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.
30 launches planned in next three fiscals: ISRO chief
Thiruvananthapuram : The Indian space agency has a roadmap of 10 launches per year for the next three financial years or a total...
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.
ISRO developing cheaper satellite phone link
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Hyderabad : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a new device to drastically reduce the cost of satellite phone usage and enable access to remote areas of the country, a top space agency official said here Monday.
NASA could land probe on asteroid hurtling towards Earth
By IANS,
London : NASA is considering plans to land a probe on an asteroid that is on a potential collision course with the Earth.
The plan mirrors the plot of the 1998 Hollywood film "Armageddon", in which the White House sends a spaceship to land on an asteroid which is hurtling towards the Earth.
Asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a 1-in-1,000 chance of hitting the Earth before the year 2200, would cause an explosion equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs detonating at once, reports the Telegraph.
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."
Expedition 44 astronauts reach ISS for Mars research
Washington : Three Expedition 44 astronauts representing the US, Russia and Japan arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday to continue...
Award for Indian wildlife scientist
By IANS,
New York : Indian botanist and wildlife scientist, Aparajita Datta, has been selected for the 2009 Women of Discovery Awards along with four other eminent women from different parts of the world.
New York based Wings WorldQuest's mission is to celebrate and to support the extraordinary women explorers by promoting scientific exploration, education, and conservation.
O, Texas clock boy’s family ! Stay put in U.S., use the moment as...
By Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood
The 13 year American Ahmad Mohamed, inventor of home-made clock with digital display, was expecting a pat on the back...
NASA plans most ambitious mission – to the asteroids
By IANS,
London : NASA will somehow have to accomplish its most ambitious mission - landing on an asteriod within 15 years, after a presidential directive.
Astronauts install experiments, observer on Columbus lab
By DPA
Washington : Europe's newest and most important addition to the space station, the Columbus laboratory, was dressed up with added experiments and observatories during a space walk.
US astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love spent nearly seven and a half hours outside of the International Space Station (ISS) in the third and final outing of the Atlantis shuttle crew Friday.
Atlantis is due to undock from the ISS Monday and return to Earth Wednesday.
16th-century Mexican Indian map offers key to history
By EFE,
Denver : A map painted by Mexican Indians, or indigenous Indians, in the mid-16th century has become a key document for understanding the migration of Mesoamerican people from their land of origin in what is now the US Southwest, according to a scholar at Harvard University Divinity School.
"Five years of research and writing (2002-2007) by 15 scholars of Mesoamerican history show that this document, the Map of Cuauhtinchan 2, with more than 700 pictures in colour, is something like a Mesoamerican Iliad and Odyssey," David Carrasco told EFE in a telephone interview.
Google develops new system to trace quake survivors
By DPA,
San Francisco : Web search giant Google has created a centralised search system for tracking down people missing in the Haitian earthquake, the company announced Monday in a blog posting.
The new platform incorporates the major people search services that sprang up in the US media in the days following the devastating temblor. However, news sites like CNN, The Miami Herald and The New York Times, all collected similar information, people may not find each other if they're looking in the wrong places online.
UAE unveils ‘Cool City’
By IANS
Dubai : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has unveiled the concept of an environment-friendly city that would consume up to 60 percent less energy than its conventional counterpart by using cutting-edge Japanese technologies.
The "Cool City" concept uses available green technology in transport, urban development and architecture and is being promoted by the Sustainable Urban Development Consortium for Japan and Gulf States Partnership, in collaboration with Nikken Sekkei, news agency WAM reported.
Scientists track movement of atoms in real time
By IANS,
Washington : A new technique tracks movement of freely moving single neutral atoms in real time, that is more than 99.7 percent accurate and sensitive enough to discern the arrival of a single atom in less than a millionth of a second.
The system, developed by researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) in College Park and the Universidad de Concepcion in Chile, employs a novel means of altering the polarisation of laser light trapped between two highly-reflective mirrors, according to a JQI release.
Nepal PM breaks eclipse taboo
By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal's new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Wednesday took the lead in watching the much-acclaimed longest solar eclipse of the century, breaking an old taboo that in the past forbade Nepalis from venturing out during the phenomenon.
Optical sensor to track suspected terrorists
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists are designing a new kind of optical sensor that uses unmanned aerial vehicles to track suspected terrorists on foot or in vehicles.
"The Air Force has clearly recognised the change in the threat that we have," said John Kerekes, associate professor in Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Chester F. Carlson Centre for Imaging Science.
Are there any extra terrestrials out there?
By IANS,
London : Is there anybody out there? The odds of finding life on other planets are low, given the time it has taken for earthlings to evolve and the ebbing lifespan of our planet.
Complex life is separated from the simplest forms by several very unlikely steps and therefore will be much less common. Intelligence is one step further, so it is still much less common," Andrew Watson of University of Anglia said Saturday.
Russian space freighter docks with ISS
By IANS,
Moscow : A Russian space cargo ship docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Saturday, delivering 2.5 tonnes of supplies to the station, an official said.
The Progress M-05M freighter docked successfully with ISS around 10.30 p.m., Xinhua reported citing Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the mission control centre.
The space ship lifted off Wednesday night from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Cloudy skies mar solar eclipse
By IANS,
New Delhi : Cloudy skies in large parts of northern and western India Wednesday marred a clear view of the century's longest total solar eclipse but the celestial spectacle was clearly visible over Varanasi.
Tens of thousands of people across the country rose early to see the eclipse that was to begin at the earliest at 5:29 a.m. and end at 7:41 a.m. in India.
It was to have been clearly visible in places like Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Taregna near Patna, Daman, Darjeeling, Dibrugarh, Gangtok, Gaya, Itanagar, Ujjain and Vadodra.
Chinese astronomer predicts appearance of UFO in 2011
By IANS,
Beijing : Unidentified flying objects (UFO) may appear in 2011 or 2012, a Chinese astronomer has predicted.
Wang Sichao, an astronomy and minor planet scholar, made the forecast under recently-heated speculations about UFOs, as some unidentified flying objects have been spotted in several Chinese regions of Zhejiang, Hunan, Chongqing and Xinjiang since last month, the China Daily reported.
