Wipro wins multi-year deal from Swedish firm
Bengaluru: Global software major Wipro Ltd on Monday announced it has won a five-year IT infrastructure management deal from Assa Abloy group, a Swedish...
Canada gov’t rejects sale of space technology to U.S.
By Xinhua
Ottawa : The Canadian government said Thursday it had rejected the sale of satellite and robotics technology to a U.S. firm, noting it would be against national interest.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice said in a statement that Ottawa cannot agree with selling the space technology division of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) to U.S. rocket-maker Alliant Techsystems Inc. The proposed deal involves 1.325 billion U.S. dollars.
Alliant has been given 30 days to contest the decision.
Scientists crack code of drug-resistant TB
Durban(IANS) : South African scientists have sequenced the entire genome of a strain of extremely drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (XDR-TB).
They hope the information will contribute to developing better diagnostics and treatments for the disease.
The bacteria analysed were taken from a patient in Durban's King Edward VIII Hospital in KwaZulu Natal, science site SciDev.Net reported.
Propulsion problems solved, Jules Verne ATV on target
By Xinhua
Beijing : Jules Verne, Europe's first space station cargo carrier, has overcome problems with its propulsion system and has initiated orbit-raising maneuvers, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said Tuesday.
The 41,887-pound (19,000-kg) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), was slated to use its onboard engines to raise its orbit by about 53 miles (85 km), to 214-miles (345-km), in preparation for a series of test maneuvers that should end with a docking with the International Space Station April 3, mission managers said.
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.
NASA regains contact with Mars spacecraft
By SPA,
Los Angeles : NASA's Phoenix Mars spacecraft regained contact with Earth more than a day after falling silent, but its days operating on the red planet are still numbered, mission managers said, according to AP.
Waning sunlight and a dust storm this week drained the lander's power, forcing it to go into safe mode. It failed to respond to two wake-up calls from Earth but sent a
signal late Thursday when the orbiting Odyssey spacecraft passed overhead.
Other universes exist alongside our own
By IANS,
London : Scientists say they have found evidence that our universe was 'jostled' by other parallel universes in the distant past.
Space junk may crash earth’s communication networks
By IANS,
Washington/London : Junk of abandoned rockets, shattered satellites and missile shrapnel in space may cause collision between satellites, destroying communication facilities on earth, the US defence department has warned.
According to scientists, the debris scattered in the earth's orbit is reaching a "tipping point" and pose a threat to the $250 billion space services industry.
A single collision between two satellites or large pieces of "space junk" can send thousands of pieces of debris spinning into orbit, triggering an "uncontrolled chain reaction".
Twitter may allow app advertisers use video
New York: App ads on Twitter may soon have the option to be video-based, the microblogging site has announced.
In a blog post celebrating one...
ESA’s Jules Verne spacecraft ready for liftoff
By Xinhua
Beijing : A European cargo ship the size of a double-decker bus is ready for its first flight to haul fresh supplies toward the international space station.
Jules Verne, a massive unmanned cargo ship built for the European Space Agency (ESA) is set to launch Sunday, March 9 from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. A modified European Ariane 5 rocket will loft the nearly 21-ton Jules Verne into orbit from its equatorial launch site on the northern coast of South America.
Bio-monitoring to track pollutants, trace elements
By IANS,
London : Bio-monitoring can be used in environments where a technological approach to monitoring pollutants, particulates and trace elements is not only difficult and costly but may be impossible, say scientists.
"It allows continuous observation of an area with the help of bio-indicators, an organism that reveals the presence of a substance in its surroundings with observable and measurable changes, such as accumulation of pollutants, which can be distinguished from the effects of natural stress," said Borut Smodis of the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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.
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.
Revamped Hubble ready to tackle universe’s big questions
By Anne K. Walters, DPA,
Washington : Five straight days of intense and dangerous repair work have sharpened the vision of the Hubble Space Telescope and prepared it to once again collect groundbreaking insights into the origins of the universe.
Yahoo launches voice-search via mobile
By DPA
San Francisco/Las Vegas : Yahoo Wednesday unveiled a powerful new version of its OneSearch technology for mobile phones that allows users to initiate searches faster using voice or text.
The new search module is believed to be the first voice-activated search available via cell phone. The company has already signed partnerships with 29 carriers around the world.
It will also make search instantly accessible on the idle screen of many phones and is seen by the company as a key plank of its strategy to make Yahoo the starting point for mobile consumers.
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.
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.
TiEcon 2014 in Santa Clara ends with Shahid Khan keynote
By Ras H. Siddiqui, TwoCircles.net,
San Francisco: The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) held its annual conference known as TiEcon in Silicon Valley, the technology world way beyond just the South-Asian Diaspora noticed. Over 4000 people attended TiEcon 2014 at the Santa Clara Convention Center with many of the heavyweights in the technology arena present. Those who presented Grand Keynotes included Steve Mollenkopf (CEO Qualcomm), Michael Rhodin and Manoj Saxena (IBM), Steve Lucas (President SAP), Romesh Wadhawani (Chairman & CEO Symphony Technology Group), Sanjay Poonen (EVP and GM of VMware) and Shahid KhanPresident of Flex-N-Gate and owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football team.
Platypus genome holds key to mammalian evolution
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have decoded the genome of one of the most unusual creatures in existence - the duck-billed platypus. And now they know why it is part bird, part reptile and part mammal.
The platypus represents the earliest offshoot of mammalian lineage - a branch-out that occurred 166 million years ago from primitive ancestors with both mammalian and reptilian features.
"At first glance, the platypus appears as if it was the result of an evolutionary accident," said Francis S. Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Astronauts start spacewalk to install Japan lab
By ANTARA News
Washington : Two astronauts from the US shuttle Endeavour stepped into space Thursday in the first of a series of spacewalks to install Japan's maiden laboratory at the International Space Station (ISS), NASA television showed.
