Car-sized rat fossile found in Uruguay
By Xinhua
Beijing : Scientists have unearthed the skull of a giant prehistoric rat -- a car-sized behemoth that roamed South America four million years ago, according to a study published in Wednesday's Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The newly-identified species, believed to be the largest rodent ever to have walked the Earth, was about three meters long and 1.5 meters tall, and weighed from 468 kilos to 2.5 tonnes, according to researchers.
180 Google satellites to bring entire planet online
California : When you are busy chatting or surfing the internet, do you know that nearly 4.8 billion people - or two-third of the...
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.
Indian scientists develop GM mice through transgenic sperms
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian scientists have made history by developing transgenic sperms to help mice give birth to genetically modified (GM) pups - an effort that is expected to boost clinical research and drug development across the world.
Scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) here have been successful in inserting human genes inside the testes of male mice and integrating it with the chromosome of the germ cells.
Thus they have created transgenic sperms in a natural manner.
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.
First Japanese mother to travel into space in 2010
By DPA,
Tokyo : Naoko Yamazaki was selected to become the first mother and the second Japanese woman to travel into space, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Tuesday.
Yamazaki, 37, was chosen to board the US space shuttle Atlantis on a planned two-week mission in February 2010 to transport components to add on to the International Space Station, where Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi is to stay for six months starting around November next year.
India to launch a Third World satellite
By IANS
Hyderabad : India's space agency will in January launch a 'Third World' remote sensing satellite, images from which can be received free by universities and research organisations of developing countries.
"All they would need to spend is on a 3.7-metre dish antenna that will not cost much," D.V.A. Raghavamurthy, Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) director of small satellite projects, said here recently. The imageries can be used for research, mapping, and disaster management, he said.
US to develop new navigation system for moon
By Xinhua,
Washington : The US space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is seeking to develop a new navigation system for use on the moon, an official said.
The space agency has awarded $1.2 million to an Ohio State University research team who would develop the new system over the next three years.
The device would be a lot like the Global Positioning System (GPS) on Earth, the university announced Monday.
However, a GPS can't be used on the moon since it doesn't have satellites to send its signals to.
Google prevails in legal battle in Australia
By IANS/EFE,
Sydney: Australia's High Court ruled in favour of Google Inc Wednesday in a case over the search-engine giant's responsibility for deceptive advertising in sponsored links.
Robot performs world’s first surgery to remove brain tumour
By IANS,
Toronto : Canadian doctors have created history by performing the world's first robotic surgery to remove brain tumour.
In the landmark surgery, neurosurgeons at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre guided a newly developed robotic system - called NeuroArm - to remove an egg-shaped tumour from the brain of a woman.
Twenty-one-year-old Paige Nickason was discharged from the hospial two days after the nine-hour-long surgery performed Monday.
``I was happy to help by being a part of this historical surgery,'' she said in a statement at the weekend.
NASA beams chants of ‘Jai Guru Deva’ into outer space
By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : If there were any outer space aliens out there Monday at the crack of dawn Indian time, chances are they were grooving to a song with the words "Jai Guru Deva... Om".
The words form the beautiful refrain of a famous Beatles song, "Across the Universe", which was beamed into outer space in a celebration of the band's music at 0530 Indian time (midnight GMT).
NASA declares Phoenix Mars lander dead
By DPA,
Washington : A robotic lander that confirmed the presence of ice on Mars was confirmed dead by NASA scientists Monday.
The Phoenix Mars lander was damaged by harsh conditions during the Martian winter and repeated attempts to contact it have been unsuccessful, the US space agency said.
The lander had wrapped up its mission in 2008 and had not been expected to survive the harsh winter, which is twice as long as that on Earth. But scientists needed to make last attempts to contact it in good weather before officially writing it off.
Kepler telescope finds new planetary system
By DPA,
Washington : The planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found a new planetary system orbiting a distant star that could include a planet nearly the same size as Earth, NASA scientists said Thursday.
In findings to be published in the journal Science this week, the scientists report the discovery of two large planets about the size of Saturn orbiting a star similar to the sun. A third small object orbiting the star could be a much smaller planet, just a bit larger than Earth, but more work must be done to confirm it is actually a planet.
Birds of a flock work together
By Ernest Gill, DPA,
Hamburg (Germany) : Hitchcock was right: birds do cooperate to solve tasks which no individual bird could master alone, says a team of German scientists.
Until now, such group problem-solving efforts have been thought to be restricted to humans and other primates, such as chimpanzees. But the team of scientists headed by Amanda Seed at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, discovered the same group techniques used among pairs of rooks.
New greenhouse gas 4,800 times worse than carbon dioxide
By IANS,
Washington : A gas used in fumigation can potentially contribute to future global warming, but because its production has not yet reached high levels there is still time to nip this potential contributor in the bud.
Scientists at MIT, Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and others have measured the levels of sulphuryl fluoride in the air and determined its emissions and lifetime to help gauge its potential future effects on climate.
Five billion people to use cell phones in 2010: UN
By IANS,
Madrid: The number of mobile phone users across the world would increase to five billion this year, a UN telecommunication agency said Monday.
The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase to five billion this year, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
"Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services," ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said.
Eleven plant, animal species discovered in Vietnam
By DPA
Hanoi : Scientists have discovered 11 plant and animal species in tropical forests in central Vietnam and believe that more species remain unknown here, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said.
The new species were a snake, five orchids, two butterflies and three other plants new to science and exclusive to the Annamites Mountain Range, the conservation group said.
Adani group to set up solar power parks in TN
Chennai : Gujarat-based Adani group on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to supply 648 MW of solar power from...
PayPod targets Indian Internet ad space
By IANS
Chennai : PayPod Technologies, a US-based IT solutions provider with offshore development facilities in Chennai and Minsk, Belarus, has launched a technology-driven advertising service to tap the growing Indian market for ad space on the Internet.
Airborne lasers sharpen mapping of streams, rivers 10-fold
By IANS,
Washington : Lasers beamed from airplanes are greatly sharpening images of streams and rivers and interpreting how well water bodies can help maintain or expand fish stocks, according to a new study.
