Colombia budgeting on Indian software
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
Bogota : Colombia will soon have a sophisticated software programme to prepare, implement and monitor its national budget, thanks to an Indian software company.
From his office inside the finance ministry building opposite the Colombian Presidential Palace in Bogota, Subramanian Ravishankar is leading a global team of 350 Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employees working exclusively on this major government project.
Clouds, fog hide meteor shower view in Delhi
By IANS
New Delhi : A rare celestial event, the Geminid meteor shower, was visible across most of India Friday night, but sadly the grand annual celestial spectacle could not be seen in Delhi due to a cloudy and foggy sky.
"Not only Delhi, but places like Mumbai and other northern Indian cities will not view this development properly. Sky watchers in the capital will miss out the event due mainly to fog, clouds and light pollution (excessive city lights)," Nehru Planetarium director R. Rathnasree told IANS.
Space shuttle Atlantis launch set for Jan 10
By DPA
Washington : After postponing the launch of space shuttle Atlantis multiple times, NASA has said it would next try to takeoff Jan 10.
The shuttle is to bring the European-designed Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS) and was originally to launch Dec 6, but was delayed because of problems with fuel cut-off sensor system inside the shuttle and its external fuel tank.
Biogas – from your kitchen, in your backyard
By V. Vijayalakshmi, IANS
Pune : Think twice before you dump that banana peel or spinach stem into the bin. That and more waste from your kitchen can be converted into biogas to supplement your energy needs -- that too in your own backyard.
Anand Karve, director of the Pune-based Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI), tells you how.
ITC Infotech deploys customer software for Finnair
Bangalore, Dec 13 (IANS) ITC Infotech Ltd, a global IT services firm of ITC group, has successfully deployed a software solution to manage customer relationships for Finnair, Finland's largest airline, the company said here Thursday.
With Infotech's software tool, Finnair becomes the world's first airline to shift from a frequent flyer management system to an analytical CRM (customer relationship management) solution, the Bangalore-based company said in a statement.
Russian cargo spacecraft to undock from ISS
By RIA Novasti
Moscow : Russia's Progress M-61 cargo spacecraft is to be detached from the International Space Station (ISS) on December 22 and used as a platform for technical experiments, mission control said on Thursday.
"Progress-M61 is to be undocked from the ISS on December 22. However, the spacecraft, which is at the end of its service life, will not be buried at the 'spacecraft cemetery' in the Pacific, but will be sent on an independent voyage," a spokesman said.
Indian Muslim blogs nominated for Brass Crescent Awards
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
In the world of blogs known as blogosphere, Indian Muslims are making their presence known. Two Indian Muslims blogs have won nomination to the 4th Brass Crescent Awards.
Indian Muslim Blog (IMB) on www.IndianMuslims.in, a collaborative blog that started in January 2006 and have a number of bloggers who write on topics related to India and Muslims is nominated for the “Best Group Blog” category.
Arctic summer sea ice may disappear in 5 years
By Xinhuanet
Beijing : The melting of the Arctic is accelerating and scientists estimate that the summer sea ice would disappear in five years, media reported Wednesday referring to new NASA satellite data.
Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.
NASA to test faulty sensors of shuttle Atlantis
By Xinhua
Washington : With a trouble shooting plan in hand, NASA will begin to test the erratic fuel sensors which had halted the launch of space shuttle Atlantis, a top NASA official announced Tuesday at a teleconference.
The test work is tentatively planned for Dec. 18, said Wayne Hale, NASA's Space Shuttle Program Manager. Technicians and engineers plan to test the sensor system onboard Atlantis by pumping super-cold liquid hydrogen into the external fuel tank.
New NASA mission to reveal moon’s evolution
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
Russia, France develop new satellite platform
By RIA Novasti
Moscow : Russia's Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Production Association (NPO-PM) and France's Thales Alenia Space are developing a new multifunctional satellite platform, Russian officials said Wednesday.
Thales Alenia Space, a major payload provider for the Russian telecom satellite market, and NPO-PM are closely working on a joint programme to build new multi-mission satellite platform, optimised for a direct injection in the Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) and High-Elliptical Orbit (HEO) missions.
Indian physicists trap light in ‘nano’ soup
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS
Bangalore : Indian scientists have demonstrated how to trap and retrieve light using a soup of micro and nano sized magnetic spheres - a major milestone in the path toward developing optical computers.
The researchers claim that their unique mixture of tiny particles works at room temperature, holds photons - the particles of light - for far longer than other systems, and can also be tuned with a magnet to store any wavelength of visible light.
Data from Chinese lunar orbiter available to all
By Xinhua
Shanghai : Scientists and astronomy enthusiasts all over the country all have access to data sent back from China's first lunar orbiter Chang'e-I, a leading scientist in the program said here Sunday.
Official: China will soon have its own moon globe
By Xinhua
Beijing : China will make its own lunar globe soon, using pictures and data collected by its own moon orbiter, said an official in charge of the country's moon exploration mission on Tuesday.
"I believe that China will soon come up with a full map of the moon," said Hu Hao, head of the lunar exploration center under the Commission of Science Technology and Industry of National Defense (COSTIND).
Remember the moon? NASA does, with 2020 vision
Washington, Dec 12 (DPA) Thirty-five years after the last man stood on the moon, the US space agency remains focused on returning humans to Earth's satellite as a launching pad for future exploration of Mars.
Never mind that the US public seemed more fixated on the high-profile arrest earlier this year of an astronaut caught in a jealous love triangle with a colleague, or that the long-delayed installation of a European module on the International Space Station (ISS) was again pushed back with the postponement of the Atlantis shuttle launch Sunday.
Satellite to link computers in rural India soon
By IANS
Bangalore : The Indian space agency will launch a dedicated satellite mid-2008 that will connect computers in villages across the country for accessing Internet and transferring data, a top official said here Tuesday.
"We are going to launch an experimental satellite (Gsat-4) in June next year that will facilitate data transfer from computers located in remote and inaccessible villages," G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told reporters on the sidelines of a science event here.
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.
Reliance Communications wins top CDMA operator award
By IANS
New Delhi : Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications has been adjudged the world's top mobile service provider based on code division multiple access (CDMA) technology.
The award was conferred upon the company by the CDMA Development Group (CDG), a trade body aimed at fostering worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies.
Chang’e-1 photographs dark side of the moon
By Xinhua
Beijing : The charge-coupled device (CCD) camera on Chang'e-1, China's first lunar orbiter, has started imaging probes on the dark side of the moon and captured photos of parts of this region, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Tuesday.
The CNSA said that the orbiter is operating normally in terms of flying, probing, land control and communication, as well as data transmitting and processing.
NASA gives “go” for Atlantis’ Sunday launch
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA announced Saturday afternoon that it will try to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on Sunday.
