NASA Restores Radio Contact with Mars Lander
By SPA,
Washington : The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Wednesday it has resolved a malfunction that for several hours caused a break in communications with the Phoenix Mars Lander.
NASA said UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio transmissions had been disrupted between Phoenix and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which relays data and instructions between Phoenix and Earth-based controllers.
NASA set to give update on long-delayed Atlantis mission
By KUNA
Washington : NASA will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the status of the shuttle Atlantis and ongoing work to repair a fuel circuitry problem that grounded the mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in early December.
Last week, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis was still no closer to lift off. Officials pushed-back the Atlantis mission's target launch date of January 10, stating that date was "no longer achievable", but they did not indicate when it will be ready for the mission to carry a new European Columbus space laboratory up to the ISS.
Wipro wins multi-year deal from Swedish firm
Bengaluru: Global software major Wipro Ltd on Monday announced it has won a five-year IT infrastructure management deal from Assa Abloy group, a Swedish...
Twitter may transmit misinformation about antibiotics
By IANS,
Washington : Social networking sites like Twitter can spread misunderstandings about proper use of antibiotics, a new study says.
Columbia University and MixedInk (New York) researchers studied the content of Twitter updates mentioning antibiotics, to determine how people were sharing information and assess the proliferation of misinformation.
"Research focusing on microblogs and social networking services is still at an early stage," Daniel Scanfeld of Columbia University said.
Best hotel deals at the click of a button
By IANS
New Delhi : Now searching for a hotel accommodation and booking it at the best possible deal is just a click away. With the launch of iXiGO's hotel search, a travel search engine, booking any hotel across the country has become much easier.
IXiGO's hotel search will not only enable customers to look through a list of 4,500 hotels which includes budget hotels, guest houses, service apartments and villas, but also book them with instant confirmation, sitting just about anywhere.
One can search through hotels in 320 Indian cities through this search engine.
Digital mammography in Kolkata
By IANS,
Kolkata : A digital mammography machine with stereo-tactic biopsy system was installed at a hospital in Kolkata Tuesday. This new technology will help in prompt and accurate detection of breast cancer that in turn may extend a patient's life by about 20 years, said doctors of the hospital.
The new system - GE Senographe DS workstation - has been installed at B.P. Poddar Hospital and Medical Research Ltd, a multi-facility hospital specialising in oncology, traumatology and breast cancer, in south Kolkata.
Italian connection on the cards for Kerala’s Technopark
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A delegation from Novara, one of the most industrially advanced cities in Italy, held discussions here Thursday for possible cooperation in IT between Novara and Technopark.
The Italian delegation included the mayor of Novara, Massimo Giordano, and four lawyers.
In his speech, Giordano suggested companies here and Novara should collaborate and work for mutual benefit.
He invited officials here to visit Novara for further talks.
Cockroaches which conceived in space under observation
By RIA Novosti
Voronezh (Russia) : Russian scientists are expecting two cockroaches, who returned from space onboard the Foton-M bio satellite, to give birth to the first creatures ever conceived in space, the research supervisor has said.
"In the next few days we are expecting two female 'cosmonauts' to give birth to the world's first offspring conceived in microgravity," Dmitry Atyakshin said.
Twitter wants a ‘full-time’ CEO
New York: In what could be read as a subtle message to co-founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter said it is looking for a CEO with...
Space Shuttle Atlantis launch set for Feb 7
By DPA
Washington : The launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis has been pushed to Feb 7 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA has said.
The shuttle that is to carry the European Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station was originally set to takeoff Dec 6, but has been delayed numerous times because of technical problems with onboard fuel sensors.
The seven-member crew is to conduct several space walks to install the Columbus laboratory.
Scientists start regional network to study earthquakes in Himalayas
By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS,
Agartala : The Holy Grail for geologists is the ability to predict an earthquake. While they continue their search, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) is putting in place a network by which they can forecast overall seismic activity in the Himalayas, one of the most quake-prone regions of the world.
How do people respond to e-mails?
By IANS,
Washington : Over the last decade the e-mail has grown from a novelty into a necessity. But how do people respond to e-mails? Do they respond to the most important first, making sure the process is efficient?
Or do they send e-mails randomly, when they are at their computers or when they have time, without any regard to efficiency?
These are questions that Luís Amaral, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, and his associates set out to answer.
China sets up background atmosphere station in Antarctica
By Xinhua
Zhongshan Station (Antarctica) : China has set up a background atmosphere observation site at Zhongshan station in Antarctica as part of its 24th scientific expedition to the region.
Researchers at Zhongshan station will be able to observe surface ozone and gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, as well as black carbon aerosol.
Teenage suicides: Study advocates greater family support
By IANS,
London : Rising teen suicides have prompted demands for improved prevention strategies, in which the family physician or the general practitioner is expected to play a pivotal part.
Researchers from Umeå University have identified the phenomenon of cluster suicides where one suicide appears to trigger similar acts among other teenagers in a community.
Facebook grows, makes a profit
By DPA,
San Francisco : Facebook, the world's largest social network on the internet, is finally turning a profit, the privately held company said.
The Silicon Valley, California, company, which was started six years ago by a student at Harvard University, said late Tuesday that it had reached a positive cash flow for the first time and also passed the 300-million user mark.
The stratospheric growth in the site's user base from 150 million at the start of the year, allowed the company to turn a profit earlier than the 2010 date it had previously predicted.
ISRO, NASA tie up for space exploration
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined hands with the US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for space explorations, parliament was informed Wednesday.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan said the framework agreement was signed between the two space research organisations for cooperation in the “exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes”.
Researchers identify gene that may help improve rice yield
By IANS,
Washington : A gene in rice identified by scientists, that controls the size and weight of the grains, might open the way to high-yield variant and benefit vast numbers for whom it is staple.
"Our work shows that it is possible to increase rice yield by enhancing the expression of a particular gene," said Hont Ma, professor at the Pennsylvania State University.
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.
Powerful solar flares trigger sound waves
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Bursts of sound waves that ripple across the sun are caused by powerful solar flares, astronomers say.