Mission Specialist and lead spacewalker Rick Linnehan and Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman emerged at 8:18 pm Central Daylight Time (0118 GMT Friday), according to NASA, to begin the task of maneuvering phase one of the laboratory out of Endeavour's payload bay and attaching it to the orbiting station.
New technology to bring down cost of fuel
By Jatindra Dash, IANS,
Bhubaneswar : It may now be possible to bring down the cost of emulsified fuel and also reduce India's dependence on crude imports, thanks to a new technology invented and tested by the Chennai-based Hydrodrive Systems and Controls.
"The technology we have developed does not use any additives or surfactant," Hydrodrive managing director and inventor Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan said.
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.
Top scientist holds humankind responsible for climate change
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : India's top farm scientist M.S. Swaminathan holds humankind solely responsible for global warming causing climatic changes.
"Global warming is anthropogenic (man-made) and not caused by nature. Man is solely responsible for whatever is happening in the earth's atmosphere," Swaminathan, considered father of India's first green revolution, told IANS in an interview on the margins of the 97th Indian Science Congress (ISC2010) here Thursday.
Suven to work with US university for cheap HIV drug
By IANS
Hyderabad : Suven Life Sciences Ltd, a Hyderabad-based life sciences company, has entered into collaboration with the University of Minnesota in the US to develop new and inexpensive therapies to treat HIV-1.
The collaboration also includes the US-based Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research (CIDMTR).
System to detect terrorists before strike
By IANS
New York : Scientists in US are developing an automated system that will help to detect terrorists before they strike.
When a person is interrogated, the system will start tracking his or her behaviours and create a baseline data of the individual.
The system tracks individual characteristics of a person like face, voice, and physiology among other things, to help confirm personal identity of a person against scientifically tested behavioural indicators, scientists at the University of Buffalo said in a press release.
Indian American finds mastermind behind formation of our skin
By IANS,
Washington : An Indian American researcher has discovered the genetic mastermind that controls skin formation. The finding could help address skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis and wrinkles.
Skin is actually the largest organ in the human body, and has important functions in protecting people from infection, toxins, microbes and solar radiation.
Terminate sanctions on day of implementing n-deal: Iran
Tehran: The international economic sanctions on Iran should be completely lifted when a nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of world powers enters into...
First synthetic tree may facilitate heat transfer, soil technologies
By IANS,
Washington : The world's first 'synthetic tree,' created by Abraham Stroock's lab, mimics the process of transpiration that helps move moisture to the highest branches.
The researchers' work bolsters the long-standing theory that transpiration in trees and plants through capilliary action, is a purely physical process, requiring no biological energy.
It also may lead to new passive heat transfer technologies for cars or buildings, better methods for remediating soil and more effective ways to draw water out of partially dry ground.
Researchers unveil hydrogen-powered racing car
By IANS,
Sydney : Researchers have unveiled the first hydrogen-powered racing car that demonstrates the incredible possibilities of hydrogen as the clean, renewable fuel of the future.
The car will be bidding for the title of world's fastest hydrogen-powered racer when it attempts in early 2009 in Germany to break the Guinness World Records' mark for speed by a vehicle of its class.
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.
Filling fuel for cryogenic engine to start
By IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : Scientists were Thursday getting ready to launch an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine to inject an advanced communication satellite into space. The filling of liquid fuel that will power the third stage of the 50-metre tall, 416-tonne Indian rocket to inject the satellite in geo-synchronous orbit is expected to start around 11.30 a.m.
Russian bio-satellite makes safe landing
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The re-entry module of the Foton-M bio-satellite successfully landed at 11.58 a.m. Moscow time (7.58 a.m. GMT) Wednesday in northern Kazakhstan, RIA Novosti reported.
The satellite was launched Sep 14 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan carrying gerbils, snails, cockroaches and many other creatures sealed in special containers and filmed by a video camera during the flight, as part of experiments carried out by the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP).
Reducing household carbon footprint helps fight climate change
By IANS,
Washington : Like charity, the battle against global warming should also begin at home, according to a new study.
The study set out to establish that going green, recycling items of daily use and reducing your carbon footprint would be easier if a household's environmental impact is monitored.
The study, which enlisted 20 families to assess how well sustainable behaviour might be inculcated among householders, compared fuel, electricity, water costs and waste generation and recommended cost-effective steps to reduce consumption.
Two new frog species discovered in Panama
By DPA,
Panama City : Scientists have discovered two new frog species in Panama's rainforests at a time when many of the amphibians are threatened by a fungal disease driving them toward extinction.
Pristimantis educatoris was discovered in the Omar Torrijos nature reserve in Cocle province, scientists from the US Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute said Thursday.
The frog is two to four centimeters long, varies from dark purple to dark grey in its colouring, and has red or yellow eyes. Its fingers and toes also end in bulbous disks.
Mars rover stuck for good but still working hard
By DPA,
Washington : The Spirit Mars rover has reached its final destination, NASA said after the failure of efforts to free the space probe from sandy soil where it had been trapped for months.
Spirit is stuck but remains functional and will live out its life as a stationary science platform, collecting data on the area where it ran into trouble in April.
NASA had been trying since November to free the rover in an effort to back it out of a patch of sandy soil where its wheels had become embedded.
Students build and launch a sensor into space
By IANS,
Washington : Students built and launched a cosmic radiation detector into space with the help of a 12-inch helium filled balloon that reached an altitude of 104,000 feet.
The instrument recorded radiation levels at varying altitudes - information that will be used by NASA to develop instrumentation for space flight.
"This is really amazing," said Carl Johnson, a physics graduate student who designed and built the device. "Our detector actually flew to the edge of outer space and then back to ground, and the whole time it worked perfectly."
