Phoenix probe makes scheduled landing on red planet
By DPA,
Washington : NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the red planet to an exuberant reaction by mission scientists Sunday on Earth.
The scene at Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission control in Pasadena, California, was punctuated by hoots and high fives as the probe achieved key milestones leading up to the successful touchdown. Radio contact was confirmed and a parachute critical to a soft landing deployed to ease the landing of the craft on three legs.
The robotic probe landed on tundra above the Martian arctic circle, a terrain never before explored, NASA scientists said.
NASA postpones spacewalk due to ‘health issues’
By DPA
Washington : A planned Sunday spacewalk to attach an expansion to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed to Monday due to unspecified "health issues", officials at the US space agency NASA announced.
The spacewalk by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, docked late Saturday with the ISS, has been rescheduled.
A NASA spokesman refused to clarify the nature of the health issue or identify any astronaut suffering problems.
Battle with Microsoft heats up as Google creates own web browser
By DPA,
New York : Google Inc, creator of the world's most popular internet search engine, has developed its own web browser in a challenge to Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer.
A test version of new software, named Google Chrome, is to be available for download Tuesday in more than 100 countries, Google announced Monday on its corporate blog.
The company said its aim was to deliver a faster, more user-friendly and safer browser.
Software generates faces that display moods, emotions
By IANS,
Washington : A computer model developed by researchers can generate faces that display emotions and moods according to personality traits.
"The aim of this work has been to design a model that reveals a person's moods and displays them on a virtual face," said a co-author of the study, Diana Arellano from University of Balearic Islands (UIB) Artificial Intelligence Unit.
"In the same 3-D space we have integrated personality, emotions and moods, which had previously been dealt with separately," Arellano explained.
Facebook faces action over ’emotion contagion’ study
Washington: US privacy group Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) has filed a formal complaint with the Federate Trade Commission (FTC) over Facebook's use of...
India to set up new science research body
By IANS,
New Delhi : To boost scientific research in India, the government Thursday decided to set up a Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).
After a cabinet meeting Thursday, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters that the contours of advanced basic scientific research are changing extremely fast at the global level and India needs to effectively respond to this reality.
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.
iPhone to help find your parked car
By IANS,
Daytona Beach (Florida) : A software developed by a US company enables the recently launched Apple iPhone 3G to give turn by turn directions, that help people find their parked vehicles.
The software called G-park utilises the new iPhone's in-built global positioning system (GPS) feature.
After parking a vehicle car, the user hits the "Park me!" button on the phone screen to drop a GPS flag on the parking location.
To find the parked car, the user hits the "Where Did I Park" button and the phone guides the user to the vehicle by giving directions.t
Jupiter possibly hit by object, NASA says
By DPA,
Washington : Jupiter appears to have again been hit by a speeding celestial object that left a giant dark scar in the giant gaseous planet's atmosphere, NASA astronomers said.
The US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a tip early Monday from Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley who had spied the spot near the planet's south pole. Scientists then pointed NASA's infrared telescope in Hawaii at the planet and detected signs - including particles in the upper atmosphere and a warming of the lower atmosphere - that it may have been struck by a comet.
App for female commuters’ safety launched
Kolkata : Female train commuters in distress can now seek immediate police assistance at the touch of a button -- courtesy a mobile...
Symantec unfolds vision to safeguard digital world
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Mumbai : Symantec Corp, the $5.2-billion leading security and information management solutions provider, Thursday unveiled its vision for securing the digital world and ensuring stakeholders stay connected anywhere, anytime.
Outlining the vision, Symantec India managing director Vishal Dhupar told about 1,000 delegates that securing IT infrastructure from end-to-end had become critical in the digital world, as pervasive technology was not only converging but also connecting everyone through multiple devices and applications.
New Chinese law to encourage innovation
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's top legislature Saturday adopted an amendment to the Law on Science and Technology Progress that shows more tolerance of failures in scientific projects but brooks no fraud or manipulation of data.
The law, for the first time, allows scientists to report failures in innovative researches without harming their eligibility for future funding.
The amendment, which is to take effect July 1, 2008, was approved at the seven-day meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) that ended Saturday.
US carbon-dioxide emissions dropped 7 percent in 2009
By DPA,
Washington : US emissions of carbon dioxide tumbled seven percent in 2009, government figures have showed, marking the largest one-year decline in the heat-trapping gas blamed for global warming since records began in 1949.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday attributed the sharp fall to a drop in energy use as the United States battled through its worst recession in decades, coupled with a smaller 2.3-percent drop in the "carbon intensity" of energy sources.
Interpreter for the vest pocket: What translation computers can do
By DPA
Munich : They could be helpful when preparing for the next vocabulary test. Or perhaps they'll go to work in a little shop abroad. The aides in question are small translation computers for the road.
These handy little devices have moved far beyond just translating the right word, though. They can now even explain proper grammar and pronunciation.
Electronic translation computers fit into any pants pocket and may well represent a practical alternative to the traditional pocket dictionary.
NASA experts arrive in Chile to help in miners’ rescue
By DPA,
Santiago : Experts of the US space agency NASA arrived in Chile Tuesday to contribute to the rescue of 33 miners trapped 700 metres under the Atacama desert in northern Chile.
The experts were met at the airport by Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich. They are set to help rescue efforts in psychological, operational and health-related aspects, among others.
Russian spaceship delivers food, water to International Space Station
By Xinhua,
Moscow : A Russian cargo spaceship has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver food, water, fuel and equipment for the crew, the Mission Control said Saturday.
The Progress M-14 spaceship docked with the station at 1.39 a.m. Moscow time Saturday.
The spaceship delivered some 2.5 tons of cargo as well as gifts from the crews' families to Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Garrett E. Reisman.
Maveric Systems develops automated software test tool
By IANS
Chennai : Targeting a higher share in the $8 billion Indian offshore testing opportunity, Chennai-based independent software testing company Maveric Systems Limited has come out with an automated software testing tool.
Developed at an investment of around $1 million, the proprietary software tool called Testac promises to reduce software testing time by 30 percent, CEO Ranga Reddy told reporters.
According to him, Maveric Systems is the only Indian software testing company to have such a proprietary tool.