Obama win keeps NASA’s space plans on course
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Washington : The re-election of US president Barack Obama could mean one small step back to the moon and a giant leap to landing astronauts on Mars and asteroids.
Astronaut fixes only toilet at Space Station
By Xinhua,
Beijing : The only toilet at the international space station was fixed on Wednesday by Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko, said U.S. media reports.
Kononenko finished his job by installing a new gas-separator pump, ending two weeks of troubles with the commode.
SC bans Tamil Nadu bull fights
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday banned Tamil Nadu's centuries-old Jallikattu bull fights.
A bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose also...
Scientists, farmers fast to protest Bt Brinjal
By IANS,
Kolkata : A group of scientists, academicians and farmers observed a day's protest fast at the Kolkata Book Fair Saturday against the possible release of genetically modified crop Bt Brinjal for commercial cultivation.
"The volunteers from Green Peace, city-based green body Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) and the farmers of an organisation called Seva participated in the fast," Green Peace's sustainable agricultural campaigner R. Jaykrishna told IANS.
Russian submersibles plumb record depths to explore Lake Baikal
By DPA,
Moscow : Two Russian submersibles plumbed the depths of Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia Tuesday, diving a record 1,680 metres in one of the world's largest lakes.
"It is a world record for deep-water submersion in fresh water," an organizer told Itar-Tass news agency on the barge fielding expedition that was to last another five hours.
The exploration mission is headed by pro-Kremlin lawmaker Artur Chilingarov, who led a mission with the same two mini-submarines to plant a Russian flag on the sea bed below the North Pole last August.
NASA obtains detailed map of moon’s south pole
By Xinhua
Washington : The US National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) announced here that it has obtained the highest resolution images to date of the moon's rugged south polar region.
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory collected the data using the facility's Goldstone Solar System Radar located in California's Mojave Desert.
"We now know the south pole has peaks as high as Mt. McKinley and crater floors four times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
World’s first humpback dinosaur discovered
By DPA,
Madrid : Spanish scientists said Wednesday they have discovered the world's first humpback dinosaur.
Get ready to view a total solar eclipse July 22
By IANS,
Mumbai : A rare celestial treat - a total solar eclipse - will be seen in India in the early hours of July 22. And those planning to give it a miss will have to wait for 78 long years to catch the rare glimpse again!
It will be the third total solar eclipse to be visible in India in the past 15 years, a senior scientist said here. The next total solar eclipse will occur in 2087.
Pollution a reason for birth of girl children?
By IANS,
New York : Women exposed to high levels of certain kinds of pollutants are less likely to give birth to male children.
That's the startling finding of a new study that reviewed data on pregnant women in San Francisco who were exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - a group of banned environmental pollutants - in the 1950s and 1960s.
And it's not an isolated finding either, reports ScienceDaily.
Scientists develop method to help regain hearing
By IANS,
Washington : Swiss and South African scientists have outlined a method to potentially overcome hearing defects, even remedying substantial hearing loss.
The method could help restore functional regions of the damaged ear to be able to recognise frequencies originally associated with them.
Existing hearing-aid and cochlear implant technology have only been partially successful in recreating the experience of the fully functioning ear.
Twitter storm follows Yakub Memon’s execution
New Delhi : Twitterati took to the micro-blogging site to express their individual views about the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused Yakub Memon's...
Google, T-mobile to unveil iPhone competitor next week
By DPA,
San Francisco : Google will next week launch the first mobile phone running its Android software in a joint initiative with T-mobile, the companies have announced.
The open-source Android system is seen as Google's answer to Apple's successful iPhone and as a key initiative in the internet giant's quest to extend its dominance to the mobile web.
Google has worked closely with US carrier T-mobile and Taiwan electronics maker HTC to develop the new phone, which is to be called Dream.
Astronomers build world’s largest radio telescope network
By Wang Aihua, Xinhua,
Shanghai : Astronomers from China, Japan and South Korea are building the world's largest radio telescope array to study the Milky Way Galaxy and black holes as well as to determine the orbits of lunar probes such as China's Chang'e-1.
The array, called the East Asia Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) consortium, consists of 19 radio telescopes from China, Japan and South Korea that cover an area with a diameter of 6,000 km from northern Japan's Hokkaido Island to western China's Kunming and Urumqi regions.
Stars packed million times more densely in early universe
By IANS,
London : Stars in ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies, discovered recently, may have been packed a million times more densely than in the solar neighbourhood, according to calculations made by a team of astronomers.
UCDs, discovered in 1999, are still enormous by our standards, about 60 light years across, yet they are less than 1,000th the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. A light year is about 10 million km.
Cars still drive China’s development-first strategy
By DPA
Beijing : Giant power plants belching out clouds of filthy coal smoke often spring to mind when people mention China's worsening air quality. But the exponential growth of the car industry over the past 10 years has also added enormously to the noxious mix of pollutants swirling across urban centres.
As hundreds of new vehicles take to China's roads every day, the government is left in something of a bind between enforcing new environmental policies and its long-term development of the economically vital auto industry.
India, France to launch tropical weather satellite in 2009
By IANS,
New Delhi : India and France will jointly launch a satellite next year to understand climate change and the tropical weather phenomena including monsoons.
The joint working group of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) met in Goa Saturday and Sunday to review the progress made on this.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and CNES president Yannick d'Escatha discussed the various modalities and technicalities involved with the launch of satellite Megha Topiques.
The computer helper: mastering My Documents
By DPA
Washington : Odd as it may seem, one of the biggest problems many computer users face is knowing where their documents are - and how to move or save them.
Without this fundamental knowledge, it can be tough to locate important documents when you need them - or to feel like you're in control of your own computer.
The good news is that becoming a master of the My Documents folder is not as tough as it seems.
Kalam wishes moon mission success
By IANS,
Hyderabad : Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday wished success to space scientists working on India's maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1.
"The Indian space scientists have done fantastic work. Chandrayaan will do good work. I wish them full success," Kalam told reporters on the sidelines of a conference at National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) here.