"It's kind of like going from your backyard telescope to the Hubble telescope," says Boston College Geologist Noah P. Snyder. "Restoring fish habitat is just one example. For the fisherman, backpacker, forester, land-use planner or developer - anyone who uses map data - this new technology is the next revolution in mapping."
Bodhi tree branch cut three years ago: report
By IANS
Patna : A scientific report has vindicated allegations by Buddhists that one of their most sacred religious symbols -- the Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya -- had a branch cut off three years ago.
The Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI), in its detailed report submitted to the Bihar government, said a branch of the sacred Bodhi tree was cut three years ago.
"The report has proved that a branch of the Bodhi tree was cut three years ago instead of last year as claimed," home secretary Afzal Amanullah said Friday.
The powerful are not compassionate, shows study
By IANS,
Washington : Can a powerful person be compassionate? The answer is no. They even have a weak desire to know or be friends with a distressed individual, according to a new study.
Gerben A. van Kleef of the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, examined how power influences emotional reactions to the suffering of others.
They suggested that powerful people's tendency to show less compassion and distress towards others reinforces their social power.
The PC you need for Windows Vista
By DPA
Washington : With Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system now on store shelves around the world, lots of PC users are wondering whether their machines are up to the task of running it.
One way to find out is to read the "minimum requirements" notes on the side of the Windows Vista box. But few take these seriously. So what do you really need in your computer to be a happy Windows Vista user?
Australian researcher develops 3D vision camera
By IANS,
Sydney : An Australian researcher has developed a camera that can measure distance and generate 3D images. It is likely to impact the video gaming and medical industries.
Existing techniques measure distance using a laser that generates a single spot. It measures the distance to that spot and moves to another spot and repeats the action to build up a picture.
"Our system, rather than sending out a laser spot, lights up the entire area like a light-bulb and measures it all in one go," Andrew Payne of Waikato University, who designed the camera, said.
YouTube global symphony to showcase Indian traditional music
By IANS,
New York : Indian music and musicians will go to the international online stage for the first time on YouTube, one of the most popular video communities the world over, to forge a common cultural language for the new global village.
The online musical programme will give Indian artists an opportunity to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York on April 15.
9,000-year-old rhino remains found in Russia
By RIA Novosti,
Yekaterinburg (Russia) : Archaeologists in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia's Urals have discovered 9,000-year-old bones of a rhinoceros, a local museum worker said Monday.
The excavations during which the bones were discovered were carried out at a site on the bank of the Lobva River, said Nikolai Yerokhin from the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology department.
It was generally assumed that rhinoceros last wandered the Urals some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Dinosaur fossils found in Argentina
By IANS/EFE,
Buenos Aires : Scientists have found the fossilised remains of a carnivorous dinosaur in Argentina, officials said.
Argentinean scientists from Las Lajas town museum and researchers from Canada's University of Alberta found fossilised bones of "saurischian" (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs in the southern province of Neuquen, 1,300 km south of Buenos Aires, they said Tuesday.
The saurischian dinosaurs, which grew to as much as four metres in length and two metres in height, were carnivorous and biped.
World’s largest telescope network activated
By IANS,
Washington : The largest-ever telescope network has been activated. It stretches 11,000 km across North and South America, Europe and Africa, and will simultaneously observe the same objects.
The telescopes are all members of the Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service (EXPReS) project, and became functional when the Arecibo Observatory of the National Science Foundation in Puerto Rico joined the network June 6, a press release said Tuesday.
N-bombs to destroy earth-bound asteroids in space!
By IANS,
Washington : Nuclear bombs - itself a threat to the humanity - to save the earth from dangerous space rocks?
Sounds like a new...
New medical weapons against anthrax attacks
By IANS,
London: The 2001 anthrax attacks in the US are fostering development of a new generation of vaccines and antibiotics to protect people against deadly bacteria in future bio-terrorist incidents.
Dimitrios Bouzianas, molecular endocrinologist, AHEPA University Hospital in Macedonia, Greece, notes that several existing antibiotics are available to combat an anthrax infection.
Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
By RIA Novasti
St. Petersburg : Temperatures on Earth have stabilized in the past decade, and the planet should brace itself for a new Ice Age rather than global warming, a Russian scientist said in an interview with RIA Novosti Tuesday.
Disconnected in Hyperconnected World: How Work, Family Shifts Fuelling Loneliness Epidemic in Post-Pandemic Era
Devanshi Batra, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: Why does it feel like we are more alone than ever in a world where we are constantly plugged in? Despite...
Russia doubts defunct US satellite may have nuclear material
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia is suspecting the US spy satellite that has gone out of control may have nuclear material onboard and is closely monitoring its movement in orbit, a top defence ministry official has said.
"Russian military experts suggest the satellite could have an onboard nuclear power source," said Igor Barinov, first deputy chairperson of the State Duma (parliament) defence committee.
Human stem cells aid stroke recovery in rats
By IANS
New York : In what is billed as a first, researchers using human embryonic stem cells to generate neural cells in the lab have found that they helped repair stroke related damage to a rat's brain.
The study, by researchers at Stanford University, said it showed the potential for using stem cell therapies in treating strokes in humans.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of PLoS ONE journal.
India Actively Considering Sending Man Into Space: Chavan
By Bernama,
New Delhi : India is gearing up for the launch of its maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I later this year and the government is actively considering sending a man into space, Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan said Wednesday.
Integration of 11 experiments -- five Indian and six foreign -- is proceeding satisfactorily and scientists are looking forward to a launch in the third quarter, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted him as saying, in replying to supplementary questions in the Lower house of Parliament.
India has just two unique IP addresses per 1,000 people
By IANS,
New Delhi : India has only two unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses per 1,000 people. But a just-released study says the country's net penetration could "significantly increase in the coming years", with its economic boom and growing IT adoption.
Every machine that is permanently connected to the Internet has a unique identifying number, called an IP address. A typical IP address looks like this: 59.95.29.46.
Device to sniff out explosives at airports
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have developed an intelligent system that sniffs out chemicals in explosives and helps track terrorists who may fool existing security systems at airports.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE in Wachtberg, Germany, have built the prototype.