The Mission Management Team concluded after a meeting on Saturday that "we are 'go' for a Sunday launch attempt," said a briefing posted by NASA at its official website. Sunday's launch attempt is set for 3:21 p.m. EST (2021 GMT).
Russian carrier rocket Proton puts military satellite into orbit
By Ria Novosty
Moscow : A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket, launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, has put a military satellite into orbit, Russia's space agency (Roskosmos) said on Sunday.
"A Proton-M carrier rocket, which was launched from the Baikonur space center at 03: 16 a.m. Moscow time (00:16 a.m. GMT) today [on Sunday], successfully put a Kosmos satellite into orbit at 12:17 p.m. Moscow time (09:17 a.m. GMT)," Roskosmos said.
Russia launches Proton-M carrier rocket with military satellite
By Ria Novosti
Moscow : A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a military satellite has been launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Russia's space agency (Roskosmos) said on Sunday.
The Proton-M carrier rocket with a Kosmos satellite was launched at 3:16 a.m. Moscow time (00:16 a.m. GMT) on Sunday. The carrier rocket is expected to put the satellite into orbit at 12:17 p.m. Moscow time (09:17 a.m. GMT), Roskosmos said.
Managing Internet Explorer plug-ins
By DPA
Washington : Everyone knows the story: When Internet Explorer (IE) is first installed, it flies. The browser itself opens quickly, and pages load without incident.
But after a while, things start to break down. The browser crashes, freezes, or loads slowly. Sometimes it won't load at all. Typically the blame falls on security holes in IE. But there can be other causes too - plug-ins.
You could ditch IE altogether and move to Mozilla's Firefox, but most Firefox users swear by plug-ins, so there's really no escape from plug-in issues there, either.
Argentina, Italy launch new satellite
By NNN-Prensa Latina
Buenos Aires : Argentina and Italy have launched the second of a group of six satellites for scientific use for monitoring natural disasters and agriculture, Telam official agency informed Friday.
Argentina is a pioneer in the use of satellites, allowing advanced scientific achievements in areas like health, particularly the detection of epidemiological diseases, affirmed Conrado Varotto, executive director of CONAE (National Space Activities Commission).
NASA engineers could launch Atlantis by Saturday
By KUNA
Washington : NASA engineers will meet Friday to discuss an unresolved fuel circuitry problem that grounded the space shuttle Atlantis on Thursday, and may resume the mission as early as Saturday.
The 11-day mission, set to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday morning, was postponed at the last minute after several of shuttle's fuel sensors gave false readings that the exterior fuel tank's liquid hydrogen levels were empty.
Intel founder gives $200mn to build world’s largest telescope
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : Intel Corp founder Gordon Moore and his wife Betty have donated $200 million to build the world's largest optical telescope, according to media reports.
The telescope will have a mirror nearly 100 feet across and three times the size of the current record holder. The donation went to Caltech (California Institute of Technology) and the University of California, said the Los Angeles Times.
Caltech officials said matching gifts from two other institutions are expected to bring the total to $300 million.
Toyota unveils human-assisting robots
By DPA
Tokyo : Toyota Motor Corp Thursday unveiled two new robots that can assist humans in transport, domestic duties and care taking.
The first robot is envisaged to transport humans and objects at a speed of 6 km per hour for a distance of 20 km with one battery charge.
The other, a two-legged violin-playing robot, has 17 movable joints that provide it capability to conduct domestic duties and assist in nursing or medical care.
Scientists identify gene that influences alcohol consumption
By Xinhua
Washington : A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by US scientists.
If approved in human beings, the finding may lead to new opportunities for developing drugs to treat alcohol dependence.
Known as Grm7, the gene encodes a receptor subtype that inhibits the release of glutamate and other neurotransmitter molecules that brain cells use to communicate with one another.
Google distorts reality, Austrian study says
By DPA
Vienna : Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, is on several fronts a danger that has to be stopped, a study released by Austria's Graz University claims.
A research team led by Prof. Hermann Maurer, chairman of Graz University's Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media, argues that Google is turning into a new version of George Orwell's "Big Brother" - creating unacceptable monopolies in many areas of the worldwide web.
Divorces contributing to global warming: study
By IANS
Sydney : Increasing number of divorces are contributing to global warming, says a new study that suggests people should save their marriages to save the environment.
After divorce a woman moves out and forms a new household. The study by researchers at the Michigan State University found that this leads to less efficient use of natural resources, more demand for land for housing, and higher expenditure on utilities, reported the online edition of News Australia.
Researchers surveyed 3,283 homes in the US between 2001 and 2005.
Avoid diseases by exposing food to radiation: scientist
By V. Jagannathan, IANS
Chennai : The government should allow the generic use of irradiation technology - a process of exposing food to controlled radiations like gamma rays, X-rays, and accelerated electrons that kill harmful organisms - to prevent diseases and increase shelf life of food, says a top atomic scientist.
"The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act should be amended to allow irradiation of food products on a generic basis," Arun K. Sharma, head of the Food Technology Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), told IANS here.
Recovery tools: emergency helpers for data crashes
By DPA
Hanover : It can happen very quickly: you empty the Windows Recycle Bin just a bit too quickly, or format a thumb drive unintentionally - and important data is suddenly gone.
Yet hope is not lost, because in most cases the operating system has not actually deleted the file but just released it for overwriting.
"It's similar to a thick book that's had part of the table of contents ripped out. Then you can't find specific pages without a bit of help," says Boi Feddern, an editor at German computing magazine c't.
Swedish team hopeful of Technopark tie-ups
Thiruvananthapuram (IANS) : A Swedish team visiting the country is holding talks with companies in Technopark campus here to explore possibilities of business deals between IT firms of the two countries.
The Swedish team consisted of Maria Johansson of Aurorum Science Park, and Michael Nilsson of Centre for Distance-Spanning Technology (CDT) of the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden.
Speaking to IANS, Johansson said that they held exploratory talks with a few IT companies in Technopark and have been impressed with the outcome.
Radhakrishnan to head Vikram Sarabhai space centre
Bangalore(IANS) : Senior space scientist K. Radhakrishnan has been appointed director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Thiruvananthapuram, the space agency announced here Saturday.
Radhakrishnan, who was till recently head of the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in Hyderabad, will succeed B.N. Suresh.
NASA to launch space shuttle Atlantis Dec 6
Washington(Xinhua) : NASA will launch its space shuttle STS-122 Atlantis on Dec 6 to deliver the European-built Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA TV reported.
The announcement was made at a press conference late Friday, following a two-day flight readiness review at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
The shuttle mission management team conducts the traditional review two weeks prior to the launch of each space shuttle mission.
Astronomers confirm lightning on Venus
By Xinhua
Washington : Astronomers working at the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission confirmed for the first time that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning.
The discovery -- a part of the Venus Express science findings - appeared on the Nov 29 edition of the journal Nature.
Get your math right on frequencies: Mittal
By IANS
New Delhi : A day ahead of a crucial meeting on how the government should allot frequencies to telecom operators, Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal sharply criticised the way parameters were drawn to allot this scare resource.
