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.
Google’s new OS could hit Microsoft where it hurts
By Andy Goldberg, DPA,
San Francisco : It's the ultimate showdown in the technology world, the clash of giants that has been eagerly awaited for years. Web giant Google is taking its clearest aim yet at Microsoft with its plan to produce its own operating system that would optimise the way computers work on the Internet.
Computer glitch blamed for Russian nuclear sub accident
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The accident on the Russian nuclear submarine Nov 8 that killed 20 people could have been caused by a computer glitch, a Russian daily reported Wednesday.
The accident occurred when nuclear submarine Nerpa was undergoing sea trials in the Sea of Japan. Three submariners and 17 shipyard workers died in the accident. There were 208 people, 81 of them submariners, on board the vessel at the time.
Insects use plants as ‘green telephone lines’
By IANS,
New York : Some insects that live above and below the ground communicate with each other by using plants as "green telephone lines", a new study has found.
Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, insects above the ground are alerted that the plant is already "occupied", according to the study by Dutch scientists.
This messaging enables spatially-separated insects to avoid each other, so that they do not unintentionally compete for the same plant, ScienceDaily reported.
World’s oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years
By IANS,
London : Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the end of the Neolithic era.
Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago - at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought.
These remarkable findings have been made public by the Greek government after the start of a five-year collaborative project involving the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham.
21,000 respond to teen’s party invite on Facebook
By IANS,
London : A teenager in Britain set up a Facebook group for his birthday party, but was left stunned when 21,000 people confirmed themselves as guests.
Shuttle Discovery flight hits halfway mark
By SPA,
Cape Canaveral, Florida : As their flight hit the halfway mark, shuttle Discovery's astronauts faced more work with the space station's new science lab on Saturday.
All 10 occupants of the linked shuttle and station chipped in Friday to get Japan's billion-dollar Kibo lab up and running, and to expand its size by attaching an attic to it.
On Saturday _ one week into their mission _ the astronauts planned to test drive the lab's 33-foot (10-meter) robot arm, the Associated Press reported.
Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks with ISS
By Xinhua
Moscow : The Soyuz TMA-12 spaceship docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, according to Mission Control located outside Moscow.
The spaceship docked with the ISS at 16:55 Moscow time (1255 GMT), Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
The spaceship brought to the station the crew of the 17th main expedition, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, who will work in orbit for over six months.
Mexico to build space port
By DPA,
Mexico City : Mexico plans to begin construction of a space port to send satellites in space this year, an official said Monday.
The facility will be located in the southern state of Quintana Roo on the border with Belize, said state planning minister Jose Alberto Alonso Ovando. The location was chosen after extensive studies in part because of its proximity to the Equator, he said in an
interview.
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.
Mysterous, bizarre-looking creatures found in Antarctica
By Xinhua
Beijing : Mysterious sea creatures, including giant sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jelly fish with six meter tentacles, have been found in the murky depths of Antarctica waters, Australian scientists said Tuesday.
Beijing : Mysterious sea creatures, including giant sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jelly fish with six meter tentacles, have been found in the murky depths of Antarctica waters, Australian scientists said Tuesday.
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."
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).
Crude prices fall further with Iran n-deal
New Delhi: As Iran and the six world powers reached a nuclear agreement by their deadline, crude oil prices fell further on Tuesday, pulled...
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.
ISRO designed avionics to guide rockets in 2008
By IANS
Chennai : Rocket navigation systems developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are all set to guide the geo-synchronous launch vehicle (GSLV) slated for launch next year.
ISRO tested its new avionics on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that was launched in April. The vehicle had a second equipment bay - apart from the primary one - housing the navigation and telemetry systems.
Tiny device can help build more powerful computers
By IANS,
Washington : Engineers have fabricated a tiny positioning device that will help build more compact, powerful computer hard drives and practically double the effectiveness of biological sensors.
Called monolithic comb drive (MCD), it can be potentially used as a "nanoscale manipulator" for use in watery environments to probe biological molecules, said Jason Vaughn Clark, an assistant professor of electrical, computer and mechanical engineering at Purdue University, who created the design.
Apple share tops $700 on iPhone 5 success
By IANS,
New York: Apple's stocks closed higher than $700 per share for the first time after Tuesday's trading, as orders for its new iPhone 5 hit a new record.
Indian IT firms will consolidate, focus on Europe, Asia-Pacific
By Gyanendra Kumar Keshri, IANS,
Twin NASA probes reach lunar orbit
By IANS,
Washington : New Year's Eve and New Year's Day saw twin US spacecraft entering lunar orbit to study the moon, NASA said.
Polaris Software to invest Rs.350 mn for expansion
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : At a time when the domestic software sector is going slow on hiring of personnel and expansion, the city-based Rs.11-billion Polaris Software Lab is taking a contrarian path.
The company has decided to construct a new 1,500-seat facility at Siruseri near here with an outlay of Rs.350 million.
"Construction activity will start next quarter. We have 10 acres there," Polaris chairman and managing director Arun Jain told IANS.
PSLV rocket launch successful, five satellites put into orbit
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : Five satellites, including the advanced high resolution cartography satellite Cartosat-2B, were placed in orbit Monday after India's space agency ISRO successfully launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket from here.
"I am extremely happy to say PSLV 16 was a successful flight. All the satellites were injected precisely," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said.
Indian Scientists clone world’s ‘first’ buffalo calf
By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Scientists at India's National Dairy Reserach Institute today said they have cloned the world's first buffalo calf using a technique superior to the one used in cloning 'Dolly' - the sheep.
In a statement, scientists of the Animal Biotechnology Centre at the Karnal-based NDRI said the "handguided cloning technique" was an advanced modification of the "conventional cloning technique" used in cloning Dolly.
The buffalo calf was born on Feb. 6 at NDRI campus.
"The new technique is less demanding in terms of equipment, time and skill," the statement said.
Russia puts fifth German spy satellite into orbit
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A Russian carrier rocket has successfully put into orbit a fifth German SAR-Lupe reconnaissance satellite, a Russian Space Forces spokesman said Tuesday.
