Fangs evolving from teeth helped snakes spread worldwide
By IANS,
Sydney : Fangs which had evolved from early teeth enabled snakes to expand across all continents except Antarctica nearly 60 million years ago, according to a new study.
"Understanding the evolution of fangs sheds light on how snakes colonised new environments or adapted to feed on new prey," said Bryan Fry of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology in Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne. Fry worked on the study with a team from the Netherlands, US, Israel and Australia.
Scientists gear up to tackle 15 million gigabytes of data
By IANS,
London : The four huge detectors of the new Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, when fully operational, are expected to generate up to a staggering 15 million gigabytes of data every year.
Andreas Hirstius, manager of CERN Openlab and the CERN School of Computing, explained how computer scientists have met the challenge of handling this unprecedented volume of data.
Youngest known pulsar is behaving strangely
By IANS
New York : The youngest known pulsing neutron star - or pulsar - is behaving altogether like another type of star, a magnetar, forcing a rethink among astronomers.
One kind of neutron star literally changes into another, and scientists studying this pulsing neutron called PSR J1846-0258 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre wonder whether they have stumbled on the long-sought missing link between different types of pulsars.
Sulphur dioxide level drops in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a major pollutant, has decreased in the national capital, data released by the environment ministry revealed Friday.
While the sulphur dioxide levels are within the norms, the nitrogen oxide (NO) and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels exceed the prescribed norms.
"Decreasing trend of sulphur dioxide may be due to various interventions that have taken place in recent years such as reduction of sulphur in diesel and the use of cleaner fuel such as CNG," a ministry official said.
Prehistoric rhinos roamed in Mexico, say scientists
By EFE,
Mexico City : The rhinoceros fossils kept in a museum in western Mexico belonged to an ancient rhino species called Teleoceras hicksi that lived more than four million years ago, scientists have said.
The fossils were found in the Jalisco state in the 1960s and preserved at the Regional Paleontology Museum in the state capital Guadalajara.
"When we learned that nobody had studied the fossils, we took the initiative and today we're describing for the first time a species that had been identified only in the US, lead researcher Ruben Guzman Gutierrez told EFE Thursday.
Hafeez Contractor to build third phase of Kerala Technopark
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Hafeez Contractor, one of the best-known architects of India, will build the third phase of an IT park in Kerala.
Kerala-based architectural firm Iyer and Mahesh will partner with Hafeez to construct the 300-million square feet third phase of the 11.5 million Technopark campus, officials said Thursday.
An agreement was signed and handed over to the Technopark CEO R.K. Nair by Hafeez and Iyer and Mahesh Wednesday evening, after a competitive bidding process.
Online world part of our daily life
By IANS,
Washington : If you think Facebook, Twitter and other web sites that foster online communication and interaction are merely lifeless echo chambers of self-promotion, think again.
Caroline Haythornthwaite and Lori Kendall, professors at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, claim online interactions have positive outcomes for real-life, place-based communities.
"Earlier, the online world was considered a separate realm, and it was not viewed as a serious venue for work or business," Haythornthwaite said.
How old is your oldest bulb? This one’s 70
By Asit Srivastava, IANS,
Lucknow : Seventy years old and still glowing. It's a light bulb, which has recently become the most prized possession of Lucknow resident Girish Chandra Gupta, who now aims to enter the record books, claiming to have a "rare bulb".
"It was only last month that I came to know the importance of the bulb after coming across an article in a Hindi daily," says Gupta, who runs a grocery shop from his small house located in a congested lane in the Hussainganj locality of this Uttar Pradesh capital.
Japan successfully launches its first lunar explorer
By Xinhua
Tokyo : Japan Friday launched an H-2A rocket carrying the Selenological and Engineering Explorer, the country's first lunar probe satellite, from the Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Kagoshima prefecture.
The rocket, which is named Kaguya after an ancient Japanese fable, lifted off as scheduled at 10.31 a.m. from the centre on the Pacific off Japan's southern Kyushu island. The satellite and the launch vehicle successfully separated at 11.16 a.m.
Iran parliament approves law to implement n-deal
Tehran: Iran's parliament on Tuesday approved a legislation which asks the government to implement the recent nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the...
Follow nature’s trail to solve universe’s mystery: Scientist-author
By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,
New Delhi : If the universe seems mysterious to you, try becoming a 'cosmic detective'! For, nature has left behind many clues to unravel its mystery, says US-based award-winning scientist Mani Bhaumik who has just penned a children's novel on the subject.
"The study of the universe is a mystery - fortunately nature has left behind some telltale clues around us and like a detective we can pick up the clues and follow the trail to solve the mystery," Bhaumik told IANS in an informal chat in the capital.
Steel byproduct shows potential in CO2 sequestration
By IANS,
Washington : A byproduct of steel industry, that also emits huge volume of carbon dioxide, could be used to absorb greenhouse gas and control global warming.
Mourad Kharoune, professor at cole de Technologie Suprieure, Montreal Canada and colleagues pointed out that production of a tonne of steel releases almost an equal amount of CO2. With global steel production standing at 1.34 billion tonnes in 2007, that adds up to a substantial contribution of carbon dioxide.
The World Wide Wiki – symbol of community effort in cyberspace
By DPA,
Washington : Just a few years ago the word "wiki" wasn't even in most people's vocabulary. But Wikipedia - known by many as biggest encyclopaedia on the Internet - changed all that.
If you've spent much time at all searching for information on the Internet, chances are good that you've run into pages from Wikipedia.
But Wikipedia itself is just one of many useful wikis online.
Google’s multiple-access password software hacked
By IANS,
New York : US internet giant Google's password system that controls multiple access to almost all of its web services was hacked through an innocuous message sent to a google employee in China, a media report said Tuesday.