Chandrayaan-I a 110 percent success, asserts ISRO chief
By IANS,
Bangalore : By finding water on the lunar surface, India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has completed "110 percent of the objectives", Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here Friday.
Disagreeing with a section of the media, which dubbed the moon mission a 'failure' when it was abruptly aborted Aug 30 after Chandrayaan lost radio contact with the earth, Nair maintained that it was a wonderful mission.
‘Designing Chandrayaan was like writing lyrics to a set tune’
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : While building India's first moon craft, Chandrayaan project director Mylswamy Annadurai was reminded of his engineering college days when he wrote lyrics to the tunes of his classmates.
At that time he used to write poetry - some were published in the college magazine.
Sify is now Sify Technologies Ltd
By IANS
Chennai : Sify Ltd, Chennai-based leader in consumer Internet and enterprise services, Wednesday changed its name from Sify Ltd to Sify Technologies Ltd, after approval from the ministry of corporate affairs.
"Sify is rapidly growing. In our remote infrastructure management services overseas, we are recognised as a specialist based on our expertise and experience," Raju Vegesna, CEO of Sify Ltd, said here.
Partial solar eclipse in Taiwan
By DPA,
Taipei : Tens of thousands of people in Taiwan watched Wednesday's partial solar eclipse, but few said they still believe in superstitions that the eclipse could spell disaster.
In Taipei, clusters of people gathered in squares, parks and on rooftops to try to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon, which appeared as a total eclipse in parts of India, Nepal, China and Japan and a partial eclipse in other areas of Asia.
Russia launches Proton-M rocket with Dutch telesat
By IANS,
Moscow: Russia conducted the launch of a Proton-M rocket with a telecommunications satellite late Monday.
Google Earth helps discover massive meteor crater
By IANS,
London : Google Earth has helped spot a meteor crater in Egypt that lay undiscovered, which could help scientists size up risks of potentially catastrophic impacts.
Shuttle Discovery carries out safety checks
By RIA Novosti,
Washington : The Discovery crew have carried out a partial-wing inspection of the space shuttle to check for launch damage prior to docking with the International Space Station, a NASA spokesperson said.
The 14-day Discovery mission will deliver its heaviest payload to the ISS, the Japanese Pressurized Module (JPM), which is the second unit of the massive Kibo laboratory complex. Discovery will also deliver a pump and parts for the ISS toilet, which has been malfunctioning.
Mars, a seething cauldron for 100 million years
By IANS,
Sydney : Mars may have been a seething cauldron for nearly a 100 million years after its formation, thwarting evolution of life on the planet, according to an analysis of meteorites.
The research has shown that the red planet remained excessively hot - with temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius - for 100 million years following its formation.
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.
Guidelines for solar plants released
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Wednesday announced guidelines for off-grid solar applications, as well as roof top and other small solar plants.
"The guidelines that we have released today are meant to tap into the diverse and enormous potential of solar energy in all applications - rural, industrial as well as urban. The guidelines are flexible, simple and market friendly," union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said here Wednesday.
Coral reefs growing in cold, deep ocean
By IANS,
London : In the icy, inky depths of the Atlantic ocean, 800 metres below the surface, lie a range of hills covered with large coral reefs.
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) researcher Furu Mienis studied the formation of these unknown cold-water kins of the better-known tropical corals.
These reefs can be found along the eastern continental slope from Morocco to Norway, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and on the western continental slope along the east coast of Canada and the US. Mienis studied the area to the west of Ireland.
Launch of UAE satellite postponed
By IANS,
Dubai : The launch of the United Arab Emirates' first remote sensing satellite DubaiSat-1, scheduled Saturday, has been postponed to July 29, WAM news agency reported.
The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) announced that the launch was postponed by the launching company -- International Space Company (Cosmotras) -- to undertake some safety and security tests.
Whale songs heard for first time around New York
By IANS,
New York : Scientists have, for the first time, recorded the beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales in the waters around this US city.
"This is an exciting time for New Yorkers. Just think, just miles from the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Carnegie Hall and Times Square, the great whales are singing," said Chris Clark, director of the Bioacoustics research programme at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
India and Russia step up space cooperation
By Neelam Mathews, IANS
Hyderabad : With joint plans for new satellites, manned space flights and missions to the moon, India and Russia are entering a new phase of bilateral cooperation in space.
The chiefs of the space agencies in the two countries met during a global conference here last week to decide on a road map for future missions.
"We discussed programmes with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)," Anatoly Perminov, Head of Russian space agency, Roscosmos, told IANS on the margins of the International Astronautical Congress here.
Online petitions website launched in Russia
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow: An online portal to promote public petitions has been launched by the Foundation for Information Democracy in Russia.
Punjab students make 250 km per litre ‘wonder car’
By IANS,
Chandigarh : Imagine doing a 250-km journey from Delhi to Jaipur or Delhi to here in a car that will go the distance in just one-litre of petrol (just over $1)!
That's exactly what students of a technical institute in Punjab - the Rayat Institute of Engineering and Information Technology near Ropar, 50 km from here - claim to have developed.
Israeli scientists revive extinct date palm
By Ofira Koopmans, DPA,
Tel Aviv : Israeli scientists have succeeded in getting a 2,000-year-old date seed to sprout and grow into a palm of a native type that had been extinct for hundreds of years.
That, they say, makes it the oldest known seed ever germinated.
The seed - nicknamed Methusaleh after the oldest person in the Bible - was found in the ancient fortress of Masada, on a hilltop in the Judean desert by the Dead Sea where Jewish zealots committed mass suicide to avoid surrender to the Romans in the first century CE.
Robot scribe copies the Bible as a performance art event
By DPA
Karlsruhe (Germany) : After seven months of writing day and night, a robot in Germany clutching a fountain pen has completed a "manuscript" Bible in cursive handwriting.
The exercise was a piece of performance art by the Centre for Art and Media in the German city of Karlsruhe, which uses state funds to explore new art ideas.
The machine, dubbed "Bios (Bible)", began copying the Bible in June onto a 900-metre-long roll of paper, with its arm forming each letter with the pen after all 66 books of scripture had been loaded into its memory.
Clouds disappoint people in Hyderabad
By IANS,
Hyderabad : People in this south Indian city were disappointed as dark clouds blocked the view of the partial solar eclipse Wednesday morning.