The finding, which will be published in the May 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, comes from data collected with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint venture between NASA and ESA.
Day and night to be equally long Saturday
By IANS,
New Delhi : Sky gazers in the capital are looking forward to watch the spring equinox Saturday - when the sun shines directly overhead as viewed from the earth, making the night and day equally long.
According to scientists, equinox marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and the word 'equinox' is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). Around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long.
Aluminium-water propellant promising for future space missions
By IANS,
Washington : A new type of green rocket propellant, comprising frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminium" powder, is being developed that could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies, says a new study.
The aluminium-ice, or ALICE, propellant might be used to launch rockets into orbit and for long-distance space missions and also to generate hydrogen for fuel cells, said Steven Son, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
Lowly scrap iron can detoxify pollutants in wastewater
By IANS,
London : A Chinese researcher has used scrap iron to do the unthinkable - clean up and detoxity pollutants in industrial wastewater.
Wei-xian Zhang, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tongji Univesity, Shanghai, concluded a five-year research project with the help of colleagues to detoxify pollutants.
The project, carried out in Shanghai, used iron, called zero valent iron (ZVI) because it is not oxidized. They obtained it in the form of shavings or turnings from local metal-processing shops for about 30 cents a kg.
German scientists readying Indian Ocean tsunami warning system
By DPA
Hamburg : Scientists in Germany are putting the finishing touches on an Indian Ocean tsunami early-warning system.
The German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean (GITEWS) is on schedule, according to project coordinator Joern Lauterjung of the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Germany's National Lab for Geosciences.
Empowering Rural Women: India’s Drone Pilots Pioneering Agricultural Innovation
Suhail Bhat, TwoCircles.net
Gurugram (Haryana): On a Monday morning in Manesar, a village in Gurugram district, Haryana, a group of four women attentively follows instructions from...
Microsoft outsources internal tech care to Infosys
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft has outsourced its internal tech support to Indian technology services firm Infosys, the companies have announced.
The move was first revealed in an Infosys press release Tuesday announcing a three-year deal to "manage internal IT services for Microsoft worldwide" and later confirmed by the US software giant.
Discovery docks at space station
By DPA
Washington : Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station early Thursday after performing a spectacular 360-degree slow-motion backflip before cameras on the station.
The photographs will serve as a second check to examine Discovery's heat shield for any damage sustained during takeoff. The shuttle crew already performed one inspection with their on-board robot arm on their way to the station Wednesday.
Gizmo lovers excited over likely launch of 3G iPhone Monday
By Himank Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : Even as gizmo lovers await the official launch of Apple's new iPhone towards the end of the year, the market in India is abuzz - as in the US - that the company would debut the iPhone ver.2 or the 3G model as early as Monday.
Apple Inc is hosting the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) starting Monday in San Francisco and it was during the same conference last year that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the launch date for the original iPhone.
Wireless sensor EcoNet to monitor environment
By IANS,
Toronto : A wireless sensor network under development will not only collect data from remote environmental locations but also help monitor them anywhere in the world.
A University of Alberta research team recently launched EcoNet, a functional model of a wireless sensor network (WSN) for environmental monitoring in the display house at the University's Agriculture/Forestry Centre.
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.
Microsoft launches Office 2010 for global customers
By IANS,
San Francisco : Software giant Microsoft Corp. has rolled out its latest version of application software, Office 2010, for customers across the world.
The company also announced Wednesday the release of Microsoft SharePoint 2010, a web-based collaboration software, as well as the new version of diagramming programme and project management software, Xinhua reported.
"Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 define the future of productivity," Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, said.
Simple device boosts vehicle mileage dramatically
By IANS,
Washington : Steeply rocketing fuel prices have prompted a physics professor to develop a simple device that boosted fuel efficiency by 20 percent in field tests - an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car's engine near the fuel injector.
Powered by the vehicle's battery, the device creates an electric field that thins the fuel, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, said the developer, Rongjia Tao, professor of physics at Temple University.
Chasing an eclipsed sun through India
By IANS,
New Delhi : There was excitement in the air as a shaded sun peeped from an overcast sky at dawn Wednesday with tens of thousands of people across the country gathering at rooftops, planetariums and parks to watch the century's longest total solar eclipse.
The eclipse started at sunrise in Surat in Gujarat at 5.28 a.m. when the moon started covering the sun and reached its peak at around 6.23 a.m. when the sun was completely obscured by the moon. The eclipse ended at 7.25 a.m.
NASA again postpones Atlantis trip to Hubble
By RIA Novosti,
Washington : The launch date for space shuttle Atlantis to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been postponed from October 10 to 14, NASA said in a statement.
The 11-day mission, originally scheduled for launch on August 28, was previously postponed until October 10-11 to complete work on an external fuel tank. This time NASA said the final preparations for the mission were hampered by hurricane Ike.
Iran ready to send six satellites into space
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran is preparing to launch five to six satellites into the space as part of its aerospace development programme.
"We are currently carrying out a project which will see the design, production and launch of 5 to 6 satellites. We hope to send one satellite into space in the first half of the coming year," Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour said.
"Iran has laid the foundation for the development of its aerospace industry in the past three to four years," Taqipour told Fars News Agency.
Ensuring everyday privacy while using the computer
By DPA
Washington : Most of the privacy threats we hear about are from anonymous "hackers" or unnamed forces waiting to swoop via an Internet connection and steal our data or personal information. But many people have privacy concerns that are closer to home.
While the outside threats do exist, it's probably far more likely that a friend, guest, colleague, or family member will see information on your computer that you had not intended to share.
How can you tighten security at home or the office? Read on for some answers.
Astronauts install experiments, observer on Columbus lab
By DPA
Washington : Europe's newest and most important addition to the space station, the Columbus laboratory, was dressed up with added experiments and observatories during a space walk.
US astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love spent nearly seven and a half hours outside of the International Space Station (ISS) in the third and final outing of the Atlantis shuttle crew Friday.
Atlantis is due to undock from the ISS Monday and return to Earth Wednesday.
New global map most comprehensive ever
By IANS
New York : A new global map that details the planet's land cover with a resolution 10 times sharper than any of its predecessors is also the most comprehensive ever.