Nobel laureate ignites youth with insights into biology
By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Visakhapatnam : Nobel laureate and Rockefeller University president Sir Paul M. Nurse went down memory lane at the Indian Science Congress here to kindle young Indians with insights into the fascinating world of biology and living forms.
"Biology is not a mere academic stuff to cram at school or college and be done with. It is a life-long passionate subject that unfolds secrets of nature, creation, evolution and dissolution.
Extreme weather can trigger epidemics, says study
By IANS,
Sydney : Climatic extremes like frequent droughts and floods, associated with global warming, can trigger epidemics that could potentially wipe out livestock or wildlife.
A new study suggests that such extremes are capable of altering normal host-pathogen relationships, causing a “perfect storm” of multiple infectious outbreaks.
US scientist’s flip-flop on Chandrayaan
By IANS,
Panaji : Three days after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) admitted the abrupt end of its Chandrayaan-1 mission, a leading US-based scientist associated with the project Wednesday termed it "a complete success", but added that "what we have not achieved is our ultimate goal, which was a much more extended mission that was to be achieved during the full two years".
India marks ‘Ring of Fire’ spectacle with faith and science
By IANS,
New Delhi : Millions of Hindus bathed in holy rivers and tanks across India after a four-hour celestial spectacle that turned the sun into a 'Ring of Fire', bringing out science enthusiasts to view and record the rare event.
Hundreds of thousands of temples all over the country closed their doors and covered their deities with muslin shrouds during the period when traffic on roads in many cities thinned as people kept indoors.
Scientists advocate new method for better rice yields
By IANS
Agartala : India could meets its food grain demand of 220 million tonnes in the next five years if farmers adopt the Madagascar model of cultivation instead of the conventional method, scientists Thursday said.
National mission to make India global nano hub
By Fakir Balaji
Bangalore, Nov 5 (IANS) The Indian government is starting a five-year national mission to make the country a global hub for nanoscience and nanotechnology, leveraging the low-cost advantage and its vast talent pool.
Spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the ambitious mission aims to create nano clusters in the country to conduct research in the sunrise sector and develop applications using nano materials that will have a bearing on diverse industrial sectors as well as commoners.
Artificial reefs to support corals in Persian Gulf
By IANS
Abu Dhabi : Dolphin Energy Limited, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based natural gas company, is conducting the first artificial coral reef growth study in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Qatar, WAM news agency reported Friday.
The project is being implemented by the Continental Shelf Associates International (CSA) of the US.
The CSA will use 'EcoReef' technology in the project that includes construction of complex reef habitats using ceramic modules that mimic natural branching corals. The ceramic is non-toxic, pH neutral, food-grade stoneware.
Iran dismisses US concern over space research drive
By IANS
Tehran : Iran Tuesday dismissed the US concern over its space research programme and said that the launch of Explorer-1 rocket is only for research studies.
"The government is responsible for progress and development of the country and is not responsible for others' concern," Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said during his weekly press conference, official IRNA news agency reported.
Total solar eclipse viewed in Bangladesh
By Xinhua,
Dhaka : The long-awaited total solar eclipse was observed Wednesday morning in northwestern Bangladesh that lasted for little more than three minutes.
Despite the cloudy weather, tens of thousands of astronomy enthusiasts gathered in the South Asian country's northwestern Panchagarh district, about 440 km from here, observed the greatest celestial spectacle of the century.
Panchagarh district, the nearest town to the central line of the Umbra was earlier declared as the Capital of the Total Solar Eclipse 2009 in Bangladesh.
China launching center says it’s getting prepared for Shenzhou VII
By Xinhua
Beijing : China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is getting prepared for the Shenzhou VII spacewalk mission scheduled for late September and early October, said director of the center Zhang Yulin.
"Preparations for the mission are in full swing, and we're confident in its success," said Zhang, a deputy to the 11th National People's Congress, in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday.
European Space Agency launches robot freighter
By Xinhua
Paris : The European Space Agency launched its first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) into space Sunday, French media reported.
The ATV was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, from Kourou, French Guiana. The vehicle is designed to dock automatically with the International Space Station (ISS).
The launch was initially scheduled for Saturday but was delayed for technical checks.
India adds 20.3 million telephone subscribers in March
By IANS,
New Delhi: India's telecom density rose to 52.74 percent in March this year as the country added 20.3 million subscribers during the month, the telecom regulator said here Monday.
"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 621.28 million at the end of March 2010 from 600.98 Million in February 2010, thereby registering a growth rate of 3.38 percent. With this, the overall teledensity in India reaches 52.74 percent," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.
In February, the teledensity stood at 51.05 percent.
India plans major incentives for clean technology
By IANS
New Delhi : India's forthcoming action plan to address climate change will provide significant incentives for clean technologies, Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal said here Tuesday.
Sibal, who headed the Indian government delegation at the Dec 3-14 UN conference on climate change in Bali, reiterated on his return that India was not going to take on any legal caps on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) that are warming the atmosphere and leading to climate change.
Now, strawberries can be grown in space
By IANS,
Washington : Astronauts may now be able to satisfy their sweet tooth as researchers have found a strawberry that can grow in space with little maintenance and energy.
Cary Mitchell, professor of horticulture, and Gioia Massa, a horticulture research scientist at Purdue University in the US, tested several cultivars of strawberries and found one variety named Seascape, which seems to meet the requirements for becoming a space crop.
Safer plastic soon
By IANS,
Washington : We could soon have safer plastic as scientists have found a way of locking in harmful additives, called plasticizers, from seeping out of one of the most widely used groups of plastics.
Plasticizers increase the plasticity or fluidity of plastics.
The advance could lead to a new generation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics that are safer than those now used in packaging, medical tubing, toys, and other products, says a new study in Spain.
British scientist fathered 600 children?
By IANS,
London : A British scientist may have fathered up to 600 children at a controversial London fertility clinic which he set up in the 1940s with his wife.
Colliding galaxies send black holes packing
By Xinhua,
Beijing : A huge black hole has been seen leaving its home galaxy after a colossal cosmic merger occurred. The event, seen for the first time, was announced Tuesday.