The overcast skies proved a dampener for scientists, school children and other enthusiasts who had made arrangements to watch the rare celestial event.
However, people in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and some other towns watched the partial eclipse. Hundreds gathered at R K Beach in Visakhapatnam to watch the event even as rumours were circulating that a Tsunami would hit the Andhra coast.
When monkeys flew: 50 years since forgotten space pioneers
By Charlotte Horn, DPA,
Washington : Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong are names printed in bold in the history books. But two smaller, unknown space pioneers who helped make their advances possible had their first flight 50 years ago.
Two monkeys were shot into space by the US space agency NASA on May 28, 1959 - paving the way for humans, like the Russian who became the first man to orbit the Earth and the US astronaut who was the first to set foot on the moon.
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.
Intense Technologies bags Iranian telecom software contract
By IANS
Hyderabad : City-based IT company Intense Technologies Wednesday announced it has won a customer communication management project for mobile service provider MTN Irancell of Iran.
MTN Irancell will be using the Intense iECCM (intelligent enterprise customer communication management) framework to substantially reduce its customer communication costs, build its brand image and enhance its customer intimacy levels, said a statement by Intense Technologies here.
The world’s first robot with conscience
By IANS/EFE,
Madrid : Spain has designed the world's first robot with its own "conscience" and "life", which will "entertain, teach and be a companion" to humans who purchase it.
The AISoy 1, which will go on sale in August, is the first social android developed by Spanish firm AISoy Robotics, which is now bringing its creation out of the laboratory.
"It almost seems like science fiction, but it's a reality," said Diego Garcia, one of the "fathers" of the robot and head of AISoy's product engineering and development division.
Lots of watts don’t rev up vacuum cleaner
Berlin, May 18 (DPA) When buying a vacuum cleaner, consumers should not be led astray by high wattage.
The amount of electricity used has little to do with performance, according to a recent test of 17 vacuum cleaners by Stiftung Warentest, the Berlin-based independent German consumer-protection group reported in its April issue.
Suction power depended on the appropriate interplay of the basic device, nozzle construction, suction pipes and airflow, the group added.
Not all forests act against global warming
By IANS,
Washington : The notion that forests remove carbon dioxide from the air and prevent global warming has some complications, says a new study. There's a kind of forest that does remove carbon dioxide, but does not help prevent global warming because it heats up so much itself.
Forests can directly absorb and retain heat, and, in at least one type of forest, these effects may be strong enough to cancel out a good part of the benefit in lowered carbon dioxide, says a discovery by chemistry researchers at the Weizmann Institute (WI), Israel.
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.
12 mn telecom subscribers added in June
BY IANS,
New Delhi: India recorded a 2.63 percent growth in the number of new telecom subscribers, adding 12.03 million new connections in June, official data released Thursday said.
With this, the total tally has reached 464.82 million, compared to 452.91 million a month before.
The overall tele-density has reached 39.86 percent, said sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.
GII: A group that tracks Indian cyberspace
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Does India have too many "cyber law experts"? What's wrong with the Blackberry service in India? How is BSNL's IPO shaping up? These and several such issues routinely crop up on India-GII.
So what is India-GII? Located in cyberspace, it is a network of techies and others fleshing out cyber issues in the country, tracking its progress from one of the most expensive and monopolistic telecom markets to one of the most competitive.
India-GII describes itself as a "list (that) has existed since 1995".
Som Mittal stays as Nasscom president till 2014
By IANS,
New Delhi: Som Mittal will continue as president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) for two more years.
Google Maps now available in 12 more Indian cities
New Delhi: Starting Tuesday people can see traffic information for 12 new cities, including Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal, on Google Maps, a company statement...
China to select taikonauts for space station
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China has started a new round of selection for taikonauts and five to seven of them will be part of the final list, said an official of the country's space programme Thursday.
"The new taikonauts will mainly take missions related to China's planned space station," said Zhang Jianqi, deputy chief commander of the manned space project, on the sidelines of the annual session of China's parliament.
21,000 respond to teen’s party invite on Facebook
By IANS,
London : A teenager in Britain set up a Facebook group for his birthday party, but was left stunned when 21,000 people confirmed themselves as guests.
Earth hit by 556 fiery asteroids in last 20 years: NASA
Washington : A new NASA map has revealed that over 556 asteroids smashed into the atmosphere over a 20-year period between 1994 and 2013,...
British experts use Gurmukhi to aid forensic research
By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : In a unique scientific study, British researchers have used the Punjabi script Gurmukhi to help narrow down the identity of writers and develop a technique that could profile criminal authors of documents.
Forensic experts at the University of Derby believe that a Punjabi equivalent of the English pangram 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' could help profile the criminal authors of documents.
Unsung hero of moon mission is sad but forgiving
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS,
Bangalore : In the nine months India's Chandrayaan-1 has been circling the moon everyone connected with it has been awarded, rewarded or interviewed on TV, except the scientist whose pioneering work in liquid propulsion was pivotal to the mission's success. Perhaps it had something to do with the false spying charges under which he was arrested in 1994.
World’s oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years
By IANS,
London : Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the end of the Neolithic era.
Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago - at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought.
These remarkable findings have been made public by the Greek government after the start of a five-year collaborative project involving the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham.
World’s most advanced robot walks like a human
By IANS,
London : Researchers trying to make robots walk have so far met with limited success, but one developed by a university in Netherlands walks as naturally as humans do.
The robot, called Flame, is arguably the most advanced walking machine in the world, at least in the category that applies the human method of walking as a starting principle.
Since the robot, built at the Delft Technology University, mimics how people walk, it is likely to provide insights into problems associated with walking - and lead to better diagnoses, training and rehabilitation equipment.
How earthquakes happen
New Delhi : Most earthquakes originate from compressional or tensional stresses built up at the margins of the huge moving plates that make up...
Scientists fear another round of mass extinction
By IANS,
London : One in five of the world's mammals, birds and fish are now endangered, indicating a possible sixth round of mass extinction in the Earth's history, scientists say.
What does the Sun mean to your heart?
By Rajat Rai, IANS,
Lucknow : Your stars could have a bearing on your heart condition, says a study by astrologers.
