Latest Space and Science News

[ganeshbala]

Scientists develop solar cells with a twist

U.S. researchers have found a way to make efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.

The finding, reported on Sunday in the journal Nature Materials, offers a new way to process conventional silicon by slicing the brittle wafers into ultrathin bits and carefully transferring them onto a flexible surface.

"We can make it thin enough that we can put it on plastic to make a rollable system. You can make it gray in the form of a film that could be added to architectural glass," said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the research.

"It opens up spaces on the fronts of buildings as opportunities for solar energy," Rogers said in a telephone interview.

Solar cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, are in high demand because of higher oil prices and concerns over climate change.

Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp and Germany's Q-Cells are making thin-film solar cells, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells.

Rogers said his technology uses conventional single crystal silicon. "It's robust. It's highly efficient. But in its current form, it's rigid and fragile," he said.

Rogers' team uses a special etching method that slices chips off the surface of a bulk silicon wafer. The sliced chips are 10 to 100 times thinner than the wafer, and the size can be adapted to the application.

Once sliced, a device picks up the bits of silicon chips "like a rubber stamp" and transfers them to a new surface material, Rogers said.

"These silicon solar cells become like a solid ink pad for that rubber stamp. The surface of the wafers after we've done this slicing become almost like an inking pad," he said.

"We just print them down onto a target surface."

Source: science daily

[dhilipkumar]

STOCKHOLM – Two Americans and a Japanese researcher won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues and even organs light up – a tool used by thousands of researchers around the world. The 10 million Swedish crown ($1.4 million) prize recognizes Japanese-born Osamu Shimomura, now of the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, Martin Chalfie of Columbia University in New York and Roger Tsien of the University of California, San Diego, for their discoveries with green fluorescent protein.
Two Japanese, American win 2008 physics Nobel

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Two Japanese scientists and a Tokyo-born American shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for physics for helping to explain the behavior of subatomic particles, work that has helped shape modern physics theory, the prize committee said on Tuesday. The Nobel committee lauded Yoichiro Nambu, now of the University of Chicago, and Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan for work that helped show why the universe is made up mostly of matter and not anti-matter via changes known as broken symmetries.
DNA fingerprinting could reveal your surname

LONDON (Reuters) – Police could one day predict the surname of male suspects or victims of crime from DNA alone, British researchers said on Wednesday. Scientists at Leicester University, where DNA fingerprinting was invented in 1984, said they had demonstrated that men with the same surname were highly likely to be genetically linked.

Gene discovery may help hunt for blindness cure

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have discovered a gene mutation linked to the most common cause of blindness in the developed world, holding out the prospect of better treatments and perhaps eventually a cure. British scientists said on Tuesday they had found six variants within the gene called Serping1 that were associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Climate change seen aiding spread of deadly diseases

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – A "deadly dozen" diseases ranging from avian flu to yellow fever are likely to spread more because of climate change, the Wildlife Conservation Society said on Tuesday. The society, based in the Bronx Zoo in the United States and which works in 60 nations, urged better monitoring of wildlife health to help give an early warning of how pathogens might spread with global warming.

Asteroid to burn up before hitting Earth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A tiny asteroid discovered earlier Monday by an Arizona observatory will hit Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in a few hours but will burn up before it can hit the ground or endanger aircraft, astronomers said. The asteroid will create a large fireball at about 10:46 p.m. EDT (0246 GMT on Tuesday) as it burns up, the team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said.

India's first moon mission to take off on October 22

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will launch a locally built rocket for the country's first unmanned mission to the moon on October 22, the head of the project said on Tuesday. "If at all there is any delay, it will be because of the weather, otherwise I don't foresee any technical difficulties," M. Annadurai told Reuters. The launch, earlier scheduled for April but delayed due to technical difficulties, has been given a window between Oct 20 and Oct 28 for takeoff from a southern India town.

NASA spacecraft zooms above surface of Mercury

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A car-sized NASA spacecraft zoomed above the surface of Mercury on Monday, viewing rocky terrain never before seen up close on our solar system's sun-baked innermost planet, scientists said. The MESSENGER probe flew as low as 124 miles near the equator of Mercury as part of its ongoing exploration of the planet nearest the sun, said project scientist Ralph McNutt of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Safer prenatal Down's syndrome test found in U.S

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prenatal blood test can be used to determine if an unborn baby has Down's syndrome without the small risk to the fetus posed by invasive testing methods such as amniocentesis, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Researchers led by Stephen Quake of Stanford University in California created a way to look for the extra chromosomes that cause Down's and similar birth detects in the tiny amounts of fetal DNA that circulate in the mother's blood.

ADHD drugs cut risk of drug abuse, smoking: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Girls who take stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are less likely than others with the condition to start smoking or to abuse alcohol or drugs, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They said girls with ADHD who took stimulant drugs had half the risk of substance abuse and nearly half the risk of smoking cigarettes as those who were not

[manimarank]

Earth In Midst Of Sixth Mass Extinction: 50% Of All Species Disappearing

Because of the current crisis, biologists at UC Santa Barbara are working day and night to determine which species must be saved. Their international study of grassland ecosystems, with flowering plants, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The current extinction event is due to human activity, paving the planet, creating pollution, many of the things that we are doing today," said co-author Bradley J. Cardinale, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology (EEMB) at UC Santa Barbara. "The Earth might well lose half of its species in our lifetime. We want to know which ones deserve the highest priority for conservation."

He explained that the last mass extinction near the current level was 65 million years ago, called the Cretaceous Tertiary extinction event, and was probably the result of a meteor hitting the Earth. It is best known for the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, but massive amounts of plant species became extinct at that time as well.

According to the current study, the most genetically unique species are the ones that have the greatest importance in an ecosystem. These are the ones that the scientists recommend be listed as top priority for conservation.

"Given that we are losing species from ecosystems around the world, we need to know which species matter the most –– and which we should pour our resources into protecting," said first author Marc W. Cadotte, postdoctoral fellow at UCSB's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).

Cadotte, Cardinale, and co-author Todd Oakley, an EEMB associate professor, put together a "meta-analysis" of approximately 40 important studies of grassland ecosystems around the world. They reconstructed the evolutionary history among 177 flowering plants used in these studies by comparing the genetic makeup of the plants.

The scientists found that some species are more critical than others in preserving the functions of ecosystems and that these species tend to be those that are genetically unique. Therefore, they are looking to evolutionary history for guidance in conservation efforts and in understanding the potential impacts of species loss.

Recent studies show that ecological systems with fewer species generally produce less biomass than those with more species. Less plant biomass means that less carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere and less oxygen is produced. So, as the biomass of plants plummets around the globe, the composition of gasses in the atmosphere that support life could be profoundly affected. Additionally, there are fewer plants for herbivorous animals to eat. Entire food chains can be disrupted, which can impact the production of crops and fisheries.

The loss of species that are not closely related to other species in the ecosystem reduces productivity more than the loss of species with close relatives. And the more genetically distinct a species is, the more impact it has on the amount of biomass in an ecosystem.

"Losing a very unique species may be worse than losing one with a close relative in the community," said Oakley. "The more evolutionary history that is represented in a plant community, the more productive it is."

Cadotte explained that the buttercup is a very unique species, evolutionarily. Losing the buttercup, where it occurs in grasslands, would have a much bigger impact on the system than losing a daisy or a sunflower, for example. The latter species are closely related. Each could therefore help fill the niche of the other, if one were to be lost. The daisy and sunflower also have a more similar genetic make-up.

"These 40 studies are showing the same thing for all plants around the world," said Cardinale. "It is not a willy-nilly conclusion. This study is very robust. It includes studies of plants that are found throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. We can have a high degree of confidence in the results. And the results show that genetic diversity predicts whether or not species matter."

[manimarank]

Exercise Gives Longer Life For People With Heart Disease

Exercising once a week can help prolong life expectancy for people with heart disease according to a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.

Patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD) are encouraged to be physically active to prevent disease progression and prolong their life expectancy. But how much exercise is required?

A study to be published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation concludes that one weekly exercise session is associated with lower all-cause mortality, both in women and men.

"The most important finding was that CHD patients lived longer even though they exercised only once a week," says Trine Moholdt a PhD student at the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging at the Faculty of Medicine, NTNU.

The study is based on data collected in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Here, 3500 women and men with CHD were studied over an 18-year period.

Unique study

"Mortality decreased by 30 per cent among women who exercised once a week compared to those who did not exercise at all. For men the corresponding figure was 20 per cent," states Trine Moholdt.

This study is unique because it includes women and older CHD patients with heart conditions. In fact women who exercise more than 30 minutes each time can decrease mortality by up to 50 per cent.

"The more intense the exercise is, the better," Tine Moholdt adds. She hopes more cardiac patients start working out. A lot of people are apprehensive about exercise after a myocardial infarction. But it is more risky to be inactive than to do exercise.

HUNTing for data

The HUNT data, which this study is based on, is a population-based study launched in 1984 in the county of Nord-Trøndelag in mid-Norway. More than 100,000 people have participated in the study out of a total of 130,000 inhabitants in the region.

"We have extensive data from the population of Nord-Trøndelag through three comprehensive health surveys in 1984-86, 1995-97 and 2006-2008. The homogeneous and stable population of Nord-Trøndelag is a unique source of health information and biological material," says the director of HUNT biobank, Professor Kristian Hveem of the Faculty of Medicine, NTNU. "The fact that already in 1984 we collected health information and exposure data, then repeated this ten and twenty years later, enables us to establish some causal relationship between this early information and clinical disease outcome as exemplified in this study on coronary heart patients."

