Obama urges UN to punish North Korea for missile launch
By IANS,
Prague : US President Barack Obama has said that North Korea violated international rules when it tested a rocket capable of sending weapons at long range, and called on the UN Security Council to take action, a media report said.
"This provocation underscores the need for action, not just this (Sunday) afternoon at the Security Council but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons," Obama said.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something," the New York Times quoted Obama as saying Sunday.
University students win robotic car race
New York, Nov 5 (IANS) A robotic car built by university students won a $2 million US military-sponsored race in California, it was announced Sunday.
Backed by General Motors (GM), a team called Tartan Racing -- formed by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- built the robotic car nicknamed 'Boss'. It won Saturday by covering a distance of about 85 km in less then six hours on a simulated town created on a disused US Air Force base in Victorville, California.
Kanyakumari sees celestial play as moon blocks sun
By IANS,
Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) : Thousands of people in this Tamil Nadu city watched the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium that began at 11.06 a.m. Friday. Scientists and students from several parts of the country have converged here to study the celestial spectacle.
An annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon's shadow is smaller than the visible disc of the sun, making it appear like a ring of fire. The eclipse is expected to peak to annular eclipse at 1.15 p.m.
Will the Big Bang test end the world on Wednesday?
By Venkata Vemuri, IANS,
London : If critics are to be believed, the end of the universe will begin coming Wednesday when a Welsh miner's son launches the world's biggest scientific experiment to know how the universe was born.
The well-known Welshman physicist, Lyn Evans, dubbed Evans the Atom, will this week switch on a giant particle accelerator designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.
On Wednesday, Evans will fire up the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light.
Iran plans manned spaceflight by 2021
By RIA Novosti,
Tehran : Iran would send its first man into space on board its own spacecraft by 2021, the head of Iran's Aerospace Agency announced Thursday.
"Scientific research has already begun in Iran," Reza Tagipur was quoted by Iranian media as saying. "According to our plans, a successful Iranian manned spaceflight will be carried out before 2021."
"India and China were able to send their astronauts into space after 15 years of research and preparations. We will also go the same route, but believe we will achieve our goal in a shorter period," he said.
‘Big mistake’ if US blocks overseas skilled workers: Bill Gates
By IANS,
New Delhi : Microsoft founder Bill Gates Friday said it would be a "big mistake" if the US curbs the entry of skilled workers from abroad, rallying behind the "smart people" from countries like India that has a globally recognised outsourcing industry.
He also said Microsoft will like to partner the Indian government in its ambitious plan to give a unique identity number and a biometric card to each of its 1.17 billion people.
Russia to set world record with 39 space launches in 2009
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia is planning to set a world record by conducting a total of 39 space launches in 2009 despite the current global financial crisis, the head of the Russian Space Agency said on Monday.
"We have scheduled a record number of launches for next year. We are planning to carry out 39 launches, half of them commercial and civilian satellites," Anatoly Perminov said.
Russia conducted 27 space launches in 2008 and 26 launches in 2007, becoming the world's leader in this sphere.
Iran not to retreat on nuke programme
By IANS,
Tehran: Iran will not retreat "an iota" from its right to develop nuclear energy despite Western-led sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.
India test-fires new medium-range missile
By IANS,
Balasore/New Delhi : India Wednesday successfully test-fired a new nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile, that can also be launched from an attack-proof underground silo and is meant to give the Indian Army a credible second-strike capability, an official said.
"The test was successful," an official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that has developed the missile, told IANS.
Terror gene that can make you laugh too
By IANS,
London : When watching the "Exorcist" did you scream in terror at scenes of spinning heads or did you laugh it off? Depends on which version of the anxiety gene you are born with, scientists say.
A new study says there are different versions of the gene linked to feelings of anxiety which explains how different people react differently to horror films.
A particular variant of what is called the 'COMT' gene affects a chemical in the brain that is linked to anxiety, they have found.
Now use eye movement to play computer games
By IANS,
London : In an invention that could go a long way in helping the disabled, students have developed a computer game that can be operated by eye movement.
The students, from Imperial College London (ICL), have developed an open source game called 'Pong', where a player uses his eye to move a bat to hit
a ball as it bounces around the screen.
To play the game, the user wears special glasses containing an infrared light and a webcam that records the movement of one eye. The webcam is
linked to a laptop where a computer programme syncs the player's eye movements to the game.
Chandrayaan camera detects X-ray signal from moon
By IANS,
Bangalore : The sophisticated camera on board India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 detected the first X-ray signal from the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here Friday.
"The first X-ray signature was detected from a region near the Apollo landing sites Dec 12 at 02:36 universal time. The solar flare that caused the X-ray fluorescence was exceedingly weak, about 20 times smaller than the minimum the CIXS imaging spectrometer was designed to detect," the space agency said in a statement.
How to avoid e-mail threats
Washington, Feb 14 (DPA) Checking your e-mail has become a dangerous business. The number and types of e-mail borne threats that can cause harm to your computer or your privacy are growing.
Sometimes the actual danger imposed by these threats can be over hyped, but you still need to know what could constitute a dangerous e-mail message and how to respond to the threat.
Q: Can I get a virus just by reading an e-mail message?
Using the internet as a knowledge tool
By IANS
New Delhi : India's National Knowledge Commission is laying special emphasis on the internet to act as a "powerful and democratic source of information and knowledge" and is planning to open a series of web portals for the purpose.
"These portals should become a decisive tool in the popular movements in support of the right to information, decentralisation, transparency, accountability and people's participation," commission chairman Sam Pitroda has said.
Iran dismisses US concern over space research drive
By IANS
Tehran : Iran Tuesday dismissed the US concern over its space research programme and said that the launch of Explorer-1 rocket is only for research studies.
"The government is responsible for progress and development of the country and is not responsible for others' concern," Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said during his weekly press conference, official IRNA news agency reported.
