Giant Pandas
1 December 2012: Quashing the 'doomsday' rumours,NASA has assured that the world won't end on December 21, 2012.The 'doomsday story' started with claims that Nibiru heading towards Earth, creating an impact similar to that caused extinction of the dinosaurs.This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but then moved to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 and hence the predicted doomsday.NASA has also started a new section of their website entitled "Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End."Link:http://www.nasa.gov
2 December 2012:New figures from the Global Carbon Project has predicted that worldwide Carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise again this year, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes.The biggest contributors to global Carbon dioxide emissions in 2011 were China (28 per cent), the United States (16 per cent), the European Union (11 per cent), and India (7 per cent).Emissions in China and India grew by 9.9 and 7.5 per cent in 2011, while those of the United States and the European Union decreased by 1.8 and 2.8 per cent. The analysis is published in Nature Climate Change.Link:http://www.nature.com
3 December 2012:Confirming decades of suspicion, the NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has observed vast deposits of water ice on the North Pole of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. MESSENGER's Neutron Spectrometer spotted hydrogen, which is a large component of water ice. Researchers also believe that the South pole also has ice, but MESSENGER's orbit has not yet allowed extensive measurements of that region. MESSENGER will spiral closer to the planet in 2014 and 2015 as it runs out of fuel. This will let researchers look closer at the water ice as they figure out how much is there.Link:http://www.nasa.gov
4 December 2012:India is joining an ambitious international project that aims to develop artificial life.The “Synthetic Yeast 2.0 project” aims to produce a synthetic version of Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which could be used for cleaning up coal or exude biofuel.The project is spearheaded by the Johns Hopkins University will now include Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi.Manufacturing synthetic or lab-created yeast is part of an emerging field of biotechnology called "Synthetic Biology", where DNA of living organisms are used to build new organisms.Link:http://syntheticyeast.org
5 December 2012:It was on December 5, 1982, 30 years ago, the only known fossil of an ancestor of humans in South Asia was found on the banks of the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh. The Geological Survey of India team led by Arun Sonakia concluded that the fossil skull, called the Narmada Human represented Homo erectus, which is similar to the Java man or the Peking man.Homo erectus inhabited the Earth from 1.8 million years to as early as 2,00,000 years.The discovery, however, is not included in Indian school textbooks, so far.Link:http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in
6 December 2012:A new genetic study has found that Romanis, Europe's largest minority group, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago.The Romani people , also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed "gypsies" in the 16th century. The results revealed the the first group of Romani departed from what is now Punjab state in India during 500 CE.They entered Europe through Bulgaria and started dispersing around Europe in about 1100 CE. The study was conducted by David Comas who led the research group in Institut de Biologia Evolutiva at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain.Link:http://www.sciencedirect.com
7 December 2012:Almost 40 years to the day after the Apollo 17 crew snapped the famed "blue marble" image of Earth floating in space on December 7, 1972, NASA has unveiled "black marble" video views of the planet by night.The cloud-free pictures were taken with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard Suomi NPP satellite.Scientists used the day-night sensor to watch the superstorm Sandy, illuminated by moonlight, hit the New Jersey shore on October 29, 2012. The National Weather Service is using VIIRS for weather forecast.Link:http://www.nasa.gov
8 December 2012:Delegates to U.N. Climate Change Summit in Doha, Qatar, concluded today agreeing to extend the Kyoto Protocol to 2020, the pact that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. However, after eleven days of negotiations, US asked that the twelve paragraphs, about concerns of the developing world, be removed from document that the gathered 194 countries were expected to sign. The European Union and the 'Umbrella group' US, Australia and Canada opposed any reference to the Rio+20 declaration to the post-2012 Climate deal.Link:http://unfccc.int
