Jupiter possibly hit by object, NASA says
By DPA,
Washington : Jupiter appears to have again been hit by a speeding celestial object that left a giant dark scar in the giant gaseous planet's atmosphere, NASA astronomers said.
The US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a tip early Monday from Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley who had spied the spot near the planet's south pole. Scientists then pointed NASA's infrared telescope in Hawaii at the planet and detected signs - including particles in the upper atmosphere and a warming of the lower atmosphere - that it may have been struck by a comet.
Soyuz’s re-entry capsule lands safely in Kazakhstan
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The re-entry capsule of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft has landed safely in Kazakhstan's steppe Sunday, officials said.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, NASA's (US space agency) Michael Barratt and space tourist Guy Laliberte onboard the capsule landed safely in northern Kazakh steppe.
Padalka was extracted first from the capsule, following which the other space travellers were extracted from the re-entry vehicle that landed on Earth several hours after leaving the International Space Station (ISS).
India set to laun ch five British satellites
Chennai: The Indian space agency on Wednesday morning began the countdown for the July 10 rocket launch that would carry five British satellites.
According...
Stephen Hawking: there may be aliens!
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Stephen Hawking said there may be alients, but they may not be intelligent as others had thought, or just primitive life.
The 66-year-old famed British cosmologist Hawking's comments were part of a lecture at George Washington University on Monday in honor of NASA's 50th anniversary.
He theorized that there are possible answers to whether there is extraterrestrial life.
"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," said Hawking "Some would say it has yet to occur on earth."
Venezuela uses Vietnamese method to boost rice harvest
By EFE,
Caracas : Venezuela has began a project to grow rice using Vietnamese technology, a method that replaces chemical fertilisers with fish in water channels between the rice plots.
Officials hope the crop yields would increase by as much as 30 percent after using the method.
In a national broadcast, President Hugo Chavez Wednesday praised the "great advances" in agriculture achieved by the Vietnamese, whom he called a "fighting people".
The pilot project will be carried out in a 65,000-hectare area in Apure state.
Storage options for the digital generation
By DPA
Washington : Just about everything in our lives is being stored digitally today - music, videos, photographs, documents, arts and crafts, and much more.
That's why the scramble for more data storage - and more versatile data storage - is never-ending. The market has responded with a proliferation of types of data storage designed to meet the needs of everyone.
But the options are dizzying.
To keep from making a costly mistake when buying storage, you need to know what your storage needs are and which type of storage best satisfies those requirements.
Smart system to take risk out of driving
By IANS,
London : Visualise a smart system that enables you to negotiate sharp, treacherous bends, blind spots and sudden dips on the road ahead, with perfect ease and safety.
The technology being developed by a European project on road safety will keep you updated on geographical database. It can even communicate with other vehicles in the vicinity.
This is the future of in-car maps, going way beyond directions and entering the zone of pro-active hazard detection. It is one of the key strands of the PReVENT project.
Russia postpones launch of navigation satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia has postponed the launch of its new-generation navigation satellite Glonass-K until 2011, the defence ministry said.
Global warming affecting world’s largest freshwater lake
By Xinhua,
Washington : Russian and American scientists have discovered that the rising temperature of Lake Baikal, the world's largest lake located in freezing Siberia, shows that this region is responding strongly to global warming.
The research team reported their results Thursday on-line in the journal Global Change Biology. "Warming of this isolated but enormous lake is a clear signal that climate change has affected even the most remote corners of our planet," said Stephanie Hampton, a leading author of the study.
Russia to launch two European satellites
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia will launch two European satellites Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia, a report said Tuesday.
The dry run of the launch began early October at the space center as per schedule.
"The launch is scheduled for Nov 2. A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium)," a Khrunichev center report said.
Microsoft unveils voice activated Xbox Kinect
By IANS,
London : If you are always searching for your remote or running out of batteries, Kinect is just the thing for you as it allows you to play computer games without the handset.
China launches first e-tagged container vessel
By Xinhua
Shanghai : A Chinese vessel with e-tagged containers sailed Monday from Shanghai to Savannah port in the United States, marking the opening of the world's first international e-tagged container route.
The doorbell-sized e-tags installed on the 20-foot container equivalent units (TEU), will record information about every procedure in the TEU's whole transportation process, such as the delivery and off-loading time, the real-time TEU condition and the time and place of the legal or illegal opening.
Mobile retailer Svyaznoy to open Apple stores in Russia
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow: Mobile retailer Svyaznoy plans to launch Apple Premium Reseller mono-brand stores in 10 Russian cities.
Britain secret file says massive UFO spotted
By IANS,
London : A spaceship that was "20 times the size of a football field" was spotted hovering over Britain's Manchester airport nearly 15 years back, says a secret defence ministry file that was released Thursday.
The huge spacecraft was seen by a UFO expert in 1995 and its sketch was sent to the defence ministry, The Sun reported Thursday, citing the secret files.
The UFO was described as oblong with a curved front and a series of small nozzles at the rear.
That's not the only UFO sighting.
High-tech system to cut hospital infections by half
By IANS,
London : Hospital-based infections continue to be the number-two killer in the US after heart disease.
A new high-tech software programme developed by Tel Aviv University researchers will cut such infections by half.
Yehuda Carmeli professor at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University (TAU), has developed a system for preventing hospital epidemics.
"When a patient comes to the hospital for treatment, the natural barriers that protect them against infection are bypassed," said Carmeli, also a physician at the TAU Sourasky Medical Centre.
Invasive weeds threatening India’s biodiversity
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Toxic weeds, which came along with wheat that India imported over the last few years, now pose a serious threat to its crops, people and livestock, says a scientist associated with the National Invasive Weeds Surveillance Programme.
Single solar flare releases destructive equivalent of 100 mn H-bombs
By DPA,
Washington : A solar flare can release the destructive equivalent of a 100 million hydrogen bombs, obliterating everything in its neighbourhood, including every single atom, according to scientists.