They have named it Hamlet, for Hazardous Material Localisation and Person Tracking.
"Hamlet will alert security personnel to suspicious individuals," says head of department Wolfgang Koch from the FKIE.
3G spectrum auction to begin by October-end
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Thursday said the auction for allotment of 3G spectrum will begin by October-end, while services will roll out this year.
"Auction of the 3G spectrum will begin by the end of October, and I plan to roll out services by the end of this year," Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said at a function here.
"Since the availability of spectrum in 3G space for CDMA operators has increased and so has competition, we are allowing more than one operator in this space," he added.
SMS a language with its own rules, says study
By IANS,
Washington : OMG! LOL. TTYL. For many past the age of 40, these groupings seem like meaningless jumble, but for Generation Next, they embody a world of meaning.
“Instant messaging, or IM, is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes,” said Pamela Takayoshi of Kent State University.
“IM is a separate language form from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards.”
Snip of hair can nail criminal now
By IANS,
Sydney : A snip of human hair, recovered from a crime site, would now be enough to nail its perpetrator, thanks to a new technique developed by researchers.
Called Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), the portable tool has the advantage of being readily available and could be used for forensic analysis.
Sarina Brandes, a chemistry masters researcher at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who adapted this technique, said it was independent of analysis of DNA, which could break down quite quickly, especially during disasters.
Shenzhou VII ready for final test
By Xinhua,
Beijing : The team that developed Shenzhou VII, China's third manned spacecraft, will begin the final test at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province in a few days.
Zhang Bainan, chief designer of the spacecraft, said on Tuesday that the research and development team of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) will leave for Jiuquan early this month.
This, according to insiders, signals the final preparation stage of the country's third manned space mission.
India successfully puts spacecraft into lunar orbit
By IANS,
Bangalore : India Saturday successfully put its first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-I into lunar orbit - a major step towards placing it in its designated slot 100 km from the moon, a top Indian space agency official said.
The spacecraft was placed in an elliptical orbit - at 7,500 km aposelene (farthest from moon) and 500 km periselene (nearest to moon) through complex manoeuvres, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS here.
Quartz glass computer storage that lasts 100 mn years
By IANS,
London: Computer firm Hitachi has developed a quartz glass-based storage system that will last for an unbelievable 100 million years.
Grid computing helping to solve cancer mysteries
By IANS,
Washington : In a unique venture, people across the globe are cooperating to fight cancer using a concept known as grid computing.
Grid computing - as opposed to local computing -- allows Internet users worldwide to contribute to a “virtual” supercomputer to solve a difficult problem.
This can be done by “donating” idle computer time to the effort.
The anti-cancer project, called Cellular Environment in Living Systems @Home or CELS@Home , is the brainchild of Muhammad Zaman of Texas University and comprises more than 1,000 computer users worldwide.
Fresh estimates of Earth’s liquid assets revealed
Washington : Using NASA's fleet of Earth-observing satellites, scientists have provided estimates for the global water cycle budget for the first decade of the...
Astronauts finish complicated solar truss instalment
By DPA
Washington : Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts successfully completed a mammoth operation to reposition a 17.5-tonne solar array and truss during a more than seven-hour-long spacewalk Tuesday aboard the orbiting International Space Station.
US astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock conducted the operation outside in a teamwork operation with other crew members inside the station.
NASA’s Cassini clicks Saturn’s moon in best-ever resolution
Washington : A pockmarked, icy landscape looms beneath NASA's Cassini spacecraft in new images of Saturn's moon Dione taken during the mission's last close...
Iran launches satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Iran has successfully launched an observation satellite, Iranian news network Press TV reported Friday.
Delhi willing to fund entire project to install CCTVs
New Delhi: The city government on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it was willing to fund the entire project of installation of...
Sign language over cell phones now possible in US
By IANS,
Washington : A Washington University team has developed a software that enables deaf or hard-of-hearing Americans to use sign language over a mobile phone video link.
The real-time video communication between cell phones, demonstrated for the first time in the country, has evoked tremendous response from the aurally challenged since its posting on YouTube.
"A lot of people are excited about this," said principal investigator Eve Riskin, a professor of electrical engineering at the Washington University (WU).
New telecom network guidelines next month: minister
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government is expected to issue guidelines for third generation (3G) and wireless broadband (WiMax) networks by June, Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja said here Friday.
"By June the guidelines will be issued for 3G and WiMax," Raja said at an industry conference, adding that these networks would be rolled out by January 2009.
Chinese satellite fails to enter orbit
By IANS,
Beijing : A Chinese satellite failed to enter its designated orbit due to a rocket malfunction, a media report said Friday.
India’s Y chromosome man finds nature’s failsafe
By Papri Sri Raman, IANS
Chennai : Sher Ali hopes that there will never be a nuclear holocaust. But even if there were one, humankind would still survive on earth, says India's Y chromosome man.
One of the fallouts of a nuclear holocaust, Ali said, is that the reproductive cells in men are destroyed or genetically so modified that either there are no offspring or they are malformed.
Smart phones help track birds in the wild
By IANS,
Sydney : Smart phones, networked with remote sensors, have taken the uncertainty and exertion out of tracking birdcalls in the wild, according to a new study.
Earlier, such observations during a census or survey of bird populations saw biologists rising as early as 3 a.m. and making frequent trips to the site of the study.
“These repeated visits raised the risk of disturbing the very creatures under investigation, altering their behaviour,” said Richard Mason of Microsoft Queensland University of Technology and the study's author.
Geologist launches e-journal
By IANS,
Lucknow : A scientist from the Geological Survey India (GSI) has launched a free e-journal to help students and others interested in geological studies.
Lucknow-based Satish Tripathi says it can be accessed after logging on to www.earthscienceindia.info
"By logging on, one can get queries pertaining to Planet Earth answered by renowned geologists of the world who are members of the journal," Tripathi told IANS here.
Researchers crack open secret of superbug’s resistance
By IANS,
Toronto : Scientists have stumbled upon a central processing unit (CPU) of a superbug's weaponry which will provide new options to fight back and disable the virulent bacteria.