9 December 2012:NASA has been laying out its plans to send a revised version of Curiosity rover to Mars.Curiosity's current mission is to look at the habitability of Mars,but version 2.0 could add the ability to bring samples back to Earth. But, before that, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter will be launched next year, and by 2014 it will be in orbit, analyzing the thin Martian atmosphere and the effects of solar winds on the planet.By 2016, the next lander will touchdown on Martian soil: InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport).Link:http://www.nasa.gov
10 December 2012: According to a new study by IUCN (International Union For Conservation of Nature), increasing human pressures are posing threat to the ecosystem of Suderbans in West Bengal.The study entitled titled ‘Sharing Lessons on Mangrove Restoration’ notes that depleting mangrove cover has made the islands more vulnerable to erratic climate conditions and invasion of alien species.Seawater intrusion has further affected the growth of freshwater-loving mangrove species such as the Heritiera.Link:http://www.mangrovesforthefuture.org
11 December 2012:The asteroid '4179 Toutatis', listed as a Potentially Hazardous Object, passed in close proximity to Earth at at 12:10 PM today.The asteroid passed Earth at a distance of 69,31,175, but posed no danger of impacting the Earth.This particular close approach by Toutatis is extra-special, because China's lunar orbiter, Chang'E 2, will fly within a few hundred kilometers of Toutatis on December 13. '4179 Toutatis' was first sighted on February 10, 1934 and then rediscovered on January 4, 1989, by Christian Pollas.Link:http://www.solarviews.com
12 December 2012:To attract more women to science, India and the US launched here a web-portal on best practices in public and private sector and policy initiatives in the field of technology in both countries.The portal will share best practices in the US and India to enable, promote and retain women in science.A study reveals that in the US, the percentage of females working in the fields of science lags far behind than that of the overall female-to-male workplace ratio.The portal was launched by US Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Link:http://indousstf.org
13 December 2012:E C G Sudarshan and Padma Shri Prof M Vijayan at Indian Institute of Sciencehave been selected for the Sasthrapuraskaram (ScienceAward) for the years 2011 and 2012 respectively. ECG Sudarshan, who specialises in Quantam Physics, is known for his Quantum Zero Effect and Tachyones that can travel faster than light.The award is jointly instituted by Department of Science and Technology and KSCSTE to honour scientists of Kerala origin working abroad.Link:http://www.kscste.kerala.gov.in
14 December 2012:Fifty years ago today, NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to the planet Venus, marking the first-ever flyby of another planet.On December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 passed Venus at nearly 41,000 km, collecting data about its Runaway Greenhouse Effect.The spacecraft's flyby also marked a proud moment for the United States while Soviet Union was claiming all the big space firsts.The Soviets launched the first artificial satellite in 1957, sent a probe to the moon in 1959 and put the first human in space in 1961.Link:http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
15 December 2012:NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured a crisp image of a river near the north pole of Saturn’s moon Titan. The hydrocarbon-filled river stretches more than 400 km in length.It is the first high-resolution image of a river system on a world beyond Earth and scientists are comparing it to Earth's Nile River in Egypt.The newly imaged river flows into Kraken Mare, Titan's largest known sea.Cassini mission, a collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, took this photo on 26 September 2012.Link: http://www.nasa.gov
2 December 2012:New figures from the Global Carbon Project has predicted that worldwide Carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise again this year, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes.The biggest contributors to global Carbon dioxide emissions in 2011 were China (28 per cent), the United States (16 per cent), the European Union (11 per cent), and India (7 per cent).Emissions in China and India grew by 9.9 and 7.5 per cent in 2011, while those of the United States and the European Union decreased by 1.8 and 2.8 per cent. The analysis is published in Nature Climate Change.Link:http://www.nature.com