BigAdda among Dataquest’s top 25 Indian Internet start-ups
By IANS,
New Delhi : BigAdda, the social networking website belonging to the Anil Ambani group, Fropper, a dating site and Indyarocks, an entertainment-based social network, are among the top 25 Indian Internet start-ups ranked for the first time by leading technology magazine Dataquest.
The rankings prepared with the help of Indianweb2.com that tracks Indian start-ups in the technology space, is an interesting mix of social networking sites, tool makers, rating sites, and creators of close-knit online communities and mobile applications.
Why India’s $35 computer joke isn’t funny
By Prasanto K. Roy, IANS,
Here we go again! India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has "launched" a $35 computer, evidently a "dream project" of his. The touch-screen, Linux-based device looks iPad-inspired, but we know little about how it works.
It emerged from a student project with a bill of material adding up to $47, a price that the minister wants to bring down to $10 "to take forward inclusive education". It promises browser and PDF reader, wi-fi, 2GB memory, USB, Open Office, and multimedia content viewers and interfaces.
Ten Indian students leave for NASA
By IANS,
Hyderabad : Ten Indian students, winners of a competition organised by an educational website, Thursday left for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US.
The students, along with their parents and school teachers, boarded the plane from New Delhi on their way to NASA, said a statement by Learnsmart India, the company that runs 24x7guru.com which conducted the Destination NASA Knowledge Challenge.
Microsoft to acquire multitouch display maker
By IANS,
San Francisco: Microsoft has announced that it has agreed to buy large-scale multitouch display maker Perceptive Pixel.
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.
Solar-powered plants promise water for world’s poorest
By Ernest Gill, DPA
Hamburg (Germany) : A team of German scientists has come up with a revolutionary design for a small solar-powered mobile water treatment plant which could bring hope to drought-affected areas of the world.
The researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg said they have been carrying out tests on their small, decentralised water treatment plants with an autonomous power supply in recent weeks and that they hope they will move into production in the coming months.
Researchers deluged with online information, but seldom use it
By IANS,
Washington : Although the Internet provides scientists an instant access to thousands of academic journals and research papers, they are citing fewer papers and that too from more recent publications.
This trend may be limiting the creation of new ideas and theories, said James Evans, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, who, focussing on the nature of research, analysed a database of over 34 million articles.
He compared their online availability between 1998 and 2005 to the number of times they were cited from 1945 to 2005.
Defunct U.S. spy satellite falling from orbit
By Xinhua
Washington : A defunct U.S. spy satellite is falling from orbit and could hit the Earth in late February or March, agencies reports said Saturday.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.
Washington : A defunct U.S. spy satellite is falling from orbit and could hit the Earth in late February or March, agencies reports said Saturday.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.
Video game sharpens brain power in ageing seniors
By IANS,
Washington : A video game focussing on strategy has been found to sharpen brain power in ageing people.
A new study found that people in their 60s and 70s can improve a number of cognitive functions by playing "Rise of Nations", a game that rewards nation-building and territorial expansion.
"Rise of Nations gives gamers points for building cities and 'wonders', feeding and employing their people, maintaining an adequate military and expanding their territory.
Messenger craft flies within 200 km of Mercury
By DPA,
Washington : NASA's Messenger spacecraft came within 200 km of Mercury Monday, taking pictures of the rocky planet nearest the sun.
It was the second of three planned flybys for the craft, which is due to settle into orbit around Mercury in 2011, providing what scientists hope will be the most complete picture yet of the solar system's smallest planet.
The 0840 GMT flyby was designed largely to pick up a gravitational boost of energy for the craft. It will begin beaming data back to Earth Wednesday, NASA and university researchers said.
Previously unknown species of dinosaur discovered in Mexico
By RIA Novosti
Mexico City : Scientists in northern Mexico have unearthed evidence of a previously unknown species of plant-eating dinosaur that inhabited the Coahuila desert more than 72 million years ago, national media said.
The creature had three giant horns, which are thought to have helped it attract females and fight predators.
Mini black holes could be passing through Earth
By IANS,
London : Space is littered with black holes that collapsing giant stars leave in their wake, but a miniature version could be passing through the Earth daily.
Revealed: secrets of mimic butterfly’s wing pattern
By IANS
London : The mocker swallowtail butterfly's unique ability to hoodwink predators by sporting wing patterns and colours mimicking those of poisonous species is thanks to a developmental gene, say scientists.
In a new study, biologists contend that an understanding of how these mimic patterns evolved may shed new light on whether such evolutionary changes occurred in small gradual steps, or in sudden leaps.
A team of biologists used molecular tags and DNA sequencing to pinpoint the part of its genetic code that determines wing pattern and colour.
India to miss total solar eclipse
By IANS,
New Delhi : This year's total solar eclipse on Sunday will be missed by sky gazers in India as the celestial phenomenon will not be visible in Asia.
The eclipse will be visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean area and South American countries like Argentina and Chile. A total solar eclipse occurs every 18 months.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, and the moon fully or partially covers the sun as viewed from the earth.
Giant asteroid to pass between earth, moon
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A 400-metre-wide asteroid will Tuesday fly past earth, closer to it than the moon's orbit.
Samsung’s tablet looks to take on iPad
By IANS,
London : Samsung and Google have launched their version of a tablet computer designed to take on Apple's iPad, the market leader.
New NASA mission to reveal moon’s evolution
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
New educational app rewards users with real cash
Seoul : South Korea-based educational startup BeNative has launched CashEnglish, an app that rewards users with real cash for playing educational games.
The app is...
British astronomers discover three new planets
By Xinhua
London : Britain's astronomers from the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP), a leading planet-hunting team, have announced the discovery of three new planets, according to a press release issued by Keele University.
These extra-solar planets named WASP-3, WASP-4 and WASP-5 were seen to transit their host star.
WASP-3 is the third planet that the team has found in the northern hemisphere, using the SuperWASP camera sited in the Canary Islands.