"We've detected a stream of perfectly intact hydrogen atoms shooting out of an X-class solar flare," said Richard Mewaldt of the California Institute of Technology.
"If we can understand how these atoms were produced, we'll be that much closer to understanding solar flares," he added.
Ultrasound to help eliminate Ibuprofen from polluted water
By IANS,
London : An international team of scientists has developed an ultrasound treatment to remove Ibuprofen from waters polluted with this drug.
The new method could be used in water purification plants, which would avoid the emission of pharmaceutical pollutants into rivers, lakes, seas and other surface waters.
The team at the laboratories of the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland has developed a novel method for eliminating pharmaceutical products from water.
Google planning ‘radical’ new Chrome browser
By IANS,
London : Software developers working on Google's popular Chrome browser are testing "radical" changes to its appearance.
Microsoft, Yahoo meeting on takeover ends without results
By DPA
New York : Key officials from US software giant Microsoft and internet company Yahoo failed to reach agreement in talks over a multi-billion takeover bid, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported Friday.
Microsoft had launched a takeover bid of originally $45 billon more than two months ago, which was rejected by Yahoo for being too low.
According to the paper, officials were unable to solve their differences of opinion during the meeting, which took place this week at Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnydale, California.
Increase in greenhouse gas emissions despite cuts
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists have recorded higher emissions of a greenhouse gas thousands of times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, in spite of global efforts to curb its release.
The substance HFC-23 is a by product of HCFC-22, a refrigerant in ACs and refrigerators and a starting material for producing heat and chemical-resistant products, cables and coatings.
Over satellite, women farmers demand policy changes
By IANS
Thiruvaiyaru (Tamil Nadu) : The power of technology was on display at the 95th National Science Congress in Vishakhapatnam Saturday when satellite links helped women from across India voice their demand for new policies to promote women farmers.
Low on self-esteem? Have a ‘parasocial’ relationship
By IANS,
Washington : Admiring celebrities, even from afar, can help people with low self-esteem to see themselves in a more flattering light, according to a new study.
The study, by researchers from the University at Buffalo and State University of New York, illustrates how such “parasocial” relationships can benefit people facing difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
The researchers based their study on 100 undergraduates to examine the relationship between self-esteem, parasocial relationship closeness and self-discrepancies.
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.
Century’s longest eclipse sweeps into clouds in Himachal
By IANS,
Shimla : Partly cloudy sky Wednesday morning in most parts of Himachal Pradesh marred the early moments of one of nature's greatest spectaculars - the century's longest total solar eclipse, weather officials here said.
"Clouds in most parts of the hill state remained an intermittent problem, with most areas reporting partly overcast conditions," meteorological office Director Manmohan Singh said.
On the historic Ridge in Shimla, a large number of people, especially schoolchildren, have gathered to witness the eclipse through clouds.
Mars to be closest, brightest Jan 27
By IANS,
New Delhi : Skygazers will get to watch the red planet Mars from close quarters as it comes closest to Earth and shines brightest Jan 27. It will not be so close or so bright over the next two years.
Look towards the east an hour after sunset Jan 27 and Mars would be shining brighter than every other star in the sky except Sirius, which is slightly more dazzling in brilliant bluish white.
EU Court slaps hefty fines on Microsoft
Luxembourg, Sep 17 (DPA) In a landmark ruling with key implications for European Union (EU) competition policy, a court in Luxembourg Monday backed the bloc's decision to inflict a multi-million-euro fine on Microsoft for abusing its dominant position in the software market.
With a sentence read out in a packed court by presiding judge Bo Vesterdorf, the EU's Court of First Instance overturned almost the entire content of Microsoft's appeal against a 2004 ruling by the European Commission (EC).
Why child-bearing women ‘loathe’ beautiful women?
By IANS,
London : We appreciate beautiful women, but they tend to trigger envy and dislike in other women of childbearing age.
A survey of 97 middle-aged women rated such beauties way below their menopausal counterparts, looks-wise, which Aberdeen University psychologist Benedict Jones said was like putting them down.
Researchers turned their attention to examining how fertility triggered competition within sexes for potential partners, informed Jones, who led the study.
Yahoo! lays off 45 people in India
By IANS,
Bangalore : Global search engine and web services provider Yahoo! laid off 45 people from its India operations as part of its worldwide firing policy due to global meltdown, a company spokesman confirmed here Thursday.
"Around three percent (45 people) of our India headcount, which is 1,500, has been asked to go Wednesday as per the directive from our headquarters at Sunnyvale in the US," a spokesman of Yahoo! India subsidiary told IANS here.
Indian science conquers new frontiers
By IANS
New Delhi : Sixty years after independence, Indian science has taken giant strides in virtually every arena - from space vehicles to vaccines. Starting out 60 years ago as a poor country with a history of famines and underdevelopment, India today stands poised as the surprise powerhouse of cutting-edge science and technology.
Science and technology (S and T) has been key to India's development strategy right from the time of independence in 1947.
Don’t panic when fuel warning lights up
Berlin, Sep 13 (DPA) Motorists should not immediately panic when the warning lamp lights up indicating that the fuel tank is empty because most cars have an adequate reserve to last for a stretch of 50 km, according to a test by the German magazine AUTO/Strassenverkehr.
The magazine tested 10 different car models with some vehicles even managing to drive a distance of 150 km before coming to a standstill after the warning lamp lit up.
NASA buys life-like humanoid as tour guide
By IANS,
London : A life-like robot, which speaks more than a dozen languages and has a pawky sense of humour, has been bought by NASA to become a robotic tour guide.
Data instead of paper and ink: E-books growing in popularity
By Janne Terfruechte, DPA,
Frankfurt : Relaxing on the couch and browsing through a weighty tome - for many, that sounds like paradise. Trying to drag that book along in your pocket is however less fun. An alternative to this is the e-books that until now have enjoyed a niche existence. That might be about to change.
BSNL, MTNL merger decision in 4-5 months
New Delhi: The decision on merging state-run BSNL and MTNL will be taken in the next four-five months, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said on...
