American west is new global hot spot
By IANS
New York : The American west is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new study that analyses the latest temperature figures.
The average temperature rise in the southwest's largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions, ScienceDaily reported.
Vietnam to launch first telecom satellite next month
By RIA Novosti
Hanoi : Vietnam's first communications satellite, the Vinasat-1, is to be launched on April 12, a Vietnamese government official said on Wednesday.
Nguyen Ba Thuoc, deputy director of the Vietnamese Post and Telecommunications Corporation, the satellite project's investor, said the satellite would be launched by an Ariane carrier rocket by the French company Ariane Space from the Kourou space center in French Guiana.
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.
Scientists trigger 52 downpours in Abu Dhabi desert
By IANS,
London : Scientists triggered 52 downpours last year in Abu Dhabi's eastern Al Ain region using technology designed to control weather.
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.
ISRO aircraft takes satellite images to trace YSR
By IANS,
Hyderabad : A low-flying aircraft of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) late Wednesday took pictures of Nallamalla forest area where the helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was last seen before it went missing.
Finance Minister K. Rosaiah told reporters that the low-flying aircraft belonging to ISRO had taken 41 satellite imagery pictures. Authorities hope to get some clues about the missing chopper from there images.
‘Chances of asteroid hitting earth is very real’
By IANS,
London : A football field sized asteroid hitting say New York will obliterate the city in a matter of seconds and all that moves within it.
The tidal waves of energy unleashed by the collision would be equivalent to several Hydrogen bombs going off at once, a scenario brought to life by 1998 hit movie Armageddon, starring Bruce Willis.
The chances of an asteroid hitting the Earth one day are very real and blowing up an asteroid in real life, says a Tel Aviv University (TAU) researcher, will be more complicated than in the movies.
When the tricolour was still but hearts fluttered
By IANS,
Bangalore : Perhaps for the first time since India adopted the saffron-white-green tricolour as its flag, millions of hearts across the country fluttered but not the flag itself when it reached the lunar surface, around 384,000 km away, Friday night.
The heart beat was faster at Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO's deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 kms from Bangalore city centre, and its telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac), much closer to the city.
Windows 7 and Vista offer best file search
By DPA,
Hamburg : Ever wonder where you stored a certain file on your computer? If you have the new Windows 7 or even Windows Vista on your computer, you won't need any extra software to answer that question. The functionality already built into Windows 7 and Vista beats the performance offered by four free search programmes, the experts at Germany's Computer Bild magazine found.
Corn stover being evaluated as sustainable biofuel source
By IANS,
Washington : With galloping oil prices, the quest for efficient and sustainable biofuels has narrowed on corn stover, the leaves and stalks of corn plants that are discarded after harvesting the edible grain. The plant could meet a fourth of the biofuel crop requirement by 2030.
Scientists at the University of Nebraska examined the long-term sustainability of using corn stover as a biofuel crop.
When corn stover is not harvested as a biofuel crop, it can be left on the fields to restore vital nutrients to the soil. Full-scale harvesting of corn stover may deplete the soil.
China’s first lunar probe Chang’e-1 blasts off
By Xinhua
Xichang (China) : China Wednesday launched a lunar probe, the first of its three-stage moon mission, from a launch centre in southwestern Sichuan province.
The circumlunar satellite Chang'e-1 blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. from the No. 3 launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
Chinese space experts, technicians and other work staff, joined by experts from Japan, Germany and other countries as well as millions others from across the country, watched the launch.
Scientists use bacteria to find oil, natural gas
By IANS,
Bangalore : Vengannapalli, a nondescript village in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, may be sitting on a reservoir of gas or oil, say scientists who have been able to make the discovery with the help of soil bacteria that live exclusively on a diet of hydrocarbons like methane, ethane and propane.
A high concentration of these bacteria is an indication that gaseous hydrocarbons are seeping out to the surface from oil or gas reservoirs below the ground, says Anurodh Dayal, a scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad.
Egypt starts manufacturing new satellite
By NNN-KUNA,
Cairo : Egypt has started to manufacture a new satellite in cooperation with France to meet the growing demand for its satellite in the Arab region, especially after NileSat has used up all existing capacities of the existing Nilesat 101 and NilSat 102.
The Egyptian Satellite Company (Nilesat) said in a statement Thursday that it will launch its new satellite NileSat 201 in the first quarter of 2010, the first second-generation NileSat satellite based on a contract with a French company.
Methane levels surge again after decade of stability
By IANS,
Washington : The quantity of methane in the air surged last year, ending a decade of stability in levels of potent greenhouse gas, according to MIT team.
Methane levels have more than doubled since pre-industrial times, accounting for around a fifth of the human contribution to greenhouse gas-driven global warming.
Given that, kilo for kilo, methane is 25 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the situation will require careful monitoring in the near future.
‘Spy aircraft’ that weighs just three grams
By IANS,
Amsterdam : Dutch engineers have developed a miniature remote-controlled aircraft that flies by flapping its wings like a dragonfly, has an on-board camera and weighs just three grams.
Delfly Micro, made by engineers at Delft University of Technology, can fly for approximately three minutes and has a maximum speed of five meters per second, reports Eurekalert.
Germany’s first driverless mass-transit train in service
By DPA,
Nuremberg (Germany) : Germany's first driverless mass-transit train line has officially begun service in the southern city of Nuremberg, with a computer in charge of the underground trains.
Driverless trains are already in use in other nations, including Singapore's North East Metro Line (NEL) operating since 2003, but Nuremberg's 600-million-euro ($900-million) system is unique because it mixes human-driven and computer-controlled trains on the same track.
Trees, fungi set unique example in cooperation
By IANS
London : Over millennia, trees and fungi have developed a delicate interdependence that allows both to flourish in adverse conditions, according to a new study.
The study, by researchers at Ghent University, Belgium, also suggests that understanding this interdependence could help us monitor climate change, a university press release said.
Trees grow better and faster when certain specialised micro-organisms interact with their roots. One of them is Laccaria bicolour, a soil fungus that draws on the sugars in the roots.
NASA’s Mars orbiter snaps color, 3-D Phobos photos
By Xinhua
Beijing : NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured new color and 3-D imagery of Phobos, the larger of Mars' two minuscule moons.