When two colliding galaxies finally merge, it is thought the black holes at their cores may fuse together too. Astronomers have theorized that the resulting energy release could propel the new black hole from its parent galaxy out into space, but no one has found such an event.
Biggest ozone hole over Antarctica in “one or two weeks”
By IANS,
Toronto : A new Canadian study says that cosmic rays, not chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), are the main cause of the depletion of the ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere. The study also predicts that the largest ozone hole - larger than the size of the US and Canada combined - will occur over Antarctica in ``one or two weeks.''
The ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere absorbs the sun's high-frequency ultraviolet rays which are deadly for life on earth and cause diseases such as skin cancer and cataracts.
Rural areas fuel telecom growth in India
By Pupul Dutta, IANS,
New Delhi : When most sectors are bearing the brunt of global economic slowdown, India's telecom industry is continuing with its high growth saga, thanks to the expanding subscriber base in the rural areas.
India last month saw the highest number of subscriber addition, 15.87 million, about three times the population of countries like Finland, Denmark and Singapore.
Facebook named world’s top social networking site
By DPA,
San Francisco : Facebook has overtaken MySpace to become the world's most popular social networking site with 132 million unique visitors in June, according to new figures from web tracking firm ComScore.
The study also found that Facebook's visitor growth far outpaced that of MySpace, with Facebook visits up 153 percent on an annual basis, compared to just three percent growth for MySpace. Other social networks showing strong global growth include Hi5 (100 percent) Friendster (50 percent), Orkut (41 percent) and Bebo (32 percent).
New infra-red device can remotely detect bombs
Washington: Scientists have developed a new infra-red model that can detect potentially dangerous materials from a distance.
"The idea for this infra-red technology is to...
Water on moon in daylight a ‘huge surprise’ for scientists
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Discovery of water on the moon by India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 with a thin layer of surface 'dew' appearing to form and then dissipating each day has set the scientific community agog.
"Finding water on the Moon in daylight is a huge surprise, even if it is only a small amount of water and only in the form of molecules stuck to soil," writes University of Maryland astronomer Jessica Sunshine.
Effective way found to produce anti-flu vaccines
By IANS,
Washington: A rapid and effective way to produce vaccines against new flu strains has been developed by scientists.
The virus that causes flu frequently changes its genetic code, making it difficult for scientists to think up an effective vaccine.
But now, University of Miami computer scientist Dimitris Papamichail and researchers from Stony Brook University have developed a way to produce shots against new strains.
Milkweed plant evolves new defences to outwit caterpillars
By IANS,
Washington : Some plants are discarding elaborate defences against predatory caterpillars and evolving more favourable stratagems to ensure survival, according to a study.
The latest example is the milkweed plant, which, according to genetic analysis, instead of resisting predators, is now putting greater efforts into repairing themselves faster than their foe monarch butterfly caterpillar can eat them.
Up above the world so high, tracking satellites in the sky
By Venkatachari Jagannathan, IANS,
Chennai : S.K. Shivakumar is 55 years old. For 32 years out of that, he has been the eyes and ears of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Shivakumar has lost count of the number of satellites he has tracked, but he thinks he is nearing his half century.
As the director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac), he is eagerly awaiting the Wednesday morning launch of India's first lunar orbiter Chandrayaan, so that he can start tracking it in slow motion.
Study confirms Darwinian idea of speciation
By IANS
New York : In the first experiment of its kind conducted in nature, a biologist has come up with strong evidence for one of Charles Darwin's cornerstone ideas - adaptation to the environment accelerates the creation of new species.
After studying walking-stick insects in southern California, University of British Columbia evolutionary biologist Patrik Nosil concluded that "the more ways a population can adapt to its unique surroundings, more likely it will ultimately diverge into a separate species".
Notebook and desktop upgrades that make sense
By DPA
Washington : With notebook and desktop computer prices at an all-time low, you have to think carefully about upgrading them.
That's because the cost of a few upgrades may come close to the price of an entirely new system.
In general, aside from adding memory or a new hard drive to your computer, you'll probably want to avoid upgrades designed to improve performance.
Treatment for baldness: Australian scientists discover key gene
By IANS,
Melbourne : Australian scientists claim to have discovered a gene responsible for baldness in women which may lead to an effective treatment for hair loss.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital studied the DNA of almost 500 women who had lost at least 50 percent of hair on their scalp. Aged between 18 and 65, all the women who participated in the study, suffered severe hair loss, a condition that will affect up to 55 percent of Australian women, including up to one in 10 teenagers.
Agra meet to discuss robot use in urology treatment
By IANS,
Agra : Use of robots and computers for surgery on patients with urological problems will be discussed at an international conference on advances in urology, to be held in the city of the Taj Mahal beginning Feb 3.
The five-day conference will be attended by over 1,000 Indian and 200 foreign specialists in urology.
In the pre-congress workshop, specialists of the American Urological Association will highlight and demonstrate latest robotic assisted laproscopic techniques.
Beware of hacker attacks via Orkut, Facebook
Bangalore, April 22 (IANS) If you belong to the generation of net savvy Indians, beware of browsing social networking sites for long as your PC or laptop could easily fall prey to cyber attacks from hackers.
As per the 2007 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) compiled by anti-virus and security solutions major Symantec, social networking sites have become the latest target of hackers to attack home and enterprise computers.
Scientists think of new way of creating synthetic tissues
By IANS,
Washington : Tissue engineering has long held promise for building new organs to replace damaged livers, blood vessels and other body parts. However, a major obstacle is getting cells grown in a lab dish to form 3-D shapes instead of flat layers. Scientists have now come up with a new way to overcome this challenge.
Researchers at the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) are encapsulating live cells in cubes and arranging them into 3-D structures, just as a child would construct buildings out of blocks.
Sulphur dioxide level drops in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a major pollutant, has decreased in the national capital, data released by the environment ministry revealed Friday.
While the sulphur dioxide levels are within the norms, the nitrogen oxide (NO) and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels exceed the prescribed norms.
"Decreasing trend of sulphur dioxide may be due to various interventions that have taken place in recent years such as reduction of sulphur in diesel and the use of cleaner fuel such as CNG," a ministry official said.