Though Google had disclosed in January that intruders had stolen information from its computers in the cyber attack in December 2009, the extent of the theft has been a closely guarded company secret till now.
CERN’s large hadron collider set in motion
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Scientists at the CERN laboratory outside Geneva successfully activated the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest, most powerful particle collider, in an attempt to understand the makeup of the universe.
On Wednesday morning, scientists shot the first protons into an about 27-km-long tunnel below the Swiss-French border in the world's most powerful particle accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
On Wednesday morning, scientists shot the first protons into an about 27-km-long tunnel below the Swiss-French border in the world's most powerful particle accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Advance IST by 30 minutes, save Rs.10 bn: scientists
By IANS
New Delhi : A group of scientists have suggested that the Indian Standard Time (IST) be shifted forward by 30 minutes to reduce peak time energy demand and save at least Rs.10 billion per year.
According to a paper prepared by Dilip R. Ahuja, D.P. Sen, both from the National Institute of Advanced Studies, and V.K. Agrawal, Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre, Bangalore, the shift in IST by 30 minutes will help India use more daylight and reduce the peak power demand during evening.
Battle with Microsoft heats up as Google creates own web browser
By DPA,
New York : Google Inc, creator of the world's most popular internet search engine, has developed its own web browser in a challenge to Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer.
A test version of new software, named Google Chrome, is to be available for download Tuesday in more than 100 countries, Google announced Monday on its corporate blog.
The company said its aim was to deliver a faster, more user-friendly and safer browser.
Software to prevent car collisions under development
By IANS,
London : A pedestrian chasing a pet dog suddenly steps in the path of your speeding car 15 metres away. There is no way you can avoid hitting him. The string of cars following you crash behind one another. In future, a new software programme will mitigate or even eliminate such an eventuality.
Tata Communications to lead wireless broadband alliance
By IANS
Mumbai : Leading telecom operator Tata Communications said Wednesday the company has been elected to lead the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).
The company's vice president of planning and retail business, Prateek Pashine, has been appointed the chairman of WBA, a statement released here said.
Into its fifth year of operation, the WBA was created to drive the adoption of wireless broadband technologies and services around the world by developing a common commercial, technical and marketing framework for wireless network interoperability.
Yahoo! India’s Glue Pages bring new search experience
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Searching the net might become quite a different experience thanks to an experiment from Yahoo! India called Glue that yields results with visual information.
Search in.glue.yahoo.com for the term 'India', for example, and what you find is news, images, links, maps, and even sponsored ads -- all related to the second-most populous country on the planet.
"Glue Pages unite your classic search results with visual information from the best sites anywhere on the Web," said Yahoo! India, while recently unveiling this way of finding information.
Despite rain, India’s maiden moon mission on track
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : India was Tuesday set to launch its historic unmanned flight to the moon, the sixth to do so after the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. A heavy downpour at the spaceport did not affect the countdown for the early Wednesday morning launch, scientists said.
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?
Astronauts install Japanese module on International Space Station
By DPA,
Washington : Two NASA astronauts Tuesday installed the Japanese module, Kibo, on the International Space Station in a nearly seven-hour spacewalk.
During a six-hour, 48-minute excursion, space shuttle Discovery specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan attached the laboratory to the ISS, retrieved a shuttle inspection tool, and serviced and inspected solar components.
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.
Shenzhou VII locks in for return to earth after space walk
By Tham Choy Lin, NNN-Bernama,
Beijing : The Shenzhou VII space mission that pulled off China?s first spacewalk has entered into the journey back to earth and can expect a euphoric welcome on Sunday evening.
The return capsule carrying astronaut Zhai Zhigang, who performed the historic feat, and two other astronauts will touch down at about 5.40pm in the steppes of central Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
World of Warcraft has roots in Everquest
By Heiko Haupt, DPA
San Diego : Start up the computer, go online and explore a strange fantasy world using a gaming character you've created on your own: the idea has become a familiar one thanks to the mass phenomenon known as World of Warcraft.
It may surprise some gamers to learn that the principle is hardly new. The first online role playing games started appearing as far back as the 1990s. Success would have to wait for the developers, however. It wasn't until 1999 that the title Ultima Online and the near-legendary Everquest helped the genre break through.
Scientists devise ‘pacemaker’ for brain
By IANS,
Washington : Disorders such as depression or Parkinson's may be helped by stimulating certain areas of the brain with controlled precision, says a study, encouraging scientists to create a pacemaker for the brain.
But because controlling that stimulation presently lacks precision, over-stimulation is a serious concern -- losing some of its therapeutic benefits for the patient over time.
Facebook raises row over revealing user’s location
By IANS,
London : Controversy shrouds Facebook over revealing user's location in a new feature that it has launched.
Called Facebook Places, the application uses satellite tracking technology to permit people to ‘check in’ their current location and share it with friends.
But critics voiced concern that the facility exposes users to the risk of burglary, stalking and harassment, reports the Daily Mail.
They also asserted that many users did not fully understand the site’s privacy options and were clueless about potential dangers.
India approves Rs.7.74 bn satellite navigation project
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Thursday gave its approval to a satellite-based navigation system, which would meet the growing air traffic and strengthen aviation navigation system.
“The new navigation system would increase safety, improve airport and airspace access in adverse weather conditions, and enhance reliability and reduce flight delays,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
India to build world’s largest solar telescope
By IANS,
Bangalore : India is inching closer towards building the world's largest solar telescope in Ladakh on the foothills of the Himalayas that aims to study the sun's microscopic structure.
The National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) project has gathered momentum with a global tender floated for technical and financial bidding by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).
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.
Indian-Australian AMU Alumnus Aamir Qutub launches his company’s sports technology wing in Delhi
By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: Indian-Australian Entrepreneur Aamir Qutub, an alumnus of AMU and founder of Entriprise Monkey,...