The pictures were taken on March 23 by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, and released on Wednesday. Phobos is expected to be the focus of an ambitious Russian-Chinese space mission scheduled for launch next year.
Microsoft: surf skies from desktop
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Microsoft unveiled a public beta of its WorldWide Telescope (WWT) web application that allows star gazers and astronomers deep into the universe Tuesday.
"The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. "Our hope is that it will inspire young people to explore astronomy and science, and help researchers in their quest to better understand the universe."
China launches second weather satellite for the Olympics
By Xinhua,
Taiyuan (China) : China Tuesday launched its second Olympic weather forecasting satellite, the Fengyun-3, to ensure timely weather forecasts during the Olympics.
The satellite was launched on a Long March-4C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in northern Shanxi province at 11.02 a.m.
Zheng Guoguang, director of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said the FY-3 would work with the existing FY-2.
Russia to encourage patriotism through computer game
By IANS/RIZ Novosti,
Moscow : The Russian government is working on a project to produce computer games aimed at boosting patriotism among young people.
The communication ministry and a leading software firm 1C have presented a project concerning six flight simulator games that they say are helping to improve Russia's international hi-tech image and increase patriotism among teenagers.
Vedomosti, a business daily, quoted 1C CEO Boris Nuraliev as saying that he had already demonstrated a flight simulator game to President Dmitry Medvedev.
Device turns heat into sound, then electricity
By IANS
Washington : Physicists in US have developed a small device that they claim can turn heat into sound and then into electricity.
NASA declares Phoenix Mars lander dead
By DPA,
Washington : A robotic lander that confirmed the presence of ice on Mars was confirmed dead by NASA scientists Monday.
The Phoenix Mars lander was damaged by harsh conditions during the Martian winter and repeated attempts to contact it have been unsuccessful, the US space agency said.
The lander had wrapped up its mission in 2008 and had not been expected to survive the harsh winter, which is twice as long as that on Earth. But scientists needed to make last attempts to contact it in good weather before officially writing it off.
Monitoring your child’s PC use
By DPA
Washington : For kids these days, schools mean computer use. Increasingly, schools expect - and in some cases require - projects and homework to be completed using a computer, and most kids are only too happy to comply, since computers are also an endless source of entertainment.
For parents, though, the challenge becomes determining how much computer time is appropriate for kids - and then figuring out how to administer the rules effectively. Read on for some ideas.
Parents are always stricter with older kids
By IANS,
Washington : Parents are more inclined to punish their teen's risky behaviour when there are younger kids in the family, just to set an example, according to a new research.
"Interestingly, the youngest sibling, knowing that they can get away with much more than their older brothers and sisters, are more likely to engage in risky behaviours," said Ginger Gin, one of the study's co-authors, a parent of two and herself an older sister.
Scientists tackling Internet’s ‘black holes’
By IANS
Washington : You might have heard of distant black holes swallowing up light or crunching ship-sized objects into tiny teaspoon replicas. But what about black holes in cyberspace, here on earth every day?
At any given moment, a portion of the vast computer traffic disappears into these vast sinks, out of reach or trace. Try logging into the web. It could be a very frustrating experience.
What does the Sun mean to your heart?
By Rajat Rai, IANS,
Lucknow : Your stars could have a bearing on your heart condition, says a study by astrologers.
As per Hindu mythology, every organ of the body is governed by one of the nine planets - which can have positive or negative effects. The Sun is considered the Lord of the Heart. July 22 is the day of the total solar eclipse - the century's longest such celestial phenomenon.
Apple, Intel join Google in bidding for Nortel patents
By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : Auction for thousands of wireless technology patents belonging to failed telecom giant Nortel began Monday.
How earthquakes happen
New Delhi : Most earthquakes originate from compressional or tensional stresses built up at the margins of the huge moving plates that make up...
Seminar on Scientific Arbitration in offing
By SPA
Riyadh : The Riyadh-based Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic university will organize on Zil-Hajjah 28-29, 1428 AH, a seminar on the scientific arbitration with the participation of a number of researchers and arbitrators from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad in addition to a number of heads of the scientific councils at the academic and research institutions and editors-in-chief of scientific magazines in some Arab and foreign countries.
Insect eye inspires ultra-thin image sensor
By IANS,
Washington : The amazing versatility of an insect's compound eye has inspired researchers worldwide into working on ultra-thin imaging systems.
Features of these compound eyes, optimised over millions of years of evolution, are being adapted for present-day imaging equipment.
Accordingly, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, are working on the development of an ultra-thin image sensor.
For example Andreas Brückner, working on his doctoral thesis, improved the imaging properties of these sensor applications.
Samsung’s tablet looks to take on iPad
By IANS,
London : Samsung and Google have launched their version of a tablet computer designed to take on Apple's iPad, the market leader.
Emirates Islamic Bank to use Infosys product
Bengaluru: Dubai-based Sharia-compliant Emirates Islamic Bank has selected Finacle banking software product of Indian IT bellwether Infosys for its operations across the Gulf region.
"Finacle...
India gets its first Hindi e-commerce site
By IANS,
New Delhi : The country got its first e-commerce site in Hindi Wednesday. Ezeego1.com, the country's first meta search travel site, launched its new Indian langauge window for the vast Hindi-speaking travel market so that customers in the tier II and tier III cities can book flight tickets on domestic circuits.
Unveiling the new vertical, hindi-ezeego1.com, here, the chief operating officer of Ezeego1.com, Neelu Singh, said there was a huge market in north India that was comfortable with both English and Hindi, but preferred transacting their business in Hindi.
Indian American helps design cheaper, better solar cells
By IANS,
Washington : An Indian-American researcher is working with a team of Utah University engineers to design cheaper, lighter and better solar cells.
Dinesh Rakhwal, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, said: "We're coming up with a more efficient way of making germanium wafers for solar cells - to reduce the cost and weight of these solar cells and make them defect-free."
Frog fossil in Madagascar big as bowling ball
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S. scientists' finding of a frog fossil with the size of a bowling ball in Madagascar provides evidence for competing theories that some bridge still connected South America with Africa about 70 million years ago, perhaps via an Antarctica that was much warmer than today, media reported Tuesday.