3 December 2012:Confirming decades of suspicion, the NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has observed vast deposits of water ice on the North Pole of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. MESSENGER's Neutron Spectrometer spotted hydrogen, which is a large component of water ice. Researchers also believe that the South pole also has ice, but MESSENGER's orbit has not yet allowed extensive measurements of that region. MESSENGER will spiral closer to the planet in 2014 and 2015 as it runs out of fuel. This will let researchers look closer at the water ice as they figure out how much is there.Link:http://www.nasa.gov
4 December 2012:India is joining an ambitious international project that aims to develop artificial life.The “Synthetic Yeast 2.0 project” aims to produce a synthetic version of Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which could be used for cleaning up coal or exude biofuel.The project is spearheaded by the Johns Hopkins University will now include Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi.Manufacturing synthetic or lab-created yeast is part of an emerging field of biotechnology called "Synthetic Biology", where DNA of living organisms are used to build new organisms.Link:http://syntheticyeast.org
5 December 2012:It was on December 5, 1982, 30 years ago, the only known fossil of an ancestor of humans in South Asia was found on the banks of the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh. The Geological Survey of India team led by Arun Sonakia concluded that the fossil skull, called the Narmada Human represented Homo erectus, which is similar to the Java man or the Peking man.Homo erectus inhabited the Earth from 1.8 million years to as early as 2,00,000 years.The discovery, however, is not included in Indian school textbooks, so far.Link:http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in
6 December 2012:A new genetic study has found that Romanis, Europe's largest minority group, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago.The Romani people , also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed "gypsies" in the 16th century. The results revealed the the first group of Romani departed from what is now Punjab state in India during 500 CE.They entered Europe through Bulgaria and started dispersing around Europe in about 1100 CE. The study was conducted by David Comas who led the research group in Institut de Biologia Evolutiva at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain.Link:http://www.sciencedirect.com
7 December 2012:Almost 40 years to the day after the Apollo 17 crew snapped the famed "blue marble" image of Earth floating in space on December 7, 1972, NASA has unveiled "black marble" video views of the planet by night.The cloud-free pictures were taken with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard Suomi NPP satellite.Scientists used the day-night sensor to watch the superstorm Sandy, illuminated by moonlight, hit the New Jersey shore on October 29, 2012. The National Weather Service is using VIIRS for weather forecast.Link:http://www.nasa.gov
8 December 2012:Delegates to U.N. Climate Change Summit in Doha, Qatar, concluded today agreeing to extend the Kyoto Protocol to 2020, the pact that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. However, after eleven days of negotiations, US asked that the twelve paragraphs, about concerns of the developing world, be removed from document that the gathered 194 countries were expected to sign. The European Union and the 'Umbrella group' US, Australia and Canada opposed any reference to the Rio+20 declaration to the post-2012 Climate deal.Link:http://unfccc.int
9 December 2012:NASA has been laying out its plans to send a revised version of Curiosity rover to Mars.Curiosity's current mission is to look at the habitability of Mars,but version 2.0 could add the ability to bring samples back to Earth. But, before that, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter will be launched next year, and by 2014 it will be in orbit, analyzing the thin Martian atmosphere and the effects of solar winds on the planet.By 2016, the next lander will touchdown on Martian soil: InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport).Link:http://www.nasa.gov