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.
US-Indian team gets $1 mn for clean coal technology
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : A university-industry team has been awarded more than $1 million to help India increase energy production and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by developing and testing advanced technologies for cleaning coal.
The grant from the US Department of State in support of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate has gone to a team led by the Centre for Advanced Separation Technologies at Virginia Tech.
Have you sent your name to Mars?
New York : Would you like to imprint your name on the surface of the Red Planet? NASA is giving you a chance to...
Rationalists munch breakfast during eclipse to fight superstition
By IANS,
Hyderabad : A group of rationalists gathered here Wednesday morning to not just watch the longest solar eclipse of the century but also tuck into breakfast in an attempt to remove superstitious beliefs from the minds of people.
While the dark clouds blocked the view of the partial eclipse, they went ahead with their meal on the banks of the picturesque Hussain Sagar Lake in the heart of the city to prove a point.
The participants, including women and children, had the breakfast arranged by Jana Vignan Vedika (JVV), a group of rationalists fighting against superstition.
Universal Cable, Furukawa Electric join hands
By IANS,
Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) Power cable manufacturer Universal, an M.P. Birla group company, has signed a pact with the Japan-based Furukawa Electric for manufacturing and marketing optical fibre in India.
"By combining the pre-eminent position of the M.P. Birla Group in optical fibre and cable business in India, with significant experience and technical expertise of Furukawa, we will bring our customers a strong product," D.R. Bansal, Chief Mentor and chief executive officer of UCL said in a statement here Tuesday.
Researchers create most comprehensive moon map
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have created the most detailed and comprehensive map of the moon's complex landscape thanks to data provided by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Vietnam To Introduce 3G Technology In 2009
By Bernama,
Hanoi : Telecommunications industry insiders are predicting that 3G (third generation) technology will be introduced in Vietnam this year, the Vietnam news agency (VNA) reported.
With 3G technology, mobile providers in Vietnam will be able to provide more value-added services for their mobile users such as videophone, on-line video streaming and high-speed internet and music download.
Nanoscale process to help computers run faster, better
By IANS,
Washington : A new nanotechnology will help make computers much smaller, faster and more efficient.
A team led by Craig Hawker, materials professor at California University Santa Barbara, (UCSB) with professors Glenn Fredrickson and Edward J. Kramer, has developed a novel process for creating features on silicon wafers that are between five and 20 nanometres thick. (A nanometre is as thin as a thousandth of human hair).
The new process has been described in Science Express, the online version of Science.
What will you eat on the moon, how will you travel?
By IANS,
Chennai : Can countries engaged in exploration and exploitation of the moon introduce plant and animal life there? The issue is back in focus as India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 gets ready to drop a probe on to the moon's surface.
Smartphones become personal computers
By DPA
Munich : Smartphones can now enjoy plus size screens and keyboards thanks to a new gadget from Palm.
New smartphones with killer applications could replace PCs
By Andy Goldberg, DPA
Las Vegas : Think that cellphone in your pocket is pretty neat? Think again. Spurred by the phenomenal launch of the iPhone, the prospect of a Google phone and open networks, inventors and entrepreneurs around the world are feverishly developing plans to expand what mobile phones can do.
"They want to combine the computing power of the latest phones with social networks and location-tracking technologies to create a new generation of cell phones," says Simon Blitz, who runs a large cell phone wholesale company in the US.
Researchers create software to counter network attacks
By IANS
Washington : An Indian American-led team has developed new software that can reduce the impact of cyber attacks on an organisation's networks.
Currently, network administrators rely on labour-intensive processes for tracking vulnerabilities in organisational networks - processes that not only require huge expertise but are also error prone, said software expert Sushil Jajodia, who led the team.
US, India high-technology meet Monday
By IANS,
Washington : Top US and Indian business executives will meet here Monday to address critical issues affecting US-India High Technology Cooperation in areas like defence/strategic trade, civil nuclear cooperation, biotechnology, nano-technology and civil aviation.
The private sector business interactions hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) are expected to inform the official level bilateral discussions at a meeting of the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) Tuesday.
UAE’s first artificial battery-powered heart transplant
Dubai: A 21-year-old student in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city of Sharjah, has received the country's first artificial heart transplant, a media report...
Endeavour to lift off Tuesday with Japanese module
By Xinhua
Beijing : The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for launch early Tuesday to carry the first of three modules that will become Japan's orbiting laboratory in the International Space Station, according to media reports Monday.
Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for 2:28 a.m. EDT.
The mission marks a fresh chapter in Japan's human spaceflight effort.
Tiny robot to simulate lunar mission in Hawaii
By IANS,
Washington : A robot designed for lunar prospecting will be tested on the cool, rocky slopes of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is also Hawaii's highest mountain.
During the field experiment, scheduled in the first half of November, the four wheeled robot called Scarab will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds that could potentially be mined for use by future lunar explorers.
Russia launches navigation satellites
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia Thursday launched a rocket carrying three navigation satellites from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
The Proton-M carrier rocket with three Glonass satellites blasted off from the space centre at 4.53 a.m. Moscow time (0053 GMT), said Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin, spokesman for Russian Space Forces.
Glonass - the Global Navigation Satellite System - is the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and is designed for both military and civilian use.
ISRO-built satellite fails after five weeks
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS,
Bangalore : The very first communications satellite sold by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to the European operator Eutelsat has failed abruptly after five weeks in orbit, in a setback to ISRO which just celebrated the 100th day of its successful moon mission.
"Scientists at ISRO are analyzing the anomaly in the hope of reviving the satellite," ISRO spokesman S. Satish told IANS.
Space shuttle Endeavour launch postponed again
By DPA,
Washington : US space agency NASA Wednesday postponed the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour after technicians detected a hydrogen gas leak during fuelling just hours before scheduled lift-off.
The shuttle's launch had been set for 5.40 a.m. (0940 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida for a 16-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was to carry the final pieces to the Japanese Kibo module of the ISS.