AK-47’s inventor Kalashnikov hospitalised
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow: Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of AK-47 assault rifle, has been hospitalised, his assistant Nikolai Shklyaev said Tuesday.
British lab growing human body parts
By IANS,
London: British experts are growing human body parts like nose and ears in laboratory, Daily Mail reported Sunday.
‘Big mistake’ if US blocks overseas skilled workers: Bill Gates
By IANS,
New Delhi : Microsoft founder Bill Gates Friday said it would be a "big mistake" if the US curbs the entry of skilled workers from abroad, rallying behind the "smart people" from countries like India that has a globally recognised outsourcing industry.
He also said Microsoft will like to partner the Indian government in its ambitious plan to give a unique identity number and a biometric card to each of its 1.17 billion people.
Grazing cattle have magnetic sense of direction
By Ernest Gill, DPA,
Hamburg (Germany) : Grazing cows tend to face the North and South Poles, according to German scientists who studied 308 herds using Google Earth satellite photos.
The Boreal bovine orientation suggests that they, like migratory birds, sea turtles and monarch butterflies, tune into the Earth's magnetic fields, says Hynek Burda, a biologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
Revamped Hubble ready to tackle universe’s big questions
By Anne K. Walters, DPA,
Washington : Five straight days of intense and dangerous repair work have sharpened the vision of the Hubble Space Telescope and prepared it to once again collect groundbreaking insights into the origins of the universe.
Space industry part of efforts to achieve vision 2020 – Malaysian PM
By NNN-Bernama
Ipoh (Malaysia) : The country's involvement in space industry is part of broader efforts to attain the Vision 2020 objective of turning Malaysia into a developed country, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He said to bring about progress, the government had to implement various initiatives, one of which was Malaysia's foray into space science.
Sify is now Sify Technologies Ltd
By IANS
Chennai : Sify Ltd, Chennai-based leader in consumer Internet and enterprise services, Wednesday changed its name from Sify Ltd to Sify Technologies Ltd, after approval from the ministry of corporate affairs.
"Sify is rapidly growing. In our remote infrastructure management services overseas, we are recognised as a specialist based on our expertise and experience," Raju Vegesna, CEO of Sify Ltd, said here.
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.
Launch of space shuttle Atlantis delayed further
By DPA
Washington : The much-delayed launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis remains up in the air, according to NASA officials who are now predicting a takeoff date of early February and in any case no sooner than Jan 24.
Shuttle programme manager John Shannon Thursday said that ongoing attempts to resolve a problem with the shuttle's fuel sensors has prevented the US space agency from setting a firm launch date.
India’s Y chromosome man finds nature’s failsafe
By Papri Sri Raman, IANS
Chennai : Sher Ali hopes that there will never be a nuclear holocaust. But even if there were one, humankind would still survive on earth, says India's Y chromosome man.
One of the fallouts of a nuclear holocaust, Ali said, is that the reproductive cells in men are destroyed or genetically so modified that either there are no offspring or they are malformed.
Stars packed million times more densely in early universe
By IANS,
London : Stars in ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies, discovered recently, may have been packed a million times more densely than in the solar neighbourhood, according to calculations made by a team of astronomers.
UCDs, discovered in 1999, are still enormous by our standards, about 60 light years across, yet they are less than 1,000th the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. A light year is about 10 million km.
Space shuttle Atlantis blasts off
By DPA,
Cape Canaveral (Florida) : The space shuttle Atlantis thundered into the sky over Kennedy Space Centre Monday carrying six crew members on a mission to the International Space Station.
The mission is part of the US space agency's efforts to stock up the ISS reserves as the shuttle programme enters its expected final year in 2010. After this week's mission there are just five more flights scheduled.
UAE company to invest $2 bn in solar energy technology
By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based energy company Masdar has announced that it would invest $2 billion in solar energy technology, WAM news agency reported Thursday.
Masdar, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, plans to set up two plants for manufacturing solar panels.
The first plant would be based in Germany and would become operational in 2009 while the second one would be set up in Abu Dhabi and would become operational in 2010.
Pentagon to replace 30 percent of its soldiery with robots
By IANS,
Washington : Pentagon is planning to replace by 2020 some 30 percent of its soldiery with robots, which are quietly transiting from the realm of science fiction to the actual battlefield.
Robots are increasingly taking over from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. For example, there are unmanned aerial vehicles and ground robots for explosives detection.
A report by Erin Fults quoted Doug Few and Bill Smart of Washington University, who are leading this cutting edge innovation, as saying that machines still need the human touch.
India to launch six more satellites in 2015-16
Chennai : India will launch six more satellites during 2015-16 of which two would be communication satellites, three navigation satellites and one space science...
Recession’s long reach – Moon and Mars missions of US
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : The global financial crisis will severely affect the US manned mission to the Moon and then to the red plant Mars, says Jerry Linenger, a renowned astronaut of American space agency NASA, while lauding India's growing role in space.
"It will affect the space programmes. The economic recession will certainly affect the missions to Mars and the Moon," Jerry Linenger told IANS. Linenger was here to attend the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Russian astronomer discovers new comet
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russian amateur astronomer Artyom Novichonok, a student of Petrozavodsk university, has discovered a new comet, website Astronet said.
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.
Researchers create software to counter network attacks
By IANS
Washington : An Indian American-led team has developed new software that can reduce the impact of cyber attacks on an organisation's networks.
Currently, network administrators rely on labour-intensive processes for tracking vulnerabilities in organisational networks - processes that not only require huge expertise but are also error prone, said software expert Sushil Jajodia, who led the team.
Toonz, Marvel tie up for second part of X-Men series
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Singapore-based animation major Toonz Entertainment Pte Ltd has tied up with Marvel Animation to produce the second part of the popular animated television series "Wolverine and the X-Men", a top official said here Tuesday.