10 December 2012: According to a new study by IUCN (International Union For Conservation of Nature), increasing human pressures are posing threat to the ecosystem of Suderbans in West Bengal.The study entitled titled ‘Sharing Lessons on Mangrove Restoration’ notes that depleting mangrove cover has made the islands more vulnerable to erratic climate conditions and invasion of alien species.Seawater intrusion has further affected the growth of freshwater-loving mangrove species such as the Heritiera.Link:http://www.mangrovesforthefuture.org
11 December 2012:The asteroid '4179 Toutatis', listed as a Potentially Hazardous Object, passed in close proximity to Earth at at 12:10 PM today.The asteroid passed Earth at a distance of 69,31,175, but posed no danger of impacting the Earth.This particular close approach by Toutatis is extra-special, because China's lunar orbiter, Chang'E 2, will fly within a few hundred kilometers of Toutatis on December 13. '4179 Toutatis' was first sighted on February 10, 1934 and then rediscovered on January 4, 1989, by Christian Pollas.Link:http://www.solarviews.com
12 December 2012:To attract more women to science, India and the US launched here a web-portal on best practices in public and private sector and policy initiatives in the field of technology in both countries.The portal will share best practices in the US and India to enable, promote and retain women in science.A study reveals that in the US, the percentage of females working in the fields of science lags far behind than that of the overall female-to-male workplace ratio.The portal was launched by US Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Link:http://indousstf.org
13 December 2012:E C G Sudarshan and Padma Shri Prof M Vijayan at Indian Institute of Sciencehave been selected for the Sasthrapuraskaram (ScienceAward) for the years 2011 and 2012 respectively. ECG Sudarshan, who specialises in Quantam Physics, is known for his Quantum Zero Effect and Tachyones that can travel faster than light.The award is jointly instituted by Department of Science and Technology and KSCSTE to honour scientists of Kerala origin working abroad.Link:http://www.kscste.kerala.gov.in
14 December 2012:Fifty years ago today, NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to the planet Venus, marking the first-ever flyby of another planet.On December 14, 1962, Mariner 2 passed Venus at nearly 41,000 km, collecting data about its Runaway Greenhouse Effect.The spacecraft's flyby also marked a proud moment for the United States while Soviet Union was claiming all the big space firsts.The Soviets launched the first artificial satellite in 1957, sent a probe to the moon in 1959 and put the first human in space in 1961.Link:http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
15 December 2012:NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured a crisp image of a river near the north pole of Saturn’s moon Titan. The hydrocarbon-filled river stretches more than 400 km in length.It is the first high-resolution image of a river system on a world beyond Earth and scientists are comparing it to Earth's Nile River in Egypt.The newly imaged river flows into Kraken Mare, Titan's largest known sea.Cassini mission, a collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, took this photo on 26 September 2012.Link: http://www.nasa.gov
16 December 2012:Researchers have discovered a new Slow Loris (Nycticebus) species in the central-east highland jungles of Borneo. Known for its toxic bite,the Slow Loris is a nocturnal primate found across Southeast Asia. They are rated as Vulnerable/Endangered on the IUCN Red List.An international team of scientists pinpointed the new species by studying the distinctive colorings of their faces.They also upgraded two subspecies of Slow Loris as separate species.The finding is published in the American Journal of Primatology.Link:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
17 December 2012:A research team in Kerala has discovered a new species of blind Catfish and named it Horaglanis abdulkalami in honor of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. The team was led by Dr. Bijoy Nandan of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).Th new species was found in an old well in Irinjalakuda,Thrissur.This blind Catfish is the third discovered from Kerala,the others being Horaglanis alikunhii and Horaglanis krishnai.The paper was published in the Indian science journal Samagra.Link:https://sites.google.com
18 December 2012: A team of Italian Art Historians and Archaeologists have discovered what may be the skeleton of Lisa Gherardini, the woman who posed for Monalisa, the world's most famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Lisa Gherardini was the second wife of a wealthy silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo in Florence, Italy. The team is attempting to send the bones to universities in Italy and abroad, where they will be checked against the DNA of two confirmed relatives of Lisa Gherardini.Most modern historians believe that the lady in the painting is Lisa Gherardini. Link:http://www.louvre.fr
