Scientists develop wonder glass that regenerates bones
By IANS,
London : A new kind of glass will enable patients to re-grow bones by dissolving and releasing calcium into the body, possibly making bone transplants redundant.
The porous glass, developed by scientists at Imperial College here, dissolves in the body and stimulates bone growth, without leaving any toxic residue.
Specific concentrations of soluble silica and calcium ions in the glass activate genes that encode proteins controlling the bone cell cycle and differentiation of the cell to form bone matrix and rapid mineralisation of bone nodules.
India set to join exclusive cryogenic club
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : After its maiden moon mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is hoping to cross another milestone in December - take India into the exclusive club of countries that have developed their own cryogenic engines to power satellites in space.
ISRO is hoping to end 2009 in style with the take-off of its fully indigenous geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) carrying an experimental satellite GSAT 4 in mid-December.
Microsoft India unveils new platform for shared IT services
By IANS,
New Delhi: Global software giant Microsoft Monday unveiled a portfolio of services in India that will help companies share software and storage facilities, called cloud computing, that can bring down their total IT spend by as much as 50 percent.
Windows Azure -- the company's latest offering in the area of cloud computing -- is now available commercially in India, said Microsoft India group Director Vikas Arora. "Some 3,500 applications for Azure have been developed out of India alone," Arora told IANS.
Indian scientists look to stars to cure heart patients
By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : Indian astro scientists have become starry-eyed. They are looking to the stars to heal heart patients.
While it may sound out of this world (pardon the pun), scientists at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi have resorted to doing exatly that.
They are boldly taking the science of astrology to a new dimension.
The scientists are busying calculating the movements of stars and planets of patients to understand how they can reduce or avert the increasing heart-related diseases -- merely using their horoscopes.
Researchers convert carbon into green energy
By IANS,
Singapore : Scientists here have succeeded in converting a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide into a green energy source.
Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) researchers said they used organocatalysts to help carbon dioxide (CO2) produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.
Organocatalysts are catalysts that comprise non-metallic elements found in organic compounds. They can be produced easily at low cost.
Days of pirated CDs, DVDs numbered
By IANS,
Washington : The days of pirated CDs and DVDs are numbered, thanks to a novel optical technique developed by researchers in Spain that can differentiate pirated works from the original.
A technique developed by researchers at the University of Grenada makes it easy to identify whether a CD has been recorded through legitimate channels or just copied.
The cheap, fast and effective method relies on light diffraction on a CD surface to differentiate between original record and illegal copies, a University of Grenada statement said.
Geologists stumble on ‘dinosaur dance floor’ in Jurassic oasis
By IANS,
Washington : Geologists have identified an amazing concentration of dino footprints, in a wilderness on the Arizona-Utah border where a desert oasis once flourished 190 million years ago.
The three-quarter-acre site - which includes rare dinosaur tail-drag marks - provides more evidence there were wet intervals during the Early Jurassic Period, when the US Southwest was covered with a field of sand dunes larger than the Sahara Desert.
Sea Launch to put U.S. satellite into orbit on March 17
By RIA Novosti
Washington : The launch of a Zenith-3SL carrier rocket with the DirecTV 11 broadcast satellite on board has been scheduled for March 17, a spokesperson for Sea Launch consortium said on Friday.
The satellite, with mass of approximately 6 metric tons, is designed to deliver national high-definition (HD) programming and local HD channels to subscribers throughout the United States.
"The launch has been scheduled for 3:49 p.m. PDT (22:49 GMT)," Paula Korn said.
"The launch has been scheduled for 3:49 p.m. PDT (22:49 GMT)," Paula Korn said.
Microsoft rules out new takeover bid for Yahoo
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Wednesday ruled out a new takeover bid for troubled web portal Yahoo, but stressed that the software giant was still interested in partnering with Yahoo on search-related products.
Your body heat could power future devices
New York, July 1 (IANS) A new way of powering gadgets using simply a person's own body heat has been developed by an American company that specialises in green power sources.
US shuttle Atlantis leaves space station for home
By Xinhua
Washington : The US space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station Monday morning, heading home after delivering a new European lab, according to NASA TV live broadcasting.
"We just wanted to thank you again for being a great host and letting us enjoy your station for about a week," Atlantis' Commander Stephen Frick told ISS commander Peggy Whitson.
"It's a great new room (Columbus laboratory) you have added on and we really appreciate it," Whitson replied.
NASA spots pyramid-like structure on Mars
New York: Fuelling speculation that advanced civilisation once thrived on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has found a pyramid-like structure on the Red Planet, media...
Spanish discovery sheds light on early humans in Europe
By Sinikka Tarvainen, DPA
Madrid : More than a million years ago, a group of early humans lived in a cave in a lush green area in northern Spain, making stone tools and eating small herbivores and other animals.
Their presence in what is now the fossil site of Atapuerca near Burgos has become known thanks to the discovery of a lower jawbone with teeth, lithic tools and animal remains.
NASA returns to the moon on India’s Chandrayaan-1
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The American space agency NASA is sending two instruments to map the lunar surface on India's maiden moon voyage on its robotic Chandrayaan-1 mission Wednesday.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper will assess mineral resources, and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar, or Mini-SAR, will map the polar regions and look for ice deposits, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA.
UAE firm develops robot that can talk
By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : A United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company has unveiled a new generation humanoid robot that can converse with humans.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended a function organised by the Abu Dhabi-based Pal Technology Wednesday night to launch the next generation humanoid robot Reem B, the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
Reem B is the evolution of the first humanoid robot Reem A, created by Pal Technology Robotics.
425 mn-year-old sea creature revealed in 3D
By IANS,
London : It might not look like much, but a bizarre green blob that lived in the ocean approximately 425 million years ago was one of the earliest living creatures on earth.
A 3D computer mode of a primitive Drakozoon has been created from the only known fossilised specimen of the creature for the first time, reports the Daily Mail.
The model will help researchers understand what primitive species on early earth looked like and how they might have evolved into the types of creatures that are around, according to journal Biology Letters.
