Global space congress begins amid tight security
By IANS
Hyderabad : The 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) began Monday amid tight security at the international convention centre in this hi-tech city, with about 2,000 delegates, including heads of global space agencies.
The five-day event, being held for the first time here, was inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the prime minister's office (PMO), in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair and a host of dignitaries from 45 countries.
ISRO slow on internet?
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) symbolises nothing less than rockets, satellites and moon missions but when it comes to a professional need as simple as uploading contents on the website, the presitigious organisation seems to have bungled.
The 97th edition of the Indian Science Congress, organized by the ISRO and the Kerala University, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday.
A computer mouse that can also scan
Thiruvananthapuram : It's a computer mouse that can also do the job of a scanner.
MobScan has built-in technologies that helps to scan as well...
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...
Did first humans emerge from Middle East, not Africa?
By IANS,
London : Scientists could be compelled to rewrite the history of the evolution of modern man after the discovery of 400,000-year-old human remains.
Bolstering kangaroo population can cut greenhouse gases
By IANS,
Sydney : Bolstering kangaroo numbers to 175 million by 2020 would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 16 megatonnes, or three percent of Australia's total emissions.
Kangaroos emit only a third of the methane emitted by ruminants like cattle, sheep and goats which account for 60 percent of global methane emissions. Like carbon dioxide, methane is a greenhouse gas that is a real contributor to global warming and climate change.
Chandrayaan images debunk Apollo 15 conspiracy theory: Scientist
By IANS,
Panaji : In a considerable downer for space conspiracy theorists, Chandrayaan-1's terrain-mapper camera has recorded images of the landing site of US spaceship Apollo 15 and tracks of its lunar rovers that were used by astronauts to travel on moon's surface nearly four decades ago, a scientist said Wednesday.
Prakash Chauhan of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the images captured by the hyper-spectral camera on board Chandrayaan-1 debunked conspiracy theories that have claimed that the Apollo 15, the fourth US mission to land on the moon was a hoax.
Indian scientists knew about lunar water presence in June
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-I, had made a "path-breaking and real discovery" by establishing the presence of water on the moon in June itself, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said Friday.
India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden lunar craft had discovered water on the moon in June, a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA's probe that was also on board Chandrayaan-1, India's top space scientist G. Madhavan Nair said here.
1969 moon landing remastered video shown for first time
By IANS,
London : After six years of searching and digital restoration, scientists have finally completed remastering footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Endeavour returns to Earth after 17-day mission
By DPA,
Washington: The space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida Friday carrying a seven-member crew of US, Canadian and Japanese astronauts.
The landing at 1448 GMT marked the end of the 17-day mission that saw the completion of the Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Endeavour brought an external platform to the station that was installed on the Japanese Kibo laboratory during the first of the mission's five spacewalks. The porch will expose experiments to the extremities of space.
Meteor to strike Earth likely disintegrates in sky
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S. scientists said a meteor expected to strike the Earth likely disintegrated in the sky, media reported Friday.
Some witnesses account a meteor that streaked across the Pacific Northwest skies hit the ground southwest of Ritzville in central Washington, sending local officials on a fruitless hunt for the crater.
How does brain zero in on single bit of information?
By IANS,
Washington : How does the brain zero in on a single bit of information, out of the tens of thousands that it is bombarded with daily? Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have discovered a mechanism that the brain uses to filter out distracting thoughts to focus on a single bit of information.
Think of your brain like a radio: You're turning the knob on to find your favourite station, but the knob jams, and you're stuck listening to something that's in between stations.
Google, Bing sidelining Yahoo in search market
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
New York : Once the world's online search leader, Yahoo's share has sharply declined, putting it in danger of losing its relevance in a market increasingly dominated by Google with a staggering 65.6 percent share
CSIR need to work for science-society synergy: Swaminathan
By IANS
New Delhi : The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) must help bring about synergy between science and society so as to bridge the urban-rural divide, eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan said here Wednesday.
Speaking at the 65th Foundation Day of CSIR, the greatest and largest science set-up in India, Swaminathan said: "It would be useful for CSIR to set up a joint scientific panel with the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research in order to bring about the desired synergy between science and society."
One PSLV rocket Monday will carry 10 satellites
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : One of the three "core alone" Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) to blast off Monday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh will carry the heaviest luggage - 824 kg - comprising the remote sensing Cartosat-2A satellite, the Indian Mini Satellite and eight nano
satellites.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), core alone configuration means the main/core PSLV rocket minus the hugging six strap-on booster motors that powers the first stage.
Polaris launches software testing lab in Sydney
By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Polaris Software, a leading Indian software company, has launched its new software testing laboratory here that will inject Australian $5 million (US$4.5 million) into the state of New South Wales (NSW).
NSW Minister for State Development Ian Macdonald said Monday: "This is about attracting investment from India, instead of the other way around, where our jobs are outsourced to companies based there.
NASA spots pyramid-like structure on Mars
New York: Fuelling speculation that advanced civilisation once thrived on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has found a pyramid-like structure on the Red Planet, media...
ISRO land deal rocks Kerala assembly
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : The opposition Congress Tuesday walked out of the Kerala assembly over the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) purchasing 82 acres of forest land to set up a space education institute.
The trouble began when senior Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan sought leave for an adjournment motion and sought a discussion into the deal - ISRO purchased the land in Ponmudi, 75 km from here, from high profile businessman Savy Mano Mathew.
The Congress alleges that the land belongs to the forest department of the government.
Israel successfully launches communications satellite
By SPA,
Tel Aviv : Israel says it has launched a new communications satellite, the Associated Press reported.
According to the satellite's operator, Spacecom, the AMOS-3 lifted off Monday from Russia's main space facility, the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Later in the day, it is to enter orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers (22,500 miles).
The $170 million (¤109 million) satellite is designed to offer increased capacity, expanded coverage and improved links between the Mideast and Europe and the eastern U.S.
IIT alumnus takes software to battlefront and beyond
By Frederick Noronha, Indo-Asian News Service
Bangalore, May 13 (IANS) An Indian expatriate trained at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur is playing a crucial role in taking software to the battlefront.
San Jose-based LynuxWorks is chaired by Inder Singh, the IIT alumnus, and produces embedded operating systems and tools for industrial, networking and military and aerospace uses.