Beijing : U.S. scientists' finding of a frog fossil with the size of a bowling ball in Madagascar provides evidence for competing theories that some bridge still connected South America with Africa about 70 million years ago, perhaps via an Antarctica that was much warmer than today, media reported Tuesday.
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.
Researchers calculate how much carbon can be stored underground
By IANS,
Washington : Trapping carbon dioxide at the source like coal burning power plants and then injecting them underground could be one of the options to cut emissions levels. MIT engineers have come up with a new software tool to determine how much can be sequestered safely in a geological formation.
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.
NASA successfully tests first deep space Internet
By Xinhua,
Washington : US space agency NASA said it has successfully tested the first deep space communications network modelled on the Internet.
NASA engineers used a special software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking or DTN to transmit dozens of images to and from a NASA science spacecraft located about 30 million km from the Earth.
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.
Now recharge cellphones in seconds
By IANS,
Washington : An amazing 3-D nanostructure designed and developed by scientists may make it possible to recharge mobile phones in seconds or a laptop within minutes.
Rover technology could improve solar power efficiency
By IANS,
London : Technology designed for Mars exploration could hold the key to solving the world's energy problems by boosting solar power efficiency.
A self-cleaning system developed for NASA's Mars rover robots could keep solar panels free of dust and grime which hampers energy output.
The devices exploring Mars have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny, reports the Telegraph.
Tomorrow’s phones may be powered by body heat
By DPA
Hamburg : Making calls from a cell phone without a battery, using just the warmth of your hand? Perhaps that's no more than a pipe dream right now. But new circuits being developed by researchers in Germany are already making it possible to harness body heat for generating electricity.
Numerous items of medical equipment are attached to a patient's body in the intensive care ward. They monitor the heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, pulse and breathing rate.
This tends to produce quite a jumble of cables as all these devices require their own electricity supply.
Climate change wreaks havoc on coral reefs worldwide
By IANS,
Sydney : Ocean warming is spurring the incidence of virulent coral diseases, already wreaking havoc on reefs worldwide.
David Bourne and colleagues at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said global warming and increased sea surface temperatures presented a major challenge to the health of the world's coral reefs.
Warming has caused significant damage to reefs in recent hot years (particularly 1998 and 2002) by sparking coral bleaching, which is a breakdown in the symbiotic relationship between the coral and its bacterial partner (zooxanthellae).
Scientists map genes behind bipolar disorder
By IANS,
New York : In a first, scientists have comprehensively mapped the genes believed to cause bipolar disorder.
Indiana University neuroscientists combined data from the latest gene hunting studies for bipolar disorder with information from their own studies to zero in on the best candidate genes for the illness.
Their findings, reported in the latest issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics, describe how researchers analysed how these genes work together to create a comprehensive biological model of bipolar disorder.
Mongolia seeks increased links with India in IT, mining
By IANS,
New Delhi: Mongolia Monday said it was looking for increased trade and commerce with India in the fields of mining and information technology.
Mongolian leaders, including Prime Minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold and chairman of the Mongolian State Great Hural (Parliament) D. Demberel made known their wish list during their meeting with visiting Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
A parliamentary delegation led by the speaker is on a five-day day visit to Mongolia.
Globalisation propagates trafficking, organ trade: study
By IANS,
Washington : Globalisation may have wrought many positive changes in our lives, but it has also helped propagate evils like trafficking and organ trade, according to a new study.
Some of the world's most disadvantaged people, lured by the dazzle of dollars and a lavish lifestyle, fall prey to traffickers who divest them of their entire savings and send them across international borders with fake documents, the study found.
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...
Scientists, farmers fast to protest Bt Brinjal
By IANS,
Kolkata : A group of scientists, academicians and farmers observed a day's protest fast at the Kolkata Book Fair Saturday against the possible release of genetically modified crop Bt Brinjal for commercial cultivation.
"The volunteers from Green Peace, city-based green body Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) and the farmers of an organisation called Seva participated in the fast," Green Peace's sustainable agricultural campaigner R. Jaykrishna told IANS.
World’s oldest shoe found in Armenian cave
By IANS,
London : A perfectly preserved 5,500-year-old leather shoe has been found by a team of international archaeologists in a cave in Armenia.
The cow-hide shoe dates back to 3,500 BC (the Chalcolithic period) and is in perfect condition. It was made of a single piece of leather and was shaped to fit the wearer's foot.
Technology Frontiers targets retail chains and malls
By IANS
Chennai : City-based Technology Frontiers (I) Pvt Ltd (TFPL) is targeting growing malls and retail chains for its digital kiosks, said a top official here.
"We have signed deals with Future Group to install our kiosks in their malls," M.S. Muralidharan, managing director of TFPL, told IANS on the sidelines of the press conference after launching a multi-broadcast digital kiosk TOUCHME Tuesday.
India second-largest wireless market in the world: study
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Mobile telephony has grown rapidly in India, especially during the last three years, with India becoming the second-largest wireless market in the world, says a World Bank study.
The number of wireless subscribers in the country has reached 250 million, making India the second-largest wireless market in the world, says the study, The Role of Mobile Phones in Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction.
Breakthrough in battle to curb greenhouse gases
By IANS,
London : A team of scientists has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide into chemical compounds, marking a breakthrough in the fight to cut greenhouse gases.
The team from Newcastle University estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tonnes of waste carbon dioxide per year, reducing Britain's emissions by about four percent, ScienceDaily reported.
The method developed by the team led by Michael North, a professor of organic chemistry, converts waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates.
Advanced Micro Devices sells off manufacturing units to UAE firm
By IANS,
Dubai : Leading American chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has spun off its manufacturing facilities to a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company to create a new semiconductor manufacturing firm.
Advanced Technology Investment Co (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi and AMD Tuesday announced the creation of a new US-headquartered company, temporarily named The Foundry Co (TFC), to meet demand for independent and leading-edge foundry production capabilities.
NASA spacecraft becomes first to enter Mercury orbit
By IANS,
Washington : A NASA spacecraft, after over six years of space travel, has become the first to enter the orbit of Mercury, the agency said Friday.
