Astronauts enter space station’s new European lab
By Xinhua
Washington : Astronauts aboard the orbiting International Space Station opened the newly-installed European Columbus laboratory and conducted some outfitting tasks on Tuesday.
European-built Columbus lab was delivered to the station by U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, which lift off on Feb. 7 after a series of delays.
Washington : Astronauts aboard the orbiting International Space Station opened the newly-installed European Columbus laboratory and conducted some outfitting tasks on Tuesday.
European-built Columbus lab was delivered to the station by U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, which lift off on Feb. 7 after a series of delays.
India’s first web portal for the disabled launched
By IANS
New Delhi : Punarbhava.in, India's first interactive web portal for the disabled,was launched here Wednesday, along with a screen reading software that will enable the visually challenged to use computers.
An effort of the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and Media Lab Asia, a part of the communications and information technology ministry, the web portal and the software are aimed at enabling the disabled to get more connected to the rest of the world.
New ceramic can reduce cooking time, save energy: Indian-American expert
By IANS,
Washington : New ceramic microwave dishes would cut down cooking time, use less energy and also help in organic waste remediation, according to Sridhar Komarneni, an Indian-American minerologist.
Remediation is a process to reduce, isolate, or remove contamination from an environment.
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.
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.
China installs largest optical telescope in Antarctica
By IANS,
Beijing : A Chinese expedition team to Antarctica has finished installing and testing the largest optical telescope in the snow-capped region, experts said.
Data from Chandrayaan moon mission to go public
By Bhargavi Kerur, IANS,
Bangalore : Voluminous scientific data, including rare images of the moon, from India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be made public by the year-end.
"People will have free access to the huge data obtained from our first moon mission on a web portal that will be launched by this year-end," a senior scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS here.
Delhi willing to fund entire project to install CCTVs
New Delhi: The city government on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it was willing to fund the entire project of installation of...
Precursors of miniaturised machines developed
By IANS
London : The precursors of miniaturised machines are here. Packed with instrumentation, these marble sized probes float freely under water, measure local temperatures to a millionth of a degree, and send the data back wirelessly.
Developed by researchers at the Université de Lyon in France, these mini machines will be released in large numbers to collect data on ocean currents and atmospheric winds, sciencedaily.com reported.
NASA extends Cassini’s probe of Saturn’s moons
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Finished with its four-year primary mission to Saturn, the Cassini orbiter has turned its cameras upon the ringed planet's mysterious moons as it kicks off a two-year extended mission.
WhatsApp to introduce voice calls in second quarter
By IANS,
Madrid: World's biggest mobile messaging service WhatsApp intends to add voice calling feature to its free messaging service in the second quarter of...
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.
Grazing cattle have magnetic sense of direction
By Ernest Gill, DPA,
Hamburg (Germany) : Grazing cows tend to face the North and South Poles, according to German scientists who studied 308 herds using Google Earth satellite photos.
The Boreal bovine orientation suggests that they, like migratory birds, sea turtles and monarch butterflies, tune into the Earth's magnetic fields, says Hynek Burda, a biologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
Genetic materials of starry origin: study
By IANS,
London : In a first, scientists have confirmed that an important component of early genetic material is extraterrestrial in origin.
In a paper in the latest issue of the journal Planetary Science Letters,they have said that some of the raw materials that went into early genetic material have been found in meteorite fragments.
The materials include the molecules uracil and xanthine, precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA, known as nucleobases.
China automaker develops engine for new ethanol type
By Xinhua
Beijing, Jan 1 (Xinhua) Dongfeng Motor Corporation, one of China's largest auto makers, has developed technology to use a new type of ethanol as fuel in cars.
The new technology could produce combustible gas, mainly hydrogen, from hydrous ethanol that contained 65 percent ethanol. The present ethanol-fuelled vehicles need pure ethanol blended with gas, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
Russia launches US satellite
By Xinhua,
Moscow : Russia Saturday launched a rocket carrying a US communication satellite into space, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The Briz-m rocket, with a ProtoStar-2 satellite atop, blasted off at 0057 GMT from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, spokesman Alexander Bobrenev of the Khrunichev Centre, the manufacturer of the rocket, said.
The ProtoStar-2 satellite, a product of the Boeing corporation, will provide communication services to customers in various countries including Indonesia, India and the Philippines.
Lockheed extends scientific support programme in India
By IANS,
New Delhi : Leading US fighter jet manufacturer Lockheed Martin Friday announced extension of its scientific support programme in India for the next two years.
Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMC) senior vice-president and chief technology officer Ray O. Johnson said the 'India Innovation Growth Programme', which started last year, was a great success and had helped many young entrepreneurs market their products.
Soap that cleans clothes with less water
By IANS
Melbourne : Wasting water to rinse that extra lather from your clothes may be a thing of the past now. Scientists in Australia have developed a detergent that cleans clothes with less water.
Normal detergents contain surfactant molecules, which are oil-friendly at one end to capture dirt and water-friendly at the other to pull it away. They also tend to form bubbles, which require extra water to rinse.
First synthetic tree may facilitate heat transfer, soil technologies
By IANS,
Washington : The world's first 'synthetic tree,' created by Abraham Stroock's lab, mimics the process of transpiration that helps move moisture to the highest branches.
The researchers' work bolsters the long-standing theory that transpiration in trees and plants through capilliary action, is a purely physical process, requiring no biological energy.
It also may lead to new passive heat transfer technologies for cars or buildings, better methods for remediating soil and more effective ways to draw water out of partially dry ground.
Create green economy in five years, avoid catastrophe: WWF
By IANS,
New Delhi : The world has just five years to initiate a low carbon industrial revolution before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable. But the good news is that it can be done and that the long-term benefits will be immense, according to the WWF.
Climate Solutions 2 is the first analysis to put timetables to the industrial transformations needed to limit global carbon emissions below the two degrees Celsius level. Scientists say beyond that there would be unacceptable risks of runaway climate change.
Four South Asian countries agree to improve information communication
By TwoCircles.net news desk
New Delhi: Senior officials from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal have agreed to collaborate on a subregional information communication technology (ICT) project to improve connectivity among the four countries.