Iran plans to send satellite in high Earth orbit
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran plans to send satellites in medium and high Earth orbits in two or three years, Iran's ISNA news agency reported quoting a senior official. On Feb 3, the country launched Omid light satellite in low Earth orbit, using the Safir 2 (messenger) rocket.
The chief of Organisation for Iranian Scientific and Industrial Research, Hossein Rahimi, said Sunday that Iran's next step in space technology was sending operational satellites in an orbit of 36,000 km.
Endeavour astronauts complete second spacewalk
By DPA,
Washington : Astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour Thursday completed a second spacewalk on their construction mission to the International Space Station, which was marking its 10th anniversary.
Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper und Shane Kimbrough completed the second spacewalk at 00:43 GMT. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 45 minutes, and started 45 minutes ahead of schedule.
They moved equipment carts to allow astronauts to later install a truss, and lubricated the hand on the station's robotic arm and the joint on one of the solar panels that provides power to the ISS.
Researchers crack key HIV riddle after decades
By IANS,
London : Researchers have cracked a key riddle that has foxed scientists for decades, potentially opening the way to better treatment of HIV, says a new study.
Imperial College London and Harvard University researchers have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV.
When HIV infects someone, it uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA.
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.
Cutting soot emissions best hope for saving Arctic ice
By IANS,
Washington : Soot from the burning of fossil fuels contributes far more to global warming than has been thought. But, unlike carbon dioxide (CO2), soot lingers only a few weeks in the air, so cutting emissions could have a significant and rapid impact on the climate.
If soot emissions were eliminated, more than 1.5 million premature deaths from soot inhalation could be prevented worldwide each year, reports the Journal of Geophysical Research.
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.
Mars’ violent, volcanic past comes to light
By IANS
London : Mars has undergone massive volcanic upheavals that alternatively spewed lava and water onto its surface, giving the red planet its current contours.
German scientists have come to this conclusion after viewing the latest images of those contours - captured by the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) of Mars Express, the European Space Agency's (ESA) spacecraft circling the planet, reports Scincedaily.
Scientists weigh elusive gold atom with nanoscale
By IANS,
Washington : Weighing a single golden atom is now possible, thanks to a nanoscale devised by Berkeley Lab and California University researchers.
Alex Zettl, a physicist with Berkeley Lab, who led the team, said “for the past 15 years... the holy grail of nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) has been to push them to a small enough size with high enough sensitivity so that they might resolve the mass of a single molecule or even single atom.”
Indian scientists look to stars to cure heart patients
By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : Indian astro scientists have become starry-eyed. They are looking to the stars to heal heart patients.
While it may sound out of this world (pardon the pun), scientists at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi have resorted to doing exatly that.
They are boldly taking the science of astrology to a new dimension.
The scientists are busying calculating the movements of stars and planets of patients to understand how they can reduce or avert the increasing heart-related diseases -- merely using their horoscopes.
Astronomers find young exploding star in Milky Way
By Xinhua,
Beijing : Astronomers have located the youthful remains of a stellar explosion that sent out powerful shock waves and lighted our galaxy with a blinding flash about 140 years ago.
The newly discovered remains are the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way, snagging the record from the previous holder, 330-year-old Cassiopeia A.
90 percent digitisation achieved in Kolkata: Siticable
By IANS,
Kolkata: The percentage of digitisation of cable televisions in Kolkata has currently reached 90 percent, leading multi-service operator (MSO) Siticable said Tuesday.
Space telescope launched to spy on black-holes
By DPA,
Washington : After several delays, the US space telescope GLAST was heading for a mission expected to shed light on black holes and the gravitational forces causing the universe to expand.
GLAST was launched on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1600 GMT.
GLAST's five-year, $700 million agenda includes up-close spying on the violent explosions and other cosmic catastrophes that astronomers have been observing through the Hubble space telescope and sophisticated observations from Earth.
Successful firing of cryogenic engine a challenge for new ISRO chief
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Bangalore : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman-designate K. Radhakrishnan, who takes over Oct 31, has said his first priority would be to see that the indigenously built cryogenic engine is made ready for the GSLV launch by the year-end.
He made the statement soon after he learnt about his appointment to the top post.
The successful firing of a cryogenic engine will take India into the exclusive space club, which has the US, Russia, China, France and Japan with such a capability.
‘Free software allows cheaper long distance phone calls’
By Frederick Noronha, IANS,
Panaji : Free software and open source solutions offer a huge potential to link your computer to the mobile phone and the inexpensive Skype networks -- that allows you to make international calls over the internet -- and for sending out SMSes too.
This could help significantly narrow the digital divide "at the social level between rich and poor and geographical levels, between city and village", says Giovanni Maruzzelli, an Italian expert in the field currently touring India.
Arctic summer sea ice may disappear in 5 years
By Xinhuanet
Beijing : The melting of the Arctic is accelerating and scientists estimate that the summer sea ice would disappear in five years, media reported Wednesday referring to new NASA satellite data.
Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.
NASA praises Endeavour mission as global effort
By Xinhua
Beijing : NASA gave credit where credit is due, saying the successful return of the shuttle Endeavour was the culmination of a global effort to bring the International Space Station (ISS) one step closer to completion.
Hyderabad to host conference on usability of technology
By IANS
Hyderabad : Hyderabad will host a three-day national conference and workshop on maximum usability of technology, starting Monday.
Chandigarh on track to become ‘solar city’
By IANS,
Chandigarh : The union territory of Chandigarh is all set to become a "solar city" and reduce its dependence on conventional and non-renewable energy resources, officials said here Wednesday.
The administration here has nearly finalised the draft plan for extensively utilising solar energy in collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
To finalise the modalities of this project, a meeting was held between officials of the union territory and TERI Tuesday evening.
Kerala to host global conference on Raman spectroscopy
By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : An international conference on "Perspectives in Vibrational Spectroscopy" will be held here next week, drawing in a galaxy of participating scientists from various countries.
The scientists will be speaking on recent developments in Raman spectroscopy, named after India's physicist Nobel laureate C.V. Raman eight decades back.
Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique used in condensed matter physics and chemistry to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes.