"Government must set its mathematics right. Ignorance is not an excuse to change the norms," Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of the India-European Union Business Summit, joining other GSM mobile operators on the issue.
Cuban scientists develop cancer drug from scorpion venom
By IANS
Cienfuegos (Cuba) : Cuban scientists have developed a drug from scorpion venom, which they say could go a long way in fighting cancer, Spanish news agency Prensa Latina reported Thursday.
"The researchers have been studying the breeding, handling and use of scorpion venom in their Cienfuegos breeding centre, which has 400 scorpions at present but would increase to 5,000 next year," team leader Fabio Linares of the Pharmaceutical Biological Laboratories in Havana said Wednesday.
The drug can be used to treat brain tumours, pancreas and prostate cancer.
AMD sets up silicon design facility in India
By IANS
Bangalore : Leading chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc Thursday expanded its research and development (R&D) operations in India by opening a silicon design facility in the country's IT hub.
AMD chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz, who inaugurated the new facility, told reporters that its Indian subsidiary plays a critical role in the company's global design network, including development of its most advanced, next-generation processing solutions.
Russian archaeologists find unique mummies in Egypt
By RIA Novosti
Al-Fayum (Egypt) : Russian archaeologists have found well-preserved mummies in Egypt, dating back to the Ptolemaic era, the head of the Russian Academy of Science's Egyptology department has announced.
"Well-preserved mummies of this period are extremely rare," Galina Belova said. The discoveries were made in the Egyptian oasis of Al-Fayum, where several mummies, combining traits of Hellenic and Egyptian traditions, have previously been found.
Scientists can predict if women are going to break their hip
By IANS
New York : Scientists have listed 11 factors that will help doctors predict if a postmenopausal woman is going to suffer hip fractures over a period of five years.
A hip fracture is a common injury for elderly people. A broken hip can lead to more serious problems, even death. For older women, a hip fracture can mean continuing ill health.
Russian cargo spacecraft will fly to space station
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The Russian Progress M-62 cargo spacecraft will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur launch centre in Kazakhstan Dec 23, Russia's space agency said.
"The spacecraft will deliver food and water for the crew, as well as fuel to maintain the ISS's orbit and other cargo and research equipment," the Federal Space Agency said Monday.
All India Science Conf. concludes in Bhopal with emphasis on promoting traditional scientific knowledge...
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Curtain was drawn on the three-day Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan (All India Science Conference) 2007 with 10-point recommendations that emphasized on promoting traditional scientific knowledge along with modern science and increased community participation for balanced and sustainable development here on Sunday.
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.
China publishes first picture from lunar probe project
By Xinhua
Beijing : China published the first picture of the moon captured by Chang'e-1 Monday morning, marking the success of the country's first lunar probe project.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveiled the framed black-and-white photo at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC). The image showed a rough moon surface with scattered round craters both big and small.
The area covered by the picture, about 460 km in length and 280 km in width, is located within a 54 to 70 degrees south latitude and 57 to 83 degrees east longitude, according to BACC sources.
All India Science Conf. begins in Bhopal with call to tap resources skillfully to...
By Pervez bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: The three-day All India Science Conference got underway here on Friday with a call to tap resources skillfully to ensure their continuity and discourage its unwarranted use for the betterment of humanity at large.
Our moon uncommon, say astronomers
By IANS
New York : Though moons are common enough in the universe, ours is rather uncommon, according to a new study by US astronomers.
The Earth's moon, the subject of much art, myth and poetry, was formed out of a tremendous collision, a rare event seen in less than 10 percent of moon formations, Sciencedaily.com reported.
The study, based on new observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, was undertaken by researchers at the University of Florida and appears in the latest edition of the Astrophysical Journal.
UAE unveils ‘Cool City’
By IANS
Dubai : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has unveiled the concept of an environment-friendly city that would consume up to 60 percent less energy than its conventional counterpart by using cutting-edge Japanese technologies.
The "Cool City" concept uses available green technology in transport, urban development and architecture and is being promoted by the Sustainable Urban Development Consortium for Japan and Gulf States Partnership, in collaboration with Nikken Sekkei, news agency WAM reported.
Internet users reveal more to those they trust
By IANS
London : Here's good news for online vendors. Internet users are not chary of revealing personal information online - provided they trust the person requesting the information, a new study says.
The study, by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council, found that even those "who have previously demonstrated a high level of caution" online will reveal personal information "if they trust the recipient" of the information.
A mobile-based security system for BPO employees
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : Even as the rape and murder of a Pune call centre employee by her cab driver is fresh on everyone's mind, a software analyst has developed a mobile phone-based system that may provide better protection to BPO staff in transit.
"After two cases of rape and murder of female call centre employees, BPO firms have an uphill task so far as security is concerned. And here comes our system - simple and effective," said Chennai-based V.M. Sankaran Nampoothiri.
India offers space data to manage Asia-Pacific calamities
By IANS
Bangalore : India is ready to offer data from its group of satellites to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region for disaster management.
"India will provide appropriate inputs and near real-time data for Asia-Pacific countries and share its expertise with them in setting up disaster management support systems to deal with floods, cyclones, earthquakes and droughts," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here Thursday at a space conference.
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.
Italian connection on the cards for Kerala’s Technopark
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A delegation from Novara, one of the most industrially advanced cities in Italy, held discussions here Thursday for possible cooperation in IT between Novara and Technopark.
The Italian delegation included the mayor of Novara, Massimo Giordano, and four lawyers.
In his speech, Giordano suggested companies here and Novara should collaborate and work for mutual benefit.
He invited officials here to visit Novara for further talks.
Space agency helping Tatas develop hydrogen fuel cars
By IANS
Bangalore : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is partnering Tata Motors Ltd to develop hydrogen fuel cells for automobiles 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.
Altered photos play tricks on memory
By IANS
New York : Doctored photos have a way of affecting your memory, according to a new study that used digitally altered images of public events.
The study, initiated by the University of California at Irvine, found that doctored photos of public events can make them appear bigger and more violent than they actually were.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Sciencedaily.com reported.
Cars still drive China’s development-first strategy
By DPA
Beijing : Giant power plants belching out clouds of filthy coal smoke often spring to mind when people mention China's worsening air quality. But the exponential growth of the car industry over the past 10 years has also added enormously to the noxious mix of pollutants swirling across urban centres.
As hundreds of new vehicles take to China's roads every day, the government is left in something of a bind between enforcing new environmental policies and its long-term development of the economically vital auto industry.
$40,800 bid to name butterfly after a loved one
By IANS
New York : An unidentified person bid $40,800 for the naming rights of a new species of butterfly -- and scientists will use the money to continue their research.
Researchers at the University of Florida discovered the new owl butterfly in Mexico's Sonoran desert earlier this year and decided, in a first, to offer its naming rights in an online auction.
