 |
| Russia's space hotel which aims space tourists as well as researchers. Opening shortly!!. Photo Courtesy: http://www.orbitec.com/ |
1 August 2011: Virgin Limited enters the underwater world with Necker Nymph, a DeepFlight three-person aero submarine. Designed and built by renowned engineer, Graham Hawkes, of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, Necker Nymph represents offers the unique experience of underwater flight. Unlike all conventional submariness Necker Nymph uses its wings to fly down to depth.It can take travellers to sites of ancient shipwrecks, the options are endless. For 7-nights' exclusive hire, the sub is available at a weekly rate of US$ 25,000. Link: http://www.virginlimitededition.com
2 August 2011: For the first time, molecular variety of Oxygen has been discovered in space in Orion constellation of stars which forms clouds.It is the first time that molecular Oxygen is detected from outer space.The discovery was made by ESA’s Herschel HIFI far-infrared instrument that targeted Orion under Herschel Oxygen Project. They found one molecule of oxygen for every million hydrogen molecules in Orion.Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe. Link: http://sci.esa.int/science-e
3 August 2011: Four years after launch from Cape Canaveral, NASA's ion-drive Dawn spacecraft is finally in orbit around the asteroid Vesta, studying the second largest body in the rubble-strewn belt between Mars and Jupiter in unprecedented detail. Pictures released today show a strangely tortured world with huge parallel grooves separating the heavily cratered northern hemisphere from smoother terrain in the south dominated by the chaotic remnants of a catastrophic impact.Link: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
4 August 2011: One of the world's most famous fossil creatures, Archaeopteryx , widely considered the earliest known bird, is getting a rude present on the 150th birthday of its discovery. Chinese scientists are proposing that Archaeopteryx should be onto a closely related branch of bird-like dinosaurs. Archaeopteryx had wings and feathers, but also quite un-birdlike traits like teeth and a bony tail
5 August 2011: Just two weeks after the end of its historic shuttle programme, NASA will today launch a solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter.The robotic explorer Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun. It will blast-off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11.34am local time (4.34pm BST) aboard an unmanned Atlas V rocket. It is the first of three high-profile astronomy missions coming up for Nasa in the next four months. Link: http://www.nasa.gov/juno/
6 August 2011: Today it has been 50 years since the Soviet cosmonaut, Gherman Titov, took off aboard his Vostok-2 spacecraft three and a half months after the first man’s flight into space, - on August 6th 1961. He was 25 at the time, and there’s been no one younger than that who has since travelled in space. The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin was 27 at the time of his space flight. Titov orbited the earth 17 times and covered 700,000 kilometers. He was the first man who filmed our planet from space. Link: http://www.warheroes.ru/
7 August 2011: A team of researchers at Zoological Survey of India led by renowned scientist Dr Anil Zachariah has discovered ten new species of frogs from the hill ranges of southern Western Ghats. Among the ten species, nine species belong to the Raorchestes genus. One species in the Raorchestes genus has been named Raorchestes agasthyaensis, after the Vedic sage Agastya.The discovery is published in the journal Biosytamatica. Link:http://www.tcntrust.org/journal.php
8 August 2011: Planetary scientists claim to have for the first time spotted a thin band of anti-matter particles, called anti-protons, enveloping the Earth. The astronomers say that a small number of anti-protons lie between the Van Allen belts of trapped "normal" matter. The anti-protons were spotted by the Pamela satellite launched in 2006 to study the nature of high-energy particles from the Sun and from beyond our Solar System. The finding is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Link: http://pamela.roma2
9 August 2011: Scientists have found components of DNA, the building blocks of life on Earth, in meteorites, a discovery they say confirms the theory that at least some of the materials needed to make early life forms came to our planet from space. Scientists found three nucleobases, purine, 6,8-diaminopurine and 2,6-diaminopurine that are widely distributed in carbonaceous chondrites and which are "rare or absent in terrestrial biology". The NASA-funded study ispublished in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Link: http://www.pnas.org/
10 August 2011: An enormous bird, taller than an adult human, walked the Earth more than 80 million years ago, according to a new study. The oversized birds were more common during the Age of Dinosaurs in parts of the Cretaceous world. Researchers have named it as Samrukia nessovi - "Samrukia" after the Samruk, the mythological Kazakh phoenix, and "nessovi" after Russian paleontologist Lev Nessov. The toothless lower jaw was discovered from a hilly site in Kazakhstan. The study is published in the journal Biology Letters. Link: http://www.port.ac.uk
11 August 2011: Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Atlantic cod is a commercially important catch in fisheries around the Northern Hemisphere. Kjetill Jakobsen of University of Oslo says that their findings affect fundamental assumptions about immune system evolution. The scientists are now trying to understand what led cod's immune strategy which had been effective in dealing with the fish's microbial and environmental enemies from bacteria to extreme cold water.The study is published in Nature. Link: http://www.nature.com
12 August 2011: Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU) and BGI, the world's largest genomics organisation, jointly announced the complete sequencing of genomes of four important representative species in Inner Mongolia. They are the Mongolian Horse, Mongolian Sheep, Alxa Bactrian Camel and Mongolian Cattle. In making the announcement, the two institutions said the genome projects will prove useful in studies of important economic traits in Mongolian characteristic species, such as fast breeding and reproduction, strong disease resistance and superior meat quality, among others. Link: http://www1.imau.edu.cn/lxsh/