The map is based on 20 terabytes of imagery - the equivalent of data in 20 million books - acquired from May 2005 to April 2006 by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument.
There are 22 different land cover types shown in the map, including croplands, wetlands, forests, artificial surfaces, water bodies and permanent snow and ice.
India to spend Rs.7.5 bn for research in earth sciences
By IANS
New Delhi : India will spend Rs.7.5 billion ($187.5 million) for carrying out research in oceanography and meteorological science, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Friday.
Presenting the 2008-09 budget, Chidambaram said the total outlay for the Ministry of Earth Sciences would include Rs.2.94 billion for oceanographic research, Rs.4.32 billion for meteorology and Rs.240 million for other scientific research.
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.
Avoid diseases by exposing food to radiation: scientist
By V. Jagannathan, IANS
Chennai : The government should allow the generic use of irradiation technology - a process of exposing food to controlled radiations like gamma rays, X-rays, and accelerated electrons that kill harmful organisms - to prevent diseases and increase shelf life of food, says a top atomic scientist.
"The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act should be amended to allow irradiation of food products on a generic basis," Arun K. Sharma, head of the Food Technology Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), told IANS here.
Now a helicopter with spinning disc instead of blades
By IANS,
Washington : The US defence department is funding a radical helicopter design called the DiscRotor that would have a spinning disc instead of conventional spinning rotor blades at high speeds.
The DiscRotor, which is being funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), would have a large circular saucer-like hub on top with retractable rotor blades extending from the saucer's edge.
New Indian research chair at UCLA to study consciousness
By IANS
Los Angeles : The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) here will soon have another Indian chair.
The chair - to be named Dr Mani Bhaumik Chair of Consciousness Study - will be set up at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology of the UCLA.
The university already has the Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian History, set up by Los Angeles-based millionaire Navin Doshi in 1999.
Beverly Hills-based physicist Mani Bhaumik, who co-invented the laser technology that made LASIK surgery possible, will fund the new chair, named after him.
ISRO to launch man mission in seven years
By NNN-PTI,
Thiruvananthapuram, India : India's space agency ISRO is confident of carrying out a man mission to outer space within six to seven years, its Chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said here Saturday.
A detailed report on this had already been submitted to the Union Government by ISRO, Nair said at the 'Space Salute' programme organised by Asianet television channel jointly with ISRO to felicitate the scientists associated with the PSLV-C9 mission here.
Intel, Micron develop new high speed flash memory chips
By Xinhua
Beijing : Intel and Micron Technology have developed technology for a high-speed solid-state drive that's five times faster than current products used in consumer and professional devices, like notebooks and digital cameras, media reported Saturday.
The NAND flash memory chips developed jointly by the two companies can reach speeds of up to 200 MB per second for reading data and 100 MB per second for writing data. Current memory chips have maximum read-write speeds of 40 MB and 20 MB, respectively.
India to launch maiden mission to moon on April 9 next year
By NNN-APP
New Delhi : India has planned to launch its maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I on April nine next year.
Media reports said the mission planned by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Hyderabad.
Quoting Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I, the reports said “a launch windows are available for the next two days in case the launch does not happen on that day.”
New NASA tools bring Mars closer to young explorers
Washington : On the third anniversary of the Mars landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover, the US space agency has unveiled two new online tools...
China to launch satellite for Pakistan
By IANS,
Beijing : China will launch a communications satellite for Pakistan at an "appropriate time", an official said Wednesday.
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.
Bt Brinjal safe for humans, says science ministry
By IANS,
New Delhi : While the government is conducting nationwide public consultations on whether genetically modified brinjal should be commercially released, the science ministry Tuesday endorsed the product, calling it "safe for all".
"As science and technology ministry, we support the clearance of the expert group. It is safe for all," Science and Technology Minister P. Chavan said at the social editors' conference here.
Access to indiscreet Facebook updates a click away
By IANS,
London : Indiscreet updates posted by the users of social networking website Facebook for their small group of friends can now be read by anyone with the help of a new internet search engine.
The search engine Openbook scans all "public" updates left by members of the social networking site, making them available to anyone through internet.
The software has been created to highlight Facebook's complex privacy settings, which have been blamed for confusing users into disclosing personal information more than they intend.
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.
Saturn’s moon Titan has liquid lake: NASA
By Xinhua,
Washington : At least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn's moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, NASA scientists have said.
They have also identified presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in the solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported Wednesday.
Scientists made the discovery using data from an instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft.
Earlier, scientists had thought Titan would have oceans of methane, ethane and other light hydrocarbons.
Saturn’s moon has many times more oil than Earth does
By Xinhua
Washington : Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collect in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes. The new findings from the study led by Ralph Lorenz, a Cassini radar team member from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, are reported in the latest issue of the Geophysical Research Letters Wednesday.
No solution yet to BlackBerry security issue
By IANS,
New Delhi : A solution to the security concerns over BlackBerry services in India has still to be hammered out as its licensor Research-in-Motion (RIM) has sought more time from the Indian government to reach an agreement.
Executives from the Canada-based firm, senior government officials, representatives from security agencies and services met Tuesday here for the second time after India raised concerns that BlackBerry services may be used by terrorist outfits as the e-mails between these cannot be intercepted.
Saudi varsity, IBM to build one of world’s fastest supercomputers
By IANS,
Dubai : Saudi Arabia's upcoming King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) has announced it will build one of the world's fastest and most powerful supercomputers in collaboration with IBM.
The joint project will build and conduct research on the most complex, high-performance computing (HPC) system in the region and among academic institutions in the world, according to a KAUST statement.
Facebook, gadgets galore… Indian children take to ‘multi-tasking’
By Madhulika Sonkar, IANS,
New solar cell technology best suited for India: Inventor
By Rahul Dass, IANS,
Helsinki : India will stand to significantly gain from a new technology on solar power as it is cheap, green and efficient, says Michael Gratzel, winner of this year's Millennium Technology Prize that is often called the Nobel for innovation.