19 December 2012:Researchers from University of North Dakota, claim to have discovered a new type of chemical bonding in distant Universe which may help explain how stars form, evolve, and eventually die.White dwarfs have an unusual spectrum that has been thought to result from polymerised hydrogen and helium which, of course, do not occur on Earth.It's possible out there because the magnetic fields on white dwarfs are several orders of magnitude larger than that on Earth.The discovery was published in the journal Science.Link:http://www.sciencemag.org
20 December 2012:The Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation will honour the Indian Scientist Professor Tejinder (Jim) Virdee FRS, who designed the CMS particle detector for the Large Hardron Collider Experiment at CERN. Professor Virdee is considered founding fathers of the CMS, carrying out the first preliminary studies to detect a Higgs boson in 1990.A separate $3 million prize is awarded to theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. The prizes will be given at a ceremony at CERN on 20 March 2013.Link:http://www.fundamentalphysicsprize.org
21 December 2012:NASA's twin lunar-orbiting GRAIL spacecraft are preparing to smash into the surface of the Moon.The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probs, Ebb and Flow, will be intentionally crash-landed on the Moon which is scheduled for 24th December.They will hit a mountain located near the Goldschmidt Crater, finishing a mission that started on 1 January, this year. NASA declared that it is dedicating the crash landing spot in honor of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space who died earlier this year.Link:http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
22 December 2012:Today is Srinivasa Ramanujan's 125th birthday, and India is celebrating it as National Mathematics Day.India has also declared 2012- National Mathematical Year as a tribute to Srinivasa Ramanujan.Ramanujan was born in a poor Hindu Brahmin family on 22 December 1887 in Kumbhakonam, then part of Madras presidency. His brilliance was recgonised by G.H hardy, and was invited to work in Cambridge.On 26 April 1920, he died of illness, and possibly malnutrition at the age of 32.
Link:http://www.imsc.res.in
23 December 2012:The launch of SARAL (Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa), the joint Indo-French satellite, meant for studying the circulation of currents in the oceans and sea surface heights, has been postponed from December to the second week of February 2013. A core-alone version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will carry SARAL containing five other satellites along with NEOSSAT (Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) which is the world’s first space telescope dedicated to detecting and tracking asteroids and satellites.Link:http://www.isro.org
24 December 2012:An international team of researchers completed the first high-quality reference genome of the domestic Goat (Capra hircus), marking the first time the DNA of a ruminant animal has been sequenced. The ~2.66 Gb Goat genome was from a female Yunnan Black Goat. The genome could be useful for facilitating single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker identifications as well as improving the creature’s usefulness as a bioreactor and a biomedical model.The findings are published in Nature Biotechnology.
Link:http://www.nature.com
25 December 2012:Astronomers say that a rare super-comet called C/2012 S1 (ISON) moving towards the Sun from outer solar system would outshine Moon in November 2013. C/2012 S1 (ISON) was first noticed in September 2012.The comet would be closest to the Sun in November 2013. It will be ISON's first voyage through the solar system. Astronomers believe that this comet may contain certain volatile gases which are not found in any other comets and hope that it would help them to know about the materials of the outer solar system.Link:http://www.cometography.com
26 December 2012:China launched world’s longest high-speed rail route, linking the nation’s capital in Beijing to the country’s southeastern hub of Guangzhou.Averaging speeds of up to 186 m.p.h. (300 km/h), the 1,425-mile (2,293 km) route now takes eight hours to complete; previously, the journey would take about 22 hours by train.Reports say that, December 26) was chosen as the date for the train’s maiden voyage to commemorate the birthday of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China.