Saturn’s moon has many times more oil than Earth does
By Xinhua
Washington : Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collect in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes. The new findings from the study led by Ralph Lorenz, a Cassini radar team member from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, are reported in the latest issue of the Geophysical Research Letters Wednesday.
Planetary collision created Earth and Moon
By IANS,
London : The Earth and Moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus, research says.
The research from the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, shows that the Earth and Moon must have formed much later - perhaps up to 150 million years after the formation of the solar system, 4,567 million years ago.
How do bees land on the spot? Indian-origin scientist finds out
By IANS,
Sydney : A study led by a scientist of Indian-origin has decoded the tricky art of landing by honey bees, a finding that can have huge implications in making better robot planes.
An automatic landing system for an aircraft is expensive and complex. And it is just one of many systems that is required to make a truly robotic aircraft. But a bee can take off, find targets, fly through tunnels, navigate home and land without any of that complexity.
`Make Internet cyber crime free’
By IANS,
Hyderabad : The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Thursday called for collaboration and cooperation among countries to make Internet free from cyber crime.
Voicing concern over the growing cyber crimes and misuse of Internet by terrorists, the world's largest Internet congregation formed by the Union Nations Secretary General said mapping exercises of cyber security and trust between the countries will be uplifted.
The four-day meet, which began Wednesday, is being attended by 1,500 delegates from 100 countries.
World’s biggest airship on way to US by ship
By DPA,
Friedrichshafen (Germany) : The world's biggest airship, the 75-metre-long Zeppelin NT, is on its way to the US by ship.
The airship is making the journey across the Atlantic to Beaumont in Texas, its manufacturer said Saturday.
Because of the rigid construction of the craft, it is being transported in its full length. Only the two engines mounted on the side and the tail unit were dismantled for the journey.
The ultimate goal of Zeppelin NT is San Francisco, from where passengers will be able to board the airship for pleasure flights.
New imaging pinpoints 5 mn atoms in protective coat of virus
By IANS,
Washington : A new image of a virus' protective coat, which took more than three years to create, contains some five million atoms in exact configuration which could help scientists find better ways to fight viral infections.
The stunning image reveals the structure of a type of protein coat shared by hundreds of known viruses containing double-stranded RNA genomes.
The image was painstakingly created from hundreds of high-energy X-ray diffraction images and paints the clearest picture yet of the viruses' genome-encasing shell called a capsid.
Now recharge cellphones in seconds
By IANS,
Washington : An amazing 3-D nanostructure designed and developed by scientists may make it possible to recharge mobile phones in seconds or a laptop within minutes.
US, Russian astronauts arrive at space station
By DPA,
Washington : A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut arrived Thursday at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
The Soyuz lifted off Tuesday from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan with Americans Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin aboard.
The 2221 GMT docking occurred over Argentina. It was the combined 100th flight to the ISS by US space shuttles and Russian Soyuz capsules.
NASA set to give update on long-delayed Atlantis mission
By KUNA
Washington : NASA will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the status of the shuttle Atlantis and ongoing work to repair a fuel circuitry problem that grounded the mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in early December.
Last week, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis was still no closer to lift off. Officials pushed-back the Atlantis mission's target launch date of January 10, stating that date was "no longer achievable", but they did not indicate when it will be ready for the mission to carry a new European Columbus space laboratory up to the ISS.
Russian astronauts to Moon by 2025: official
By Xinhua
Moscow : Russia will send astronauts to the Moon by 2025 and establish a permanent station there between 2028 and 2032, a senior official said here Friday.
Russia, which sent the first cosmonaut to the space in 1961, has forged a long-range blueprint for its space industry up to 2040, said Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).
China, India set pace in South-South scientific cooperation
By Dinesh Abrol and Purnima Rupal, IANS,
New Delhi : Growing strategic science and technology cooperation between China and India promises a new outlook for the South.
China and India are two of the fastest-growing economies in the world; they face similar opportunities and challenges, and could maximise benefits by sharing research and development (R&D), according to Scidev.Net.
Up above the world so high, tracking satellites in the sky
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : S.K. Shivakumar is 55 years old. For 32 years out of that, he has been the eyes and ears of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Shivakumar has lost count of the number of satellites he has tracked, but he thinks he is nearing his half century.
As the director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac), he is eagerly awaiting the Wednesday morning launch of India's first lunar orbiter Chandrayaan, so that he can start tracking it in slow motion.
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.
Colombia budgeting on Indian software
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
Bogota : Colombia will soon have a sophisticated software programme to prepare, implement and monitor its national budget, thanks to an Indian software company.
From his office inside the finance ministry building opposite the Colombian Presidential Palace in Bogota, Subramanian Ravishankar is leading a global team of 350 Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employees working exclusively on this major government project.
Stuart Parkin gets 2014 Millennium Technology Prize
Helsinki: Stuart Parkin, a physicist who has enabled vast increase in digital storage, received the 2014 Millennium Technology Prize in Helsinki Wednesday.
Finnish President Sauli...
Indian American works out low-cost strategy to curb computer worms
By IANS,
Washington : Network administrators might soon be able to mount effective, low-cost defences against self-propagating infectious programmes known as worms, thanks to a new strategy devised by an Indian American researcher.
Many computers are already equipped with software that can detect when another computer is attempting to attack it. Yet the software usually cannot identify newly-minted worms that do not share features with earlier marauders.
Indian blogs live from Antarctica for the first time
By Devirupa Mitra, IANS
New Delhi : On the icy barrenness of Antarctica, the Indian research station of Maitri has a new voice - the first ever blog by an Indian from the seventh continent.
A member of the 27th Indian Scientific Antarctica Expedition, 56-year-old Sudhir Khandelwal, has typed, so far, 39 posts and nearly 15,000 words, with another one and a half months of his stay to go.
Evolution pace differentiates climate on Venus, earth
By IANS
London : Venus, considered earth's 'prodigal twin', has a climate that is vastly different. And experts say it is because of the pace of evolution on the two planets.
According to Fred Taylor of Oxford University, Venus evolved very rapidly compared to the earth in the initial years - a crucial difference.