"A Cosmos 3M carrier rocket, launched at 0240 GMT from the Plesetsk space centre in northern Russia, has successfully orbited a German SAR-Lupe satellite," Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.
The German SAR-Lupe satellite is designed to provide high-resolution radar images to NATO military commanders in Europe. It offers spatial resolution of less than one meter, and allows imaging at night and through clouds.
Google’s black ribbon tribute to Kalam
New Delhi : Google on Thursday paid tribute to former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, with a black ribbon on its homepage.
Kalam died...
NASA seeks to proceed with mars rover launch in 2009
By SPA,
Washington : The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has decided to proceed with plans to launch a big new rover to Mars next year.
Friday’s decision came after concerns were raised about the budget and technical progress for the Mars Science Laboratory.
The head of the Mars exploration program at NASA’s Los Angeles office said the space agency will examine the mission’s progress again in January.
Solar mission to start with 1,300 MW, reach 20,000 by 2022
By IANS,
New Delhi : India's solar mission will set up, in its first phase, 1,100 MW of solar power through the electricity grid and 200 MW off the grid, with the objective of making solar power as cheap as power from coal by the end of the mission, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said here Monday.
Galileo may have discovered Neptune
By IANS,
Sydney : Galileo's notebooks contain hidden clues that is likely to clinch his discovery of Neptune in 1613, 234 years before the date of discovery accepted now, according to a new theory.
David Jamieson, who heads the Melbourne University (MU) School of Physics, is investigating the notebooks of Galileo from 400 years ago. He believes that buried in the notations is the evidence that he discovered a new planet that we now know as Neptune.
Tiny robot to simulate lunar mission in Hawaii
By IANS,
Washington : A robot designed for lunar prospecting will be tested on the cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is also Hawaii's highest mountain.
During the field experiment, scheduled in the first half of November, the four wheeled robot called Scarab will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds that could potentially be mined for use by future lunar explorers.
Delhi lights dimming stars, planetorium to see how much
By IANS,
New Delhi : Did you ever realise that the shafts of light emanating from your house could actually be impacting the night-sky visibility? If that sounds far-fetched, the Nehru Planetarium here has decided to study just that phenomenon and quantify light pollution in Delhi.
A satellite map made available by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) clearly shows how much 'night sky pollution' the dazzling lights are causing across India.
New smartphones with killer applications could replace PCs
By Andy Goldberg, DPA
Las Vegas : Think that cellphone in your pocket is pretty neat? Think again. Spurred by the phenomenal launch of the iPhone, the prospect of a Google phone and open networks, inventors and entrepreneurs around the world are feverishly developing plans to expand what mobile phones can do.
"They want to combine the computing power of the latest phones with social networks and location-tracking technologies to create a new generation of cell phones," says Simon Blitz, who runs a large cell phone wholesale company in the US.
NASA’s Messenger fetches first orbital photo of Mercury
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : NASA's Messenger spacecraft, the first ever to enter the orbit of Mercury, has fetched its first photo, the project's website said.
Messenger craft flies within 200 km of Mercury
By DPA,
Washington : NASA's Messenger spacecraft came within 200 km of Mercury Monday, taking pictures of the rocky planet nearest the sun.
It was the second of three planned flybys for the craft, which is due to settle into orbit around Mercury in 2011, providing what scientists hope will be the most complete picture yet of the solar system's smallest planet.
The 0840 GMT flyby was designed largely to pick up a gravitational boost of energy for the craft. It will begin beaming data back to Earth Wednesday, NASA and university researchers said.
NASA orbiter ready for Mars lander’s arrival in 2016
Washington : With its biggest orbit manoeuvre since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is preparing for the arrival of NASA's next Mars lander...
Climate politics eclipses climate science
By Joydeep Gupta, IANS,
For the last few weeks, leaders of industrialised countries have been busy reducing expectations from next month's critical Copenhagen climate summit, while their counterparts in the developing world declare ambitious plans to control emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHG) that are warming the world.
New software to convert ordinary laptops into supercomputers
By IANS,
Washington : A new software will convert ordinary laptops into powerful supercomputers to extract features and patterns from enormously complex data sets.
The tool - a set of problem-solving calculations known as an algorithm - is compact enough to run on computers and laptops with as little as two gigabytes of memory.
It has been designed and developed by scientists at University of California, Davis (UC-D), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Hyderabad lab hopes Iran will help in cloning cheetah
By IANS
Hyderabad : Scientists at a Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONE) here are continuing their efforts to clone a rabbit and hope to get assistance from Iran to fulfil their ambitious goal - to clone a cheetah.
This is the country's first animal cloning bid, and the LaCONE scientists, of the prestigious Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), want to clone a laboratory animal before working on their dream project.
Tamil Nadu villages get Internet, telemedicine facilities
By IANS
Mahabalipuram : A community project to provide high speed Internet, telemedicine, e-education and e-governance services to the rural areas of Tamil Nadu was made operational Wednesday in Vadugambadi, about 60 km south of state capital Chennai.
The facilities will be provided for the first time in India with the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems under the Gramjyoti programme of the central government.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, software makes fairest of all
By IANS,
London : "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all," asks the wicked stepmother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The magic mirror did not lie, but now Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers have developed a software that can make plain looks seem as good as that of a queen.
While its output is currently limited to digitised images, the software may be able to guide plastic surgeons, aid magazine cover editors, and even become a feature incorporated into all digital cameras.
Mysterious object seen refuelling from sun
By IANS,
London : An orbiting NASA space telescope has captured the footage of a planet-sized object flying close to the sun, and extending a "refuelling tube" into the sun's surface.
Data to go: Options for hauling lots of files
By DPA
Washington : These days, almost everything's digital - our photos, music collections, videos, documents, financial records, and more.
Most of us can get all of this data on a few hard drives. And so long as we're using the computer that houses those drives, everything's fine.
But what happens when we need or want to take large amounts of data with us? That's when portable storage becomes critical.