The new butterfly's scientific name is Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae, but its popular name, chosen by the winning bidder, is Minerva -- in memory of Margery Minerva Blythe Kitzmiller of Ohio.
Giant sea scorpion fossil found
By IANS
London : A giant fossilised claw of an ancient sea scorpion has been found in Germany, and scientists believe the scorpion itself was some 2.5 metres long -- much taller than the average man.
The find, from rocks 390 million years old, suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought.
Now ICMR is headless
By K. Jayaraman, IANS
Bangalore : After remaining headless for 10 months, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) finally got its chief 10 days ago, but now it is the turn of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country's apex medical body, to be without a head.
Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, who had been director general of ICMR for over five years retired on Nov 10. The ICMR has been headless since then and the agency's scientists say they do not know what is happening.
Scientists discover new plant in Kerala
By IANS
Kozhikode : Scientists have discovered a new plant species, named Miliusa Wayanaddica and belonging to the Annonaceae family, in Kerala's Wayanad district.
The new plant was discovered by M.K. Ratheesh Narayanan of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Kalpetta, Wayanad, and P. Sujanapal of the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI).
It was found in the Meppadi forest range in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 1,400 metres above the sea level.
"The plant is endemic to the area, but has no known local name," Narayanan said.
Nuclear power answer to fresh water shortage
By IANS
Mumbai : By 2025, an estimated 3.5 billion people will live in areas facing severe water shortages -- and providing them potable water would be a challenge that may be best met by nuclear-powered desalination.
This was one of the solutions presented at the recent Trombay Symposium on Desalination and Water Reuse here.
This and other solutions discussed at the symposium have been published in a special issue of the International Journal of Nuclear Desalination.
Higher CO2 levels delaying autumn leaf colour change
By IANS
London : Scientists across Europe have been recording a strange phenomenon -- a progressive delay in leaves changing colour and falling in autumn, and an earlier re-greening in spring.
Till now, the phenomenon was ascribed to rising global temperatures or global warming.
But a new study by researchers at Southampton University says the increasing level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is to be blamed for the phenomena, sciencedaily.com reports.
Precursors of miniaturised machines developed
By IANS
London : The precursors of miniaturised machines are here. Packed with instrumentation, these marble sized probes float freely under water, measure local temperatures to a millionth of a degree, and send the data back wirelessly.
Developed by researchers at the Université de Lyon in France, these mini machines will be released in large numbers to collect data on ocean currents and atmospheric winds, sciencedaily.com reported.
German robot taught to be gentle with humans
By DPA
Hamburg : Like a small child admonished by grownups to be gentle with small animals, a robot in Germany has undergone conditioned programming to ensure that it will not accidentally injure humans.
High-speed industrial robots at factories are still too dumb to know whether they may have injured a human co-worker who inadvertently gets in its way.
"Accidents happen," said robot engineer Sami Haddadin from the German Aerospace Centre Space Agency in Oberpfaffenhofen.
Ocean plankton do their bit to control global warming
By IANS
London : Microscopic marine plankton increase their carbon intake in response to increased concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide and thus contribute to curbing the greenhouse effect on a global scale, a new study has found.
Researchers led by scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, have documented this biological mechanism in a natural plankton community for the first time, Sciencedaily.com reported.
In epic project, scientists scour space for gravity waves
By IANS
New York : A unique observatory is scanning the skies for one of Einstein's greatest predictions -- giant gravitational waves. And what it finds could literally change what we know about the cosmos, says a new study.
The study, by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, says gravitational waves -- produced when massive objects in space move violently --carry the imprint of the events that cause them, reports Sciencedaily.com.
Scientists already have indirect evidence that gravitational waves exist, but have not directly detected them.
New Mac system ‘Leopard’ shows Windows its claws
By DPA
Hamburg : Mac users were certainly in a hurry this time. Two million copies of the new Mac OS X Leopard operating system flew off store shelves in the first weekend it was sold.
Drawn in by over 300 new functions, long-time Apple users showed up in particularly large numbers to snap up the sixth version of the Mac OS X system.
Leopard is also intended to show some claws to the PC operating system Windows. Harry McCracken from the online magazine Slate even called the product "Apple's Microsoft-Devouring Jungle Cat."
US-Indian team gets $1 mn for clean coal technology
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : A university-industry team has been awarded more than $1 million to help India increase energy production and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by developing and testing advanced technologies for cleaning coal.
The grant from the US Department of State in support of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate has gone to a team led by the Centre for Advanced Separation Technologies at Virginia Tech.
Thuraya to launch satellite mobile services in Asia-Pacific
By IANS
Dubai : Thuraya, the United Arab Emirates-based world's largest provider of handheld mobile satellite services, is set to commercially launch its operations in the Asia-Pacific markets by January with the launch of its third satellite on Monday.
"The launch of Thuraya-3 is a significant milestone in the company's progress towards realizing its strategic vision of becoming a dynamic, world leading, multi-regional mobile satellite operator," Thuraya chief executive Yousuf Al Sayed told the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
Madhya Pradesh to have its own science policy
By IANS
Bhopal : In a move aimed at increasing science awareness among common people, especially children, youth, farmers and artisans, Madhya Pradesh will soon have its own comprehensive science policy.
Minister for Science & Information Technology Kailash Vijaywargiya told IANS Friday document would be prepared keeping in view the SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) of the state and will help make science popular, meaningful and useful to the common people.
ognizant acquires US analytics firm
By IANS
Chennai : Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a Chennai-based global provider of IT and business process outsourcing services, Saturday said that it has completed the acquisition of New Jersey-based marketRx Inc.
MarketRx is a provider of analytics and related software services to life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices segments.
With over 430 employees in the US, India and Europe, marketRx enables pharma and biotechnology companies to improve the effectiveness of their sales and marketing operations.
Nine win funding for rural innovation projects
By IANS
Chennai : The Rural Innovation Fund (RIF), promoted by Microsoft India among others, has selected nine innovators, who will receive $15,000 (Rs.590,000) each to implement their projects to empower rural India.
Microsoft India has established a RIF corpus of $200,000 to encourage innovations that will benefit rural India.
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.
Planets forming in Pleiades star cluster: astronomers
By IANS
New York : Planets like Earth, Mars or Venus appear to be forming or to have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades star cluster, the result of "monster collisions" of planets or planetary embryos.
Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope report these findings in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
Mother’s care important for plants too
By IANS
New York : Mother's care is important even for plants, a new study says.
A study by researchers at the University of Virginia shows that maternal plants give cues to their offspring that help them adapt to their environmental conditions.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Science.
The researchers found that plants grown in the same setting as their maternal plant performed almost three-and-half times better than those raised in a different environment.
Cooling of unique arctic biodiversity vault begins
By IANS
Geneva : Work on cooling an underground vault that will preserve seeds of vital food crops from around the world for up to 1,000 years has begun in an arctic archipelago off Norway.