The new information is being beamed to us from the European Venus Express spacecraft now orbiting Venus.
NASA Rover finds clue to Mars past
By IANS,
Washington : Rocks examined by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favourable for life.
Confirming this mineral clue took four years of analysis by several scientists.
An outcrop that Spirit examined in late 2005 revealed high concentrations of carbonate, which originates in wet, near-neutral conditions, but dissolves in acid. The ancient water indicated by this find was not acidic.
Scientists turn ancient cockroach fossil into 3-D model
By IANS,
London : An early cockroach ancestor that lived around 300 million years ago was unveiled in unprecedented detail here in a new 3-D 'virtual fossil' model.
Scientists at Imperial College London (ICL) made a comprehensive 3D model of a fossilised specimen called Archimylacris eggintoni, which is an ancient ancestor of modern cockroaches and termites.
This insect scuttled around on earth during the Carboniferous period 359-299 million years ago, which was a time when life had recently emerged from the oceans to live on land.
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.
AIIMS performs India’s ‘first’ robotic chest surgery
By IANS,
New Delhi : Ela Srivastava had been suffering from double vision, chewing problem and weakness in the nervous system, but no more - thanks to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) doctors and a four-arm robot.
“It's the first robotic chest surgery in India,” claimed Arvind Kumar, professor of surgery at AIIMS.
“In the last four days (since Saturday) we have performed chest surgeries on seven patients using the robot and have achieved complete success. This is a milestone for Indian medical fraternity,” Kumar told IANS.
Russian, European agencies to develop manned spaceship
By RIA Novosti
Zhukovsky (Russia) : The Russian and European space agencies will develop a manned transport spaceship for flights to the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars, the head of the Russian agency has said.
"We agreed today with Jean-Jacques Dordain, the head of the European Space Agency, to form a working group to deal with developing a piloted transport system to fly to the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars," Anatoly Perminov said Tuesday after talks with Dordain on the sidelines of the MAKS-2007 air show in Zhukovsky, near Moscow.
Indian American helps develop software to tag suspicious people
By IANS,
Washington : An Indian American is helping develop a surveillance software that will tell whether a person on the street is acting suspiciously or appears to be lost.
Intelligent video cameras, large video screens and geo-referencing software are among the technologies that will soon be available to law enforcement and security agencies.
Chandrayaan-1 in lunar orbit after successful manoeuvre
By NNN-PTI,
Bangalore, India : India's first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit on Saturday after ISRO scientists successfully carried out a highly complex and tricky manoeuvre crossing another historic milestone in the country's space programme.
ISRO scientists at the Mission Control Centre near here fired the spacecraft's liquid engine at 1651 hours for a duration of 817 seconds in a hit or miss Lunar Orbit Insertion(LOI) operation in the maiden moon mission, 18 days after it was launched from Sriharikota spaceport.
US regulations restrict space industry growth
Hyderabad, Sep 28 (IANS) International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) of the US are a major hurdle in the growth of new space industry actors in the global market, said speakers from emerging space nations at the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2007) here.
They also made a strong case for change in the rules to facilitate cooperation and healthy competition in the global space industry.
The speakers were unanimous that both cooperation and competition were necessary to ensure growth of the space industry, especially among emerging nations and new players.
‘Scientists a step closer to Jurassic Park’
By IANS,
London : Scientists are a step closer to resurrecting extinct animals after successfully cloning living mice from the cells of frozen animals, according to findings published Wednesday.
A team of Japanese scientists at the Centre for Developmental Biology, at the RIKEN research institute in Kobe, produced the clones after thawing mice that had been frozen at minus 20C for up to 16 years, British newspapers reported.
NASA’s Spitzer detects light of alien ‘Super-Earth’
By IANS,
Washington : NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time.
1,000-feet wide ‘beast’ near earth Sunday
California : It is time to thank your stars. A 1,000-feet wide "beast" at a speed of 50,400 km per hour - that could...
Indians wary of planning vacations on the Internet
By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian travellers are still not confident of planning their holidays online.
Call it the fear of the intangible or the chip of technology on their shoulder, Internet travel portals are yet to instil confidence in the Indian globe trotter, who prefers to fall back on offline support networks - the travel agents, says Himanshu Singh, managing director of Travelocity.
The use of e-portals is still restricted to a niche segment, the young and the Internet-savvy.
China publishes first picture from lunar probe project
By Xinhua
Beijing : China published the first picture of the moon captured by Chang'e-1 Monday morning, marking the success of the country's first lunar probe project.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveiled the framed black-and-white photo at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC). The image showed a rough moon surface with scattered round craters both big and small.
The area covered by the picture, about 460 km in length and 280 km in width, is located within a 54 to 70 degrees south latitude and 57 to 83 degrees east longitude, according to BACC sources.
Puerto Rican to prepare menu for manned mission to Mars
By IANS/EFE,
Orlando (Florida) : A Puerto Rican scientist will be in charge of creating the menu for the first manned mission to Mars.
Computer virus targets Russian opposition
By IANS,
Washington : Opponents of Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin are being targeted through a computer virus sent by email, CNN reported.
British eclipse chaser robbed, still leaves Taregna smiling
By IANS,
Patna : Peter Toby, who had come to Bihar's Taregna village from Britain to watch the century's longest solar eclipse, lost his passport, money and all other valuables but still left with a smile after getting unexpected help from a priest who had given him shelter in his school.
The London-based computer programmer was unhappy Wednesday morning as thick clouds hid the celestial spectacle that he had come so far to see. He was in for further disappointment when he returned to his room at the St. Mary School.
New solar, n-power forms answer to global warming
By IANS
New Delhi : Concentrated solar power and thorium-based nuclear power are the ways to generate energy without causing climate change, Nobel laureate and head of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) Carlo Rubbia said here Friday.
Space scientist from a star village
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : M.Y.S. Prasad, associate director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, has something common with Telugu movie stars Chiranjeevi and Krishnam Raju. All three are from Mogaltur village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
While Chiranjeevi and Krishnam Raju are movie stars turned politicians, Prasad sends rockets towards the stars.
