US to provide relevant data on its shooting down of a defunct spy satellite.
China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security and relevant countries, Liu Jianchao, foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters here.
"China requests that the US fulfil its international obligations and promptly provide to the international community the necessary information so that relevant countries can take precautions." Liu said.
ISRO to send man into space in seven years
By IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India will be in a position to carry out a manned space mission within seven years from now, said a top official of the Indian space agency here Monday.
Addressing the media after the successful launch of 10 satellites in one go, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said: "The government has given us pre-project funding of Rs.950 million (for the manned mission) and we have initiated necessary activities."
Yahoo profit plunges, layoffs announced
By DPA,
San Francisco : Troubled internet giant Yahoo saw quarterly profits plunge 64 percent and announced Tuesday that it would cut 10 percent of its estimated 14,300 staff to help control costs.
The internet pioneer reported net income of $54 million, or 4 cents a share, compared to $151 million, or 11 cents a share, in the same period last year.
The company said revenue rose slightly to $1.78 billion compared to $1.76 billion in the year-ago quarter. The results were in line with analysts' expectations, while the layoffs had also been widely reported in recent days.
Eurofighter Typhoon targets 300 additional orders in next 20 years
By IANS,
New Delhi: The four-nation Eurofighter consortium foresees substantial growth opportunities on the world market, with India playing a crucial role, it said Friday.
"We evaluate the global demand for combat aircraft in the next 20 years at around 800 units. For Eurofighter Typhoon, we target 300 additional export contracts, with Asia representing a substantial part of these orders," Enzo Casolini, CEO of Eurofighter GmbH, said.
Nobel laureate for GM food, against biofuel and cloning
By IANS,
Chennai : For Nobel laureate microbiologist Sidney Altman, biofuels and clones are "no, no" but genetically modified (GM) food is a big "yes".
The renowned professor at Yale University thinks biofuels "cannot be the solution" the mankind is looking for.
"There is no indication that biofuels can ever substitute fossil fuels," Altman said in the keynote address at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-organised interaction on "what business and society can learn from basic research" here Saturday.
Intel unveils Atom processors for mobile devices
By IANS
New York/Bangalore : Global chip major Intel Corporation has launched five small processors under Atom trademark for mobile Internet devices and Centrino Atom chip for embedded computing solutions, the company said Wednesday.
Each Atom processor has 47 million tiny transistors in 45 nanometer (nm) scale, measuring less than 25 square millimetres. Built on a micro-architecture for small devices and low power consumption, the new chip can support multiple threads for higher performance and quick system response, Intel said in a statement.
Spacewalkers work outside International Space Station
By DPA,
Cape Canaveral (Florida) : Two US astronauts left the safety of the International Space Station Thursday to install spare parts that will help it continue running smoothly in the future.
Space shuttle Atlantis crew members Michael Foreman and Robert Satcher spent six hours and 37 minutes on the spacewalk.
They installed a backup antenna to the outside of the station and completed other maintenance with extra time to spare, NASA said.
Yahoo’s Flickr to provide online video service
By Xinhua
Beijing : Yahoo's online photo-sharing site Flickr will release online video service which represents the latest example of Yahoo trying to catch up with Google in a crucial battleground, media reported Wednesday.
Flickr's new technology is aimed at amateurs and hobbyists looking for a better way to share short video clips with family and friends.
India’s maiden moon mission on track as rain stops
By Venkatachari Jagannathan and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India was Tuesday set to launch its historic unmanned flight to the moon, the sixth to do so after the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. The skies cleared Tuesday evening after a heavy downpur, cheering scientists counting down to the early Wednesday morning launch.
Astronauts complete final spacewalk
By Xinhua,
Washington : Two astronauts have completed their fifth and final spacewalk installing two cameras on Japan's Kibo laboratory at the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency NASA said.
The spacewalk, conducted by Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn, lasted four hours and 54 minutes.
The astronauts performed an electrical cable swap and adjustment of insulation blankets on the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.
Space agency partners Tatas to develop hydrogen fuel
By IANS
Bangalore : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is partnering Tata Motors Ltd to develop hydrogen fuel cells for cars by using its cryogenic technology, a top space agency official said here Thursday.