The agreement by the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) countries was reached at the fourth ICT working group meeting to discuss the proposed SASEC Information Highway Project in New Delhi, India on 8-9 October 2007.
NASA gives “go” for space shuttle launch on May 31
By Xinhua,
Washington : U.S. space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission to the International Space Station is officially scheduled for launch on May 31, NASA announced Monday after the final Flight Readiness Review.
"Preparations are going really well," Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach said, pointing out that Discovery's remarkably smooth processing flow will allow shuttle work crews to take off the Memorial Day holiday.
Swiss solar plane makes first flight
By DPA,
Geneva : A solar-powered airplane took off on its first major test flight Wednesday morning, from an airfield in western Switzerland.
The flight of the plane, named Solar Impulse, comes ahead of plans to use a similar solar-powered plane to fly around the world in 2012.
"We want to demonstrate what can be achieved with renewable energy," Bertrand Piccard, the man behind the project, was quoted by the Swiss ATS news agency as saying.
The plane has the wing span of an Airbus A340, the weight of an average car, and is powered by some 12,000 solar cells.
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.
US spacecraft takes first image of Martian dust particle
By Xinhua,
Washington : NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has taken the first image of a particle of Mars' ubiquitous dust, using its atomic force microscope, mission scientists have reported.
The particle - shown at higher magnification than anything ever seen from another world - is a round particle about one micrometre, or one millionth of a metre across, the scientists at the US space agency said Thursday.
Google, IBM team up on cloud computing
By DPA
San Francisco : Google and IBM have announced that they are teaming up to promote research into cloud computing - a technology in which programmes and services are run on remote servers rather than on users' PCs.
The two technology giants said they will contribute $20 million to $25 million each to build data centres that can be used by university researchers in the US.
Scientists engineer potent weapon against cancer
By IANS,
London: Scientists have synthesised a molecule that targets and destroys a key protein responsible for development of cervical and other cancers, says a study.
NASA buys life-like humanoid as tour guide
By IANS,
London : A life-like robot, which speaks more than a dozen languages and has a pawky sense of humour, has been bought by NASA to become a robotic tour guide.
Russia launches US satellite
By IANS,
Moscow : Russia launched a 5,600-kg US communications satellite Sunday from a seaborne launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, Xinhua reported.
‘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.
New technology to detect forged signatures
By IANS
Washington : Think twice if you are about to forge a signature. A newly developed technology will help forensic specialists find out when you signed a cheque, the pen you used, and the origin of the ink.
The technology that is used at present can only trace the ink if a piece of the document is soaked in certain solutions.
Washington : Think twice if you are about to forge a signature. A newly developed technology will help forensic specialists find out when you signed a cheque, the pen you used, and the origin of the ink.
The technology that is used at present can only trace the ink if a piece of the document is soaked in certain solutions.
Male, female flies share unisex brain
By IANS,
Washington : Males and females, even among little flies, act as though they belong to different planets, but both come equipped with a unisex brain, says a study.
By triggering the neurons responsible for singing - normally a male activity - researchers made female flies play their first tune.
"You might expect that the brains of the two sexes would be built differently, but that does not seem to be the case," said Gero Miesenböck, formerly of Yale University and now with University of Oxford.
Engineers complete world’s largest scientific instrument
By IANS
Geneva : Engineers have lowered a 9.3-metre wheel down a 100 metre shaft to complete what has been described a the world's largest scientific instrument - a nuclear particle accelerator that will run around a 27 km long tunnel deep under the Swiss-France border.
The accelerator has been built by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, popularly known by its French acronym CERN, as part of a 20-nation collaborative exercise and is expected to begin functioning this summer.
Google acquires 3D software pioneer to take on Apple
By IANS,
Toronto : Google Monday snapped up a top Canadian startup which pioneered a 3D interface technology for Mac and Windows PCs.
Called Canada's hottest software startup, Toronto-based BumpTop has been acquired by the search engine for reportedly between $30 and $45 million, according to reports. However, there were no details of the deal by the two sides.
Set up just three years ago, BumpTop has pioneered touch-screen software that allows use of multiple fingers at a time on a multiple touch screen.
First letter of email address determines spam load
By IANS,
London : How much spam you get depends on the first letter in your e-mail address, a Cambridge study reveals.
Analysis of more than 500 million junk messages has found that addresses that began with more common letters were likely to receive 40 per cent of their mail from spammers. Those starting with less common letters, by contrast, would receive less than a fifth of their mail as spam.
Kerala to host global conference on Raman spectroscopy
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : An international conference on "Perspectives in Vibrational Spectroscopy" will be held here next week, drawing in a galaxy of participating scientists from various countries.
The scientists will be speaking on recent developments in Raman spectroscopy, named after India's physicist Nobel laureate C.V. Raman eight decades back.
Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique used in condensed matter physics and chemistry to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes.
Spacewalkers attach European lab to ISS
By Xinhua
Washington : Atlantis shuttle astronauts wrapped up nearly eight hours of spacewalk Monday after successfully attaching Europe's Columbus Laboratory to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love spent almost eight hours working to help attach the 10-ton Columbus laboratory to the ISS and add a new room to the high-flying outpost.
Washington : Atlantis shuttle astronauts wrapped up nearly eight hours of spacewalk Monday after successfully attaching Europe's Columbus Laboratory to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love spent almost eight hours working to help attach the 10-ton Columbus laboratory to the ISS and add a new room to the high-flying outpost.
India acquires capability to fire missiles from under water
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the country's premier military research organisation, Monday said it had successfully acquired the technology to launch missiles from the ocean depths, becoming the world's fifth country to do so.
The acknowledgement came when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave away the performance excellence award 2007 to A.K Chakrabarti, under whose leadership a team of 86 scientists achieved the success under this project called K-15.
Indian rocket puts in orbit 10 satellites at one go
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India's space programme made history Monday with the successful launch of a Rs.700 million ($17.4 million) rocket that placed in orbit 10 satellites - two Indian and eight foreign.
At precisely 9.23 a.m., the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C9 rose into the sky, emitting thick orange flame, and placed in orbit an Indian cartography and a mini satellite to maintain leadership in the remote sensing domain. It also slung eight nano satellites into outer space - marking the world's second largest such mission.