PM launches Rs.21,500 crore Bathinda refinery
By IANS,
Bathinda (Punjab): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday inaugurated the Rs.21,500 crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in Punjab's Bathinda district.
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.
Exhibition on train to inspire science among youth
By IANS
Chennai : A unique exhibition on board a train will travel to 57 destinations across India to encourage youths into the world of science.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will officially flag off the Science Express here Oct 30.
The journey covering 57 destinations in 200 days, "will enthral everyone into the world of science," said T. Ramasai, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The exhibition is a joint initiative of DST and a chemical firm BASF.
Day and night to be equally long Saturday
By IANS,
New Delhi : Sky gazers in the capital are looking forward to watch the spring equinox Saturday - when the sun shines directly overhead as viewed from the earth, making the night and day equally long.
According to scientists, equinox marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and the word 'equinox' is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). Around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long.
Pyrobolt failure caused Soyuz bumpy re-entry – Roscosmos
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A failure of a pyrobolt separating spacecraft's modules caused the ballistic landing of Russia's Soyuz TMA-11 capsule in April this year, the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Saturday.
On April 19, the Soyuz-TMA-11 capsule, carrying U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko, and Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon from the International Space Station, made a bumpy re-entry, landing 420 km (260 miles) off-target in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan.
Microsoft launches Office 2010 for global customers
By IANS,
San Francisco : Software giant Microsoft Corp. has rolled out its latest version of application software, Office 2010, for customers across the world.
The company also announced Wednesday the release of Microsoft SharePoint 2010, a web-based collaboration software, as well as the new version of diagramming programme and project management software, Xinhua reported.
"Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 define the future of productivity," Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, said.
China’s first lunar probe Chang’e-1 blasts off
By Xinhua
Xichang (China) : China Wednesday launched a lunar probe, the first of its three-stage moon mission, from a launch centre in southwestern Sichuan province.
The circumlunar satellite Chang'e-1 blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. from the No. 3 launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
Chinese space experts, technicians and other work staff, joined by experts from Japan, Germany and other countries as well as millions others from across the country, watched the launch.
Astronauts at space station kick off first of five spacewalks
By Xinhua
Washington : Two astronauts at the International Space Station kicked off the first of a series of spacewalks to assemble new components for the orbital outpost, NASA TV reported Thursday.
The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour's crew member Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman stepped out of the station at 9:18 p.m. EDT on Thursday (0118 GMT on Friday). The excursion will last for about six hours and a half.
Launch of Mars lander delayed
By DPA
Washington : The planned launch of the Phoenix Mars lander has been pushed back, according to NASA.
Phoenix is now scheduled to be fired into space from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket Saturday at either 5.26.34 a.m. or 6.02.59 a.m.
Poor weather at the space centre kept NASA from fuelling the rocket Tuesday afternoon and led to the decision to delay the launch.
Washington : The planned launch of the Phoenix Mars lander has been pushed back, according to NASA.
Phoenix is now scheduled to be fired into space from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket Saturday at either 5.26.34 a.m. or 6.02.59 a.m.
Poor weather at the space centre kept NASA from fuelling the rocket Tuesday afternoon and led to the decision to delay the launch.
India, US to cooperate in space flights, outer space use
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : India and the US plan to cooperate in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, including in the area of human space flights, under a new agreement between their space agencies.
A framework agreement establishing the terms for future cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was signed Friday at the Kennedy Space Centre by ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and NASA administrator Michael Griffin.
China’s green pig has two green piglets
By Xinhua
Harbin (China) : A fluorescent green pig in northeast China has given birth to two piglets which share their mother's transgenic characteristic after she mated with an ordinary pig, Chinese scientists said.
"The mouths, trotters and tongues of the two piglets glow green under ultraviolet light, which indicates the technology to breed transgenic pigs via cell nuclear transfer is mature," said Liu Zhonghua, of Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province Tuesday.
Dancing electrons could open way to new devices
By IANS,
Washington : Researchers have discovered a new way that electrons behave in materials, which could spur the development of futuristic electronic devices.
A team led by N. Phuan Ong, professor of physics at Princeton University, has shown that electrons in an element like bismuth display a highly unusual pattern - a dance of sorts - when subjected to a powerful magnetic field at ultra-low temperatures.
Galileo’s fingers, tooth to be on display
By IANS/AKI,
Rome : Two of Galileo Galilei's fingers and a tooth will be among the objects on display at the opening of a museum in Florence named after the 17th century Italian mathematician and astronomer.
Closed for two years, the Museum of the History of Science will reopen Friday as the Galileo Museum.
People will be able to see the thumb and middle finger removed from Galileo's right hand in 1737, almost a century after his death as the corpse was being transferred to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where it remains today.
Interactive video games better for kids than computer games: study
By IANS,
Sydney : Worried that your child may be spending too much time playing the Nintendo Wii? Fear not, as the latest research reveals that interactive sports video games are better for children than conventional computer games, but it does not solve the widespread prevalence of childhood obesity.
The study found that playing virtual sports such as boxing and tennis on the Nintendo Wii burned more than 50 percent energy than playing sedentary computer games such as the Xbox.
Kerala to have DNA bar coding centre
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : A state-of-the-art DNA bar coding centre for all forms of life will start functioning here from June 11, an official said Friday.
"The Western Ghats area is an area of rich biodiversity and the new centre will create a data base of organisms so as to help in future studies. To begin with, the various varieties of ginger and pepper would be bar coded," Prakash Kumar a scientist attached to the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (STEC) told reporters here Friday.
Taking hi-tech solutions to poor villages
By Frederick Noronha, IANS
Bangalore : Ekgaon, a technology and management services firm for independent rural communities, is run by young Indian techies spanning the globe, some of whom are expatriates keen to help their home country.
New approach helps solar cells harvest light more efficiently
By IANS,
Washington : Lacing solar cells with nano-sized metallic particles will vastly improve their ability to harvest light more efficiently and cheaply.
Like plants, solar cells turn light into energy. Plants do this inside vegetable matter, while solar cells do it in a semiconductor crystal doped with extra atoms.
Current solar cells cannot convert all the incoming light into usable energy because some of the light can escape back out of the cell into the air.