"I am particularly interested in India. Solar energy is a cheap, abundant resource that is importantly also non-toxic," said the Swiss professor who has developed a solar cell that mimics nature, just as plants produce their own food with photosynthesis.
Cuba overhauls communications, IT sectors
By IASN/EFE,
Havana: The government has launched an overhaul of Cuba's communications and information technology sectors, the Communist Party daily Granma said.
Microsoft unveils Internet Explorer 8, its response to Firefox
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft has unveiled a trial version of a new Internet Explorer designed to fight the growing challenge from Firefox.
But the new browser from the giant software company won't have it easy. Developers for the open-sourced Firefox released a trial version of a new application for the Internet, Ubiquity, which makes it easier to access and share information that combines intuitive commands with browser functionality.
Microsoft, Yahoo meeting on takeover ends without results
By DPA
New York : Key officials from US software giant Microsoft and internet company Yahoo failed to reach agreement in talks over a multi-billion takeover bid, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported Friday.
Microsoft had launched a takeover bid of originally $45 billon more than two months ago, which was rejected by Yahoo for being too low.
According to the paper, officials were unable to solve their differences of opinion during the meeting, which took place this week at Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnydale, California.
Apple to allow outside programmes on iPhone
By DPA
San Francisco : Bending to the will of its legendary enthusiasts, Apple has announced that it will allow outside programmers to write applications for the company's iPhone.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs Wednesday said in a posting on the company's website that a kit for developers will not be available until February, as the company works out how to open up the phone without exposing it to malicious programmes.
Sony presents new Vaio notebooks
By DPA
Berlin : Sony will present its new FZ series of Vaio notebooks which includes four machines for home use as well as a model designed for business use in the next weeks, the company said.
New technique can lift fingerprints from bombs fragments
By IANS,
Washington : The state-of-the-art forensic method that can identify fingerprints on bullets could now be used to lift them from bomb fragments even after they have been wiped off.
John Bond, scientist at the University of Leicester, who developed the technique with the University chemistry team, said " we have developed a method that enables us to 'visualise fingerprints' even after the print itself has been removed.
Scientists develop fast, accurate test to detect bio-terror agent
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have developed a simple, accurate and highly sensitive test to detect and quantify ricin, a highly lethal toxin with potential use as a bioterrorism agent.
Ricin, a protein extracted from castor beans, can be in the form of a powder, mist, pellet or solution. When injected or inhaled, as little as one-half mg of ricin is lethal to humans.
U.S. probe produces three major findings about universe
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA, the U.S. space agency, released on Friday five years of data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which include three major findings about the universe.
The probe got the new evidence that a sea of cosmic neutrinos permeates the early universe. According to the scientists' analysis, universe is awash in "a sea of cosmic neutrinos". Neutrinos made up a much larger part of the early universe than they do today.
Scattering light causes blazing colours of sunsets
By IANS
New York : Ever wonder why the sky turns a deep and blazing red or orange at sunset? It's thanks to a phenomenon called scattering, explains a new study.
Scattering happens when light collides against molecules in the atmosphere, causing it to scatter.
The study, by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, shows how scattering determines the colours you see in the sky at sunset or sunrise.
According to Steven Ackerman, who led the study, the colour blue, being of shorter wavelength, is scattered more than other colours by the molecules.
Thailand tree apes use song as warning
By DPA
Hamburg : Humans aren't the only "big apes" who use songs to impress one another. German researchers have found that gibbons in Thailand have developed an unusual way of scaring off predators - by singing to them.
Literally singing for survival, the gibbons appear to use the song not just to warn their own group members but those in neighbouring areas.
Kalam endorsed nuclear deal: Manmohan Singh
New Delhi : A.P.J. Abdul Kalam backed the nuclear deal India inked with the United States in 2005 and it is a "total...
Russia launches US telecom satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket with US telecom satellite Intelsat-23 blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Gmail allows phone calls from computers
By IANS,
New York : Google Inc. Wednesday said its Gmail service will add a feature that allows users to call any phone directly from their computers.
"Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail," Robin Schriebman, a software engineer at Google, wrote on the company's blog.
"We've been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you're in an area with bad reception," Schriebman wrote.
Moser Baer to develop solar power project in Maharashtra
By IANS,
Mumbai : Moser Baer India, with business interest in optical storage media, is developing a 1 MW solar power project in Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
When completed, it will be one of the largest solar projects in the world using the latest thin film technology, the firm said. Thin films improve the efficiency with which solar cells convert sunlight to electricity.
The company won the contract from Mahagenco, a Maharashtra government-owned power utility, on the basis of a global tender that attracted 20 bids.
HCL Technologies net up 18.5 percent
By IANS,
Mumbai : Software services major HCL Technologies Wednesday said net profit for the quarter ended Sep 30 went up 18.5 percent to Rs.300.75 crore from the like quarter in the previous fiscal.
Total income for the company increased 5.67 percent to Rs.1,295 crore for the first quarter of the company's accounting calendar, up from Rs.1,225 crore it logged in the previous corresponding quarter, the company said in a regulatory statement.
HCL said it bore a forex loss of Rs.151 crore during the period under review compared to Rs.80 crore in the like quarter last year.
No threat from Antarctic ice shelf collapse: Experts
By RIA Novosti
St. Petersburg : The collapse of a part of the Wilkins ice shelf in the Antarctica will not cause sea levels to rise, Russian experts have said.
A 41-km iceberg split off from the Wilkins ice shelf in the southwestern part of the Antarctica late February, destroying a large part of the ice shelf's edge, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Russia's second largest city said in a press release.
New app to delete drunken messages on Facebook, Twitter
By IANS,
London : iPhone has developed a new application using which one could delete messages on Facebok and Twitter that were put out when one was in a drunk state.
Millions throng to Kurukshetra for holy dip during solar eclipse
By IANS,
Kurukshetra (Haryana) : It was a sea of humanity that arrived in this Haryana town to take a dip in the 'Brahmsarovar' on the occasion of the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century Wednesday.
The administration here said that nearly 1.5 million (15 lakh) were expected to arrive for a holy dip at the 'Brahmsarovar' (Pond of Lord Brahma - the Hindu god considered the creator of the universe) on the occasion.