Refrigeration units Friday began pumping cold air deep into a mountain on the Svalbard archipelago that lies midway between Norway and the North Pole so as to speed up the opening of the fail-safe repository of vital crops.
New CSIR chief for focus on R&D
By IANS
New Delhi : In-house research and development (R&D) should get 25 percent of science expenditure to strengthen India's stand in the global innovation map, the newly appointed director general of Council of Scientific Research (CSIR) Samir Brahmachari said Thursday.
Bramhachari, who is also the secretary of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) said that an aggressive agenda needs to be followed to give a fillip to in-house R&D in industry and position India's innovation efforts in the international arena.
Scattering light causes blazing colours of sunsets
By IANS
New York : Ever wonder why the sky turns a deep and blazing red or orange at sunset? It's thanks to a phenomenon called scattering, explains a new study.
Scattering happens when light collides against molecules in the atmosphere, causing it to scatter.
The study, by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, shows how scattering determines the colours you see in the sky at sunset or sunrise.
According to Steven Ackerman, who led the study, the colour blue, being of shorter wavelength, is scattered more than other colours by the molecules.
Clue to why humans and chimps differ
By IANS
Toronto : Why do humans differ so much from chimpanzees despite having genes that are almost 99 percent identical?
The answer, according to researchers at the University of Toronto, lies in the different ways in which humans and chimpanzees splice genetic materials to create proteins.
Splicing is the process by which the coding regions of genes are joined to generate genetic messages that specify the production of proteins, the key element of cells.
Brazil frowns on US control over Internet
By Xinhua
Rio de Janeiro : Brazil expressed its opposition to the US control over the Internet, saying a new international agency composed of civil representatives should govern access.
The coordination, inspection and legislation of laws on access to the Internet is currently in the hands of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is under the influence "of the US", said Brazil Minister of Strategic Affairs Roberto Mangabeira Unger Wednesday.
Camping on the moon? NASA tests tent in Antarctica
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA is sending a prototype inflatable habitat to Antarctica to see how it stands up during a year of use, said an official with the space agency.
"Testing the inflatable habitat in one of the harshest, most remote sites on earth gives us the opportunity to see what it would be like to use for lunar exploration," said Paul Lockhart, director of Constellation Systems of NASA.
The prototype was inflated one last time Wednesday at ILC Dover corp. in Delaware, before being packed and shipped to Antarctica's McMurdo Station.
Researchers develop membrane to filter natural gas impurities
By DPA
Singapore : Researchers have developed a membrane that filters impurities such as carbon dioxide from natural gas, the National University of Singapore said Wednesday.
The result is a cleaner and more efficient source of energy, said Raj Rajagopalan. Up to 98 percent of impurities can be filtered out through the pores of the membrane.
"The idea of membrane separation is to use molecularly engineered materials and make thin films to the structure that we want," Rajagopalan said.
Controversial orgasm theorist regaining scientific favour
By Soumya Sarkar, IANS
New Delhi : Half a century after he died in ignominy in a US prison, physician-scientist Wilhelm Reich - best known for his claim of a cosmic life force associated with sexual orgasm - is on his way to being rehabilitated by the scientific community.
On the 50th anniversary of his death, the Jewish Museum in Vienna, Austria, is holding a major retrospective of his life and works beginning Thursday.
China Mobile tests signal station on Mount Everest
By DPA
Beijing : China Mobile has successfully tested a mobile signal station built on Mount Everest at 6,500 metres ahead of next year's Olympic torch relay on the highest peak of the world.
The world's highest mobile telecommunications station was tested Tuesday on the 8,844-metre-high mountain, the official China Daily quoted the country's main mobile service provider, China Mobile, as saying.
Yahoo settles lawsuit with Chinese dissidents
By DPA
San Francisco : Yahoo has settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of two Chinese dissidents who were arrested and allegedly tortured after the company gave their details to Chinese authorities.
The settlement came just a week after Yahoo was lambasted in a congressional hearing for supplying information that enabled the Chinese government to identify Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning, who had written anti-government comments on a Yahoo website.
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.
Bioengineering aids a landslide victory in Nepal
By Badri Paudyal, IANS
Kathmandu : Five years ago, landslides on highways made frequent headlines in Nepal. Today the worry in people's minds as they travel by road has changed to relief, reports science site Scidev.net.
This is a result of bioengineering technology, which, along with conventional civil engineering, has helped combat landslides in Nepal.
When landslides occurred in Krishnabhir, some 80 km from here, they were a nightmare for those travelling on the Prithvi highway, the main transport artery of the nation.
Be prepared to protect rights of clones: UN study
New York(IANS) : Global leaders need to reach a compromise that outlaws reproductive cloning or be prepared to protect the rights of human clones from potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination.
A report by the United Nations University's Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) says a ban on human cloning, coupled with freedom for nations to permit controlled therapeutic research, is the global community's best option.
The report, titled "Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for UN Governance" has been authored by UNU-IAS director A.H. Zakri.
Scientists crack code of drug-resistant TB
Durban(IANS) : South African scientists have sequenced the entire genome of a strain of extremely drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (XDR-TB).
They hope the information will contribute to developing better diagnostics and treatments for the disease.
The bacteria analysed were taken from a patient in Durban's King Edward VIII Hospital in KwaZulu Natal, science site SciDev.Net reported.
ISS astronauts take first steps to move Italy’s Harmony
Washington(DPA) : Two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have completed the first of three planned space walks to start a new construction project vital to adding European elements to the orbiting laboratory.
Station commander Peggy Whitson of the US and her Russian colleague, Yuri Malenchenko, completed an almost seven-hour space walk Friday, the first of three to prepare for delivery of the long-awaited European science module Columbus in December.
Indian-origin scientist pioneers ‘green’ steel technology
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney(IANS) : Millions of tonnes of waste plastic will be recycled into steel. The breakthrough Australian 'green' steel technology, which cuts coke and coal demand and reduces emission, has been invented by a Mumbai-born University of New South Wales (UNSW) materials scientist, Veena Sahajwalla.
Sahajwalla, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur, told IANS: "Plastic is simply another form of carbon. In making steel there's essentially no difference between the polyethylene plastic in shopping bags and a natural resource like coal."
Two new TB drugs may reduce treatment time
By IANS
Cape Town : The Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Drug Development (TB Alliance) has announced that it has developed two drugs in clinical trials which could reduce the treatment time for TB.
This is a historic milestone in the accelerated drive to develop new TB drugs to fight the disease in different, faster and better ways and therefore save millions of lives across the globe, South African news agency BuaNews said.
Space Shuttle Discovery lands in Florida
By DPA
Washington : The Space Shuttle Discovery touched down at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida after a 15-day mission that focussed on construction of the International Space Station.