India calls off Chandrayaan moon mission
By IANS,
Panaji : India Sunday decided to terminate its first unmanned moon mission as contact could not be re-established with the spacecraft Chandrayaan, a top space official said here.
"We are disappointed with what has happened, but we have managed to salvage a large volume of data," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here.
"We are content with the result," he said.
New sonar detects concealed underwater objects
By IANS,
London : Scientists have developed a new kind of underwater sonar that can detect objects like reefs and wrecks through bubble clouds that blind conventional sonar.
‘Missing link’ between Big Bang, creation of stars uncovered
By IANS,
London : Astronomers have uncovered the 'missing link' in the evolution of the universe following the Big Bang.
NASA Phoenix spacecraft ready for Mars landing
By Xinhua,
Washington : NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice.
The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet on May 25, according to the mission updates released on Tuesday.
India to host global nuclear physics conference
By IANS
Kolkata : India will host for the first time an international conference on quarks, at the cutting edge of nuclear physics research, with Jaipur playing the host Feb 4-10.
The conference, Quark Matter 2008, is being co-sponsored by Kolkata-based Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC).
ISRO employees to celebrate Chandrayaan success with special lunch
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Nearly 5,000 employees of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Kerala will next week celebrate the success of the Chandrayaan-1 mission with a special lunch and are also hopeful of being given a salary hike in appreciation of their work, an official said.
Pune to host national robotics contest
By IANS
Pune : Thirty-eight teams from engineering colleges around India are to participate in a contest here March 8-9 where the robots made by them will compete to steal pots of 'butter'.
Aptly called 'Mission Govinda', inspired by Hindu Lord Krishna's childhood stories of stealing butter, the national robotic contest will have teams from all the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and region engineering colleges competing at the event being held at Maharashra Institute of Technology (MIT).
NASA scientists find smallest, lightest black hole
By Xinhua
Beijing : NASA scientists have identified the smallest, lightest black hole yet found.
The new lightweight record-holder weighs in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and is only 15 miles (24 kilometers) in diameter.
Beijing : NASA scientists have identified the smallest, lightest black hole yet found.
The new lightweight record-holder weighs in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and is only 15 miles (24 kilometers) in diameter.
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.
Film downloads help buffs discover movies at home
By DPA,
Darmstadt (Germany) : A perfect couch potato set-up, with chips and the remote in easy reach, is pointless when there's nothing good on TV. But where a lack of good TV would have once meant running to the video store, nowadays home viewers can turn on their computer to download one of their favourite movies.
Mail movie rentals via online services have been around for a while. But now those services are diversifying into direct downloads onto personal computers.
Study space science, break my records, Sunita tells students
By IANS
Ahmedabad : Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, on a week-long visit to Gujarat, Saturday advised students to study space science for the exciting opportunities it offers and also to "break my records".
Speaking at a felicitation programme in her honour by Gujarat University, Sunita said space science was increasingly concerned with making the earth safe from the "effects of vacuum, a darkness that is beyond black and the massive temperature deviations in space".
India to send two astronauts in space: ISRO
By IANS,
New Delhi : India will send two astronauts into space using an indigenous rocket and an announcement for this is likely to be made within a couple of months, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said Tuesday.
In an interview to a private channel, ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said in the next few weeks the government may announce approval of India's most expensive scientific programme - that of putting two Indian astronauts in space.
New NASA mission to reveal moon’s evolution
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
Washington : NASA will launch a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history, announced Alan Stern, the agency's Associate Administrator for Science, in a press release on Tuesday.
The name of the new moon mission is "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory," or GRAIL. It will cost 375 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to launch in 2011, according to the announcement.
Now disabled could operate wheelchairs, computers with tongue
By IANS,
Washington : People with severe disabilities will soon be able to operate a computer or control a powered wheelchair simply by moving their tongues, thanks to a new magnetic device.
This device could help individuals "with high-level spinal cord injuries, return to rich, active, independent and productive lives", said Maysam Ghovanloo of Georgia Tech School who developed the new system with graduate student Xueliang Huo.
Youngsters use Facebook, MySpaceTeens to create flattering self-images
By IANS,
Washington : Youngsters are using popular networking websites like Facebook and MySpace to create flattering self-images, one that they would like to be but are not.
"People can use these sites to explore who they are by posting particular images, pictures or text," said University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) psychology graduate Adriana Manago, researcher with the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles (CDMCLA), and co-author of the study.
China asks US for data on shooting down of satellite
By Xinhua
Beijing : China Thursday called on the US to provide relevant data on its shooting down of a defunct spy satellite.
China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security and relevant countries, Liu Jianchao, foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters here.
"China requests that the US fulfil its international obligations and promptly provide to the international community the necessary information so that relevant countries can take precautions." Liu said.
Is it time to upgrade your wireless network?
Washington, Oct 10 (DPA) If you go shopping today for any type of wireless computing device, ask yourself these questions:
Q: Do I have to purchase draft 802.11n products from the same company?
A: You probably know that to get faster wireless Internet and network access, all of the devices within your wireless network should be capable of operating at the same speed. That means that your router, notebook cards, and any PCI desktop wireless cards should be draft 802.11n.
Unsung hero of moon mission is sad but forgiving
By K.S. Jayaraman, IANS,
Bangalore : In the nine months India's Chandrayaan-1 has been circling the moon everyone connected with it has been awarded, rewarded or interviewed on TV, except the scientist whose pioneering work in liquid propulsion was pivotal to the mission's success. Perhaps it had something to do with the false spying charges under which he was arrested in 1994.
Gravitational waves emanate as ‘sounds of universe’
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists are still looking for gravitational waves -- small ripples in the fabric of space-time which are considered to be the sounds of the universe.
Indian-origin food scientist gets international award
Wellington : A noted Indian-origin food scientist based in New Zealand has been honoured for his contribution in improving the quality, safety and...
European cargo spacecraft blasts off for space station
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A European carrier rocket took off from French Guiana early on Sunday on a mission to bring supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), a spokesman for Russia's mission control said.