"As a spin-off of the cryogenic technology we have successfully developed for our advanced launch vehicles, we are trying to see how best we can use this technology for other applications such as transportation," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a space conference.
Commercial ships spew half as much pollution as world’s cars
By IANS,
Washington : Commercial ships account for almost half as much particulate pollution as the total amount released by cars, according to a new study.
The study estimate that worldwide, ships emit about a million kilos of particulate pollution each year. Shipping also contributes almost 30 percent of smog-forming nitrogen oxide gases.
US calls for restraint on n-arms, NSA to visit Pakistan
Washington : As tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice is expected to arrive in Pakistan...
Martian formations suggest underground water surges
By IANS
New York : Many unique formations on Mars suggest that they were formed millennia back by water welling up rapidly from deep within the red planet.
Some of these formations, which resemble gigantic fans, have steps going down to a basin, and researchers have disputed how they were formed since their discovery three years ago.
But a team of scientists from the US and the Netherlands now believe they were formed by water gushing from within Mars.
Power station successfully traps CO2 emission
By IANS,
Sydney : In a pilot project that has far-reaching implications, an Australian power station has used a “carbon capturing” plant to trap a bulk of its CO2 emissions.
The “post-combustion-capture (PCC) pilot plant” at the Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley trapped up to 85 percent of its CO2 emissions.
The 10.5 metre-high pilot plant is designed to capture up to 1,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the power station's exhaust-gas flues. Future trials will involve the use of a range of different CO2-capture liquids.
New species discovered in Atlantic Ocean
By IANS,
London : In a major breakthrough, scientists have found over 10 new species under the Atlantic Ocean, including creatures close to the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals.
The bizarre creatures, oddly-shaped, brightly-coloured or even transparent, that scientists have uncovered during a new study has "revolutionised" thinking about deep-sea life.
Scientists believe they have discovered more than 10 new marine species by using the latest diving technology, Daily Mail reported.
Textile students devise anti-radiation shield for astronauts
By IANS,
Washington : Textile engineering students have thought up of an answer to one of the prime threats bedevilling NASA space missions: radiation.
The students of North Carolina State University (NCSU) have designed a 'blanket' that could shield lunar outposts and astronauts' living quarters from radiation, while generating and storing power.
The 'lunar texshield' is made from a lightweight polymer material that has a layer of radiation shielding that deflects or absorbs the radiation so astronauts are only exposed to a safe amount.
Axis Bank deploys Polaris’ software solution
By IANS,
Chennai : Private lender Axis Bank has implemented Polaris Software's solution for trade finance, cards and cheque truncation processes, the city-based banking software company said Monday.
The solution, "Intellect Business Process Studio", will enable Axis Bank to eliminate the paper-based cheque clearing activity, Polaris said in a statement.
Arianespace to launch India’s communication satellites
By IANS
New Delhi : The government has decided to place the contract for launching of GSAT-8/INSAT-4G communication satellites with Arianespace of Europe.
The decision was approved by the union cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday.
The cabinet approval has however put a rider, saying "The cost of the project should not exceed $67.5 million or Rs.2.97 billion", said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi while briefing newsmen on the decisions of the cabinet.
EU, India plan corpus for nano-technology research
By IANS
New Delhi : India and the European Commission (EC), a governing body of the European Union (EU), will set up a corpus fund of euro 10 million (Rs.576.7 million) for research in nano-technology, a top EC official said here Wednesday.
"We are for a joint call, which will focus on collaborative research. The effort will receive support of about euro 5 million (Rs.288.4 million) from each party," EC director general (research) Jose M.S. Rodriguez told reporters.
Post-1947 no science Nobel for India: Sibal
By IANS
New Delhi : India has not received a single Nobel Prize in the field of science after independence but efforts are on to spur innovation and research, Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said Monday.
To a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether it is fact that no Nobel Prize has been awarded to India in science after independence, Sibal said: "Yes Sir".
However, Sibal said his ministry was making efforts to strengthen research and innovation in the field of science.