As per Hindu mythology, every organ of the body is governed by one of the nine planets - which can have positive or negative effects. The Sun is considered the Lord of the Heart. July 22 is the day of the total solar eclipse - the century's longest such celestial phenomenon.
Russia to use Baikonur space centre until 2050: Roscosmos
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia will use the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan until 2050, the head of the Russian space agency said.
"The Russian president has set the task to use the Baikonur space centre in full until 2050. We have approved the proposal," Anatoly Perminov, head of the federal space agency Roscosmos told journalists on Cosmonautics Day Saturday.
Baikonur, built in Kazakhstan in the 1950s, was first leased by Russia from Kazakhstan under an agreement signed in 1994 after the break up of the Soviet Union.
Bangalore declared as ‘nano city’ of India
By IANS,
Bangalore : Vice President Hamid Ansari Saturday declared Bangalore the "nano city of India" after the Karnataka government announced it would take measures to encourage research and development in nanoscience and facilitate development of the nanotechnology industry in the state.
Making the declaration at the second 'Bangalore Nano 2008' conference-cum-exposition here, Ansari said nanotechnology, which was changing the face of industry and economy, would be a transformative force in India in the coming years.
Plants can sense, formulate reaction to temperature change
By IANS,
London : Plants are highly sensitive to changing temperatures and can coordinate an appropriate response for variations as little as one degree Celsius, according to a new finding that can help explain how plants will respond in the face of climate change.
The report shows how plants not only 'feel' the temperature rise, but also coordinate an appropriate response by activating hundreds of genes and deactivating others.
The findings will offer scientists new leads in the quest to create crop plants better able to withstand high temperature stress, the researchers say.
New sonar detects concealed underwater objects
By IANS,
London : Scientists have developed a new kind of underwater sonar that can detect objects like reefs and wrecks through bubble clouds that blind conventional sonar.
Hanover Fair highlights Japanese robots and sumo
By Yuriko Wahl, DPA,
Hanover (Germany) : Innovations from Japan, including robots and a virtual power station, are to have pride of place at the Hanover Fair in Germany next week alongside sumo wrestlers and traditional taiko drummers.
The April 21-25 fair has appointed high-tech Japan this year as partner nation. The annual fair, with 5,100 companies from 62 nations exhibiting, is a major venue for showing heavy industrial equipment.
China calls for technology transfer, fund to address climate change
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A senior Chinese official Thursday called on the international community to evolve a mechanism for technology development and transfer to address climate change problems.
Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said, "the core of the mechanism is technology transfer, including sufficient funds to support the transfer".
Software embedded in soldier’s helmet pinpoints enemy snipers
By IANS,
Washington : Imagine a squad of soldiers who can pinpoint out-of-sight enemy snipers and identify the calibre and type of weapons being fired, with the help of software embedded in their helmets.
Engineers at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) have developed a system that can give soldiers just such an edge by turning their combat helmets into "smart nodes" in a wireless sensor network.
BlackBerry Bold home launch fails to create buzz
By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : Canadian wireless giant Research In Motion (RIM) quietly launched its latest BlackBerry Bold smartphone in the home country Thursday.
The BlackBerry Bold, which is considered to be RIM's response to the iPhone 3G launched here last month, didn't generate the euphoria that the Apple device created here last month.
Like the iPhone 3G, the Blackberry Bold is also supported by third-generation wireless networks.
Rogers, the country's biggest telecom service provider, will support the BlackBerry Bold service across Canada.
Two NASA instruments to be on India’s moon mission
By IANS
Chennai : When India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-I takes off in April from the shores of Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh, it will carry a payload that includes two critical NASA instruments to map the moon.
The NASA payloads will be a miniature synthetic aperture radar to map ice deposits in the moon's surface and a moon mineralogy mapper to assess its mineral resources.
ADHD afflicted may find it difficult to kick the habit
By IANS,
New York : Smoking is more prevalent among people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - and they are less likely to quit, according to a new study.
The study found that ADHD smokers with higher levels of hyperactivity and impulsivity, with or without inattention, showed lower quit rates after eight weeks than those without ADHD.
The findings of the study, available online in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, could help smokers and physicians to better tailor cessation treatment for individuals with ADHD.
World largest ice embedded telescope coming up at Antarctica
By IANS,
Washington : An international team is building the world's largest neutrino telescope in the Antarctic, deep beneath the continent's snow-covered surface.
Dubbed "IceCube", the telescope will occupy a cubic kilometre of Antarctica when it is completed in 2011, opening super-sensitive new eyes into the heavens.
"IceCube will provide new information about some of the most violent and far-away astrophysical events in the cosmos," said Thomas Gaisser, professor of Physics and Astronomy University of Delaware (U-D), and one of the project's lead scientists.
Russian Proton-M rocket with Japanese satellite crashes
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A Russian Proton-M booster rocket carrying a Japanese communications satellite exploded shortly after lift-off early Thursday, a space agency spokesman said.
The rocket, which was launched from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 2.43 a.m. Moscow time, experienced an engine malfunction and second-stage separation failure 139 seconds into its flight. It came down in the central Kazakh steppe, 50 km southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, the spokesman said.
Facebook gets notice for tobacco promotion
By IANS,
Chandigarh : Popular social networking website Facebook has been caught in a 'smoky' row. An anti-tobacco activist here has served a notice to the website, accusing it of "promotion of smoking culture" through its web pages.
Anti-tobacco activist Hemant Goswami Tuesday said he has served a notice to Facebook Inc. in California (US) and Facebook Ireland Ltd, which run the social networking website facebook.com, for violation of Indian laws that ban advertisement and promotion of tobacco products.
New species discovered in Atlantic Ocean
By IANS,
London : In a major breakthrough, scientists have found over 10 new species under the Atlantic Ocean, including creatures close to the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals.
The bizarre creatures, oddly-shaped, brightly-coloured or even transparent, that scientists have uncovered during a new study has "revolutionised" thinking about deep-sea life.
Scientists believe they have discovered more than 10 new marine species by using the latest diving technology, Daily Mail reported.
Virtual reality treadmill designed for wheelchair-bound
By IANS,
Washington : University of Texas alumnus Chris Stanford and colleagues are working on a virtual reality treadmill to help wheelchair users exercise with fun.