Toonz Group chief executive P. Jayakumar said the company was thrilled to join hands with Marvel, a global leader in animated entertainment industry, to showcase "one of the most sought-after, iconic characters of all time".
India, China scientific ties growing – but slowly
By IANS,
Bangalore : Indian and Chinese scientists are increasingly working together, but it might take a few years before it becomes significant or sets the pace for South-South scientific collaboration, a study says.
"Till 2003, only a small percentage - around three-fourth of one percent - of Indian papers were written in collaboration with Chinese authors," says the study, published by Chennai-based Subbiah Arunachalam and IIT-Madras' R. Viswanathan.
Software turns fuzzy x-rays, MRIs into coloured 3D pictures
By IANS,
London : A special software called BodyViz converts fuzzy x-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds into full-colour 3D pictures.
Chilean quake was so strong, it shortened days: NASA
By DPA,
Washington : The massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday was so strong that it may have shortened the length of a day, NASA scientists said.
Using a computer model, Richard Gross, a scientist at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, found the earthquake likely shifted the Earth's figure axis by about 8 centimetres.
The shift of the axis on which the planet's mass is balanced slightly changes the length of time it takes the Earth to make a complete rotation, meaning each day is now about 1.26 microseconds shorter.
Space technology to identify whale sharks off Gujarat
By Sanjeeb Baruah, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian scientists will try to distinguish individual whale sharks off the Gujarat coast, using a technique employed by NASA to identify galaxies.
Just as each tiger is distinguished by its stripes, whale sharks too can be identified through a unique pattern of spots that form points of numerous triangles on their bodies, say experts.
As the whale shark grows, the distance between these spots increases, but angles of these triangles remain the same, thus identifying the whale shark.
The method is also used by NASA to identify galaxies.
Endeavour astronauts inspect shuttle
By DPA
Washington : Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour spent their first full day in space inspecting the craft for any damage sustained during take-off.
They used a robotic arm Thursday to examine the outside of the shuttle.
The spacecraft with seven astronauts on board is on an 11-day mission to install a 2.5-ton solar panel on the International Space Station (ISS), conduct repairs on the orbiting station and deliver of supplies.
Endeavour is set to dock with the ISS on Friday at 17.53 GMT.
Cuban scientists seek cancer cure from scorpion venom
By IANS,
Havana : Cuban scientists are trying to cure cancer with a homeopathic drug manufactured from the venom of scorpion, according to participants at an annual symposium held in the country.
Indian-American researchers develop system to ease e-mail overload
By IANS,
Washington : Indian-American researchers are taking the help of a computer model called SIMONE to ease e-mail overload in busy organisations and companies.
Ashish Gupta and Ramesh Sharda of Minnesota and Oklahoma State Universities, respectively, described how SIMONE (Simulator for Interruptions and Message Overload in Network Environments) can produce a model of how e-mail flows within a network of knowledge workers.
Molecule sized data storage for computers in offing
By IANS,
London : Computers are getting smaller as the race is on to develop memory formats that store huge information in progressively tinier substances. Now Researchers are exploring ways of exploiting properties of carbon nanotubes to create a cheap, compact memory cell that uses little power and writes information at high speeds.
Elena Bichoutskaia of the School of Chemistry, Nottingham University, who is leading the study, said: "The electronics industry is searching for a replacement of silicon-based technologies for data storage and computer memory.
Russian submersibles plumb record depths to explore Lake Baikal
By DPA,
Moscow : Two Russian submersibles plumbed the depths of Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia Tuesday, diving a record 1,680 metres in one of the world's largest lakes.
"It is a world record for deep-water submersion in fresh water," an organizer told Itar-Tass news agency on the barge fielding expedition that was to last another five hours.
The exploration mission is headed by pro-Kremlin lawmaker Artur Chilingarov, who led a mission with the same two mini-submarines to plant a Russian flag on the sea bed below the North Pole last August.
AOL to shutter support for Netscape
By Xinhua
Beijing : AOL announced in its blog post to shutter support for Netscape Navigator from Feb. 1 and recommended the Netscape users to make the move to Firefox, media reported Saturday.
Netscape would still be available for download from the Netscape Archive after Feb. 1, but no "active product support" will be offered.
The decision came after Netscape Navigator, once the dominant Web browser, failed in the battle against Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
India, US to cooperate in space flights, outer space use
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : India and the US plan to cooperate in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, including in the area of human space flights, under a new agreement between their space agencies.
A framework agreement establishing the terms for future cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was signed Friday at the Kennedy Space Centre by ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and NASA administrator Michael Griffin.
Satellite shows magnitude of quake damage in China
By IANS,
Sydney : Australian researchers are providing the Chinese government with detailed assessment of the area devastated by the May 12 quake that claimed more than 60,000 lives.
The high-resolution map generated from analysis of satellite images shows the ground lifting by up to five metres in areas affected by the quake.
Radar satellite survey of the devastated area by researchers at the University of New South Wales is giving China information about the level of damage from the magnitude 8.0 temblor.
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).
Can we get oil from space?
By Andrei Kislyakov, RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Scientists from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh have said that judging by the chemical composition of stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy could contain anywhere between 300 and 38,000 highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations potentially capable of contacting planet Earth.
Although current generations are unlikely to shake hands with little green men from Mars, humankind has already discovered sizeable mineral deposits on other planets. But should we pin any hopes on them?
We wrongly think world likes what we like: study
By IANS,
Washington : People have the tendency to presume the whole world likes what they like. But when it comes to things they dislike, they don't generalise the same way.
For example, people are shocked when a cherished product is discontinued for lack of sale or the favourite confectionary offered by them is not eaten, according to a study.