A team from the McMaster University's Institute for Infectious Disease Research has revealed that a small chemical, made by the superbug Staphylococcus aureus and its drug-resistant forms, determines this disease's strength and ability to infect.
Technology helps thousands conceive in Australia, New Zealand
By IANS,
Sydney : Latest fertility treatments helped younger and older women in Australia and New Zealand conceive 10,522 babies in 2006, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The institute reported that 9,291 babies were born in Australia and 1,231 in New Zealand with assisted reproduction treatment (ART).
PSLV launch put off due to technical glitch
By IANS,
Bangalore : India has put off the launch of an advanced remote sensing satellite, fixed for May 9, after a technical glitch in its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle was detected, the space agency said here Thursday.
"A marginal drop in the pressure in second stage of the vehicle was noticed during the mandatory checks carried out on the PSLV-C15 vehicle," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.
Computer virus accuses victims of viewing child porn
By IANS,
London: Police in Germany are warning people about a computer virus that accuses victims of viewing "juvenile pornography", BBC reported.
Russian submersibles plumb record depths to explore Lake Baikal
By DPA,
Moscow : Two Russian submersibles plumbed the depths of Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia Tuesday, diving a record 1,680 metres in one of the world's largest lakes.
"It is a world record for deep-water submersion in fresh water," an organizer told Itar-Tass news agency on the barge fielding expedition that was to last another five hours.
The exploration mission is headed by pro-Kremlin lawmaker Artur Chilingarov, who led a mission with the same two mini-submarines to plant a Russian flag on the sea bed below the North Pole last August.
Intel developing devices that tap energy from environment
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : Computer chipmaker Intel is developing tiny devices that can tap the energy from the surrounding environment, a US newspaper reported Saturday.
The devices include chip-size sensors that monitor air quality while riding piggyback on street-sweepers, and cell phones that recharge themselves with energy "scavenged" from the environment, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The company has tested a version of this technology in San Francisco, putting the sensors in small boxes attached to street- sweeping machines, the report said.
World largest ice embedded telescope coming up at Antarctica
By IANS,
Washington : An international team is building the world's largest neutrino telescope in the Antarctic, deep beneath the continent's snow-covered surface.
Dubbed "IceCube", the telescope will occupy a cubic kilometre of Antarctica when it is completed in 2011, opening super-sensitive new eyes into the heavens.
"IceCube will provide new information about some of the most violent and far-away astrophysical events in the cosmos," said Thomas Gaisser, professor of Physics and Astronomy University of Delaware (U-D), and one of the project's lead scientists.
Google features Gandhi doodle
By IANS,
London : The search engine Google Friday decorated its home page with a sketch of Mahatma Gandhi on his 140th birth anniversary.
The page, seen by millions of people around the world every day as they search the internet, showed Gandhi's face - the dome of his head and mushtacheo forming the initial letter 'G'.
Ants offer clues to improve traffic flow, say experts
By DPA,
Hamburg : Ever wonder how hundreds of ants are able to go up and down a narrow twig without bumping into each other? A team of German scientists wants to find out how ants avoid collisions so that they can use the same principle for traffic control.
The scientists built an ingenious super "ant farm" complete with roads, and bridges and a veritable city of ants. Then they observed the traffic patterns of the ants and fed their findings in to a computer.
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.
Divorces contributing to global warming: study
By IANS
Sydney : Increasing number of divorces are contributing to global warming, says a new study that suggests people should save their marriages to save the environment.
After divorce a woman moves out and forms a new household. The study by researchers at the Michigan State University found that this leads to less efficient use of natural resources, more demand for land for housing, and higher expenditure on utilities, reported the online edition of News Australia.
Researchers surveyed 3,283 homes in the US between 2001 and 2005.
ISRO designed avionics to guide rockets in 2008
By IANS
Chennai : Rocket navigation systems developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are all set to guide the geo-synchronous launch vehicle (GSLV) slated for launch next year.
ISRO tested its new avionics on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that was launched in April. The vehicle had a second equipment bay - apart from the primary one - housing the navigation and telemetry systems.
India now aims for manned space mission
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : India is aiming to send a manned mission into the space after the success of its first unmanned mission to the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRo) chairmain G. Madhavan Nair said here Sunday.
1,000-year-old sea creatures found
By IANS,
Toronto : Canadian and Spanish scientists have discovered rare species of marine life, with some creatures more than 1,000 years old.
According to the scientists, these creatures found off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador hold clues to the secrets of ancient underwater ecosystems.
These rare marine creatures have been spotted by researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and scientists from three Canadian universities and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.
Binocular telescope captures 3D celestial images
By IANS
Washington : A giant binocular telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona has taken celestial images in 3D for the first time, using its twin, 28-foot primary mirrors together.
The images are not only a milestone for the telescope, now the world's most powerful, but also for astronomy itself, said researchers, Sciencedaily reported.
US, Italy and Germany have partnered for the telescope, known as LBT. They are now releasing the images. University of Arizona owns part of its observing time.
India’s lunarcraft hunts for ice on moon with NASA orbiter
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first lunarcraft Chandrayaan-1 Friday conducted a joint experiment with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) of the US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to trace presence of ice in a dark crater near the North Pole of the moon, the Indian space agency said.
"The unique bi-static experiment was carried out jointly when Chandrayaan and Orbiter came closer while orbiting over the lunar North Pole where the permanently shadowed crater is located," the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.
Stellar blast gamma ray was aimed at earth: NASA
By Xinhua,
Washington : Data from satellites and observatories around the globe show a jet from a powerful stellar explosion witnessed March 19 was aimed almost directly at the Earth, the US space agency NASA has reported.
NASA's Swift satellite detected the explosion - formally named GRB 080319B - and pinpointed its position in the constellation Bootes. The event, called a gamma-ray burst, became bright enough for human eyes to see.
Observations of the event are giving astronomers the most detailed portrait of a burst ever recorded.
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.
Footpaths to generate electricity from pedestrians’ footsteps
By IANS,
London : A new technology under development by a British company would allow harnessing of the power of footsteps of pedestrians to generate electricity for lighting up public places.
The technology, developed by London-based The Facility, uses a flooring system that incorporates a matrix of hydraulic compression pads. The pressure of the footsteps on these pads pushes fluid through a micro-turbine and generates electricity.