The treadmill, with the help of a Stanford's solution, called TrekEase, approximates an arcade driving game. Users back a manual wheelchair into a frame, engage the flywheel for resistance, and start the driving software.
"Not many people realise," said Stanford, himself bound to a wheelchair since 1988, "the special health risks faced by wheelchair users."
Online learning helps schoolchildren fare better: study
By IANS,
Sydney : Educationists have developed a new web-based tool that helps primary schoolchildren to concentrate better and develop literacy skills.
The interactive educational software called 'Abracadabra' is designed to help struggling school students aged five to eight years learn basic literacy skills to equip them for the future.
The tool has just undergone a 10-week trial that has been described as a success.
Sunlight can damage your eyes
By IANS,
London : Sunlight doesn't just damage your skin, it can also ruin your eyes and increase the risk of cataract and damage to the retina.
The best way of protecting eyes is always to wear quality sunglasses, reports express.co.uk.
A research in Britain has, however, found that over 60 percent of Britons are influenced by fashion and price rather than whether or not the glasses are effective.
Protecting children's eyes is especially important, yet nearly half of parents put cost ahead of protection.
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.
Scientists create retina from human embryonic stem cells
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have created an eight-layer, early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells. The complex tissue structure offers hope to millions with degenerative eye disorders.
It also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that affect millions.
‘No fresh evidence to indicate Bay of Bengal tsunami’
By Avijit Chatterjee, IANS
Kolkata : The Geological Survey of India has allayed fears of a tsunami hitting the Bay of Bengal soon - though the findings of an Australian geologist suggest that a giant undersea earthquake could inundate India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Gecko inspires creation of ‘sticky nanotubes’ for industry
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers are trying to harness the gecko's ability to scale walls effortlessly, with a practical bearing on military and industrial uses, by developing 'peel test' norms for nanosized manufacturing.
'Peel tests' are used in industry to determine just how much force is required to pull a material off another. But no tests exist for nanoscale structures, said Arvind Raman of Purdue University.
Lenovo launches online auction of Olympic theme PCs
By IANS,
Kolkata : Lenovo, Chinese manufacturer of PCs and partner of the Beijing Olympic torch relay, Saturday launched its second phase of three online auctions in India as part of the countdown to the games.
The auction features notebook PCs inspired by the Olympic torch and is signed by Saif Ali Khan.
Saif was one of the torchbearers who ran in the New Delhi leg of the relay April 17.
30 launches planned in next three fiscals: ISRO chief
Thiruvananthapuram : The Indian space agency has a roadmap of 10 launches per year for the next three financial years or a total...
‘Heat stroke’ caused India’s lunar probe to fail – report
By RIA Novosti,
New Delhi : India's first lunar mission may have failed as a result of overheating, a national daily reported on Monday.
Chandrayaan-1 was launched in October 2008 and its main mission was conducting geological mapping of the Moon's surface aimed at producing a complete map of the chemical characteristics and 3-D topography. Chandrayaan means Moon Craft in Sanskrit.
New device fuses cells for stem cell research
By IANS,
Washington : Engineers have developed a highly efficient new way to fuse a pair of cells to create a hybrid version.
The new technique that fuses an adult and embryonic stem cell allows researchers to study the genetic reprogramming that occurs in such hybrids.
The researchers were led by collaboration between Joel Voldman, associate professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rudolf Jaenisch, professor of biology and a member of the Whitehead Institute.
Want to meet T-Rex? Go to Jharkhand
By IANS,
Ranchi : Want to know more about the ferocious T-Rex and his friends? Well, there's good news for you, as the forest department of Jharkhand plans to establish a dinosaur park in the state.
The authorities came up with the idea after footprints resembling those of the big reptiles were discovered in the state.
"Footprints resembling those of dinosaurs have been found in Pithoria in Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts. There is a possibility that the big reptiles might have been roaming in these areas," said Nitish Priyadarshi, a geologist and environmentalist.
India to launch ocean-watching satellite this month
By IANS,
Chennai : Some time between Sep 20 and 25, India will launch a specialised satellite to watch over the Indian Ocean, an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said Monday.
Oceansat 2 will be launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) into a sun-synchronous orbit 720 km above the earth, the official said on phone from ISRO's launch centre at Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), 70 km from here.
The PSLV will also carry a number of small "nano" satellites, the official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Technical snag hits BSNL mobile services in Himachal
By IANS,
Shimla: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) CellOne mobile services were hit in Himachal Pradesh Thursday due to a major technical snag, an official said here.
"Due to some major technical problem at the Sundernagar telephone exchange (in Mandi district), the mobile connectivity of CellOne across the state was badly affected throughout the day today (Thursday)," a senior BSNL officer said, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
However, he said, by the evening almost 90 percent of connectivity of the mobile users was restored.
ISRO eyes commercial launches to earn cash
By IANS,
Kolkata : After a string of successes, a confident Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is ready to offer its capacities on a commercial basis and ring in its cash registers, after meeting the domestic requirement that calls for four to five launches a year.
"ISRO launch vehicles are efficient, reliable and cost-effective. Our launch vehicles cost nearly 25 percent less than what international agencies demand," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair Thursday said.
Spacewalking astronauts repair Hubble gyroscopes
By DPA,
Washington : US astronauts Friday completed a delicate spacewalk to replace three pairs of gyroscopes aboard the Hubble Space Telescope.
In the second of five planned spacewalks during the mission, astronauts Mike Massimino and Michael Good removed and replaced the gyroscopes that keep the telescope aligned and pointed toward celestial bodies being examined by astronomers.
India successfully tests supersonic cruise missile
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: India Sunday successfully test fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a vertical launcher fitted on board moving warship INS Ranvir off the east coast, defence sources said.
The missile performed supersonic manoeuvring following the exact flight path and homed in on to the decommissioned target ship INS Meen, the sources said.
"The mission met 100 percent success," Praveen Pathak, additional general manager of BrahMos Aerospace, told IANS over phone from New Delhi.
China’s first lunar probe enters moon’s orbit
Beijing, Nov 5 (Xinhua) China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 successfully entered moon's orbit Monday, becoming China's first circumlunar satellite.
Chang'e-1, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), started braking at 11.15 a.m. at a position around 300 km away from the moon and entered the moon's orbit at around 11.37 a.m. after completing the braking, according to the BACC.