As the man in charge of launch operations for India's first lunar mission that blasts off Wednesday, Prasad, 55, is now busy checking everything is in place, as the final countdown ticks on.
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.
China begins to build space centre
By Xinhua,
Wenchang (China) : China Monday began construction of its new space launch centre in Wenchang city, on the northeast coast of the tropical island province of Hainan. It is scheduled to be completed by 2013.
The launch centre would allow China to take part in more international commercial space launches, said Wang Weichang, director of the Hainan Space Center Project Headquarters.
He said the new launch site will be mainly used for launching synchronous satellites, heavy satellites, large space stations, and deep space probe satellites.
Stephen Hawking: there may be aliens!
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Stephen Hawking said there may be alients, but they may not be intelligent as others had thought, or just primitive life.
The 66-year-old famed British cosmologist Hawking's comments were part of a lecture at George Washington University on Monday in honor of NASA's 50th anniversary.
He theorized that there are possible answers to whether there is extraterrestrial life.
"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," said Hawking "Some would say it has yet to occur on earth."
Technology to be used for crop estimation
By IANS
New Delhi : With the government laying stress on agriculture, a National Workshop on Agricultural Statistics Monday suggested several initiatives including use of new technological tools for improving farm statistics.
Aluminium-water propellant promising for future space missions
By IANS,
Washington : A new type of green rocket propellant, comprising frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminium" powder, is being developed that could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies, says a new study.
The aluminium-ice, or ALICE, propellant might be used to launch rockets into orbit and for long-distance space missions and also to generate hydrogen for fuel cells, said Steven Son, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
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.
Indian rocket puts 10 satellites in orbit at one go
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India Monday significantly boosted its space capabilities with the copybook launch of a Rs.700 million ($17.4 million) rocket that simultaneously placed in orbit 10 satellites - two Indian and eight foreign.
The launch firmly established India as a major player in the $1 billion global satellite launch market, a significant milestone in the country's 45-year-old space programme.
Cocoons to green energy: Indian scientists find the way
By Sahana Ghosh,
Kolkata : Centuries ago trade in Chinese silk spawned the mighty transcontinental network of passages dubbed the Silk Route. Now, Indian scientists...
Global innovator calls for new approach to science
By IANS
Washington : A leading global innovator and researcher has called for a radical new approach to science, combining the potential of digital connectivity with lab research methodology, static since Francis Bacon promoted it about 400 years ago.
University of Maryland's Ben Shneiderman calls it Science 2.0 and believes the new approach would help vastly improve use of new human networks spurred by digital connectivity.
He feels they can be applied to homeland security, medical care and the environment, according to a university press release.
Scientists develop fast, accurate test to detect bio-terror agent
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have developed a simple, accurate and highly sensitive test to detect and quantify ricin, a highly lethal toxin with potential use as a bioterrorism agent.
Ricin, a protein extracted from castor beans, can be in the form of a powder, mist, pellet or solution. When injected or inhaled, as little as one-half mg of ricin is lethal to humans.
Master your Windows 7 desktop
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Who's in control of your Windows 7 desktop - you or the operating system?
With applications and icons scattered all over the place, constant pop-up notifications, and programmes hidden deep within the Start menu, you might feel like Microsoft has done its best to hinder your productivity rather than enhance it.
But with a little know-how and a few free tools, you can take charge of your desktop like never before.
Intel designing smart chips for mobile computing devices
By IANS
Bangalore : Global computer chipmaker Intel is developing next-generation microprocessors for diverse mobile computing devices that are energy efficient, scalable and high-performing, a top company official said here Wednesday.
"Our global research labs, including the one in Bangalore, are working on advanced computing technologies such as ultra-mobility, long battery life, high performance per watt and rich sensing to build new applications in education, healthcare and entertainment," Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner told reporters.
Yahoo to spend $100 mn to promote its brand
By Xinhua,
San Francisco : Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it will spend $100 million to promote its brand globally.
"Our vision is to be at the centre of people's online lives - to be at the place where their world meets the larger world," Yahoo said in a statement quoting the company's chief marketing officer Elisa Steele.
"This is much more than an advertising campaign," Steele added. "It's about how Yahoo delivers its promise to the market in everything we do. Our brand strategy shows our commitment to delivering personally relevant online experiences."
Recycling radioactive waste no longer a problem
By IANS,
Washington : A new plant will help recover uranium from the ashes of radioactive wastes, which can then be recycled with an efficient, eco-friendly technology inspired by decaffeinated coffee.
The technique's future may even hold the key to recycling the most dangerous forms of radioactive waste in the near future.
Zylog to offer Internet voice services
By IANS
Chennai : City-based software services company Zylog Systems Ltd will soon offer voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) services by partnering with a leading US company.
"We are contemplating to become a service provider and focus on the retail segment. The current players are catering to the enterprise segment," Sudarshan Venkatraman, chairman and CEO of the company, told IANS.
NASA launches spacecraft to study solar wind
By DPA,
Washington : NASA has launched its Interstellar Boundary Explorer (Ibex) to examine the weakening solar wind, which shields planets in the solar system from dangerous cosmic rays.
Over the next two years, the Ibex spacecraft will conduct extremely high-altitude orbits above Earth to investigate and capture first images of processes taking place at the interstellar boundary - the farthest reaches of the solar system.
Endeavour astronauts finish final spacewalk
By Xinhua,
Washington : Two US astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour Monday finished the mission's fourth and final spacewalk to work on joints on the solar panels that power the International Space Station (ISS), according to NASA TV.
Mission specialists Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough completed the cleaning and lube job on the station's right-side solar array joint and replaced the final bearing of the 12 bearings for the massive gear.
Machine to deliver ultra-short flashes of X-ray light
By DPA
Hamburg : An underground machine which can deliver ultra-short flashes of X-ray light and peer into atoms is to be built in this north German city.