"It is satisfactory to see that the data we collected in 1984 are still a very valuable resource in research today. Also, in the most recent collection of HUNT data, completed in June 2008, we have applied a strict QA-protocol to make sure that the collected biological material has the best quality. This ensures its applicability for a wide variety of analyses in the years to come," says Professor Hveem.

A gold mine of biological material

Professor Hveem will present the HUNT Biobank in Washington at the Transatlantic Science Week 2008 in late October.

[manimarank]

Skin Creams Can Make Skin Drier

(Oct. 23, 2008) — Many people have noticed that as soon as you start using a skin cream, you have to continue with it; if you stop lubricating, your skin becomes drier than when you started. And now there is research to confirm for the first time that normal skin can become drier from creams.

Izabela Buraczewska presents these findings in the dissertation she is publicly defending at Uppsala University in Sweden on October 24.

The findings in Izabela Buraczewska's dissertation confirm what many have suspected: creams can make the skin drier. She has studied what happens in the skin at the molecular level and also what positive and negative effects creams have on the skin. Her research shows that differences in the pH of creams do not seem to play any role.

Different oils were also studied in a seven-week treatment period, but no difference was established between mineral oil and a vegetable oil. Both oils resulted in the skin being less able to cope with external stresses. Treatment with a more complex cream compound, however, resulted in more resistant skin with no signs of dryness.

Tissues samples taken from the treated skin areas also show that the weakening of the skin's protective barrier can be tied to changes in the activity of certain genes involved in producing skin fats, among other functions. The conclusion is that the contents of creams impact these effects on the skin. This knowledge enhances our potential to develop creams that reinforce the skin's protective barrier in a positive way, without making the skin drier. Such creams would mean that various groups of patients with dry skin, for example eczema and ichthyosis, could enjoy a better quality of life.

"My findings show that creams differ and that knowledge of the effect of various ingredients is important for us to be able to tailor the treatment to various skin types," says Izabela Buraczewska.

[manimarank]

Clues To Planets' Birth Discovered In Meteorites

Meteorites that are among the oldest rocks ever found have provided new clues about the conditions that existed at the beginning of the solar system, solving a longstanding mystery and overturning some accepted ideas about the way planets form.

The ancient meteorites, like disk drives salvaged from an ancient computer, still contain magnetic records about the very early history of planets, according to research by MIT planetary scientist Benjamin P. Weiss.

Weiss, the Victor P. Starr Career Development Assistant Professor of Planetary Sciences in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and his five co-authors examined pieces of three meteorites called angrites, which are among the most ancient rocks known. The results of their study are being published in Science on Oct. 31.

The analysis showed that surprisingly, during the formation of the solar system, when dust and rubble in a disk around the sun collided and stuck together to form ever-larger rocks and eventually the planets we know today, even objects much smaller than planets — just 160 kilometers across or so — were large enough to melt almost completely.

This total melting of the planet-forming chunks of rock, called planetesimals, caused their constituents to separate out, with lighter materials including silicates floating to the surface and eventually forming a crust, while heavier iron-rich material sank down to the core, where it began swirling around to produce a magnetic dynamo. The researchers were able to study traces of the magnetic fields produced by that dynamo, now recorded in the meteorites that fell to Earth.

"The magnetism in meteorites has been a longstanding mystery," Weiss said, and the realization that such small bodies could have melted and formed magnetic dynamos is a major step toward solving that riddle.

Until relatively recently, it was commonly thought that the planetesimals — similar to the asteroids seen in the solar system today — that came together to build planets were "just homogenous, unmelted rocky material, with no large-scale structure," Weiss said. "Now we're realizing that many of the things that were forming planets were mini-planets themselves, with crusts and mantles and cores."

That could change theorists' picture of how the planets themselves took shape. If the smaller bodies were already molten as they slammed together to build up larger planet-sized bodies, that could "significantly change our understanding" of the processes that took place in the early years of the nascent planets, as their internal structures were forming, Weiss said. This could have implications for how different minerals are distributed in the Earth's crust, mantle and core today, for example.

"In the last five or 10 years," Weiss said, "our understanding of the early history of the solar system has undergone a sort of mini-revolution, driven by analytical advances in geochemistry. In this study we used a geophysical technique to independently test many of these new ideas. "

"Events happened surprisingly fast at the beginning of the solar system," he said. Some of the angrite meteorites in this study formed just 3 million years after the birth of the solar system itself, 4,568 million years ago, and show signs that their parent body had a magnetic field that was 20 to 40 percent as strong as Earth's today. "We are used to thinking of dynamo magnetic fields in rocky bodies as uncommon phenomena today. But it may be that short-lived planetesimal dynamos were widespread in the early solar system."

The paper was co-authored by Mitsui Career Development Assistant Professor of Geology Linda Elkins-Tanton, research scientist Eduardo A. Lima, postdoctoral researcher Laurent Carpozen, student James S. Berdahl, and Sabine Stanley, assistant professor of physics at the University of Toronto. The work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Instrumentation and Facilities Program.

[manimarank]

Daylight Saving Time: Clock-shifts Affect Risk Of Heart Attack

Adjusting the clocks to summer time on the last Sunday in March increases the risk of myocardial infarction in the following week. In return, putting the clocks back in the autumn reduces the risk, albeit to a lesser extent. This according to a new Swedish study.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have examined how the incidence of myocardial infarction in Sweden has changed with the summer and winter clock-shifts since 1987. Their results show that the number of heart attacks, on average, increases by about five per cent during the first week of summer time.

"There's a small increase in risk for the individual, especially during the first three days of the new week," says Dr Imre Janszky, one of the researchers behind the study. "The disruption in the chronobiological rhythms, the loss of one hour's sleep and the resulting sleep disturbance are the probable causes."

The team also observed that the readjustment back to winter time on the last Sunday in October, which gives us an extra hour's sleep, is followed by a reduction in the risk of heart attack on the Monday. The reduction for the whole week is, however, less than the increase related to the summer adjustment.

According to the scientists, the study provides a conceivable explanation for why myocardial infarction is most common on Mondays, as demonstrated by previous research.

"It's always been thought that it's mainly due to an increase in stress ahead of the new working week," says Dr Janszky. "But perhaps it's also got something to do with the sleep disruption caused by the change in diurnal rhythm at the weekend."

Even though the increase and decrease in risk are relatively small for the individual, the team believes that the study can improve our understanding of how disruptions to diurnal rhythms impact on our health.

"Roughly 1.5 billion people are subjected to these clock-shifts every year, but it's hard to make any generalised statement about how many heart attacks they can cause," adds Dr Rickard Ljung, another member of the research team.

[manimarank]

Climate change favors creatures with short lifespans

A new research has determined that climate change is likely to disrupt food chains by favoring animals with short lifespans over often bigger rivals that are worse at tolerating temperature swings.

According to a report in New Scientist, researchers in Germany and Canada said that animals have widely differing "thermal windows" – a range of temperatures in which they best feed, grow and reproduce.

That means that climate change will not affect all equally.

"Climate change will favour species with wide thermal windows, short lifespans and a large gene pool amongst its population," according to an article in the journal Science.

Big fish such as cod, which have narrow thermal windows, are moving north in the Atlantic, for instance, partly because the food chain has been disrupted by a shift to smaller plankton, reducing the amount of prey on which large fish can feed.

A shift to smaller plankton means that juvenile cod in the Atlantic have to use more energy to feed, slowing their growth.

Female cod tolerate only a narrow "thermal window" when they produce eggs, part of a strategy evolved to cut energy use.

The study focused on the oceans, but the scientists said the findings may also apply to land creatures.

"Each species covers a certain range. The ranges overlap, but their (thermal) windows are not the same," said Hans-Otto Portner of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, one of the authors.

Knowledge of such differences could help predict reactions to climate change, widely blamed on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

In the German Wadden Sea, larger eelpout fish – a long, thin species that grows to about 500 grams – suffered more quickly than smaller fish when summer temperatures rose above normal.

"In the Japan Sea, different thermal windows between sardines and anchovies caused a regime shift to anchovies in the late 1990s," the researchers said.

[manimarank]

Grapes And Grape Extracts May Lower Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Review Article Suggests

A growing body of research data suggests that consuming foods rich in polyphenols from grapes, including red wine, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a review article in the November issue of Nutrition Research.

"Consumption of grape and grape extracts and/or grape products such as red wine may be beneficial in preventing the development of chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease," write Wayne R. Leifert, Ph.D., and Mahinda Y. Abeywardena, Ph.D., of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Adelaide, Australia.

The authors review the accumulating evidence that grape polyphenols work in many different ways to prevent cardiovascular and other "inflammatory-mediated" diseases. Polyphenols are natural antioxidants found in grapes and some other plant foods. Their types and actions vary, depending on where in the grape they are found. Grape seeds, grape skin, and grape juice contain several types of polyphenols, including resveratrol, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and flavonoids.

Through their antioxidant effects, grape polyphenols help to slow or prevent cell damage caused by oxidation. Polyphenols decrease oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol)—a key step in the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Grape polyphenols also have other protective effects on the heart and blood vessels, including actions to reduce blood clotting, abnormal heart rhythms, and blood vessel narrowing. It's not yet clear exactly how these benefits of polyphenols occur, although there is evidence of effects on cellular signaling and on the actions of certain genes. The wide range of health-promoting effects suggests that several different, possibly interrelated mechanisms may be involved.

So far, most of the evidence on grape polyphenols comes from laboratory experiments and animal studies. However, a few studies support the disease-preventing benefits of grapes in humans. Studies in patients treated with grape seed extracts have shown improvements in blood flow and cholesterol levels. In other studies, drinking Concord grape juice has improved measures of blood flow in patients with coronary artery disease and lowered blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Studies investigating the lower rates of heart disease in France—the so-called "French paradox"—first raised the possibility that red wine might have health benefits. The subsequent research reviewed by Drs. Leifert and Abeywardena helps build the case that grapes and grape products might be a useful part of strategies to lower the high rate of death from cardiovascular disease.