Clouds block view of total solar eclipse in Gujarat
By IANS,
Surat : Scientists, tourists and school children in Gujarat were left disappointed Wednesday as heavy clouds blocked the view of the total solar eclipse.
"Some darkness was felt in Surat around 6.25 a.m. to 6.27 a.m. but the eclipse was not visible due to heavy clouds," said a senior official of the Gujarat Science City, who had arrived here from Ahmedabad to watch the event.
The official said that the total solar eclipse could not be seen even in Vadodara and Ahmedabad due to cloudy skies.
Google to insert automated captions on YouTube
By DPA,
San Francisco: Google is to add automatic captions to the tens of millions of English-language videos it hosts on YouTube, the web search giant said Friday.
The move will make the videos more accessible to deaf viewers but will also help Google index the content and supply relevant ads alongside it, analysts said.
Space dreams dip low as NASA marks 50 years
By Peer Meinert, DPA,
Washington : NASA is preparing to mark its 50th birthday in a somewhat sober mood, and even the official date for the legal creation of the space agency - July 29 - will take a back seat to larger celebrations planned for October.
The surviving space shuttles, now 27 years old, are to be retired in 2010, leaving the sole transport to the International Space station in the hands of America's erstwhile space rivals, the Russians.
Feast organised during solar eclipse in Orissa
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The Pathani Samant Planetarium in Orissa has arranged a special feast at its campus during the solar eclipse Friday to dispel any superstition, said an official.
"There are superstitions prevalent among people that if you eat during a solar eclipse it will have a bad effect. But we want to dispel superstitions. We have arranged a special feast at the planetarium premises. It will be joined by officials and members of the public during the solar eclipse," said Subhendu Pattnaik, deputy director of the Pathani Samant Planetarium, in Bhubaneswar.
Yahoo may face early shareholder trial
By DPA,
San Francisco : Internet pioneer Yahoo may have to face a lawsuit by insurgent shareholders before a key Aug 1 vote in which the company's board faces re-election, according to court papers released Tuesday.
The activist investors led by Carl Icahn filed a lawsuit against Yahoo, charging that it introduced an illegal employee severance plan that could have tacked an estimated $2.4 billion in costs to Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid. Microsoft withdrew the offer on May 3.
Indian group crowned world energy champion
By IANS,
London : An Indian technology and alternative energy group has been crowned 'Energy Champion' of the world by a prestigious British environmental organisation.
Bangalore-based Technology Informatics Design Endeavour, or Tide, was awarded the title along with a prize of 40,000 pounds by Nobel laureate and environmentalist Wangari Mathai at a ceremony in London.
NASA Announces End Date for Space Shuttle Missions
By SPA,
Washington : The U.S.’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Monday set an approximate date for the final space shuttle mission for May 31, 2010.
The date set comes four months before the shuttle fleet retires. NASA has 10 missions remaining for the shuttle fleet, which U.S. President George W. Bush ordered to retire by September 30, 2010.
The remaining schedule includes five flights in 2008, five in 2009 and three in 2010.
Arianespace to launch India’s communication satellites
By IANS
New Delhi : The government has decided to place the contract for launching of GSAT-8/INSAT-4G communication satellites with Arianespace of Europe.
The decision was approved by the union cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday.
The cabinet approval has however put a rider, saying "The cost of the project should not exceed $67.5 million or Rs.2.97 billion", said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi while briefing newsmen on the decisions of the cabinet.
CISF to protect techies, not intrude on their private space
By IANS,
Bangalore : The ceremony to welcome the latest "entrants" to IT bellwether Infosys Technologies at its Electronic City campus here Friday was a grand one, with the company's co-founder, chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayan Murthy himself doing the honours.
The 101 "new entrants" were, however, no IT geeks joining the country's second largest software exporter as its recruits.
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'.
Astronomers discover new planet in constellation Leo
By Xinhua
London : British and Spanish scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo, science news weibsite Alpha Galileo reported on Wednesday.
A team of astronomers from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) working with Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, a visiting astrophysicist at University College London (UCL), made the discovery from model predictions of a new exoplanet (extrasolar planet) orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo.
Harbhajan breaks into top 20 in ICC ODI bowlers’ chart
By IANS
Dubai : Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh climbed five places to enter top 20 while pacer Ishant Sharma climbed up 96 places to be placed 154th in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) One-day Internationals (ODI) bowlers rankings.
Harbhajan, the only Indian in top 20, is 18th with 618 rating points while the Delhi's Ishant, 19, who has made significant impact on his first tour to Australia. He has claimed six wickets in four matches in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series.
British gangs duping people to buy malicious software
By IANS,
London : Britons are being duped to buy malicious software in the guise of anti-virus protection by criminals posing as legitimate IT experts, officials warned Monday.
Fossil of new crocodile species found in Brazil
By Xinhua
Beijing : Scientists in Brazil found the fossil of a new species of prehistoric predator dating back about 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period that represented a "missing link" to modern-day crocodiles, media reported Friday.
Beijing : Scientists in Brazil found the fossil of a new species of prehistoric predator dating back about 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period that represented a "missing link" to modern-day crocodiles, media reported Friday.
US congratulates India on Chandrayaan-I launch
By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : The US congratulated India on the successful launch of the maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I, describing it as demonstration of the country's technological prowess in its quest for peaceful exploration of space.
"The US congratulates India on the successful launch. This is a proud moment in India history and demonstrates India's technological prowess by joining the international community in the peaceful exploration of space," American Ambassador to India David C Mulford said on Wednesday.
Interactive websites shape popular perception: study
By IANS,
Toronto : An attractively designed website, encouraging interaction with a target audience, helps shape popular perceptions about an organisation or the groups it represents.
S. Shyam Sundar of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues are trying to fathom how such interactivity influences public perception of an organisation.
In previous studies of such websites, Sundar had found that candidates were rated more positively if their site had some interactive features, independently of the quality of content.
IBM to set system to monitor Bangalore water supply
By IANS,
Bangalore: Global IT major IBM's big data and predictive analytics will create systems to monitor and manage water supply in Bangalore by the...
Russia opens polar research station to secure Arctic claim
By DPA
Moscow : Russia has opened a new Arctic polar research station in a bid to reinforce its claims to Arctic gas and oil deposits, Interfax news agency reported Friday.