Link:http://english.gov.cn
27 December 2012:A number of alien-like skulls have been discovered in a 1,000 year old cemetery in Mexico.The finding initially stunned the researchers, however, upon closer inspection the skulls were found to be human skulls warped into strange, alien-like shapes.Scientists said the practise of deforming skulls of children as they grew was common in Central America, and these findings suggest the tradition spread farther north than had been thought.The cemetery, referred to as El Cementerio, contained the remains of 25 human burials.Link:http://www.clas.ufl.edu
28 December 2012:The first National Biodiversity Conference, organised jointly by National Biodiversity Authority and its Kerala counterpart, began today in Thiruvananthapuram, capital city of Kerala.The focal theme of NBC 2012 is "Biodiversity for food security".A special session on "Western Ghats in World Heritage Status: Challenges and Opportunities" is also planned along with the Congress, to bring into focus the serious threats faced by biodiversity of the Western Ghats and to gear up the conservation initiatives.Link:http://nbc-india.org
29 December 2012:NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500,000 kg asteroid, relocate it and transform it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.It would be the first time a celestial object has ever been moved by humans.An ‘Asteroid Capture Capsule’ attached to an old Atlas V rocket would release a 50 ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings, From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space. Link:http://www.nasa.gov
30 December 2012:The former Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, ISRO, A.E. Muthunayagam, will receive the prestigious Aryabhatta award, instituted by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), for the year 2010 and V.K. Saraswat, Director-general of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for 2011.The ASI awards for rocket and related technologies will go to G. Satheesh Reddy, Associate Director, Imarat, Hyderabad, for 2010 and P. Kunhikrishnan of the VSSC,Trivandrum,for 2011.Link:http://www.asindia.org
31 December 2012:Chinese scientists led by Dr Xiuwen Yan at the Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University, discovered that a compound, called Cathelicidin-AM in the blood stream of Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) can destroy fungi and bacteria.The scientists found that Cathelicidin-AM killed bacteria in less than an hour while other antibiotics took more than six hours.The finding has become an added reason to protect these Giant Pandas which are now less than 1,600 in the wild. Link:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
17 December 2012:A research team in Kerala has discovered a new species of blind Catfish and named it Horaglanis abdulkalami in honor of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. The team was led by Dr. Bijoy Nandan of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).Th new species was found in an old well in Irinjalakuda,Thrissur.This blind Catfish is the third discovered from Kerala,the others being Horaglanis alikunhii and Horaglanis krishnai.The paper was published in the Indian science journal Samagra.Link:https://sites.google.com
18 December 2012: A team of Italian Art Historians and Archaeologists have discovered what may be the skeleton of Lisa Gherardini, the woman who posed for Monalisa, the world's most famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Lisa Gherardini was the second wife of a wealthy silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo in Florence, Italy. The team is attempting to send the bones to universities in Italy and abroad, where they will be checked against the DNA of two confirmed relatives of Lisa Gherardini.Most modern historians believe that the lady in the painting is Lisa Gherardini. Link:http://www.louvre.fr
19 December 2012:Researchers from University of North Dakota, claim to have discovered a new type of chemical bonding in distant Universe which may help explain how stars form, evolve, and eventually die.White dwarfs have an unusual spectrum that has been thought to result from polymerised hydrogen and helium which, of course, do not occur on Earth.It's possible out there because the magnetic fields on white dwarfs are several orders of magnitude larger than that on Earth.The discovery was published in the journal Science.Link:http://www.sciencemag.org
20 December 2012:The Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation will honour the Indian Scientist Professor Tejinder (Jim) Virdee FRS, who designed the CMS particle detector for the Large Hardron Collider Experiment at CERN. Professor Virdee is considered founding fathers of the CMS, carrying out the first preliminary studies to detect a Higgs boson in 1990.A separate $3 million prize is awarded to theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. The prizes will be given at a ceremony at CERN on 20 March 2013.Link:http://www.fundamentalphysicsprize.org
21 December 2012:NASA's twin lunar-orbiting GRAIL spacecraft are preparing to smash into the surface of the Moon.The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probs, Ebb and Flow, will be intentionally crash-landed on the Moon which is scheduled for 24th December.They will hit a mountain located near the Goldschmidt Crater, finishing a mission that started on 1 January, this year. NASA declared that it is dedicating the crash landing spot in honor of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space who died earlier this year.Link:http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
22 December 2012:Today is Srinivasa Ramanujan's 125th birthday, and India is celebrating it as National Mathematics Day.India has also declared 2012- National Mathematical Year as a tribute to Srinivasa Ramanujan.Ramanujan was born in a poor Hindu Brahmin family on 22 December 1887 in Kumbhakonam, then part of Madras presidency. His brilliance was recgonised by G.H hardy, and was invited to work in Cambridge.On 26 April 1920, he died of illness, and possibly malnutrition at the age of 32.