Argentine scientists discover ‘master gene’ linked to cancer
By IANS
Buenos Aires : A group of Argentine scientists has discovered a "master gene" that determines why carcinogenic tumours survive.
Scientists of the Exact and Natural Sciences Faculty at the University of Buenos Aires and the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina carried out the research, reported Spanish news agency EFE.
For four years, the team studied tumours of the pituitary gland located at the base of the skull.
Agra based firm launches free astrology software for mobiles
By IANS,
Agra : Star gazers and those interested in astrology can now prepare their horoscopes on their mobile phone itself, and that too free of cost.
A free software developed by Ojas Softech's research wing in Agra, was Wednesday launched by Surendra Sharma of the Brahmin Maha Sabha.
"With the number of star gazers going up and the younger generation getting hooked to astrology, the new software will prove a useful tool," Sharma said.
For those who follow Jyotish (astrology) personally and professionally, Ojas has launched free Jyotish software for mobile phones.
Chandrayaan’s moon impact photos to be released soon
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS,
New Delhi : It is a set of pictures that is among the most anticipated in India - around 3,200 frames tracking the descent of the first-ever Indian-built device to the moon's surface.
But the Indian public may have to wait for some more time to take a peek at that journey.
The images were taken by the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as it hurtled down for nearly 25 minutes after detaching from India's maiden lunar probe Chandrayaan-I and landed on the lunar surface at 8.31 p.m. Nov 14.
UAE’s first artificial battery-powered heart transplant
Dubai: A 21-year-old student in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city of Sharjah, has received the country's first artificial heart transplant, a media report...
Gujarat launches website for solar eclipse
By IANS,
Surat : The Gujarat government Monday launched a website dedicated to the total solar eclipse of July 22, an official here said.
The state government launched the website solareclipsesurat.in jointly with the Surat Municipal Corporation and the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The website explains why the total solar eclipse should be viewed in Surat and the safety precautions that should be taken while viewing the solar eclipse. Also, it informs about the events on July 22 in Surat, the official added.
Device that won’t let motorists fall asleep
By IANS,
London : Scientists have developed a device to prevent motorists from falling asleep -- potentially saving 300,000 people from sudden deaths worldwide.
Bose – the Indian behind the Big Bang experiment
By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS,
London : Of the three main past and present physicists behind the landmark proton-smashing experiment in Geneva Wednesday, one has a Nobel Prize, the other is waiting to find out if he has one, and the third never got one.
The third man is the Bose of the Higgs-boson experiment - Satyendra Nath Bose.
It is Bose after whom the sub-atomic particle ‘boson’ is named - probably the only noun in the English language named after an Indian (and therefore never capitalised).
Mercury dotted with volcanoes, shrinking as aging
By Xinhua
Beijing : Some of the 1,213 photos taken by NASA's Messenger show that ancient volcanoes dot Mercury which is shrinking as it gets older, forming wrinkle-like ridges, media reported Thursday.
The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider.
India’s space programmes based on its needs: Outgoing chief
By Venkatachari Jagannathan,
Chennai, Oct 31 (IANS) India does not look at other Asian countries like Japan and China as competitors in the space sector as its programmes are based on its needs, said Madhavan Nair, who retired Saturday as chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
"Our programmes are based on the practical needs of the people like remote sensing, health and education. India is not looking to compete with any other country in the space sector," Nair told IANS from Thiruvananthapuram on phone.
‘Current tests for recycled water not adequate’
By IANS,
Sydney : Recycled water may not be safe for drinking, warn researchers who say such water is usually tested for only one kind of pathogen.
Flavia Huygens of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia is part of a team spear-heading a new and innovative water-testing technique that will check for all kinds of pathogens - in hours rather than days.
“Pathogens can be bacterial, viral or parasitic micro-organisms like cryptosporidium and giardia which can make people sick if enough is ingested,” Huygens said.
Medieval stained glass windows acted like nano air purifiers
By IANS,
Sydney : Stained glass windows in churches dotting Europe and painted with gold purified the air when lit up by sunlight, according to Queensland University of Technology experts.
"For centuries, people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colours, but little did they realise that these works... are also... photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst," said Zhu Huai Yong, of Queensland's School of Physical and Chemical Sciences.
BMW to run on LPG
By DPA
Saarbruecken (Germany) : A German research and development team is planning to build a record-breaking car based on the BMW 1 Series car using an engine which runs on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Amazing super 3-D camera to revolutionise photography
By IANS
Washington : Imagine a camera that sees the world through thousands of tiny lenses, each a miniature camera unto itself. Now stop imagining and start imaging.
Researchers at Stanford University already have the prototype of just such a gadget: a 3-megapixel chip, with all its micro-lenses adding up to a staggering 12,616 cameras.
The multi-aperture camera looks and feels like a small cell phone camera. And the final product may cost less than a digital camera, the researchers say, because the quality of its main lens is no longer of paramount importance.
India planning 60 space missions in five years: Chavan
By IANS
Hyderabad : India is planning to conduct 60 space missions over the next five years to achieve multiple objectives in navigation, positioning, advanced communications, space transportation, earth observation and space science, Minister of State in the prime minister's office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan said here Monday.
Inaugurating the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Chavan said the ambitious Indian space programme would unfold huge opportunities for commercial and scientific cooperation among the space-faring nations the world over.
Flowers don’t smell as sweet in polluted air
By IANS
Washington : A rose smells as sweet by any other name but not in any other air, especially polluted air. A new study has found flowers are fast losing their fragrance, and the culprit is air pollution.
Air pollution is also gradually eroding the quality of our life, besides undermining our health and well being, according to the study that found smoke from power plants and automobiles is destroying something as basic as fragrance of flowers and diminishing the ability of pollinating insects to follow scent trails to their source.
Revolutionary nano-needle can peer into a cell
By IANS,
Washington : A revolutionary nano-needle, developed by researchers, not only peers into individual cells, but also acts as electro-chemical probe and optical biosensor.
"Nano-needle-based delivery is a powerful new tool for studying biological processes and biophysical properties at the molecular level inside living cells," said Min-Feng Yu, professor of mechanical science and study coauthor, University of Illinois (U of I).