The drifting station research unit, North Pole-35, was set up in the Arctic Friday, the agency reported, citing a spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute.
The report said the Russian flag would also be hoisted at the research unit, where 22 researchers and scientists would work, most of them Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) staff.
India’s first moon mission is world’s 68th
By IANS,
Bangalore : Chandrayaan-1, that lifts off Wednesday morning from Sriharikota, is India's first and the world's 68th mission to the moon, the earth's closest celestial body which has fascinated children, scientists and poets alike.
"Through the ages, the moon, our closest celestial body, has aroused curiosity in our mind, far more than any other objects in the sky," says the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on its maiden moon mission.
Scientists discover wave pattern in Saturn’s atmosphere
By Xinhua,
Washington : Scientists have discovered a wavepattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years, according to two studies published Thursday in journal Nature.
The discovery is the result of a 22-year campaign observing Saturn from Earth, and the Cassini spacecraft's observations of temperature changes in the giant planet's atmosphere over time.
Use biotechnology for green development: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
By IANS,
New Delhi : Biotechnology provides a viable solution to almost every form of environmental damage and the government must pay more attention to it, says Biocon head Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
Delivering the seventh Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) here Tuesday evening, Mazumdar-Shaw made a strong pitch for development of biofuels in India without compromising food production in any way.
New star forming regions found in Milky Way
By IANS,
Los Angeles : Astronomers have discovered a large number of previously unknown regions in the Milky Way where massive stars are being formed.
The star-forming H II regions are sites where hydrogen atoms are stripped of their electrons by intense radiation from young stars.
With the helo of infrared and radio telescopes Spitzer Space, the researchers traced these regions which remain hidden due to gas and dust clouds around the Milky Way, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said Wednesday.
Are microbes the answer to the energy crisis?
By IANS,
Washington : Microscopic organisms could be the answer to the looming fuel crisis in the not too distant future.
These biological factories can turn out unlimited supplies of inexpensive, eco-friendly biofuels as an oil-substitute, according to a study.
Among alternative fuels, ethanol is the current king. Almost all ethanol produced in the US is fermented from readily available sugars in maize. Ethanol from maize has also been blamed for rising food prices.
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.
Light fuel cells will power unmanned choppers
By IANS,
London : Light fuel cells are likely to power tiny, unmanned choppers that will look for people trapped in debris or examine contaminated terrain.
Since large numbers of fuel cells are required to deliver enough power, manufacturers tend to stack them, making the chopper heavy.
But this problem has been overcome by researchers from Technical University of Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM.
Virgin’s Branson unveils model of tourist spaceship
By IANS
New York : The feisty founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson unveiled here Wednesday a model of the spacecraft that he hopes will usher in organised space tourism as early as next year.
"Two thousand and eight really will be the year of the spaceship," Branson said unveiling a scale model of the new craft at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. He added that his SpaceShipTwo would start testing later this year.
ISRO entering next phase of space vision: Madhavan Nair
By IANS
Hyderabad : The chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair believes that the organisation is entering the second phase of space vision with components of advanced technologies for low cost access to space planetary exploration and manned mission initiatives in the next few decades.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2007 here Monday, Nair said the proposed launch of the mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I, is part of this second vision.
Russia could stop tourist flights to space from 2010
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Tourist flights to the International Space Station (ISS) could be stopped from 2010 due to a planned increase in crew numbers on the station, the head of the Russian space agency has said.
"As part of our current programme, space tourist flights to the ISS will continue. But from 2010, difficulties could emerge due to planned increases in ISS crew numbers to between six and nine members," Anatoly Perminov told journalists Friday.
Space tourists started flying to the ISS in 2001.
China’s first lunar probe completes long journey to moon successfully
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, completed its nearly two-million-km journey to the moon successfully Wednesday and entered its working orbit.
The probe, following instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC), started its third braking at 8.24 a.m. and entered a 127-minute round polar circular orbit at 8.34 a.m.
"It marks success of the probe's long flight to the moon," said Luan Enjie, chief commander of China's lunar probe project.
World misled over glacier meltdown: Report
By IRNA,
New Delhi : A warning that most of the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 owing to climate change is likely to be retracted after the United Nations body that issued it admitted to a series of scientific blunders.
Two years ago, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) headed by India's Rajendra Pachauri, issued a benchmark report that claimed to have incorporated the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming.
A central claim was that world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.
Eurofighter Typhoon targets 300 additional orders in next 20 years
By IANS,
New Delhi: The four-nation Eurofighter consortium foresees substantial growth opportunities on the world market, with India playing a crucial role, it said Friday.
"We evaluate the global demand for combat aircraft in the next 20 years at around 800 units. For Eurofighter Typhoon, we target 300 additional export contracts, with Asia representing a substantial part of these orders," Enzo Casolini, CEO of Eurofighter GmbH, said.
Telangana to develop national repository of smart technologies
Hyderabad: With the central government set to launch its ambitious 100 smart cities project later this month, Telangana plans to develop a national repository...
Tiny refrigerators to cool future computers
By IANS,
Washington : Laptops and personal computers of the future will be cooled by tiny fridges sitting snugly inside them, according to an Indian American computer scientist.
Unlike conventional fan-based systems, these miniatures would ensure the removal of a greater volume of heat and also improve the performance of the machines, said Indian American Suresh Garimella, of Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Cell phone with built in radiation sensors to thwart nuclear terrrorism
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (KUNA) -- A newly developed cell phones detect radiation to thwart nuclear terrorism, able to detect even slight residues of radioactive material, researchers hope will one-day blanket the nation.
"It's the ubiquitous nature of cell phones and other portable electronic devices that give this system its power", said Ephraim Fischbach, physics professor at Purdue University, in a statement Tuesday.
Crush of people kills two eclipse watchers in Varanasi
By IANS,
Varanasi : Two people were killed here Wednesday morning when thousands of people gathered at the banks of the Ganges to watch the solar eclipse.
"One person died because of drowning and the other got crushed in a stampede. The names of the deceased are yet to be determined" said P.C. Meena, deputy inspector general of police (DIG).