The aborted launch followed a four-day delay caused by a similar leak of the potentially hazardous gas from an external fuel tank.
Study finds evidence of centuries-old brawl over women
By IANS,
Washington : Brawling over women is as old as history, settled with fisticuffs or a verbal spat, but our ferocious ancestors brutally maimed or killed rivals for them.
For instance, a mass grave unearthed by a Durham University team indicates that primitive men did their rivals to death to possess their women.
The research focused on 34 skeletons found buried in Talheim, in Germany's south-west. Genetic evidence from their teeth suggested they were massacred in a tribal clash around 5000 BC.
Russian cargo spacecraft will fly to space station
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The Russian Progress M-62 cargo spacecraft will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur launch centre in Kazakhstan Dec 23, Russia's space agency said.
"The spacecraft will deliver food and water for the crew, as well as fuel to maintain the ISS's orbit and other cargo and research equipment," the Federal Space Agency said Monday.
Mars: new images show once life-sustaining lake
By Xinhua
Beijing : New spacecraft images show a lake that may have filled a crater for a long time on early Mars might once have been habitable.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the images that suggest the debris-strewn Holden Crater once held a calm body of water that could have harbored life. There is so far no convincing evidence life does or ever did exist on Mars, however.
The crater debris includes a mix of broken boulders and smaller particles called megabreccia.
U.S. Launches Gamma-Ray Telescope into Orbit
By SPA,
Washington : A U.S. gamma-ray telescope was launched into space Wednesday on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The orbiting Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will probe the most energetic form of light. Gamma rays are millions to hundreds of billions of times more powerful than what can be seen with the human eye.
India launches Oceansat-2, six European satellites
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India Wednesday successfully launched its 16th remote-sensing satellite, Oceansat-2, to study oceans and climate, and six small Europeans satellites on board a rocket that blasted off from here.
Under a clear blue sky, the 44.4-metre tall, 230-tonne Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) freed itself from the launch pad at the spaceport, 70 km from Chennai, at 11.51 a.m. and soared upwards with a deep throated growl lugging the 960-kg Oceansat-2 and the six nano satellites all together weighing 20 kg.
CSIR need to work for science-society synergy: Swaminathan
By IANS
New Delhi : The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) must help bring about synergy between science and society so as to bridge the urban-rural divide, eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan said here Wednesday.
Speaking at the 65th Foundation Day of CSIR, the greatest and largest science set-up in India, Swaminathan said: "It would be useful for CSIR to set up a joint scientific panel with the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research in order to bring about the desired synergy between science and society."
Japanese scientists plans to send paper airplane into space
By Xinhua
Beijing : Japanese scientists hope to send into space a craft made in the tradition of Japan's ancient art of paper folding and learn from its trip back to Earth, media reported Friday.
A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, said project leader Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Chemicals that fix one ecological problem worsen another
By IANS,
Washington : Chemicals that helped fix a global ecological crisis in the 1990s - the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer, for instance - may be raising another problem such as acid rain, says scientists.
Jeffrey Gaffney, chemist at the University of Arkansas, along with colleagues Carrie J. Christiansen, Shakeel S. Dalal, Alexander M. Mebel and Joseph S. Francisco point out that hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) emerged as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) replacements because they do not damage the ozone layer.
Chandrayaan’s journey to lunar orbit
By IANS,
Bangalore, Nov 8 (IANS) Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned mission to moon, has travelled more than 380,000 km in 12 days after its launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh Oct 22 to enter the lunar orbit Saturday.
Soon after the launch at 6.22 a.m. on Oct 22, the spacecraft carrying 11 scientific payloads was put in an orbit of 22,860 km apogee (farthest point to the earth) and 225 km perigee (nearest point to the earth).
This is how Chandrayaan reached the lunar orbit:
US rocket ready to crash into moon
By DPA,
Washington : A US rocket is to crash into the moon Friday in an experiment scientists hope will provide data about ice hidden in the perpetually dark lunar craters.
Astronomers around the world are prepared to capture the impact of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the moon's Caebus crater at 1130 GMT. The rocket will deliberately crash into the moon, kicking up a plume of dust that scientists hope to analyse for traces of water that they believe are abundant in the
cold, shadowy craters.
Pluto-bound New Horizons sees changes in Jupiter system
Washington, Oct 10 (Xinhua) The voyage of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft through the Jupiter system earlier this year provided a bird's-eye view of a dynamic planet that has changed since the last close-up observations by NASA spacecraft, the federal space agency reported.
New Horizons passed Jupiter Feb 28, riding the planet's gravity to boost its speed and shave three years off its trip to Pluto.
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.
Don’t panic when fuel warning lights up
Berlin, Sep 13 (DPA) Motorists should not immediately panic when the warning lamp lights up indicating that the fuel tank is empty because most cars have an adequate reserve to last for a stretch of 50 km, according to a test by the German magazine AUTO/Strassenverkehr.
The magazine tested 10 different car models with some vehicles even managing to drive a distance of 150 km before coming to a standstill after the warning lamp lit up.
Indian scientists developing drought-resistant groundnut
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian farmers will soon get access to a new variety of groundnut that is drought-resistant and can be cultivated even in areas where water is scarce.
"Genetic mapping has discovered certain genes in groundnut that are drought- resistant. The testing of seeds of this variety is at an advanced stage," Rajeev K. Varshney, a senior scientist at Hyderabad's International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said.
Google, Microsoft ‘most discussed tech brands’ in India
By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Internet search giant Google and software major Microsoft are among the most discussed technology brands in India, dominating most of the online conversations, says a survey.
Topped by Google, the list of top 10 technology brands compiled by research firm Edelman, features Microsoft at the second spot while Yahoo! has cornered the third position.
Google and Microsoft secured about 20 per cent and 12 per cent of all monitored conversations respectively, according to Digital Brand Index (DBI) for India compiled by Edelman in collaboration with Brandtology.