Britain mulls asking private firm to run communication database
By IANS,
London : Britian is considering asking a private company to manage and run communications database that will keep track of all calls, emails texts and internet use, media reports said Wednesday.
The decision to put the management of the country's super database containing identities and locations of every person into private hands will, however, be accompanied by tougher legal safeguards to avoid unnecessay leaks and accidental loss of data, the Guardian reported.
Astronomers whip up recipe for moon concrete
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A team of astronomers have come up with an idea for a kind of lunar concrete that could be used to build structures on the moon such as giant telescopes, solar power arrays and even homes.
Vietnam Launches First Satellite
By Prensa Latina
Hanoi : Vietnam will soon launch its first telecommunications satellite from South America, Deputy Director Nguyen Quang Hung of State Vinast Agency's Satellite Information Center informed on Wednesday.
The device arrived today at the Kourou launch base in the French Guiana Overseas Department and will be launched by the European Arianespace consortium at the end of March or early April, to be transferred to the National Post and Telecommunication Agency of Vietnam, indicated Hung.
Space telescope launched to spy on black-holes
By DPA,
Washington : After several delays, the US space telescope GLAST was heading for a mission expected to shed light on black holes and the gravitational forces causing the universe to expand.
GLAST was launched on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1600 GMT.
GLAST's five-year, $700 million agenda includes up-close spying on the violent explosions and other cosmic catastrophes that astronomers have been observing through the Hubble space telescope and sophisticated observations from Earth.
Mars’ violent, volcanic past comes to light
By IANS
London : Mars has undergone massive volcanic upheavals that alternatively spewed lava and water onto its surface, giving the red planet its current contours.
German scientists have come to this conclusion after viewing the latest images of those contours - captured by the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) of Mars Express, the European Space Agency's (ESA) spacecraft circling the planet, reports Scincedaily.
Hands-free technology for twiteratti while driving
By IANS,
London : British motorists would soon be able to use online blogging network Twitter while driving with new hands-free technology from car company Ford.
The system, called AppLink, allows applications on iPhones and BlackBerries to be voice-controlled, reports dailymail.co.uk.
It reads 'tweet' updates out loud while the car is on the move - but does not allow the driver to respond.
American west is new global hot spot
By IANS
New York : The American west is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new study that analyses the latest temperature figures.
The average temperature rise in the southwest's largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions, ScienceDaily reported.
Kerala Tourism starts ad campaign on Google
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala has tied up with Google to promote its tourism through search and banner advertisements on the search engine.
This is the first time a state tourism department is partnering with the global search engine for such an advertisement campaign, Google officials have said.
Narasimha Jayakumar, business head of Google India, told IANS that the three-month campaign started last week and the responses had been "tremendous".
Compost can reduce carbon emissions
By IANS
London : Organic fertilisers applied to farmland could trap carbon stored in the soil and cut down on greenhouse emissions.
Carbon sequestration in soil has been recognised as a means to mitigate emissions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the European Commission.
Twenty percent of farmlands in Eurpoean Union could target about 8.6 percent of its total emissions for reduction, said a research paper published in the journal Waste Management and Research.
Robotic hand to allow people to hold hands over internet
By IANS,
London : Specially-designed robotic hands would soon allow friends and family to hold hands over the internet and help them experience the sensation of touch.
It plugs into a computer and communicates with an electronic wristband to allow people talking over the internet to experience the sensation of touch.
Not only can it grip and shake, but also give the signs for 'OK' and 'peace'. The robotic hand, which was unveiled at an international technology expo in Hong Kong this week, is expected to go on sale later this year, Daily Mail reported.
When WhatsApp, BBM foxed poll officials
By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow: How does one prevent hate speeches and inflammatory videos from being shared through applications like WhatsApp and on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)?...
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.
NASA extends Cassini’s probe of Saturn’s moons
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Finished with its four-year primary mission to Saturn, the Cassini orbiter has turned its cameras upon the ringed planet's mysterious moons as it kicks off a two-year extended mission.
A year of tweets, smartphones and green tech
By Andy Goldberg, DPA,
San Francisco : Any review of the major technology developments of 2009 would inevitably include copious copy on the Googles, Microsofts and other giants of the tech world.
But it was also a year in which the tiny company called Twitter became a major communications force, and when political, economic, social and technological trends combined to put green technology at the forefront of innovation.
New Microsoft deal eyes break-up of Yahoo
By DPA,
San Francisco : Microsoft's latest deal proposal to Yahoo envisages the internet portal selling off its valuable properties in Asia and Microsoft buying its search business in the US, media reports said.
The Software giant also proposed buying a minority stake in the whittled down Yahoo that would remain after the sell-off, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.
International Space Station’s orbit raised 3 miles
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The orbital altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) has been increased by 5 kilometers (3 miles), a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Center said on Thursday.
"The correction of the orbit of the ISS started at 8:16 a.m. Moscow time [5:16 a.m. GMT] by using thrusters on the Russian module Zvezda," the spokesman said, adding that the procedure had lasted 123 seconds.
He said the correction was made without the participation of the space station's crew.
Children can benefit from well-monitored interaction with PCs
By DPA,
Hamburg : Time spent working with computers can have a positive effect on children. Many games demand strategic thinking and skill. Online communities can also help children learn to report on their experiences, reports the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), a German health insurer.
Hacker claims security flaw with Apple’s iPhone
By IANS,
San Francisco: A hacker Friday revealed a security flaw that he claimed could make Apple's iPhone particularly vulnerable to text message cheating.
Brazil to deepen space cooperation with China
By Xinhua
Brasilia : The newly sworn-in head of the Brazilian Space Agency (BSA) Carlos Ganem said Tuesday that Brazil cherishes the ties with China and will deepen cooperation with China in the field of space technology.
Ganem made the remarks during his inauguration ceremony. A technical expert who engaged in the first negotiations on the China-Brazil satellite cooperation program, he said the project is an excellent example of bilateral cooperation.
China celebrates successful launch of its 2nd lunar probe Chang’e-2
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China on Monday held a celebration rally to mark the successful launch of the nation's 2nd lunar probe Chang'e-2.