"The things we like are seen to contain primarily good characteristics, while things we dislike are seen to contain a mix of bad, neutral, or good characteristics," the study said.
Scientists sound alarm bells over impending global catastrophe
By IANS,
Sydney : Scientists have sounded the alarm bells over impending global catastrophe as existing governments and institutions are too powerless to head it off.
The world faces a compounding series of crises - from energy, food shortages, to climate change, to new diseases and increasing anti-biotic resistance - all driven by human activity, which is beyond the capacity of existing institutions to cope with, warns a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists.
T-Mobile to launch Google phone in October
By DPA,
San Francisco : T-Mobile is to launch the first phone based on Google's Android design Sep 17, in hopes that the new device will compete with Apple's iPhone, Wired magazine reported Friday.
The smartphone will be manufactured by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer, and will have a large touch screen that slides out to reveal a five-row QWERTY keyboard. The device, which will be called the G1, will sell for $150 to T-Mobile customers in the first week of launch before it is offered to other customers at a higher price.
How to tune better with your iTunes
By Florian Oertel, DPA
Munich : If you own an iPod, there's no way around iTunes. Mac users have it on their computers as well, and it's also found on many PCs nowadays. Yet many don't realise just how much the software can really do.
Perhaps the most under-appreciated option is "intelligent" playlists. These are helpful for users with a huge volume of music on their computer but only an iPod Nano with only four gigabytes (GB) of memory in their pockets.
NASA plans Mars landing in August
By IANS,
London : NASA will attempt to lower a probe onto the surface of Mars for the first time as it continues its search for signs of life on the red planet, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.
Indian space agency aims $60 mn revenue from satellite manufacturing
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to play a major role in satellite manufacturing.
"We are targeting a revenue of around $60 million from manufacturing satellites for others," K.R. Sridhara Murthi, executive director of Antrix Corp Ltd, the commercial arm of the Indian space agency, told IANS.
Agra gets its second wonder- a 6D theatre
By IANS,
Agra : You feel your chair moving back and forth and left to right, smell scent, feel a cool breeze, a sudden water splash and also have goose pimples when you find yourself in the midst of bats and spider webs. This isn't a scary tale but India's first-of-its-kind six-dimensional theatre experience developed here.
Indian cinema chain Adlabs in association with Cinema Park Network Friday launched The Adlabs Cinema Park.
Free software saves Kerala schools Rs.11 crore
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : By opting for the free and open software platform (FOSS) for the state-sponsored IT@School project, Kerala's General Education Department has saved Rs.11 crore.
The project's Executive Director K. Anvar Sadath said if proprietary software were used in the 11,065 laptops and computers to be supplied in schools, a minimum of Rs.11 crore would have been spent in procurement of software.
Scientists unearth wound-healing genes
By IANS,
Sydney : Scientists have closed in on 68 regions of the genome, tied to blood platelet formation, potentially opening the way to better diagnosis of bleeding disorders.
World’s first humpback dinosaur discovered
By DPA,
Madrid : Spanish scientists said Wednesday they have discovered the world's first humpback dinosaur.
Facebook unveils new tools
By DPA,
San Francisco : Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday unveiled a box of new tools that he said will extend the social networking phenomenon to every corner of the internet.
The announcement came at a conference for Facebook developers called F8, in which Zuckerberg revealed that the world's largest social networking site has 400 million registered users. These include 100 million who use Facebook Connect, the company's online identity technology that allows users to use their profile on thousands of other websites.
Google launches priority inbox, unveils spam killer
By IANS,
London : A new feature for its Gmail service will automatically filter the most important messages from spam, Google has announced.
Priority emails will be placed at the top of the inbox - while others will drop to the bottom.
The ‘Priority Inbox’ function is designed to help users manage hundreds of emails received daily, reports the Daily Mail.
The new application splits the inbox into three sections: 'Important and unread', 'Starred' and 'Everything Else'.
New technique developed to ‘milk’ ostrich semen
By IANS,
Sydney : Australian researchers have developed what is being touted as the first “animal- and human-friendly” technique of masturbating an ostrich.
The new technique being used by researchers tasked with collecting semen and artificially inseminating the large and rather fearsome birds - as well as their cousins, the emus - relies on the use of a dummy female.
PM lays foundation stone of ISRO campus in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first campus in the national capital and urged space scientists to continue their focus on need-based science for nation building.
"I am very happy to lay the foundation stone of ISRO's Space Complex in New Delhi. The complex will go a long way in fulfilling the needs for utilisation of space based services in this part of our country," Manmohan Singh said in his speech here.
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.
Desktop search tools make computer use easier
By DPA
Washington : With computers these days, it's all about search and there's a good reason. With mounds upon mounds of data on our hard drives, the primary obstacle we face is finding what we need when we need it.
The irony is that it's almost easier to find information online than it is to find it on our own PCs. Thankfully, that's changing. New tools are going some way toward making our own hard drives as accessible as what we see online.
Robot scribe copies the Bible as a performance art event
By DPA
Karlsruhe (Germany) : After seven months of writing day and night, a robot in Germany clutching a fountain pen has completed a "manuscript" Bible in cursive handwriting.
The exercise was a piece of performance art by the Centre for Art and Media in the German city of Karlsruhe, which uses state funds to explore new art ideas.
The machine, dubbed "Bios (Bible)", began copying the Bible in June onto a 900-metre-long roll of paper, with its arm forming each letter with the pen after all 66 books of scripture had been loaded into its memory.
130 websites blocked in Tajikistan
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Dushanbe: Over 130 websites have been blocked in Tajikistan in connection with "technical repair work", the country's telecom agency said.
China sends up 1st data relay satellite
By SPA,
Beijing : China has launched its first data relay satellite in preparation for the inaugural spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut scheduled for later this year, a state news agency said Saturday.