T-Mobile to launch Google phone in October
By DPA,
San Francisco : T-Mobile is to launch the first phone based on Google's Android design Sep 17, in hopes that the new device will compete with Apple's iPhone, Wired magazine reported Friday.
The smartphone will be manufactured by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer, and will have a large touch screen that slides out to reveal a five-row QWERTY keyboard. The device, which will be called the G1, will sell for $150 to T-Mobile customers in the first week of launch before it is offered to other customers at a higher price.
‘India, China don’t pose a challenge to US’
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Warnings from pundits that the millions of engineers and scientists India and China produce each year would soon challenge the US' technical superiority may be a little premature, according to Newsweek International.
While Delhi and Beijing are slowly moving in the right direction to improve their high-tech and science programmes, "yet getting either country up to speed will be an enormous task", said the magazine.
Mahindra Racing join hands with Swiss firm
By IANS,
New Delhi: Mahindra Racing will team up with former Grand Prix rider Eskil Suter's company to produce an all new bike for the 2013 Moto3 season.
Climate experts put EU case to India on emissions trading
By DPA,
Potsdam (Germany) : Top European Union experts on climate change briefed Indian scientists near Berlin Tuesday on an ambitious programme to "trade" carbon-dioxide emissions round the globe so as to cut the overall pollution level.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, a leading German scientist who works from Potsdam, argued that India would be a beneficiary for decades on end from a fair scheme, since it could earn income by selling the valuable rights.
Intel’s offer to lower operational costs
By IANS
Jaipur : Intel Corp has launched a new processor technology to help small and medium businesses to reduce their operational costs.
The company's Indian subsidiary has developed a new processor - vPRO - and an upgraded version of Centrino pro-processor for managing the services of small and mid-size businesses.
Colliding galaxies send black holes packing
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A huge black hole has been seen leaving its home galaxy after a colossal cosmic merger occurred. The event, seen for the first time, was announced Tuesday.
When two colliding galaxies finally merge, it is thought the black holes at their cores may fuse together too. Astronomers have theorized that the resulting energy release could propel the new black hole from its parent galaxy out into space, but no one has found such an event.
Two Europeans, four Russians to go on simulated “Mars mission”
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Two Europeans and four Russians have been selected to participate in an experimental Mars mission simulation, Mars-500, a medical institute spokesman said Monday.
The experiment, which is being run by the Russian Institute of Biological Problems, will sequester the six volunteers in a "Mars Expeditionary Complex" for 520 days beginning late 2008.
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.
21 of 23 major cyclones worldwide in Indian region
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : Twenty-one of the 23 most devastating cyclones worldwide during the last 200 years occurred in the northern Indian Ocean zone popularly know as the Indian region.
"Though the Indian region faces only five to six percent of the total number of cyclones erupt every year, the magnitude of these cyclones is very high," said Akhilesh Gupta, scientific advisor to the science and technology ministry.
"We have found that 21 of the 23 devastating cyclones across the globe during the last two centuries occurred in the Indian region," Gupta told IANS.
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.
Russian scientists revive plants frozen for 30,000 years
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A team of Russian biophysicists has successfully grown ancient plants from tissue material that stayed frozen in the Siberian region for about 30,000 years.
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.
Universe’s biggest star discovered
By IANS,
London : The biggest star, with a mass 320 times greater than the sun's, has been discovered at the edge of our galaxy by British astronomers.
Scientists at the University of Sheffield found the stellar giant - named R136a1 - using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The star is located in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small "satellite" galaxy which orbits the Milky Way, the Telegraph reported.
Power station successfully traps CO2 emission
By IANS,
Sydney : In a pilot project that has far-reaching implications, an Australian power station has used a “carbon capturing” plant to trap a bulk of its CO2 emissions.
The “post-combustion-capture (PCC) pilot plant” at the Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley trapped up to 85 percent of its CO2 emissions.
The 10.5 metre-high pilot plant is designed to capture up to 1,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the power station's exhaust-gas flues. Future trials will involve the use of a range of different CO2-capture liquids.
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.
Gene mutation in worms key to alcohol tolerance
By IANS,
London : Liverpool University reseachers, picking up from a study by the Oregon Health and Science University on the linkage between gene mutation and tolerance to alchohol in mice, investigated it in worms.
This gene specifies the ways in which amino acids arrange themselves into a protein called UNC-18 - or Munc18-1 - in humans, an essential component of the nervous system.
Researchers found that a naturally occurring change in this gene can result in a change in the nature of one of the amino acids, which then alters communication between cells in the nervous system.
Scientists develop mother of all laser beams
By IANS
New York : Scientists have developed the mother of all laser beams - one that has focussed power equal to all the sunlight heading earth's way.
Researchers at the University of Michigan recently created the record-setting beam, which measures 20 billion trillion watts per square centimetre, Sciencedaily reported.
"I don't know of another place in the universe that would have this intensity of light. We believe this is a record," said Karl Krushelnick, who was part of the team that created the laser.
Sentinel birds sing the ‘watchman’s song’
By IANS,
London : Like soldiers guarding their posts in hostile territory and keeping comrades informed by radio that all is well, birds too are just as conscious about discharging similar "responsibilities", according to a study.
Researchers from the University of Bristol have demonstrated that by warbling a distinctive "watchman's song", birds scanning for danger ensure their larger feathered family can focus on foraging, and so get more food.
Vibration energy to charge your smart phone!
By IANS,
New York: Vibration energy from a surface like the passenger seat of a moving vehicle to power your smart phone?
Yes. It's possible as...
Cuba raps Facebook, YouTube
By IANS,
Havana : Cuba has denounced online social network Facebook and Google-owned video sharing network YouTube for closing its account and censoring video links from the two websites.
Endeavour to lift off Tuesday with Japanese module
By Xinhua
Beijing : The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for launch early Tuesday to carry the first of three modules that will become Japan's orbiting laboratory in the International Space Station, according to media reports Monday.
Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for 2:28 a.m. EDT.
The mission marks a fresh chapter in Japan's human spaceflight effort.
NASA probe finds second mountain range in Pluto’s ‘heart’
Washington : The New Horizons probe has found a second mountain range situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain on the...
15-yr-old Sahil Khan writes his third book on computer science
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: This Delhiite Muslim teenager is very different from millions of boys of his age. Sahil Khan, only 15, has come out with his third book on computer science. His latest book “The Tricks of E. Mail Hacking” was launched today at India Islamic Cultural Centre by its president and renowned Muslim entrepreneur Sirajuddin Qureshi.
Google, IBM team up on cloud computing
By DPA
San Francisco : Google and IBM have announced that they are teaming up to promote research into cloud computing - a technology in which programmes and services are run on remote servers rather than on users' PCs.
The two technology giants said they will contribute $20 million to $25 million each to build data centres that can be used by university researchers in the US.
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.
Researchers create most comprehensive moon map
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have created the most detailed and comprehensive map of the moon's complex landscape thanks to data provided by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Indian-American develops imaging system to track moods
By IANS,
Toronto : We might never know what evil lurks in the hearts of humans, but Prabir Bhattacharya's computers might.
The Indian-American scientist at Concordia University is developing a computer image processing system that detects and classifies facial expressions.
The system aims at taking and analysing photos of individuals, potentially in areas of high traffic where security is a primary concern, such as an airport.
Is there more oil deep within the earth?
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have found that petroleum can be formed under the very high pressure and temperature conditions found deep within the earth. The finding potentially multiplies underground oil deposits manifold.
The oil and gas that fuel our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the earth and formed without organic matter.
US team finds evidence of water in moon minerals
By IANS,
Washington : A team of US geologists has found structurally bound hydroxyl groups in a mineral in a lunar rock returned to earth by the Apollo programme.
Geologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working with colleagues at the University of Tennessee, found the water in a calcium phosphate mineral, apatite, within a basalt collected from the moon's surface by the Apollo 14 astronauts, Xinhua reported.
India tests two nuke capable missiles
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: India Saturday successfully tested two indigenously developed nuclear capable missiles, Dhanush and Prithvi II, an official said.
"Both the missiles were successfully launched at the same time at about 5.30 a.m.," S.P. Dash, director of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa's Balasore district, told IANS.
The Prithvi II surface-to-surface ballistic missile, with a range of 350 km, was launched from Chandipur, 230 km from Bhubaneswar.
When monkeys flew: 50 years since forgotten space pioneers
By Charlotte Horn, DPA,
Washington : Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong are names printed in bold in the history books. But two smaller, unknown space pioneers who helped make their advances possible had their first flight 50 years ago.
Two monkeys were shot into space by the US space agency NASA on May 28, 1959 - paving the way for humans, like the Russian who became the first man to orbit the Earth and the US astronaut who was the first to set foot on the moon.
Six Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan blast
Kabul: Six Taliban fighters were killed Saturday in a blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni, police said.
"A local Taliban leader named Mullah Saddiq,...
Scientist Jagadish Bose inducted into Pioneers Hall at US museum
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : With India and the United States recognising a strategic partnership as "indispensable and inevitable", Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen foresees the two nations working more closely in harnessing space and nuclear energy.
"India and the United States recognise that a strategic partnership between the two countries is both indispensable and inevitable in 21st century," he said in an address to the Historical Electronics Museum in Baltimore.
NASA to test faulty sensors of shuttle Atlantis
By Xinhua
Washington : With a trouble shooting plan in hand, NASA will begin to test the erratic fuel sensors which had halted the launch of space shuttle Atlantis, a top NASA official announced Tuesday at a teleconference.
The test work is tentatively planned for Dec. 18, said Wayne Hale, NASA's Space Shuttle Program Manager. Technicians and engineers plan to test the sensor system onboard Atlantis by pumping super-cold liquid hydrogen into the external fuel tank.
Telecommunication interconnection regulation revised
By IANS,
New Delhi : India's telecom watchdog Tuesday revised the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation, 2004, making it mandatory for all broadcasters to have reference interconnect offers (RIOs) for their addressable systems.
The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2009, released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), covers regulatory provisions on issues relating to inter-connection for addressable platforms and registration of inter-connection agreements.
Calling family commonest use of mobile phone
By IANS
Sydney : As a gadget, it has been around only a decade or so, but mobile phones have become seamlessly integrated with family life, confirms a new survey.
Of all the calls monitored during the three-year survey by Australian researchers, an overwhelming number were for contacting family (49 percent) and friends (26 percent).
Only about 12 percent of the calls were work-related.
The remainder of the calls were to service providers or to pick up messages from voice mail (less than 15 percent).
Weather a concern as Atlantis countdown continues
By DPA
Washington : The weather is a concern for the US space agency NASA as the countdown for the delayed launch of the Atlantis space shuttle for an 11-day mission continues.
Weather forecasts gave a 30 percent chance of "acceptable conditions" at the scheduled 2.45 p.m. (1945 GMT) Thursday launch time from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the possibility of storms and clouds, NASA said.
The launch could also take place Friday, when there is a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions, or Saturday, with a 70 percent chance of good weather.
Russia to continue Arctic shelf research
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russian scientists will continue to study the Arctic shelf in order to bolster the country's claim to a large swathe of seabed believed to be rich in oil and gas, a Russian lawmaker has said.
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia's Arctic research is aimed at establishing the country's right to a part of the Arctic shelf.
Artur Chilingarov, member of the lower house of Russia's parliament and a veteran explorer, said international cooperation in the area would continue.
Nanotechnology sharply polarises people along cultural lines
By IANS,
Washington : Nanotech may be revolutionising research but it has also sharply polarised people along cultural lines, according to a study.