World Champion Anand gets new technology to better his chess
Bangalore, Dec 22 (IANS) World champion Viswanathan Anand was honoured for defending his world chess title by his sponsors Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) with a top-of the line gaming computer here Monday.
The computer is powered by AMDs top of the line quad-core Phenom processor and the one teraflop ATI Radeon 4870x2 graphics card in a futuristic looking Asus chassis with specifications to match the need of the sporting giant.
Parrot fossil found in Scandinavia
By IANS,
Washington : The discovery of a parrot fossil in Scandinavia dating back some 55 million years, indicates that they were once common in colder climes like Norway and Denmark.
Parrots today live only in the tropics and the southern hemisphere, but this new research suggests that they first evolved in the north, much earlier than had been suspected.
ISRO eyes commercial launches to earn cash
By IANS,
Kolkata : After a string of successes, a confident Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is ready to offer its capacities on a commercial basis and ring in its cash registers, after meeting the domestic requirement that calls for four to five launches a year.
"ISRO launch vehicles are efficient, reliable and cost-effective. Our launch vehicles cost nearly 25 percent less than what international agencies demand," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair Thursday said.
Anti-virus software losing effectiveness
By DPA
Hanover : Anti-virus software is increasingly losing ground in the battle to provide reliable protection for PCs.
The Hanover-based c't magazine tested 17 current programmes recently. Each piece of software was tested for recognition of more than a million different pests, including trojans, viruses, worms and bots.
Two products were able to identify more than 99 percent of the malicious intruders. Four other virus scanners caught at least 95 percent and were hence awarded a grade of very good.
Chandrayaan spacecraft moved further up in space
Chennai, Oct 26 (IANS) India's maiden moon probe spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has reached nearly half the distance to the lunar orbit, crossing the 150,000-km mark from the earth Sunday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed third orbit-raising manoeuvre initiated at 7.08 a.m. Sunday firing the liquid apogee motor for about nine and a half minutes.
With this, Chandrayaan spacecraft has entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the earth.
MIT researchers work on more powerful batteries
By IANS,
Washington: A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is developing a technology that could lead to more powerful, lightweight batteries than existing ones.
Yang Shao-Horn, MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering, says that many groups have been pursuing work on lithium-air batteries, a technology that could advance work on energy density.
But, there has been a lack of understanding of what kinds of electrode materials could promote the electrochemical reactions that take place in these batteries.
New technology to help doctors image lungs
By IANS,
Sydney : New technology pioneered by Australian researchers will help doctors image a patient's lungs and respiratory diseases.
Scientists from the University of Queensland (UQ) have successfully developed the country's first hyperpolarised helium gas for use in human MRIs.
Marlies Friese said the UQ team recently produced sufficient gas for a human subject to inhale, and created an image of the person's airways.
NIIT Technologies, British Airways ink three-year deal
By IANS,
New Delhi : Leading Indian global software major NIIT Technologies Ltd said Friday that it has signed a "multi-million pound" three-year deal with Britain's premier airline British Airways.
"The deal enables the support and testing of business critical applications across various business areas of the global airline," the regulatory statement said.
The contract is one of the largest ever deals to be signed by NIIT Technologies with a member of the British airlines industry and follows a 12-year relationship between the two companies, the statement said.
Nanotechnology: science of small with huge opportunities
Chennai, March 24 (IANS) In future we may never have to wash our shirts, thanks to nanotechnology, and we may have nano-shoes that can absorb the shock of an exploding nuclear device.
A. Sivathanu Pillai, one of India's top scientists, discussed all this and many more far-reaching possibilities of nanotechnology, which basically means engineering of systems at molecular level, at an industry meet here last week.
"It is material science at its best," said Pillai, who is chief controller (research and development) at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Scientists create retina from human embryonic stem cells
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have created an eight-layer, early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells. The complex tissue structure offers hope to millions with degenerative eye disorders.
It also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that affect millions.
Researchers crack key HIV riddle after decades
By IANS,
London : Researchers have cracked a key riddle that has foxed scientists for decades, potentially opening the way to better treatment of HIV, says a new study.
Imperial College London and Harvard University researchers have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV.
When HIV infects someone, it uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA.