India’s moon mission operation suspended
By IANS,
Bangalore : India suspended its first moon mission operation after the lunarcraft Chandrayaan-1 lost radio contact with the earth in the wee hours of Saturday, a top official of the Indian space agency said.
"At the moment, we have suspended the operation. Calling off the mission depends on what elements we get back. Whether there is any possibility of restoring contact with the spacecraft. These things are being investigated," the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair told news channels at his residence in this tech hub.
XtremeIT hackathons to inspire students to build next WhatsApp or Google!!
By TCN News,
Hyderabad: XtreamIT, a software solutions and services company, is organising a series of hackathons to inspire the city students to build...
Photonic crystals will make web surfing super smooth
By IANS
New York : Glitches in web surfing and connectivity may soon be a thing of the past, with researchers working on a potentially perfect way of sorting and distributing voluminous data over fibre-optics worldwide, according to Rana Biswas of the Iowa State University.
The new technology is based on a 3D photonic crystal 'add-drop' filter, which promises vastly enhanced transmission of multiple wavelengths along the same cable.
Atlantis on last mission to repair Hubble telescope
By DPA,
Washington : For nearly 20 years the Hubble Space Telescope has kept its orbiting eye trained on the universe, and with the launch of space shuttle Atlantis to repair the ageing instrument, scientists hope it will continue to provide important discoveries.
The fifth and last mission to repair Hubble is to launch at 1801 GMT Monday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Atlantis crew will undertake five spacewalks, adding two new instruments, repairing two others and replacing other hardware in frequently delicate operations.
Stock your anti-spam tool chest
By DPA
Washington : E-mail users today can't afford to ignore spam. The unwanted e-mail that clogs inboxes everywhere costs people time, and time, of course, is money.
If you're curious about exactly how much spam is costing you on either a personal level or a corporate level, you can check in at Computer Mail Service's handy Cost of Spam Web site (http://www.cmsconnect.com/Marketing/spamcalc.htm).
There you'll be able to break down how much you lose in salary and productivity by dealing with average amounts of spam.
Washington : E-mail users today can't afford to ignore spam. The unwanted e-mail that clogs inboxes everywhere costs people time, and time, of course, is money.
If you're curious about exactly how much spam is costing you on either a personal level or a corporate level, you can check in at Computer Mail Service's handy Cost of Spam Web site (http://www.cmsconnect.com/Marketing/spamcalc.htm).
There you'll be able to break down how much you lose in salary and productivity by dealing with average amounts of spam.
US explorer traces asteroid near Tadpole Nebula
By IANS,
Los Angeles : NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has sent images of an asteroid marching across Tadpole Nebula.
As WISE scanned the sky on a recent mission, it caught the asteroid passing by in our solar system, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said Thursday.
The asteroid, 1719 Jens, left tracks across the image, seen as a line of yellow-green dots around the Tadpole Nebula, a star-forming region at 12,000 light years from the earth, Xinhua reported.
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.
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.
Google’s help sought in Koda investigation
By IANS,
Ranchi : The Income Tax (IT) department has sought help from US-based Google and its gmail e-mail service to get details of messages relating to foreign investments as the investigation into charges of money laundering by former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda progresses, an official said Monday.
"We are taking help of different agencies in the investigation. This is part of it," said Ajit Srivastav, additional director, Investigations in the income tax (IT) department.
U.S. company unveils two-seater rocketship for private space tourism
By Xinhua
Washington : A U.S. aerospace company based in California on Wednesday unveiled a new suborbital spaceship with two seats for private space tourists.
The company, XCOR Aerospace announced that its two-seat, rocket-powered Lynx spaceship, is capable of suborbital flights to altitudes of more than 37 miles (60 kilometers) above the Earth.
The spaceship, roughly the size of a small private airplane, will first take off in 2010 and is expected to be capable of making several flights a day, according to XCOR.
Chandrayaan-2 to take off in 2017
New Delhi : India's second lunar probe, Chandrayaan-2, is planned to be launched in 2017, the parliament was told on Thursday.
"The Chandrayaan-2, India's second...
Genetic materials of starry origin: study
By IANS,
London : In a first, scientists have confirmed that an important component of early genetic material is extraterrestrial in origin.
In a paper in the latest issue of the journal Planetary Science Letters,they have said that some of the raw materials that went into early genetic material have been found in meteorite fragments.
The materials include the molecules uracil and xanthine, precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA, known as nucleobases.
China to broadcast solar eclipse live on Internet
By Xinhua,
Beijing : While the best observation place in China for Friday's solar eclipse is a small county in the far-away Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, most people can also see it in all its glory on their laptop.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will broadcast the total solar eclipse, the first in China this century, live on the Internet, the Division of Information Technical Sciences (ITS) said on Tuesday.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will broadcast the total solar eclipse, the first in China this century, live on the Internet, the Division of Information Technical Sciences (ITS) said on Tuesday.
To understand dolphins, scientists turn their language into pictures
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have turned into images the sounds that dolphins make in water, bringing humans closer to deciphering their language.
The key to this technique is the CymaScope, a new instrument that reveals detailed structures within sounds, allowing their architecture to be studied pictorially.
Using high definition audio recordings of dolphins, the research team, headed by British acoustics engineer John Stuart Reid and Florida-based dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz, has been able to image, for the first time, the imprint that a dolphin sound makes in water.
Sulphur dioxide level drops in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a major pollutant, has decreased in the national capital, data released by the environment ministry revealed Friday.
While the sulphur dioxide levels are within the norms, the nitrogen oxide (NO) and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels exceed the prescribed norms.
"Decreasing trend of sulphur dioxide may be due to various interventions that have taken place in recent years such as reduction of sulphur in diesel and the use of cleaner fuel such as CNG," a ministry official said.
Security robot that sniffs out radiation developed
By IANA
Sydney : Australian scientists have developed a prototype remote-controlled robotic vehicle that is capable of sniffing out radiation.
The concept vehicle - known as RASP or the Remote Advanced Sensor Platform - has been developed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), according to a press release.
RASP is small and light and can be operated from distances of up to 350 metres and can be deployed in almost any area or location, from aircraft to cargo containers.