These findings have important implications for garnering support of the new technology, said Yale Law School (YLS) researchers, working in collaboration with a project on the emerging discipline.
The experiment involved a diverse sample of 1,500 Americans, the bulk of whom were unfamiliar with nanotechnology, a discipline that involves manipulation of atom sized particles, with wide commercial applications.
UAE’s first artificial battery-powered heart transplant
Dubai: A 21-year-old student in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city of Sharjah, has received the country's first artificial heart transplant, a media report...
E-mail etiquette: A matter of survival
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Business people send out some six trillion e-mail messages each year, according to US-based Ferris Research. That's probably not much of a surprise to most office workers today, who have seen e-mail usurp meetings and face-to-face conversations as a primary form of communication.
Transmitting data 16 times faster @ 640 billion bits per second
By IANS,
Washington : Every second, millions of phone calls and cable TV shows are dispatched through fibres as digital zeros and ones formed by chopping laser pulses into bits.
This slicing and dicing is generally done with an electro-optic modulator, a device for allowing an electric signal to switch a laser beam on and off at high speeds. Reading that fast data stream with a compact and reliable receiver is another matter.
World’s first cloned, glowing rabbit to reproduce soon
By Xinhua
Shanghai(China) : Chinese scientists are expecting the world's first cloned rabbit will be able to reproduce in three months.
The genetically-modified cloned rabbit, born in a hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University's medical school Sep 14, glows green under a fluoroscope, a result of being injected with special genes. Scientists hope this special trait will be transferred to the rabbit's offspring.
Earth more sensitive to CO2 than estimated
By IANS,
London : The earth's temperature may be 30 to 50 percent more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) than has previously been estimated, says a new study.
The results show that components of the earth's climate system that vary over long timescales - such as land-ice and vegetation - have an important effect on this temperature sensitivity, but these factors are often neglected in current climate models.
Soon, solar-powered camera straps to charge batteries
By IANS,
London: Photographers will soon be able to charge their camera batteries with the rays of the sun.
A team of Chinese researchers are developing solar panels to straps that would make the charging easy. Inventor Weng Jie’s idea, of which a prototype may be ready in months, could spell the end of wall-socket charging, reports dailymail.co.uk.
But there is a downside: In case there is not enough sunlight, regular batteries can not be used as a substitute.
China begins final countdown to spacewalk mission
By DPA,
Beijing : China Thursday afternoon intitiated the final eight-hour countdown to its Shenzhou VII space mission, which is scheduled to feature the nation's first spacewalk.
The Jiuquan space centre in the north-western province of Gansu began the countdown at 1:10 pm (0510 GMT), state media said.
The start of the countdown put the mission on course for its previously announced launch time of 9:10 pm (1310 GMT), although officials Wednesday said the exact time could still vary between 9:07 pm and 10:27 pm.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 hits snags
By DPA,
San Francisco : Despite some initial glowing reviews, Microsoft has been flooded with complaints about its new Internet Explorer 8 and has seen early users downgrade to the previous version, Information Week has reported.
The software giant is hoping that its new browser will help stem a steady flight of surfers to rival products, most notably the open-source Firefox browser.
According to the latest figures, Firefox now controls 22 percent of the browser market compared to 67 percent for Internet Explorer, which once enjoyed more than 90 percent of the market.
EU to study Microsoft’s software compatibility announcement
By DPA,
Brussels : The European Commission said Thursday it had taken note of Microsoft's plans to improve the compatibility of its word processor with free-of-charge rival softwares.
In a statement, the European Union (EU) executive said it hoped that Microsoft's announcement that it would provide support for formats used by other open-source programmes would lead to "better interoperability and allow consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice".
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...
Tiny gold clusters can help clean car exhaust
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers are exploiting gold's exceptional ability to catalyse a wide variety of chemical reactions, including conversion of the poisonous pollutant carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide at room temperatures.
That process, in industrial terms, could potentially improve the effectiveness of catalytic converters that clean automobile exhaust and breathing devices, protecting miners and firefighters.
For this purpose, nanoclusters - gold atoms bound together in crystals smaller than a strand of DNA - are the size most treasured.
Star attacks planet with radiation
By IANS,
Washington : A nearby star is bombarding its companion planet with a barrage of X-rays, hundred thousand times more intense than the earth receives from the Sun, a NASA discovery says.
Yahoo! to develop nest-generation products from India lab
By IANS
Bangalore : Leading search engine and news and entertainment portal Yahoo! has set up a laboratory here to develop next-generation products for its global customers and users, a company official said Tuesday.
"As an extension of our research and development (R&D) operations here, Yahoo! India Lab will initially have 100-member team of scientists and engineers. They will work on multiple projects to make the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers worldwide," Yahoo! India Research head Prabhakar Raghavan told reporters here.
Scientists close to fabricating a practical atom laser
By IANS,
Sydney : Scientists are on the verge of fabricating the first practical atom laser that holds the promise of ever more precise measurement in industry, medical science, navigation and mining.
The breakthrough has been made possible by overcoming a host of theoretical and technical hurdles, allowing for the laser's continuous operation unlike previous versions that drained the source material and switched off.
TV signals caused Russian rocket to miss ISS: NASA
By DPA,
Moscow/Washington : Television signals caused a Russian cargo rocket to miss its rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials said Saturday.
The engineers indicated they would avoid activating the system during Sunday's second attempt to dock, NASA officials said.
The Progress 38 cargo rocket missed its rendezvous with the ISS by three km late Friday. A new effort to dock is to be made at 1600 GMT Sunday and be broadcast life on NASA television.
NASA scientists to create giant telescopes on moon
By IANS,
Washington : NASA scientists will fabricate the biggest ever telescopes on the lunar surface with a mixture of carbon and plenty of moon dust.