Google to sell e-books to challenge Amazon.com
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Seeking to find common ground with authors, who have complained about copyright violations through search services, Google plans later this year to begin distributing and selling e-books on behalf of its publishing partners.
"We've consistently maintained that we're committed to helping our partners find more ways to make their books accessible and available for purchase," Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said Monday confirming the move first reported by the New York Times.
Rare turtle travels 7,000 km to breed!
By IANS,
Toronto : How could a contemporary of the great dinosaurs survive to this day?
A rare leatherback turtle, which has existed since the time of the dinosaurs, has been found to be adept at making the longest ocean journey to breed in warmer places.
Fitted with a satellite transmitter by Canadian scientists to track its journey, the turtle - which is the also world's largest turtle growing up to two metres long and weighing up to 500 kilogramme - travelled over 7,000 km to be found on the coast of Colombia in South America.
Martian soil may contain toxic compounds harmful to life: NASA
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Martian soil could contain a toxic substance that would make it less likely that life formed there, data gathered by NASA's Phoenix lander on the red planet has revealed.
Earlier NASA said Phoenix analysers detected water in the soil, which suggested that Mars could have the conditions for life. However, if the presence of perchlorate were confirmed, the probability of detecting living organisms there would be reduced.
SatNav Technologies launches new navigation solution
By IANS
Hyderabad : SatNav Technologies, a city-based IT products company, has added laptop and desktop navigation to its range of global positioning system (GPS) products, which are available under the brand SatGuide.
The company Monday announced the launch of its SatGuide turn-by-turn navigation and planning solution for laptops and desktops, focused on corporate houses.
"This is the first time in the country that such a solution is being launched," said a company statement here.
Take better candids with your digital camera
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Most people start out in digital photography taking 'candids' - pictures of people in their environment when they are not posing.
Unfortunately, most of those pictures end up being rejects - unflattering or just plain uninteresting.
The good news about digital photography, though, is that there's no penalty for trying. It costs nothing to download the pictures on to your PC and view your results, and you don't feel compelled to print out anything that's not worthy.
New language protects home computers
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have developed a security language to protect home networks from cyber attacks.
Companies, banks and other organisations take internet security very seriously, erecting firewalls and IT departments to protect them from attacks. But domestic and small office networks are just as vulnerable to hacking, malicious computer code, worms and viruses.
Geon Woo Kim of the Electronics and Telecom Research Institute (ETRI) Korea and colleagues who developed the specific codes said home networks have only a single gateway from the internet.
Stage set for Internet Governance Forum meet in Hyderabad
By IANS,
Hyderabad : The stage is set for the third edition of Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the world's largest Internet congregation formed by the Union Nations Secretary General.
About 1,500 participants from 100 countries will participate in the four-day meet beginning at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) Wednesday.
With the theme 'Internet for all', the conclave will deliberate on key issues like reaching out to the next billion, promoting cyber security and trust, managing critical Internet resources and the Internet of tomorrow.
Fingerprint could identify smoker, drinker
By IANS
London : Fingerprint could help identify a smoker, drinker, an avid coffee drinker or even a drug addict, scientists say.
Trying to lose hair? Measure the loss with new software
By IANS,
Sydney : Researchers have developed maths-based imaging technology to measure hair on different parts of the human body.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO) Biotech Imaging team, which specialises in developing software to analyse images automatically, worked with a British company to find a way to test how well their hair removal products work.
Insulation material named NASA gov’t invention of 2007
By Xinhua,
Washington : The U.S. space agency announced on Tuesday that NASA Government Invention of 2007 is a heat shield material slightly more dense than balsa wood that is designed to protect spacecraft during their fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
The Lightweight Ceramic Ablator material (LCA) was developed at NASA's Ames Research Center. It is a low-density material that weighs one-fifth as much as conventional heat shields, but can withstand temperatures up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius), according to project engineers.
French volcano’s mud may kill superbugs
By IANS
London : Volcanic clay may have the capability to kill deadly bacteria or super bugs, which are resistant to antibiotics, researchers have found.
Lynda Williams of Arizona State University and her colleague Shelley Haydel found that agricur - the volcano clay found in the Massif Central mountain range in France - also kills other deadly bacteria, including salmonella and a flesh-eating disease called buruli, similar to leprosy.
Google unveils social search function
By DPA,
Hamburg : Google is testing a new social search function to make it easier for people find their friends' blogs and twitter feeds.
The only catch is that users of the service need to have an open profile with Google that includes personal contact data.
Once those conditions are met, the user can access the service at the Google Labs. Typing in "New York" will yield a list of friends in the user's social network who have posted items from the Big Apple. Settings can be altered so that only postings from close friends and acquaintances are included in the "social graph."
Mercury is latest and deadlier threat to environment
By IANS,
Washington : As if global warming was not alarming in itself, add one more sinister threat to the list -- mercury pollution.
It has already spurred public health officials to advise eating less fish, but it could become a more pressing concern in a warmer world.
Sue Natali, postdoctoral associate in botany at the University of Florida in a paper she co-authored compared mercury levels in soils under trees growing in air enriched with carbon dioxide to soil beneath trees in ambient air.
Briton joins gym after his ‘shocking’ image on Google
By IANS,
London : A Briton was so horrified after seeing his massive belly on the Google Street View that he decided to join a weight loss regime, a media report said Monday.
Russia celebrates Sputnik’s 50th anniversary
BY RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first-ever satellite, Sputnik 1, an event which changed the world forever.
The world entered the space age on Oct 4, 1957, when the USSR won the race to put the first satellite into orbit. Sputnik 1 was launched aboard a Soviet R-7 rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Scientists design chip 20 times faster than current PCs
By IANS,
London : Scientists have created an ultra-fast computer chip which is 20 times faster than current desktop computers.
NASA’s Phoenix retests release of Martian soil
By Xinhua,
Washington : Engineers and scientists operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander decided early Tuesday to repeat a practice test of releasing Martian soil from the scoop on the lander's Robotic Arm.