Shuttle Discovery flight hits halfway mark
By SPA,
Cape Canaveral, Florida : As their flight hit the halfway mark, shuttle Discovery's astronauts faced more work with the space station's new science lab on Saturday.
All 10 occupants of the linked shuttle and station chipped in Friday to get Japan's billion-dollar Kibo lab up and running, and to expand its size by attaching an attic to it.
On Saturday _ one week into their mission _ the astronauts planned to test drive the lab's 33-foot (10-meter) robot arm, the Associated Press reported.
Indians find simpler way to make transgenic mice
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS,
Bangalore : Indian scientists, traditionally known for their skill to find low-cost solutions to complex problems, have developed a technique that should potentially reduce the cost of drug development worldwide.
Scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in New Delhi say their technique may enable biologists produce transgenic mice in their own labs instead of having to buy them at exorbitant prices.
Brussels confirms anti-trust complaints about Google
By DPA,
Brussels : The European Union's executive Wednesday confirmed that it had received three anti-trust complaints about internet search engine Google, and that it had asked the company to comment on the allegations.
The European Commission is charged with enforcing the EU's strict laws on fair competition. In recent years it has imposed billion-dollar fines on industry giants such as Microsoft and Intel for breaching those laws.
Two more carriers offer pan-India number portability
New Delhi: Two more service providers will provide pan-India mobile number portability from Friday, enabling customers to retain their mobile phone number while relocating...
India close to having its own satellite navigation system
By Venkatachari Jagannathan,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India successfully put its fourth navigation satellite into orbit in copy book style on Saturday, bringing the country...
NASA postpones Discovery shuttle launch until May 25
By RIA Novosti
Washington : NASA has postponed the Discovery shuttle launch until May 25 to finalize the preparation of the external fuel tank and due to unfavorable launch conditions before that date, the space agency said on its website.
During Discovery's S-124 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), originally scheduled to launch on April 24, the shuttle and its seven-member crew will deliver the pressurized module and the robotic arm of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.
Engineers develop painless needle that mimics mosquito bite
By IANS,
New York : Indian and Japanese engineers have developed a "microneedle" that causes no pain on being inserted in the skin as it mimics the way a female mosquito sucks blood.
Contrary to popular belief, a mosquito bite does not hurt. It is the anticoagulant saliva that the creature injects to stop the blood from clotting that causes inflammation and pain.
The new biocompatible microneedle has been designed by Suman Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and Kazuyoshi Tsuchiya of Tokai University in Kanagawa, New Scientist reported.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 passes by Earth
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The massive 2012 DA14 asteroid came closest to the Earth late Friday and is now heading away from the planet, Russian astronomers said.
Technologies that don’t disappoint
By Jay Dougherty, DPA
Washington : Some technology products can really improve your life, allowing you to work more productively or accomplish tasks that you couldn't before. Others just promise to fall into that category but ultimately lead you to question why you bothered.
The challenge for buyers, of course, is discerning the must-haves from the rest. While all new technologies these days vie for your attention, there are a few out there now that truly deserves it. Here's a rundown.
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.
ISRO, NASA tie up for space exploration
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined hands with the US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for space explorations, parliament was informed Wednesday.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan said the framework agreement was signed between the two space research organisations for cooperation in the “exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes”.
IBM creates world’s smallest 3D map
By IANS,
Washington : IBM scientists have created a 3D map of the earth so small that 1,000 of them could fit on a single grain of salt.
They accomplished this through a new, breakthrough technique that uses a tiny, silicon tip with a sharp apex -- 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil point -- to create patterns and structures as small as 15 nanometre at greatly reduced cost and complexity.
International space meet begins amid tight security
By IANS
Hyderabad : The 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) began Monday amid tight security at the international convention centre in Hitec City. About 2,000 delegates, including heads of global space agencies, are attending the five-day event.
Gas turbine technology best for power generation in Gulf: expert
By IANS,
Dubai : Gas turbine technology is the best fossil fuel-based technology available for power generation in the Gulf, given the skyrocketing oil prices, according to a leading energy expert.
"Gas turbine technologies are the cleanest techniques within systems that use fossil fuels and are favoured in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries due to the low cost of available natural gas," Abdullah Al-Amiri, chairman of the Emirates Energy Award, which recognizes best practices in energy conservation and management, said in a statement here.
1969 moon landing remastered video shown for first time
By IANS,
London : After six years of searching and digital restoration, scientists have finally completed remastering footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
No threat to pacemakers from iPods: Study
By IANS
New York : Here is relief for gizmo-lovers with a heart condition - no, "electronic noise" from iPods does not cause cardiac pacemakers to trip, a new study says.
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston were intrigued by a widely reported study last May that concluded errant electronic noise from iPods could cause implantable cardiac pacemakers to malfunction.
This just did not sound right to the hospital's cardiac electro-physiologists who have seen hundreds of children, teens and young adults with heart conditions requiring pacemakers, ScienceDaily reported.
Scientists tune world’s brightest X-ray beam in Germany
By DPA,
Hamburg : The most intense X-ray beam of its type in the world has been generated inside a 2,300-metre circular tunnel under the German city of Hamburg, the Desy research institute said Monday.
The machine, which cost 225 million euros ($297 million), was switched on in April, but unlike a light bulb it takes weeks to tune up.
The X-ray light came Saturday. More months will now be spent adjusting measuring devices. Next year, scientists can begin actually using the machine to peer at atomic structures in proteins, cancer cells and the like.
The eclipse behind the clouds – and a dejected Taregna
By Imran Khan, IANS,
Taregna (Bihar) : The overcast skies cast a dampener and the rare celestial event unfolded behind rain clouds, disappointing the many thousands from India and the world. But the clouds did part momentarily to let the crowds glimpse the century's longest solar eclipse. And for some that was enough.
As the morning skies darkened into night over the village, touted as the best place to watch the eclipse, a moved Gaurav Singh said: "It was a memorable moment when I saw the skies dim into night in the early morning and the solar eclipse reached its totality."