Discovery, with a seven-member crew led by Pamela Melroy, the second woman to command a shuttle, landed at 18:01 GMT Wednesday.
"Well hello there, it's nice to be back in Florida," Melroy, who steered the craft to the runway, said over the radio after the safe landing.
Google Maps to appear in petrol pumps
By DPA
San Francisco : Google Maps are moving from the computer to a place where lost drivers might find them more useful - petrol pumps.
The maps, complete with driving directions and information about local facilities, will start appearing on thousands of specially designed petrol pumps across the US beginning early next month, the company announced Wednesday.
It takes peanuts to clean water
By IANS
London : Peanut husk, one of the largest waste products of the food industry, may be of some use after all -- it can help improve water quality, says a new study.
According to researchers at Turkey's Mersin University, peanut husk can be used to extract toxic copper ions from wastewater, offering a useful alternative to simple disposal of this food industry by-product.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.
Google mania continues amid sense of deja vu
By DPA
San Francisco : With Google's share price climbing above $700, an eerily familiar debate raged Wednesday in the blogosphere, on Wall Street and across Silicon Valley: was the latest internet wonder vastly overvalued? Or is the Google phenomenon just beginning?
Google's stratospheric valuation ranked it as the fifth-most valuable company in the US by share value, with stock worth $219 billion.
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.
China’s first lunar probe completes long journey to moon successfully
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, completed its nearly two-million-km journey to the moon successfully Wednesday and entered its working orbit.
The probe, following instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), started its third braking at 8.24 a.m. and entered a 127-minute round polar circular orbit at 8.34 a.m.
"It marks success of the probe's long flight to the moon," said Luan Enjie, chief commander of China's lunar probe project.
Indian nano-tech group in US to create big splash
New York(IANS) : A group of Indian Americans well placed in the nano-technology industry have formed The Indus Nanotechnology Association (TINA) to create a bigger impact in the market, estimated to be worth $1 trillion (Rs.39.25 trillion) by 2015.
TINA arose from the Nanotechnology and Nano-Bio Convergence Conference held here last week, where seven of the 14 featured speakers were Indian Americans in academics, research, government and industry.
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).
University students win robotic car race
New York, Nov 5 (IANS) A robotic car built by university students won a $2 million US military-sponsored race in California, it was announced Sunday.
Backed by General Motors (GM), a team called Tartan Racing -- formed by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- built the robotic car nicknamed 'Boss'. It won Saturday by covering a distance of about 85 km in less then six hours on a simulated town created on a disused US Air Force base in Victorville, California.
China’s first lunar probe enters moon’s orbit
Beijing, Nov 5 (Xinhua) China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 successfully entered moon's orbit Monday, becoming China's first circumlunar satellite.
Chang'e-1, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), started braking at 11.15 a.m. at a position around 300 km away from the moon and entered the moon's orbit at around 11.37 a.m. after completing the braking, according to the BACC.
National mission to make India global nano hub
By Fakir Balaji
Bangalore, Nov 5 (IANS) The Indian government is starting a five-year national mission to make the country a global hub for nanoscience and nanotechnology, leveraging the low-cost advantage and its vast talent pool.
Spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the ambitious mission aims to create nano clusters in the country to conduct research in the sunrise sector and develop applications using nano materials that will have a bearing on diverse industrial sectors as well as commoners.
Astronauts repair space station solar panel
By DPA
Washington : Astronauts working outside the International Space Station (ISS) succeeded in repairing a torn solar array in one of the riskiest space walks ever.
A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spokesperson said Saturday that the procedure, one of the most complicated in the history of the space station, was declared a success after US physician-astronaut Scott Parazynski managed to install five links to repair the two rips in the panel.
Online tool in battle against global poverty
By TwoCircles.net news desk
New York: The United Nations has teamed up with technology leaders Google and Cisco to launch a new online site to track global progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the set of ambitious targets the world has set itself for slashing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and other social ills by 2015.
MDG Monitor is a web application that tracks real-time progress toward the Goals in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world.
British astronomers discover three new planets
By Xinhua
London : Britain's astronomers from the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP), a leading planet-hunting team, have announced the discovery of three new planets, according to a press release issued by Keele University.
These extra-solar planets named WASP-3, WASP-4 and WASP-5 were seen to transit their host star.
WASP-3 is the third planet that the team has found in the northern hemisphere, using the SuperWASP camera sited in the Canary Islands.
Laika was first living creature in space
By DPA
Moscow : Her name in translation means "barker," but in the end Laika, the first living creature in space, must have gone out whimpering.
When Soviet space scientists sent her up exactly 50 years ago this Saturday, the two-year-old mongrel was expected to live for several days. In fact, it was later revealed, she lasted only a few hours.
Soviet propaganda at the time said she would find a peaceful end through lack of oxygen after days of orbiting the Earth aboard Sputnik 2.
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.
Key to prevention of morphine tolerance found
By IANS
New York : Morphine tolerance - or patients getting used to the pain-relieving effects of the drug, leading to escalating dosage - could soon be a thing of the past.
Researchers at the Saint Louis University of Medicine have found a way of blocking a key substance that causes tolerance levels to rise.
The study could lead to new therapies that allow morphine to be administered without patients developing tolerance or experiencing a host of severe side effects that accompany increasing dosage.
The PC you need for Windows Vista
By DPA
Washington : With Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system now on store shelves around the world, lots of PC users are wondering whether their machines are up to the task of running it.
One way to find out is to read the "minimum requirements" notes on the side of the Windows Vista box. But few take these seriously. So what do you really need in your computer to be a happy Windows Vista user?
Scientists breed ‘mighty mice’ with super stamina
By IANS
New York : They can run non-stop for up to six hours at 20 metres per minute and are said to be metabolically similar to Tour de France legend Lance Armstrong. Meet the 'mighty mice' bred by researchers at Case Western Reserve University.
This special breed eats 60 percent more than normal mice, remains fitter, trimmer and lives longer than wild mice, according to an article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Some female mighty mice have also had offspring at 2.5 years of age, an amazing feat because most mice do not reproduce after they are a year old.
DoT for subscriber-based spectrum allocation, operators clash
By IANS
New Delhi : Notwithstanding the strong protest of GSM operators, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has accepted its technical arm's proposal to allocate the scarce radio waves to all operators based on the number of subscribers.
The technical wing of DoT, Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), in its report to DoT, has suggested that the subscriber-linked criteria for fresh spectrum allocation be raised by anywhere in between 2-15 times depending on the network.
Discovery spacewalk postponed till Saturday
By RIA Novosti
Washington : Discovery shuttle planners have rescheduled a spacewalk to Saturday for fixing a ripped solar wing of the International Space Station (ISS), US space agency NASA's website said Thursday.
The spacewalk, originally due to take place Thursday, will be undertaken by Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock. The two astronauts plan to use the space station's robotic arm to fix the damaged solar wing.