13 August 2011: Indian Air Force is setting up a "bird lab" in collaboration with the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, to DNA bar-code different species of birds found on the Indian subcontinent that are causing problems to aircrafts. A barcode library of 26 Indian species has been developed, with another 50 species to be added soon.Indian Air Force has for long undertaken several bird hazard control measures ranging from "zone guns", automated scarecrows and special frequency transmitters. Link: http://www.nccs.res.in/
14 August 2011: The world could soon have an effective vaccine against Chikungunya - the viral disease. Researchers have successfully created a new experimental vaccine against the Chikungunya virus. A single dose of the experimental vaccine protected lab mice from infection with the virus, according to a paper published online in the journal PLoS Pathogens. Currently, there is no treatment or vaccine for Chikungunya and it has to be tackled with paracetamol and fluids. Link: http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002142
15 August 2011: Hon. President of India Pratibha Patil presented the INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) awards to the winners today. The INSPIRE Award scheme targets to encourage, over a five year period, one million children in the age group of 10 to15 years to innovate small science projects. In the National category, the first award was given to Coil Shreyansh Jain of Rajasthan (State) for Tesla model. The second national award winner was Assam’s Morson Rongpi for Pressure Miracle model. They received gold and silver medal, cash awards and laptop. There were also regional awards.Link: http://www.educationportal.mp.gov.in
16 August 2011: The ‘Lost Amphibians of India’ Project initiated by University of Delhi is nearing its completion. India could well become the first country to have a conservation programme for amphibians including frogs.India currently has 317 known species of amphibians – 283 frogs (Order Anura), 33 caecilians (Gymnophiona) and 1 salamander (Caudata). Out of these 300 odd species, 168 are found in the Western Ghats with 146 endemic species. Kerala forest contain 40 endemic species. Link: http://www.lostspeciesindia.org
17 August 2011: Prof K. Pappootty, prolific writer and science communicator, is awarded the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2011 instituted by Sahitya Academy in the regional Language section (Malayalam) for his Science Fiction entitled "Chiruthakkuttiyum Mashum". Prof. Papputty was the Director of State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications. The book was published by Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishat. The Award in the form of an engraved copper-plaque and a cheque of Rs. 50,000/- will be presented at a special function to be held in November 2011. Link: http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/
18 August 2011: In a major setback to the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), world's first surviving buffalo clone Garima that had been created by the scientists, died of heart failure at centre's Veterinary centre here today evening. Cloned on June 6,2009, two-year-old Garima, the buffalo clone was not keeping well for past month and half. Notably, this is the second such casualty of cloned buffalo in the institute over the period of past one week. Now NDRI is left with two clones namely Garima II and Shresh. Garima was hailed as the success of Indian scientist's "Advanced Hand-guided Cloning technique". Link: http://www.ndri.res.in/
19 August 2011: Orbital Technologies, the Russian company plans to open the first space hotel in history in five year's time. The space hotel, or "Commercial Space Station," as it's officially called, will float 250 miles above Earth. The hotel can accommodate a maximum of seven people at a time.The firm says that stays can range from three days to six months.Orbital Technologies plans to use Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecrafts to transport passengers, though sometimes it may be using other manned spacecraft made in the United States, Europe and China. Link: http://www.orbitec.com/
20 August 2011:India’s first-ever permanent exhibition on nuclear power was dedicated to the nation at Nehru Science Centre in Worli, Mumbai in its silver jubilee year.The exhibition is titled “Hall of Nuclear Power”. It covers almost all the aspects of nuclear energy, which include extensive information about nuclear power generation, its basics, productions, fuel processing, transportation, safety, security, nuclear waste and its management.The gallery has been set up at the cost of about Rs. 1.70 crores by the NPCIL jointly with National Council of Science Museums. It is India’s first-ever permanent exhibition on nuclear power and a proud addition to the Nehru ScienceCentre.Link: http://www.nehrusciencecentre.org/
21 August 2011: A Netherlands-based company called Medicinal Genomics has just announced the successful genetic sequencing of Marijuvana (Cannabis sativa), which is widely consumed for centuries as an intoxicant and a medicine. The genome of Cannabis sativa is roughly 400 million base pairs long; the human genome has 3 billion. The study of the genome can help in isolation of the genes responsible for the creation of the pharmaceutically active compounds such as THC, CBD, and some 60 other cannabinoids. The study is published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology.Link: http://www.medicinalgenomics.com/
22 August 2011: An international consortium of researchers present the first kangaroo genome sequence,that of the Tammar Wallaby species (Macropus eugenii). The sequencing was conducted by an international consortium of scientists from Australia, USA, Japan, England and Germany. As the ancestors of kangaroos separated from other mammals at least 130 million years ago, it is hoped that the DNA sequence is in some senses a living fossil of the early mammalian species from which humans evolved. The study is published in Genome Biology. Link: http://genomebiology.com/