Solar storm particles bombard earth relentlessly
By IANS,
Washington : Solar storm particles are relentlessly bombarding the earth, through two gaping breaches in the earth's magnetic field, which shields it from such particles, according to researchers.
"The discovery overturns a long-standing belief about how and when most of the solar particles penetrate earth's magnetic field, and could be used to predict when solar storms will be severe. Based on these results, we expect more severe storms during the upcoming solar cycle," said Vassilis Angelopoulos.
Aliens exist on Saturn’s moon: NASA
By IANS,
London : Scientists at US space agency NASA have found vital clues that primitive aliens could be living on Titan, one of Saturn's biggest moons.
On the basis of chemical composition found on Titan's surface, the experts believe that life forms have been breathing in the planet's atmosphere and also feeding on its surface's fuel.
The research based on the analysis of data sent from NASA's Cassini probe has been detailed in two separate studies.
Indian Army readies for Prithvi-1 trial
By IANS
Balasore (Orissa) : The Indian Army is all set to test the surface-to-surface medium range Prithvi-1 missile next week, officials said.
Russian cargo spacecraft to undock from ISS
By RIA Novasti
Moscow : Russia's Progress M-61 cargo spacecraft is to be detached from the International Space Station (ISS) on December 22 and used as a platform for technical experiments, mission control said on Thursday.
"Progress-M61 is to be undocked from the ISS on December 22. However, the spacecraft, which is at the end of its service life, will not be buried at the 'spacecraft cemetery' in the Pacific, but will be sent on an independent voyage," a spokesman said.
ITC plans greenfield paper plant, major hotel expansion
By IANS,
Kolkata: Tobacco-to-hotels major ITC Ltd is planning to set up a $1-billion greenfield paper plant and expand its hotel business, a top company official said here Friday.
"We are looking at an investment of Rs.4,000-5,000 crore for paper plant. The paper plant is likely to require 1,500-2,000 acres," ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar said.
The company is scouting for land in three states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh - but has not been successful in bagging any plot yet.
ISRO seeks to be party in land scam case
Kochi, Sep 25 (IANS) Indian space agency ISRO Tuesday sought to be impleaded in a public interest litigation (PIL) - relating to its alleged purchase of forestland - that is to be taken up by the high court here Wednesday.
The PIL has been filed by D.B. Binu requesting the court to intervene and initiate a full-fledged inquiry into purchase of land by ISRO for a space education institute in Ponmudi near Thiruvananthapuram from high profile businessman Savy Mano Mathew.
China launches manned spacecraft on spacewalk mission
By Xinhua,
Jiquan (China) : China launched Friday a manned spacecraft carrying three astronauts on its first-ever spacewalk mission.
The spacecraft Shenzhou VII blasted off from the Jiuquan space centre in the northwestern province of Gansu at about 9:10 p.m. onboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket.
Onboard pilots Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are expected to orbit the earth for three days, when one of them will float out of the cabin about 343 km above the earth Friday.
Organic foods fight diseases better, says study
By IANS
London : Food produced organically have up to 40 percent more disease-fighting properties than non-organically grown produce, researchers have found.
Scientists at Newcastle University in Britain raised cattle and grew fruits and vegetables on 725 acres of organic and non-organic farms situated next to each other over a period of four years.
Police in Delhi to use GPS to track criminals
By Sahil Makkar, IANS
New Delhi : Police in Delhi will use GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to crack down on criminals in a bid to modernise crime detection ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games here.
"We are installing satellite-linked GPS in PCR vans, which will not only provide an option to keep track of our officials but will largely help us in combating crime in the capital," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (PCR) Ajay Kumar.
China to launch 1st natural disaster monitoring satellite
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China will launch the first of eight satellites to monitor environment and natural disasters from the country's north Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center this week, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
The satellite "Environment 1", an optical satellite, will be sent into orbit by a Long March 2C carrier.
CAS gets thumbs down from south Delhi consumers
By IANS
New Delhi : Of the people using the Conditional Access System (CAS) for viewing satellite television at least 70 percent are not satisfied with it and want to return to the previous system, reveals a study conducted by the Voluntary Organisation In Interest of Consumers Education (VOICE).
New technology makes diagnosis of abnormal pregnancy cheaper
By Prashant K. Nanda
IANSNew Delhi : Indian scientists have developed a new technology that will help diagnose at a very early stage and at affordable cost abnormal pregnancies that can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths.
Tagging Kerala’s tame elephants
By IANS,
Kozhikode (Kerala) : All tame elephants in Kerala will soon come to be identified by a 10-digit number, thanks to an electronic tag that is expected to carry information on these gentle giants that also have their moments of fury.
The close surveillance of elephants is expected to bring down incidents of elephant fury in Kerala where the animals are often used for ritualistic splendour during festivals.
US Scientist to Warn Congress about Global Warming
By Prensa Latina,
Washington : Scientist James Hansen will warn US lawmakers on Monday about the need to stop global warming, 20 years after he first spoke about the issue in Congress.
Although in 1988 he found a very unreceptive audience, Hansen will appeal to the awareness of the members of the House of Representative to promote the idea that it is still possible to defuse "the global warming time bomb".
Recovery tools: emergency helpers for data crashes
By DPA
Hanover : It can happen very quickly: you empty the Windows Recycle Bin just a bit too quickly, or format a thumb drive unintentionally - and important data is suddenly gone.
Yet hope is not lost, because in most cases the operating system has not actually deleted the file but just released it for overwriting.
"It's similar to a thick book that's had part of the table of contents ripped out. Then you can't find specific pages without a bit of help," says Boi Feddern, an editor at German computing magazine c't.
Spanish company invents a way to walk on water
By RIA Novosti
Madrid : Two thousand years after a certain carpenter from Galilea pulled it off, a Spanish company has developed a somewhat less miraculous, if still impressive, way to walk on water.
As described in the web news journal Diariodeibiza, the company Vehiculos con Ingenio or Transportation with Imagination began selling its new contraption a month ago that allows people using it literally to walk on water.