At a time of growing interest in the use of "functional foods and nutraceuticals" to promote heart health, grapes and grape polyphenols are "attractive candidates" for use in such supplements, Drs. Leifert and Abeywardena believe. "Therefore," they conclude, "supplementation with grape seed, grape skin or red wine products may be a useful adjunct to consider for a dietary approach in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, although additional research is required to support such a strategy."

[manimarank]

Credit Card-swipe Device To Test For Hundreds Of Diseases

University of Utah scientists successfully created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples.

The prototype works on the same principle – giant magnetoresistance or GMR – that is used to read data on computer hard drives or listen to tunes on portable digital music players.

"Think how fast your PC reads data on a hard drive, and imagine using the same technology to monitor your health," says Marc Porter, a Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) professor of chemistry, chemical engineering and bioengineering.

Porter is the senior author of a pair of studies demonstrating the new method for rapid disease testing. The research will be published in the Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008, issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry.

"You can envision this as a wellness check in which a patient sample – blood, urine, saliva – is spotted on a sample stick or card, scanned, and then the readout indicates your state of well-being," says USTAR research scientist Michael Granger, a co-author of the research. "We have a great sensor able to look for many disease markers."

Unlike lab tests today, results could be available in minutes, not hours to weeks.

Porter and Granger conducted the research with John Nordling, Rachel Millen and Heather Bullen at Iowa State University in Ames – where Porter once worked – and Mark Tondra, then at NVE Corp., in Eden Prairie, Minn.

The Utah Science, Technology and Research initiative seeks to create new high-tech jobs by recruiting world-class research teams to develop products and services that can be commercialized to start new businesses and stimulate Utah's economy.

[manimarank]

Arctic Sea Ice Is Suddenly Getting Thinner As Well As Receding

Last winter, the thickness of sea ice in large parts of the Arctic fell by nearly half a metre (19 per cent) compared with the average thickness of the previous five winters. This followed the dramatic 2007 summer low when Arctic ice extent dropped to its lowest level since records began.

Up until last winter, the thickness of Arctic sea ice showed a slow downward trend during the previous five winters, but after the summer 2007 record low extent, the thickness of the ice also nose-dived. What is concerning is that sea ice is not just receding but it is also thinning.

Some scientists blamed the record summer 2007 ice extent low on unusually warm weather conditions over the Arctic, but this summer, sea ice extent reached the second lowest level since records began, even though the Arctic had a relatively cool summer. Dr Katharine Giles, who led the study and is based at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London – part of the National Centre for Earth Observation, says: "This summer's low ice extent doesn't seem to have been driven by warm weather, so the question is, was last winter's thinning behind it?"

The team of researchers, including Dr Seymour Laxon and Andy Ridout, used satellites to measure sea ice thickness over the Arctic from 2002 to 2008. Winter sea ice in the Arctic is around two and half metres thick on average. Ice thickness can be calculated from the time it takes a radar pulse to travel from a satellite to the surface of the ice and back again.

The research - reported in Geophysical Research Letters - showed that last winter the average thickness of sea ice over the whole Arctic fell by 26cm (10 per cent) compared with the average thickness of the previous five winters, but sea ice in the western Arctic lost around 49cm of thickness. This region of the Arctic saw the North-West passage become ice free and open to shipping for the first time in 30 years during the summer of 2007.

The team is the first to measure ice thickness throughout the Arctic winter, from October to March, over more than half of the Arctic, using the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite. Before this, Christian Haas of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, had discovered thinner ice in a small region around the North Pole. Whilst the overall loss of older, thicker ice led researchers to speculate that Arctic sea ice had probably thinned, this is the first time scientists have been able to say for definite that the ice thinning was widespread and occurred in areas of both young and old ice.

"The extent of sea ice in the Arctic is down to a number of factors, including warm weather melting it as well as currents and the wind blowing it around, so it's important to know how ice thickness is changing as well as the extent of the ice," added Giles.

The team will continue to monitor the thickness of the ice over this coming winter. Laxon says: "We'll be keeping our eyes on the ice thickness this winter as it'll be interesting to see what happens after a second summer of low ice extent."

The Envisat satellite that provided the UCL scientists with their data doesn't cover the whole of the North Pole. Because of the satellite's orbit, there's a hole north of 81.5 degrees, which is about 600 miles shy of the North Pole. But a team, including Laxon, at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling has designed a satellite – CryoSat-2 – to plug this hole.

CryoSat-2 is the first radar satellite specifically designed to measure ice thickness. It will do this with greater resolution than is possible with Envisat and so will give scientists a much more detailed picture of what is happening to ice in the Arctic. CryoSat-2 is being prepared for launch at the end of 2009.

[manimarank]

Protect Your Vote: Avoid Election Machine Errors

Of all the conceivable problems that could lead to a miscount Election Day, there's one possibility that voters can do something about – avoid making election machine-related errors, says a University of Maryland researcher who led a comprehensive study of voter problems using touch screen and paper-based machines.

"Under the best of circumstances, simple voter mistakes can make the difference in a close election, so it's up to individuals to go into the booth prepared and aware of the pitfalls," says Paul S. Herrnson, the University of Maryland political scientist who led a multi-year, multi-state study comparing voter use of electronic and paper/optical scan systems. The research team included political scientists, computer scientists and psychologists.

"In our experiments, even with the simplest ballot design and the most user-friendly machines, we found voters still cast their ballots for the wrong candidate about three percent of the time," Herrnson adds. "Depending on which polls you believe, that's enough of a margin to affect the outcome on Tuesday. Most often, when voters make a mistake, they not only fail to cast their ballot for the candidate they want, they end up voting for the opponent. So it's a double whammy."

Here are some common problems that showed up in the Herrnson team's research.

    * Most voter errors involve choosing a candidate whose name is listed immediately before or after the one the voter intended to select.
    * Voters casting ballots on touch screen systems are likely to make somewhat fewer errors than those using paper ballot/optical scan systems or the dial-and-buttons systems.
    * A common problem with paper ballot/optical scan systems involves write-in votes, where voters often fail to fill in the oval alerting the machine to look for a write-in. This error voided the write-in effort 30 percent of the time in the study.

Herrnson recommends that voters take the following precautions to minimize the chance of errors:

    * Bring a marked-up sample ballot to the polling place. This will enable voters to quickly and accurately transfer the information from the sample ballot to the real thing, saving time and cutting down the likelihood of errors due to snap decisions.
    * Voters using touch screen or other electronic voting systems should pay careful attention to the review screen. The screen will highlight any races or ballot questions where the voter has not made a selection or has marked the ballot incorrectly.
    * Voters using touch screen systems can and should compare the review screen to the sample ballot they brought with them.
    * Voters using paper ballot/optical scan systems will have to be more vigilant. These systems don't have review pages that highlight skipped or missing votes. Some vote scanners do have a small screen that alerts voters who did not make a selection in a specific race or who made more selections than allowed in a given race. (It is impossible to make the latter "overvote" error on electronic systems.)
    * Once voters realize they've forgotten to make a selection on a paper ballot, the remedy is simply to fill in the oval and make the choice. But, the remedy for a wrong selection is to start over with a new paper ballot and discard the old one. Voters who cross out one choice and fill in the oval for another are likely to have that vote nullified because the scanner will treat them as two votes in a single race, an overvote.
    * If voting on paper and casting a write-in vote, be sure to fill in the oval, complete the arrow, or do whatever is required to alert the machine that a write-in selection has been made.

As for long-term solutions, Herrnson recommends greater care in the design and preparation of the ballots by election officials and increased education efforts to make sure voters are familiar with the machines and the ballot before they go to cast their votes.

The study involved a variety of tests of six voting systems: a paper ballot/optical scan system, a touch screen system, a system with a dial and buttons, and systems with and without paper trails, as well as systems used to add a paper trail to electronic machines. It was conducted by researchers from the Universities of Maryland, Rochester and Michigan.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

[dwarakesh]

Earth getting 'overcrowded'

Humankind will need two planets by 2030 to keep up with its demands for goods and to make space for surging populations.

This is according to the influential WWF Living Planet Report 2008, which warns that humanity is consuming the resources provided by Earth's natural systems much too fast.

Earth, it declares, is facing a looming ecological credit crunch and the current financial recession pales in comparison.

"Reckless consumption is endangering our future prosperity," writes James Leape, the director general of WWF International, in the report.

"Yet our demands continue to escalate, driven by the relentless growth in human population and individual consumption. Our global footprint now exceeds the world's capacity to regenerate by 30 percent. If our demands on the planet continue at the same rate, by the mid-2030s, we'll need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles."

The report, produced with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network and released every two years, notes that Earth's capacity to support a thriving diversity of species, including humans, is limited.

Using an ecological footprint, which measures human demand placed on natural ecosystems, as well as the Living Planet Index (LPI), which reflects the state of the planet's ecosystems using 2 000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, the report shows humanity's ecological footprint has more than doubled between 1961 and 2005.

The LPI for terrestrial species is down by 33 percent, freshwater species by 35 percent and marine species by 14 percent, with grasslands being hammered and dropping by 36 percent.

Chiefly to blame for these declines are land transformation, deforestation and the burning of polluting fossil fuels to generate energy.

"There's been a consistent drop in terrestrial, freshwater and marine species," said Morne du Plessis, CEO of WWF-SA, at the launch of the report in Sandton.

"The message [since the 2006 report] is fundamentally the same - the slide continues."

The ecological footprint study shows that while global biocapacity - the area available to produce our resources and capture our emissions - is 2,1 global hectares per person, the average individual footprint worldwide is 2,7 global hectares, far exceeding Earth's carrying capacity.