Three rules ‘must’ for optimising technology use for progress
By IANS,
Washington : Use of technology can be optimised for ensuring social progress if policy makers are clear about how to apply it and know what to expect from their efforts.
Daniel Sarewitz of Arizona State University (ASU) and Richard Nelson of Columbia University described three rules that can help technology and science policy makers become smarter about where to apply technological fixes and what to expect as a result.
British gangs duping people to buy malicious software
By IANS,
London : Britons are being duped to buy malicious software in the guise of anti-virus protection by criminals posing as legitimate IT experts, officials warned Monday.
Stephen Hawking: there may be aliens!
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Stephen Hawking said there may be alients, but they may not be intelligent as others had thought, or just primitive life.
The 66-year-old famed British cosmologist Hawking's comments were part of a lecture at George Washington University on Monday in honor of NASA's 50th anniversary.
He theorized that there are possible answers to whether there is extraterrestrial life.
"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," said Hawking "Some would say it has yet to occur on earth."
Airport scanner can damage diabetes device
By IANS,,
Washington : Full-body scanners used at airports can damage the insulin pump or continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device used by diabetics, caution experts.
NASA probe flies by Mercury in 1st visit since 1975
By Xinhua
Beijing : NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft on Monday flew within 200 kilometers above the surface of Mercury, making the first pass of the planet since 1975, media reported.
The car-sized probe traveled at about 25,800 kilometers miles per hour as it passed over Mercury on a mission designed to resolve some of the mysteries about the solar system's innermost planet, officials said.
Beijing : NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft on Monday flew within 200 kilometers above the surface of Mercury, making the first pass of the planet since 1975, media reported.
The car-sized probe traveled at about 25,800 kilometers miles per hour as it passed over Mercury on a mission designed to resolve some of the mysteries about the solar system's innermost planet, officials said.
Oxygen content in Ladakh up 50 percent: Scientists
By Ritu Sharma, IANS,
Leh (Jammu and Kashmir) : Anyone visiting Ladakh for the first time can be left gasping for breath due to low oxygen levels in the high altitude region. But a successful plantation drive has brought about environmental changes - driving up oxygen content by 50 percent and, most unusually, making it rain, say Indian scientists.
Soon, solar-powered camera straps to charge batteries
By IANS,
London: Photographers will soon be able to charge their camera batteries with the rays of the sun.
A team of Chinese researchers are developing solar panels to straps that would make the charging easy. Inventor Weng Jie’s idea, of which a prototype may be ready in months, could spell the end of wall-socket charging, reports dailymail.co.uk.
But there is a downside: In case there is not enough sunlight, regular batteries can not be used as a substitute.
Scientists start regional network to study earthquakes in Himalayas
By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS,
Agartala : The Holy Grail for geologists is the ability to predict an earthquake. While they continue their search, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) is putting in place a network by which they can forecast overall seismic activity in the Himalayas, one of the most quake-prone regions of the world.
Spacecraft images show rings of Saturn’s 2nd largest moon
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, may have rings, according to images from a spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Los Angeles.
The finding was described in a study published in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.
Scientists at NASA believe the rings may be the remnants of an asteroid or comet collision, which circulated large quantities of gas and solid particles around Rhea.
NASA’s Fermi telescope sees mother of all gamma-rays blast
By IANS,
Washington : The first gamma-ray burst to be seen in high-resolution from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope had the greatest total energy, the fastest motions and the highest-energy initial emissions ever recorded.
"We were waiting for this one," said Peter Michelson, the principal investigator on Fermi's Large Area Telescope at Stanford University. "Burst emissions at these energies are still poorly understood, and Fermi is giving us the tools to understand them."
Singhvi underlines India’s growth at Boston technology summit
By IANS,
Washington : Political and business leaders from three leading world markets - China, India and Russia - got an insight into India's growth plans from Abhishek Singhvi, spokesperson of the Congress Party leading the country's ruling coalition.
Participating in a conference on "China, India and Russia - Our Partners in the New Global Economy" in Boston, Massachusetts Thursday, he also dilated on India's infrastructure and its abundant labour supply.