Research centre chief bans organic farming talk
By IANS
Nagpur : Even as the central government is promoting organic farming in a big way, the head of a central research institute in the agriculture sector refused to allow a talk on the subject by an expert at a farmers' fair held at Nagpur in Maharashtra.
World’s smallest radio – here comes the nanopod
By IANS
New York : It's the world's smallest radio, run with a single carbon nanotube one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, and radio buffs are already dubbing it the nanopod.
A single battery and earphones are all you need to tune in with the radio, built by physicists at the University of California in Berkeley, a paper published online Wednesday by the journal Nano Letters said.
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.
Astronauts stop operation of torn solar array
By DPA
Washington : Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts discovered what appeared to be a tear in a solar array wing installed during a spacewalk aboard the orbiting International Space Station, halting an operation to reposition and activate the 17.5-tonne solar array and truss.
US astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock spent more than seven hours outside in an operation with other crewmembers inside the station Tuesday.
The computer helper: Grouping taskbar buttons in Vista
By DPA
Washington : Some things have changed for the better in Microsoft's Vista operating system. Others have not.
Those who have grown accustomed to the efficiency afforded by XP's taskbar button grouping feature will probably not be happy with Vista's handling of the feature. There is, though, a way in Vista to group taskbar buttons the XP way.
Read on to find out how.
Astronauts finish complicated solar truss instalment
By DPA
Washington : Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts successfully completed a mammoth operation to reposition a 17.5-tonne solar array and truss during a more than seven-hour-long spacewalk Tuesday aboard the orbiting International Space Station.
US astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock conducted the operation outside in a teamwork operation with other crew members inside the station.
Science Express chugs along to promote scientific temper
By IANS
New Delhi : From Aryabhatta's mathematical milestone of working out the value of pi some 1,500 years ago to India's yet-to-be-launched moon mission - India's major scientific developments were proudly displayed aboard the Science Express train that will visit 57 towns across the country over the next seven months.
Flagged off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the Safdurjung Railway Station here Tuesday, the white-coloured train aims to kindle scientific curiosity among the Indian youth.
Simplicity will drive IT growth: Michael Dell
By IANS
New Delhi : Simplicity will drive the growth of global industry by enabling cost reductions and creation of new systems, Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell maintained Tuesday.
Infosys chief S. Gopalakrishnan couldn't agree with him more while participating in a session on "Innovation and Disruption: The CEO View" at the Fortune Global Forum here Tuesday.
Dell said: "With legacy costs and inflexibility built into the system, we now need to simplify to reduce costs and to create new systems.
Kolkata scientist punches holes in UFO theory
By IANS
Kolkata : Media reports of a bright spherical object, streaking across the eastern sky have left many Kolkata residents intrigued, but scientists said it could be just an "optical illusion" - a result of cloud reflecting the city's lights.
Organic foods fight diseases better, says study
By IANS
London : Food produced organically have up to 40 percent more disease-fighting properties than non-organically grown produce, researchers have found.
Scientists at Newcastle University in Britain raised cattle and grew fruits and vegetables on 725 acres of organic and non-organic farms situated next to each other over a period of four years.
French volcano’s mud may kill superbugs
By IANS
London : Volcanic clay may have the capability to kill deadly bacteria or super bugs, which are resistant to antibiotics, researchers have found.
Lynda Williams of Arizona State University and her colleague Shelley Haydel found that agricur - the volcano clay found in the Massif Central mountain range in France - also kills other deadly bacteria, including salmonella and a flesh-eating disease called buruli, similar to leprosy.
Polaris launches software testing lab in Sydney
By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Polaris Software, a leading Indian software company, has launched its new software testing laboratory here that will inject Australian $5 million (US$4.5 million) into the state of New South Wales (NSW).
NSW Minister for State Development Ian Macdonald said Monday: "This is about attracting investment from India, instead of the other way around, where our jobs are outsourced to companies based there.
Australia, India join hands to fight pollution
By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Australian and Indian scientists have joined hands to monitor and clean up the pollution that has become the bane of steadily increasing industrialisation across the world. As a start, they will monitor pollution spreading in groundwater.
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.
The computer helper: Printing for less
By DPA
Washington : Printers are the one computer peripheral that keep costing you money long after the initial purchase. In fact, depending upon the type of printer you buy and how much you print, you may end up spending more money on your printer than on any other single piece of equipment in your computer set up.
That's why it makes sense to pay close attention to how you might be able to control the cost of owning a printer while still getting what you need from the device. Read on for some ideas.
High-tech rescue and evacuation workshop opens in Riyadh tomorrow
By NNN-SPA
Riyadh : A workshop on new technologies in the field of rescue and evacuation, will be organized by faculty of training at the Riyadh-based Naif Arab university for security sciences in cooperation with the international organization for civil protection from Oct 20 to Nov 2, 2007.
Representatives from the administrations of civil protection and civil defense as well as the municipalities and the other concerned authorities from the Arab countries will participate in the workshop.
Germany, India to develop jointly new-era technologies
By DPA
Berlin : Germany and India plan to jointly develop new technologies as part of a "new era" in their science cooperation, Germany's minister of science, Annette Schavan, said Monday.
She spoke just hours before Chancellor Angela Merkel was to land in India for a four-day visit.
Schavan is a member of the delegation accompanying the chancellor. During the visit, an agreement is to be signed to establish the German-Indian Science and Technology Centre, set to open next summer in Delhi.
Bangalore IT expo starts on subdued note
By IANS
Bangalore : The tenth edition of Bangalore IT.in, arguably Asia's biggest technology expo, got underway Monday on a restrained note due to the political crisis in Karnataka.
In the absence of an executive government and the IT-savvy state under President's rule, Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur inaugurated the four-day technology event at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on the outskirts of the city.
Now throw your alarm clock when jolted awake!
By DPA
Tokyo : Who hasn't felt the urge, when jolted awake by a peace-shattering alarm clock, to hurl the thing against the nearest wall? For morning grumps in Japan, there is now an alarm that allows them to let off some steam: a clock that looks like a hand grenade.
As soon as the grenade look-alike with a built-in digital clock sounds off in the mornings, its user can feel free to fire it into a corner. A motion sensor 'disarms' it, and its soft shell minimizes damage to the alarm and the owner's belongings
Indian IT major spreads cheer in Northern Ireland
By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Indian BPO major HCL, which has reposed faith in trouble-torn Northern Ireland since 2001 when Western companies were chary of investing there, has spread more cheer by employing its 2000th employee in the region.
Many view HCL investing in Northern Ireland as one of the foremost landmarks of India-Britain relations during Tony Blair's tenure as prime minister. Since 2001, other Indian companies such as Firstsource, Pix Transmission and Tech Mahindra have followed HCL into the region.
Apple releases new operating system for Mac computers
By DPA
Los Angeles : Apple has released a new operating system for its ever more popular Mac computers.