Google features Gandhi doodle
By IANS,
London : The search engine Google Friday decorated its home page with a sketch of Mahatma Gandhi on his 140th birth anniversary.
The page, seen by millions of people around the world every day as they search the internet, showed Gandhi's face - the dome of his head and mushtacheo forming the initial letter 'G'.
Robot goalkeeper better than the Bundesliga’s human goalies
By DPA,
Stuttgart (Germany) : A robotic goalkeeper is better than human keepers in Germany's football Bundesliga, its inventors boasted Monday as they demonstrated the computer-controlled device, Goalias, to the media.
Players from first-division side VfB Stuttgart, including Germany team player Mario Gomez, tried last week to outwit Goalias, shooting indoors at a full-size goal mouth from 11 metres out. Scientists have since fine-tuned Goalias.
New Generation Of Cars To Be Launch In India
SILICON VALLEY, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- A global consortium of top students, professors and experts in various engineering fields plan to use the rapidly growing Indian automotive market as a launch pad for a new generation of cars that could revolutionise the international automobile industry.
Vehicle Design Summit, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology initiative, aims to develop a 4-passenger, 200MPGe, high-performance industry-standard car with minimal life cycle costs and wide appeal both in developed and developing countries.
Adani group to set up solar power parks in TN
Chennai : Gujarat-based Adani group on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to supply 648 MW of solar power from...
APJ Abdul Kalam to inaugurate ‘Aero Tech 2008’
By IANS,
Chandigarh : Enthused by the success of Chandrayaan-I mission, the aero scientists of India are all geared up to discuss advances in aerospace technologies at the two-day national level seminar, 'Aero Tech 2008' that will start here Friday. APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India, will inaugurate the Aero Tech 2008 Nov 14.
Paper thin tablet!
By IANS,
London: A revolutionary tablet as thin and flexible as paper that can be twisted or dropped without suffering damage is set to be showcased soon in American city of Las Vegas.
Soon, automatic baggage checking at Delhi airport
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport has begun trial runs for an 'inline baggage system' that would not only enable baggage to get checked and assigned automatically while passengers wait for their boarding passes but also do away with x-rays.
The airport will install the system for all its eight baggage rows at the international terminal, a senior airport official said.
Endeavour blasts off for mission to space station
By DPA,
Washington : Space shuttle Endeavour lit up the Florida coast before dawn Monday as it blasted off for a mission to the International Space Station.
The start, at 10.14 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time was the final night-time launch for the ageing shuttle fleet, which is to be mothballed later this year.
Endeavour is carrying a six-window viewing area that will give astronauts a panoramic look at earth, the station and visiting spacecraft.
A planned Sunday launch for the shuttle had to be postponed due to low cloud cover at the launch site.
Glint of sunlight shows liquid on Saturn’s largest moon
By IANS,
Washington : A glint of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan has confirmed the presence of liquid on its surface.
The image was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Titan has captivated scientists because of its many similarities to the Earth. Scientists have theorised that Titan's cold surface hosts seas or lakes of liquid hydrocarbons, making it the only other planetary body besides the Earth believed to harbour liquid.
Smart card material to help computers switch on instantly
By IANS,
Washington : Ultra-thin ferro-electric materials used in smart cards will soon make computers more efficient by enabling them to switch on instantly.
Smart cards rely on ferro-electric materials to instantly reveal and update stored information. For example, in ATMs. A computer with this capability could instantly provide information and other data to the user.
Global investors to invest Rs.4.11 bn in Moser Baer unit
By IANS,
New Delhi : Technology leader Moser Baer India Ltd Thursday said its wholly-owned photovoltaic (PV) subsidiary has entered into definitive agreement with a consortium of global investors to raise Rs.4.11 billion for its expansion.
The global investors include Nomura, CDC Group, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, IDFC Pe and IDFC.
"Moser Baer plans to use the funds to expand capacity of crystalline silicon and thin film solar vertical," Moser Baer group chief financial officer Yogesh B. Mathur told reporters.
Astronaut takes a second, closer look at Brahmaputra
By IANS,
Guwahati : US astronaut Mike Fincke Tuesday took a close look here at the river Brahmaputra, which he had viewed from space some months ago.
"I saw the Brahmaputra from space. Today I have seen it with my own eyes. It is indeed a pleasure to be by the side of this great river," Fincke told IANS.
Fincke and his wife Renita, an engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), arrived here to attend a series of functions.
The visit is special for the couple as Renita originally hails from Assam.
India’s moon spacecraft positioned atop rocket
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : A week before launch, India's maiden lunar mission has progressed one step further, with the Chandrayaan spacecraft that will orbit the moon installed atop the rocket ferrying it.
"The spacecraft was fitted to the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C11 (PSLV C11) Tuesday night. Today (Wednesday) the heat shield will be fitted to make the rocket ready for moving to the launch pad," M. Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan told IANS from the launch site Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.
SAARC satellite to be launched by December 2016: ISRO
Bengaluru : India will launch a dedicated satellite for the eight SAARC countries by December 2016 to provide a range of public services, space...
Microsoft touches new Windows system
By DPA,
Los Angeles : Don't throw out your mouse yet, but the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system will allow users to control their computers using touch screen technology.
Company heads Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer provided a brief glimpse into the new offering at the All Things D technology conference Tuesday night.
The new operating system is expected to hit stores in early 2010. Microsoft hopes that Windows 7 will have a better reception that Windows Vista, which has largely been shunned by businesses, but has still sold 150 million units.
Bacterium disables tomato plant’s defences – stealthily
By IANS,
London : A bacterium disables the tomato plant's defences stealthily, activating disease and blight, according to a new study.
The new finding focuses on a pathogen which causes bacterial speck disease in tomato plants. This bacterial invasion causes black lesions on leaves and fruit.
Scientists found the pathogen is very effective at attacking tomato plants because it deactivates and destroys receptors which normally alert the plant to the presence of a dangerous disease - in the same way that an intruder would deactivate the burglar alarm before gaining entry to a house.