Ancient mass migration of men from Africa populated world
By IANS,
Washington : Modern humans quit Africa over 60,000 years ago in a migration that many believe populated the earth.
Now, researchers have revealed that men and women weren't equal partners in that exodus. By tracing variations in the X chromosome and in the non-sex chromosomes, they found evidence that men probably outnumbered women in that migration.
UN says ozone hole shrinking due to weather, not recovery
By NNN-SPA
United Nations, New York : Although the ozone layer over the Antarctic this year is relatively small, it is due to mild temperatures experienced in the region’s stratosphere this winter and is not a sign of global recovery, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Thursday.
Since 1998, only the ozone holes of 2002 and 2004 have been smaller than this year’s-both in area and amount of destroyed ozone-and this is not indicative of ozone recuperation, WMO said in a statement.
Google launches Web browser to compete with Microsoft
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : Google launched on Tuesday a beta version of its browser for Windows, called Google Chrome, in more than 100 countries.
With the Web browser, Google wants to be in a better position to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox.
This was seen as yet another salvo in Google's intensifying battle with Microsoft to dominate not only what people do on the Web but also how they get there.
With the Web browser, Google wants to be in a better position to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox.
This was seen as yet another salvo in Google's intensifying battle with Microsoft to dominate not only what people do on the Web but also how they get there.
New format to ensure disruption-free images on TV
By IANS,
London : Video coding techniques still have their flip side - digital images are not always disruption-free. Now, an extension of the coding format known as H.264/AVC will help protect the most important data packets to ensure they reach the receiver.
For instance, your favourite detective series has just reached its climax when a thunderstorm raging outside interferes with the digital image on your TV.
Gmail,Yahoo hit by phishing scheme
By DPA,
San Francisco : Users of Google's Gmail and Yahoo Mail were also targeted in the large-scale phishing attack that harvested at least 10,000 passwords from Microsoft's Live Hotmail, according to reports Tuesday.
Neither of the companies' US representatives responded to requests for information. But in Europe, where most of the Hotmail phishing victims appeared to be located, a spokesman for Google confirmed the targeting of Gmail users.
Discovery shuttle cleared for landing despite loss of part
By DPA,
Washington : The shuttle Discovery was cleared for landing after NASA concluded Friday that a small part that broke off the spacecraft did not pose any safety concerns, the agency said.
The Discovery crew spotted the small, rectangular object floating away from the shuttle early Friday, NASA officials said.
After analysing the video footage, NASA determined it was a metal clip used to protect the rudder's speed brake during take-off and its loss would not affect landing.
In 2007, CSIR has a vision for 2001!
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's oldest and largest scientific institution, has not just been headless for nine long months, but in 2007, to go by its website, it has a vision for 2001!
The vision document flashing on its website, the institute's global interface, says: "CSIR in 2001 would be a model organisation for scientific industrial research and path setter in the shifting paradigms of self financing research and development (R&D).
NASA camera yields most accurate Mars map
By IANS,
Washington : A camera on board NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has helped develop the most accurate global Martian map ever.
Researchers and the public can access the map via several websites and explore and survey the entire surface of the Red Planet.
The map was constructed using nearly 21,000 images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, a multi-band infrared camera on Odyssey, says a NASA release.
Total solar eclipse begins in India
By IANS,
New Delhi : As dawn broke Wednesday, the century's longest total solar eclipse began with thousands of sky gazers craning their neck skywards to catch the glimpse of the rare celestial spectacle.
The sun rose eclipsed Wednesday morning at 5:28 a.m. at a local sunrise point in the Arabian Sea close to the western coast of India near Surat in Gujarat.
Thousands of people, children and adults, thronged the sky watching sites across the country with their solar goggles to watch the eclipse.
Indian Mars Orbiter completes 100 days in space
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's maiden Mars Orbiter spacecraft completes 100 days Wednesday cruising through interplanetary space in its voyage towards the red planet.
"Health of...
Europe’s biggest wind energy park inaugurated in Portugal
By DPA,
Lisbon : Portugal's Economy Minister Manuel Pinho Wednesday inaugurated what was described as Europe's biggest wind energy park in the northern region of Viana do Castelo.