US citizens account for the largest: each requires an average of 9,4 global hectares, or nearly 4,5 planet Earths if the global population had US consumption patterns.

While the average individual footprint of South Africans is 2,1 global hectares per person, Du Plessis pointed out that SA was home to large imbalances between rich and poor, which "creates a biased perception of individual footprints".

"Each person on Earth should be able to sustain their life with 2,1 hectares - everything above that is out of kilter," he said.

Nearly 45 percent of the global ecological footprint is from energy production, including the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

"We need to grow local industries in renewable energy technology as fast as we can," said Richard Worthington, manager of WWF-SA's climate change programme.

The report suggests strategies including renewable and low emissions "wedges" that could meet protected energy demands to 2050, with reductions in carbon emissions of up to 80 percent and measures to cut individual consumption.

Deon Nel, the manager of WWF-SA's Living Waters partnership, said on average each person consumed 1,24-million litres of water a year - with a cotton T-shirt requiring 2 900 litres in its production.

"By 2025 [in SA], people will be experiencing physical scarcity and will not have enough water to live."

There was some hope for recoveries in populations of white rhinos and the southern right whale because of massive conservation efforts, added Du Plessis.

"We want to do the same for our ecosystems."

[manimarank]

Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Death Appears Increased Within 30 Days Of Heart Attack

The risk of sudden cardiac death following a heart attack has declined significantly in the past 30 years, although patients appear to be at elevated risk for sudden cardiac death for the first month after having a heart attack, after which time their risk decreases unless they develop heart failure, according to a study in the November 5 issue of JAMA.

"Sudden cardiac death is a devastating complication of myocardial infarction [heart attack]," the authors write as background information in the article. Determining which patients are at risk for this complication remains challenging, they note. Currently, risk prediction approaches are based on characteristics assessed shortly after heart attack—a strategy that may be insufficient. Other factors that occur in the days to weeks following heart attack, such as heart failure or recurrent ischemia (which may cause chest pain from narrowed or blocked coronary arteries), may be associated with risk of sudden cardiac death.

A. Selcuk Adabag, M.D., M.S., of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., studied 2,997 residents (average age 67, 59 percent men) who had a heart attack in Olmsted County, Minn., between 1979 and 2005. Patients were followed through medical records for a median (midpoint) of 4.7 years, through Feb. 29, 2008.

During this time, 1,160 patients died, including 282 (24 percent) from sudden cardiac death. The 30-day cumulative incidence of sudden cardiac death was 1.2 percent, which is four times higher than expected. For each following year, however, the rate of sudden cardiac death was constant at 1.2 percent per year—lower than the rate among the general population. The cumulative five-year incidence of sudden cardiac death among heart attack patients was 6.9 percent.

A total of 842 patients developed recurrent ischemia, 365 developed heart failure and 873 developed both. Recurrent ischemia was not associated with sudden cardiac death. However, compared with patients who did not experience heart failure during follow-up, those who did had a 2.5 percent higher risk of sudden cardiac death within 30 days of heart attack and in each year thereafter.

"The risk of sudden cardiac death has declined significantly over time for myocardial infarctions that occurred between 1997 and 2005 compared with between 1979 and 1987," the authors write—a decline of more than 40 percent over the past 25 years. This decline predates the widespread use of defibrillators but coincides with other drastic changes in therapy for heart attacks, including secondary prevention and reperfusion therapy, which re-opens blocked arteries.

"In the community, the risk of sudden cardiac death is the highest during the first month after myocardial infarction when it markedly exceeds the rate in the general population," the authors conclude. "Among 30-day survivors, the risk of sudden cardiac death declines rapidly but it is markedly increased by the occurrence of heart failure during follow-up. This underscores the importance of continued surveillance of patients after myocardial infarction and the dynamic nature of risk stratification."

This study was supported by a grant from the Public Health Service and grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Adabag is supported, in part, by a VA Clinical Science R&D Service Grant. Co-author Dr. Roger is an established investigator of the American Heart Association.

[manimarank]

"WE Are BACK..."

Social Interactions Can Alter Gene Expression In Brain, And Vice Versa

Our DNA determines a lot about who we are and how we play with others, but recent studies of social animals (birds and bees, among others) show that the interaction between genes and behavior is more of a two-way street than most of us realize.

This is not a new idea to neuroscience, but one that is gaining strength, said University of Illinois entomology and neuroscience professor Gene Robinson, lead author of a review on the subject this week in the journal Science. Stanford University biology professor Russell Fernald and Illinois cell and developmental biology and neuroscience professor David Clayton are co-authors.

Genes in the brain are malleable, turning on or off in response to internal and external cues. While genetic variation influences brain function and social behavior, the authors write, social information also alters gene expression in the brain to influence behavior.

Thanks to the newly sequenced genomes of several social animals, including honey bees and zebra finches, and new technologies such as microarrays (which allow researchers to glimpse the activity of thousands of genes at a time) neuroscientists are gradually coming to understand that "there is a dynamic relationship between genes and behavior," Robinson said. "Behavior is not etched in the DNA."

A critical insight came in 1992, in a study of songbirds led by David Clayton. He and his colleagues found that expression of a specific gene increases in the forebrain of a zebra finch or canary just after it hears a new song from a male of the same species. This gene, egr1, codes for a protein that itself regulates the expression of other genes.

The finding was not unprecedented; previous studies had shown that genes switch on and off when an animal is trained to perform a task in the laboratory, Robinson said.

But when Clayton's team found this change in gene expression in response to a social signal – a song from a potential competitor, something the bird would likely hear in nature – it drew attention to how powerfully social interactions can alter gene expression in the brain.

"What's more significant to a bird than hearing another bird singing?" Clayton said. "This is going on in the equivalent of our auditory cortex and association cortex, so this is pretty high-level stuff going on in the brain. And this was happening in more or less real time by very naturalistic stimuli."

Reading Clayton's 1992 paper "was a eureka moment for me," Robinson said.

"This just brought it out into the social world, saying that this occurred in animals that have to make a living in the real world and pay attention to a lot of nuanced stimuli," he said. "So I think that was really a very important step in our understanding."

In his own work, Robinson has used microarrays to study this phenomenon on a larger scale and has found that literally thousands of genes turn on or off in the honey bee brain in response to social stimuli. One such gene, called for (for foraging), was originally discovered in fruit flies by Marla Sokolowski at the University of Toronto. Flies that carry different versions of for show different types of foraging behavior. Each version gives its bearer a behavioral advantage in certain environmental conditions.

Robinson knew that honey bee workers start out working in the hive as nurses and only later graduate to the role of foragers. Perhaps, he reasoned, even though the differences in for are etched in the DNA in flies, this same gene in the bee might be more dynamic and help influence the transition from hive work to foraging.

In a study published in 2002, Robinson and his colleagues reported that expression of for did in fact increase in the brains of honey bees as they developed into foragers, and manipulating its expression caused bees to forage precociously.

The researchers also found that social factors, in the form of chemical signals called pheromones, induced this "upregulation" of for. Foragers produce a pheromone that signals to the younger bees that there are enough foragers. If the foragers are removed from the hive, some young bees develop into foragers much earlier in life than usual.

Sokolowski's work indicated that for had changed over evolutionary time, producing two varieties of fruit flies that differed in their behavior. Robinson had found that social information altered expression of the same gene over a much shorter timescale – within the lifespan of a honey bee – also changing its behavior.

"An appreciation of the idea that differences in gene expression can occur over vastly different time scales helps understand some of the complex relationships between genes, brain and behavior," Robinson said.

The picture that is emerging from these and other studies suggests that social signals can have a profound effect on when and how genes function.

An organism's genes, its environment, the social information it receives, "all these things interact," said Clayton. "Experience is constantly coming back in to the level of the DNA and twiddling the dials and the knobs."

[manimarank]

Many Motorists Don't See Need To Heed Speed Limits

Research suggests U.S. motorists are growing increasingly cynical about the relevance of speed limits, and a new study indicates many motorists are more likely to think they can drive safely while speeding as long as they won't get caught.

"So the faster you think you can go before getting a ticket, the more likely you are to think safety's not compromised at higher speeds," said Fred Mannering, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University.

Mannering used a series of mathematical equations in "multinomial logit models" to calculate probabilities based on data from a survey of 988 motorists in Tippecanoe County, Ind., where Purdue is located.

Findings generally agree with other data taken in recent years.

"For whatever reason, respect for speed limits seems to have deteriorated," Mannering said. "A 2002 survey indicated two-thirds of all drivers reported they exceeded the posted speed limit, and roughly one-third reported driving 10 mph faster than most other vehicles. These figures are even more disturbing when you consider that they're self-reported and likely to be understating the degree of speeding problems."

The Indiana survey participants were asked: "At what point do you feel speeding becomes a threat to the personal safety of you and your family?" The motorists were given three choices: 5 mph, 10 mph or 20 mph over the speed limit.

The survey was taken before and after a 2004 media campaign launched in the county stressing the dangers of speeding that included radio and newspaper messages.

Using survey data, Mannering applied a series of mathematical equations in a model to estimate the probabilities of speed and safety viewpoints for drivers in various categories.

Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing in the journal Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior, available both online and in an upcoming print edition of the journal.

"The intent of the study was to statistically assess drivers' perception of the relationship between speed limits and safety," Mannering said. "In recent decades it has become more common for speed limits to be set for political reasons rather than for safety reasons. Consequently, the motoring public seems to have increasingly begun questioning the rationality of speed limits. This is evident in observed speed data that show the majority of drivers routinely exceed posted speed limits."

Of the 988 drivers in the survey, 21 percent thought it was safe to drive up to 5 mph over the speed limit, 43 percent thought it was safe to drive up to 10 mph over and 36 percent thought it was safe to drive up to 20 mph over the speed limit.