Russia fails to put U.S. satellite into target orbit
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia failed to put a U.S. AMC-14 telecommunication satellite into its target orbit after a booster rocket malfunctioned during the launch early on Saturday, Russia's Federal Space Agency said.
At 2:28 a.m. Moscow time (23:28 GMT Friday), a few minutes after the Proton-M carrier rocket's launch from the Baikonur Space Center which Russia rents from Kazakhstan, the Breeze-M orbit insertion booster failed during its upper stage, putting the satellite into orbit much lower than required.
Russia to launch space base for missions to Moon, Mars
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia plans to deploy an orbiting base for manned and unmanned missions to the Moon and Mars after 2020, the head of the space agency said Tuesday.
"After 2020, Russia plans to create and put into orbit a near-Earth experimental manned complex to ensure transport operations to the Moon and Mars," Anatoly Perminov said.
He also said Russia has tentative plans for manned missions to Mars, but since substantial technical and financial resources would be needed, a Mars expedition should be international.
Dell launches ultra-thin laptop computer
By Xinhua,
San Francisco : Dell has officially launched a high-end laptop computer which the company said is the thinnest in the world.
The laptop is the first product under Dell's Adamo brand. Adamo is derived from the Latin word meaning "to fall in love".
With a thickness of 0.65 inches (1.65 cm) and available in onyx and pearl colours, the new Adamo laptop is thinner than Apple's MacBook Air.
Indian American scientists design bamboo-based fabrics
By IANS
New York : As "sustainable" become the new global buzzword among ethical dressers, it is boom time for eco-friendly bamboo-based fabrics.`
And now giving such fabric the extra edge are Indian American chemists Subhash Appidi and Ajoy Sarkar of Colorado State University.
They have discovered a way of making bamboo fabric - the current leading option in the "ethically produced" clothing market - that is not only resistant to the sun's damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation but also has anti-bacterial properties.
New laser can detect roadside bombs
By IANS,
Washington : Lasers may pick out roadside bombs and help in identifying improvised explosive devices (IEDs), often used by terrorists, new research says.
Cuban scientists develop cancer drug from scorpion venom
By IANS
Cienfuegos (Cuba) : Cuban scientists have developed a drug from scorpion venom, which they say could go a long way in fighting cancer, Spanish news agency Prensa Latina reported Thursday.
"The researchers have been studying the breeding, handling and use of scorpion venom in their Cienfuegos breeding centre, which has 400 scorpions at present but would increase to 5,000 next year," team leader Fabio Linares of the Pharmaceutical Biological Laboratories in Havana said Wednesday.
The drug can be used to treat brain tumours, pancreas and prostate cancer.
Indian Muslim blogs nominated for Brass Crescent Awards
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
In the world of blogs known as blogosphere, Indian Muslims are making their presence known. Two Indian Muslims blogs have won nomination to the 4th Brass Crescent Awards.
Indian Muslim Blog (IMB) on www.IndianMuslims.in, a collaborative blog that started in January 2006 and have a number of bloggers who write on topics related to India and Muslims is nominated for the “Best Group Blog” category.
Google plans superfast internet
By DPA,
San Francisco : Google plans to build a fibre optic broadband network that will connect customers to the internet at speeds 100 times faster than most existing broadband connections in the US, the company announced on its corporate blog.
"Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make internet access better and faster for everyone," two Google product managers, Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly, wrote in the blog post Wednesday.
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.
China to select taikonauts for space station
By Xinhua,
Beijing : China has started a new round of selection for taikonauts and five to seven of them will be part of the final list, said an official of the country's space programme Thursday.
"The new taikonauts will mainly take missions related to China's planned space station," said Zhang Jianqi, deputy chief commander of the manned space project, on the sidelines of the annual session of China's parliament.
NASA readies spacecraft for landing on Mars
By Xinhua
Washington : NASA said Thursday that its engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25th landing on the Red Planet.
"This is our first trajectory maneuver targeting a specific location in the northern polar region of Mars," said Brian Portock, chief of the Phoenix navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The mission's two prior trajectory maneuvers, made last August and October, adjusted the flight path of Phoenix to intersect with Mars.
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 returns to the moon on India’s Chandrayaan-1
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The American space agency NASA is sending two instruments to map the lunar surface on India's maiden moon voyage on its robotic Chandrayaan-1 mission Wednesday.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper will assess mineral resources, and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar, or Mini-SAR, will map the polar regions and look for ice deposits, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA.
Dinosaur museum in China sets new world record
By IANS,
Beijing : Guinness World Records has confirmed that a dinosaur museum in China's Shandong province is the largest of its kind in the world.
The Shangdong Tianyu Museum of Nature, which opened in 2004 and is devoted to dinosaur and other prehistoric fauna, applied for a Guinness World Record entry in June and received the confirmation Monday, said Yin Shiyin, deputy curator of the museum.
UN says ozone hole shrinking due to weather, not recovery
By NNN-SPA
United Nations, New York : Although the ozone layer over the Antarctic this year is relatively small, it is due to mild temperatures experienced in the region’s stratosphere this winter and is not a sign of global recovery, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Thursday.
Since 1998, only the ozone holes of 2002 and 2004 have been smaller than this year’s-both in area and amount of destroyed ozone-and this is not indicative of ozone recuperation, WMO said in a statement.
Indian spacecraft enters lunar orbit, makes history
By IANS,
Bangalore : India Saturday made history by firing its first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 into the lunar orbit, breaking away from the earth's gravitational field for a rendezvous with the moon.
"The complex lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre was conducted perfectly. We have created space history by doing it for the first time. It shows our planning was precise and all calculations were on dot," a beaming Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters here after the successful operation.
Device helps ICU patients get back on their feet
By IANS,
Washington : A device designed by John Hopkins undergraduates enables ICU patients to get back on their feet with minimum fuss while still being connected to life-support systems.
The invention will also help doctors figure out whether carefully supervised rehabilitation, as against continuous sedation and bed rest, can speed up their recovery.
Known as the “ICU Mover”, the device has been designed by bio-medical engineering students Swarnali Sengupta, Erica Jantho and Hanlin Wan.