The Alto Minho I park began generating energy already a year ago, gradually increasing its production to the full potential Wednesday.
The 120 turbines divided between five sub-stations will produce 530 gigawatts annually or one percent of Portugal's energy.
The park, which cost 400 million euros ($520 million), was expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 370,000 tonnes annually.
Space technology to identify whale sharks off Gujarat
By Sanjeeb Baruah, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian scientists will try to distinguish individual whale sharks off the Gujarat coast, using a technique employed by NASA to identify galaxies.
Just as each tiger is distinguished by its stripes, whale sharks too can be identified through a unique pattern of spots that form points of numerous triangles on their bodies, say experts.
As the whale shark grows, the distance between these spots increases, but angles of these triangles remain the same, thus identifying the whale shark.
The method is also used by NASA to identify galaxies.
SMS to know CAT answers within hours of exam
By IANS
Mumbai : Months of fretting after taking the Combined Admission Test (CAT) for admissions to top management institutes may become a thing of the past with the launch of an SMS service that will give the answers within hours of taking the exam.
New software to help empty stadiums during bomb threats
By IANS,
Washington : Imagine trying to get out of a stadium with 70,000 fans after a bomb explodes, or even a bomb threat. For an evacuation on this scale, there are no dress rehearsals or practice drills - just simulation software.
A new breed of simulation software - dubbed SportEvac - is being funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) as part of the Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI), and developed and tested by the National Centre for Spectator Sports Safety & Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Space, atomic energy department chiefs to retire at 66
By IANS
New Delhi : The union cabinet Thursday gave the go-ahead for a four-year extension in service to the chairman of the Space Commission, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the secretary, Department of Space and Atomic Energy, from the present age of 62 to 66.
The cabinet would make the necessary amendment soon, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters.
Indian blogs live from Antarctica for the first time
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
New Delhi : On the icy barrenness of Antarctica, the Indian research station of Maitri has a new voice - the first ever blog by an Indian from the seventh continent.
A member of the 27th Indian Scientific Antarctica Expedition, 56-year-old Sudhir Khandelwal, has typed, so far, 39 posts and nearly 15,000 words, with another one and a half months of his stay to go.
WhatsApp to introduce voice calls in second quarter
By IANS,
Madrid: World's biggest mobile messaging service WhatsApp intends to add voice calling feature to its free messaging service in the second quarter of...
Russia fails to put U.S. satellite into target orbit
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia failed to put a U.S. AMC-14 telecommunication satellite into its target orbit after a booster rocket malfunctioned during the launch early on Saturday, Russia's Federal Space Agency said.
At 2:28 a.m. Moscow time (23:28 GMT Friday), a few minutes after the Proton-M carrier rocket's launch from the Baikonur Space Center which Russia rents from Kazakhstan, the Breeze-M orbit insertion booster failed during its upper stage, putting the satellite into orbit much lower than required.
Turkey launches new generation communication satellite
By Xinhua,
Ankara : Turkey has launched its new generation communication satellite "Turksat 3A" from the Kourou base of French Guiana, the semi-official Anatolia news agency has reported.
The report said that the satellite launched Thursday would be located in the orbit of 42 degree east longitude and the control of the satellite will be pursued in the Golbasi Satellite Ground Station near the Turkish capital Ankara.
The satellite, which has three uplink and two downlink beams, will replace Turksat 1C satellite, the report said.
Asteroids are linked to meteorites striking earth
By IANS,
Sydney : Asteroids in space are linked to meteorites that land on earth, a new discovery claims. Analysis of dust samples from an asteroid known as Itokawa has unspooled these links.
Britain introduces biometric data collection in India
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian applicants will now have to wait longer to obtain a visa for the United Kingdom, as Britain will start collecting fingerprints and digital photographs of all visa seekers at its application collection centres in the country from Wednesday.
While Britain already has biometric data centres in around 130 countries, it encountered a legal problem in India due to restrictions on the transmission of the data electronically.
Google opens store for Chrome users
By DPA,
Mountain View (US) : Google has started up a portal for downloading extensions and web applications to its Chrome internet browser.