23 August 2011:The asteroid Apophis – which is 270 meters in diameter, will collide with Earth on April 13, 2036. Shengping Gong, Junfeng Li, and Xiangyuan Zeng of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China proposes a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid to avoid the impaction.The results show that a 10 kg solar sail with a lead-time of one year will give the spacecraft an impact velocity of 90 km per second which – if done well enough in advance – can move Apophis out of a 600-m keyhole area in 2029 to prevent its return to Earth in 2036. The study is published in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Link: http://www.raa-journal.org
24 August 2011: The Tummalapalle mines in southern Andhra Pradesh in India has been found to hold massive Uranium reserve which is speculated to be the largest in the world. In the mean time, the Geological Survey of India in collaboration with the Orissa Mining Corporation has found a rich deposit of Platinum Group of Elements (PGE) in the Baula-Nuasahi complex in Orissa. The PGE found in Orissa comprises Platinum, Palladium, Iridium, Rhodium, Osmium and Ruthenium.The Institute has also discovered gold deposits in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Karnataka and copper, lead and zinc in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Link: http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in
25 August 2011:Dengue transmission could be suppressed by infecting mosquitoes with natural virus-blocking bacteria. reaearchers at Australia's University of Melbourne infected mosquitoes with a bacterium called Wolbachia, preventing the mosquito from contracting dengue fever. Wolbachia lives in the cytoplasm of cells and causes cytoplasmic incompatibility, which gives the bacteria a powerful mechanism to invade a population of insects.The researchers plan to test the effectiveness of Wolbachia on the actual spread of dengue on human being, in countries such as Vietnam and Brazil, which have a major problem with dengue.Link: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/
26 August 2011: Brazilian scientists have discovered the existence of an underground river some 6,000 km long running beneath the Amazon River. The river has been named after an Indian-origin scientist,Valiya Mannathal Hamza, who has been studying the region for more than four decades.The subterranean river runs at a depth of about 4,000 meters along a course similar to that of the Amazon, and it has a flow rate calculated at about 3,000 cubic meters per second. The flow is just 3 percent of that of the Amazon River itself, which has its headwaters in the Peruvian jungle, empties into the Atlantic in northern Brazil and at 6,800 kilometers is considered to be the world's longest river. Link: http://www.on.br/
27 August 2011: An atomic clock at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has the best long-term accuracy of any in the world, research has found.The Caesiumclock would only lose or gain less than a second in some 138 million years. The international time standard is maintained by a network of over 300 clocks worldwide. These are sent by satellite and averaged at BIPM, a measurement institute in France. The studies on the NPL's clock will be published in the journal Metrologia. Link: http://www.npl.co.uk/
28 August 2011: NASA has partnered with Tor-Forge Books to develop sci-fi–themed books. The line of books, which the space agency is calling “NASA Inspired Works of Fiction,” will be created with . Through the partnership, NASA aims to spark interest in engineering, mathematics, technology and at the same time looking for innovative ways to communicate it's past and current achievements, while focusing on the needs of the future. NASA isn’t the only organization looking to tap writers to create inspiring prose. Intel recently asked sci-fi writers to write short stories about what the future would look like. Those stories are available for free download on Intel’s website. Link: http://us.macmillan.com
29 August 2011:NASA’s twin Moon mission programme, GRAIL-A and B (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) is making final launch preparations for its Sept 8 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission is tasked for a nine-month mission to explore Earth’s nearest neighbour in unprecedented detail. They will determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and advance our understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. GRAIL-A will fly a circuitous route to lunar orbit taking 3.5 months and covering approximately 4.2 million km and 4.3 million km for GRAIL-B. Link:http://moon.mit.edu
30 August 2011: The research team led by Ian Bancroft at the John Innes Centre succeeded in sequencing the genome of a Chinese Cabbage variety of a plant called Brassica rapa, a close relative of Oilseed Rape. Scientists believe that it could help improve the efficiency of crop breeding and ensure our future food security.Brassica rapa and oilseed rape are both Brassicas, a group which also includes Broccoli, Turnip, Sprouts and Cabbages,all of them closely related. This group of plants accounts for more than 10 percent of the world’s vegetable and vegetable oil production and the sequencing one species could help to improve the breeding efficiency of a range of crops. The study was recently published in the journal Nature Genetics. Link: http://www.nature.com
31 August 2011: Diabetics have been offered new hope as scientists test a drug that could save them from a lifetime of injections.In patients newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, the treatment will prevent the disease developing because it will stop the destruction of vital cells of the Pancreas which make Insulin. The developers aim to be able to provide it to patients within three years. The new treatment is codenamed DiaPep277. Trials are taking place at 140 centres in the UK, including at London’s King’s College Hospital, as well as Europe, North America, South Africa and Israel.Link: http://www.andromedabio.com
No comments:
Post a Comment