The Ariane-5 rocket lifted off at 04:03 GMT from the Kourou space center to bring a 20-ton unmanned cargo module into orbit.
Salt-tolerant gene may revolutionise farming
By IANS
New York : The secret of why a plant withers or thrives in salty condition has been found in the cellular mechanism of arabidopsis, a plant species, according to a study. The findings could have enormous implications for salt-affected croplands, which form half the world's
cultivated area.
Salty soil means plants don't grow as well and therefore yield less.
Researchers have discovered that a complex carbohydrate called N-glycan, which is linked to protein in the plant, may be responsible for its ability to contend with salt water.
Researchers create world’s first diamond laser
By IANS,
Sydney : Researchers in Australia have built the world's first diamond laser, harnessing its capability to transmit heat and light very effectively.
A research team led by Richard Mildren at Macquarie University in New South Wales built the first laser using a technique based on the Raman effect.
Besides demonstrating a more effective way of generating a powerful beam, it has also shown that synthetic diamonds are of the right size and quality to enable exploration of a new class of laser devices.
Google reportedly planning to launch its own mobile
By DPA,
New York : Google reportedly hopes to strengthen its presence in the world of mobile telephony with plans to introduce its own high-tech phone sometime in 2010, according to press reports.
Reports by the Wall Street Journal and other outlets cite sources close to Google stating that the company, known primarily for its online search functions, is expected to release a phone dubbed Nexus One that runs Google's Android operating system.
Infosys co-founders chip in to shelter flood-hit victims
By IANS,
Bangalore: Four co-founders of IT bellwether Infosys Technologies collectively contributed Rs.10 crore to rebuild houses for the victims of flood havoc in north Karnataka recently, a top official said.
"The company has pledged Rs.20 crore while four co-founders have volunteered to contribute Rs.2.5 crore each to the effort to build 3,000 pucca (permanent) houses for the flood-affected people," Infosys chief executive S. Gopalkrishnan told reporters here.
Chandrayaan spacecraft moved further up in space
Chennai, Oct 26 (IANS) India's maiden moon probe spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has reached nearly half the distance to the lunar orbit, crossing the 150,000-km mark from the earth Sunday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed third orbit-raising manoeuvre initiated at 7.08 a.m. Sunday firing the liquid apogee motor for about nine and a half minutes.
With this, Chandrayaan spacecraft has entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the earth.
Scientists create living heart for dead rat
By IANS
New York : Scientists in the US have created an artificial rat heart using the cells of baby rats.
The breakthrough by researchers at the University of Minnesota offers hope that the day is not far when scientists will be able to create human hearts for transplant.
The researchers removed all the cells from a dead rat heart, leaving the valves and outer structure as scaffolding for new heart cells injected from newborn rats.
X-rays to bring nanoscale materials and bio specimens up close
By IANS
New York : X-rays have taken pictures of broken bones for decades, but scientists have now refined them to capture images of ultra-small particles in nano and bio-materials, including cellular nuclei.
This development will facilitate understanding of how materials behave electrically, magnetically and under thermal and mechanical stress. Besides, its applicability to biology and biomedicine will also contribute to our understanding of disease and its eradication, healing after injury, cancer and cell death.
Moon mission ‘historic milestone’ for India’s space programme: PM
By IANS,
Tokyo : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday termed the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, India's first unmanned scientific mission to the moon, as a "historic milestone" for the country's space programme and congratulated all its associated scientists from here.
"When completed, the mission will put India in the very small group of six countries, which have thus far sent space missions to the moon," Manmohan Singh, here on a three-day official visit, said in a message.
Endeavour undocks from ISS, winds up longest mission
By Xinhua
Beijing : U.S. space shuttle Endeavour on Monday undocked from the international space station and headed for home, ending an "extraordinary mission" marked by a record five successful spacewalks, media reported.
The shuttle has been at the station 12 days, the longest mission ever of its kind.
During their stay, the seven shuttle astronauts, working with the three-member station crew, attached the first piece of a Japanese laboratory to the station and assembled a Canadian maintenance robot known as Dextre.
India’s science body signs deal with MeadWestvaco
By IANS
Mumbai : India's leading scientific research organisation Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has inked an agreement with global packaging solutions major MeadWestvaco Corp (MWV) for developing and packaging applications in consumer, agriculture and transportation sectors.
After signing the umbrella agreement for research and development collaboration, S.K. Brahmachari, director general of CSIR, said research partnership would address critical areas in the sponsored research projects in the applications of packaging.
Ancient mineral provides clue to early climate
By IANS,
New York : A new analysis of ancient minerals called zircons suggests that earth's earliest continents were probably destroyed by an extremely harsh climate.
Zircons, the oldest known materials on earth, offer a window in time back as far as 4.4 billion years ago, when the planet was a mere 150 million years old.
As these crystals are exceptionally resistant to chemical changes, they have become the gold standard for determining the age of ancient rocks, ScienceDaily reported.
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.
Moon, Venus, Mercury to align for Buenos Aires residents
By Xinhua
Buenos Aires : The Moon, Mercury and Venus are going to align at 5:46 a.m. (0746 GMT) Wednesday, which can be spotted with naked eye by residents in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, a local astronomical club announced Monday.
The planet lineup is expected to start at 5:20 a.m. Wednesday when the Moon first ascends, followed by Mercury at 5:34 a.m. and Venus at 5:46 a.m., according to the Astronomy Friends Association.
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.
Adani group to set up solar power parks in TN
Chennai : Gujarat-based Adani group on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to supply 648 MW of solar power from...
American west is new global hot spot
By IANS
New York : The American west is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new study that analyses the latest temperature figures.
The average temperature rise in the southwest's largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions, ScienceDaily reported.
Samsung launches Galaxy Note 800 in India
By IANS,
New Delhi: Samsung Electronics Friday launched a new tablet, Galaxy Note 800, in the Indian market expanding its product portfolio.
Retaining talent major challenge for Indian scientific organisations
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : Retaining an experienced nuclear scientist has become a major challenge now for the Indian nuclear establishment, with the private sector casting its net wide for talent, says a top scientist.