Plants can sense, formulate reaction to temperature change
By IANS,
London : Plants are highly sensitive to changing temperatures and can coordinate an appropriate response for variations as little as one degree Celsius, according to a new finding that can help explain how plants will respond in the face of climate change.
The report shows how plants not only 'feel' the temperature rise, but also coordinate an appropriate response by activating hundreds of genes and deactivating others.
The findings will offer scientists new leads in the quest to create crop plants better able to withstand high temperature stress, the researchers say.
New global map most comprehensive ever
By IANS
New York : A new global map that details the planet's land cover with a resolution 10 times sharper than any of its predecessors is also the most comprehensive ever.
The map is based on 20 terabytes of imagery - the equivalent of data in 20 million books - acquired from May 2005 to April 2006 by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument.
There are 22 different land cover types shown in the map, including croplands, wetlands, forests, artificial surfaces, water bodies and permanent snow and ice.
Underground ocean may exist on Saturn moon: NASA
By DPA
Washington : New evidence has surfaced of an underground ocean on Saturn's moon Titan, based on data sent back to Earth by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the US space agency said.
"Titan has one of the most varied, active and Earth-like surfaces in the solar system," Ralph Lorenz, Cassini radar scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement Thursday.
Microsoft releases first Vista service pack
By DPA
San Francisco : Microsoft released its first major update to its Windows Vista operating system Wednesday, prompting a flood of complaints from users who said the service pack fouled up their computers.
Microsoft made the free update available via its Windows Update website and said the software improved the stability, security and performance of the Vista. However it also warned that the service pack could clash with some security software and other programs customers may have installed on their machine.
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.
Virtual orchestra software coming soon
By DPA
Munich : Coming soon to a computer near you is a software that allows you to conduct a virtual orchestra by waving a stick, just like a professional conductor.
The gestures can be correctly interpreted as telling the playback device to go faster or slower, forte or piano. A team of developers in Munich, Germany devised the system, which has yet to be commercialised.
The software detects the gestures in three dimensions and transmits them from the sensor, using Bluetooth, to the computer that is 'playing' the virtual orchestral instruments.
Andhra aims third place in IT exports
By IANS,
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh is targeting the third place in Information Technology exports in the country, a state government official said Wednesday.
K. Ratna Prabha, principal secretary, IT, said the state, though started late in IT exports, has reached the fourth position.
"Next year the state will reach third position," she told a programme organised to announce that Hyderabad will host eINDIA 2010, India's largest event on Information and Communication Technology.
Karnataka tops in the IT exports in the country followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Comet McNaught closest to Earth next week
By IANS,
New Delhi : If you look towards the northeastern sky before sunrise June 15, the recently discovered comet McNaught will be closest to Earth and visible to the naked eye.
The comet will appear as a dim and diffuse circular patch of light gliding through the constellation of Perseus in the northern sky.
It has been brightening rapidly as it approaches Earth for a 100-million-mile close encounter.
Wipro develops software for police to combat crime, terror
By IANS,
Bangalore : Wipro Infotech has developed an integrated software for the police to combat crime and terror, the IT bellwether announced here Friday.
“The software application, which is in a pilot stage, will help the police and other law enforcement agencies to combat the fast emerging hi-tech world of crime and terror,” the company said in a statement.
Google makes large grants to improve public services
By IANS
New Delhi : Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the firm best known for its Internet search engine, will spend over $25 million in grants and investments over the next five to 10 years, the company announced here Friday.
In India, Google.org will provide grants and work closely with NGOs to improve essential public services for the poor. It will give $2 million to the NGO Pratham to conduct an all-India annual status of education report (ASER) as well as for large-scale assessments in the education sector.
Did you know you can access your computer from anywhere?
By Nabeel A. Khan, IANS,
New Delhi : Did you know that through the Internet you can access your computer from almost anywhere?
Relatively few of us have taken advantage of facilities like Google Document, Zoho Offline Office or Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia's Live Document.
These provide softwares like Word, Excel or Power Point. You can use them without having MS office installed in your PC.
Rare honour for Indian American scientist
By IANS,
New York : In a rare honour, Indian-American physicist Mani Bhaumik has been chosen as the sole patron for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are observing 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's astronomical telescope.
Announcing his appointment Wednesday, the IAU said ``it is proud to have Dr. Mani Bhaumik as dedicated supporter of IYA2009's global activities.''
Google launches Web browser to compete with Microsoft
By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : Google launched on Tuesday a beta version of its browser for Windows, called Google Chrome, in more than 100 countries.
With the Web browser, Google wants to be in a better position to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox.
This was seen as yet another salvo in Google's intensifying battle with Microsoft to dominate not only what people do on the Web but also how they get there.
With the Web browser, Google wants to be in a better position to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox.
This was seen as yet another salvo in Google's intensifying battle with Microsoft to dominate not only what people do on the Web but also how they get there.
India’s lunar mission set for Oct 22 take-off
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is likely to lift off in the early hours of Oct 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 90km from Chennai, a top space agency official said Monday.
"The tentative launch date is Oct 22 though the window will be kept open till Oct 26. Depending on the weather, we plan to launch the lunar spacecraft (Chandrayaan) around 6.30 a.m. IST," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS here.
US pulls Patriot missile systems from Turkey
Ankara : The US has decided to withdraw its border protection mission in Turkey which was deployed against possible threats from Syria, a...
Spacewalking astronauts repair Hubble gyroscopes
By DPA,
Washington : US astronauts Friday completed a delicate spacewalk to replace three pairs of gyroscopes aboard the Hubble Space Telescope.
In the second of five planned spacewalks during the mission, astronauts Mike Massimino and Michael Good removed and replaced the gyroscopes that keep the telescope aligned and pointed toward celestial bodies being examined by astronomers.
US calls for restraint on n-arms, NSA to visit Pakistan
Washington : As tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice is expected to arrive in Pakistan...
ISRO preparing for GSAT 4 launch in two months
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : While the preparations for launch of India's ocean monitoring satellite Oceansat 2 and six other nano satellites Sep 23 is on, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready for the bigger launch slated in the next two months -- that of the communications satellite GSAT 4.