Solar-barbecued chicken a hit in Thailand
By DPA,
Bangkok : Solar energy has found a unique outlet in Thailand with one innovator using the sun's rays to roast chicken at his roadside stall, drawing the attention of Japanese researchers and hungry motorists, news reports said Monday.
With temperatures and fuel prices rising around the globe, Sila Sutharat's solar-seared chicken, sold at a roadside in Phetchaburi town, 90 km southwest of Bangkok, recently attracted a team of Japanese researchers keen to learn his cooking techniques, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.
New technology to bring down cost of fuel
By Jatindra Dash, IANS,
Bhubaneswar : It may now be possible to bring down the cost of emulsified fuel and also reduce India's dependence on crude imports, thanks to a new technology invented and tested by the Chennai-based Hydrodrive Systems and Controls.
"The technology we have developed does not use any additives or surfactant," Hydrodrive managing director and inventor Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan said.
US scientist wins Finnish award for drug delivery systems
By DPA,
Helsinki : Bioscientist Robert Langer of the US Wednesday won the Finnish Millennium Technology Prize for his contributions to developing drug delivery systems.
In all six researchers in four categories were nominated for the prize worth a total of 1 million euros ($1.5 million).
Langer collected 800,000 euros ($1.2 million), becoming the third winner of the prize that was created in 2004, and is awarded every two years. The first winner was Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the worldwide web.
Capital cost for Microsoft: court says pay up
By Kanu Sarda, IANS,
New Delhi : It's a capital cost all right! Delhi High Court has asked Microsoft Corporation to shell out Rs.800,000 ($16,000) for choosing to fight four copyright violation cases in the Indian capital even though they originated in other cities.
The order came after the court found that the alleged violations occurred in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Mumbai.
China begins final countdown to spacewalk mission
By DPA,
Beijing : China Thursday afternoon intitiated the final eight-hour countdown to its Shenzhou VII space mission, which is scheduled to feature the nation's first spacewalk.
The Jiuquan space centre in the north-western province of Gansu began the countdown at 1:10 pm (0510 GMT), state media said.
The start of the countdown put the mission on course for its previously announced launch time of 9:10 pm (1310 GMT), although officials Wednesday said the exact time could still vary between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm.
Partial solar eclipse observed in India
By IANS,
New Delhi : The first solar eclipse of the year was partially visible in some parts of India and observed by various people Monday afternoon.
The eclipse started at 2.15 p.m. and ended at 4.20 p.m.
“The eclipse was visible only from southern parts of India, eastern coast, most of northeast India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep,” Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnasree told IANS here.
She said people in north and west India couldn't see the celestial activity.
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.
Himachal student makes bullet train model
Shimla : A Himachal Pradesh student has created a bullet train model that has been selected for a national-level exhibition, a school official said...
Infosys pitches for greater affirmative action
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy, IANS
New Delhi : India's software giant Infosys Technologies wants to expand its affirmative action initiative for the country's disadvantaged groups in association with the government.
Having already trained around 100 graduate and postgraduate science students free of cost as a pilot project in 2007, Infosys has written to the social justice and empowerment ministry, offering to continue the training programme for poor students, mainly from the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
India’s moon spacecraft positioned atop rocket
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : A week before launch, India's maiden lunar mission has progressed one step further, with the Chandrayaan spacecraft that will orbit the moon installed atop the rocket ferrying it.
"The spacecraft was fitted to the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C11 (PSLV C11) Tuesday night. Today (Wednesday) the heat shield will be fitted to make the rocket ready for moving to the launch pad," M. Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan told IANS from the launch site Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.
Eclipse chasers see perfect ‘Ring of Fire’ onboard special cruise
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
Male : It was a breathtaking experience for the 950 eclipse chasers onboard Aquamarine, India's first eclipse cruise, as the moon covered the sun's disc making a 'Ring of Fire' in the sky - the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse Friday.
The island nation of Maldives provided the best view of the celestial event.
People from the age group 4 to 70 held solar goggles to their eyes or had their cameras pointed skyward on the Sun deck of the cruise ship since 9.30 a.m. to get a clear view of the event.
Agenda for India: Telecom
TwoCircles.net presents “Agenda for India”. Series editor is Charu Bahri.
Challenges & Solutions
“I would cite the issue of spectrum allocation and management as one of the foremost challenges of India’s telecom sector,” says Yusuf Motiwala, Founder & CEO, TringMe. “The government must wake up to the losses accumulating on account of under-utilization of spectrum and due to the delay in rolling out 3G services.”
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.
Universe’s biggest star discovered
By IANS,
London : The biggest star, with a mass 320 times greater than the sun's, has been discovered at the edge of our galaxy by British astronomers.
Scientists at the University of Sheffield found the stellar giant - named R136a1 - using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The star is located in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small "satellite" galaxy which orbits the Milky Way, the Telegraph reported.
US to give Iran ‘space’ to mull nuclear fuel deal
By DPA,
Vienna/Tehran, Nov 9 (DPA) The US is willing to give Iran time to come up with a response to a proposed multinational nuclear fuel deal, the US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Glyn Davies, said Monday.
"We want to give some space to Iran to work through this. It's a tough issue for them, obviously," Davies told reporters in Vienna, adding, however, that Washington hopes for a response soon.
A perfect 13th successful launch for PSLV
By IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : The launch of Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to probe the moon, from here Wednesday morning marked the 13th consecutive successful score for the India-built polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) which had failed in its very first attempt.
The 320-tonne PSLV-C11, which roared into skies at 6.22 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) with the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan, is a modified version of PSLV, described by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as its "trusted workhorse".
Glitch over, Pluto-bound spacecraft on its way
Washington : A software glitch that triggered communication loss with NASA's New Horizon spacecraft has been rectified and the probe is on way for...
Around the world in 80 days, the Indian Air Force way
Hindon (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 19 (IANS) Two intrepid Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots flew in here Sunday after creating two new world records for circumnavigating the globe in a microlight aircraft.