Australians now the fattest on earth
By IANS,
Sydney : Australia has acquired the dubious distinction of being the fattest on earth - with four million people classified as obese and another 5.4 million as overweight.
New research by Victoria University's Erin Pearson shows that when it comes to changing people's exercise behaviour, having the right messenger is as important as having the right message.
"What we have found is that the person delivering the message needs to be someone the audience identifies with and respects in order to bring about a desired change in behaviour," Pearson said.
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.
Toy rocket inspires variable-speed bullets
By IANS,
Chicago : A US company is developing a gun that can fire bullets with variable speed and can be set to kill, wound or just cause a bruise.
Lund and Company Invention, a Chicago-based toy design studio, which makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen, is receiving funding from the US army to adapt the same technology for firing bullets as the army is interested in weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes, NewScientist reported.
PSLV: Workhorse of ISRO (Factfile)
By IANS,
New Delhi : Since its first launch in 1994, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has so far placed 41 satellites (19 Indian and 22 foreign) into orbit - making it one of the most successful launch vehicles ever worldwide.
* The PSLV was originally developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into orbit with the help of Russia. It was then used for launching a variety of satellites.
Russia earmarks $25 bn for secientific research in 2008-10
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia will spend around 600 billion rubles, or about $25 billion, on scientific research in 2008-2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
"We have allocated substantial resources for the development of such promising areas as nano- and biotechnology, nuclear energy, aerospace and other research in 2008-2010. Federal target programmes alone will receive about 600 billion rubles for these purposes," Putin told a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Google India launches text messaging service
By IANS
Bangalore : Google India, the Indian subsidiary of the world's largest search engine, Tuesday launched the beta version of its short messaging service (SMS) for mobile users in India for accessing information on the move without an Internet-enabled phone or a computer.
The company said in a statement that through the service (GoogleT search), users could get business listings, movie show timings and more by sending a text message to 54664 from their mobile phones.
India exploring commercial satellite launches
By IANS,
New Delhi : India is exploring commercial opportunities by providing facility of satellite launch to other countries at viable rates, the Lok Sabha was informed Wednesday.
"Our space programme's commercial wing Antrix is looking at opportunities to launch satellites for other countries. India is one of the foremost countries in space technology," said Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office.
China to broadcast solar eclipse live on Internet
By Xinhua,
Beijing : While the best observation place in China for Friday's solar eclipse is a small county in the far-away Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, most people can also see it in all its glory on their laptop.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will broadcast the total solar eclipse, the first in China this century, live on the Internet, the Division of Information Technical Sciences (ITS) said on Tuesday.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will broadcast the total solar eclipse, the first in China this century, live on the Internet, the Division of Information Technical Sciences (ITS) said on Tuesday.
Click and check out development work in India’s villages
By Azera Rahman, IANS,
New Delhi : How many villages does India have? What kind of developmental work is going on there? And are the local politicians there doing enough? Soon you can find out by clicking on www.638387.org!
An initiative of IndianNGOs.com, a platform of NGOs working in different spheres, www.638387.org focuses on the tiny hamlets of the country - all the 638,387 of them.
India successfully puts spacecraft into lunar orbit
By IANS,
Bangalore : India Saturday successfully put its first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-I into lunar orbit - a major step towards placing it in its designated slot 100 km from the moon, a top Indian space agency official said.
The spacecraft was placed in an elliptical orbit - at 7,500 km aposelene (farthest from moon) and 500 km periselene (nearest to moon) through complex manoeuvres, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS here.
Robot performs world’s first surgery to remove brain tumour
By IANS,
Toronto : Canadian doctors have created history by performing the world's first robotic surgery to remove brain tumour.
In the landmark surgery, neurosurgeons at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre guided a newly developed robotic system - called NeuroArm - to remove an egg-shaped tumour from the brain of a woman.
Twenty-one-year-old Paige Nickason was discharged from the hospial two days after the nine-hour-long surgery performed Monday.
``I was happy to help by being a part of this historical surgery,'' she said in a statement at the weekend.
New Chinese law to encourage innovation
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's top legislature Saturday adopted an amendment to the Law on Science and Technology Progress that shows more tolerance of failures in scientific projects but brooks no fraud or manipulation of data.
The law, for the first time, allows scientists to report failures in innovative researches without harming their eligibility for future funding.
The amendment, which is to take effect July 1, 2008, was approved at the seven-day meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) that ended Saturday.
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.
Promising carbon material can act as power reservoir
By IANS,
Washington : A breakthrough in use of 'grahpene', a single-atom thick, carbon-based material, will make massive storage of wind power and solar energies possible.
Texan University researchers believe the breakthrough could double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors (which store electric energy) made out of a different form of carbon.
ISRO seeks to be party in land scam case
Kochi, Sep 25 (IANS) Indian space agency ISRO Tuesday sought to be impleaded in a public interest litigation (PIL) - relating to its alleged purchase of forestland - that is to be taken up by the high court here Wednesday.
The PIL has been filed by D.B. Binu requesting the court to intervene and initiate a full-fledged inquiry into purchase of land by ISRO for a space education institute in Ponmudi near Thiruvananthapuram from high profile businessman Savy Mano Mathew.
Days of pirated CDs, DVDs numbered
By IANS,
Washington : The days of pirated CDs and DVDs are numbered, thanks to a novel optical technique developed by researchers in Spain that can differentiate pirated works from the original.
A technique developed by researchers at the University of Grenada makes it easy to identify whether a CD has been recorded through legitimate channels or just copied.
The cheap, fast and effective method relies on light diffraction on a CD surface to differentiate between original record and illegal copies, a University of Grenada statement said.
Astronauts begin fourth spacewalk outside space station
By Xinhua
Washington : Two U.S. astronauts are conducting the fourth spacewalk of shuttle Endeavor's mission to test a heat shield repair method, NASA TV reported on Thursday.
Spacewalker Robert Behnken and Mike Foreman floated out of the Quest airlock and began their work outside the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. local time (2204 GMT) on Thursday. Their excursion will last into midnight, said NASA.
Mobile phone software to link global research
By IANS,
London : New mobile phone software will help epidemiologists and ecologists analyse data remotely and map findings across the world, without going to the lab.