Solar panels keep buildings cool, keep AC costs down
By IANS,
Washington : Solar panels on your rooftop aren't just providing clean, inexpensive power, they are doing more - cooling your house and keeping expenses down on air conditioning.
Infosys to develop IT-enabled application for agriculture
By IANS
Mumbai : Software major Infosys Technologies Ltd has partnered with ACDI/VOCA, a non-profit international development organisation, to develop an information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled application to improve the agro supply chain in India.
ACDI/VOCA promotes broad-based economic growth, and develops applications, which fall under growth oriented micro enterprise development (GMED) programme, which is a $6.3 million a USAID-funded initiative.
ISS austronauts contacted from ancient Incan city
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Buenos Aires : The ancient Incan civilisation city of Machu Picchu in Peru made history Thursday when a radio contact was established from there with the Intetrnational Space Station (ISS).
The Russian and Peruvian delegations talked with the ISS crew for 10 minutes Thursday.
The conversation was made in three languages -- Russian, Spanish and the Peru Indian language of Quechua. ISS Commander Alexander Skvortsov said it was the first time Quechua had ever been heard on the ISS.
Quechua is spoken by some 10 million native South American Indians.
Lumbering pachyderms almost as mobile as horses: Study
By IANS,
London : In popular perception, playful pachyderms are perceived as stiff gaited, but latest research has established that they are almost as mobile as trotting horses.
For example, John Hutchinson of The Royal Veterinary College visited several zoos in Britain and had even been to Thailand to study how Asian elephants moved their legs as they walk and run.
Keepers of Colchester and Whipsnade Zoos in Britain were keen to know more about the animals' natural limb movements in order to develop training programmes and prevent the onset of arthritis.
Glint of sunlight shows liquid on Saturn’s largest moon
By IANS,
Washington : A glint of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan has confirmed the presence of liquid on its surface.
The image was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Titan has captivated scientists because of its many similarities to the Earth. Scientists have theorised that Titan's cold surface hosts seas or lakes of liquid hydrocarbons, making it the only other planetary body besides the Earth believed to harbour liquid.
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.
He’s built an aircraft, now wants full-time job!
By Sanu George
Thiruvananthapuram : Saji Thomas is 45 years old from Kerala and, while God did not give him the faculties of...
Indian students on solar eclipse ‘odyssey’ to China
By IANS,
New Delhi : A group of 10 students from various schools of the country are among the lucky few chosen to watch the 21st century's longest solar eclipse from Anqing in China, one of the best places in the world to view the spectacle July 22, apart from a village in Bihar.
The students will leave for China Saturday on an eight-day scientific expedition called 'heliodyssey' to watch the eclipse that will last for six minutes and 44 seconds, making it the longest eclipse till 2132.
Researchers developing more powerful solar cells
By IANS,
Washington : University of Rochester researchers are designing more efficient solar cells by using special coatings that split light into colours like blue and red, to boost their power by 50 percent.
Researchers then would then use different types of solar cell materials that each optimally absorbs energy from a light of different colour, said Duncan Moore, a professor at Rochester research, who is leading the team that is trying to boost this further by finding ways to intensify the light.
Virgin’s Branson unveils model of tourist spaceship
By IANS
New York : The feisty founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson unveiled here Wednesday a model of the spacecraft that he hopes will usher in organised space tourism as early as next year.
"Two thousand and eight really will be the year of the spaceship," Branson said unveiling a scale model of the new craft at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. He added that his SpaceShipTwo would start testing later this year.
Google Earth helps discover massive meteor crater
By IANS,
London : Google Earth has helped spot a meteor crater in Egypt that lay undiscovered, which could help scientists size up risks of potentially catastrophic impacts.
Manmohan Singh presented Chandrayaan-1, PSLV models
By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair Friday briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the success of India's maiden moon mission and presented him models of Chandrayaan-I and its launch vehiclE PSLV.
Nair briefed the prime minister about the launch sequence and subsequent maneuvering of the spacecraft to reach the final lunar orbit.
“The health of the spacecraft is good and all the operations so far have been implemented as planned,” the space department said in a statement quoting the conversation during the meeting.
$40,800 bid to name butterfly after a loved one
By IANS
New York : An unidentified person bid $40,800 for the naming rights of a new species of butterfly -- and scientists will use the money to continue their research.
Researchers at the University of Florida discovered the new owl butterfly in Mexico's Sonoran desert earlier this year and decided, in a first, to offer its naming rights in an online auction.
The new butterfly's scientific name is Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae, but its popular name, chosen by the winning bidder, is Minerva -- in memory of Margery Minerva Blythe Kitzmiller of Ohio.
Russia launches US telecom satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket with US telecom satellite Intelsat-23 blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Indian scientists developing drought-resistant groundnut
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy, IANS,
New Delhi : Indian farmers will soon get access to a new variety of groundnut that is drought-resistant and can be cultivated even in areas where water is scarce.
"Genetic mapping has discovered certain genes in groundnut that are drought- resistant. The testing of seeds of this variety is at an advanced stage," Rajeev K. Varshney, a senior scientist at Hyderabad's International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said.
Google teams with Intel, Sony on new TV platform
By DPA,
San Francisco : Tired of flipping through hundreds of cable channels to find something to watch? Google may be able to help you.
The web search giant has teamed up with Intel, Sony and Logitech to develop a new television platform that the company hopes will extend its dominance from computers and cellphones to televisions, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
China’s 1st spacewalk mission to launch in October
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China's Shenzhou VII manned space mission, which will include the first spacewalk by a Chinese "taikonaut," is to launch in October, said a spokesman of the China manned space engineering office here on Thursday.
He would not give the exact date of the launch, but said a day would be selected in October.
A crew of six astronauts had been chosen for the mission, with three manning the spacecraft and three substitutes, said the spokesman.
Two of the astronauts on board the spacecraft would prepare for the historic spacewalk, he said.
Yahoo! Buzz offers buzz-worthy stories
By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Leading global internet brand Yahoo! Inc. has introduced Yahoo! Buzz, offering the most interesting and relevant content from websites across the worldwide web and bringing more buzz-worthy stories to the homepage of Yahoo!
Currently in beta, Yahoo! Buzz measures consumer votes and search patterns to identify interesting and timely stories and videos from large news sources as well as niche blogs around the web, the firm announced Wednesday.