Mobility and green technology will rule the next decade
By Prasanto K. Roy, IANS,
Technology in the second decade of this millennium will build on the foundation laid in the first 10 years for mobility, cloud computing and green technology that saw the birth of the iconic iPhone, third generation telephony, notebooks, netbooks and the iPod with a camera.
Here's a peek into what's in store:
NASA turns on humanoid robot in space station
By IANS,
London : NASA Tuesday turned on a humanoid robot in the International Space Station for the first time since it was delivered in February, a media report said.
German scientist calls for solar energy as fuel
By Prensa Latina
Madrid : Bio-fuel, far from being a clean choice to fight global warming, emits more carbon dioxide and denudes vast forestlands, a German scientist has said, suggesting solar energy as a credible option.
Chemistry Nobel laureate of 1988 Hertmut Michel told Spanish daily El Pais that large tracts of forests in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil and in Africa were being burnt down, releasing a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the environment.
Besides, large areas of forestlands were being diverted into soybeans cultivation for biomass for fuels.
Symantec awards firms for digital safekeeping
By IANS
Mumbai : Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Reliance Communications, HDFC Bank and NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd) won the Symantec Asia South visionary awards for protecting their IT infrastructure and information with the company's anti-virus solutions and firewalls against hacking.
New laser can detect roadside bombs
By IANS,
Washington : Lasers may pick out roadside bombs and help in identifying improvised explosive devices (IEDs), often used by terrorists, new research says.
Air Pegasus’s Bengaluru-Madurai service soon
Bengaluru: Low-cost carrier Air Pegasus will begin flying from here to Tamil Nadu's Madurai from June 26, spreading its footprint to the fourth city...
Israel ready to share aviation security technology with India
Tel Aviv : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country was "ready and willing" to share with India technology in areas such...
Insat-4CR launch delayed by two hours
By IANS
Sriharikota : The launch of India's latest communication satellite Insat-4CR has been rescheduled by two hours to 6.10 p.m. after three delays caused by a technical hitch 15 seconds before the scheduled blast-off.
The satellite was to be launched at 4.21 p.m. by the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV-F04 and was initially put off by 50 minutes.
It was then pushed back to 5.40 p.m. and again.10 p.m. as scientists worked furiously to get over the technical glitch that had arisen, an official here said, without specifying what the problem was.
Indian blogs live from Antarctica for the first time
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
New Delhi : On the icy barrenness of Antarctica, the Indian research station of Maitri has a new voice - the first ever blog by an Indian from the seventh continent.
A member of the 27th Indian Scientific Antarctica Expedition, 56-year-old Sudhir Khandelwal, has typed, so far, 39 posts and nearly 15,000 words, with another one and a half months of his stay to go.
A device that measures ultra-cold temperatures
By IANS,
Sydney : Physicists have devised a thermometre that can potentially gauge temperatures as ultracold as tens of trillionths of a degree above absolute zero.
Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature, minus 273.15 degrees Celsius, in which all molecular activity ceases.
Scientists can currently cool atoms to a few billionths of a degree, but even this is too hot for certain applications.
For example, Richard Feynman of Harvard University dreamt of using ultracold atoms to simulate the complex quantum mechanical behaviour of electrons in certain materials.
Computers aiding in creation of new products
By IANS,
London : From cars and mobile phones to computers and furniture, most products in the market are created virtually on a computer before actual production.
Under the Functional Digital Mock-Up (DMU) project, researchers from four Fraunhofer institutes are developing value additions to digital product development.
An electric car window slides smoothly upward at the press of a button. While power windows are certainly convenient, they can also pose a safety risk.
ISRO slow on internet?
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) symbolises nothing less than rockets, satellites and moon missions but when it comes to a professional need as simple as uploading contents on the website, the presitigious organisation seems to have bungled.
The 97th edition of the Indian Science Congress, organized by the ISRO and the Kerala University, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday.
Wipro sees higher revenue from IT services
Bengaluru: Buoyed by robust growth in first quarter from its global IT services business, software major Wipro Ltd on Thursday projected higher revenue for...
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.
NASA to test faulty sensors of shuttle Atlantis
By Xinhua
Washington : With a trouble shooting plan in hand, NASA will begin to test the erratic fuel sensors which had halted the launch of space shuttle Atlantis, a top NASA official announced Tuesday at a teleconference.
The test work is tentatively planned for Dec. 18, said Wayne Hale, NASA's Space Shuttle Program Manager. Technicians and engineers plan to test the sensor system onboard Atlantis by pumping super-cold liquid hydrogen into the external fuel tank.
Melting tundra will tumble vast carbon waste into Arctic Ocean
By IANS,
London : Rise in temperature is already causing the sea ice in the Arctic to melt. If Arctic tundra also follows suit, it will tumble vast organic wastes into rivers heading for the Arctic Ocean, upping carbon dioxide emissions, fear scientists.
"Large amounts of organic carbon are currently stored within the permafrost. If released, they will result in an increased release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere," says Sofia Hjalmarsson, who submitted her doctoral thesis at Gothenburg University.
Dubai unveils new website for business community
By IANS,
Dubai: Dubai has unveiled a new advanced and user-friendly website for the emirate's business community to improve public access to business-related information and procedures, the WAM news agency has reported.
The new website, developed by the Department of Economic Development (DED), is the first of many steps planned for the near future to improve the business community's interaction with the department, officials said.
Reading devices for digital storage media
By Vivien Leue, DPA,
Frankfurt : You can find them in cell phones, digital cameras and navigation systems. They are digital storage cards, and they can be enormous - at least in a digital sense - holding hundreds of photos or a plethora of large documents.
To transfer their data onto a computer, you can either connect the mobile device to a computer using a USB cable or you can stick the memory card into a card reader. That is a simpler, and in many cases quicker, solution.
Russia fails to put U.S. satellite into target orbit
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia failed to put a U.S. AMC-14 telecommunication satellite into its target orbit after a booster rocket malfunctioned during the launch early on Saturday, Russia's Federal Space Agency said.
At 2:28 a.m. Moscow time (23:28 GMT Friday), a few minutes after the Proton-M carrier rocket's launch from the Baikonur Space Center which Russia rents from Kazakhstan, the Breeze-M orbit insertion booster failed during its upper stage, putting the satellite into orbit much lower than required.