The Tianlian I satellite was launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province late Friday night, Xinhua News Agency said.
Global CEO Clubs to enter India’s IT hub
By IANS,
Bangalore : CEO Clubs, an exclusive club for chief executives worldwide, will launch its new chapter in India's IT hub Monday to create a platform for interaction and exchange of ideas for its members running global enterprises.
To mark the occasion, the Bangalore chapter of CEO Clubs India, the second in the country after the Delhi chapter, will organise a panel discussion on the impact of global recession and what difference such a club will make to Indian chief executives of diverse enterprises and corporates.
Facebook registers 200 million users
By DPA,
San Francisco : Five years after it was founded in a Harvard dorm room, the online social networking site Facebook has registered its 200 millionth user, the site confirmed Thursday.
"Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start, but we've always known that in order for Facebook to help people represent everything that is happening in their world, everyone needs to have a voice," said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Researchers create world’s first diamond laser
By IANS,
Sydney : Researchers in Australia have built the world's first diamond laser, harnessing its capability to transmit heat and light very effectively.
A research team led by Richard Mildren at Macquarie University in New South Wales built the first laser using a technique based on the Raman effect.
Besides demonstrating a more effective way of generating a powerful beam, it has also shown that synthetic diamonds are of the right size and quality to enable exploration of a new class of laser devices.
Volcano eruption under Antarctica ice sheet confirmed
By Xinhua
Beijing : Evidence of a powerful volcano, which erupted under the ice sheet of West Antarctica around 325 BC and might still be active now, has been confirmed by British scientists, according to media reports Monday.
A layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within an ice sheet in West Antarctica was identified in an article published in the journal Nature Geosciences by Hugh F. J. Corr and David G. Vaughan.
Microsoft-Yahoo search deal imminent: Report
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft and Yahoo will announce a search and advertising partnership Wednesday, capping months of negotiations aimed at challenging the Internet dominance of Google, The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.
The paper's blog AllThingsD said that under the terms of the deal, Yahoo will use Microsoft's new search engine on its sites, while Yahoo would handle some advertising sales for Microsoft. The two companies will share search-related advertising revenue, the report said.
Neither companies would comment on the reports.
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.
Obama win keeps NASA’s space plans on course
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Washington : The re-election of US president Barack Obama could mean one small step back to the moon and a giant leap to landing astronauts on Mars and asteroids.
‘ISRO examining business model for industries in satellite, rocket production’
By Venkatachari Jagannathan,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : The Indian space agency is working at preparing a business model to partner with industries - public and...
Google’s Chrome browser has Windows in its sights
By Andy Goldberg, DPA,
San Francisco : Google released its first ever Internet browser in a long-awaited move that increased pressure on Microsoft and laid a new foundation for a mass transition to web-based computing.
A test version of the new software, named Google Chrome, was made available for download in more than 100 countries Tuesday. The open-source browser had been in secret development for over two years at the search engine giant.
High capacity lithium-ion battery developed
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have developed a new lithium-ion battery that can recharge within 10 minutes and hold thrice as much energy as its existing counterparts.
NASA says Atlantis launch doubtful amid rough weather
By RIA Novosti
Washington : The launch of the Atlantis shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, could be delayed by the turbulent weather continuing to sweep the U.S. south, NASA said.
Meteorologists have given a mere 30% chance of acceptable weather conditions for the launch, set for 2:45 p.m. (7:45 p.m. GMT). Nearby Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama have been hit by major tornadoes in the last few days that have killed at least 52 people.
IBM inks outsourcing deal with Rajasthan cooperative bank
By IANS,
Bangalore : Global IT major IBM has signed a five-year outsourcing agreement with Madhav Nagrik Sahakari Bank, a leading cooperative bank in Rajasthan, the company said Monday.
As part of the deal, IBM India will host and manage the IT infrastructure of the bank and reduce its capital expenditure. The end-to-end IT-enabling environment will also help the bank focus on its expansion plans, the IT firm said in a statement here.
Indian-American detects black holes with 10 billion times sun’s mass
By IANS,
Washington : There are limits to how big super gigantic black holes can grow, according to the latest research led by an Indian-American astrophysicist of Yale University.
These "ultra-massive" black holes have been shown to have masses upwards of one billion times that of our own Sun, which is where they have set the limit on themselves.
Priyamvada Natarajan, associate professor of astronomy at Yale and Ezequiel Treister, a postdoctoral fellow at Hawaii University, have shown that even the biggest of these gravitational monsters can't keep growing forever.
Plant hormone that controls shoot branching discovered
By IANS,
Sydney : The discovery of a new plant hormone that controls shoot branching is likely to impact forestry, plant science and agriculture industries.
A molecule with a specific four-ring structure in plant hormone strigolactone has been shown to inhibit shoot branching in plants.
"It could be used to increase yield in horticultural industries and manual pruning may be circumvented through the use of the natural strigolactones," said principal investigator Christine Beveridge of University of Queensland (UQ).
Telangana to develop national repository of smart technologies
Hyderabad: With the central government set to launch its ambitious 100 smart cities project later this month, Telangana plans to develop a national repository...
India’s first high-security lab on infectious organisms coming up
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS
Bangalore : After debating for over two years, the Indian government has approved construction of the country's first high-security facility for handling and doing research with highly infectious organisms causing diseases in humans.
"The government has sanctioned Rs.1 billion ($25.4 million) for establishing the Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) facility," Lalji Singh, director of Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), told IANS. Singh had mooted the proposal in 2005.
‘Dot-asia domain name leads to business image makeover’
By IANS
Brussels : The selling of domain names has been receiving a bit of an image makeover with the launch of dot-asia.