The upgraded OS 10.5, nicknamed Leopard, was released Friday and includes some 300 improvements including a 'time machine' that tracks and resurrects lost data, and improved video-conferencing abilities.
The eagerly awaited system was delayed by several months while the company's engineers worked on developing the iPhone.
Rival Microsoft, whose software powers 90 percent of the world's computers, released its newest operating system, Vista, in January.
Harmony module attached to International Space Station
By DPA
Washington : Two astronauts from the US space shuttle Discovery have completed the mission's first space walk at the International Space Station (ISS).
The two US citizens Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock Friday installed the Harmony linking module, which is due to be used in December for docking the European space laboratory Columbus, in a temporary location outside the ISS.
They first prepared the module before crew inside the station used its robotic arm to move it into position.
Russia launches Proton carrier rocket
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia has successfully conducted a delayed launch of a Proton carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) said Friday.
The Proton-K rocket, which has been on the launch pad since Monday, lifted off at 11.35 a.m. Moscow time (7.35 a.m. GMT) and put in orbit three Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites, the space agency said.
NASA astronauts prepare for first of five spacewalks
By RIA Novosti
Washington : US astronauts will make the first of five spacewalks from the International Space Station (ISS) Friday, to attach a node to the station brought by the Discovery shuttle, NASA said.
Douglas Wheelock and Scott Parazynski will leave the ISS at 10:28 a.m. GMT. The second spacewalk to be carried out as part of Discovery's trip to the station will involve Parazynski and Daniel Tani.
Bodhi tree branch cut three years ago: report
By IANS
Patna : A scientific report has vindicated allegations by Buddhists that one of their most sacred religious symbols -- the Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya -- had a branch cut off three years ago.
The Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI), in its detailed report submitted to the Bihar government, said a branch of the sacred Bodhi tree was cut three years ago.
"The report has proved that a branch of the Bodhi tree was cut three years ago instead of last year as claimed," home secretary Afzal Amanullah said Friday.
Discovery docks at space station
By DPA
Washington : Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station early Thursday after performing a spectacular 360-degree slow-motion backflip before cameras on the station.
The photographs will serve as a second check to examine Discovery's heat shield for any damage sustained during takeoff. The shuttle crew already performed one inspection with their on-board robot arm on their way to the station Wednesday.
NEC launches world’s fastest supercomputer
By DPA
Tokyo : NEC Corporation of Japan said Thursday it has launched the world's fastest vector-type supercomputer.
The new SX-9 model is equipped with a central processing unit core that can process information at a maximum speed of 102.4 gigaflops. One gigaflop is equivalent to one billion floating point operations per second.
When connected with up to 512 units, one unit of the SX-9, which can be equipped with up to 16 CPUs, can perform information processing at 839 teraflops. One teraflop represents one trillion floating point operations per second.
Suven to work with US university for cheap HIV drug
By IANS
Hyderabad : Suven Life Sciences Ltd, a Hyderabad-based life sciences company, has entered into collaboration with the University of Minnesota in the US to develop new and inexpensive therapies to treat HIV-1.
The collaboration also includes the US-based Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research (CIDMTR).
Russia can build fast neutron nuclear reactor in India
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A Russian nuclear official said his country could launch cooperation with India in building fast neutron nuclear reactors for power plants if sanctions against India are removed.
India has never been party to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has been under US, Japanese and European sanctions since 1998, when it detonated atomic devices.
Chief scientist: China’s lunar orbiter project costs only 1 bln yuan
By Xinhua
Xichang, Sichuan : China's milestone lunar orbiter project only costs 1 to 1.4 billion yuan (about 133 to 187 million U.S. dollars), the same amount as the money used to construct 2 km of subway in Beijing, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar exploration program.
Ouyang said the amount is not an astronomical number for China's economy and will boost the development of national science and technology instead.
Xichang, Sichuan : China's milestone lunar orbiter project only costs 1 to 1.4 billion yuan (about 133 to 187 million U.S. dollars), the same amount as the money used to construct 2 km of subway in Beijing, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar exploration program.
Ouyang said the amount is not an astronomical number for China's economy and will boost the development of national science and technology instead.
China launches its first moon orbiter
By Xinhua
Xichang, Sichuan : China launched its first lunar probe on Wednesday, the first step into its ambitious three-stage moon mission, marking a new milestone in the country's space exploration history.
The circumlunar satellite Chang'e-1 blasted off on a Long March3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. (10:05 GMT) from the No. 3 launch tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center of southwestern Sichuan Province.
China counting down to launch of its first lunar probe
By Xinhua
Xichang, Sichuan : Chinese press and thousands of tourists have gathered at China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province to witness the launch of the nation's first moon orbiter, which is scheduled to take place at 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
India to rollout 3G services by mid-2008: A. Raja
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian mobile users will be able to use 3G services by the middle of next year, Communications and IT Minister A. Raja said here Thursday.
"We are hopeful that some spectrum for both 2G and 3G services will be vacated by the end of this year. I hope that could pave the way for a rollout of 3G services by mid next year," the minister said at a 3G summit.
On being asked how much spectrum would be vacated, the minister replied, "That is up to the defence ministry to decide."
Give eyes a rest: keep distance from LCD monitors
By DPA
Dortmund (Germany) : LCD monitors might be pretty, but computer users should still admire them from a distance.
Just like with old-fashioned cathode ray tube monitors, users should be sure to sit at least 50-80 cm from the monitor. Sitting closer means users run the risk of wearing out their eye muscles.
Older monitors, which work just like older televisions, took up so much desk space that workers were often left with no choice but to sit close to the monitor, says Windel. But that's not a problem with the newer liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors.
Microsoft buys into $15 billion Facebook
By DPA
San Francisco : Microsoft beat off a rival bid from Google to invest $240 million in hit social networking site Facebook, in a deal that values the start-up at $15 billion.
Microsoft's $240 million payment gives it just a 1.6 percent stake in the Silicon Valley start-up founded three years ago by Mark Zuckerberg, 23.
He dropped out of Harvard to develop the company and his 20 percent stake now makes him worth a cool $3 billion.
Broccoli sprouts may help prevent skin cancer
By IANS
Washington : Broccoli sprouts contain antioxidant properties and may prevent skin cancer when applied directly to the skin, scientists in the US have suggested.
Broccoli, which closely resembles cauliflower, is a plant of the cabbage family. It has been cultivated for over 2,000 years and was a favourite food of the ancient Romans.
Nuclear energy the holy grail of lunar explorers
By DPA
Beijing : It may be decades into the future but lunar scientists from China and other nations are already eyeing the immense potential of nuclear fusion from a precious mineral found on the moon's surface, a top scientist said Wednesday.
"To explore the moon is to solve the resource issues of the Earth," Qiao Xiaolin, an adviser to China's lunar exploration programme, told DPA over telephone.
"Nuclear energy is the most hopeful form," said Qiao, a professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology in north-eastern China.