India set to join exclusive cryogenic club
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : After its maiden moon mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is hoping to cross another milestone in December - take India into the exclusive club of countries that have developed their own cryogenic engines to power satellites in space.
ISRO is hoping to end 2009 in style with the take-off of its fully indigenous geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) carrying an experimental satellite GSAT 4 in mid-December.
BSNL, MTNL merger decision in 4-5 months
New Delhi: The decision on merging state-run BSNL and MTNL will be taken in the next four-five months, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said on...
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.
New, potent anti-microbial wash developed
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have developed a new anti-microbial wash that kills Salmonella and E. coli more effectively and speedily in vegetables, fruits, poultry products and meats.
Made from inexpensive and readily available ingredients that are recognised as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the new wash is expected to replace chlorine.
At present, a chlorine wash is most widely used to reduce harmful bacteria levels in food products, but it has its limitations. For one, it does not kill all microbes.
China launches new satellite
By IANS,
Beijing : China successfully launched a new satellite into space Sunday, which will improve television and radio broadcasting signals in the country.
The "SinoSat-6" was launched at 12:14 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The Long March 3B rocket took SinoSat-6 into a geostationary transfer orbit 26 minutes after the launch, Xinhua reported.
NEC launches world’s fastest supercomputer
By DPA
Tokyo : NEC Corporation of Japan said Thursday it has launched the world's fastest vector-type supercomputer.
The new SX-9 model is equipped with a central processing unit core that can process information at a maximum speed of 102.4 gigaflops. One gigaflop is equivalent to one billion floating point operations per second.
When connected with up to 512 units, one unit of the SX-9, which can be equipped with up to 16 CPUs, can perform information processing at 839 teraflops. One teraflop represents one trillion floating point operations per second.
Chandrayaan inspires overseas Indian scientists to return home
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Bangalore : The successful launch of India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has inspired many Indian space scientists working abroad to return home for a promising career in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a top official said.
"Our moon mission has aroused tremendous interest in the scientific community the world over. The launch has made many overseas Indian space scientists think of returning and working in our organisation to further their career prospects," the official told IANS.
It takes peanuts to clean water
By IANS
London : Peanut husk, one of the largest waste products of the food industry, may be of some use after all -- it can help improve water quality, says a new study.
According to researchers at Turkey's Mersin University, peanut husk can be used to extract toxic copper ions from wastewater, offering a useful alternative to simple disposal of this food industry by-product.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.
Scientists can now control most atoms
By IANS
Washington : University of Texas researchers have developed a twin-technique to control atoms, marking a major step forward in atomic physics with a variety of scientific and technological applications.
The technique can also be used to determine the mass of the neutrino, the primary candidate for dark matter.
The method, developed by Mark Raizen and his team, stopped atoms by passing a supersonic beam through an "atomic coil-gun" and cooled them using "single-photon cooling".
Drones to monitor ‘Alvida Namaaz’ in UP
Lucknow : In Lucknow 'Alvida Namaaz' at major Uttar Pradesh mosques on Friday will be closely watched with the help of drones and CCTV...
NDA okayed Rs.1,60,000 crore proposals to modernise forces: Parrikar
New Delhi : The NDA government has sanctioned acquisition proposals worth over Rs.1,60,000 crore for modernisation of the armed forces since coming to power,...
Powerful solar storm disrupts communications
By IANS,
Washington : A powerful solar flare has triggered the largest space weather storm in four years, disrupting some ground communications on earth.
Hands-free technology for twiteratti while driving
By IANS,
London : British motorists would soon be able to use online blogging network Twitter while driving with new hands-free technology from car company Ford.
The system, called AppLink, allows applications on iPhones and BlackBerries to be voice-controlled, reports dailymail.co.uk.
It reads 'tweet' updates out loud while the car is on the move - but does not allow the driver to respond.
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.
Endeavour shuttle returns from mission to ISS
By RIA Novosti
Washington : U.S. space shuttle Endeavour touched down in Florida after a 16-day trip to deliver part of a Japanese research lab and a Canadian robot to the International Space Station.
NASA said the shuttle landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:39 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (00:39 GMT Thursday) just after sunset, "bringing the STS-123 mission to a flawless end."
The landing was slightly delayed due to cloud cover over Florida, and the shuttle made an additional orbit of the Earth before entering the atmosphere.
TCS white paper calls for effective e-governance
By IANS,
New Delhi : India's software major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Monday called upon the central government to institutionalise e-governance and launch a portal that would act as a single window for the public to interact with various government agencies.
"This will make governments more efficient and help people get access to government departments through one window without being physically present there," TCS CEO and managing director S. Ramadorai told reporters after releasing here a white paper on 'Roadmap for e-governance in India'.
Arctic methane may trigger abrupt climate change
By IANS,
Washington : An abrupt release of methane from ice sheets 635 million years ago triggered a spell of global warming, says a study that contends something similar is just waiting to happen.
Researchers believe the greenhouse gas was released gradually and then abruptly from clathrates - methane ice that forms beneath polar ice sheets. The release had resulted in a series of cataclysmic events and ended the last Ice Age.
Former ISRO chief Kasturirangan chosen for space academy award
By IANS
Hyderabad : The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has selected Rajya Sabha member and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Kasturirangan for the prestigious Theodore Von Karman award for this year.
The award will be presented to Kasturirangan, one of the country's top scientists, here Monday on the first-day of the 58th International Astronautical Congress.
The Theodore Von Karman award is the highest distinction of the IAA given annually to recognise outstanding lifetime achievements in any branch of science.
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.
Global warming greatest in the past decade: study
By IANS,
Washington : Surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were warmer over the last 10 years than any time during the last 1,300 years, according to a study.
If climate scientists include the somewhat controversial data derived from tree-ring records, the warming is anomalous (deviating from the normal or common order) for at least 1,700 years.
"Some have argued that tree-ring data is unacceptable for this type of study," said Michael Mann, associate professor of meteorology and geosciences and director of Penn State's Earth System Science Centre.
Sulphur dioxide level drops in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a major pollutant, has decreased in the national capital, data released by the environment ministry revealed Friday.