Flying over 16 countries and touching 81 destinations, Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar completed their journey in 80 days, shaving 19 days off the existing mark of 99 days held by Britain's Colin Bodil since 2001.
They also bettered Bodil's airspeed record of 16.53 km per hour by recording 21.09 km per hour.
Mahindra Racing join hands with Swiss firm
By IANS,
New Delhi: Mahindra Racing will team up with former Grand Prix rider Eskil Suter's company to produce an all new bike for the 2013 Moto3 season.
India, Russia in talks on moon exploration
By IANS,
New Delhi : India and Russia are cooperating vis-a-vis the Chandrayaan-2 satellite for joint moon cooperation.
600 mn-year-old plant fossils found in China
By IANS,
Beijing : Paleontologists in China have unearthed thousands of pieces of plant fossils dating back to about 600 million years, officials said.
Watching the solar eclipse through ribs and skulls
By IANS,
New Delhi : Unable to buy a solar goggle but keen on watching the century's longest solar eclipse, 25-year-old Anurag Gupta caught hold of an old x-ray scan of his chest and went to the Nehru Planetarium to have a glimpse of the celestial spectacle.
Gupta was not the only one armed with an x-ray. Many others people were seen looking at the sun through scans of their legs, head, hands and other body parts.
Study: Baby bird’s chirping like baby’s babbling
By Xinhua,
Beijing : How baby birds learn to sing is just like how babies learn to talk, researchers reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Michale S. Fee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the brains of baby zebra finches as the little birds learned the unique song they would use as adults.
"Young birds learn their songs in a series of stages. They start out just as humans do, by babbling," Fee said, while the adult bird produces a very precise pattern of sound.
Russia launches defense satellite
By Xinhua,
Moscow : Russia launched on Friday a carrier rocket with three defense satellites atop, Itar-Tass reported.
The rocket, also carrying the scientific Yubileyny micro-satellite took off from the Plesetsk spaceport at 7:20 p.m. (1520 GMT), Russian Space Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin was cited as saying.
The launch was made successfully at the north Russia's launch pad, he said.
AITA clears the air over project Apollo Mission 2018
By IANS,
New Delhi : The All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary Anil Khanna Monday was at pains to explain that the apex organisation of the game was only trying to bring about transparency in the sponsorship world and it had nothing to do with Mahesh Bhupathi as a media report suggested.
Khanna said that AITA was not interested in kicking up an unnecessary controversy, it only sought to check the veracity of ads in the media about a corporate - Apollo Tyres - in quest of producing Grand Slam champions.
India’s multipurpose scientific vessel ready
By IANS
Chennai : India's new multipurpose scientific vessel is ready for deployment and will be at the forefront of the country's sea research.
Named Sagar Nidhi, it is parked off the east coast of Tamil Nadu. Sagar Nidhi will be dedicated to the nation after Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal returns from Australia, officials at a scientists' meet here said.
It is expected to provide logistical support in India's Antarctic II and Arctic missions, which are on the cards in the next five years.
Kalam favours generating nuclear energy from thorium
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Hyderabad : Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Thursday advocated the use of thorium deposits apart from uranium to generate nuclear energy for meeting India's burgeoning needs.
Interacting with about 1,000 students at the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2007) here, Kalam said if India had to generate about 400,000 MW of power by 2020, it was essential to utilise thorium deposits, which were abundantly available in the country, especially in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Amazon releases new e-book reader as Google eyes market
By IANS,
San Francisco : Amazon has released a new version of its highly successful electronic book reader Kindle, just days after Google said it would make available large parts of its vast catalogue of scanned books to smartphone users.
The new $359 Amazon device "Kindle 2" will hold up to 1,500 books, boasts 25 percent better battery life than its predecessor and includes a "talk to me" feature that reads books aloud.
Don’t panic when fuel warning lights up
Berlin, Sep 13 (DPA) Motorists should not immediately panic when the warning lamp lights up indicating that the fuel tank is empty because most cars have an adequate reserve to last for a stretch of 50 km, according to a test by the German magazine AUTO/Strassenverkehr.
The magazine tested 10 different car models with some vehicles even managing to drive a distance of 150 km before coming to a standstill after the warning lamp lit up.
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.
India’s tryst with Mars begins in November 2013
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's tryst with Mars will begin in November 2013 to explore the red planet's atmosphere and search for life-sustaining elements, a top space official said late Monday.
China launches new search engine
Beijing: A new Chinese-language online search engine --Chinaso.com -- was launched Friday, marking China's first search service set up by the country's major news...
Climate change has plunged earth into crisis: NASA
By IANS
New York : Climate change caused by global warming has plunged the earth into a crisis but fossil fuel industries are trying to hide the extent of the problem from the public, NASA's top climate scientist has alleged.
"We've already reached a dangerous level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said James Hansen, 67, director of the space agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies here.
"But there are ways to solve the problem" of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which Hansen said has reached the "tipping point" of 385 parts per million.
ISRO eyes manned moon mission by 2015
By NNN-PTI,
Sriharikota, India : Buoyed by the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1, Indian Space Research Organisation today said it would gear up for the complex and challenging task of the proposed manned mission to the moon by 2015.
"Now we have a little bit of breathing time (after today's launch)... We are looking how we can design a capsule, which can carry two astronauts onboard a GSLV rocket," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said at a post-launch press meet here.
Hackers help fight natural disasters too!
By IANS,
Washington : During the biannual event called the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), hackers worldwide develop software that can help identify and reduce risks from natural hazards.
Murthy bids adieu to Infosys, once again
Bangalore: For the second time in three years, Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy will Saturday bid adieu to the iconic company he co-founded with...
Scientists have better insight into how we see
By IANS,
Sydney : Scientists now have a better insight into how the mammalian brain transfers, processes and stores visual information.
The study, led by Mark Williams, senior lecturer at the Macquarie University, said: "The inner workings of the mammalian brain are incredibly complex and our understanding of the processes at work is still rudimentary."
"If we think of the visual system as a complicated web of connections at the rear of the brain, these findings allow us to make better sense of this web by more effectively mapping the way information is transferred and processed."