The study authors from Imperial College-London (ICL) say the software will also enable members of the public to act as 'citizen scientists' and help collect data for community projects.
Russia celebrates Sputnik’s 50th anniversary
BY RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first-ever satellite, Sputnik 1, an event which changed the world forever.
The world entered the space age on Oct 4, 1957, when the USSR won the race to put the first satellite into orbit. Sputnik 1 was launched aboard a Soviet R-7 rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Strong demand for IT services, says Wipro’s Premji
Bengaluru: There was a strong demand for IT services in Europe and the US where the economy gained a lot of strength, Wipro chairman...
Watch ‘Ring of Fire’ in the sky Jan 15
By IANS,
New Delhi : On Jan 15, people living in the southern tip of the country at Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire' when the moon will cover the sun's disc during the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse.
However, sky gazers in Delhi will also have something to cheer about as they will get to see more than half of the eclipse.
Robot pinpoints best locations for seafloor lab
By IANS,
Washington : Sentry, an unmanned submersible, operating on its own in harsh environments, has helped scientists pinpoint and finalise the best locations for two sites of a proposed pioneering seafloor lab.
Successful site selection is a vital step in developing an extensive sensor network above and below the seafloor on the Juan de Fuca Plate, according to John Delaney, University of Washington oceanographer and chief scientist for a two-week mapping expedition.
Spurt in nano satellites to benefit Indian space agency
By D. Balaji, IANS,
Berlin : Increasing use of nano and pico satellites in near-earth orbits will benefit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has a competitive edge with its cost-effective polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), says a study.
The international market for nano and pico-satellites is set to witness about 40 percent in increase next five years, the study by the American aerospace consultants Teal group says.
Indian IT major spreads cheer in Northern Ireland
By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Indian BPO major HCL, which has reposed faith in trouble-torn Northern Ireland since 2001 when Western companies were chary of investing there, has spread more cheer by employing its 2000th employee in the region.
Many view HCL investing in Northern Ireland as one of the foremost landmarks of India-Britain relations during Tony Blair's tenure as prime minister. Since 2001, other Indian companies such as Firstsource, Pix Transmission and Tech Mahindra have followed HCL into the region.
Chandrayaan to orbit moon for two years
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India's maiden lunar mission, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft that launches Oct 22, will orbit about 100 km from the lunar surface for two years, performing remote sensing of the dark side or hidden portion of the moon to unravel its mysteries, scientists working on the project said.
About 500 space scientists are working round-the-clock to launch India's maiden lunar mission next week.
NTPC to hire 6,000 people over five years
By IANS,
Chennai: India's NTPC Ltd, one of Asia's largest power generation companies, plans to hire 6,000 people over the next five years, a senior company official said here Tuesday.
"For the past four years we have been hiring around 1,200 people every year. This trend will continue for the next five years," R.C. Shrivastav, director (Human Resources), told reporters on the sidelines of a press meet.
Taking into account the retirements and attrition, the annual addition of manpower will be around 700 people, he said.
Iran to launch first domestic satellite by March
By RIA Novosti,
Tehran : Iran plans to put its first domestically made communication satellite into orbit by March 20, the head of the Iranian space agency has said.
"If we do not run into problems, the first domestic satellite will be put in orbit by the end of this (Iranian solar calendar) year," Reza Taqipour said.
Technical experts were working to complete the preparations, he said, adding that the precise launch date for the Omid, or Hope, satellite would be announced as it drew nearer.
Microscope for objects 20,000 times thinner than hair on anvil
By IANS,
Washington : A physicist is all set to design an ultra powerful microscope that can look at molecules and objects 20,000 times thinner than a human hair.
The new microscope, to be built within the next year, will allow much greater precision in identifying objects, such as certain cellular proteins, by letting scientists see them individually and watch their movement in real time.
Cabinet approves national policy on skill development
New Delhi: The union cabinet has approved India's first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, it was announced on Thursday.
The National...
Fresh estimates of Earth’s liquid assets revealed
Washington : Using NASA's fleet of Earth-observing satellites, scientists have provided estimates for the global water cycle budget for the first decade of the...
Chinese satellite fails to enter orbit
By IANS,
Beijing : A Chinese satellite failed to enter its designated orbit due to a rocket malfunction, a media report said Friday.
Plant breeding technique can help beat hunger trap
By IANS,
London : Increased investment in plant breeding technique can help boost efforts to pull millions of people out of the hunger trap, said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) scientists.
IAEA scientists use radiation to produce improved high-yielding plants that adapt to harsh climate conditions such as drought or flood, or that are resistant to certain diseases and insect pests.
Called mutation induction, the technique is safe, proven and cost-effective. It has been in use since the 1920s.
Jupiter possibly hit by object, NASA says
By DPA,
Washington : Jupiter appears to have again been hit by a speeding celestial object that left a giant dark scar in the giant gaseous planet's atmosphere, NASA astronomers said.
The US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a tip early Monday from Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley who had spied the spot near the planet's south pole. Scientists then pointed NASA's infrared telescope in Hawaii at the planet and detected signs - including particles in the upper atmosphere and a warming of the lower atmosphere - that it may have been struck by a comet.
Russia launches US satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia Saturday launched a Proton-M rocket to put a US telecommunications satellite into space, the defence ministry said.
The rocket blasted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 11.19 GMT. The satellite was due to separate from the carrier rocket at around 20.19 GMT.
The 2.6-tonne satellite has a lifespan of about 15 years. The satellite will provide digital television services for customers in the US and the Caribbean.
This was the fifth Proton-M rocked launched by Russia this year.
China launches new space tracking ship to serve Shenzhou VII
By Xinhua
Shanghai : China launched a new space tracking ship on Saturday, expected to serve the Shenzhou VII spacewalk mission scheduled for autumn, said a spokesman of the maritime space surveying and controlling operation.
The new space tracking ship was the sister ship of the Yuanwang-5, which was put into use in September, said the spokesman, adding the two vessels would play a key role in the Shenzhou VII mission.
Indian IT industry on alert to prevent swine flu fallout
By Pupul Dutta and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore: The $60-billion Indian IT industry is on an alert mode on account of the pandemic swine flu that has affected travel and led to postponement of events, according to a top industry official.