GIS system to track Maoists in Jharkhand
By IANS
Ranchi : The Jharkhand police plans to set up a Geographical Information System (GIS) centre to track the movement of Maoists in the state.
The state police would seek the help of the Jharkhand Space Application Centre (JSAC) to get a detailed report of the topography of the state. "We will set up a GIS centre which will help officials to crack down on criminals and Maoist rebels," a senior police official told IANS.
Mild tremors felt in Delhi, parts of north India
By IANS,
New Delhi : Mild tremors were felt Monday in parts of North India, including New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh at 11:57 a.m.
Google’s Chrome browser focuses on speed, not extras
By Philipp Laage, DPA,
Munich : Google threw its hat into the browser ring back in 2008. Chrome is what they called their new product, now available in its third iteration. A beta version of the fourth generation is currently making the rounds as well.
While Chrome itself is clearly rapidly changing, one thing seems constant: the developers at Google have their sights on a portion of the market share held by titans Internet Explorer and Firefox.
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.
Space shuttle undocks from station, heads home
By RIA Novosti
Washington : The US shuttle Endeavour has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) ending its 12-day mission, which saw a record breaking five space walks, a NASA spokesperson said.
Endeavour, which delivered the first part of the Kibo Japanese laboratory and the Dextre Canadian-made robot, is due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday.
The second and main part of the Japanese laboratory is due to be delivered by space shuttle Discovery in late May.
Mars probe fit to peek under Earth’s ice sheets
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A space-based radar aboard a European Mars probe could not only peer under the frozen extraterrestrial seas of moons such as Europa and Titan, but also see beneath the surface of ice sheets on Earth.
The space radar would take its cue from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument, which has probed the Red Planet's underground for evidence of water from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft.
Russia earmarks $25 bn for secientific research in 2008-10
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia will spend around 600 billion rubles, or about $25 billion, on scientific research in 2008-2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
"We have allocated substantial resources for the development of such promising areas as nano- and biotechnology, nuclear energy, aerospace and other research in 2008-2010. Federal target programmes alone will receive about 600 billion rubles for these purposes," Putin told a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Lucknow geologist selected for second Indian trip to Arctic
By IANS,
Lucknow : Dhruv Sen, a Lucknow University geologist, Saturday said he had again been selected for the second Indian expedition to the Arctic.
"It is really a privilege for me as I am one of the eight scientists of the country who will be going on the Arctic expedition," an elated Sen told IANS.
All the eight members of the team would meet in Delhi and leave for the trip July 30, he said.
Sen said: "Geologically, the Arctic region is very interesting."
He was also a part of the first Indian Expedition to the Arctic in 2007.
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.
Indian-American scientist bags top honours
By IANS,
Washington : Rama Ranganathan, professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, earned recognition as one of the top rising research stars by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST).
TAMEST members include the state's Nobel Prize winners - four of whom are active faculty members at UT Southwestern - and the 200-plus Texas members of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences.
Iran says space program poses no threat to peace
By RIA Novosti
Tehran : A spokesman for Iran's government gave assurances on Tuesday that the country's achievements in space technology and research pose no threat to peace and stability in the world.
Gholam-Hossein Elham's comments come a day after Tehran's successful launch of the Explorer-1 research rocket, which is reportedly capable of carrying a satellite into orbit, and the unveiling of the country's first domestically built satellite, named Omid, or Hope.
When the tricolour was still but hearts fluttered
By IANS,
Bangalore : Perhaps for the first time since India adopted the saffron-white-green tricolour as its flag, millions of hearts across the country fluttered but not the flag itself when it reached the lunar surface, around 384,000 km away, Friday night.
The heart beat was faster at Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO's deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 kms from Bangalore city centre, and its telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac), much closer to the city.
A mobile-based security system for BPO employees
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : Even as the rape and murder of a Pune call centre employee by her cab driver is fresh on everyone's mind, a software analyst has developed a mobile phone-based system that may provide better protection to BPO staff in transit.
"After two cases of rape and murder of female call centre employees, BPO firms have an uphill task so far as security is concerned. And here comes our system - simple and effective," said Chennai-based V.M. Sankaran Nampoothiri.
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.
World’s first humpback dinosaur discovered
By DPA,
Madrid : Spanish scientists said Wednesday they have discovered the world's first humpback dinosaur.
Four solar, two lunar eclipses in 2011
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Four solar and two total moon eclipses will be observed in different parts of the world, including in India, in 2011.
Mystery dinosaur may be a new species
By IANS,
Toronto : A 70 million-year-old dinosaur, whose fossil was discovered in British Columbia more than 37 years ago, may have been a
hitherto unknown plant-eating species, says an expert.
The fossil - the most complete set of bones ever found globally and the first dinosaur discovery in Canada - had been discovered in the Sustut Basin way back in 1971.
The bones were recently re-examined by a University of Alberta researcher.
Don’t fear, watch solar eclipse with proper gadgets
By IANS,
New Delhi : It is an excitement coupled with fear and superstition for many in India prior to the solar eclipse Aug 1.
Despite a well known scientific phenomenon behind the solar eclipse, people have not been able to do away with the superstitious beliefs related to the celestial activity.
"There are several false beliefs prevalent in our society regarding solar eclipse. Some people even lock themselves in their homes to avoid 'the bad rays' from the eclipse," Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnashree said.
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.
Space agency helping Tatas develop hydrogen fuel cars
By IANS
Bangalore : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is partnering Tata Motors Ltd to develop hydrogen fuel cells for automobiles by using its cryogenic technology, a top space agency official said here Thursday.
"As a spin-off of the cryogenic technology we have successfully developed for our advanced launch vehicles, we are trying to see how best we can use this technology for other applications such as transportation," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a space conference.
‘Cybersquatting’ on the rise: UN agency
By DPA,
Geneva: The number of Internet domain names under dispute saw a rise in 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organisation said Tuesday.