Aliens exist on Saturn’s moon: NASA
By IANS,
London : Scientists at US space agency NASA have found vital clues that primitive aliens could be living on Titan, one of Saturn's biggest moons.
On the basis of chemical composition found on Titan's surface, the experts believe that life forms have been breathing in the planet's atmosphere and also feeding on its surface's fuel.
The research based on the analysis of data sent from NASA's Cassini probe has been detailed in two separate studies.
Chasing an eclipsed sun through India
By IANS,
New Delhi : There was excitement in the air as a shaded sun peeped from an overcast sky at dawn Wednesday with tens of thousands of people across the country gathering at rooftops, planetariums and parks to watch the century's longest total solar eclipse.
The eclipse started at sunrise in Surat in Gujarat at 5.28 a.m. when the moon started covering the sun and reached its peak at around 6.23 a.m. when the sun was completely obscured by the moon. The eclipse ended at 7.25 a.m.
U.S. pledges to compensate countries hit by satellite debris
By Xinhua
Geneva : The United States said on Friday that it would compensate countries whose territory might be hit by debris of an inoperable U.S. spy satellite that the Pentagon plans to shoot down.
Christina Rocca, U.S. ambassador for disarmament affairs, said the United States had recently modified three SM-3 missiles and three U.S. Navy ships to try to shoot down the satellite, which is currently in a decaying orbit.
Geneva : The United States said on Friday that it would compensate countries whose territory might be hit by debris of an inoperable U.S. spy satellite that the Pentagon plans to shoot down.
Christina Rocca, U.S. ambassador for disarmament affairs, said the United States had recently modified three SM-3 missiles and three U.S. Navy ships to try to shoot down the satellite, which is currently in a decaying orbit.
Asteroid And Comet Threat Is A Challenge To Mankind
By Bernama,
St. Petersburg : The asteroid and comet threat is a real challenge to mankind in the 21st century, and it is described as "space terrorism", Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported Saturday quoting the Director of the Institute of Applied Astronomy Andrei Fenkelshtein, as saying.
Speaking at the regional Itar-Tass centre, Fenkelshtein said: "This phenomenon is well studied from the scientific point of view even though speculations continue to revolve around the event that occurred one hundred years ago."
Virtual crash dummy to make driving much safer
By IANS,
Washington : Automakers have been crashing test dummies to gain insight into how safety systems protect or fail to protect people during car accidents.
But these dummies made out of plastic and steel, not tissue and bone, have their limitations. Now a virtual dummy being developed by two engineering teams with University of Virginia (UVa) Centre for Biomechanics, will make driving much safer.
Indian rocket puts 10 satellites in orbit at one go
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India Monday significantly boosted its space capabilities with the copybook launch of a Rs.700 million ($17.4 million) rocket that simultaneously placed in orbit 10 satellites - two Indian and eight foreign.
The launch firmly established India as a major player in the $1 billion global satellite launch market, a significant milestone in the country's 45-year-old space programme.
Scientists pinpoint gene linked to depression
By IANS,
London : Scientists have identified a gene that may be the "primary cause" of depression, thereby enabling the development of new treatments and early diagnosis of the condition.
Hanover Fair highlights Japanese robots and sumo
By Yuriko Wahl, DPA,
Hanover (Germany) : Innovations from Japan, including robots and a virtual power station, are to have pride of place at the Hanover Fair in Germany next week alongside sumo wrestlers and traditional taiko drummers.
The April 21-25 fair has appointed high-tech Japan this year as partner nation. The annual fair, with 5,100 companies from 62 nations exhibiting, is a major venue for showing heavy industrial equipment.
Century’s longest eclipse sweeps into clouds in Himachal
By IANS,
Shimla : Partly cloudy sky Wednesday morning in most parts of Himachal Pradesh marred the early moments of one of nature's greatest spectaculars - the century's longest total solar eclipse, weather officials here said.
"Clouds in most parts of the hill state remained an intermittent problem, with most areas reporting partly overcast conditions," meteorological office Director Manmohan Singh said.
On the historic Ridge in Shimla, a large number of people, especially schoolchildren, have gathered to witness the eclipse through clouds.