"Though we are taking preventive measures, we have postponed a few events, including one in Pune," said Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the industry's representative body.
Webcast: the next-gen communication tool
Mumbai : In an effort to cash in on India's growing Internet broadband applications sector, Citigroup-owned broadband service provider YOU Telecom has launched "webcast" or Internet broadcast, an effective, viewer and user-friendly "one-to-one" communication tool.
"Webcasting as a communication tool is common in developed countries but in India it is still at a nascent stage," said YOU Telecom CEO E.V.S. Chakravarthy here.
India to launch cartography satellite in June
By IANS,
Chennai : The Indian space agency is expected to launch June 5 its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15), carrying a cartography satellite and a couple of other payloads, according to the US-based space consultancy firm Futron Corp.
But a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS that the launch is most likely to happen during the second week of June.
The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.
Power supply snag hits Indian communication satellite
By IANS,
Chennai : Scientists of the Indian space agency are working to fix a power snag that switched off 12 transponders of the INSAT-4B comunication satellite Wednesday night, affecting services of some television channels and telecom operators.
"An expert team is looking at the possibilities of partial utilisation of some of the transponders that were switched off. The team is working to restore the services at the earliest," S. Satish, director (Publications and Public Relations), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS from Bangalore over phone.
Russia’s Glonass satellite system to be fully operational in 2010
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia's Glonass satellite system is expected to become fully operational in 2010, if it receives sufficient financing, the head of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Saturday.
Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), which is designed for both military and civilian use, and allows users to identify their positions in real time.
India aspires to launch manned spacecraft to the moon by 2015
By KUNA,
New Delhi : India is working to send a manned spacecraft to the moon to orbit the planet by 2015 after the successful launching of the first unmanned spacecraft on Wednesday.
A statement in this respect was made by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair after losing sight of Chandrayaan-1, the first unmanned spaceship as part of the organization aspirations to send national Indian astronauts to orbit the moon by the year 2015.
Infosys to develop IT-enabled application for agriculture
By IANS
Mumbai : Software major Infosys Technologies Ltd has partnered with ACDI/VOCA, a non-profit international development organisation, to develop an information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled application to improve the agro supply chain in India.
ACDI/VOCA promotes broad-based economic growth, and develops applications, which fall under growth oriented micro enterprise development (GMED) programme, which is a $6.3 million a USAID-funded initiative.
Plant develops echo to attract bats
By IANS,
London : A rainforest vine has evolved dish-shaped leaves which develop echoes to attract bats for pollination, researchers claim.
World’s first humpback dinosaur discovered
By DPA,
Madrid : Spanish scientists said Wednesday they have discovered the world's first humpback dinosaur.
Did you know you can access your computer from anywhere?
By Nabeel A. Khan, IANS,
New Delhi : Did you know that through the Internet you can access your computer from almost anywhere?
Relatively few of us have taken advantage of facilities like Google Document, Zoho Offline Office or Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia's Live Document.
These provide softwares like Word, Excel or Power Point. You can use them without having MS office installed in your PC.
Star attacks planet with radiation
By IANS,
Washington : A nearby star is bombarding its companion planet with a barrage of X-rays, hundred thousand times more intense than the earth receives from the Sun, a NASA discovery says.
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.
The computer helper: mastering My Documents
By DPA
Washington : Odd as it may seem, one of the biggest problems many computer users face is knowing where their documents are - and how to move or save them.
Without this fundamental knowledge, it can be tough to locate important documents when you need them - or to feel like you're in control of your own computer.
The good news is that becoming a master of the My Documents folder is not as tough as it seems.
Now, a robotic underwater vehicle powered by ocean movement
By IANS,
Washington : A robotic underwater vehicle that is powered entirely by natural, renewable, ocean thermal energy has been developed, holding out promise of almost indefinite monitoring of the ocean depths for climate and marine life studies.
Researchers have successfully demonstrated the Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle that uses a novel thermal recharging engine, powered by the natural temperature differences found at different ocean depths.
Pollution a reason for birth of girl children?
By IANS,
New York : Women exposed to high levels of certain kinds of pollutants are less likely to give birth to male children.
That's the startling finding of a new study that reviewed data on pregnant women in San Francisco who were exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - a group of banned environmental pollutants - in the 1950s and 1960s.
And it's not an isolated finding either, reports ScienceDaily.
Intel unveils high-efficiency quad-core processors
By IANS
Hyderabad : Intel Corporation Thursday launched the industry's first quad-core processors designed for multi-processor servers and high-end desktops to give higher performance at lesser power.
The six new processors in the quad-core Xeon 7300 series, deployed to run multiple applications in data centres, businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), perform two times faster than dual cores with three times more output per watt.
S Korea’s 1st astronaut leaves space station on return trip
By Xinhua,
Moscow : South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon left the International Space Station (ISS) to return to earth on Saturday.
The Soyuz spaceship carrying Yi, U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko is expected to touch down at 12:31 Moscow time (0931 GMT).
The landing capsule of the Soyuz TMA-11 spaceship is to land inthe Kazakh steppe 80 km north of the Kazakh city of Arkalyk, Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for the Mission Control Centre based near Moscow, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
Ariane launches first pan-African satellite
By DPA
Paris : A European Ariane rocket has been launched from Kourou, French Guiana carrying two satellites into orbit - including the first pan-African communications satellite.
The Ariane 5 GS rocket took off at 21.42 GMT Friday, the sixth successful Ariane launch this year, operator Arianespace said from Kourou. Half an hour later, the pan-African television satellite RASCOM-QAF1 and the US satellite Horizons-2 were released into orbit.
The launch had been delayed one day due to a technical problem.
Soyuz’s re-entry capsule lands safely in Kazakhstan
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The re-entry capsule of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft has landed safely in Kazakhstan's steppe Sunday, officials said.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, NASA's (US space agency) Michael Barratt and space tourist Guy Laliberte onboard the capsule landed safely in northern Kazakh steppe.
Padalka was extracted first from the capsule, following which the other space travellers were extracted from the re-entry vehicle that landed on Earth several hours after leaving the International Space Station (ISS).
Sea urchin holds key to getting minerals from animals
By IANS,
Washington : Mammal teeth and bones, protective shells of molluscs and needle-sharp spines of sea urchins are made from scratch by nature.