The Geneva-based organisation dealt with claims on 4,688 domains last year, up from 3,985 the year before. The total caseload, however, declined by 9.5 percent, as many incidents involve multiple attempts to "squat".
Cybersquatting is defined as "the abusive registration of trademarks as domain names."
No threat from Antarctic ice shelf collapse: Experts
By RIA Novosti
St. Petersburg : The collapse of a part of the Wilkins ice shelf in the Antarctica will not cause sea levels to rise, Russian experts have said.
A 41-km iceberg split off from the Wilkins ice shelf in the southwestern part of the Antarctica late February, destroying a large part of the ice shelf's edge, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Russia's second largest city said in a press release.
Report: Early Mars water too salty for life
By Xinhua
Beijing : Scientists believe that early life forms on Mars were most likely snuffed out by the extremely salty water on the Red Planet, media reported Monday.
"In fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best," said Harvard biologist Andrew Knoll, a member of the Mars rover science team.
Beijing : Scientists believe that early life forms on Mars were most likely snuffed out by the extremely salty water on the Red Planet, media reported Monday.
"In fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best," said Harvard biologist Andrew Knoll, a member of the Mars rover science team.
US creates multi-disciplinary centre to study human origins
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : US scientists have founded a multidisciplinary centre bringing together various sciences to explore the origins of humanity, the University of California (UC) has said.
The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), comprising experts from across the world, has been established by UC in San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.
The initiative was the outcome of a 10-year independent study by scientists in the US.
Endeavour shuttle roars back to Earth
By IANS
For minutes after the precisely timed landing, fire spewed from the spacecraft's engines - a standard phenomenon that often goes unremarked by ordinary viewers during the more common daylight landings.
The shuttle landed at 0039 GMT Thursday.
A crewmember called the mission "rewarding and exciting from start to ending", according to the audio transmission from the landing monitored in Washington.
Big Bang experiment to restart in September
By IANS,
London : The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is to begin firing its proton beams once again at the end of September after being shut down abruptly in the midst of recreating conditions in the moments after the Big Bang.
"The new schedule foresees first beams in the LHC at the end of September this year, with collisions following in late October. A short technical stop has also been foreseen over the Christmas period," the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) confirmed in a statement Monday.
Microsoft-Yahoo deal faces tough scrutiny
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: Microsoft and Yahoo's blockbuster deal to form a 10-year partnership in Internet search and advertising is expected to face tough scrutiny with US authorities taking a hard look at consolidation in the hi-tech industry.
Already, Congress has shown interest in the deal with Democrat Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, saying the partnership "warrants our careful scrutiny".
Scientists duplicate keys with help of zoom lens
By IANS,
Washington : Computer scientists can now duplicate keys without looking at them; all they need is a photo or an image of the object, thanks to a new software.
They successfully decoded the image of a key, lifted from a distance of 195 feet with a cellphone camera, fed it into their software which then produced the information required to create copies.
In yet another example, they used a five-inch telephoto lens to capture images from the roof of a campus building and duplicate keys sitting on a café table more than 200 feet away.
Robots tread on thin ice when scientists fear
By IANS,
Washington : This is one machine that goes where humans fear to tread - on thin ice.
SnoMote - designed at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and Pennsylvania State University - is a robot capable of negotiating volatile ice sheets as they crack, shift and fill with water.
The robot goes where it is impossible for scientists to walk and gets accurate measurement and inputs of ice sheets, something that lies beyond the ken of satellites.
US Dawn probe sets off on asteroid mission
By Xinhua
Washington : The US Dawn probe was launched into space by a Delta2 rocket Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
From launch pad 17B, Dawn soared into the cloudy sky after being launched at 7.34 a.m. (1134 GMT), a little after dawn, beginning its long-waited asteroid belt trip.
Several minutes after the lift-off, NASA mission control centre reported that six of the solid-fuelled boosters have burned out and fallen away from the Delta2 rocket.
Gravitational waves emanate as ‘sounds of universe’
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists are still looking for gravitational waves -- small ripples in the fabric of space-time which are considered to be the sounds of the universe.
India to launch maiden mission to moon on April 9 next year
By NNN-APP
New Delhi : India has planned to launch its maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I on April nine next year.
Media reports said the mission planned by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Hyderabad.
Quoting Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I, the reports said “a launch windows are available for the next two days in case the launch does not happen on that day.”
11,000-year-old human sub-species found in China
By IANS,
London : Scientists have found a previously unknown human subspecies, distinct from the present day Homosapiens, that may have lived in China 11,500 years ago.
Indian nuclear scientists to benefit from end of British ban
By IANS,
London : The end of a British ban on exporting sensitive nuclear technology to India will facilitate greater exchanges between nuclear scientists from the two countries, a British minister said.
After a six-year-freeze, Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said Britain will “encourage contacts between UK nuclear scientists, academics and those working in or with the UK nuclear industry with their Indian counterparts, except where we consider that such contacts might be of assistance to the weapons-related aspects of its nuclear programme."
Egyptian mummies show heart disease had ancient origin
By IANS,
Washington : Hardening of arteries detected in Egyptian mummies as early as 3,500 years shows that heart attacks and strokes had ancient origins.
"Atherosclerosis... despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles... was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socio-economic status living as much as three millennia ago," says Gregory Thomas, co-principal investigator.
"The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease," says Thomas, University of California-Irvine (UC-I) professor of cardiology.
Chandrayaan camera clicks earth from deep space
By IANS,
Bangalore : The terrain mapping camera onboard India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 took excellent shots of the earth from deep space in black and white, the space agency said here Friday.
"The camera was operated through a series of commands from the spacecraft control centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) here. The images were received by the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu," the space agency said in a statement. Byalalu is about 40 km from Bangalore.