Life on Mars found but destroyed by mistake
By IANS,
London: Bungling NASA scientists are believed to have found tiny live microbes on Mars - but mistakenly killed them by boiling them alive, a media report said Saturday.
Mouse is everything – from gadget to gaming tool
By DPA
Hanover : They might all look similar, but there are actually significant differences between the kinds of computer mice available.
The price is one of the main variables, ranging from 5 euros ($7) to more than 100 euros ($136).
"You can get something decent for 20 euros ($30)," says Peter Roebke-Doerr, a computer expert with the Hanover-based computer magazine c't.
Chinese taikonauts prepare for spacewalk
By XInhua,
Beijing : Two Chinese taikonauts have moved from re-entry module of Shenzhou-VII spacecraft to its orbital module, starting preparations for the country's first spacewalk mission.
According to the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), two taikonauts were testing the functions of the control panels and charging the EVA (extra-vehicular activities) space suit Saturday morning.
Russia delays Norwegian telecoms satellite launch till Feb. 11
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The launch of a Russian carrier rocket with a Norwegian telecoms satellite has been delayed until February 11, Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said in Sunday.
The launch of a Proton-M rocket with a Thor-5 satellite from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan was originally planned for February 10 but subsequently delayed until 2:34 p.m. Moscow time (11:34 a.m. GMT) February 11 due to technical problems, Roscosmos said.
France, EU laud India on successful moon landing
By IANS,
New Delhi : France, chair of the 27-nation European Union, Saturday lauded India on the successful lunar exploration mission, which, it stressed, confirmed “India's eminent position among the world-class scientific and technological powers”.
“France, on behalf of the European Union, warmly congratulates India for the successful landing of the Moon Impact Probe and the launch of the lunar exploration programme,” the French embassy said in a statement here.
Scientists puzzled over intense swarm of earthquakes
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : An unusually intense swarm of earthquakes has struck beneath a small suburb of Reno in Nevada, leaving residents shaken and scientists puzzling over the cause, the Los Angeles Time said on Thursday.
Totaling more than 1,000 over the last two months, more than 20quakes of magnitude 2 or higher have hit on some days, and the intensity and frequency of the quakes have been increasing rather than following the normal pattern of tailing off, according to the paper.
CO2 dictated global climate pattern
By IANS,
Washington : Carbon dioxide levels explain why temperatures in tropical oceans and arctic waters have changed together for the past 2.7 million years, says a study.
The findings led by a research team of Brown University appear to cement the link between the Ice Ages and temperature changes in tropical oceans.
The research has established that the climate in the tropics over the last 2.7 million years changed with the cyclical spread and retreat of ice sheets thousands of miles away in the Northern Hemisphere.
Chandrayaan may explain origins of Moon: British scientist
By IANS,
London : A British scientist who helped design a camera on board India's Chandrayaan-1 says he hopes images from it will help answer two tantalising questions about the Moon.
“Where did the Moon come from? And could it ever sustain human life?” Maneul Grande of Aberystwyth Universtiy told the Times newspaper.
“After the Apollo landings, people thought they knew a fair bit about the Moon - they'd seen people walking around up there,” said Grande, who helped to design the European Space Agency's camera that will take X-ray images of the Moon's surface.
Scientists intensify anti-Sethu project stir
By IANS
Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu): The protests against the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) intensified with a forum of technical experts, non-government organisations and fishermen's federation undertaking a day long relay fast here last weekend.
The Movement Against Sethusamudram Canal Project said it would begin another relay fast in Nagapattinam from next week that would culminate in a massive protest rally in Rameshwaram.
NASA begins launch countdown for Discovery
By Xinhua
Washington : The launch countdown for US space shuttle Discovery has begun, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
The countdown began officially at 2 p.m. local time (18.00 GMT) Saturday for a scheduled lift off on Oct 23.
NASA managers overseeing the launch preparations for the STS-120 mission said Saturday that space shuttle Discovery is ready for two weeks in space. "All of our systems are in good shape," NASA test director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said.
Arctic sea ice thins by 19 percent
By IANS,
Washington : Sea ice in large swathes of Arctic thinned by as much as 19 percent last winter, compared to previous five winters, according to data from European Space Agency's Envisat satellite.
Using Envisat radar altimeter data, scientists from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London (UCL) measured sea ice thickness over the Arctic from 2002 to 2008 and found that it had been fairly constant until the record loss of ice in the summer of 2007.
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.
China to Build Solar Power Plants in 2009
By Prensa Latina,
Beijing : Two large solar power plants will be built in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Yunnan this year, as part of a nationwide project to boost renewable energy.
Qinghai's solar station will cost 146 million dollars and will be jointly built by China Technology Development Group and Qinghai New Energy Group.
In the beginning, the plant will generate 30 megawatts, but after completion, it will produce one gigawatt and will be the world's largest solar power plant, investors said.
Telescope captures galactic super volcanic explosion
By IANS,
London : A spectacular "super volcano" that erupted trillions of miles away from earth has been clicked by a NASA telescope.
The staggering eruption was filmed by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array.
Astronomers said shock waves between a giant black hole and cooling gas, caused the mind boggling explosion, reports the Telegraph.
The explosion then blasted through the "massive" Messier 87 galaxy more than 50 million light years away. One light year is the equivalent of 5.9 trillion miles.
Russia to use Baikonur space centre until 2050: Roscosmos
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia will use the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan until 2050, the head of the Russian space agency said.
"The Russian president has set the task to use the Baikonur space centre in full until 2050. We have approved the proposal," Anatoly Perminov, head of the federal space agency Roscosmos told journalists on Cosmonautics Day Saturday.
Baikonur, built in Kazakhstan in the 1950s, was first leased by Russia from Kazakhstan under an agreement signed in 1994 after the break up of the Soviet Union.
AI’s Transformative Impact on Indian Education: Unveiling the Pros and Cons of Modern Tools
By Farooq Siddiqui
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer in various spheres of life, and its influence on education is revolutionizing the Indian...