"We could make huge telescopes on the moon relatively easily, and avoid the large expense of transporting a large mirror from Earth," said Peter Chen of NASA.
"Since most of the materials are already there in the form of dust, you don't have to bring very much stuff with you, and that saves a ton of money."
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.
Found: New fish that crawls
By IANS
Washington : A fish that crawls into crevices rather than swim may be able to see like humans, perhaps representing an entirely unknown family of fishes, according to a new study.
The fish, sighted in Indonesian waters off Ambon Island, has tan- and peach-coloured zebra-striping, and rippling folds of skin that obscure its fins, making it look like a glass sculpture.
We need clear space vision: Senators to Obama
By DPA,
Washington : A group of senators has called for a clear vision for the future of the US space programme, characterising President Barack Obama's plans for space agency NASA as "without a mission".
Earlier this month, Obama's 2011 budget proposal included the scrapping of existing plans for next-generation spacecraft to return to the moon. The move unleashed a stream of criticism from politicians who supported the plans, but NASA officials defend the move as allowing NASA to focus on longer term goals.
Mini-black hole is smallest ever but still strong
By ANTARA News
Washington : NASA scientists have identified the smallest black hole ever found -- less than four times the mass of our sun and about the size of a large city.
But the mini-black hole, dubbed J1650, could still stretch a person into a "strand of spaghetti" with its pull, the researchers told a meeting in Los Angeles.
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."
Russia launches navigation satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Plesetsk (Russia) : Russia Monday launched a navigation satellite from its Plesetsk Space Centre, Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.
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.
SanDisk unveils USB flash drive with web backup
By Xinhua
Beijing : SanDisk Corp Wednesday introduced a USB flash drive with automatic online backup, the first of its kind linking up with the Internet to offer new features.
The Cruzer Titanium Plus is SanDisk's first USB drive with backup capabilities. The 4Gbyte device will be featured at the International Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas, Nev.
IITs must act as catalyst to boost technical education: Sibal
By IANS,
New Delhi: Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Saturday said the country's premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) must focus on quality research and act as a catalyst to boost technical education in India.
At IIT-Delhi's convocation ceremony, the minister said: "The great challenge before the IITs is to act as a catalyst in the growth of quality technical education in the country.
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.
Community radio – a democratic tool idling away
By IANS,
New Delhi : In almost every city - big or small, the soft informative croon of radio has been replaced by the non-stop banter of television. A trend that experts here condemned, calling for a revised execution of the community radio policy.
Google hangs up on Nexus One store
By DPA,
San Francisco : Google is shutting down the online store it launched with much fanfare in January to sell the Nexus One smartphone, the technology giant said Friday.
Google had hoped the direct sales initiative for what was widely called the "Google-phone" would launch a new business model for the US cellphone industry, by persuading buyers to purchase phones independently from the major carriers.
Currently the vast majority of cellphone purchases are subsidised by the carriers in return for customers locking in to a two year contract.
Soap that cleans clothes with less water
By IANS
Melbourne : Wasting water to rinse that extra lather from your clothes may be a thing of the past now. Scientists in Australia have developed a detergent that cleans clothes with less water.
Normal detergents contain surfactant molecules, which are oil-friendly at one end to capture dirt and water-friendly at the other to pull it away. They also tend to form bubbles, which require extra water to rinse.
Mysterious object seen refuelling from sun
By IANS,
London : An orbiting NASA space telescope has captured the footage of a planet-sized object flying close to the sun, and extending a "refuelling tube" into the sun's surface.
Singhvi underlines India’s growth at Boston technology summit
By IANS,
Washington : Political and business leaders from three leading world markets - China, India and Russia - got an insight into India's growth plans from Abhishek Singhvi, spokesperson of the Congress Party leading the country's ruling coalition.
Participating in a conference on "China, India and Russia - Our Partners in the New Global Economy" in Boston, Massachusetts Thursday, he also dilated on India's infrastructure and its abundant labour supply.
India and Russia step up space cooperation
By Neelam Mathews, IANS
Hyderabad : With joint plans for new satellites, manned space flights and missions to the moon, India and Russia are entering a new phase of bilateral cooperation in space.
The chiefs of the space agencies in the two countries met during a global conference here last week to decide on a road map for future missions.
"We discussed programmes with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)," Anatoly Perminov, Head of Russian space agency, Roscosmos, told IANS on the margins of the International Astronautical Congress here.
Google encrypts all emails for a spy-free Gmail
Washington: In a bid to stop snooping on its users, Google has overhauled its Gmail service in a big way - encrypting every single...
Kerala-based SunTec ties up with eServGlobal
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Communication and payment service major eServGlobal has signed a partnership agreement with the city-based billing solutions provider SunTec, the latter announced here Tuesday.
SunTec said in a statement that the global WiMax market is rapidly evolving and more than 200 networks were now being deployed and over 100 other trials were in progress.
eServGlobal will use SunTec's TBMS-T product suite, which is designed to help service providers of the communications, media and entertainment industry launch new services quickly and achieve customer growth.
AMU may get Indo-US energy centre
By IANS,
Aligarh: The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) may soon host the Indo-US energy centre.
Russia puts new telecom satellite into orbit
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia successfully put a new Express-AM33 telecommunications satellite into orbit Monday, the Federal Space Agency said.
The satellite, designed by the Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Science and Production Association to provide TV and satellite communications all over Russia, was launched on board a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Life ruled out on Mars after 600 mn year drought
By IANS,
London : Arid conditions on Mars for more than 600 million years may have been too hostile for any life to survive on its surface
Atlantis shuttle returns safely to Florida
By DPA
Washinton : Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down safely at Florida's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday morning after a near 13-day mission to the International Space Station.
"We appreciate all the great help and support," Commander Steve Frick told NASA's mission control in Houston after the shuttle came to a stop at 9:08 a.m. (1408 GMT).