People started thronging the holy pond since 3 a.m. Wednesday even though the eclipse was expected to take place three hours later.
Indian spacecraft enters lunar orbit, makes history
By IANS,
Bangalore : India Saturday made history by firing its first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 into the lunar orbit, breaking away from the earth's gravitational field for a rendezvous with the moon.
"The complex lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre was conducted perfectly. We have created space history by doing it for the first time. It shows our planning was precise and all calculations were on dot," a beaming Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here after the successful operation.
Quartz glass computer storage that lasts 100 mn years
By IANS,
London: Computer firm Hitachi has developed a quartz glass-based storage system that will last for an unbelievable 100 million years.
In 2007, CSIR has a vision for 2001!
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's oldest and largest scientific institution, has not just been headless for nine long months, but in 2007, to go by its website, it has a vision for 2001!
The vision document flashing on its website, the institute's global interface, says: "CSIR in 2001 would be a model organisation for scientific industrial research and path setter in the shifting paradigms of self financing research and development (R&D).
Space shuttle Atlantis makes final landing
By IANS,
Washington : Space shuttle Atlantis Thursday landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, bringing to a close the US's 30-year orbiter programme.
Imaging a galaxy ablaze with star birth
By IANS
Washington : NASA astronomers have created a striking and detailed ultraviolet image of an entire galaxy "ablaze with star birth" by combining 39 individual frames, taken over 11 hours of exposure.
The image shows the giant star-forming region NGC 604 as a shiny spot to the lower left of the galaxy's nucleus.
With a diameter of 1,500 light-years, it is the largest stellar nursery in the "local group" that includes our Milky Way and Andromeda.
Do animals think like autistic savants?
By IANS
New York : Animal scientist Temple Grandin's argument that animals and autistic savants share cognitive similarities could spur a better understanding of autism.
Grandin had put forth the idea in her best-selling 2005 book "Animals in Translation", which provides an unprecedented look at the autistic mind, according to an essay in the latest edition of the journal PloS Biology.
Grandin said animals, like autistic humans, sense and respond to stimuli overlooked by 'normal' humans.
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.
India to rollout 3G services by mid-2008: A. Raja
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian mobile users will be able to use 3G services by the middle of next year, Communications and IT Minister A. Raja said here Thursday.
"We are hopeful that some spectrum for both 2G and 3G services will be vacated by the end of this year. I hope that could pave the way for a rollout of 3G services by mid next year," the minister said at a 3G summit.
On being asked how much spectrum would be vacated, the minister replied, "That is up to the defence ministry to decide."
Are there any extra terrestrials out there?
By IANS,
London : Is there anybody out there? The odds of finding life on other planets are low, given the time it has taken for earthlings to evolve and the ebbing lifespan of our planet.
Complex life is separated from the simplest forms by several very unlikely steps and therefore will be much less common. Intelligence is one step further, so it is still much less common," Andrew Watson of University of Anglia said Saturday.
New tool opens up world of cells in greater detail
By IANS
London : A revolutionary new tool not only allows a better, brighter visualisation of two or more proteins but also helps differentiate young and old copies of a protein within the human cell.
Developed by researchers at Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland, the procedure is the latest in a line of innovative tools relying on fluorescent molecules to view such biochemical processes.
This tool, called SNAP-tag, can be labelled in living cells using benzylguanine (BG) derivatives bearing a chemical probe.
Space shuttle Discovery arrives at space station
By DPA,
Washington : Space shuttle Discovery docked Monday at the International Space Station after the day-and-half journey from Earth, carrying an enormous Japanese-made research module and a small Russian-made pump for a malfunctioning lavatory.
"Capture confirmed," said a Discovery crew member to Earth control officials.
At the time of docking at 1803 GMT, the station was orbiting over the South Pacific, 350 km above Earth's surface.
US scientists create cancer-detecting nanoparticles
By Xinhua,
Washington : US scientists have created the smallest iron oxide nanoparticles to date for cancer detection by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The research team from Brown University created peptide-coated iron oxide nanoparticles, about 8.4 nanometers in overall diameter. They then injected the particles into mice and successfully tested their ability to locate a brain tumour cell called U87MG, the university announced Tuesday.
YouTube global symphony to showcase Indian traditional music
By IANS,
New York : Indian music and musicians will go to the international online stage for the first time on YouTube, one of the most popular video communities the world over, to forge a common cultural language for the new global village.
The online musical programme will give Indian artists an opportunity to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York on April 15.
Prince Andrew launches ARM’s social programme
By IANS
Bangalore : Duke of York Prince Andrew Thursday launched chip designer ARM's corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme here that will benefit hundreds of underprivileged children in India's silicon hub.
Andrew, second son and the third child of British Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, dedicated 6,000 hours of ARM employees' work to three social organizations - Ashwini Charitable Trust, Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education and the Marathalli government school, located in and around Bangalore.
Scientists invent bionic eyeball to cure blindness
By DPA,
Hamburg : German scientists have invented a wireless bionic eyeball that can restore vision to patients who have become blind due to retina damage or disease.
The new prosthetic device caps 12 years of research to help these patients. This work has resulted in a unique system - a fully implantable visual prosthesis.
The scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems in Duisburg, Germany, say that the bionic eye can bypass the damaged retina.
The system comprises an implant and an external transmitter integrated in an eyeglasses-frame.
Optical sensor to track suspected terrorists
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists are designing a new kind of optical sensor that uses unmanned aerial vehicles to track suspected terrorists on foot or in vehicles.
"The Air Force has clearly recognised the change in the threat that we have," said John Kerekes, associate professor in Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Chester F. Carlson Centre for Imaging Science.
India test fires Akash missile
Bhubaneswar: India Wednesday test fired its Akash surface-to-air missile from a defence base in Odisha, an official said.
The indigenously developed missile, with a 27-km...
Smart phone offers ultrasound imaging at finger-tips
By IANS,
Washington : Marrying ultrasound technology with a smartphone, computer experts have created a compact, mobile, palm-sized medical imaging device.