While the sulphur dioxide levels are within the norms, the nitrogen oxide (NO) and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels exceed the prescribed norms.
"Decreasing trend of sulphur dioxide may be due to various interventions that have taken place in recent years such as reduction of sulphur in diesel and the use of cleaner fuel such as CNG," a ministry official said.
AI’s Transformative Impact on Indian Education: Unveiling the Pros and Cons of Modern Tools
By Farooq Siddiqui
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer in various spheres of life, and its influence on education is revolutionizing the Indian...
Researchers develop an all-seeing eye
By IANS
London : Ever heard of terahertz waves? These higher-frequency waves can penetrate wood ceramics, paper plastic and liquids, making for an ideal tool to detect explosives or drugs, without ripping open suitcases, or searching through items of clothing.
It will also enable doctors to identify skin cancer without performing a biopsy.
Terahertz waves change when passing through gases, solid materials or liquids, which may be explosives, water, heroin or blood, carrying their specific imprints.
Atlantis shuttle mission extended until Feb. 20
By RIA Novosti
Washington : The Atlantis space shuttle will return to Earth on February 20 after its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was extended, NASA said on Thursday.
"The space shuttle Mission Management Team, at the request of the International Space Station Program, has extended the STS-122 mission to 13 days. Atlantis will undock from the space station on Monday, Feb. 18, and land at 9:06 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, Kennedy Space Center, Fla," the NASA website said.
Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
By RIA Novasti
St. Petersburg : Temperatures on Earth have stabilized in the past decade, and the planet should brace itself for a new Ice Age rather than global warming, a Russian scientist said in an interview with RIA Novosti Tuesday.
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.
Russian spacecraft blasts off to space station
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress M-62, has lifted off for the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, Russia's mission control said Sunday.
"The spacecraft was launched in the nominal regime at the designated time (10:12 a.m. Moscow time or 07:12 a.m. GMT)," mission control said.
The Progress vehicle's flight to the station will last three days instead of two days to prepare the spacecraft's systems for docking with the ISS more carefully, mission control said.
ISS astronauts’ return delayed after Russian craft failure
Washington : The return of three International Space Station (ISS) astronauts, originally scheduled for later this week, has been delayed due to the failure...
U.S. expert: short-term earthquake prediction “very difficult”
By Xinhua,
Washington : After last week's deadly earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan province, quake prediction has become an issue of intense public concern. However, accurate predictions in the short term are indeed "very difficult," said Lucile Jones, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),in a recent interview with Xinhua.
When asked what factors affect the prediction of earthquakes, she said: "This depends on what you mean by predict."
Korean Astronaut To Dock At Space Station Thursday
By Bernama
Seoul : A Russian spacecraft carrying South Korea's first astronaut will dock Thursday at the International Space Station (ISS) as scheduled after a three-day voyage in space, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted officials as saying Wednesday.
Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old female biosystems engineer who blasted off from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan on Tuesday with two cosmonauts, "spent her first night in space safely," the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said in a statement.
India can send crew to space in seven years
By IANS
Washington : India will be able to send manned space flights in seven to eight years, G. Madhavan Nair, head of India's space programme, said here.
"We have sensitised the government on manned space flights. In seven to eight years, we will be able to carry crew to orbit and back," Nair, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Space Commission, said Wednesday.
He said India believes that space is the next frontier and international cooperation rather than competition in this field will be the future.
Chandrayaan spacecraft moved further up in space
Chennai, Oct 26 (IANS) India's maiden moon probe spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has reached nearly half the distance to the lunar orbit, crossing the 150,000-km mark from the earth Sunday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed third orbit-raising manoeuvre initiated at 7.08 a.m. Sunday firing the liquid apogee motor for about nine and a half minutes.
With this, Chandrayaan spacecraft has entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the earth.
Some squirrels luckier than others
By IANS
Toronto : New research has uncovered how some squirrels, like their human counterparts, can be born with silver spoons in their mouths.
Using 15 years of data from a North American red squirrel population, researchers discovered that female babies born into fortunate circumstances with more food, warmer spring weather and a lower population, experienced long-lasting positive effects on reproductive success, producing more offspring over the remainder of their lives.
Engineers develop painless needle that mimics mosquito bite
By IANS,
New York : Indian and Japanese engineers have developed a "microneedle" that causes no pain on being inserted in the skin as it mimics the way a female mosquito sucks blood.
Contrary to popular belief, a mosquito bite does not hurt. It is the anticoagulant saliva that the creature injects to stop the blood from clotting that causes inflammation and pain.
The new biocompatible microneedle has been designed by Suman Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and Kazuyoshi Tsuchiya of Tokai University in Kanagawa, New Scientist reported.
Zuckerberg fuels Free Basics vs net neutrality debate in India
New Delhi : First splashy full page ads in major Indian newspapers and now a personal piece by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a...
IIT alumni’s party wants to be agent of change
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : They gave up plush jobs to jump into politics two years ago - something not too many Indian professionals do. The party that 20 alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) floated has now fielded two candidates in the Nov 29 Delhi assembly polls.
After all, both techies and politicians are harbingers of change, say the founder members of Bharat Punarnirman Dal, or India Rejuvenation Force.
Nano coating ensures near perfect absorption of sunlight
By IANS,
Washington : A nanoengineered reflective coating on silicon solar cell, which otherwise absorbs only two-thirds of the sunlight, boosts it by another third to tap the valuable energy.
This huge gain was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from ultraviolet to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward towards economic viability.
The new antireflective coating developed by Rensselaer Institute researchers thus helps overcome two major hurdles blocking the progress and wider use of solar power.
Facebook trains self-help groups in Telangana
Hyderabad: Facebook on Friday launched a training programme for rural self-help groups (SHGs) in Telangana to equip them with technological knowledge to promote their...
Supercomputer helps design drugs faster
By IANS
Sydney : A supercomputer is helping speed up the design of new drugs manifold, doing away with cumbersome, time-consuming procedures.
The results are as accurate as those obtained from the lab, saving time and resources, besides calculating the desired 'redox' potential of drugs much faster than existing methods.