"Last year we lost around five percent of our scientists and engineers. Ten of them were groomed by me over two decades," Baldev Raj, director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), told IANS in an interview.
According to him, managing a scientific research organisation is tougher than running a company.
World’s biggest airship on way to US by ship
By DPA,
Friedrichshafen (Germany) : The world's biggest airship, the 75-metre-long Zeppelin NT, is on its way to the US by ship.
The airship is making the journey across the Atlantic to Beaumont in Texas, its manufacturer said Saturday.
Because of the rigid construction of the craft, it is being transported in its full length. Only the two engines mounted on the side and the tail unit were dismantled for the journey.
The ultimate goal of Zeppelin NT is San Francisco, from where passengers will be able to board the airship for pleasure flights.
New headphones for deep, refreshing sleep
By IANS,
London: A headband with built-in earphones could lull you to deep sleep, without even waking a partner sleeping by your side.
Scientists find way of protecting computers against virus
By IANS,
Washington : Code Red, a virulent computer virus, wreaked havoc, infecting more than 350,000 machines in 14 hours in 2001, besides causing a worldwide loss of $2.6 billion.
Now techies at Ohio State University have discovered a way to contain worms like Code Red, which blocked network traffic to subway stations and 911 call centres in the US, and also sought to target the White House website.
"We wanted to find a way to catch infections in their earliest stages, before they get that far," said Ness Shroff, who led the team that worked on the project.
Computer programmed to read human faces
By IANS,
Sydney: Scientists have programmed computers to read human expressions and to tell whether one is in pain.
"Each facial expression is made up of many different components - a twitch of the mouth here, a widening of the eyes there - some lasting only a fraction of a second," said Simon Lucey of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
"Our computer program looks at these components, matches them against a list drawn up by expert psychologists and decides what expression just flitted across a face," said Lucey, a computer scientist.
India sets up Rs.10 bn nano-technology mission
By IANS,
New Delhi : India has set up a Rs.10 billion mission to help scientists do research in nano-technology and innovate new products in fields like healthcare, textiles and drug development, an official said Friday.
“We have set up a mission to boost nano-technology in the country. The fund will be utilised over a period of five years,” Science Secretary T. Ramasami said Friday on the sidelines of an event on nano-technology at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Now you can watch what cells do, as they do it
By IANS,
London : Researchers have developed a new laser tool to to peer into the microscopic activity within single cells in real time. The cutting edge technology could help contribute to the creation of new drugs to treat diseases like asthma and arthritis with fewer side effects.
The researchers from Nottingham University Schools of Biomedical Science (Steve Hill and Steve Briddon) and Pharmacy (Barrie Kellam) are concentrating on a type of specialised cell receptor that recognises and responds to a chemical within the body called adenosine.
Planets forming in Pleiades star cluster: astronomers
By IANS
New York : Planets like Earth, Mars or Venus appear to be forming or to have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades star cluster, the result of "monster collisions" of planets or planetary embryos.
Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope report these findings in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
Chandrayaan-1 in lunar orbit after successful manoeuvre
By NNN-PTI,
Bangalore, India : India's first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit on Saturday after ISRO scientists successfully carried out a highly complex and tricky manoeuvre crossing another historic milestone in the country's space programme.
ISRO scientists at the Mission Control Centre near here fired the spacecraft's liquid engine at 1651 hours for a duration of 817 seconds in a hit or miss Lunar Orbit Insertion(LOI) operation in the maiden moon mission, 18 days after it was launched from Sriharikota spaceport.
Dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years
By IANS,
Toronto : A fossilised dinosaur bone unearthed in New Mexico shows that dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years, according to a new dating method.
MIT edges closer to making fusion power real
By IANS,
Washington : The prospect of fusion as a future power source is still decades away, but MIT scientists have edged closer to making it a reality.
Fusion has enormous potential because it produces no emissions, fuel sources are abundant and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste. But it still faces great hurdles.
"There's been a lot of progress," said physicist Earl Marmar, division head of the Alcator Project at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Centre (PSFC). "We're learning a lot more about the details of how these things work."
Warning about vulnerability in VLC Media Player
By DPA,
Bonn (Germany) : A security hole has been discovered in the VLC Media Player, the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) here reported.
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability using rigged Real Media files (file ending with "rm") to install malicious software onto the user's computer. The victim has just to open the manipulated multimedia file.
Solar eclipse bodes ill for India, Nepal, China, says soothsayer
By IANS,
Kathmandu : One of Nepal's best-known astrologers, a globe-trotter who has attended astrological meets in Britain, Japan, France and Germany, warned that Wednesday's solar eclipse would cause further unrest in India, Nepal and China.
Bhoj Raj Upadhyay, who was asked to comment on the century's longest solar eclipse by Nepal's private television channels, predicted that in India, the eclipse would foment civil and financial crises as well as religious conflict.
‘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.
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.
Massive supernova visible from Earth
By IANS,
London : A supernova millions of light years away from the Earth has become visible with a pair of binoculars.
Recovery tools: emergency helpers for data crashes
By DPA
Hanover : It can happen very quickly: you empty the Windows Recycle Bin just a bit too quickly, or format a thumb drive unintentionally - and important data is suddenly gone.
Yet hope is not lost, because in most cases the operating system has not actually deleted the file but just released it for overwriting.
"It's similar to a thick book that's had part of the table of contents ripped out. Then you can't find specific pages without a bit of help," says Boi Feddern, an editor at German computing magazine c't.
Shuttle undocks from ISS, heads home
By RIA Novosti
Washington : The U.S. shuttle Endeavour has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) ending its 12-day mission, which saw a record breaking five space walks, a NASA spokesperson said.
Endeavour, which delivered the first part of the Kibo Japanese laboratory and the Dextre Canadian-made robot, is due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday.
The second and main part of the Japanese laboratory is due to be delivered by space shuttle Discovery in late May.