Thinning Himalayan glaciers may deprive half billion Indians of water
By IANS,
Washington : The absence of radioactive signals from all the three ice core drilled in a Himalayan glacier bodes ill for half billion people living downstream in India. They indicate that high-altitude glaciers are no longer accumulating ice due to climate change. This could hit future water supplies.
These missing markers of radiation are remnants from atomic bomb tests a half-century ago, as in the Naimona'nyi glacier in Tibet.
Seasonal runoff from glaciers like Naimona'nyi feeds the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers.
NASA celebrates Chandra X-Ray Observatory’s 10th anniversary
By Xinhua,
Washington : NASA said Thursday it will release three new versions of the "classic images" taken by Chandra X-Ray Observatory to commemorate the telescope's 10th anniversary.
One of the images was released Thursday, while the remaining two, would be released in the next three months.
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory was launched aboard the space shuttle, Columbia, and deployed into orbit 10 years ago. It was named in honour of Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
Why is the sun’s core cooler than its crust?
By IANS
Washington : Why is our sun's outer crust some 200-300 times hotter than its core? One lot of astrophysicists claimed to have the answer last year. But now another group says the first lot got it all wrong, leaving the paradox unexplained.
The sun's core is about 6,000 degrees Celsius, but its outer layer, the corona, is far hotter. It's a phenomenon that influences solar weather forecasting and the theory behind fusion reactors.
China’s IT giants to hedge against Windows XP shutdown
By IANS,
Beijing: Tencent will join hands with other IT giants to "build a hedge" for Chinese users against potential internet attacks on them after...
‘Black gold’ may revolutionise farming, curb global warming
By IANS
Washington : Scientists have discovered an extraordinary source of some of the richest, most fertile soil in the world, often called 'black gold'. They simply have to mix charcoal in the soil.
And it can battle global warming as well by holding the carbon in the soil instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere, according to a new study.
The discovery goes back 1,500 years to the central Amazon basin where tribal people mixed their soil with charcoal derived from animal bone and tree bark.
Chinese spacecraft docks with orbiting module
By IANS,
Beijing: Chinese astronauts Sunday manually docked a spacecraft with an orbiting module, the first such attempt in China's space exploration history, authorities said.
Sharp rise in phishing attacks on Indian banks
New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) Several Indian banks have come under more than 400 phishing attacks during the past few months with the number rising sharply in Sept-Oct, 2008, according to industry lobby National Association of Software Companies (Nasscom).
Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication in a bid to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details.
Police to quiz Gwalior scientists over human sacrifice bid
By IANS,
Bhopal : Two senior scientists of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior, who allegedly tried to kill their junior colleague in a human sacrifice bid, will be interrogated as soon they return from leave, police said Monday.
"We can't say anything right now. The picture would be clear after the scientists' statements are recorded," Gwalior Additional Superintendent of Police Manohar Verma told IANS.
Pollution forces birds to change their tune
By IANS
London : A new study reveals that male wild birds exposed to pollution develop more complex songs, preferred by the females, though they show reduced immunity.
Katherine Buchanan and her colleagues at Cardiff University came to this conclusion after studying male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging at a sewage treatment works in southwestern Britain.
Analysing earthworms that constituted their prey, the researchers found that birds exposed to greater pollution developed longer and more complex songs compared to a control group male birds.
Phoenix lander dead
New Delhi, Nov 11, IRNA,The Phoenix lander mission designed to discover if life could exit on Mars planet has ended.
"The roving laboratory was no longer sending back information to earth because it could not recharge its solar panels", All India Radio (AIR) reported quoting NASA scientists.
The NASA scientists say they have not heard from the craft since last Sunday. They say they will continue to try to contact the craft but do not expect to hear from it.
Researchers develop ‘astro-comb’ to locate earth-like planets
By IANS,
Washington : The ability to detect presence of extrasolar planets orbiting distant stars has got better with researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics creating an "astro-comb" to detect lighter planets, more like the Earth, around distant stars.
In most cases, extrasolar planets can't be seen directly - the glare of the nearby star is too great - but their influence can be discerned through spectroscopy, which analyses the kind of light emanating from the star.
Hypersonic jets that fly at five times the speed of sound
By IANS,
London : NASA is planning to build hypersonic jets that would travel at five times the speed of sound and bring in a new age of aircraft.
Seeking the roots of the modern potato
By IANS
New York : New research into the history of the potato has rubbished two popular theories about how they travelled from their homeland in South America to Europe - and then to the rest of the world.
The study, by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, used DNA to conclude that a whopping 99 percent of all modern potatoes are descendents of varieties once grown in south-central Chile.
Software may help diagnose cardiac infections
By IANS,
Washington : New research suggests that "teachable software", designed to mimic the human brain, may help diagnose cardiac infections in a non-invasive manner.
Endocarditis -- an infection involving the valves and sometimes chambers of the heart -- can be a problem in patients with implants. It is a serious condition and can be deadly.
The mortality rate can be as high as one in five, even with aggressive treatment and removal of the device. With additional complications, the mortality can shoot up to over 60 percent -- or more than one in two.
European space agencies keen on outsourcing work to India
By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, Sep 27 (IANS) Top space organisations of Europe are keen to outsource sub-systems and components for their space missions to India but are unable to do so due to political hurdles.
Under the European Space Agency (ESA) rules, the 17 member organisations cannot outsource the work but some of them wished they were allowed to do this to leverage on the cost benefit and reliable Indian research and development.
In online gaming, it’s time for raids
By Heiko Haupt, DPA,
Hamburg : One identical image appears on 20 computer monitors scattered across Germany: a dragon, with a group of figures in the foreground preparing to face off against him.
Yet the scene is frozen, since the "heroes" are off taking care of other issues: Gnygnyg and Shavon are just standing around because the people normally behind the keyboard have headed off to walk the dog.
This kind of scene has become commonplace for more and more people, reflecting how the online gaming "raids" have developed into a popular sport.