"The new findings show that the speed enforcement is critical to motorists' safety perceptions," Mannering said. "Let's say you think enforcement is getting lax and the speed at which you think you will get a ticket goes up from 7 mph over the speed limit to 10 mph over the speed limit. If that happens, our statistical results indicate that you would be 27 percent more likely to think you can safely drive up to 20 mph over the speed limit."

The research showed the media campaign relating to the dangers of speeding had no statistically significant impact on drivers' views on speeding and safety.

Other findings showed that women who have never been stopped for speeding are 68 percent more likely to think that it's only safe to drive 5 mph over the speed limit compared to all men and other women who have been stopped for speeding. Both men and women drivers who have been stopped for speeding in the last year are about 25 percent more likely to believe that it is safe to drive up to 20 mph over the speed limit than those who have not.

"This is probably because people who habitually speed are not significantly deterred by being stopped for speeding," Mannering said. "They might become slightly more conservative, but it doesn't slow them down to the level of people who are inherently more conservative."

The findings also showed that people get progressively more conservative about speeding as they age. A 25 year-old driver is 75 percent more likely to think it is safe to drive up to 20 mph over the speed limit than a 50 year-old driver.

[manimarank]

Accident Ahead? New Software Will Enable Cars To Make Coordinated Avoidance Maneuvers

A road construction barrier falls over: The car driver can't avoid it, since there are cars on the lane next to him. In future, a new software program will enable cars to coordinate maneuvers together in dangerous situations.

A child runs across the street without paying attention to the traffic, just as a car approaches at speed. It's too late to slam on the brakes, and the driver can't swerve either, as there is another car on the neighboring lane. An accident seems inevitable. A new software program, that for the first time can help several cars to coordinate their movements together, could take the edge off such a situation in future.

The vehicles form a network via car-to-car communication and communicate automatically. "In dangerous situations, the cars can independently perform coordinated maneuvers without their drivers having to intervene. In this way, they can quickly and safely avoid one another," explains Thomas Batz, who developed the software together with his colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB in Karlsruhe and at Karlsruhe University 's chair for interactive real-time systems.

For this system, the researchers are making use of cognitive automobiles that are autonomously driven for short periods of time. The vehicles are equipped with car-to-car communication and integrated sensors such as cameras, GPS and radar systems so that they can autonomously recognize their surroundings and avoid any potential obstacles. The vehicles form cooperative groups that can act in unison. These groups are made up of cars that are traveling in the same direction and are in radio range of one another. Since their speeds and destinations vary, they are constantly re-grouped. Every vehicle in a group automatically transmits its current position and driving situation to a car that has been designated as the group coordinator. This car gathers the information from all the other cars in its group and draws up a common relevant picture of the group's situation.

Sudden dangers, such as a child running onto the road, are recognized not only by the car directly affected but also by the group coordinator. If the car in question can neither brake nor swerve because there is another car on the lane to the right, the group coordinator steps in: It orders both vehicles to swerve to the right in a coordinated maneuver in order to avoid an accident with the child and a collision with one another. Unlike in current driver assistance systems such as the anti-lock braking system (ABS), control of the car is taken over automatically. The system is currently under development: Its group formation function has already been implemented, and the researchers are now improving its ability to recognize and assess dangerous situations and to choose appropriate driving maneuvers.

[manimarank]

Study Will Help Reveal Genetic Differences Between Chimps, Humans

The question of difference between chimpanzee and human genomes, which are near identical at the DNA level will be answered very soon. In what is seen as the basis which will help in further research, scientists have found areas linked to cell differentiation and immune response.

Study co-author, Richard Redon, a geneticist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said, "By looking at all the variations, we will get a catalogue, and when we find a variation in a person with a disease, it will help us understand the function of that variation.........It will help us understand better how our species emerged."

While it was known by researches that humans and chimpanzees share about 98 percent of the same genes, Redon's team looked at a relatively unstudied phenomenon known as 'copy number variation'or CNV, in which genes are randomly duplicated. Mutations are more likely to accumulate in a given type of gene when multiple copies exist, and the simultaneous application of multiple genes can provide a functional boost. Redon's team is the first to assemble maps of CNV similarities across both chimpanzees and humans, and then compare the maps to each other.

According to Redon, "It's just a start".

Melanie Babcock, an Albert Einstein College of Medicine geneticist, who has studied copy number variations in primates, called the work "fascinating."

The study that also included scientists from Arizona State University, Brigham & Women's Hospital, the University of Washington, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Harvard Medical School appeared in the journal Genome Research.

[sajiv]

Award for NGRI scientist

HYDERABAD: R.K. Chadha, Head, Seismology Group, National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), was presented the '2008 Decennial Award' of the Indian Geophysical Union at its 45th convention in Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, recently. The award carried a gold medal and a citation. The AP Academy of Science will honour him on November 15 a press release said here on Monday.

[sajiv]

Combine science and spirituality, says Kalam

Thrikkur (Thrissur dist): Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has said that India's spiritual message is neither sectarian nor dogmatic. He was inaugurating the birth centenary celebrations of Swami Ranganathananda, former president of the Ramakrishna Mission, at Thrikkur, the monk's birthplace, near here, on Monday."The message focuses on man's development. It is universal and humanistic. Swami Ranganathananda strove to promote these values," he said.

He called for research that combined the visions of science and spirituality to unlock the secrets of nature and existence. "It is time we researched into the similarities between Einstein's Unified Field Theory and Adi Sankara's interpretation of Brahman in 'Vivekachoodamani'."The Unified Field Theory is a kind of field theory that allows all of the fundamental forces between elementary particles to be written in terms of a single field.

It attempts to combine all known phenomena to explain the nature and behaviour of all existing matter and energy.He said the litmus test for spiritual growth was whether a person radiated love and peace.

Knowledge, he observed, was a combination of creativity, righteousness and courage. He called upon youth to gather courage to think differently, travel into unexplored paths and discover the impossible.C. K. Chandrappan, MP, Therambil Ramakrishnan, C. Ravindranath, MLAs, Collector V. K. Babyalso spoke.

[sajiv]

On science education

KOCHI: Enrolment of students into the science stream is declining in the country, said V.L. Chopra, member of the Planning Commission.Mr. Chopra was speaking after inaugurating the science day celebrations at S.H. College, Thevara, on Monday.

Science is also not the preferred choice of bright students and there has been an erosion of talents in the science sector, he said.The government is making attempts to overcome this situation by enhancing budgetary support to the research and development institutions and providing scholarships and career assurance schemes to science students, he said. The celebrations was organised in connection with the Wold Science Day celebrations of UNESCO.

[sajiv]

Abdul Kalam's much talked about Vision-2020

An artist's impression of what the Bihar Pavilion would look like at the IITF in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Deriving inspiration from former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's much talked about "Vision-2020", the Bihar Pavilion at the upcoming India International Trade Fair at Delhi's Pragati Maidan will highlight the State's road map for infrastructure development and women's empowerment.

"The pavilion's theme, 'Bihar Vision-2020', is based on Dr. Kalam's vision that he had shared during his various visits to our State. History is testimony to the fact that Bihar has had a glorious past. The State is now poised to reclaim its lost glory and is all set to become the engine to propel the country's economic growth in future. The pavilion will exhibit Bihar's rich cultural heritage as well as modern developmental activities carried on by the State Government," said the Bihar Government's Principal Secretary for Industries, A.K. Sinha, at a press conference here on Monday.

Stating that the Bihar pavilion would showcase measures taken by the State to promote women's empowerment, he noted: "Our State has implemented 50 per cent reservation for women at the panchayat level. Of the 1.4 lakh primary teachers, 7,575 physical education teachers and 11,458 Urdu teachers appointed, 55 per cent are women. We will highlight various achievements including the 'Mukhyamantri Balika Poshak Yojana' in which girl students from Class VI to VIII would get Rs.700 every year for purchasing two pairs of uniforms and 'Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana' in which all girls would be given bicycles free of cost by the State Government after getting admission to Class IX."

He said the success of all these schemes could be gauged from the fact that two Dalit village women, America Devi and Tiliya Devi, had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.The pavilion will also focus on the State Government's accomplishments in improvement of infrastructure, industry, education, health care and social welfare. "It will also showcase Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam's achievements in construction of bridges and roads," said Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam chairman Pratyaya Amrit.

A website showcasing various aspects of Bihar was launched. It will provide a daily update of the events at the Bihar Pavilion during the trade fair apart from a virtual tour of the pavilion.A cultural programme based on Bihar's folk dance and music will be a special attraction at the fair. Stalls featuring Madhubani and Godna paintings, handloom silk and saris, applique bed-sheets, Madhubani saris and special delicacies will be the other attractions of the pavilion.

[sajiv]

Kalam turns teacher in the midst of students

THRISSUR: Former President A P J Abdul Kalam turned a teacher in the midst of students at several functions he attended here on Monday.Interacting with students of various schools located near Thrikkur on Monday morning Kalam taught the students the secret to achieve peace. He said: "Where there is righteousness at heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony at home.

When there is harmony at home, there is an order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world." He said that there are three sources that can build a youth with righteousness at heart.First is mother, second is father and the third and the most important is the teacher, particularly primary schoolteacher.

He said that apart from righteousness, the youth have to be equipped with creativity and courage.Later, responding to the questions raised by Jubilee Mission Medical College students during an interaction with him on Chandrayaan Mission, Kalam expressed his opinion that no nation can claim the moon as its own. The resources of the moon should be a common property and that is one of the aims of the moon mission.

Responding to another query, he said that no doctor can give life and hence the medical professionals should not resort to means that will destroy life by different names like euthanasia, abortion etc. Only kindhearted and compassionate people can become 'doctors'.