India must market for global satellite contracts
By R. Ramaseshan, IANS,
The success of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Monday in putting into orbit 10 satellites with a single launch is certainly a commendable achievement marking as it does the second largest number of satellites launched at one go. Now it needs to push aggressively for more contracts in this niche market.
Besides ISRO's own two primary satellites, Cartosat-2A (690 kg) and IMS-1 (83 kg), Monday's payload included seven nanosatellites (1-10 kg class) and one microsatellite (10-100 kg class) from foreign customers, which together weighed about 50 kg.
Computer virus targets Russian opposition
By IANS,
Washington : Opponents of Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin are being targeted through a computer virus sent by email, CNN reported.
Vietnam to launch first satellite next month
By Xinhua
Hanoi : Vietnam is scheduled to launch its first satellite on April 12, helping the country offer better domestic and international communication services at lower cost.
This launch will make Vietnam the sixth Southeast Asian nation to secure space sovereignty and interests, Nguyen Ba Thuoc, vice president of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT),the satellite project's investor, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Scientists locate breeding ground of rarest bird
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have located the breeding ground of a species dubbed "the world's least known bird" -- the large-billed reed warbler, in the remote Wakhan reaches of Afghanistan.
The recent discovery represents a watershed moment in the study of this bird. The first specimen of such warblers was discovered in India in 1867, with well over a century elapsing before a second discovery of a single bird in Thailand in 2006.
Measles? Third red spot seen in Jupiter’s atmosphere
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Recent imagery reveals a storm system has changed color in the planet Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, creating a third "Red Spot" to join the centuries-old Great Red Spot and the 2-year-old Red Spot Jr.
The third reddish storm is west of the Great Red Spot in the same latitude band of clouds and is much smaller.
First Nepali aircraft to test-fly
By Xinhua,
Kathmandu : An ultra-light aircraft built by Nepali engineers is scheduled to take off on Saturday afternoon almost one year since its builders sought permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, according to The Kathmandu Post.
"The research team is ready for the test flight as we have already fulfilled all necessary lab-safety requirements," said Bikash Parajuli, leader of the team that built the aircraft.
"We are optimistic that the flight will be successful," he was quoted by the Saturday's daily as saying.
Space shuttle Discovery moved to launch pad
By Xinhua
Washington : US space shuttle Discovery has been rolled out to its seaside launch pad in Florida in preparation for the Oct 23 launch to the International Space Station (ISS), according to NASA website updates.
The shuttle began its slow 5.5 km journey Sunday in the early morning darkness at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The crawler-transporter carrying the massive shuttle assembly arrived at the launch pad after about six hours.
Haryana launches e-tendering for its projects
By IANS
Chandigarh : The Haryana government Thursday launched an e-tendering facility for its projects.
The process has initially been launched in the public works department (PWD) as a pilot project.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda launched the facility for the prime minister's rural roads project involving 15 tenders worth Rs.2.66 billion.
Hooda announced that e-tendering will be started in other government departments shortly.
Bajaj Auto, TVS feud over patent violation
By IANS
New Delhi : Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto Saturday said that it would sue its rival TVS Motors for allegedly violating its patented digital twin spark ignition (DTSi) technology, even as the latter denied any such alleged infringement.
The charges by Bajaj, two days after TVS launched its 125 cc bike 'Flame' with controlled combustion variable timing intelligent (CCVTi) technology, said its intellectual property right (IPR) on a digital twin spark ignition technology had been infringed.
Twitter ends 140-character limit for sending direct messages
New York : Starting Wednesday, the micro-blogging site Twitter lifted the 140-character limit for its 300 million-plus users to send direct messages, an...
US space shuttle Endeavour lifts off
By Xinhua
Washington : US space shuttle Endeavour lifted off early Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, NASA TV reported.
"All systems are working well ... Endeavour is making its way to the International Space Station (ISS)," NASA's launch blog said after the shuttle jettisoned its twin solid rocket boosters and shut down its three main engines as planned.
The Endeavour and its seven-member crew will spend 16 days in space, the longest visit by the space shuttle to the ISS.
India To Launch 10 Remote Sensing Satellites Monday
By P. Vijian, Bernama,
New Delhi : India's space scientists are preparing to launch a cluster of 10 satellites in one go on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C9 (PSLV-C9) Monday.
India's national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will fire the 690-kg CARTOSAT-2A, India's latest remote sensing satellite, into orbit.
Along with it, the Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) and eight foreign nano-satellites would be launched. These mini-satellites weigh between three kg and 16 kg and have a total weight of about 50 kg, said an ISRO statement.
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.
Apple becomes largest mobile phone vendor in US: Report
By IANS,
San Francisco: Apple overtook Samsung to become the largest mobile phone vendor in the US in the fourth quarter of 2012, a report said Friday.
Spacecraft images show rings of Saturn’s 2nd largest moon
By Xinhua
Los Algeles : 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.
375 million-year-old fossil of ‘mother fish’ discovered
By IANS,
Sydney : A Museum Victoria team announced its latest and the most remarkable find Thursday -- a 375 million-year-old fossil of placoderm fish with intact embryo and mineralised umbilical cord.
The fossil, one of the most significant discoveries ever made by scientists, also happens to be that of the world's oldest known vertebrate mother.
It provides the earliest evidence of vertebrate sexual reproduction, wherein the males (possessing clasping organs similar to modern sharks and rays) internally fertilised females.
Space network, a ‘hotline’ from Bangalore to moon
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Bangalore : When India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 lifts off from Sriharikota Wednesday, the telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) of the space agency in Bangalore will guide the mission on its 18-day voyage to the moon's polar orbit.
Soon after reaching the lunar orbit, the Deep Space Network (DSN) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Byalalu, about 40 km from this tech hub, will take charge of the spacecraft and become a 'hotline' between its payloads and space scientists over the next two years.
US and Russian satellites collide in space
By Xinhua,
Washington : A privately owned US communication satellite collided with a defunct Russian satellite in orbit posing a risk to the international space station, US space agency NASA has said.
It was the first such collision in space, NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said, adding that the magnitude of the accident was still unknown.