Scientists sound alarm bells over impending global catastrophe
By IANS,
Sydney : Scientists have sounded the alarm bells over impending global catastrophe as existing governments and institutions are too powerless to head it off.
The world faces a compounding series of crises - from energy, food shortages, to climate change, to new diseases and increasing anti-biotic resistance - all driven by human activity, which is beyond the capacity of existing institutions to cope with, warns a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists.
Worst virus in years infects 6.5 mn computers
By DPA,
Los Angeles : A computer virus attack that has infected more than 6.5 million Windows PCs this week is one of the worst in years, internet security firm F-Secure said Friday.
In total the worm, which is known as Downadup or Conficker, has infected nearly nine million PCs since its first version was unleashed two years ago.
Discovery docks at space station
By DPA
Washington : Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station early Thursday after performing a spectacular 360-degree slow-motion backflip before cameras on the station.
The photographs will serve as a second check to examine Discovery's heat shield for any damage sustained during takeoff. The shuttle crew already performed one inspection with their on-board robot arm on their way to the station Wednesday.
Iran building new submarine: Report
By Xinhua,
Tehran : Iran has started building a new submarine that is expected to give its navy larger capability, Press TV satellite channel has reported.
Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar Sunday inaugurated the production line of the new submarine Qaaem, which is capable of carrying and firing various torpedoes and subsurface missiles with a special operation crew onboard, according to the report.
"The Islamic republic has become self-sufficient in manufacturing all types of military vessels," Mohammad-Najjar was quoted as saying during the inauguration.
$2 bn public-private partnership for rural internet access
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Saturday announced a $2-billion public-private partnership to provide broadband and internet connectivity in country's rural areas.
Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, speaking at Global Telecom Summit here, said that $1.5 billion for the project would be generated from the private sector and the balance would be funded from government sources.
The computer helper: What you need to know about Chrome
By DPA,
Washington : Google's new Chrome Web browser is being hailed as a game-changer. It is fast, has a clean interface and some snazzy features that other browsers do not have.
Does that mean you should download it right now and spend the time to learn it? If you like new technology, the answer is "sure".
But if you need to be assured of some payoff in new technology before you invest time in it, you might rightly want some questions answered before you switch. Here are a few.
Climate change will set back ozone layer recovery: NASA
By IANS,
Washington : Global warming will set back the recovery of the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere, warns a NASA study.
Previous studies have shown that while the build up of greenhouse gases makes it warmer in the troposphere, up to 10 km high from sea level, these gases actually cool the upper stratosphere, between 30 to 50 km high.
This cooling slows the chemical reactions that deplete ozone in the upper stratosphere and allows natural ozone production in that region to outpace destruction of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Yahoo’s search migrates to Microsoft
By DPA,
San Francisco : Yahoo has completed the migration of its web and mobile search functions to Microsoft's Bing search engine as the two companies hope that their combined market power may prove a more significant threat to the dominance of Google.
The integration comes more than a year after Yahoo and Microsoft announced their 10-year search deal under which Microsoft will power Yahoo's search site, while Yahoo manages sales for both companies' premium search advertisers.
Mercedes set for hydrogen drive in 2010
By DPA
Stuttgart : Mercedes has given the B-Class a design makeover with more economical engines and a special fuel-cell hydrogen drive version available in 2010, the car maker has announced.
The four-cylinder engines are up to seven percent more economical than the predecessor with exhaust emissions that undercut current European Union (EU) emission standards by as much as 90 percent, Mercedes said.
‘Solar tsunami’ offers new clues about sun
By IANS,
London : It was the breathtaking solar event that sparked spectacular displays of Northern Lights across much of the northern hemisphere.
Big Bang machine carries out record collision
By DPA,
Geneva : The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), also known as the Big Bang machine, made history here Tuesday, as the machine smashed together particles at the highest energy reading ever recreated in a laboratory.
"Experiments are collecting their first physics data - historic moment here!" scientists at the lab wrote on their Twitter feed.
The excitement at finally being able to record data, after countless setbacks, was noted in previous messages, which included numerous exclamation points from the researchers in Geneva as each step of the process was completed.
Astronomers confirm lightning on Venus
By Xinhua
Washington : Astronomers working at the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission confirmed for the first time that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning.
The discovery -- a part of the Venus Express science findings - appeared on the Nov 29 edition of the journal Nature.
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.
Asia’s first human DNA bank comes up in Lucknow
By IANS,
Lucknow : Asia's first -- and the world's second -- human DNA bank has been set up at the Biotech Park in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow district, said an official Wednesday.
"DNA Identification System (DIS) will be one of the most important functions of the DNA bank that will facilitate establishing identity of individuals within a few seconds," Biotech Park's CEO P.K. Seth told IANS.
The members of the DNA bank will receive a microchip based DNA card containing information of their fingerprints, and anthropological details, said Seth.
Rocket scientist heads ISRO liquid propulsion systems centre
By IANS,
Bangalore : Noted rocket scientist S. Ramakrishnan is the new director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) liquid propulsion systems centre at Thiruvananthapuram.
The space agency Wednesday said Ramakrishnan, as director of projects at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram earlier, had played a key role in the development of polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) and its liquid propulsion stages.
Could waste be a source of our energy requirements?
By IANS,
London : Scientists are trying to find answers to one of the most challenging problems existing today -- generating energy without worsening climate change or harming food output.
Researchers are investigating biofuels generated from waste, which is perceived by many as the 'green alternative' to using fossil fuels.
Biofuels seem to be the perfect solution because they are not net producers of harmful by-products, but they can tempt farmers into growing energy crops at the cost of badly-needed food, particularly in poorer countries.
ISRO earns Rs.1 bn by launching foreign satellites
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has earned over Rs.1 billion in the last three years by launching foreign satellites. And much of this has come from Israel and Italy.
"Twelve satellites were launched for other countries during the last three years including six nano-satellites during the current year," Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan informed the Lok Sabha Wednesday.