They are basically the teachers of the society.He exhorted the medical personnel to take up research and in India money is not a prime factor in research. He invited doctors and medical students to associate themselves to find out a solution to diseases like AIDS, diabetes etc. Answering yet another question, he opined that music gives harmony to life and even tyrant surrenders to music.

Kalam also said that he is able to smile, even against odd situation, thanks to his association with good friends and books.Later Kalam interacted with students of the St Thomas College and the Amala Medical College and Research Institute.

[sajiv]

NGRI scientist bags IGU award

HYDERABAD: National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) scientist R K Chadha has been presented the decennial award in the recently-concluded 45th Indian Geophysical Union (IGU) convention at Banaras Hindu University. The Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences would be honouring Chadha on November 15 during the AP Science Congress by making him a fellow of the academy, according to a press release. 

[sajiv]

Abul Kalam Azad remembered

ANANTAPUR: National Education Day was celebrated here on Tuesday on the occasion of the birth anniversary of first Education Minister of the country Moulana Abul Kalam Azad. Floral tributes were paid to Moulana Azad by garlanding his portrait.Speaking at a function organised on the occasion District Education Officer K. Munaiah told the students to emulate the scholar .

Project Officer of Rajiv Vidya Mission C.V. Krishna Reddy said that Moulana Azad dreamed of total literacy in the country for its comprehensive development. Field Publicity Officer K. Sirazuddin and others also spoke.Kurnool Special Correspondent adds: Umar Arabic High School too celebrated the birth anniversary here on Tuesday.

[sajiv]

Biotech options for value addition of farm produce

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vanilla from pomegranate? A reality, says Dr Christopher Augur, senior scientist with the Institute of Research and Development, University of Paul Cezanne in Marseille, France. The scientist was delivering a talk on 'Microbes and their enzymes: transforming specific agro-industrial waste' at the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment Hall.

It was the first of a series of lectures on biotechnology organised by the Kerala State Biotechnology Commission.  ''We can get some very interesting compounds by the microbial degradation of agro-industrial waste. Some of the most promising ones are vanillin from pomegranate fruit peel and taxifolin from coffee waste,'' said Dr Augur.

While agro-industrial waste like the coffee seed waste cannot be used as animal feed because of their high tannin content, they can be used to generate much useful compounds, he said. ''Degradation of these waste materials using fungus can generate some very interesting compounds that are important in biotechnology. Generating taxifolin this way can also be a blessing to the trees, which otherwise are damaged due to the peeling of the bark'' he said.

In addition to being eco-friendly, these solutions can be very cheap too. In the case of vanilla derived from pomegranate peel, the cost of the end-product can be brought down significantly, he said.  In a discussion thereafter, Dr ugur said that the acceptability of such microbe-derived vanillin should not be a problem as it is 'naturally bio-transformed' and not synthetic.

Dr Augur also went on to explain in detail the process by which coffee waste can be preserved for months even after the coffee season. This and the technology for making taxifolin, if it can be produced in a cost-effective manner, can become a boon to the coffee-farmers of the State too.

[manimarank]

New Laser Method Reproduces Art Masterworks To Protein Patterns

Canadian researchers have created a new protein patterning technique that's enabled them to reproduce complex cellular environments and a miniature version of a masterpiece painting.

According to a new study published in the journal Lab on a Chip, scientists from Université de Montréal, the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre, McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute have developed a laser technology that can mimic the protein patterns that surround cells in vivo and that could lead to great advances in neuroscience.

To illustrate the precision of their protein patterning technique, the research team reproduced a masterwork of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, specifically Girl with a Pearl Earring, in the miniature dimension of 200 microns wide or about the thickness of two hairs. The researchers also used their novel technology to replicate the brain's complex cellular environment. It's a major discovery, since the new laser technology can encourage and guide the growth of finicky nerve cells.

"We have created a system that can fabricate complex methods to grow cells," says Santiago Costantino, the study's lead author and a scientist at the Université de Montréal and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre.

"We see this technique as being very relevant to neuroscience and immunology research. With this system, we laid down a chemical gradient to guide the growth of nerve fiber, which is very useful in studying nerve damage and repair."

Flexible and precise

Using laser-assisted protein adsorption by photobleaching (LAPAP), the scientific team bound fluorescently-tagged molecules to a glass slides and created patterns of proteins similar to those of the human body. They then demonstrated how flexible and precise this technique could be by reproducing a fluorescent micro version of Girl With a Pearl Earring.

"The flexibility, precision and ease of this technique will hopefully lead to increased access in protein patterning, which could lead to major advances in science," says Dr. Costantino, who is also a member of the BioFemtoVision Canadian Research Group, which includes researchers from the Université de Montréal and the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique who are working on developing new laser technologies for vision science.

"Our next goal is to extend laser-assisted protein adsorption by photobleaching to fabricate more complex protein combinations and distributions," adds Dr. Costantino. "We want to improve our imitation of the chemical environment found in the early stages of developing organisms."

This study was funded through grants from the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada, the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec.

[sajiv]

Award for DMRL scientist

HYDERABAD: Samir V. Kamat, scientist 'G" of Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) here has been honoured with 'Metallurgist of the year' award for 2008 at the 46th National Metallurgists' day celebrations held at Greater Noida on Friday. The award instituted by the Ministry of Steel was given by the Indian Institute of Metals.

[sajiv]

Science congress from January 28

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 21st Kerala Science Congress is scheduled to be held at Kollam from January 28 to 31. It is being organised jointly by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) and the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI) and supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

[sajiv]

Forty students to take part in science forum

HOSUR: Forty students have been selected to take part in the State-level Students Science Forum to be held at Thakkalai in Kanyakumari District from December 5 to 7.

The students were selected on the basis of the papers on science projects submitted by them at the recently held 16th National Students Science Congress on Perumal Manimekalai College campus. T. Velusamy, President, Tamil Nadu Science Forum presided over the Congress. About 400 children participated in the Congress and presented papers relating to environmental issues.

The Tamil Nadu Science Forum District secretary, A. Sivakumar, told The Hindu that 10 students from Bargur Government Higher Secondary School and Hosur Government Girls Higher Secondary School, 25 students from John Bosco School, Hosur; Sishya School, Ashok Leyland School, Maharish School and Saint Joseph School and five students from Edison Tulir Illam in Hosur will take part in the Science Forum.

The national-level `Young Scientist' award will be selected at the Science Congress in Nagaland later.Perumal Manimakalai College Correspondent P. Kumar sponsored the programme, boarding and lodging for the participants at the college venue.Mr. Kumar also sponsored a science magazine for children `Tulir' for all the government schools in Krishnagiri District. An amount of Rs. 16,000 as one-year subscription was handed over by Mr. Kumar at the Congress.

[sajiv]

Scientists told to learn about farmers' problems

BANGALORE: The four-day 42nd Krishi Mela organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences at the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra here concluded on Sunday.The mela recorded a total of 4.25 lakh visitors. Farmers, students and research scholars of agricultural sciences, agro-economists, academics and a host of other experts visited the agricultural extravaganza.

The mela recorded a turnover of Rs. 1.87 crore and nearly 5,000 farmers consulted the raitha samparka kendra.

Three species of bovine animals brightened the valedictory programme. A pair of robust looking Hallikar bulls-"Rama Lakshmana" was brought to the valedictory function by Chikkaveerappa of Gadenahalli of Bangalore Rural district. This was followed by a three-month-old calf of Sahiwal (Gujarat breed) which was locally bred with the help of artificial insemination method. The huge Devani (Maharasthra breed) bull was another attraction. The animal parade provided some excitement to the audience.

Mr. Chikkaveerappa told The Hindu that when the Hallikar bulls were displayed at the livestock enclosure on November 13, the price of each bull was quoted at Rs. 1.8 lakh, but on the last day of the mela, the price went up to Rs. 2.2 lakh.

The university had organised prizes for stall owners and exhibitors. Minister for Small Industries and Silk Venktaramanappa gave away the prizes.

Mr. Venkataramanappa called upon the scientists to go to villages and find out what the farmers wanted and direct their energies and expertise to invent things that will help the farmers to increase the agricultural output, prevent crop loss and also bring them some profit.

Minister for Agricultural Markets and Sugar Shivaraj S Tangadagi said that he was not happy with the way the farmers were being guided by the departments concerned. He said many farmers did not know the benefits the government had extended to them. He said to give their products better prices all the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees in the State had been told to display prices for different produce in different markets so that the farmers could take their produce to the markets that offered them good price.

Vice Chancellor of UAS P.G. Chengappa was present.

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Science fairs need more focus: expert

HYDERABAD: The government should promote science fairs rather than science exhibitions as the latter promote scientific temperament among students and help in harvesting hybrid ideas, said Qazi Siraj Azher, Head of Pathology, Hurley Medical Centre in Flint, USA, on Monday.

There is a clear distinction between the two, he pointed out to the gathering that comprised Muslim students and their teachers from various parts of India. While a science exhibition is a 'show-and-tell' phenomena where participants build models copying them from text book(s), a science fair, on the other hand, has innovative models that are developed based on scientific investigation and research.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of third national science fair on 'International exposure of science fairs to meet global challenges and their role in human welfare' held in the city on Monday.

18 schools take part: As many as 18 schools from various parts of South India, including a madrasa from Bijapur participated in the 'science fair' that was aimed at bringing scientific awareness among Muslim children.

Students were also advised to identify critical areas for each of the global challenges – global warming, energy demands ad depletion of natural resources – and focus on their solutions.

Editor of Urdu daily Siasat Zahid Ali Khan spoke on the need for guiding Muslim children in their career so that "they can a step forward and ensure a bright future for themselves." They were also called upon to fill vacancies in civil services and other scientific posts meant for them.