William D. Richard, associate professor and research associate David Zar at the computer science and engineering department of Washington University have made commercial ultrasound probes compatible with Microsoft Windows mobile-based smartphones, thanks to a $100,000 Microsoft grant.
Apple patents button-free mouse
By DPA
Hanover: Apple's latest patent is for a mouse without buttons. The new model resembles the Mighty Mouse, Apple's last mouse technology breakthrough that featured touch-sensitive side buttons and Bluetooth technology, but uses touch sensors instead of buttons, the Hanover-based computer magazine c't reported.
The new mouse does not have a scrolling ball or wheel.
Teleperformance mulling expansion in India
By IANS
New Delhi : Teleperformance India, a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based Teleperformance Group Inc., a leading global contact centre, said it is planning major expansion in India.
"The increased penetration of telecom, financial services and consumer products as also growing competition have resulted in the need for stronger customer services to retain customers," Sanjay Mehta, managing director, Teleperformance, said in a statement Saturday.
New filtering technique could be answer to toxic oil spills
By IANS,
Washington : A new filtering membrane could be the long awaited answer to toxic oil spills, besides providing safer water and detoxifying industrial effluents.
The new technology, designed by materials engineers, works by attracting water while beading oil, traits that are antagonistic.
"We take mixtures of oil dispersed in water and run them through these filters, and we are getting 98 percent separation," said Jeffrey Youngblood, assistant professor of materials engineering at Purdue University and co-author of the study that reported the findings.
US scientist gets tech award for intelligent drug delivery
By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Helsinki (Finland) : The world's biggest technology award, the euro 1.15 million 2008 Millennium Technology Prize, was Wednesday conferred on Robert Langer of the US for his innovative creation of biomaterials for controlled drug release.
The award was conferred on Langer, touted as the father of the controller drug delivery and tissue engineering, by Finland's President Tarja Halonen at a ceremony at the Finlandia hall here before a select gathering of scientists, industry representatives and others.
Scientists use sunlight to split water
By IRNA,
New Delhi : Australian-led scientists say they've replicated a key photosynthesis process that may lead to using sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
According to 'Terra Daily - News about Planet Earth' report, the scientists, led by Professor Leone Spiccia, Robin Brimblecombe and Annette Koo of Monash University, developed a system they say might revolutionize the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.
Galileo may have discovered Neptune
By IANS,
Sydney : Galileo's notebooks contain hidden clues that is likely to clinch his discovery of Neptune in 1613, 234 years before the date of discovery accepted now, according to a new theory.
David Jamieson, who heads the Melbourne University (MU) School of Physics, is investigating the notebooks of Galileo from 400 years ago. He believes that buried in the notations is the evidence that he discovered a new planet that we now know as Neptune.
Scientists puzzled over intense swarm of earthquakes
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : An unusually intense swarm of earthquakes has struck beneath a small suburb of Reno in Nevada, leaving residents shaken and scientists puzzling over the cause, the Los Angeles Time said on Thursday.
Totaling more than 1,000 over the last two months, more than 20quakes of magnitude 2 or higher have hit on some days, and the intensity and frequency of the quakes have been increasing rather than following the normal pattern of tailing off, according to the paper.
Spacecraft images show rings of Saturn’s 2nd largest moon
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, may have rings, according to images from a spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Los Angeles.
The finding was described in a study published in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.
Scientists at NASA believe the rings may be the remnants of an asteroid or comet collision, which circulated large quantities of gas and solid particles around Rhea.
Atlantis shuttle returns safely to Florida
By DPA
Washinton : Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down safely at Florida's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday morning after a near 13-day mission to the International Space Station.
"We appreciate all the great help and support," Commander Steve Frick told NASA's mission control in Houston after the shuttle came to a stop at 9:08 a.m. (1408 GMT).
Frick and his six crewmembers returned to Earth after bringing up and installing the Columbus laboratory on the ISS - Europe's most significant contribution to the space station so far.
Notebook computer theft: preparing for the worst
By DPA
Washington, May 13 (DPA) It's every notebook computer user's worst nightmare. You go to retrieve your notebook from where you last left it, only to discover that someone else - a thief -has got it.
Financial records, bank and credit card information, personal data, sensitive files, expensive software - not to mention the notebook computer itself - can be gone in an instant. And the time and stress involved in trying to recover from such a loss can be overwhelming.
India to launch dedicated meteorological satellite
By IANS
New Delhi : India is set to launch an advanced meteorological satellite by the end of this year to boost its weather forecasting capabilities.
The satellite INSAT-3D will give "quantum jump in satellite meteorology", P.S. Goel, secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said Tuesday.
This satellite is almost similar to GOES Satellites of the US and will have six channel imagers.
Goel spoke about the satellite at the ongoing Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Workshop on Weather Forecasting Techniques in the national capital.
NASA adds three more days to shuttle mission
By DPA
Washington : The ongoing stay of the US space shuttle Endeavour at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) has been extended by three days, the US space agency NASA announced.
The revised schedule has allowed a fourth, extra space walk by shuttle astronauts Friday.
The decision was made after the successful operation of a new electricity hook-up allowing the shuttle to draw power from the ISS. The Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System allows the Endeavour crew to conserve the shuttle's battery power.
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.
Singhvi underlines India’s growth at Boston technology summit
By IANS,
Washington : Political and business leaders from three leading world markets - China, India and Russia - got an insight into India's growth plans from Abhishek Singhvi, spokesperson of the Congress Party leading the country's ruling coalition.
Participating in a conference on "China, India and Russia - Our Partners in the New Global Economy" in Boston, Massachusetts Thursday, he also dilated on India's infrastructure and its abundant labour supply.
Scientists blame lack of political will for death of oceans
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists blamed "lack of political will and greed of special interests" for the gradual death of oceans and outlined a slew of immediate steps to reverse the process.
Some of these measures include establishing marine reserves, enforcing fishing regulations, limiting fossil fuel consumption, removal of fertiliser subsidies, implementing aquaculture and establishing local conservation measures.
Mars comes close to Earth
By IANS
New Delhi : Sky-watchers had a good day out Wednesday as Mars came closest to Earth since 2003 and was visible to the naked eye from the eastern sky.