Saudi varsity, IBM to build one of world’s fastest supercomputers
By IANS,
Dubai : Saudi Arabia's upcoming King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) has announced it will build one of the world's fastest and most powerful supercomputers in collaboration with IBM.
The joint project will build and conduct research on the most complex, high-performance computing (HPC) system in the region and among academic institutions in the world, according to a KAUST statement.
Climate change wreaks havoc on coral reefs worldwide
By IANS,
Sydney : Ocean warming is spurring the incidence of virulent coral diseases, already wreaking havoc on reefs worldwide.
David Bourne and colleagues at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said global warming and increased sea surface temperatures presented a major challenge to the health of the world's coral reefs.
Warming has caused significant damage to reefs in recent hot years (particularly 1998 and 2002) by sparking coral bleaching, which is a breakdown in the symbiotic relationship between the coral and its bacterial partner (zooxanthellae).
Germany, India to develop jointly new-era technologies
By DPA
Berlin : Germany and India plan to jointly develop new technologies as part of a "new era" in their science cooperation, Germany's minister of science, Annette Schavan, said Monday.
She spoke just hours before Chancellor Angela Merkel was to land in India for a four-day visit.
Schavan is a member of the delegation accompanying the chancellor. During the visit, an agreement is to be signed to establish the German-Indian Science and Technology Centre, set to open next summer in Delhi.
Russia launches US communication satellite
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia Saturday launched a rocket carrying a US communication satellite into space from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
"The launch of the Proton-M rocket fitted with a Breeze-M booster and carrying a ProtoStar-2 telecommunication satellite went ahead at the scheduled time," a spokesperson of the Roscosmos said.
ProtoStar Ltd is a private company based in Bermuda. Its US operations are based in San Francisco and California, while its Asian operations are conducted from Singapore.
Russia launches Proton-M rocket with Dutch telesat
By IANS,
Moscow: Russia conducted the launch of a Proton-M rocket with a telecommunications satellite late Monday.
Space dreams dip low as NASA marks 50 years
By Peer Meinert, DPA,
Washington : NASA is preparing to mark its 50th birthday in a somewhat sober mood, and even the official date for the legal creation of the space agency - July 29 - will take a back seat to larger celebrations planned for October.
The surviving space shuttles, now 27 years old, are to be retired in 2010, leaving the sole transport to the International Space station in the hands of America's erstwhile space rivals, the Russians.
U.S. expert: short-term earthquake prediction “very difficult”
By Xinhua,
Washington : After last week's deadly earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan province, quake prediction has become an issue of intense public concern. However, accurate predictions in the short term are indeed "very difficult," said Lucile Jones, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),in a recent interview with Xinhua.
When asked what factors affect the prediction of earthquakes, she said: "This depends on what you mean by predict."
Iran ready to send six satellites into space
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran is preparing to launch five to six satellites into the space as part of its aerospace development programme.
"We are currently carrying out a project which will see the design, production and launch of 5 to 6 satellites. We hope to send one satellite into space in the first half of the coming year," Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour said.
"Iran has laid the foundation for the development of its aerospace industry in the past three to four years," Taqipour told Fars News Agency.
Smelling carbon-dioxide can impact ageing
By IANS,
Washington : Specific odours that represent food are capable of altering an animal's lifespan and physiological profile by activating a small number of highly specialised sensory neurons, says a new study.
Nematode worms and fruit flies that were robbed of their ability to smell or taste, for example, lived substantially longer. However, the specific odours and sensory receptors that control this effect on ageing were unknown.
Avoid diseases by exposing food to radiation: scientist
By V. Jagannathan, IANS
Chennai : The government should allow the generic use of irradiation technology - a process of exposing food to controlled radiations like gamma rays, X-rays, and accelerated electrons that kill harmful organisms - to prevent diseases and increase shelf life of food, says a top atomic scientist.
"The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act should be amended to allow irradiation of food products on a generic basis," Arun K. Sharma, head of the Food Technology Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), told IANS here.
Shuttle Endeavour undocks from International Space Station
By Xinhua
Washington : Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday to begin its return trip to Earth, according to NASA TV.
"Physical separation, Houston," shuttle pilot Charlie Hobaugh told Mission Control.
Undocking took place according to schedule at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1156 GMT) as the shuttle and ISS passed 214 miles (about 344 km) over the South Pacific.
Software developed to embed security code in handsets
By IANS,
New Delhi: Over 2.5 crore owners of cheap handsets, that stood to be banned in India as these did not have the regulatory unique 15-digit identity code, can breathe a sigh of relief -- help is on the way.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the organisation representing GSM service operators, Monday said it has developed a software that can embed the code - known as International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) - in these handsets.
COAI in collaboration with handset body Mobile Standard Alliance of India (MSAI) has developed the software.
Discovery docks at space station
By DPA
Washington : Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station early Thursday after performing a spectacular 360-degree slow-motion backflip before cameras on the station.
The photographs will serve as a second check to examine Discovery's heat shield for any damage sustained during takeoff. The shuttle crew already performed one inspection with their on-board robot arm on their way to the station Wednesday.
Apple unveils new version of iPhone
By DPA,
San Francisco : Apple chief executive Steve Jobs Monday unveiled a less expensive, faster and more powerful iPhone, almost a year after the original device helped spark a surge of interest in smartphones and positioned Apple as a leading player in the field.
The new model fixes some of the most glaring shortcomings of the iPhone, which brought Apple's renowned simplicity and functionality to mobile phones. Analysts said the announcements signalled Apple's intention to challenge Nokia for supremacy in the mobile phone market.
An eco-friendly toilet that does not smell either
By DPA
Tokyo : Tired of smelly public toilets? Check out a prototype Japanese bio-toilet that emits no foul smell and helps the environment at the same time.
A bio-toilet developed by a Japanese non-profit organisation is designed to activate microorganisms living in cider chips and decompose excrement.
In the decomposition process, only nitrogen gas and water are left. The water can be reused for toilet flushing.
Two die as people swarm river banks during eclipse
By IANS,
Varanasi : Two people died and four were injured when thousands swarmed the banks of the Ganga here Wednesday morning to take a dip in the holy water, believed to be further blessed by the total solar eclipse.