The 'redox' potential is the ability of drug molecules to exchange electrons, which determine how powerfully they can act on the body, said researcher Mansoor Namazian of Australian National University (ANU).
Google, T-mobile to unveil iPhone competitor next week
By DPA,
San Francisco : Google will next week launch the first mobile phone running its Android software in a joint initiative with T-mobile, the companies have announced.
The open-source Android system is seen as Google's answer to Apple's successful iPhone and as a key initiative in the internet giant's quest to extend its dominance to the mobile web.
Google has worked closely with US carrier T-mobile and Taiwan electronics maker HTC to develop the new phone, which is to be called Dream.
Jurassic era fossils turning to dust in Jharkhand
By Nityanand Shukla, IANS,
Rajmahal Hills (Jharkhand) : Nature's treasure trove of fossils, some dating back to the Jurassic era and preserved for millions of years in Jharkhand's Sahebganj district, is being steadily eroded by rampant mining, say scientists.
Rajmahal Hills, about 500 km from state capital Ranchi, attract a number of geologists and palaeontologists for fossil research. However, this coal-rich region in eastern India is also the hub of mining activity.
Device helps ICU patients get back on their feet
By IANS,
Washington : A device designed by John Hopkins undergraduates enables ICU patients to get back on their feet with minimum fuss while still being connected to life-support systems.
The invention will also help doctors figure out whether carefully supervised rehabilitation, as against continuous sedation and bed rest, can speed up their recovery.
Known as the “ICU Mover”, the device has been designed by bio-medical engineering students Swarnali Sengupta, Erica Jantho and Hanlin Wan.
Scientists probe earth’s core with quake ‘whispers’
By IANS,
London : Scientists are observing distant earthquakes by 'listening' to them to reveal new clues about the top of the earth's core.
The approach is akin to hearing a conversation across a whispering gallery, such as those in the domes of some large cathedrals.
Using a novel digital processing approach, researchers at the University of Calgary (U-C) analysed faint signals produced by 44 earthquakes. They were able to measure the sound speed at the top of earth's core with unprecedented accuracy.
New force-field to make Mars space trip possible
By IANS,
London : 'Space weather', comprising solar radiation and cosmic rays, poses the single biggest hurdle to man's trip to Mars.
However, latest research shows how advances in fusion research may reduce the threat to acceptable levels, making man's first Mars mission a much greater possibility.
Solar energetic particles, although part of 'cosmic rays' spectrum, are causing the greatest concern because they are the most likely to cause deadly radiation damage to astronauts.
Hubble discovers methane on exo-planet
By DPA
Garching (Germany) : The Hubble space telescope has discovered methane gas, a useful fuel and precursor of life, on a planet outside the Solar System.
The European Hubble Centre at Garching, near Munich, said Wednesday it was the first time any organic molecule had been found on the new class of heavenly bodies, the exo-planets.
The orbiting telescope detected methane (chemical formula CH4) by analysing light shining through the atmosphere of exo-planet HD 189733b, which is 63 light years from earth, in the constellation Vulpecula.
India approves Rs.7.74 bn satellite navigation project
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Thursday gave its approval to a satellite-based navigation system, which would meet the growing air traffic and strengthen aviation navigation system.
“The new navigation system would increase safety, improve airport and airspace access in adverse weather conditions, and enhance reliability and reduce flight delays,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Microsoft launches anti-piracy campaign in 49 countries
By IANS,
New Delhi : In its bid to clamp down on rampant software piracy, Microsoft Tuesday announced a global initiative under the banner of 'Global Anti-Piracy Awareness Day' that will include educating consumers as well as enforcing legal action.
Even though the initiative was rolled out in 49 countries, Microsoft's director of intellectual property in Australia told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the Redmond-based software giant would not be able to solve the problem fully ever.
Study confirms Darwinian idea of speciation
By IANS
New York : In the first experiment of its kind conducted in nature, a biologist has come up with strong evidence for one of Charles Darwin's cornerstone ideas - adaptation to the environment accelerates the creation of new species.
After studying walking-stick insects in southern California, University of British Columbia evolutionary biologist Patrik Nosil concluded that "the more ways a population can adapt to its unique surroundings, more likely it will ultimately diverge into a separate species".
Shuttle Endeavour blasts off for space station
By DPA
Washington : The US space shuttle Endeavour has lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacecraft with seven astronauts on board is on an 11-day mission to install a 2.5-tonne solar panel on the ISS, conduct repairs on the orbiting station and deliver of supplies.
Gas turbine technology best for power generation in Gulf: expert
By IANS,
Dubai : Gas turbine technology is the best fossil fuel-based technology available for power generation in the Gulf, given the skyrocketing oil prices, according to a leading energy expert.
"Gas turbine technologies are the cleanest techniques within systems that use fossil fuels and are favoured in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries due to the low cost of available natural gas," Abdullah Al-Amiri, chairman of the Emirates Energy Award, which recognizes best practices in energy conservation and management, said in a statement here.
China’s lunar probe to photograph Bay of Rainbows
By IANS,
Beijing : China's lunar probe Chang'e-2 was manoeuvered to an experimental orbit Tuesday evening for taking pictures of the moon's Sinus Iridium or Bay of Rainbows.
After India lands probe on moon, focus back on spacecraft
By IANS,
Bangalore : A day after landing India's first probe instrument on the surface of the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was Saturday getting ready to activate eight other scientific instruments on board the country's first unmanned lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, that is now orbiting the moon and will do so for the next two years.
Russian explorers reach bed of world’s deepest lake
By RIA Novosti,
Irkutsk (Russia) : A team of Russian scientists descended to the bottom of Siberia's Lake Baikal in two mini-submarines Tuesday, setting a new world record for a freshwater dive.
News channel Vesti-24 said the submersibles, Mir-1 and Mir-2, reached a depth of 1,680 metres in the world's deepest lake, which holds 20 percent of the planet's fresh water.
Microsoft Sharing Secrets to Increase Interoperability
By SPA
Washington : Microsoft Corporation said Thursday it would share more information about key technology elements of some of its best-selling software products to increase interoperability of its software with that of competitors and customers.