Antony inaugurates high-end molecular imaging research centre
By IANS
New Delhi : Defence Minister A.K. Antony Saturday inaugurated a Molecular Imaging Research Centre here to undertake high-end research in the development of advanced life support technology.
The state-of-the-art centre was inaugurated at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (Inmas) in the capital.
Ammonia leak causes trouble on spacewalk
By DPA,
Washington : Two astronauts spent more than eight hours outside the International Space Station (ISS), but were unable to make much progress fixing a broken cooling system after part of it proved difficult to disconnect and leaked dangerous ammonia.
Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson were to replace the broken 350-kg ammonia cooling loop with a spare part stored about 10 metres away outside the ISS during the spacewalk that began at 1119 GMT.
India’s science body signs deal with MeadWestvaco
By IANS
Mumbai : India's leading scientific research organisation Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has inked an agreement with global packaging solutions major MeadWestvaco Corp (MWV) for developing and packaging applications in consumer, agriculture and transportation sectors.
After signing the umbrella agreement for research and development collaboration, S.K. Brahmachari, director general of CSIR, said research partnership would address critical areas in the sponsored research projects in the applications of packaging.
Revamped Hubble ready to tackle universe’s big questions
By Anne K. Walters, DPA,
Washington : Five straight days of intense and dangerous repair work have sharpened the vision of the Hubble Space Telescope and prepared it to once again collect groundbreaking insights into the origins of the universe.
‘A galaxy is like a giant soap bubble’
By IANS,
London : Although little is known about how the universe is structured, latest observations support the theory that large galaxies are clustered together in structures similar to giant soap bubbles, with tinier galaxies sprinkled on the surface of this "soapy" layer.
Indian-American programmes robots to follow the leader better
By IANS,
Washington : An Indian-American professor of engineering has programmed a robot that can sense your head turning left a fraction of a second before your body makes that left turn. That turn of the head is the cue it will pick up to keep following.
While negotiating a highway or sauntering down the street, people pick up cues about what other people are going to do and act accordingly.
Japanese brewery claims to have the world’s first ‘space beer’
By DPA,
Tokyo : A Japanese brewery claimed Tuesday it has produced the world's first space beer using barley grown in space.
The grain was grown in a Russian laboratory on board the International Space Station, Sapporo brewery said.
The company has brewed only 100 litres of the extraterrestrial brew, which it says is not meant for sale.
Thirty people will be chosen in a lottery to sample a few millilitres each of the beer in January; the rest will be used for research.
Tests showed the beer was safe, the company said, and it tastes normal.
China launches satellites to monitor environment
By Xinhua,
Taiyuan (China) : China Saturday launched two satellites into orbit for monitoring the environment and forecasting natural disasters.
The two satellites, launched from the Taiyuan satellite launch centre in the northern province of Shanxi and carried by a Long March 2C rocket, were expected to enhance the country's ability to forecast natural disasters, according to Bai Zhaoguang, designer of the satellites.
The satellites, called "Environment-1", are China's first ecology monitors in space.
ISRO developing cheaper satellite phone link
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Hyderabad : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a new device to drastically reduce the cost of satellite phone usage and enable access to remote areas of the country, a top space agency official said here Monday.
Scientists locate breeding ground of rarest bird
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have located the breeding ground of a species dubbed "the world's least known bird" -- the large-billed reed warbler, in the remote Wakhan reaches of Afghanistan.
The recent discovery represents a watershed moment in the study of this bird. The first specimen of such warblers was discovered in India in 1867, with well over a century elapsing before a second discovery of a single bird in Thailand in 2006.
DNA test on yeti hair found in India
By IANS,
London : Scientists propose to conduct DNA tests on some hair said to belong to the mythical yeti. Apparently the hair was collected by a yeti believer in a dense jungle in northeastern India.
Initial tests on the hair carried out by Oxford Brookes University showed they did not match any of the known animals. University officials said they could belong to an as yet unidentified species of animal that many swear to have seen in the Himalayas or in the northeastern forests.
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.
Japanese moon orbiter videos 1st “Full Earth-rise”
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A high-definition video camera on Japan's lunar orbiter captured a rare view of the full Earth as it rose above the moon's horizon on April 5, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials said in a recent statement after releasing a short video of the event.
"This is the first time that a high-[definition] image of the 'Full Earth-rise' has been captured from space," JAXA officials said.
Meteor showers to make sky sparkle Aug 12
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : The night sky will be streaked with light in a celestial spectacle put up by the Perseids meteor showers Aug 12.
Sky gazers can look out for it before dawn when over 100 meteors will sparkle in the night sky.
"Perseids are the most famous and beautiful of all meteor showers that approach from the horizon. They are long, slow and colourful," Nehru Planetaruim director N. Rathnashree told IANS.
India to launch ‘unique’ satellite to study distant glaxies
By NNN-PTI,
Shillong, India : India's space agency along with astronomers from across the country will launch a "unique" satellite later this year to study distant galaxies and black holes.
The Astrosat, scheduled for launch towards the end of the year, will be the country's first satellite entirely dedicated to astronomy.
Astronomers are excited about the prospects thrown up by the Astrosat which is expected to give India an edge in observing the universe.
Scientists develop mother of all laser beams
By IANS
New York : Scientists have developed the mother of all laser beams - one that has focussed power equal to all the sunlight heading earth's way.
Researchers at the University of Michigan recently created the record-setting beam, which measures 20 billion trillion watts per square centimetre, Sciencedaily reported.
"I don't know of another place in the universe that would have this intensity of light. We believe this is a record," said Karl Krushelnick, who was part of the team that created the laser.
Indian IT industry on alert to prevent swine flu fallout
By Pupul Dutta and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore: The $60-billion Indian IT industry is on an alert mode on account of the pandemic swine flu that has affected travel and led to postponement of events, according to a top industry official.
"Though we are taking preventive measures, we have postponed a few events, including one in Pune," said Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the industry's representative body.
“Noah’s ark of plant life” launched in Arctic
By Xinhua
Beijing : A vault dubbed "Noah's ark of plant life" has been launched in the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain to protect the world's crop seeds from man-made and natural disasters.
An opening ceremony was conducted Tuesday at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, as 100 million seeds from more than 100 countries were placed inside. The first day's deposits comprised 268,000 samples and filled 676 boxes.