When the arm collected and released its first scoopful of soil on Sunday, some of the sample stuck to the scoop. The team told Phoenix Tuesday morning to lift another surface sample and release it, with more extensive imaging of the steps in the process.
IBSA to take scientific research cooperation to next
By IANS,
Mamallapuram: Taking the trilateral developmental initiative between India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) to the next step, programme coordinators are mulling ways to expand the programme's reach.
Breakup of the $78.5 mn Chandrayaan bill
By IANS,
Chennai : Break-up of the Rs.3.86 billion ($78.5 million) bill for India's maiden moon mission:
Deep Space Network: Rs.1 billion ($20 million)
Rocket: Rs.1 billion ($20 million)
Payload development: Rs.530 million ($11 million)
Spacecraft bus: Rs.830 million ($17 million)
Scientific data centre, external network support and project management expenses: Rs.500 million ($10 million)
India’s Internet access hit after cable damage off Egypt
By IANS
Bangalore/New Delhi : India's Internet connectivity was disrupted Thursday after two undersea cables were damaged in the Mediterranean, although IT majors reported no impact on business. Smaller companies and individual surfers would, however, have to make do with slower speeds till the cables are repaired.
"Slow connectivity, choking and other problems have been caused across India due the cable damage," Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) President Rajesh Chharia said, adding it may take 10-15 days for normalcy to be restored.
‘A galaxy is like a giant soap bubble’
By IANS,
London : Although little is known about how the universe is structured, latest observations support the theory that large galaxies are clustered together in structures similar to giant soap bubbles, with tinier galaxies sprinkled on the surface of this "soapy" layer.
Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks with ISS
By Xinhua
Moscow : The Soyuz TMA-12 spaceship docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, according to Mission Control located outside Moscow.
The spaceship docked with the ISS at 16:55 Moscow time (1255 GMT), Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
The spaceship brought to the station the crew of the 17th main expedition, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, who will work in orbit for over six months.
NASA’s Mars-bound Phoenix adjusts course successfully
By Xinhua
Washington : The Phoenix Mars Lander has completed the first and largest of the six course corrections planned during its flight from earth to Mars, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
Phoenix left earth Aug 4, bound for a challenging May 25, 2008 touchdown at a site farther north than any previous Mars landing.
It will robotically dig to underground ice and run laboratory tests assessing whether the site could ever have been hospitable to microbial life.
Japan sends out high-speed Internet satellite
By Xinhua
Tokyo : The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched Saturday afternoon a rocket carrying a high-speed Internet communications satellite, which will cover the general Asia-Pacific region.
The satellite, capable of transmitting data at 1.2 gigabit per second, is designed to conduct experiments on wireless high-capacity and high-speed data communications in areas where ground Internet infrastructure is difficult to be built, the agency said.
Hyderabad IT Summit to replace GITEX India
Hyderabad, Sep 13 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to hold a Hyderabad IT Summit in March 2008. This event will replace the Global Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX India), held annually in the city since 2002.
The state government is scouting for a partner for the event, where many global and national IT companies are expected to participate. A key feature of the three-day event will be an India-US software conference, which is likely to be attended by software giants from both countries.
India to rollout 3G services by mid-2008: A. Raja
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian mobile users will be able to use 3G services by the middle of next year, Communications and IT Minister A. Raja said here Thursday.
"We are hopeful that some spectrum for both 2G and 3G services will be vacated by the end of this year. I hope that could pave the way for a rollout of 3G services by mid next year," the minister said at a 3G summit.
On being asked how much spectrum would be vacated, the minister replied, "That is up to the defence ministry to decide."
NASA reschedules shuttle launch for Sunday night
By DPA,
Washington : The US space agency NASA was confident that the repeatedly delayed launch of the space shuttle Discovery would lift off Sunday night for a mission to the International Space Station.
The launch was scheduled for 7.43 p.m. (2343 GMT) Sunday from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Discovery will have seven astronauts on board, including Japanese crew member Koichi Wakata, who is slated to join the permanent crew on the orbiting space station.
Digital invasion of privacy just a step away: Experts
By IANS,
London : Digital invasion of privacy is a step closer to reality, thanks to an increasingly intrusive technology that can track every single movement of ours or the words that we whisper.
The combination of information and communication technologies and pervasive computing will soon help continuously monitor individual activity, beyond what was feared by George Orwell in 1984, warned social psychologist Saadi Lahlou and other experts in a special report.
MIT edges closer to making fusion power real
By IANS,
Washington : The prospect of fusion as a future power source is still decades away, but MIT scientists have edged closer to making it a reality.
Fusion has enormous potential because it produces no emissions, fuel sources are abundant and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste. But it still faces great hurdles.
"There's been a lot of progress," said physicist Earl Marmar, division head of the Alcator Project at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Centre (PSFC). "We're learning a lot more about the details of how these things work."
Apple share tops $700 on iPhone 5 success
By IANS,
New York: Apple's stocks closed higher than $700 per share for the first time after Tuesday's trading, as orders for its new iPhone 5 hit a new record.
China’s new computer does 1,000 trillion jobs per second
By IANS,
Beijing : China has installed the country's first domestically-made supercomputer capable of doing 1,000 trillion operations per second.
Tianhe-1 is scheduled to begin operations this month, according to the National Supercomputing Centre in Tianjin.
The supercomputer, developed by the National University of Defence Technology in 2009, enabled China to become only the second country after the US capable of developing a device with a speed of 1,000 trillion operations per second.
Arianespace to launch India’s communication satellites
By IANS
New Delhi : The government has decided to place the contract for launching of GSAT-8/INSAT-4G communication satellites with Arianespace of Europe.
The decision was approved by the union cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday.
The cabinet approval has however put a rider, saying "The cost of the project should not exceed $67.5 million or Rs.2.97 billion", said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi while briefing newsmen on the decisions of the cabinet.
Erotic Emails Tricks Computer Users Into Downloading Virus
By Bernama
Los Angeles : Junk e- mails that promise erotic pictures of celebrities are spreading a virus to personal computers, said a Los Angeles-based IT security company.
The e-mails generally have subjects such as "Naked Shakira Clip," "Rihanna Exposed" or other suggestive messages, which lure computer users to click a link, according to Panda Security, a leading provider of IT security solutions, was quoted by China's XINHUA news agency as saying.