Link:http://www.imsc.res.in
23 December 2012:The launch of SARAL (Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa), the joint Indo-French satellite, meant for studying the circulation of currents in the oceans and sea surface heights, has been postponed from December to the second week of February 2013. A core-alone version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will carry SARAL containing five other satellites along with NEOSSAT (Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) which is the world’s first space telescope dedicated to detecting and tracking asteroids and satellites.Link:http://www.isro.org
24 December 2012:An international team of researchers completed the first high-quality reference genome of the domestic Goat (Capra hircus), marking the first time the DNA of a ruminant animal has been sequenced. The ~2.66 Gb Goat genome was from a female Yunnan Black Goat. The genome could be useful for facilitating single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker identifications as well as improving the creature’s usefulness as a bioreactor and a biomedical model.The findings are published in Nature Biotechnology.
Link:http://www.nature.com
25 December 2012:Astronomers say that a rare super-comet called C/2012 S1 (ISON) moving towards the Sun from outer solar system would outshine Moon in November 2013. C/2012 S1 (ISON) was first noticed in September 2012.The comet would be closest to the Sun in November 2013. It will be ISON's first voyage through the solar system. Astronomers believe that this comet may contain certain volatile gases which are not found in any other comets and hope that it would help them to know about the materials of the outer solar system.Link:http://www.cometography.com
26 December 2012:China launched world’s longest high-speed rail route, linking the nation’s capital in Beijing to the country’s southeastern hub of Guangzhou.Averaging speeds of up to 186 m.p.h. (300 km/h), the 1,425-mile (2,293 km) route now takes eight hours to complete; previously, the journey would take about 22 hours by train.Reports say that, December 26) was chosen as the date for the train’s maiden voyage to commemorate the birthday of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China.
Link:http://english.gov.cn
27 December 2012:A number of alien-like skulls have been discovered in a 1,000 year old cemetery in Mexico.The finding initially stunned the researchers, however, upon closer inspection the skulls were found to be human skulls warped into strange, alien-like shapes.Scientists said the practise of deforming skulls of children as they grew was common in Central America, and these findings suggest the tradition spread farther north than had been thought.The cemetery, referred to as El Cementerio, contained the remains of 25 human burials.Link:http://www.clas.ufl.edu
28 December 2012:The first National Biodiversity Conference, organised jointly by National Biodiversity Authority and its Kerala counterpart, began today in Thiruvananthapuram, capital city of Kerala.The focal theme of NBC 2012 is "Biodiversity for food security".A special session on "Western Ghats in World Heritage Status: Challenges and Opportunities" is also planned along with the Congress, to bring into focus the serious threats faced by biodiversity of the Western Ghats and to gear up the conservation initiatives.Link:http://nbc-india.org
29 December 2012:NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500,000 kg asteroid, relocate it and transform it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.It would be the first time a celestial object has ever been moved by humans.An ‘Asteroid Capture Capsule’ attached to an old Atlas V rocket would release a 50 ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings, From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space. Link:http://www.nasa.gov
30 December 2012:The former Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, ISRO, A.E. Muthunayagam, will receive the prestigious Aryabhatta award, instituted by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), for the year 2010 and V.K. Saraswat, Director-general of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for 2011.The ASI awards for rocket and related technologies will go to G. Satheesh Reddy, Associate Director, Imarat, Hyderabad, for 2010 and P. Kunhikrishnan of the VSSC,Trivandrum,for 2011.Link:http://www.asindia.org
31 December 2012:Chinese scientists led by Dr Xiuwen Yan at the Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University, discovered that a compound, called Cathelicidin-AM in the blood stream of Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) can destroy fungi and bacteria.The scientists found that Cathelicidin-AM killed bacteria in less than an hour while other antibiotics took more than six hours.The finding has become an added reason to protect these Giant Pandas which are now less than 1,600 in the wild. Link:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