"As a not-for-profit organisation from Asia and for Asia, we want to create partnerships that will drive awareness and promote community benefits. One of the core mandates of the DotAsia Organisation is to contribute surpluses (of funds) back into community projects for Asia," Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia, told EuAsiaNews Tuesday night.
Since its launch Feb 20, DotAsia has received 350,000 applications.
NASA postpones launch of Dawn space probe
By DPA
Washington : The Dawn space probe's five billion km journey to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter will begin a day later than planned, the US space agency NASA announced.
The spacecraft's launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket has been postponed from Wednesday until Thursday morning. The blastoff is now scheduled for a launch window of 7.20 a.m. to 7.49 a.m. Thursday.
Microbes from Earth likely to contaminate Mars
By IANS,
Washington : Bacteria common to spacecraft sent from the Earth may be able to survive the harsh environs of Mars, long enough to contaminate it with terrestrial life, research says.
The search for life on Mars remains a stated goal of NASA's Mars Exploration Program and Astrobiology Institutes.
To preserve the pristine environments, the bioloads on spacecraft headed to Mars are subject to sterilisation, designed to prevent the contamination of the Martian surface.
Police to quiz Gwalior scientists over human sacrifice bid
By IANS,
Bhopal : Two senior scientists of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior, who allegedly tried to kill their junior colleague in a human sacrifice bid, will be interrogated as soon they return from leave, police said Monday.
"We can't say anything right now. The picture would be clear after the scientists' statements are recorded," Gwalior Additional Superintendent of Police Manohar Verma told IANS.
U.S. pledges to compensate countries hit by satellite debris
By Xinhua
Geneva : The United States said on Friday that it would compensate countries whose territory might be hit by debris of an inoperable U.S. spy satellite that the Pentagon plans to shoot down.
Christina Rocca, U.S. ambassador for disarmament affairs, said the United States had recently modified three SM-3 missiles and three U.S. Navy ships to try to shoot down the satellite, which is currently in a decaying orbit.
Geneva : The United States said on Friday that it would compensate countries whose territory might be hit by debris of an inoperable U.S. spy satellite that the Pentagon plans to shoot down.
Christina Rocca, U.S. ambassador for disarmament affairs, said the United States had recently modified three SM-3 missiles and three U.S. Navy ships to try to shoot down the satellite, which is currently in a decaying orbit.
70 scientists focussing on Bigfoot research
San Francisco : Seventy scientists from around the world, defying widespread scepticism, have been involved for the past four decades in the search for...
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.
Smartphones can help improve kids numeracy skills
New Delhi: Smartphone and tablet-based games can help improve literacy and numeracy skills of children, a study done in India has found.
The study was...
Chandrayaan-I finds ice near Moon’s north pole
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits totalling at least an estimated 600 million metric tons near the moon's north pole.
NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters ranging in size from 2 to 15 km in diameter with water ice, the US space agency announced Monday.
Climate change brings riotous blooms to Sweden
By IANS,
London : A riot of blooms and superabundance of greenery have transformed Swedish mountainsides into a verdant paradise - thanks to climate change.
Trees like oak, elm, maple and black alder are soaking up the warmth to stabilise themselves for the first time in 8,000 years, according to a study.
A rise in warmth by just a degree, over a century, has triggered changes in flora, fauna and landscapes, reflecting a condition that scientists say is similar to one prevailing just after the last ice age, ScienceDaily reported
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.
Unmanned planes will be commonplace within a decade
By IANS,
Sydney : UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, used with deadly precision in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan, are likely to be adapted to civilian work within the next decade.
New research indicates that robotic, or pilot-less, planes will be commonplace within five to 10 years and make manned flights seem passe.
For example, Rod Walker of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) said recent trials have looked at using automated planes for fisheries and border protection in the Cape York area.
Manmohan advocates nuclear technology for world growth
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: Advocating greater use of nuclear technology to meet today's developmental challenges, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday announced India's ambitious plans to increase India's installed capacity for nuclear energy more than seven fold by 2022.
"Our target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35,000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032," he told world leaders from 47 nations gathered here for the global Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Barack Obama.
Chandrayaan spacecraft moved further up in space
Chennai, Oct 26 (IANS) India's maiden moon probe spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has reached nearly half the distance to the lunar orbit, crossing the 150,000-km mark from the earth Sunday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed third orbit-raising manoeuvre initiated at 7.08 a.m. Sunday firing the liquid apogee motor for about nine and a half minutes.
With this, Chandrayaan spacecraft has entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the earth.
Mars mission delayed two years on conflict of interest
By DPA
Washington : The next NASA mission to Mars has been delayed two years after a conflict of interest was discovered in proposals for the unmanned exploration craft, the US space agency said.
The next mission for the Mars Scout programme has been pushed back to 2013 from 2011, Mars exploration programme director Doug McCuistion told reporters.
No rise of atmospheric CO2 fraction in past 150 years
By IANS,
London : The airborne fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades, research says.
Most of the CO2 emitted by human activity is absorbed by the oceans and our ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted CO2 stays in the air. However, some studies have suggested that the ability of oceans and plants to absorb CO2 recently may have begun to decline.
Brazil to deepen space cooperation with China
By Xinhua
Brasilia : The newly sworn-in head of the Brazilian Space Agency (BSA) Carlos Ganem said Tuesday that Brazil cherishes the ties with China and will deepen cooperation with China in the field of space technology.
Ganem made the remarks during his inauguration ceremony. A technical expert who engaged in the first negotiations on the China-Brazil satellite cooperation program, he said the project is an excellent example of bilateral cooperation.
Chandrayaan enters lunar space for final journey
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar space early Tuesday for its final journey into the lunar orbit Saturday, an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
"The operation to put Chandrayaan into lunar space went off very well. The complex manouvre was carried out around 5 a.m. by firing the liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board for about 150 seconds to place the unmanned spacecraft 380,000 km away from earth (apogee) and 1,000 km from the moon," ISRO director S. Satish told IANS.