The materials of which shells, teeth and bones are composed are the strongest and most durable in the animal world, and scientists and engineers have long sought to mimic them.
Now, biomineralisation may be closer to reality. An international team of scientists has detailed a key and previously hidden mechanism to transform amorphous calcium carbonate into calcite, the stuff of seashells.
Yahoo! Buzz offers buzz-worthy stories
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Leading global internet brand Yahoo! Inc. has introduced Yahoo! Buzz, offering the most interesting and relevant content from websites across the worldwide web and bringing more buzz-worthy stories to the homepage of Yahoo!
Currently in beta, Yahoo! Buzz measures consumer votes and search patterns to identify interesting and timely stories and videos from large news sources as well as niche blogs around the web, the firm announced Wednesday.
Don’t fear, watch solar eclipse with proper gadgets
By IANS,
New Delhi : It is an excitement coupled with fear and superstition for many in India prior to the solar eclipse Aug 1.
Despite a well known scientific phenomenon behind the solar eclipse, people have not been able to do away with the superstitious beliefs related to the celestial activity.
"There are several false beliefs prevalent in our society regarding solar eclipse. Some people even lock themselves in their homes to avoid 'the bad rays' from the eclipse," Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnashree said.
Malaysia Airlines chooses Kerala IT firm’s software
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : MASholidays, the travel and leisure arm of Malaysia Airlines, has opted for the city-based IBS Software Services' tour management solution 'iFly Tour', the IT firm said here Thursday.
iFly Tour, a product under the iFly solution suite, offers an online booking system that is fully integrated with real time inventory of flights, hotel rooms and other products.
"With this new online booking system, MASholidays will introduce new packages and provide more flexibility in our offerings," said Dato Rashid Khan, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines.
Water on moon raises new questions about its origin: NASA
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The confirmation of elevated water molecules in the moon's polar regions by India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 raises new questions about its origin and effect on the mineralogy of the moon, US scientists say.
"Water ice on the moon has been something of a holy grail for lunar scientists for a very long time," said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Birds can practically smell out predators
By IANS,
London : Birds can detect and avoid predators by smell, an ability earlier thought to be associated with other animal species, according to latest research.
Birds are not only capable of identifying enemies through chemical signals, but also alter their behaviour depending on perceived risk levels, a recent study found.
The use of smell to detect chemical signals can be useful for birds say in feeding and orientation. However, it can boost their chances of survival if they can know whether the smell detected is associated with a predator, reports Sciencedaily.
India places latest communications satellite into orbit
By V. Jagannathan, IANS
Sriharikota : Trailing a plume of orange flame, a rocket lifted off from this launch pad in Andhra Pradesh Sunday evening to place into orbit India's latest communications satellite that will boost direct-to-home (DTH) TV services.
The geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV-F04 lifted off at 6.20 p.m. on a cloudy Sunday evening after a series of delays caused by a technical glitch delayed the launch by 120 minutes.
Sun just another ‘ordinary’ star, finds study
By IANS,
Sydney : The most comprehensive comparison of the sun with other stars has established its ordinariness - and the possibility that life could be common in the universe.
Rather than guess what properties a star should have to enable life, the researchers decided to compare the sun - which already hosts a life-bearing planet - to other stars.
“The question 'how special is the sun' is easier to address because we do have observations of thousands of other sun-like stars,” noted Charley Lineweaver of Australian National University, co-author of the study.
Researchers predict active Atlantic hurricane season
By Xinhua
Beijing : A noted hurricane research team warned of a "well above average" storm season in the northwest Atlantic with 15 tropical storms, including eight hurricanes, half of them major, according to media reports Thursday.
The University of Colorado team led by William Gray, who has been in the hurricane predicting business for 25 years, said there's a better than average chance that at least one major hurricane will hit the United States.
Micro-organisms placed in outer space
By DPA,
Washington/Moscow : Two International Space Station (ISS) crew members installed an experiment outside the craft during a nearly five-hour long spacewalk.
US Commander Mike Fincke and Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov Tuesday completed the spacewalk around 2110 GMT, about one hour earlier than planned.
The spacewalk's main objective was to place a European Space Agency container of micro-organisms outside the station to examine the effects of extreme temperatures and radiation. Fincke and Lonchakov also photographed the Russian parts of ISS.
Rupert Murdoch brings MySpace to India
By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Rupert Murdoch-run Global media conglomerate News Corporation Thursday brought its social networking website MySpace to India -- a market already bustling with the presence of international giants like Google's Orkut and Indian billionaire Anil Ambani group's Bigadda.Com.
Like other players already present in the market, News Corp is also looking to attract the younger generation in India, which is home to world's youngest population with over half of its residents aged below 25 years, industry experts said.
Chandrayaan camera clicks earth from deep space
By IANS,
Bangalore : The terrain mapping camera onboard India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 took excellent shots of the earth from deep space in black and white, the space agency said here Friday.
"The camera was operated through a series of commands from the spacecraft control centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) here. The images were received by the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu," the space agency said in a statement. Byalalu is about 40 km from Bangalore.
Tiny refrigerators to cool future computers
By IANS,
Washington : Laptops and personal computers of the future will be cooled by tiny fridges sitting snugly inside them, according to an Indian American computer scientist.
Unlike conventional fan-based systems, these miniatures would ensure the removal of a greater volume of heat and also improve the performance of the machines, said Indian American Suresh Garimella, of Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
China plans to set up rocket company
By Xinhua
Beijing : China will set up an umbrella company to integrate the technical and marketing aspects of rocket building, an official with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said Monday.
The planned share-holding company is expected to integrate a number of institutions involved in rocket research, development, manufacturing and testing, and would be listed in the share market, said Liang Xiaohong, the academy's vice-president.
Bio-monitoring to track pollutants, trace elements
By IANS,
London : Bio-monitoring can be used in environments where a technological approach to monitoring pollutants, particulates and trace elements is not only difficult and costly but may be impossible, say scientists.