Frick and his six crewmembers returned to Earth after bringing up and installing the Columbus laboratory on the ISS - Europe's most significant contribution to the space station so far.
Scientists spot largest molecules in space
By IANS,
London : Scientists in Canada have spotted the largest molecules existing in space called buckyballs.
The roughly spherical molecules consist of a "third type of carbon", after graphite and diamond, which occur widely on earth.
Buckyballs, on the other hand, have only been created in labs and have never before been proven to exist elsewhere, reports The Telegraph.
The BBC reported that a research group used an infrared telescope owned by Nasa to spot the buckyballs in "a cloud of cosmic dust surrounding a distant star".
Total lunar eclipse to occur Wednesday night
By Xinhua
Washington : Residents of the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the best view of a total lunar eclipse in the late night hours of Feb. 20, U.S. space agency NASA forecast Tuesday.
In the United States, the entire eclipse will be visible for the majority of the country. However, residents on the West Coast will miss out on watching the early stages of the eclipse, as it begins before moonrise.
This lunar eclipse may be worth staying up for, because it will be the last one until December 2010, said NASA.
There are ways to recover damaged data
By Jay Dougherty, DPA,
Washington : Bad things can happen to good data. Hard drives can crash. Memory cards can be formatted accidentally. CDs or DVDs on which important files are stored can become scratched and unreadable. But there are steps you can take to try to retrieve damaged data.
The course you take will depend upon the type of media on which the data is stored as well as how severe the damage is.
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.
India launches its mission moon
By Venkatachari Jagannathan and Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : A rocket carrying India's first lunar spacecraft was launched from the country's spaceport here early Wednesday, catapulting the country into the select club that have sent missions to the moon, after the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan.
Carrying aloft the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan, the rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11) lifted off from the second launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here and broke through the scudding cloud cover at 6.22 a.m.
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.
Europe’s biggest wind energy park inaugurated in Portugal
By DPA,
Lisbon : Portugal's Economy Minister Manuel Pinho Wednesday inaugurated what was described as Europe's biggest wind energy park in the northern region of Viana do Castelo.
The Alto Minho I park began generating energy already a year ago, gradually increasing its production to the full potential Wednesday.
The 120 turbines divided between five sub-stations will produce 530 gigawatts annually or one percent of Portugal's energy.
The park, which cost 400 million euros ($520 million), was expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 370,000 tonnes annually.
2 plus 2 may not always equal 4
When it comes to percentages, consumer calculating errors can be costly
By TwoCircles.net newsdesk
People deal with percentages every day: the performance of a stock portfolio, a sale at the department store, or the performance of a new hybrid car, are all often expressed as percent changes. As an everyday occurrence, calculating percentages should be second nature to the average person. "Not so," says Akshay Rao, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.
No funds for Malaysia’s space programme
By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : Six months after sending its first man into space, Malaysia says it has no funds for the second phase of its ambitious space programme.
It is "zero cash" for the moment till the entire programme is re-evaluated in terms of knowledge and cost-benefit, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Maximus Ongkili told the media Monday.
In the first phase of the programme, Sheikh Muszaphar Sheikh Shukor and two other astronauts blasted into space in a Russian-built Soyuz 11 rocket from Baikonour in Kazakhstan Oct 10, 2007.
Microsoft to launch Office 2010 for Indian users in June
By IANS,
New Delhi : Global software giant Microsoft Corp will launch the latest version of its popular application suite MS Office 2010 for Indian users in June, a top official said here Thursday.
"The Office 2010 will be available for both businesses and consumers in June," Microsoft Corp's India chairman Ravi Venkatesan told reporters here on the sidelines of an seminar on social inclusion here.
Just ten minutes of talking may improve memory
By IANS
New York : Talking to each other for just 10 minutes may boost intellectual performance and improve memory, a new study had found.
The study found that short-term social interaction boosted intellectual performance of people as much as engaging in so-called intellectual activities for the same length of time, reported science portal ScienceDaily.
"Socialising is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan said.
Satellite shows magnitude of quake damage in China
By IANS,
Sydney : Australian researchers are providing the Chinese government with detailed assessment of the area devastated by the May 12 quake that claimed more than 60,000 lives.
The high-resolution map generated from analysis of satellite images shows the ground lifting by up to five metres in areas affected by the quake.
Radar satellite survey of the devastated area by researchers at the University of New South Wales is giving China information about the level of damage from the magnitude 8.0 temblor.
Whale songs heard for first time around New York
By IANS,
New York : Scientists have, for the first time, recorded the beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales in the waters around this US city.
"This is an exciting time for New Yorkers. Just think, just miles from the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Carnegie Hall and Times Square, the great whales are singing," said Chris Clark, director of the Bioacoustics research programme at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
India plans to launch reusable rocket by 2010
By NNN-PTI
Banglore : India plans to launch a reusable rocket for the first time by 2010, says its space agency chief.
"Our target (for the first launch) is before 2010," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair, told PTI.
The space scientists have already designed a "demonstrator" to measure parameters of the vehicle and further work is in progress, Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission, said.
Phoenix Mars lander examines new soil sample
By DPA,
Washington : The Phoenix Mars lander is examining a sample of soil from an "intermediate depth" of the Martian earth to determine if it is different from dirt at the planet's surface and from a lower icy layer, NASA said Friday.
The lander's robotic arm dug up the sample, called Burning Coals, from a trench dubbed Burn Alive 3 and delivered it to one of the craft's many small ovens early Thursday.
Phoenix had earlier confirmed the existence of ice about four centimetres below the surface and is now looking at a layer about one centimetre above the ice.
Battle with Microsoft heats up as Google creates own web browser
By DPA,
New York : Google Inc, creator of the world's most popular internet search engine, has developed its own web browser in a challenge to Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer.
A test version of new software, named Google Chrome, is to be available for download Tuesday in more than 100 countries, Google announced Monday on its corporate blog.