Report: global space economy revenues reach $251 bln in 2007
By Xinhua
Colorado Springs, The United States : In 2007, global space economy registered a record-setting 251 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, according to a report released here on Tuesday by U.S. National Space Foundation.
Total global space industry revenues reached 251.16 billion in 2007, 11 percent increase from 2006, said "The Space Report 2008."
Hathway unplugs Internet services in Chennai
By IANS,
Chennai : The city's first broadband Internet service provider Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd has unplugged its services here and started refunding its subscribers their dues, officials said.
"We are forced to close down our business. We don't know why. This is the answer I give to all my subscribers," a company official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS.
Part of the Mumbai-based Rajan Raheja group, Hathway Cable has around 50,000 subscribers in the city.
ITC plans greenfield paper plant, major hotel expansion
By IANS,
Kolkata: Tobacco-to-hotels major ITC Ltd is planning to set up a $1-billion greenfield paper plant and expand its hotel business, a top company official said here Friday.
"We are looking at an investment of Rs.4,000-5,000 crore for paper plant. The paper plant is likely to require 1,500-2,000 acres," ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar said.
The company is scouting for land in three states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh - but has not been successful in bagging any plot yet.
Moon landing myth? Decades later, conspiracy theories remain
By Peer Meinert, DPA,
Washington : Even conspiracy theories must sometimes be taken seriously.
Every week Roger Launius, chief historian at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, devotes his time to debunking one of history's favourite such theories: That astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never landed on the moon.
The entire July 20, 1969, landing and the spacewalk several hours later was just a show, all lies, filmed in a Hollywood studio or in a desert, the sceptics say.
Few other conspiracy theories have proven so popular or long-lived.
World of Warcraft has roots in Everquest
By Heiko Haupt, DPA
San Diego : Start up the computer, go online and explore a strange fantasy world using a gaming character you've created on your own: the idea has become a familiar one thanks to the mass phenomenon known as World of Warcraft.
It may surprise some gamers to learn that the principle is hardly new. The first online role playing games started appearing as far back as the 1990s. Success would have to wait for the developers, however. It wasn't until 1999 that the title Ultima Online and the near-legendary Everquest helped the genre break through.
UFO seen at China airport
By IANS,
Beijing : Air traffic at an airport in China was restricted for about an hour after a UFO was spotted over it, media reports said Thursday.
Frog fossil in Madagascar big as bowling ball
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S. scientists' finding of a frog fossil with the size of a bowling ball in Madagascar provides evidence for competing theories that some bridge still connected South America with Africa about 70 million years ago, perhaps via an Antarctica that was much warmer than today, media reported Tuesday.
Beijing : U.S. scientists' finding of a frog fossil with the size of a bowling ball in Madagascar provides evidence for competing theories that some bridge still connected South America with Africa about 70 million years ago, perhaps via an Antarctica that was much warmer than today, media reported Tuesday.
Skies ready for triple eclipse
By IANS,
New Delhi : Commencing Tuesday, three eclipses - a lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse and another lunar - will take over the skies, a phenomenon which although experts say is not rare, will nevertheless be nature's grand spectacle.
On July 7, a penumbral lunar eclipse will occur as the moon rises over Australia and sets in western north and south America in the early pre-dawn hours, said C.B. Devgun, director of Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE).
The eclipse, however, will not be visible over India.
Hundreds of new species discovered in the Himalayas
By IANS,
Washington : Over 350 new species, including the world's smallest deer, a "flying frog" and a 100 million-year-old gecko, have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report.
A decade of research carried out by scientists in remote mountain areas endangered by rising global temperatures brought exciting discoveries such as a bright green frog that uses its red and long webbed feet to glide in the air.
Navy gets lab-on-wheels to test radioactivity
By IANS
New Delhi : An environmental survey vehicle (ESV) - a radiological laboratory on wheels - developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was formally handed over to the Indian Navy here Monday.
DRDO chief M. Natarajan handed over the ESV to the Indian Navy vice-chief, Vice Admiral Nirmal Verma.
Designed and developed by the Defence Laboratory at Jodhpur, the ESV is equipped with state-of-art instruments to measure radioactivity levels in solids, liquids and in the air.
India must market for global satellite contracts
By R. Ramaseshan, IANS,
The success of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Monday in putting into orbit 10 satellites with a single launch is certainly a commendable achievement marking as it does the second largest number of satellites launched at one go. Now it needs to push aggressively for more contracts in this niche market.
Besides ISRO's own two primary satellites, Cartosat-2A (690 kg) and IMS-1 (83 kg), Monday's payload included seven nanosatellites (1-10 kg class) and one microsatellite (10-100 kg class) from foreign customers, which together weighed about 50 kg.
Shuttle landing delayed, shifted to California
By DPA,
Washington : US space agency NASA announced a further delay Sunday of the planned landing of the space shuttle Endeavour due to weather conditions, and shifted the landing site from Florida to California.
The shuttle is now set to land at 1.25 p.m. (2125 GMT) at Edwards Air Force Base, reported NASA, about three hours later than originally scheduled. Storms and rain at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida made a landing there too risky, reported the agency.
European cargo vessel docks with space station
By Xinhua
Paris : A European supply vessel carrying over 5 tons of cargo successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday.
According to a NASA news release, the European supply vehicle established communication with the ISS at 1000 GMT Thursday and the docking was ordered at 1440 GMT.
The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was built by a consortium led by the space unit of aerospace group EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space company). It carries three times the cargo of Russia's Progress vehicle and will play a key role in supplying the ISS.
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.
China launches new space tracking ship to serve Shenzhou VII
By Xinhua
Shanghai : China launched a new space tracking ship on Saturday, expected to serve the Shenzhou VII spacewalk mission scheduled for autumn, said a spokesman of the maritime space surveying and controlling operation.
The new space tracking ship was the sister ship of the Yuanwang-5, which was put into use in September, said the spokesman, adding the two vessels would play a key role in the Shenzhou VII mission.
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.
NASA delays next Mars mission to 2011
By Xinhua,
Washington : NASA's next Mars mission, Mars Science Laboratory, will launch two years later than previously planned, in the fall of 2011.