Wireless spectrum assessment to be over by September
By IANS
Chennai : The assessment of the availability of the wireless spectrum for communication services is likely to be over by the first week of September, IT and Communications Minister A. Raja said here Thursday.
Raja was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate global computer giant IBM's sixth global delivery centre in India, to be housed in Chennai.
He said once the defence ministry freed some of the spectrum it held, his ministry would be able to provide more communication depth.
India to have 1.4 bn mobile subscribers by 2020: Report
New Delhi: India will have at least 1.4 billion mobile subscribers by 2020, resulting in a population penetration of 100 percent, says a report...
ISRO to set up astronaut training institute
By IANS,
Bangalore : Buoyed by the successful launch of the country's maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to start an institute to train astronauts for its planned first manned space mission by 2015, said a top official.
Solar, wind energy to provide villagers with hot water
By IRNA-AzerTAj
Baku : The Institute of Radiation Problems of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences has prepared the rural hot water supply system by the use of the solar and wind alternative energy.
By utilizing wind and solar energy in March-October, it is possible to ensure normal temperature conditions of the device and improve environmental sanitation and hygiene for villagers.
GII: A group that tracks Indian cyberspace
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Does India have too many "cyber law experts"? What's wrong with the Blackberry service in India? How is BSNL's IPO shaping up? These and several such issues routinely crop up on India-GII.
So what is India-GII? Located in cyberspace, it is a network of techies and others fleshing out cyber issues in the country, tracking its progress from one of the most expensive and monopolistic telecom markets to one of the most competitive.
India-GII describes itself as a "list (that) has existed since 1995".
‘India, China don’t pose a challenge to US’
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Warnings from pundits that the millions of engineers and scientists India and China produce each year would soon challenge the US' technical superiority may be a little premature, according to Newsweek International.
While Delhi and Beijing are slowly moving in the right direction to improve their high-tech and science programmes, "yet getting either country up to speed will be an enormous task", said the magazine.
French Space Ship Connects to Intl Station
By Prensa Latina
Toulouse : Images broadcast directly from the control center in this French city showed the successful connection of the Automated Transference Vehicle VERNE with the International Space Station Thursday.
The ATV and supplier VERNE -as it was baptized- connected with the ISS at 14:45 GMT, setting a new space stage for France and Europe in general.
Experts in Toulouse, south of France, said VERNE, with its 17 tons of weight, was moving at a relative speed of 6 to 7 centimeters a second, to connect to Russian space module Zvezda, in the rear part of the ISS.
‘Caterpillar fungus’ could be India’s answer to Viagra
By Asit Srivastava, IANS,
Lucknow : Foreign drugs like Viagra and Cialis used for treating erectile dysfunction may soon get their Indian counterparts from a `caterpillar fungus' found in the high altitudes of Uttarakhand.
The caterpillar fungus locally called as `Keera ghas' or 'Yarchagumba' is said to have aphrodisiac properties, which will be used to manufacture drugs in a project undertaken by the Uttarakhand government, say the officials of the Herbal Research and Development Institute (HRDI) in Gopeshwar district.
Green technology should be used to spur growth: PM
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Visakhapatnam : Science and technology should be harnessed to convert urban waste into wealth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday while advocating the use of affordable eco-friendly technologies to sustain the growth momentum.
"Our scientists and economic policy makers have to strike a balance between the pursuit of high income growth and protection of natural resources.
Smartphones become personal computers
By DPA
Munich : Smartphones can now enjoy plus size screens and keyboards thanks to a new gadget from Palm.
Indian IT exports to touch $80 billion by 2011
By IANS
New Delhi : Exports from the IT and ITeS sector is expected to reach $80 billion by 2011, Information Technology and Communications Minister A. Raja said here Wednesday.
"Our IT exports were a few million dollars in the early 90s and now it is around $37 billion. We are confident that our exports will boom despite the perceived odds against outsourcing and increasing competition," Raja said at an award function organised by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).
Indian-origin food scientist gets international award
Wellington : A noted Indian-origin food scientist based in New Zealand has been honoured for his contribution in improving the quality, safety and...
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.
60-second test can tell if IVF is successful
By IANS,
London : Scientists have devised a 60-second test to predict a couples' chances of having a baby through IVF.
Kwt leadership places emphasis on scientific research — professor
By KUNA
Kuwait : The Kuwaiti leadership places much emphasis on scientific research and provides all means to enrich this important area, said Kuwait University's Deputy Rector for Scientific Affairs Dr. Nouriya Al-Awadhi on Saturday.
In a press release, she said that holding the fifth Euro-Asian conference on heterogeneous ring chemistry under the auspices of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and with the attendance of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was proof of this support.
E-mail etiquette: A matter of survival
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Business people send out some six trillion e-mail messages each year, according to US-based Ferris Research. That's probably not much of a surprise to most office workers today, who have seen e-mail usurp meetings and face-to-face conversations as a primary form of communication.
India’s moon mission countdown continues in heavy rain
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : It was raining heavily at India's spaceport Sriharikota Tuesday morning as scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) continued their countdown for the launch of the country's first mission to the moon.
Though the ISRO scientists have said only a cyclone would put off their scheduled launch, there were signs of anxiety about the weather, even as the countdown proceeded smoothly.
US Scientist to Warn Congress about Global Warming
By Prensa Latina,
Washington : Scientist James Hansen will warn US lawmakers on Monday about the need to stop global warming, 20 years after he first spoke about the issue in Congress.
Although in 1988 he found a very unreceptive audience, Hansen will appeal to the awareness of the members of the House of Representative to promote the idea that it is still possible to defuse "the global warming time bomb".