"One person drowned and the other got crushed in a stampede. The names of the dead are yet to be determined," said P.C. Meena, deputy inspector general of police (DIG).
Just like the Ganga was overwhelmed with people, the Saryu river in Ayodhya also attracted a crowd on this rare occasion.
Five more exoplanets found in Milky Way
By DPA,
Washington : NASA scientists said Monday they have identified another five planets orbiting stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
But none of them appears to be the long sought after Earth-twin that could support life the way the home planet does, Kepler telescope specialists said at a news conference in Washington.
`Alien plant species affecting Antarctica biodiversity’
By IANS
New Delhi : Scientists from across the world, including India, have found a few alien plant species in Antarctica. They are affecting the biodiversity of the ice continent, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said Tuesday.
"Some species of lower plant forms, not native to Antarctica, have been found. For example, a species of European grass, a carnivorous beetle species, Poa annua (a seed plant) and Australian pollen taxa have been reported as alien species in Antarctica," Sibal informed the Lok Sabha.
Hafeez Contractor to build third phase of Kerala Technopark
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Hafeez Contractor, one of the best-known architects of India, will build the third phase of an IT park in Kerala.
Kerala-based architectural firm Iyer and Mahesh will partner with Hafeez to construct the 300-million square feet third phase of the 11.5 million Technopark campus, officials said Thursday.
An agreement was signed and handed over to the Technopark CEO R.K. Nair by Hafeez and Iyer and Mahesh Wednesday evening, after a competitive bidding process.
Seven nations planning missions to the moon
By IANS
Hyderabad : Seven nations, including India, the US and China, are planning to launch lunar missions in the near future, even as experts have sounded a word of caution about the impact these missions would have on moon's environment.
Japan, Germany, Britain and Italy are the other countries whose delegates made their countries' plans clear at the ongoing 58th Astronautical Congress Wednesday.
Global warming greatest in the past decade: study
By IANS,
Washington : Surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were warmer over the last 10 years than any time during the last 1,300 years, according to a study.
If climate scientists include the somewhat controversial data derived from tree-ring records, the warming is anomalous (deviating from the normal or common order) for at least 1,700 years.
"Some have argued that tree-ring data is unacceptable for this type of study," said Michael Mann, associate professor of meteorology and geosciences and director of Penn State's Earth System Science Centre.
Scientists to sequence giant panda genome
By Xinhua
Shenzhen (China) : Scientists from five countries, including China, the US and Britain, Thursday launched a project to sequence the genome of the giant panda.
"The goal of this project is to finish the assembling of a draft sequence within six months," said Zhu Hongmei, a scientist with the Beijing Genomics Institute's Shenzhen branch.
The data from the International Giant Panda Genome Project is expected to have an extensive impact on numerous scientific areas such as ecology, evolution and sequencing technology, Zhu said.
Murthy kicks off Indo-US hackathon at Google
Bangalore: India's IT guru N.R. Narayanan Murthy Friday launched the first Indo-US hackathon, being held simultaneously at the campuses of global search engine Google...
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.
Russia’s Glonass satellite system to be fully operational in 2010
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia's Glonass satellite system is expected to become fully operational in 2010, if it receives sufficient financing, the head of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Saturday.
Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), which is designed for both military and civilian use, and allows users to identify their positions in real time.
Russia launches Proton-M carrier rocket with military satellite
By Ria Novosti
Moscow : A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a military satellite has been launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Russia's space agency (Roskosmos) said on Sunday.
The Proton-M carrier rocket with a Kosmos satellite was launched at 3:16 a.m. Moscow time (00:16 a.m. GMT) on Sunday. The carrier rocket is expected to put the satellite into orbit at 12:17 p.m. Moscow time (09:17 a.m. GMT), Roskosmos said.
Car that changed the world – Tin Lizzie turns 100
By Reino Gevers, DPA,
Hamburg : When the Ford Model T went into production in 1908, it marked the beginning of an era when motoring became affordable to the masses and an end to the horse and cart age.
Thousands of enthusiasts the world over are this week celebrating in Richmond, Indiana, the centenary of the car affectionately known as "Tin Lizzie".
It is just one of several events leading up to the Oct 1 anniversary when the first Model T drove off the assembly line.
Polaris Software to invest Rs.350 mn for expansion
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : At a time when the domestic software sector is going slow on hiring of personnel and expansion, the city-based Rs.11-billion Polaris Software Lab is taking a contrarian path.
The company has decided to construct a new 1,500-seat facility at Siruseri near here with an outlay of Rs.350 million.
"Construction activity will start next quarter. We have 10 acres there," Polaris chairman and managing director Arun Jain told IANS.
‘How did you feel in space?’ President Hu asks spacewalker
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China's President Hu Jintao asked Chinese astronauts what it was like walking in space after the trio successfully realised the country's first space walk Saturday.
"How did you feel like in space after exiting the module?" Hu asked the astronauts on board the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, by telephone from the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC) in a conversation with them.
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.
Spiders which eat together, stay together and multiply
By IANS,
Washington : The ability to work together and capture larger prey has allowed social spiders to flourish beyond the strength of their numbers, according to a new study.
The surface area of the three-dimensional webs social spiders use to capture prey does not grow as fast as the number of spiders in the nests. So the number of incoming prey per spider declines with colony size.
New technologies must to tackle climate change: Jeffrey Sachs
By IANS
New Delhi : New technologies are the only way to tackle climate change, Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Earth Institute director and special adviser to the UN Secretary General, said here Saturday.
"Rapid economic growth and climate change mitigation cannot go together as long as we stick to current technologies," Sachs told delegates at the valedictory session of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.
ISRO to launch rockets to study solar eclipse
By IANS,
Chennai : The Indian space agency will launch a series of rockets from its two centres between Thursday and Sunday to study Friday's solar eclipse and its aftereffects.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to send up a series of sounding rockets - rockets carrying instruments to measure the physical parameters of the upper atmosphere - from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Thumba in Kerala to study the effects of the solar eclipse.