The event was organised by Science Fair Academy, Hyderabad and AP State Council of Science and Technology.

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Over 400 students participate in Science Congress

SALEM: The Salem district level round of the 16th National Children Science Congress (NCSC) held at CSI Polytechnic College recently attracted more than 60 science projects. Over 400 students studying standard VI to Plus II from 40 schools submitted the projects under the topic 'Planet Earth Explore, Care and Share' during the event organised by the Tamil Nadu Science Forum (TNSF).

Two projects done by the students of Golden Gates Matriculation Higher Secondary School and Konganapuram AGN MHSS were selected under the English Junior category. Two more projects done by the students of Yercaud Montfort Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School and Mettur Malco Vidhyalaya HSS were selected under the English Senior category.

The project done by a group of students of Salem Sarada Vidyalaya HSS was selected under the Tamil Junior category, while the project of Mettur Vaitheeswara Vidhya Mandir HSS was selected under the Tamil Senior category.

Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association Salem District Secretary N. Lakshmi Narasimhan delivered the keynote address during the conference. College Principal Samson Ravindran presided. TNSF State Executive Committee members P. Sahasranamam and B.S. Elango spoke. Professors from Periyar University and Salem Government Arts College evaluated and selected the projects.

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Science buffs throng expo

VIJAYAWADA: The flurry of activity on the premises of Gora Science Centre indicated the excitement level of the participants of the three-day science exhibition that unfolded on Tuesday. The annual affair has been attracting new participants every year, testifying to the fact that science continues to be a hot subject for the inquisitive lot.

Among hundreds of working models exhibited at the venue by students of various schools and colleges, a few are attention grabbing. Embracing the concept of 'wealth from waste', students of a municipal school have given shape to their innovate mind's eye by exhibiting an elevator, a simple machine working on the principal of a pulley and consisting a wheel with a grooved rim in which a pulled rope is run to change the direction of the pull and thereby lift a load.

A hanging bridge on the campus is an instant draw. The Rs.37-lakh Interceptor Vehicle belonging to the Road Transport Authority is yet another cynosure of all eyes. Equipped with a speed laser gun for speed detection of a vehicle, breadth analyser to check drunken driving, a surveillance camera to keep a hawk's vigil on the traffic situation and a pollution testing machine, the vehicle is a subject of discussion among young researchers visiting the place.

Addressing the inaugural meeting, Deputy Transport Commissioner T. Raghunath pointed out that science was a double-edged sword that could be used as a source of construction or even destruction. "People's welfare, in this modern world, is intertwined with science and technology. There is no aspect of life which is untouched by science," he maintained, emphasising the need to promote scientific temper among the younger generation.

K. Srinivasu, principal of P.V.P. Siddhartha Institute of Technology, who presided over the meeting, said youth had a vital role to play in providing the much-needed boost to science as a subject. He said events like science exhibitions served as a perfect platform for promotion of scientific outlook.

Physician and national president-elect of the Indian Medical Association G. Samaram said the talent pool available in the country was not being put to proper use. "The Government must shift its focus to this vital aspect and encourage talent for a sustained development," he demanded.

Executive Director of Gora Science Centre G. Vijayam, Director Niyanta and others participated.

Students from institutions like K.C.P. Siddhartha Adarsh Residential School, Kanuru, P.B. Siddhartha Public School, N.S.M. Public School, Vignan Public School, Railway Mixed School, Railway Junior College, K.B.N. College, V. R. Siddhartha Engineering College participated. The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. till Thursday.

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Focus on solar energy

NEW DELHI: Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy and Amity Institute of Advanced Research and Studies (Materials and Devices) in collaboration with the DRDO hosted a technical meet-cum-seminar in Noida on Tuesday.

Titled "Fostering solar energy research in India", the event was inaugurated by DRDO's Prahlada.

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Seminar on bio-tech

NEW DELHI: A seminar-cum-exhibition on "Advanced achievements in Russian bio-technology" was organised jointly by Russian Centre of Science and Culture and the Russian Ministry of Education and Science here on Tuesday.

The event laid emphasis on intensive cooperation between Indian and Russian scientists.

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Fastest supercomp for science

Washington: A high-performance computing system at the department of energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been proclaimed the world's fastest super computer for science.  The Cray XT, called Jaguar, has been ranked first in the list of the world's top 500 computers, released at an annual supercomputing conference in Austin on Tuesday.

"This is the culmination of our vision to regain leadership in high performance computing. I am gratified because we make this machine available to the scientific community," said Mr Raymond L. Orbach, the undersecretary for Science.

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Workshop on satellite images

KARIMNAGAR: Vivekananda Institute of Technology and Sciences (VITS), on the outskirts of Karimnagar, will be organising a three-day national-level workshop on 'Digital image processing of satellite images' from November 27 to 29.

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Water ice glaciers spotted on Mars

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected what NASA scientists believe are huge glaciers of water ice lying beneath a layer of rocky debris.

The finding is significant because it helps scientists better understand a feature of the Martian surface that has puzzled them for decades. In the 1970s, the Viking orbiters sent back images that showed what have been dubbed "aprons," or large, gently sloping deposits of debris situated at the base of tall geographic formations like cliffs. Several theories for what created these aprons have been posed over the years. This research indicates that what's just beneath that debris is of much greater interest.

To investigate the planet's surface, the MRO spacecraft uses a radar instrument, donated for the project by the Italian Space Agency, that can penetrate the Martian ground. The instrument detected radio waves bouncing off a layer of material beneath the surface that were consistent with what is found in areas covered with water ice glaciers.

One of the things that makes the glaciers so interesting is their location. They're in the middle latitudes, far from the planet's polar caps where other signs of water ice have been discovered. The glaciers observed in this study are in the southern hemisphere, but similar features have been spotted in the same latitude bands in the northern hemisphere. That led researchers to believe that, however the glaciers got there, they're the result of a climate-based phenomenon.

And they're big, too. The glaciers reach for dozens of miles. One is three times larger than the city of Los Angeles and is up to a half-mile thick.

"Altogether, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that is not in the polar caps," lead author John W. Holt, of the University of Texas at Austin, said in a report.

The findings will be reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

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Students told to emulate scientists of ISRO

Manipal: Medical Education Minister Ramachandra Gowda said on Saturday that the State Government had sanctioned six new medical colleges at a cost of Rs. 600 crore in the last two years.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the convocation of Manipal University here.

'Helping the poor'
Mr. Gowda said that the new medical colleges had helped the meritorious and economically poor students to pursue higher education. These students would have to serve a minimum of two years in rural areas.

The public-private partnership had been successfully implemented in the State by joining hands with the Kasturba Medical College in providing clinical facilities at its hospitals in Mangalore and Udupi for training medical students.

This mutual cooperation was advantageous to both poor patients and the institutions. Ever since this public-private partnership was introduced in 1955, the standard of treatment at both the hospitals had improved enormously. "I wish this partnership concept continues for long and benefit the patients as well as students," he said.

The concept of public-private partnership in healthcare had been successful in Gujarat. Education played a vital role in the development of society. The quality of life and life-management could be enhanced only through education. Technology was an important tool for economic growth.

"Institutes of professional and technological education have a vital role to play in shaping the democratic and socially cohesive people," Mr. Gowda said.

Urging the students to emulate the scientists of ISRO, who were responsible for the successful "Chandrayaan" mission, Mr. Gowda said that students should make new breakthroughs in their respective fields after having spent their time in acquiring professional skills, concepts, and credentials. "Make the best use of these strengths to carve a glorious professional career," he said. Students should not forget their parents, alma maters and teachers, whose combined efforts had enabled them to convert their learning power into earning power.

"You must have commitment and dedication to serve poor patients", Mr. Gowda said. Management Consultant Gurucharan Das released "Manipal Link", a magazine.

Chancellor of Manipal University T. Ramdas Pai, Pro Chancellor H.S. Ballal, Vice Chancellor Rajasekharan Warrier, Pro Vice Chancellor S.S. Pabla, registrar (International Programmes) Vinod Bhat and registrar G.K. Prabhu were present.

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India's research in chemistry laudable'

Conference on recent advances in chemistry begins

DHARWAD: Anthony P. Davis of University of Bristol, United Kingdom, has said that the Indians had done commendable research work in the field of Chemistry.

He was inaugurating a four-day 45th Annual Convention of Chemists and International Conference on Recent Advances in Chemistry organised by the Post-Graduate Department of Studies in Chemistry, Karnatak University, here on Monday.

Lauding the contributions of Indian chemists, Prof. Davis said that Indian researchers should now come to the forefront and lead the world by embarking on new projects. He then presented a technical paper on "Synthetic Carbohydrates: Receptors".

Releasing a souvenir, university Registrar V. Rangaswamy lauded the Chemistry Department of the university for its research-oriented approach.

Referring to the fewer number of students pursuing higher education in natural sciences, he said chemists should take up such research projects that would become a source of inspiration for other students.

President of the Indian Chemical Society, Kolkata, Girjesh Govil, presided over the function. Honorary Secretary of the society, P.L. Manjumdar, spoke. Chairman of the convention's organising committee and convenor S.T. Nandibewoor and secretary M.V. Kulkarni were present.

[mushroomeater]

this is true. exercise and eating right can really extend life.. but it's hard to exercise in winter..

[sajiv]

Awareness programme on management of natural resources

NAMAKKAL: Namakkal Krishi Vigyan Kendra conducted an awareness programme on scientific management of natural resources here recently.

Seminar
A two-day seminar with the participation of farmers and scientists and an exhibition on soil and water conservation were held as a part of the programme.