Astronomers said Mars' closeness to Earth would remain a record at least till 2016. Currently, Mars is some 87 million km away from Earth and experts say it is pretty close.
Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnasree said Mars was closest to Earth at 5.30 in the morning and sky-gazers across the country also witnessed it in the evening.
Second satellite launched for use in Galileo navigation system
By DPA,
Moscow : A second satellite planned for use in the European navigation system Galileo was launched early Sunday from the Russian space centre in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The 700-kg spacecraft was launched at 2216 GMT Saturday atop the Soyuz cargo rocket, the Interfax news agency reported.
Small asteroid hits earth Tuesday
By IANS,
New Delhi : It was a spectacular show in the sky early Tuesday morning, when a small asteroid entered the earth's atmosphere releasing a huge amount of light and energy before exploding.
The asteroid, 2008 TC3, entered the earth's atmosphere at 2.46 a.m. (GMT) in Sudan (Africa). The asteroid was also visible in Europe but not in Asia.
"Measuring only a few meters across, the space rock created a spectacular fireball, releasing huge energy as it disintegrated and exploded in the atmosphere," Director of Nehru Planetarium N. Rathnashree told IANS.
Universal Cable, Furukawa Electric join hands
By IANS,
Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) Power cable manufacturer Universal, an M.P. Birla group company, has signed a pact with the Japan-based Furukawa Electric for manufacturing and marketing optical fibre in India.
"By combining the pre-eminent position of the M.P. Birla Group in optical fibre and cable business in India, with significant experience and technical expertise of Furukawa, we will bring our customers a strong product," D.R. Bansal, Chief Mentor and chief executive officer of UCL said in a statement here Tuesday.
Google unveils social search function
By DPA,
Hamburg : Google is testing a new social search function to make it easier for people find their friends' blogs and twitter feeds.
The only catch is that users of the service need to have an open profile with Google that includes personal contact data.
Once those conditions are met, the user can access the service at the Google Labs. Typing in "New York" will yield a list of friends in the user's social network who have posted items from the Big Apple. Settings can be altered so that only postings from close friends and acquaintances are included in the "social graph."
ISRO readies for manned mission by 2014
By IANS
Bangalore : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has finalised its project report for a manned mission by 2014-15, a top space official said here Friday.
"The report is being submitted to the government for approval and budgetary allocation. The Space Commission, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will meet next week or so to review the report and take a decision. We plan to launch a manned mission in the next seven-eight years," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here.
U.S. shuttle Endeavour docks with space station
By Xinhua
Washington : After a nearly-two-day pursuit, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station and linked up with it at 11:49 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (0349 GMT on Thursday), NASA TV reported.
After Endeavour docks, the shuttle crew and the Expedition 16 crew at the station will conduct pressure and leak checks before the hatches between the two spacecraft open a little after 1:00 a.m. Thursday (0500 GMT). They will greet each other and combine forces for 12 days of joint operations.
Instant Messaging cuts workplace interruptions: Study
By IANS,
Washington : Instant messaging could be a way to reduce interruptions at the workplace, rather than cause them, as is popularly believed.
A new study has found that instant messaging, or IM, is now being often used as a substitute for more disruptive forms of communication like the telephone, e-mail and personal chats.
This finding flies in the face of earlier research which concluded that IM - along with phones and e-mail - was the cause of increased interruptions at work and resulted in reduced output.
Your card details could be ‘robbed by radiowave’
By IANS,
London: Millions of credit and debit card users could be "robbed by radiowave" because of a new contactless technology, the Daily Mail reported.
US-Indian team gets $1 mn for clean coal technology
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : A university-industry team has been awarded more than $1 million to help India increase energy production and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by developing and testing advanced technologies for cleaning coal.
The grant from the US Department of State in support of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate has gone to a team led by the Centre for Advanced Separation Technologies at Virginia Tech.
Preparations begin for lunar mission countdown
By IANS,
Bangalore : Preparations for the countdown to launch India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 Oct 22 has begun at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, a top space agency official said here Sunday.
"Launch rehearsal exercises are nearing completion. Preparations for the 52-hour countdown Monday from 02:20 a.m. have been initiated despite inclement weather and heavy rain since morning at Sriharikota (about 80km from Chennai) off the Bay of Bengal," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.
Study shows comet much more like asteroid
By Xinhua
Beijing : A chemical analysis of samples of rock dust retrieved from a comet showed that the comet is much more like an asteroid than scientists had expected, media reported Monday.
A lot of the material detected in a comet called Wild 2 was formed very close to the sun in the early solar system and was somehow later transported to the outer solar system.
Beijing : A chemical analysis of samples of rock dust retrieved from a comet showed that the comet is much more like an asteroid than scientists had expected, media reported Monday.
A lot of the material detected in a comet called Wild 2 was formed very close to the sun in the early solar system and was somehow later transported to the outer solar system.
Synthetic virus conveys genes, drug molecules to tumour cells
By IANS,
Washington : Korean researchers have created an artificial virus able to replicate the function of the original - transporting both genes and drugs into cancer cells.
But with a vital difference - they do not cause side-effects like sparking an immune response or causing cancer like their real counterparts.
A research team headed by Myongsoo Lee of Yonsei University, Seoul, has now developed a new strategy that allows the artificial viruses to maintain a defined form and size.
Happy Birthday Google!
By IANS,
New Delhi: Google turned 14 Thursday and celebrated its birthday with a doodle of a rich chocolate cake.
Don’t panic when fuel warning lights up
Berlin, Sep 13 (DPA) Motorists should not immediately panic when the warning lamp lights up indicating that the fuel tank is empty because most cars have an adequate reserve to last for a stretch of 50 km, according to a test by the German magazine AUTO/Strassenverkehr.
The magazine tested 10 different car models with some vehicles even managing to drive a distance of 150 km before coming to a standstill after the warning lamp lit up.
‘How did you feel in space?’ President Hu asks spacewalker
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China's President Hu Jintao asked Chinese astronauts what it was like walking in space after the trio successfully realised the country's first space walk Saturday.
"How did you feel like in space after exiting the module?" Hu asked the astronauts on board the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, by telephone from the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC) in a conversation with them.