Twin NASA probes reach lunar orbit
By IANS,
Washington : New Year's Eve and New Year's Day saw twin US spacecraft entering lunar orbit to study the moon, NASA said.
NASA’s WISE Eye spots near-earth asteroid
By IANS,
Washington : NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has spotted its first never-before-seen near-Earth object (NEO), the first of hundreds it is expected to find during its mission to map the whole sky in infrared light.
NEOs are asteroids and comets with orbits that pass relatively close to Earth's path around the sun. In extremely rare cases of an impact, the objects may devastate the Earth's surface.
An asteroid, about 10 km wide, is thought to have plunged into our planet 65 million years ago, triggering a global disaster and obliterating dinosaurs.
Virus of infidelity infects 76 percent of relationships: Study
By IANS,
Washington : Infidelity is widespread with people tending to cheat on their partners very often, which may be as high as 40 to 76 percent, according to a study.
The probability of someone cheating... (is) very high," said Geneviève Beaulieu-Pelletier, doctoral student at the Université de Montréal's Department of Psychology.
Chip-maker AMD reports sixth quarterly loss in a row
By IANS,
San Francisco : One of the world's biggest chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posted its sixth consecutive quarterly loss, but the company executives vowed a return to profitability in the second half of the year, the New York Times reported Friday.
AMD Thursday reported a net loss in the first quarter of $358 million, or 59 cents a share, narrowed from a net loss of $611 million in the year-ago quarter. The net loss included an impact of $50 million, or 8 cents a share, related to the acquisition of the graphics technology maker ATI.
Model predicts global warming will speed up after 2009
By Xinhua
Washington : Global warming will speed up in the next decade and at least half of the years after 2009 will be warmer than 1998, the warmest year on record, reported a UK team of scientists in their climate predictions.
The next-decade prediction results by scientists at Hadley Center for Climate Prediction and Research in the UK is published Thursday in the U.S. academic journal Science.
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.
China launches new space tracking ship to serve Shenzhou VII
By Xinhua
Shanghai : China launched a new space tracking ship on Saturday, expected to serve the Shenzhou VII spacewalk mission scheduled for autumn, said a spokesman of the maritime space surveying and controlling operation.
The new space tracking ship was the sister ship of the Yuanwang-5, which was put into use in September, said the spokesman, adding the two vessels would play a key role in the Shenzhou VII mission.
UAE to host global space technology meet next month
By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : An international meet on space technology will be held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next month to be attended by space scientists from across the world including those from the US, Europe and the UAE, WAM reported Thursday.
The three-day Global Space Technology Forum, the first of its kind in the Middle East, will be held Nov 16-18 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and will focus on new space technology and commercial markets, research and development, environment, energy and climate, among other things.
Cranes Software acquires US-based firm
By IANS
Pune : Bangalore-based Cranes Software International Ltd (CSIL) has acquired US-based Engineering Technology Associates (ETA), a company specialising in computer-aided engineering products for the automotive industry.
Announcing the acquisition through a press release, Asif Khader, managing director, CSIL, said: "The acquisition gives Cranes access to lucrative Asian markets and thereby expands our operations of the Chinese design centre by forming alliances with leading Asian car manufacturers for end-to-end design and development specifications."
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.
Earth-like planets found raising hopes of extraterrestial life
By Xinhua
Beijing : Scientists have found some earth-like panets that orbit many sun-like stars in our galaxy, increasing hopes of finding extraterrestial life on some of them, media reported Monday.
University of Arizona astronomer Michael Meyer, working with NASA's Spitzer space telescope, said his research shows that between 20 percent and 60 percent of stars similar to our sun have conditions favorable for forming rocky planets like Earth.
EU commits $70 mn to make Internet safer for children
By Xinhua,
Brussels : The European Union (EU) Tuesday said that it will spend 55 million euros ($70 million) in a five-year programme to make Internet safer for children.
The programme will co-fund projects to increase public awareness and create a network of contact points that allow reporting on illegal and harmful content and conduct, mainly on child sexual abuse material, grooming and cyber bullying.
Google 3D medical browser maps human body
By IANS,
London : Google has developed a new browser that maps the human body in detail.
Safe method to clean up toxic nano-materials developed
By IANS,
Washington : A natural, nontoxic method for biodegrading carbon nanotubes could help diminish environmental and health concerns about using such materials.
A Pittsburgh University research team has found that carbon nanotubes deteriorate when exposed to the natural enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP), according to a report co-authored by Alexander Star, assistant professor of chemistry in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences.
Web surveillance can keep lethal infections at bay
By IANS,
Toronto: Integrating real-time web-based infectious disease surveillance with knowledge of worldwide air traffic patterns could help keep lethal infections at bay at mass gatherings.
For instance, during the 1991 International Special Olympic Games in the US, an outbreak of measles was triggered by an athlete from Argentina, where a concurrent measles epidemic was underway.
Bolstering kangaroo population can cut greenhouse gases
By IANS,
Sydney : Bolstering kangaroo numbers to 175 million by 2020 would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 16 megatonnes, or three percent of Australia's total emissions.
Kangaroos emit only a third of the methane emitted by ruminants like cattle, sheep and goats which account for 60 percent of global methane emissions. Like carbon dioxide, methane is a greenhouse gas that is a real contributor to global warming and climate change.
Indiegenous combat jet successfully lands at high altitude air base
New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) India's indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) has achieved another milestone by successfully landing at the Leh airbase in Jammu and Kashmir, one of the highest airfields in the world at 10,600 ft, an official said Tuesday.
‘Consciousness is brain’s Wi-Fi network’
By IANS,
Washington : Your fingers start to burn after picking up a hot plate; should you drop the plate or save your meal? New research suggests it is your consciousness that resolves these dilemmas by serving as the brain's Wi-Fi network.
"If the brain is like a set of computers that control different tasks, consciousness is the Wi-Fi network that allows different parts of the brain to talk to each other and decide which action 'wins' and is carried out," said Ezequiel Morsella.
Morsella, who led the study, is professor of psychology at San Francisco State University (SFSU).