Sea salt worsens coastal air pollution: study
By IANS
Washington : When salty air and sunshine around busy ports mingle with industrial and shipping pollution, they aggravate the problem manifold, according to a study.
Emissions from marine vessels may be polluting the globe to a greater extent than hitherto suspected. The disturbing phenomenon substantially raises the levels of ground-level ozone and other pollutants in coastal areas
"This is a problem everywhere industrial pollution meets the ocean, as is the case in many of the largest cities around the world," said Hans Osthoff of university of Calgary.
Biocon gets regulatory nod to market cancer drug
By IANS
Bangalore : Biocon Ltd, the country's leading biotechnology firm, has received approval from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to market Abraxane, a new drug to treat breast cancer.
The drug, manufactured by US-based Abraxis BioScience Inc, will be sold under licence, according to a company statement released here Thursday.
"Abraxane eliminates the need for pre-medication with steroids or antihistamines. It will also facilitate affordable access to supportive care therapy to cancer patients in India," the statement pointed out.
Radioactive iodine found in Tokyo tap water
By DPA,
Tokyo : High levels of radioactive iodine were detected in tap water in Tokyo, authorities said Wednesday.
India’s moon mission rides on basketballer turned rocket scientist
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : As a Kerala state player, George Koshy used to shoot the ball into the basket during his college days. Today, as a rocket scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the tall, 58-year-old M.Tech from IIT-Bombay is the project director for Chandrayaan-1, India's maiden unmanned moon mission, and on his broad shoulders rests the venture's success.
Saturn’s moon has many times more oil than Earth does
By Xinhua
Washington : Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collect in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes. The new findings from the study led by Ralph Lorenz, a Cassini radar team member from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, are reported in the latest issue of the Geophysical Research Letters Wednesday.
Europe’s Columbus docks at space station, finally
By DPA
Washington : After four years' delay and last minute space-walk hitches, the Columbus laboratory docked onto the International Space Station, opening a new chapter for Europe in space flight.
"Columbus is now officially a part of the ISS," NASA officials said Monday on the NASA TV transmission of the docking.
In a precision transfer that took about two hours, a robotic arm operated from inside the space station manoeuvred Columbus out of the cargo bay on the Atlantis shuttle and into its permanent place at the Harmony portal that was installed last year.
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.
Eclipse gazing a big hit with students, say schools
By IANS,
New Delhi : The excitement over the century's longest solar eclipse was not confined to science centres and planetariums. Schools that had organised sun gazing exercises in their premises Wednesday said that it was a big hit with students who made a beeline to watch the phenomenon.
Bringing alive all the science lessons that they have been studying in classrooms, the eclipse gazing events drew a lot of enthusiasm - not just from the students but from the teachers as well.
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.
Special goggles, telescopes – Lucknow set for solar eclipse
By IANS,
Lucknow : Scientific institutions and schools in Lucknow have made elaborate arrangements - from acquiring special goggles to installing telescopes - for people to watch the annular solar eclipse Friday.
The Indira Gandhi Planetarium has purchased as many as 6,500 special goggles and installed several telescopes so that people can view the eclipse.
"We have made enough arrangements to watch the solar eclipse. Only 51.12 percent of the eclipse will be visible in Lucknow," Anil Yadav, officer-in-charge of the planetarium, told IANS Friday.
Solar cell windows to help reduce carbon emissions
By IANS
Sydney : Here is an innovative and aesthetic, alternative energy idea - transparent solar cells that replace windows.
Australian engineers are working on such cells that will act as energy generators in houses even as they cut down carbon emissions by 50 percent.
John Bell of Queensland University of Technology said they would make a significant difference to home owners' energy costs and generate excess energy that could be stored or sold, ScienceAlert reported.
With ‘Nazi news’, blog played super prank on media
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Panaji : A blog run out of Goa anonymously has claimed credit for misleading large sections of the Indian media by planting an untrue story about a "Nazi" being held along the state's border with Karnataka.
By Tuesday evening, the blog, penpricks.blogspot.com, which often pillories the functioning of the media, claimed credit for unveiling "one of the most telling stories on the Goan as well as the Indian media".
ISRO chief jubilant over successful launch of India’s mission moon
By IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : "My heartiest congratulations to you all for the remarkable job. A remarkable journey to the moon has begun," a jubilant G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said on the successful launch of India's first mission to the moon from here Wednesday morning.
"We have fought against many odds, including the weather in the last few days, to achieve this success.
World’s largest experiment to test particle physics theory underway
By IANS,
Washington : A machine that took 20 years to build could either shake the foundations of particle physics or entrench it more firmly, besides addressing some of the most fundamental questions facing science now.
CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a historic multi-billion dollar project involving over 8,000 scientists from 85 countries. CERN is the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, located in Geneva, Switzerland.
China’s second lunar probe blasts off
By IANS,
Beijing : China Friday launched its second unmanned lunar probe, Chang'e-2. This was the second of the country's three-phase moon mission which will culminate in a landing on the moon.
Telangana to develop national repository of smart technologies
Hyderabad: With the central government set to launch its ambitious 100 smart cities project later this month, Telangana plans to develop a national repository...
Harbhajan breaks into top 20 in ICC ODI bowlers’ chart
By IANS
Dubai : Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh climbed five places to enter top 20 while pacer Ishant Sharma climbed up 96 places to be placed 154th in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) One-day Internationals (ODI) bowlers rankings.
Harbhajan, the only Indian in top 20, is 18th with 618 rating points while the Delhi's Ishant, 19, who has made significant impact on his first tour to Australia. He has claimed six wickets in four matches in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank Triangular Series.
Scientists edge towards mass production of silicon substitute
By IANS,
London : Scientists have leaped over a major hurdle in efforts to begin commercial production of a form of carbon that could rival silicon in its potential for revolutionising electronic devices ranging from supercomputers to cell phones.
Called graphene, the material consists of a layer of graphite 50,000 times thinner than a human hair with unique electronic properties.