Why ‘7’ could be Microsoft’s lucky number
By Hitesh Raj Bhagat,
Microsoft Thursday launched the next version of Windows, dubbed Windows 7. The problem is: a majority of current Windows users still use XP, which is getting to be nine years old now.
After the launch of Windows Vista, people had no option but to buy PCs pre-loaded with Vista. Some paid extra to "downgrade" to Windows XP.
The main issues with Vista? Widespread reports of sluggishness, frequent hangs and crashes, and incompatibility with certain software and hardware. Vista was basically a troublesome experience.
New technique lights up tumour cells during surgery
By IANS,
London : A technique which lights up tumour cells during surgery could help those who suffer from ovarian cancer.
Mars to be closest to Earth on March 5
By IANS,
New Delhi : Watch out for Mars shining brightly in the sky around midnight Monday, as the red planet will be closest to the Earth.
Chandrayaan II design complete
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Wednesday said the design for Chandrayaan II has been completed and it will be launched by 2012.
"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," ISRO chairperson G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the Chandrayaan I team.
The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.
SC bans Tamil Nadu bull fights
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday banned Tamil Nadu's centuries-old Jallikattu bull fights.
A bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose also...
Tamil Nadu villages get Internet, telemedicine facilities
By IANS
Mahabalipuram : A community project to provide high speed Internet, telemedicine, e-education and e-governance services to the rural areas of Tamil Nadu was made operational Wednesday in Vadugambadi, about 60 km south of state capital Chennai.
The facilities will be provided for the first time in India with the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems under the Gramjyoti programme of the central government.
India to launch multipurpose scientific sea research vessel
By KUNA
New Delhi : India will soon deploy a state-of-the-art multipurpose scientific vessel for conducting sea research.
The vessel, "Sagar Nidhi," is presently located off the coast of Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and will be launched soon by India's Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Indo Asian News Service reported Friday, quoting an official in India's Earth Sciences Ministry.
The vessel would provide logistic support to India's Antarctic II and Arctic missions during the next five years.
Google, T-mobile to unveil iPhone competitor next week
By DPA,
San Francisco : Google will next week launch the first mobile phone running its Android software in a joint initiative with T-mobile, the companies have announced.
The open-source Android system is seen as Google's answer to Apple's successful iPhone and as a key initiative in the internet giant's quest to extend its dominance to the mobile web.
Google has worked closely with US carrier T-mobile and Taiwan electronics maker HTC to develop the new phone, which is to be called Dream.
Radioactive iodine found in Tokyo tap water
By DPA,
Tokyo : High levels of radioactive iodine were detected in tap water in Tokyo, authorities said Wednesday.
Maveric Systems develops automated software test tool
By IANS
Chennai : Targeting a higher share in the $8 billion Indian offshore testing opportunity, Chennai-based independent software testing company Maveric Systems Limited has come out with an automated software testing tool.
Developed at an investment of around $1 million, the proprietary software tool called Testac promises to reduce software testing time by 30 percent, CEO Ranga Reddy told reporters.
According to him, Maveric Systems is the only Indian software testing company to have such a proprietary tool.
Chandrayaan-I enters lunar orbit
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-I was Saturday put into lunar orbit at around 5.15 p.m., scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here.
The spacecraft was successfully put into an elliptical orbit after complex manoeuvres.
"The liquid apogee motor on board the spacecraft was fired for about 805 seconds to put Chandrayaan-1 into an elliptical orbit with 7,500 km aposelene (farthest from moon) and 500 km pericelene (nearest to moon)," ISRO director S. Satish told IANS.
Pune gears up for two-day international robotic competition
By IANS,
Mumbai/Pune : Pune gears up to see robots co-ordinate as a team as they form a pyramid to enact a high-tech 'dahi handi' (taking butter from a pot hanging high above) sequence at the two-day 7th ABU International Robocon Competition Saturday.
The event is the culmination of a yearlong competition among teams from over two dozen colleges spread across 17 countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad and Maharashtra Institute of Technology, (MIT) Pune are representing India at the event.
Australian astronaut urges bigger role of Australia in space science
By Xinhua,
Canberra : Astronaut Andy Thomas urged Australia on Friday to get greater involvement in space science and exploration, as a return to the moon is under preparation and a mission to Mars contemplated.
Speaking at a Senate inquiry into the space industry in Adelaide, South Australia, Thomas said Australia should establish a dedicated space agency to foster expertise in everything from satellite technology to rocket launching.
Millions throng to Kurukshetra for holy dip during solar eclipse
By IANS,
Kurukshetra (Haryana) : It was a sea of humanity that arrived in this Haryana town to take a dip in the 'Brahmsarovar' on the occasion of the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century Wednesday.
The administration here said that nearly 1.5 million (15 lakh) were expected to arrive for a holy dip at the 'Brahmsarovar' (Pond of Lord Brahma - the Hindu god considered the creator of the universe) on the occasion.
People started thronging the holy pond since 3 a.m. Wednesday even though the eclipse was expected to take place three hours later.
Mars rovers exceed all expectations to mark fifth birthdays
By DPA,
Washington : When the Spirit rover landed on Mars five years ago, no one expected it or its sister rover Opportunity to make it to their first birthdays, let alone their fifth.
The rovers had predicted life spans of just 90 days, but instead US space agency NASA this month marks the fifth anniversary of the mission that is still going strong.
Cargo ship to undock from ISS, serve as technical platform
By RIA Novosti,
Russia's unmanned Progress spacecraft, due to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on June 30, will be used as a technical space platform before being dumped in the Pacific, mission control said Monday.
"The undocking is planned for 22:30 Moscow time, June 30. The operation will be carried out automatically," mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. "As for when the freighter will be buried, a decision has yet to be made."
PSLV’s success shows India’s proficiency: Chavan
By IANS,
New Delhi : The successful launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), carrying five satellites, is proof of the country's proficiency in space science, Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan said Monday.
Congratulating the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, Chavan said the launch was "textbook perfect".
"It is the proof of our increasing proficiency in the space science," he said.