The company said its aim was to deliver a faster, more user-friendly and safer browser.
Chuck a ball to put out fire
By IANS
Kolkata : Now to douse a fire, you can do better than using a fire extinguisher or splashing buckets of water. Just free your arms and throw a ball into the leaping flames. And voila! The blaze would be gone.
Siam Safety Premier Co Ltd, a Thailand-based company, has come out with an innovative and environment-friendly technology to douse fire. The fire extinguisher is marketed in India by Shree Shyam Bearings Pvt Ltd (SSBPL).
Breakthrough to make cheap hydrogen fuel possible
By IANS,
Washington : A breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen - heralded as a clean, green fuel of the future - cheaper and easier to produce commercially.
Researchers used plant based chemicals to reproduce a key process in photosynthesis, which will take the help of sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
India marks ‘Ring of Fire’ spectacle with faith and science
By IANS,
New Delhi : Millions of Hindus bathed in holy rivers and tanks across India after a four-hour celestial spectacle that turned the sun into a 'Ring of Fire', bringing out science enthusiasts to view and record the rare event.
Hundreds of thousands of temples all over the country closed their doors and covered their deities with muslin shrouds during the period when traffic on roads in many cities thinned as people kept indoors.
Medieval stained glass windows acted like nano air purifiers
By IANS,
Sydney : Stained glass windows in churches dotting Europe and painted with gold purified the air when lit up by sunlight, according to Queensland University of Technology experts.
"For centuries, people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colours, but little did they realise that these works... are also... photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst," said Zhu Huai Yong, of Queensland's School of Physical and Chemical Sciences.
German scientists use body heat to generate electricity
By DPA
Erlangen (Germany) : German scientists have developed a way of harnessing heat from the body to generate electricity.
The method uses the difference between the body's surface temperature and that of the surrounding environment, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits said.
Energy produced this way can be used to power medical equipment, such as sensors attached to the body of a patient in an intensive care ward, the institute said.
UAE to launch joint remote-sensing satellite with GCC countries
By Xinhua,
Abu Dhabi : A senior official of the Defense Ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that the ministry plans to launch a joint remote-sensing satellite with other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), local newspaper Gulf News reported on Tuesday.
The plan was revealed by Brigadier Khalifa Mohammad Al Rumaithi, Chief of Military Works of the UAE Armed Forces, at the Defense Geospatial Intelligence Middle East opened on Monday in Dubai.
India launches Oceansat-2, six European satellites
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India Wednesday successfully launched its 16th remote-sensing satellite, Oceansat-2, to study oceans and climate, and six small Europeans satellites on board a rocket that blasted off from here.
Under a clear blue sky, the 44.4-metre tall, 230-tonne Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) freed itself from the launch pad at the spaceport, 70 km from Chennai, at 11.51 a.m. and soared upwards with a deep throated growl lugging the 960-kg Oceansat-2 and the six nano satellites all together weighing 20 kg.
Indian group crowned world energy champion
By IANS,
London : An Indian technology and alternative energy group has been crowned 'Energy Champion' of the world by a prestigious British environmental organisation.
Bangalore-based Technology Informatics Design Endeavour, or Tide, was awarded the title along with a prize of 40,000 pounds by Nobel laureate and environmentalist Wangari Mathai at a ceremony in London.
Agenda for India: Information Technology
TwoCircles.net presents “Agenda for India”. Series editor is Charu Bahri.
Challenges & Solutions
Information technology professionals Amin Ismaili and his wife Shahin Ismaili, both of whom work as Assistant Systems Engineers with TATA Consultancy Services Ltd., identify India’s heavy dependence on markets in the USA as the greatest challenge presently facing the Information Technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITES, more commonly spoken of as outsourcing) industries.
Iran pledges support for Iraq in fight against terrorism
Tehran: Tehran will continue supporting Baghdad in its fight against terrorism as Iraq's security was intertwined with that of Iran, President Hassan Rouhani has...
Chandrayaan’s journey to lunar orbit
By IANS,
Bangalore, Nov 8 (IANS) Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned mission to moon, has travelled more than 380,000 km in 12 days after its launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh Oct 22 to enter the lunar orbit Saturday.
Soon after the launch at 6.22 a.m. on Oct 22, the spacecraft carrying 11 scientific payloads was put in an orbit of 22,860 km apogee (farthest point to the earth) and 225 km perigee (nearest point to the earth).
This is how Chandrayaan reached the lunar orbit:
ADHD afflicted may find it difficult to kick the habit
By IANS,
New York : Smoking is more prevalent among people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - and they are less likely to quit, according to a new study.
The study found that ADHD smokers with higher levels of hyperactivity and impulsivity, with or without inattention, showed lower quit rates after eight weeks than those without ADHD.
The findings of the study, available online in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, could help smokers and physicians to better tailor cessation treatment for individuals with ADHD.
Scientists discover secret of rainforests survival
By IANS,
Washington : A rare trace element that helps rainforests trap nitrogen to support their prodigious growth could be the secret of their survival.
Most of the nitrogen that supports the rapid, lush growth of rainforests vital to our eco-system comes from tiny bacteria that can turn nitrogen in the air into soil fertiliser.
Until now, scientists had thought that phosphorus was the key element supporting the vast expansion of rainforests, according to Lars Hedin, professor of ecology at Princeton University who led the research.
Endeavour heads for space station on home makeover mission
By Xinhua,
Washington : US space shuttle Endeavour carrying seven astronauts aboard headed Saturday for the international space station on a home makeover mission.
The shuttle with a beautiful orange full moon as backdrop blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Friday night. According to NASA, the launch went smoothly without any technical issues popping up.
After successfully jettisoning its rocket boosters and external tank, Endeavour now is safely in orbit and all systems are running well, US space agency NASA's real-time launch blog reported.