"It allows continuous observation of an area with the help of bio-indicators, an organism that reveals the presence of a substance in its surroundings with observable and measurable changes, such as accumulation of pollutants, which can be distinguished from the effects of natural stress," said Borut Smodis of the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
IBM to use ‘spintronics’ to increase computer memory capacity
By DPA
San Francisco : IBM announced a new kind of computer memory Friday that could increase storage capacity 100-fold.
Called "racetrack memory" the new storage devices would replace flash memory and hard disk drives in computers. The devices are based on a new branch of physics called "spintronics" that uses nanotechnology to manipulate the spin of electrons to create magnetic fields in which data can be stored.
Large Hadron Collider gets research programme cracking
By IANS,
London : Beams collided at seven trillion electron volts in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, as the research programme got underway Tuesday.
The LHC lies in a tunnel 27 km in circumference, as much as 175 metres beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.
Particle physicists worldwide are looking forward to a potentially rich harvest of new physics as the LHC begins its first long run at an energy three-and-a-half times higher than previously achieved at a particle accelerator.
Two more Chandrayaan instruments to be activated in mid-December
By IANS,
Bangalore : Two of the 10 remaining scientific instruments onboard India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be activated in mid-December for conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon during next two years, a top space agency official said Saturday.
India to host global nuclear physics conference
By IANS
Kolkata : India will host for the first time an international conference on quarks, at the cutting edge of nuclear physics research, with Jaipur playing the host Feb 4-10.
The conference, Quark Matter 2008, is being co-sponsored by Kolkata-based Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC).
Kolkata scientist punches holes in UFO theory
By IANS
Kolkata : Media reports of a bright spherical object, streaking across the eastern sky have left many Kolkata residents intrigued, but scientists said it could be just an "optical illusion" - a result of cloud reflecting the city's lights.
Russian Proton-M carrier rocket orbits U.S. telecoms satellite
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A Proton-M carrier rocket put into orbit on Wednesday a U.S. telecommunications satellite, the Russian Federal Space Agency said.
"The foreign satellite has successfully separated from the Breeze-M booster, and control over the satellite has been transferred to the client," the agency said.
Russian-American joint venture International Launch Services (ILS) signed a contract in March to launch two Sirius satellites to expand the existing SIRIUS Satellite Radio constellation.
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.
Cultural feast, not speeches, excite space meet delegates
Hyderabad, Sep 25 (IANS) A glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of India, complete with dance and music, evoked more excitement among foreign delegates at the ongoing 58th International Astronautical Congress than the speeches on space.
The delegates were treated to a cultural feast at the inaugural ceremony of the five-day Congress at the majestic Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) near Hitec City here.
Spanish company invents a way to walk on water
By RIA Novosti
Madrid : Two thousand years after a certain carpenter from Galilea pulled it off, a Spanish company has developed a somewhat less miraculous, if still impressive, way to walk on water.
As described in the web news journal Diariodeibiza, the company Vehiculos con Ingenio or Transportation with Imagination began selling its new contraption a month ago that allows people using it literally to walk on water.
Yahoo! to develop nest-generation products from India lab
By IANS
Bangalore : Leading search engine and news and entertainment portal Yahoo! has set up a laboratory here to develop next-generation products for its global customers and users, a company official said Tuesday.
"As an extension of our research and development (R&D) operations here, Yahoo! India Lab will initially have 100-member team of scientists and engineers. They will work on multiple projects to make the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers worldwide," Yahoo! India Research head Prabhakar Raghavan told reporters here.
Chinese people to select country’s 10 best scientists
By IANS,
Beijing : The Chinese public will help select the country's 10 best scientists and technicians in a vote that will show "respect for knowledge and innovation".
Humans first ate fish 40,000 years ago
By IANS,
Washington : Freshwater fish remains a staple in many regions of the world, but it remains unclear when it became a year-round diet for early humans. A new study led by Erik Trinkaus, anthropology professor at Washington University, St. Louis, shows it may have happened in China as far back as 40,000 years ago.
Chemical analysis of collagen, a protein, can show whether such fish consumption was an occasional treat or a regular food item.
Robotic ants being designed to build homes on Mars
Washington, Oct 27 (IANS) Human beings might colonise Mars one day, but ant-sized microbots will have to build homes for the first group of pioneer scientists there.
"We now know there is water and dust so all they would need is some sort of glue to start building structures, such as homes for human scientists," said Marc Szymanski, robotics researcher at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.
He is part of a team of scientists developing tiny robots that can perform different tasks collectively like termites, ants or bees, for the greater good of the colony.
Technology Day should be a day for young people: Kalam
By IANS,
New Delhi: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Tuesday said Technology Day, celebrated every year since 1999, should be a day for young people who can be inspired to take science as a career.
Speaking at a function to mark the occasion, Kalam said technology was important for the economic development of the country and building a better nation.
"Technology Day should be a day of young people. They should be called at functions like this as it will help them choose a career in science," he added.
Just ten minutes of talking may improve memory
By IANS
New York : Talking to each other for just 10 minutes may boost intellectual performance and improve memory, a new study had found.
The study found that short-term social interaction boosted intellectual performance of people as much as engaging in so-called intellectual activities for the same length of time, reported science portal ScienceDaily.
"Socialising is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan said.
Mobile phones to notify namaz timings through image
By IANS,
Washington : A new software application meant for mobile phones can alert Muslim users to namaz timings through an image combined with audible alerts.
The screen of the mobile phone shows an image of the sun lining up with a green circle when it is time to pray.
"Users told us that tracking the sun was the most religiously valued method to determine prayer times," said Susan Wyche, doctoral candidate at Georgia Institute of Technology, and member of the team that developed the application.
Cassini to experience close encounter with Saturn
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : The Cassini spacecraft on Wednesday will skirt the edges of Yellowstone-like geysers erupting at the south pole of Enceladus during a flyby that will bring the craft to within 30 miles (about 48 km) of the Saturnian moon, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said Tuesday.
European cargo vessel docks with space station
By Xinhua
Paris : A European supply vessel carrying over 5 tons of cargo successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday.
According to a NASA news release, the European supply vehicle established communication with the ISS at 1000 GMT Thursday and the docking was ordered at 1440 GMT.
The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was built by a consortium led by the space unit of aerospace group EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space company). It carries three times the cargo of Russia's Progress vehicle and will play a key role in supplying the ISS.