"A launch date of October 2009 no longer is feasible because of testing and hardware challenges that must be addressed to ensure mission success," NASA explained in a statement on Thursday.
The window for a 2009 launch ends in late October. The relative positions of Earth and Mars are favorable for flights to Mars only a few weeks every two years. So the next launch opportunity after 2009 is in 2011.
500-year-old statues found in Peru
By EFE,
Lima : Peruvian archaeologists have found 12 wooden statues more than 500 years old in the archaeological complex of Chan Chan.
Cristobal Campana, director of one of the teams working at Chan Chan, told EFE Tuesday that the statues were discovered at the entrance to the �an An palace, the most modern building on the site.
Chan Chan, located near the southern city of Trujillo, was the capital of the Chimu kingdom, and had in its period of maximum splendour as many as 60,000 inhabitants in an area of 1,400 hectares.
Total solar eclipse in most of China
By Xinhua,
Chongqing (China) : A total solar eclipse was observed at many places in China Wednesday morning, officials said.
At 9.15 a.m., many places in the upper reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze, were engulfed in total darkness.
The moon's shadow blocked the sun, leaving only the solar corona visible in China's Chongqing Municipality and Guang'an City in southwestern Sichuan province.
The cities in the region turned off the streetlights for better viewing of the total eclipse that lasted for about four minutes.
Countdown begins for Insat-4CR launch Sunday
By IANS
Bangalore : The final countdown for the Sunday launch of India's latest communication satellite Insat-4CR began Saturday afternoon at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100 km from Chennai.
A top Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official told IANS on phone from Sriharikota that the go-ahead for the 27-hour final countdown was given after the met department gave an all-weather clearance earlier in the day.
Russia needs $5 bn to complete its space station segment
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia will need an additional $5 billion to complete construction of its segment of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2015, the head of Russia's rocket and space corporation Energia said.
The ISS is a joint project of space agencies from the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan. The orbital station is likely to remain operational until 2020.
Binary asteroid comes close to Earth this week
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : In a month packed with celestial activity, sky gazers in India can watch out for a binary asteroid close to Earth this week - albeit with the help of a telescope.
Asteroid 2008 BT18 is gliding past Earth and astronomers have just discovered that it is a binary system.
"Radar images of the close-approaching space rock reveal two components, a primary and a secondary asteroid. Among all the near-Earth asteroids only a handful come this close," Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnashree told IANS
‘India poised to become major collaborative space power’
By IANS,
Chennai : India, already a leader in the remote sensing data domain, is poised to become a major collaborative space power, says an international space competitiveness index study.
According to the study, conducted by the US-based Futron Corp, the space race that has witnessed major developments like the Soviet Union's Sputnik launch, the first man-made satellite to orbit and the US' successful moon mission is now a $100 billion-plus industry.
Twitter ends 140-character limit for sending direct messages
New York : Starting Wednesday, the micro-blogging site Twitter lifted the 140-character limit for its 300 million-plus users to send direct messages, an...
Mosquito survives in outer space
By Alexander Peslyak, RIA Novosti,
Moscow : A Russian scientist has said that a mosquito had managed to survive in the outer space for 18 months.
Anatoly Grigoryev, vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: "We brought him (mosquito) back to Earth. He is alive, and his feet are moving."
The mosquito did not get any food and was subjected to extreme temperatures ranging from minus 150 degrees Celsius in the shade to plus 60 degrees in the sunlight.
Missing link between ancient, modern crocodiles found
By IANS
Rio de Janeiro : Brazilian paleontologists have found an 85-million-year-old fossil they say is of a creature that represents the evolutionary missing link between ancient crocodiles and the present species, Spain's news agency EFE reported.
The 80-percent-complete skeleton of the new species, dubbed Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, was found at Monte Alto in Brazil's southeastern Sao Paulo state.
A team from the Museum of Paleontology and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro carried out an evaluation of the fossil.
Iranian Scientists produce mouse using stem cells
By NNN-IRNA
Scientists of Iran’s Royan Research Center have successfully produced a mouse using embryonic stem cells.
Director of the center's stem cells group, Hossein Baharvand, said that in the next phase, the experts are expected to produce mice with specific characteristics by genetically changing the mouse embryonic stem cells.
"The mechanism could be used in studying the performance of a specific gene in a living body," Baharvand said.
Chandrayaan nudged closer to moon
By IANS,
Bangalore : India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-I was nudged closer to the moon late Monday in a second orbit-reduction manoeuvre, a top Indian space official said.
The manoeuvre lasted 866 seconds.
"The spacecraft is at 187 km from the moon (periselene) and 255 km away (aposelene), orbiting elliptically once in every 2 hours and 16 minutes over the polar regions of the lunar planet," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.
Indian rocket puts in orbit 10 satellites at one go
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : India's space programme made history Monday with the successful launch of a Rs.700 million ($17.4 million) rocket that placed in orbit 10 satellites - two Indian and eight foreign.
At precisely 9.23 a.m., the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C9 rose into the sky, emitting thick orange flame, and placed in orbit an Indian cartography and a mini satellite to maintain leadership in the remote sensing domain. It also slung eight nano satellites into outer space - marking the world's second largest such mission.
Egyptian expert in Hyderabad to restore mummy
By IANS,
Hyderabad : An Egyptian expert has arrived to restore a mummy from the age of the pharaohs and preserved at the State Archaeological Museum here.
Tarek el Awady, director of Scientific Research in Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), arrived Wednesday night on a six-day visit to restore the mummy, dating back to 2500 BC, but which is showing signs of decay now.
‘Black gold’ may revolutionise farming, curb global warming
By IANS
Washington : Scientists have discovered an extraordinary source of some of the richest, most fertile soil in the world, often called 'black gold'. They simply have to mix charcoal in the soil.
And it can battle global warming as well by holding the carbon in the soil instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere, according to a new study.
The discovery goes back 1,500 years to the central Amazon basin where tribal people mixed their soil with charcoal derived from animal bone and tree bark.
Chandrayaan inspires overseas Indian scientists to return home
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Bangalore : The successful launch of India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has inspired many Indian space scientists working abroad to return home for a promising career in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a top official said.
"Our moon mission has aroused tremendous interest in the scientific community the world over. The launch has made many overseas Indian space scientists think of returning and working in our organisation to further their career prospects," the official told IANS.