The world’s biggest software maker said it will publish on its website key software blueprints, known as application program interfaces, to make it easier for its high-volume products to be used with third-party software.
Science alliance strengthened during Merkel’s India visit
By T. V. Padma, IANS
New Delhi : The deepening and strengthening scientific collaboration between India and Germany, that included the setting up of a joint science and technology centre here, was in some ways overshadowed by the media focus on the nuclear deal during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit this week.
The two nations have agreed to enhance collaboration and networking across a range of issues, with a focus on reducing the impact of climate change and developing clean energy technologies, according to the science portal www.scidev.net.
Asteriod caused giant hole on Jupiter
By IANS,
London : A huge rock, some 500 metres long, hit Jupiter and created a hole the size of the Pacific Ocean, roughly the equivalent of Jupiter's Little Red Spot, scientists say.
India, China scientific ties growing – but slowly
By IANS,
Bangalore : Indian and Chinese scientists are increasingly working together, but it might take a few years before it becomes significant or sets the pace for South-South scientific collaboration, a study says.
"Till 2003, only a small percentage - around three-fourth of one percent - of Indian papers were written in collaboration with Chinese authors," says the study, published by Chennai-based Subbiah Arunachalam and IIT-Madras' R. Viswanathan.
X-rays to bring nanoscale materials and bio specimens up close
By IANS
New York : X-rays have taken pictures of broken bones for decades, but scientists have now refined them to capture images of ultra-small particles in nano and bio-materials, including cellular nuclei.
This development will facilitate understanding of how materials behave electrically, magnetically and under thermal and mechanical stress. Besides, its applicability to biology and biomedicine will also contribute to our understanding of disease and its eradication, healing after injury, cancer and cell death.
France, EU laud India on successful moon landing
By IANS,
New Delhi : France, chair of the 27-nation European Union, Saturday lauded India on the successful lunar exploration mission, which, it stressed, confirmed “India's eminent position among the world-class scientific and technological powers”.
“France, on behalf of the European Union, warmly congratulates India for the successful landing of the Moon Impact Probe and the launch of the lunar exploration programme,” the French embassy said in a statement here.
Russian ‘internet blacklist’ site faces attack
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow: A Russian website with a special register of "blacklisted" sites came under attack shortly after it went online Thursday, said the federal agency which runs it.
India successfully launches Israeli satellite Polaris into orbit
By KUNA
New Delhi : India Monday launched an Israeli satellite "Polaris" from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The satellite was put into orbit by indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation told reporters, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
Last year, Italian satellite Agile was also put into the orbit by PSLV, the spokesman said.
Polaris is a radar-imaging, remote-sensing satellite and weighs about 300 kgs.
No sex for 100 million years – micro organisms baffle scientists
By DPA
Hamburg : Asexual micro organisms continue to display an amazingly diverse ability to adapt to their ever-changing environment as they have over the past 100 million years, according to scientists who are baffled by these creatures' non-sexual evolutionary change.
New research by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Botanical Physiology in Potsdam, Germany, say they have discovered startling new evidence of adaptation to external environmental stimuli by asexual micro organisms.
Facebook reunites Indonesian siblings after 35 years
By DPA,
Jakarta : An Indonesian woman found a brother who had been missing for more than three decades through the popular social networking site Facebook, a report said Tuesday.
Nurlianti Dehi was separated from her elder brother Anton in 1974 when he left their hometown in Central Sulawesi province for neighbouring North Sulawesi, according to the online edition of the Media Indonesia daily.
Anton maintained contact with his family for the first two years but later cut off communication completely, she told the newspaper.
Fastest integrated circuit for Big Bang machine
By IANS,
London : Scientists have developed the fastest-ever integrated circuit to transmit data in the demanding environment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or the Big Bang machine, the world's largest physics experiment.
The new "link-on-chip" - or LOC serialiser circuit - was designed by physicists at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, as a component for use in a key experiment of the LHC particle accelerator in Europe.
World of Warcraft has roots in Everquest
By Heiko Haupt, DPA
San Diego : Start up the computer, go online and explore a strange fantasy world using a gaming character you've created on your own: the idea has become a familiar one thanks to the mass phenomenon known as World of Warcraft.
It may surprise some gamers to learn that the principle is hardly new. The first online role playing games started appearing as far back as the 1990s. Success would have to wait for the developers, however. It wasn't until 1999 that the title Ultima Online and the near-legendary Everquest helped the genre break through.
Russian academy honours Indian scientist
Moscow, Sep 28 (RIA Novosti) The Russian Academy of Sciences has given the title of honorary academician to Goverdhan Mehta, director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received the title, which is rarely awarded to non-Russians, for "his outstanding achievements in applied chemistry".
The presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences gave Mehta a special diploma and a commemorative sign. The ceremony took place at the 18th Mendeleev Congress currently underway in Moscow. After the ceremony, the scientist gave a lecture on molecular synthesis.
Bio-scientists, curators pool expertise to preserve world’s art, heritage
By IANS,
Washington : Biotech scientists have teamed up with curators to stem the decay of world's art and cultural heritage, hastened by the depredations of climate change.
Many of the world's cultural treasures are created out of organic materials like paper, canvas, wood and leather which, in prolonged warmth and dampness, attract mould, micro-organisms and insects, causing decay and disintegration.
Computer model of brain can help victims of anxiety disorder
By IANS,
Washington : The brain is a complex system made of billions of neurons (nerve cells) and thousands of connections that relate to every human feeling, including one of the strongest emotions, fear. Researchers have started using computer models of the brain to study the connections.
Most neurological fear studies have been rooted in fear-conditioning experiments. Now, University of Missouri (U-M) researchers are using computational models to study the brain's connections.
First identical twin camels bred in UAE
By IANS,
Dubai : Scientists here have successfully produced United Arab Emirates' first identical twin camels using embryo splitting technology, WAM news agency reported Wednesday.
According to scientists at Dubai Camel Breeding Centre, the genetically identical twin camels, Zahi and Baih, were naturally born to two surrogate camel mothers Feb 10 and 23. Both are in good health.
For the first time scientists in the Gulf region used a sophisticated technology called embryo splitting technology to produce the identical twin camels from a six-day-old camel embryo.