Scientists create wonder alloys for aerospace industry
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have created titanium based metallic-glass composites - wonder alloys that are not only lighter, tougher and cheaper than existing compounds, but can be bent into any shape and are ideal for use in aerospace applications.
Earlier this year, the work by the same Caltch (California Institute of Technology) group had resulted in "alloys with unrivaled strength and toughness," noted Douglas Hofmann, visiting scientist and co-author of the current study.
India adds record 15.6 mn new phone users in March
By IANS,
New Delhi : Showing no signs of any slowdown and backed by heavy rural demand, India added a record 15.87 million new phone connections in March, to take its telecom density to nearly 40 percent, fresh data said Wednesday.
India, which already boasts of the second-largest telecom user base in the world after China's and ahead of the US, now has 429.72 million telecom subscribers, both in the wireless and mobile segments, with a record growth of 59.48 percent last fiscal.
Swedish team hopeful of Technopark tie-ups
Thiruvananthapuram (IANS) : A Swedish team visiting the country is holding talks with companies in Technopark campus here to explore possibilities of business deals between IT firms of the two countries.
The Swedish team consisted of Maria Johansson of Aurorum Science Park, and Michael Nilsson of Centre for Distance-Spanning Technology (CDT) of the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden.
Speaking to IANS, Johansson said that they held exploratory talks with a few IT companies in Technopark and have been impressed with the outcome.
Life on Mars found but destroyed by mistake
By IANS,
London: Bungling NASA scientists are believed to have found tiny live microbes on Mars - but mistakenly killed them by boiling them alive, a media report said Saturday.
PM greets citizens on National Technology Day
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday greeted the people on National Technology Day and said the use of technology should be...
Argentina, Italy launch new satellite
By NNN-Prensa Latina
Buenos Aires : Argentina and Italy have launched the second of a group of six satellites for scientific use for monitoring natural disasters and agriculture, Telam official agency informed Friday.
Argentina is a pioneer in the use of satellites, allowing advanced scientific achievements in areas like health, particularly the detection of epidemiological diseases, affirmed Conrado Varotto, executive director of CONAE (National Space Activities Commission).
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,...
How to keep your PC cool during summer
By DPA,
Washington : Computers hate heat. So this summer, be sure to think about keeping your computer cool. Computer components themselves run hot, and yet they're not designed to operate above a certain temperature.
When the temperature outside gets uncomfortable for humans, you can be sure that your computer isn't liking the situation any better. So for a trouble-free summer of computing, take steps now to ensure that your PC stays cool.
Endeavour returns to Earth after 17-day mission
By DPA,
Washington: The space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Friday carrying a seven-member crew of US, Canadian and Japanese astronauts.
The landing at 1448 GMT marked the end of the 17-day mission that saw the completion of the Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Endeavour brought an external platform to the station that was installed on the Japanese Kibo laboratory during the first of the mission's five spacewalks. The porch will expose experiments to the extremities of space.
Beware of e-mail scam offering to ‘rescue’ friends
By Frederick Noronha, IANS
Panaji : Goa-based Rudolf Ludwig's friends started getting frantic e-mail messages about the musician-turned-art gallery owner being stranded in Nigeria and badly in need of money.
His wife Yolanda fielded off telephone calls to their Goa home, explaining that nothing of this sort had happened.
When more friends started phoning in, Ludwig, who was very much in Goa, realised his e-mail account on the popular GMail network had been hacked into. His password had been changed and he couldn't enter his own account.
Amrita Research develops system for moving vehicles
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Amrita Research Labs (ARL) has developed a solution that delivers high-bandwidth information and multimedia entertainment to moving vehicles.
It has been named Amrita MiTrans.
In a press statement issued here Tuesday, ARL, the research and development division of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham attached to the Amritananda Mayi Mutt near Kollam, 70 km from here, said more than a dozen engineers and researchers developed this revolutionary technology, which combines the latest advancements in computers and wireless telecommunications.
Lockheed begins construction of US presidential choppers in India
By Gulshan Luthra
New Delhi : Construction of the first lot of six VH 92 Super Hawk helicopters that transport the US president...
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.
Haryana farmers use SMS to solve agriculture-related problems
By IANS
Chandigarh : Farmers in Haryana are using the SMS (short messaging service) facility on their mobile phones to get answers to their agriculture-related queries.
A free SMS service started by the state's agriculture department in Feb this year has become quite a hit with farmers of the state. They can get answers to all their queries by sending an SMS to a number assigned by the state government.
Iran eyes another satellite in space
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran plans to launch another satellite dubbed Sharif, designed by the students of one of its leading scientific institutions, an official said.
US rocket ready to crash into moon
By DPA,
Washington : A US rocket is to crash into the moon Friday in an experiment scientists hope will provide data about ice hidden in the perpetually dark lunar craters.
Astronomers around the world are prepared to capture the impact of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the moon's Caebus crater at 1130 GMT. The rocket will deliberately crash into the moon, kicking up a plume of dust that scientists hope to analyse for traces of water that they believe are abundant in the
cold, shadowy craters.
India defers lunar mission launch
By IANS
Bangalore : India's first exploratory mission to moon Chandrayaan-1, scheduled for launch April 9, has been deferred, a top space agency official said here Tuesday.
"As a number of pre-launch tests have to be conducted, it is difficult to meet the April 9 deadline," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair told IANS on phone.
"The mission payload has 12 instruments. We will decide on the next launch date by this month-end after a review meeting," he said.
India will plant flag on the moon: ISRO chief
By IANS,
New Delhi : Two days before the launch of India's first lunar orbiter, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair said Monday that India will plant its flag on the moon to help establish its presence on the earth's only natural satellite.
India will drop its flag on the moon to establish its presence, Nair told NDTV in an interview. This will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia, and Japan to have its flag on the moon.
Altered photos play tricks on memory
By IANS
New York : Doctored photos have a way of affecting your memory, according to a new study that used digitally altered images of public events.
The study, initiated by the University of California at Irvine, found that doctored photos of public events can make them appear bigger and more violent than they actually were.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Sciencedaily.com reported.