Some squirrels luckier than others
By IANS
Toronto : New research has uncovered how some squirrels, like their human counterparts, can be born with silver spoons in their mouths.
Using 15 years of data from a North American red squirrel population, researchers discovered that female babies born into fortunate circumstances with more food, warmer spring weather and a lower population, experienced long-lasting positive effects on reproductive success, producing more offspring over the remainder of their lives.
Russian Progress cargo ship docks with ISS
By RIA Novosti
Mission Control (near Moscow) : The Progress M-61 cargo spacecraft carrying food, water and fuel for the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) and equipment to repair onboard computers has automatically docked with the global orbital station, the mission control said.
Future is designer fuels: Craig Venter
By IANS
New Delhi : Imagine a world where synthetically made microorganisms will suck up excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into fuel. It's not the imagination of a science fiction writer, but the research area of maverick American biologist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter.
Speaking on the concluding day of the India Today Conclave Saturday, Venter outlined a world where artificially created organisms could provide solutions to some of the most pressing ecological dilemmas.
Just click 160by2.com and send free SMS!
By Nayanima Basu, IANS
New Delhi : Want to send an SMS for free? Just click www.160by2.com.
"On one side were users who wanted free SMS and on the other side were brands and media companies trying to reach these consumers. Initially we ignored them but as the number increased, we realised that there was a genuine opportunity here, waiting to be exploited," said Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti, CEO, SMSCountry Networks Pvt. Ltd.
For sending an SMS from 160by2.com, one needs to only fill up a simple registration form.
420 mn Chinese now use the internet
By IANS,
Beijing : The number of Chinese internet users has reached a staggering 420 million, authorities said.
Website sina.com.cn citing a report published by China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) reported that 277 million people access the internet via cell phones.
The population of China's internet users climbed to 420 million as of June 2010, 36 million more than at the end of 2009.
China Daily Wednesday reported that broadband was the most popular way to access the internet, instead of a wired connection.
Astronauts build giant robot to do their jobs
By Xinhua
Beijing : After linking up with the international space station Thursday, astronauts on board the space shuttle Endeavour got to work unloading the parts they will need to build a giant robot that will help maintain the orbiting outpost.
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Gregory Johnson were using the station's robotic arm to pull a pallet containing the Canadian robot, named Dextre, from Endeavour's cargo bay and install it temporarily on a station girder.
India moots international mechanism for space assets protection
By NNN-Bernama/PTI
Hyderabad : Warning that outer space may become the "battlefield of the future," India proposed a "robust" international mechanism for protection of space assets since they were "vulnerable to attacks."
New Delhi also told global space scientists to join forces in space exploration, asserting the world can "ill-afford the duplication of efforts and resources" in the face of many pressing priorities, according to a PTI report.
Indian Army readies for Prithvi-1 trial
By IANS
Balasore (Orissa) : The Indian Army is all set to test the surface-to-surface medium range Prithvi-1 missile next week, officials said.
Two more Chandrayaan instruments to be activated in mid-December
By IANS,
Bangalore : Two of the 10 remaining scientific instruments onboard India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be activated in mid-December for conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon during next two years, a top space agency official said Saturday.
India second-largest wireless market in the world: study
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Bangalore : Mobile telephony has grown rapidly in India, especially during the last three years, with India becoming the second-largest wireless market in the world, says a World Bank study.
The number of wireless subscribers in the country has reached 250 million, making India the second-largest wireless market in the world, says the study, The Role of Mobile Phones in Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction.
NASA postpones Atlantis mission to Hubble again
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : NASA has postponed the Atlantis shuttle's launch to the Hubble Space Telescope for another two or three days to October 10-11, to complete work on an external fuel tank.
During 'Servicing Mission 4', originally scheduled for launch on August 28 but postponed until October 8, the shuttle's seven-member crew will install new instruments, replace degraded systems, and "bring inactive instruments back to life", NASA said in a statement.
Female robot can sing like a pop star
By IANS,
London : A life-sized female robot, known as HRP-4, has been taught to sing just like a real pop star.
Indian teen in Finland, bringing Facebook, Twitter closer
By Rahul Dass, IANS,
Helsinki : Want to know from your mobile phone where to hangout in Delhi or eat out in Beijing? Three teens in Finland, including one from India, are giving final touches to a system that integrates social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
They are part of a team of 30 brainy teens who have come to Finland from 16 countries to take part in the week-long Millennium Youth Camp being held in a forested area, abutting a lake, about an hour's drive from capital Helsinki.
Space qualified ‘moon’ trees thriving in US
By IANS,
Washington : Space travellers are living out their lives away from the limelight, after having orbited the moon 34 times on board Apollo 14.
Ten technologies which MIT sees as impacting lives
By IANS,
New York : Technology Review, the magazine of innovation brought out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tuesday announced its annual list of 10 top emerging technologies, seen to impact the way we live and do business.
"These revolutionary innovations - each represented by a researcher whose vision and work is driving the field - promise fundamental shift in areas from energy to health care, computing to communications," the magazine said.
China plans to set up rocket company
By Xinhua
Beijing : China will set up an umbrella company to integrate the technical and marketing aspects of rocket building, an official with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said Monday.
The planned share-holding company is expected to integrate a number of institutions involved in rocket research, development, manufacturing and testing, and would be listed in the share market, said Liang Xiaohong, the academy's vice-president.
CISF to protect techies, not intrude on their private space
By IANS,
Bangalore : The ceremony to welcome the latest "entrants" to IT bellwether Infosys Technologies at its Electronic City campus here Friday was a grand one, with the company's co-founder, chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayan Murthy himself doing the honours.
The 101 "new entrants" were, however, no IT geeks joining the country's second largest software exporter as its recruits.
CNN claim of hologram use not true: scientist
By IANS,
Toronto : A Canadian scientist has contested CNN's claim of showing three-dimensional holograms during its coverage of the US election.
CNN made this claim Tuesday night when anchor Wolf Blitzer in New York announced at 7 p.m. that he was now speaking live to the network reporter Jessica Yellin in Chicago "via hologram".
As the fuzzy-looking reporter appeared a few feet in front of Blitzer in the studio, he said, "You are a terrific hologram".