Climate change killed mammoths, suggest their DNA
By IANS
Sydney : Global warming might have wiped out ancient species like mammoths and bison, warning us about the potential impact of climate change.
Study of ancient DNA indicates that extinction of such species from the northern hemisphere 11,000 years ago was largely due to climate change. Human impact through hunting and overkill were only incidental, said lead researcher Alan Cooper.
He retrieved remains of genetic material from a variety of sources, including bones and teeth, preserved seeds and sediments, to examine evolution and environmental change, reports Sciencedaily.
Science alliance strengthened during Merkel’s India visit
By T. V. Padma, IANS
New Delhi : The deepening and strengthening scientific collaboration between India and Germany, that included the setting up of a joint science and technology centre here, was in some ways overshadowed by the media focus on the nuclear deal during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit this week.
The two nations have agreed to enhance collaboration and networking across a range of issues, with a focus on reducing the impact of climate change and developing clean energy technologies, according to the science portal www.scidev.net.
ISRO to launch man mission in seven years
By NNN-PTI,
Thiruvananthapuram, India : India's space agency ISRO is confident of carrying out a man mission to outer space within six to seven years, its Chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said here Saturday.
A detailed report on this had already been submitted to the Union Government by ISRO, Nair said at the 'Space Salute' programme organised by Asianet television channel jointly with ISRO to felicitate the scientists associated with the PSLV-C9 mission here.
NASA’s WISE Eye spots near-earth asteroid
By IANS,
Washington : NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has spotted its first never-before-seen near-Earth object (NEO), the first of hundreds it is expected to find during its mission to map the whole sky in infrared light.
NEOs are asteroids and comets with orbits that pass relatively close to Earth's path around the sun. In extremely rare cases of an impact, the objects may devastate the Earth's surface.
An asteroid, about 10 km wide, is thought to have plunged into our planet 65 million years ago, triggering a global disaster and obliterating dinosaurs.
Arctic deep-sea litter doubles in last decade
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Scientists have found the amount of debris lying on the ocean floor in the Arctic has doubled over the past decade.
BlackBerry use can make or break business, says study
By IANS,
Sydney : The use of palm-sized wireless e-mail devices like BlackBerry can make or break a business, according to an Australian study.
The research explores how BlackBerry use can help businesses achieve the newest Holy Grail - organisational ambidexterity (OA). OA is a company's ability to balance conflicting internal and external demands at the same time as balancing the need for flexibility and control, reports Scinecealert.
China: spacewalk on course for October
By NNN-Xinhua
Beijing : China is planning to conduct its first spacewalk in October from a Shenzhou VII spacecraft, senior space engineers said.
They also said a research team had been set up to conduct a feasibility study for a space station.
Wang Yongzhi, former chief designer of China's Manned Space Program, said the launch date had originally been scheduled for after the Olympics (Aug 8 to 24) and Paralympics (Sept 6 to 17).
Find new mineral deposits with a glass of wine
By IANS
Melbourne : Now mineral deposits of silver, zinc, copper and nickel can be detected through a glass of wine or soft drink, a research conducted by scientists in Australia suggests.
An acid present in the drinks dissolves some of the metals to form a solution, and then the metals can be easily detected in routine laboratory tests, the scientists said.
"In many cases, the comparison of metals extracted using wine and soft drink were superior than those extracted using conventional, and much more expensive, commercial solvents," scientists led by Ryan Noble found.
Global investors to invest Rs.4.11 bn in Moser Baer unit
By IANS,
New Delhi : Technology leader Moser Baer India Ltd Thursday said its wholly-owned photovoltaic (PV) subsidiary has entered into definitive agreement with a consortium of global investors to raise Rs.4.11 billion for its expansion.
The global investors include Nomura, CDC Group, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, IDFC Pe and IDFC.
"Moser Baer plans to use the funds to expand capacity of crystalline silicon and thin film solar vertical," Moser Baer group chief financial officer Yogesh B. Mathur told reporters.
International Space Station’s orbit raised 3 miles
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The orbital altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) has been increased by 5 kilometers (3 miles), a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Center said on Thursday.
"The correction of the orbit of the ISS started at 8:16 a.m. Moscow time [5:16 a.m. GMT] by using thrusters on the Russian module Zvezda," the spokesman said, adding that the procedure had lasted 123 seconds.
He said the correction was made without the participation of the space station's crew.
How does news ebb and flow globally?
By IANS,
Washington : As more and more news appears on the internet as well as in print, it becomes possible to map the global flow of news by observing it online. Using this strategy, computer scientists have managed to track and analyze the "news cycle" -- the way stories rise and fall in popularity.
Jon Kleinberg, professor of computer science at Cornell University, Jure Leskovec and Lars Backstrom tracked 1.6 million online news sites, including 20,000 mainstream media sites and a vast array of blogs.
Microsoft unveils microchip driven Windows version
By IANS,
London : Microsoft has unveiled a new version of its flagship Windows software to run on microchips designed by British company ARM.
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.
Unwrapping ideas at Mumbai’s latest ‘unconference’
By Ridhi D Cruz, IANS
Mumbai : They call it an "unconference", and it's a small but growing rage among techies wanting to share ideas in town. BarCamps are an international network of "user generated conferences" that involve open, participatory workshop events.
Some 200 people from diverse spheres took part in Mumbai's latest BarCamp, where content is provided by participants - often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related free software or open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.
New force-field to make Mars space trip possible
By IANS,
London : 'Space weather', comprising solar radiation and cosmic rays, poses the single biggest hurdle to man's trip to Mars.
However, latest research shows how advances in fusion research may reduce the threat to acceptable levels, making man's first Mars mission a much greater possibility.
Solar energetic particles, although part of 'cosmic rays' spectrum, are causing the greatest concern because they are the most likely to cause deadly radiation damage to astronauts.
New medical weapons against anthrax attacks
By IANS,
London: The 2001 anthrax attacks in the US are fostering development of a new generation of vaccines and antibiotics to protect people against deadly bacteria in future bio-terrorist incidents.
Dimitrios Bouzianas, molecular endocrinologist, AHEPA University Hospital in Macedonia, Greece, notes that several existing antibiotics are available to combat an anthrax infection.