The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos Thursday confirmed the collision and said that it poses no threat to the International Space Station (ISS).
Chandrayaan camera detects X-ray signal from moon
By IANS,
Bangalore : The sophisticated camera on board India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 detected the first X-ray signal from the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here Friday.
"The first X-ray signature was detected from a region near the Apollo landing sites Dec 12 at 02:36 universal time. The solar flare that caused the X-ray fluorescence was exceedingly weak, about 20 times smaller than the minimum the CIXS imaging spectrometer was designed to detect," the space agency said in a statement.
New European ‘space truck’ launched into orbit
By DPA
Bremen (Germany) : Europe's first-ever space transporter settled into orbit Sunday after a successful launch from the jungle of South America.
The orbital cargo ship blasted aloft from the Kourou space centre in French Guiana at 0403 GMT atop an Ariane-5 carrier rocket on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Jules Verne, which is hauling six tonnes of food, fuel and other supplies to the ISS, is the first automated transfer vehicle (ATV) in a series of five.
Defunct U.S. spy satellite falling from orbit
By Xinhua
Washington : A defunct U.S. spy satellite is falling from orbit and could hit the Earth in late February or March, agencies reports said Saturday.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.
Washington : A defunct U.S. spy satellite is falling from orbit and could hit the Earth in late February or March, agencies reports said Saturday.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.
Japan launches communication satellite
By Xinhua
Tokyo : Japan Saturday launched a high-speed data transmission satellite, the nation's space agency said.
A H-2A rocket carrying the satellite 'Kizuna' lifted off at 17.55 p.m. from the space centre on the island of Tanegashima off the southern tip of Kyushu Island in southern Japan.
A spokeswoman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the launch went smoothly.
The initial launching was successful despite a delay due to bad weather and an unexpected ship entry in restricted waters near the space centre, the official said.
U.S. spacecraft finds Mars colder than expected
By Xinhua,
Washington : NASA announced on Thursday that new observations from its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought.
The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface and any possible organisms living in that water would be located deeper than scientists had suspected.
NASA’s WISE Eye spots near-earth asteroid
By IANS,
Washington : NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has spotted its first never-before-seen near-Earth object (NEO), the first of hundreds it is expected to find during its mission to map the whole sky in infrared light.
NEOs are asteroids and comets with orbits that pass relatively close to Earth's path around the sun. In extremely rare cases of an impact, the objects may devastate the Earth's surface.
An asteroid, about 10 km wide, is thought to have plunged into our planet 65 million years ago, triggering a global disaster and obliterating dinosaurs.
Researchers developing technique to image molecule in live cell
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers in the US are working on a new technique to create detailed high-resolution images that will show the atomic structure of cellular molecules.
A research team at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab is collaborating with scientists in Germany and Sweden to utilise high-energy X-ray beams, combined with complex algorithms, to overcome limitations in current technology.
Facebook makes Timeline feature compulsory
By IANS,
London: Social network Facebook has made compulsory its Timeline feature through which all of a user's photographs and wall posts would be seen by friends on their homepage.
Scientist turns his face into a remote control
By IANS,
Washington : The hunt for the remote is over! Soon your face will replace it.
Yes, a budding scientist has evolved a way to speed up or slow video playback by using his face as a remote.
The demonstration was part of a larger project to use automated facial expression recognition to make robots more effective teachers.
Space junk may crash earth’s communication networks
By IANS,
Washington/London : Junk of abandoned rockets, shattered satellites and missile shrapnel in space may cause collision between satellites, destroying communication facilities on earth, the US defence department has warned.
According to scientists, the debris scattered in the earth's orbit is reaching a "tipping point" and pose a threat to the $250 billion space services industry.
A single collision between two satellites or large pieces of "space junk" can send thousands of pieces of debris spinning into orbit, triggering an "uncontrolled chain reaction".
Astronomers discover peanut-shaped two star system
By Xinhua
Washington : A pair of yellow super giant stars, orbiting so close to one another that they form the shape of a peanut, has been discovered in a nearby galaxy.
The U.S. astronomers who discovered it announced Tuesday in Astrophysical Journal Letters that similar conjoined giants might be the source of some unusual supernova explosions.
The stellar peanut inhabits a small galaxy called Holmberg IX, about 12 million light years from Earth. It was discovered using the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona.
Crush of people kills two eclipse watchers in Varanasi
By IANS,
Varanasi : Two people were killed here Wednesday morning when thousands of people gathered at the banks of the Ganges to watch the solar eclipse.
"One person died because of drowning and the other got crushed in a stampede. The names of the deceased are yet to be determined" said P.C. Meena, deputy inspector general of police (DIG).
Moon mission, a great event for India: Abdul Kalam
By IANS,
Hyderabad : Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Tuesday said the launch of India's maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was a great event for the country.
"What I am looking for is a great event. It is a very important day. India lacks payload and it is going to land its payload on the moon," he said during a brief chat with reporters on the sidelines of the first world congress on disaster management here.
"It will take eight to 10 days (for landing of payload on moon)," he added.
Iran to launch three new satellites
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran plans to launch three new domestically-manufactured satellites, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi has said.
India to launch three satellites next month
By IANS,
Chennai : India will launch three satellites next month and two more by the end of this year, said a senior official here.
Germans developing battery that never needs recharging
By DPA
Hamburg : Tired of mobile phones that always need recharging at the worst moments, researchers in Germany are developing a revolutionary new battery that will never need recharging.
Mobile phones, notebook computers and iPods are all devices dependent on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to deliver power.
But the German researchers have developed a new class of inorganic ionic conductor with a structure analogous to that of the mineral argyrodite.
Kerala to set up life science park
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : State-run Kerala State Industrial Development Corp (KSIDC) will set up a state-of-the-art life science park near here, it was announced Saturday.
The Rs.3 billion (Rs.300 crore) project would be developed under public-private partnership model, a KSIDC release said.
The park will come up in 260 acres at Thonnakkal, about 25 km from here.
"It will be a geographic cluster of industries in the field of biotechnology or nanotechnology, research institutions and sci-tech academia," the release said.