Why little fish diet to stay alive
By IANS,
Sydney : Like humans, little fish also diet - not to look more presentable, but out of dire necessity. They don't want to get on the wrong side of more dominant fish and risk being gobbled up.
A new study, by researchers at James Cook University, has also found that bigger fish use the threat of punishment to keep competitors in line.
Spacecraft images show rings of Saturn’s 2nd largest moon
By Xinhua
Los Algeles : Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, may have rings, according to images from a spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Los Angeles.
The finding was described in a study published in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.
Scientists at NASA believe the rings may be the remnants of an asteroid or comet collision, which circulated large quantities of gas and solid particles around Rhea.
Scientists rush to southern India to study ‘Ring of Fire’
By Richa Sharma, IANS,
Kochi : It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and scientists from across the globe are thronging southern India to watch the 'Ring of Fire' during the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse Friday. The southern tips of Kerala and Tamil Nadu will offer the best view of the moon obscuring the sun.
Ensuring everyday privacy while using the computer
By DPA
Washington : Most of the privacy threats we hear about are from anonymous "hackers" or unnamed forces waiting to swoop via an Internet connection and steal our data or personal information. But many people have privacy concerns that are closer to home.
While the outside threats do exist, it's probably far more likely that a friend, guest, colleague, or family member will see information on your computer that you had not intended to share.
How can you tighten security at home or the office? Read on for some answers.
Apple pays tribute to late co-founder Steve Jobs
By IANS,
Washington: Apple Friday paid tribute to its late co-founder Steve Jobs with a heartfelt video and a note from Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.
Yahoo to introduce new features to e-mail sevice
By Xinhua
Beijing : Yahoo will introduce new features for its popular web-based e-mail program, taking six weeks to become available to all 254 million Yahoo mail subscribers in 21 languages worldwide, media reports said Monday.
The new version allows users to click on a contact and then select whether to send that person an e-mail, instant message or text message. "You could send an e-mail or instant message if you know the recipient is at the computer — or a text message if the recipient is on the road with a cell phone," the reports added.
Cyber space needs rules: China
By IANS,
Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Saturday said that "cyber space needs rules and cooperation, not war" and stressed that China is vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Now, an alarm clock that creates dawn
By IANS,
London: For people who experience "winter blues" when waking up early morning, a cure has been found. A British firm has invented an alarm clock that creates an artificial dawn.
Scientists discover giant rat in Indonesia’s Papua
By DPA
Jakarta : Scientists have discovered two mammals believed to be new to science during an expedition to Indonesia's remote eastern province of Papua, Conservation International has said.
Scientists from the group and the Indonesian Institute of Science visited the Foja Mountains in June, following a first trip in late 2005 that saw them discover dozens of new plants and animals.
Laptop fashion: Mobile computer makers discover colour
By DPA
Frankfurt : Black, grey or silver: laptop buyers have generally had to accept one of those three options. But colourful times lie ahead. The latest models from laptop makers now feature casings in blue, green, pink and yellow. After all, having increasingly impinged on the domain of the desktop PC, the laptop has now become a lifestyle accessory.
India, US to enhance cyber security cooperation
Washington : India and the US have committed to robust cooperation on cyber issues to increase global cyber security and promote the digital economy.
They...
Google enables Indians to build maps of their villages, cities
By IANS,
New Delhi : For a vast country which lacks adequately detailed maps for many of its areas, India is now finding an unexpected solution in the form of the Google Map Maker.
Google recently extended its 'map maker' service to India and has, within three weeks of its launch, drawn quite some attention to it in cyberspace.
Supporters of the project started sending messages out via the net, urging friends and colleagues to create their own detailed maps -- by adding details of features in the villages or urban areas where they live.
Climate change brings riotous blooms to Sweden
By IANS,
London : A riot of blooms and superabundance of greenery have transformed Swedish mountainsides into a verdant paradise - thanks to climate change.
Trees like oak, elm, maple and black alder are soaking up the warmth to stabilise themselves for the first time in 8,000 years, according to a study.
A rise in warmth by just a degree, over a century, has triggered changes in flora, fauna and landscapes, reflecting a condition that scientists say is similar to one prevailing just after the last ice age, ScienceDaily reported
Researchers calculate how much carbon can be stored underground
By IANS,
Washington : Trapping carbon dioxide at the source like coal burning power plants and then injecting them underground could be one of the options to cut emissions levels. MIT engineers have come up with a new software tool to determine how much can be sequestered safely in a geological formation.
Arctic methane may trigger abrupt climate change
By IANS,
Washington : An abrupt release of methane from ice sheets 635 million years ago triggered a spell of global warming, says a study that contends something similar is just waiting to happen.
Researchers believe the greenhouse gas was released gradually and then abruptly from clathrates - methane ice that forms beneath polar ice sheets. The release had resulted in a series of cataclysmic events and ended the last Ice Age.
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.
Don’t fear, watch solar eclipse with proper gadgets
By IANS,
New Delhi : It is an excitement coupled with fear and superstition for many in India prior to the solar eclipse Aug 1.
Despite a well known scientific phenomenon behind the solar eclipse, people have not been able to do away with the superstitious beliefs related to the celestial activity.
"There are several false beliefs prevalent in our society regarding solar eclipse. Some people even lock themselves in their homes to avoid 'the bad rays' from the eclipse," Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnashree said.
Finally, images of another solar system captured
By IANS,
Toronto : In one of the biggest breakthroughs in astronomy, Canadian, American and British astronomers have captured the images of another solar system for the first time.
Though more than 200 planets in other solar systems have been detected so far through indirect studies of their gravitational pull on their parent star, astronomers have failed to capture their images till this discovery.
Using powerful telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, the astronomers captured the images of three huge planets orbiting around a sun known as HR8799.
Create green economy in five years, avoid catastrophe: WWF
By IANS,
New Delhi : The world has just five years to initiate a low carbon industrial revolution before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable. But the good news is that it can be done and that the long-term benefits will be immense, according to the WWF.
Climate Solutions 2 is the first analysis to put timetables to the industrial transformations needed to limit global carbon emissions below the two degrees Celsius level. Scientists say beyond that there would be unacceptable risks of runaway climate change.