Zenit rocket to orbit Israeli satellite in March
By RIA Novasti
Moscow : The launch of a modified Zenit rocket to put an Israeli communications satellite into orbit has been scheduled for March 2008, a Baikonur space center official said on Friday.
Russia started preparations for the launch of a Zenith-3SLB rocket with an Israeli AMOS-3 satellite on board from the space center in Kazakhstan in October last year.
"For the first time, a three-stage Zenit rocket will be launched from this [Baikonur] space center," Oleg Urusov said.
Meteor showers to make sky sparkle Aug 12
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : The night sky will be streaked with light in a celestial spectacle put up by the Perseids meteor showers Aug 12.
Sky gazers can look out for it before dawn when over 100 meteors will sparkle in the night sky.
"Perseids are the most famous and beautiful of all meteor showers that approach from the horizon. They are long, slow and colourful," Nehru Planetaruim director N. Rathnashree told IANS.
Secret UFO files revealed to British public
By DPA,
London : Secret files about the sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) over Britain were opened to the public for the first time Wednesday, arousing anew the interest of "sceptics and believers", officials said.
The information, recording among many others a saucer-shaped UFO hovering over Waterloo Bridge in London, is based on details kept by police stations and airbases around the country.
It is being published by the National Archives in Kew, near London, which has kept the information secret for the past 30 years in line with legislation.
Nepal PM breaks eclipse taboo
By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal's new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday took the lead in watching the much-acclaimed longest solar eclipse of the century, breaking an old taboo that in the past forbade Nepalis from venturing out during the phenomenon.
Smelling carbon-dioxide can impact ageing
By IANS,
Washington : Specific odours that represent food are capable of altering an animal's lifespan and physiological profile by activating a small number of highly specialised sensory neurons, says a new study.
Nematode worms and fruit flies that were robbed of their ability to smell or taste, for example, lived substantially longer. However, the specific odours and sensory receptors that control this effect on ageing were unknown.
Yahoo! to develop nest-generation products from India lab
By IANS
Bangalore : Leading search engine and news and entertainment portal Yahoo! has set up a laboratory here to develop next-generation products for its global customers and users, a company official said Tuesday.
"As an extension of our research and development (R&D) operations here, Yahoo! India Lab will initially have 100-member team of scientists and engineers. They will work on multiple projects to make the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers worldwide," Yahoo! India Research head Prabhakar Raghavan told reporters here.
China to use jumbo rocket for delivery of lunar rover, space station
By Xinhua
Beijing : A Chinese space expert said here on Tuesday that the Long March 5 large-thrust carrier rocket, currently under development and scheduled to be put into service in 2014, will be mainly used for the delivery of lunar rovers, large satellites and space stations.
"With a maximum payload capacity up to 25 tons, the jumbo rocket is expected to be able to send lunar rovers, large satellites and space stations into space after 2014," said Liang Xiaohong, vice president of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
Giant flying reptiles preferred to walk the earth
By IANS,
Washington : Huge flying reptiles of ancient times weren't exactly predators grabbing fish from seas, but were really more suited to life on the ground.
A particular kind of pterosaur, the azhdarchids, existing 230 to 65 million years ago with dinosaurs, stalked animals on foot rather than through the air, according to a new study.
Azhdarchids were better adapted to walking than any of their first cousins because of their long limbs and skulls were suited for picking up small animals off the ground.
National Solar Mission targets Nov 14 launch
By IANS,
Kolkata : India's ambitious National Solar Mission, which aims to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2020, has a target launch date of Nov 14, a top official said here Friday.
"The overall structure and draft of the National Solar Mission have been approved by the prime minister (Manmohan Singh). The target date for the launch is Nov 14," said Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran.
Avnet Electronics eyes acquisitions in India to spur growth
By Fakir Balaji
Bangalore, Sep 17 (IANS) Avnet Inc., the $16 billion global electronics marketing and technology major, is scouting for design and product firms in India for strategic acquisitions and expanding its presence in the subcontinent.
"With India emerging as the fastest growing market in Asia for us, we are on the lookout for small and medium design and product firms that would complement our components and add value to our customers' requirements," Avent's electronics marketing president Harley Feldberg told IANS in an interview here.