Agricultural, horticultural, livestock and poultry production equipment, drip irrigation materials, power weeder, milking machine, cutters, new crop varieties and latest technologies were displayed in the exhibition, a press release from Programme Co-ordinator and Head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra B. Mohan said.

Soil protection
A rally to highlight the need for soil protection was also taken out.

School, college students and farmers took part in the rally.

Certificates
Collector U. Sagayam, participating in the valedictory of the programme, distributed certificates to progressive farmers, extension officials and school students.

Saplings were also supplied free of any cost, the release said.

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NASA scales back flagship Mars mission

LOS ANGELES — NASA is scrapping a controversial piece of hardware from its next-generation Mars rover that would have allowed the spacecraft to store rock fragments in a mini-basket for a future mission.

The decision to slash the storage bin from the Mars Science Laboratory's payload came as engineers raced to meet an October 2009 launch deadline on a project beset by escalating costs and technical challenges.

After consulting with independent scientists, NASA this week notified the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, to fly the nuclear-powered mega-rover without the container because of its "low science value." Removing the already-built part also means engineers would not have to spend time testing it.

Project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology said the box would have taken time away from other instruments during the mission.

"The cache would have tied our hands to some extent," Grotzinger said. "Now it restores our freedom."

The Mars Science Lab is billed as the most advanced craft to roam the Martian plains. The size of a small sports utility vehicle, it will study whether the environment was habitable in Mars' early history and will carry high-tech instruments to analyze rocks and soil in greater detail than previous surface missions.

Over $1.5 billion has been spent so far to develop the supersized project, but the final price tag is expected to top $2 billion.

The storage box was controversial ever since it was added to the project last year long after the mission goals had been defined. Supporters said squirreling away interesting pebbles would help push along a much-desired future mission to bring rocks back to Earth.

Opponents felt the $2 million piece was wasteful, saying any gathered samples will likely degrade over time. They also argued there was no guarantee a future spacecraft would fly to the Mars Science Lab's landing site to collect the basket.

Former NASA space sciences chief Alan Stern, who backed the idea, was baffled by the decision.

"The Mars program is slowly committing suicide in front of our very eyes," said Stern, who resigned earlier this year. "The only concrete step toward a sample return has been tossed after it has already been built. How does that save money?"

Scientists opted to use the space formerly occupied by the storage box for a cleaning station for the spacecraft's instruments.

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ISRO scouting for talents, says Annadurai

SATHYAMANGALAM: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is concerned about and addressing the issue of manpower shortage, Chandrayaan-I Project Director Mylswamy Annadurai has said.

Talking to journalists on the sidelines of a function the Bannari Amman Institute of Technology organised here on Saturday he said: "While ISRO's commitments are going up, the manpower is coming down in that experienced people are leaving us. And, somewhere along the line we have failed to reach out to fresh talent."

Stating that it was a cause for concern, he continued: "We need to think about retaining talent and also attracting fresh talent. And, we are at it."

At present the ISRO staff numbered 13,000, which included canteen staff and driver, while the number of Americans working on a shuttle was 10,000. "This is inadequate. Ideally, we would like to have one-and-half times more the number."

To draw the talents required, Mr. Annadurai felt Chandrayaan-I would help because "it has created awareness about India's space programme and the ISRO. This, I think, is one way of drawing talent."

The second way of attracting best minds, the Project Director continued, was to go scouting to top-notch engineering institutions for talents, which ISRO was doing.

He added that there was also a third way of attracting fresh minds in space exploration. "This is through industries, to which when ISRO outsources some portion of the manufacturing process, new jobs will be created. This is the indirect job creation process," Mr. Annadurai said and added that it would also lead to development of aerospace industry in the country as well.

ISRO, he pointed out, had outsourced 30 per cent of the manufacturing process of Chandrayaan-I, which cost nearly 400 crore. "A similar exercise for Chandrayaan-II will be done."

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Science exhibition from December 5

VIZIANAGARAM: The district-level science exhibition will be conducted at M.R. Model High School on December 5 and 6, according to DEO Y. Balaiah. In a press release, he said the exhibits that won first and second prizes at the mandal-level science exhibitions would be admitted in the exhibition. He asked headmasters and MEOs to submit the list of exhibits in his office by December 1.
Pratibha Puraskars

The District Vocational Education Office has said that the Director (Intermediate) released the list of 36 candidates who are eligible for Pratibha Puraskars for 2008-09. The candidates must send applications by December 15. Log onto – www.cie.gov.in – for applications.

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Space shuttle touches down safely

The space shuttle Endeavour has returned to Earth after an eventful mission to repair parts of the International Space Station (ISS).

The shuttle's landing site was switched from Florida to Edwards Air Force Base in California due to bad weather.

The shuttle touched down safely at around 1325 local time (2125GMT).

The mission had been extended by a day because Nasa wanted the shuttle's crew to make repairs to a machine which makes drinking water from urine.

Lost tool bag

The shuttle, with a crew of seven, was piloted by Commander Christopher Ferguson.

"Welcome back. That was a great way to finish a fantastic flight," Mission Control radioed.

"And we're happy to be here in California," Commander Ferguson replied.

Earlier on Sunday a Russian space vessel docked with the ISS, delivering food, clothes and Christmas presents.

Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov remotely guided the Progress spaceship to a docking port after an automated system failed.

Endeavour's mission saw the shuttle and its crew spend 16 days in space.


The equipment to provide drinking water from astronauts' urine had failed several times since it was delivered two weeks ago.

During four spacewalks, the crew serviced the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow its solar arrays to track the sun, and installed new hardware that will support future assembly missions.

The work was slower than expected because astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her tool bag during the first spacewalk.

Inside the station, ISS commander Mike Fincke supervised work on the malfunctioning water regeneration system which distils, filters, ionises and oxidises wastewater - including urine - into fresh water.

Earlier, the system's centrifuge - needed to separate solid particles from liquid as part of the distillation process - became unbalanced as it spun and shut down before the intended four-hour cycle was complete.


Nasa needs the new system operating before it can expand the station's crew from three to six people, which is currently scheduled for May 2009. To that end, the shuttle mission also delivered additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet and an exercise device.

The extended mission meant Endeavour's crew celebrated Thanksgiving in space and did not leave the station until Friday.

Endeavour's mission was the fourth and final orbiter mission of 2008.

The orbiter will now be transported from California to Florida's Kennedy Space Center on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet.

Once at Kennedy, the shuttle will be separated from the aircraft to begin immediate processing for its next flight, targeted for May 2009.

Next up to the station will be the Discovery shuttle in February. It will deliver the final pair of solar arrays, which will be installed on the starboard end of the station's truss, or backbone.

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State in the process of drafting a new science and technology policy

CHENNAI: After more than two decades, during which science and technology have seen vast changes, Tamil Nadu is in the process of drafting a new policy to reflect those changes. The State council responsible for the task has constituted a Vision Council to create a first draft for the new science and technology policy, which will be released next year. The Vision Council is currently in the process of collecting proposals and ideas to be included in the new policy, according to S. Vincent, member secretary of the Tamil Nadu Council for Science and Technology.

Around 60 persons, mostly vice-chancellors, eminent professors and educational policymakers, have been consulted so far, with another 40 on the list. Next, the council will throw a wider net, sounding out politicians, non-governmental organisations and even the media for their opinions. The Vision Council will consolidate the collected ideas and opinions to create the initial draft by May 2009, says Dr. Vincent. The Higher Education Department will then form a committee to evaluate the draft and make final changes before the government releases the new policy.

The council, formed after a nationwide brainstorming session of States' Science and Technology Ministers in May 2008 in Delhi, is chaired by Higher Education secretary K. Ganesan. The other members include Anna University - Chennai Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar, representing technical research and education and Madurai Kamaraj University Vice-Chancellor R. Karpaga Kumaravel, representing science and humanities.

The Department of Science and Technology advisor Lakshman Prasad will represent the Centre, AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre Director S. Seshadri will represent non-governmental participation in science and technology-based development, and Dr. Vincent.

The council, which has a three year term, may also co-opt experts and officials and form specialised sub-committees, if necessary.

The policy is expected to outline ways in which science and technology interventions can improve the economic development of the State and develop strategies to generate scientific manpower.

The major focus areas will be energy, health, agriculture and environment, according to Dr. Vincent. Both emerging and developed technologies will be used in the strategic interventions.

The policy will also promote scientific management of the State's natural resources.

Apart from scripting the draft policy, the Vision Council will be responsible for envisioning the State's scientific requirements in the long term, for the period between 2010 and 2025. In the short term, it will prepare a practical development action plan to implement the objectives of the new policy.

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Award for scientist

HYDERABAD: Scientist and founding coordinator of Centre for Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad P. Redanna will receive 'Chelikani Atchuta Rao Memorial Award for 2006-07'.

The award, which comes with a cash award of Rs. 7,001 and instituted by past president of FAPCCI C.V. Sitaramaswamy, will be presented by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on December 4, a release added.

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Solar physics going through renaissance


Bangalore: Solar physics in India is going through a "renaissance" with new facilities for observations and with missions such as the multi-wavelength ASTROSAT and ADITYA coronagraph to study the solar corona, said K. Kasturirangan, Member of Parliament and Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies.

He was speaking here on Tuesday at the inauguration of a four-day international conference organised by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP) on "Magnetic coupling between the Interior and the atmosphere of the Sun".

Tracing the major solar discoveries made from Indian soil in the 19th and 20th centuries, Dr. Kasturirangan said that both ground-based research and space-borne instruments were crucial in understanding solar activity and its impact on near Earth space weather.

The conference marks 100 years since the discovery of the Evershed Effect from the Kodaikanal Observatory in 1909. The Evershed Effect, named after John Evershed who discovered it, demonstrates the interaction between the sun's plasma and its magnetic field and helped in the scientific understanding of solar activity.