Endeavour heads for International Space Station
By DPA
Washington/Moscow : US space shuttle Endeavour blasted off early Tuesday, carrying major additions to the International Space Station from Japan and Canada.
Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:28 am (0628 GMT).
"This is a great launch and a real tribute to the team to get it ready to go fly," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, said of the rare night launch.
‘Google collected private data from Spanish Wi-Fi networks’
By IANS/EFE,
Madrid : Google has "illegally" collected private data from Wi-Fi networks in Spain through its Street View project, a crime prevention association said Sunday.
A complaint has been filed against Google in a Madrid court, the NGO APEDANICA said.
The Spanish Data Protection Association (AEPD) opened a probe May 19 to determine if Google had broken the law protecting citizens' personal data and rights.
Google blamed an "error" for the slip-up. Javier Rodriguez, the company's director for Spain, said the data would be returned to AEPD.
Watch out for Venus, Moon conjunction on New Year’s Eve
By IANS,
New Delhi : As the sun goes down Wednesday evening, two of the brightest objects in the winter sky - Venus and Moon - will get together to bid farewell to 2008.
A beautiful conjunction of Venus and the slender crescent Moon will be visible in the southwestern sky for hours after sunset on New Year's Eve.
"The winter sky is very clear and you can have a spectacular vision of the celestial activity even with naked eyes," Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnasree told IANS.
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.
Camera captures comet’s fiery end as it grazes sun
By IANS,
Washington: NASA's solar observatory caught for the very first time on camera a comet's fiery end as it flew too close to the sun's blazing surface.
Sunita Williams wants to see Indians smiling from the moon
By IANS
New Delhi : Indian students have enough capability and they should concentrate on exploring the universe more, American-Indian astronaut Sunita Williams said Monday. She expressed her desire to see Indian students smiling from the moon.
"There is a lot to know and explore about the universe. Now you should dream of going to the moon, Mars and space. I want to see your smiling faces from the moon," Williams said while interacting with school students in the capital.
Clouds may cast shadow on solar eclipse day
By IANS,
New Delhi : Scientists, students, corporate executives and housewives -- almost everyone is excited about watching the total solar eclipse Wednesday. But the weather may play spoilsport in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi -- cloudy skies and the possibility of rain might make viewing the celestial spectacle difficult.
The national capital experienced showers Tuesday afternoon, bringing smiles to people's faces but at the same time narrowing the possibilities of clear skies on the eclipse day Wednesday.
Now a car with inbuilt electric scooter
By IANS,
Melbourne : Traffic snarls in cities need not cause much worry as a new car with an inbuilt electric scooter that flips and folds into the boot will allow commuters to zip through the congested streets.
Carmaker Volkswagen is working on a bike that neatly compacts into the boot of a car and can be recharged on the move, The Age reported.
The "Bik.e" may look like a traditional push bike, but there are no pedals - thus it's actually more like a folding electric scooter.
Countdown to India’s mission moon begins
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) : As the countdown for the Wednesday launch of lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 on board the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) started early Monday, this spaceport off the Bay of Bengal coast was bustling with activity, excitement and a bit of anxiety.
With the countdown starting at 5.22 a.m., about 1,000 top scientists and technologists are working round-the-clock to send India’s first spacecraft mission beyond earth orbit from the picturesque spaceport, located on an island about 80 km from Chennai.
ARM’s India design centre to be world’s second largest
By IANS
Bangalore : World's leading chip designer firm ARM is expanding its India design centre to make it the largest outside Britain, a top company official said here Thursday.
"Headcount in our Bangalore facility will be doubled to 700 in the near future from 350 presently, making it the second largest design centre after our headquarters at Cambridge in Britain," ARM chief operating officer (COO) Tudor Brown told reporters here.
Mobile phone calls suspended in J&K
Srinagar : Calls, SMS and internet services on mobile phones were on Saturday suspended in Jammu and Kashmir as a security precaution on...
NASA astronauts complete spacewalk, install Columbus lab
By RIA Novosti
Washington : Two U.S. astronauts completed an almost eight-hour spacewalk to install a European science laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said on Tuesday.
The installation of the $2bln Columbus segment, the first to be controlled by the European Space Agency, on the station's Harmony module was carried out by ISS Expedition 16 crew members Rex Walheim and Stanley Love.
Washington : Two U.S. astronauts completed an almost eight-hour spacewalk to install a European science laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said on Tuesday.
The installation of the $2bln Columbus segment, the first to be controlled by the European Space Agency, on the station's Harmony module was carried out by ISS Expedition 16 crew members Rex Walheim and Stanley Love.
Climate experts put EU case to India on emissions trading
By DPA,
Potsdam (Germany) : Top European Union experts on climate change briefed Indian scientists near Berlin Tuesday on an ambitious programme to "trade" carbon-dioxide emissions round the globe so as to cut the overall pollution level.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, a leading German scientist who works from Potsdam, argued that India would be a beneficiary for decades on end from a fair scheme, since it could earn income by selling the valuable rights.
India plans to launch 10 satellites every year
By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Bangalore : Indian space scientists and engineers are bracing up to launch an average of 10 satellites per year to meet the rising demand for various space applications, including communications and remote sensing, a top space scientist said.
"We are planning to launch 10 satellites per year, beginning fiscal 2010-11. We have a series of satellites and launch vehicles at various stages of preparation," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan told IANS.
Russian archaeologists find unique mummies in Egypt
By RIA Novosti
Al-Fayum (Egypt) : Russian archaeologists have found well-preserved mummies in Egypt, dating back to the Ptolemaic era, the head of the Russian Academy of Science's Egyptology department has announced.
"Well-preserved mummies of this period are extremely rare," Galina Belova said. The discoveries were made in the Egyptian oasis of Al-Fayum, where several mummies, combining traits of Hellenic and Egyptian traditions, have previously been found.
Chinese spacecraft docks with orbiting module
By IANS,
Beijing: Chinese astronauts Sunday manually docked a spacecraft with an orbiting module, the first such attempt in China's space exploration history, authorities said.