Monday, April 30, 2012

SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: MAY 2012

                                                       
1 May 2012: Hollywood director James Cameron, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and space tourism pioneer Peter Diamandis have announced a project that aims to mine the Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) for precious metals like Platinum and Gold.The first stage of the project by the multi-million company,Planetary Resources Inc.,will see a series of telescopes designed to seek out suitable targets for exploration. The second phase will be with an explorer spacecraft, called the Arkyd Range, which will investigate the asteroids.The project is also in search of water in Asteroids which can be transformed into Hydrogen fuel,making long-distance space travel a reality.Link: http://www.planetaryresources.com

2 May 2012:The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has given clearance for using internet in trains without using data card.It will be for the first time that internet will be operational in moving trains through satellite.Since it is a pilot project the internet service will not be charged from the passengers.Railways have sanctioned Rs 6.30 crore for providing internet facility in Howrah Rajdhani.According to the procedure to be followed, passenger will get a password in his mobile phone after dialling a number given by the Travelling Ticket Examiner. The passenger can make the internet operational with the use of the password.If the pilot project becomes successful,other trains also will get the facility.Link:http://pib.nic.in

3 May 2012:European Space Agency has approved a space mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.The JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission will investigate the possibility of "waterworlds" that may harbour life.Its primary target is Ganymede, the Solar System's biggest moon, that is thought to conceal a deep ocean of salty water beneath a thick crust of ice.The Juice spacecraft will also make fly-bys of two other moons, Callisto and Europa, which are also believed to have ice-covered oceans.Juice is scheduled to launch in 2022 and will take eight years to make the long journey to Jupiter.After its arrival in 2030 the spacecraft will spend three years collecting data to be transmitted back to Earth.It will be the first European-led space mission to the outer Solar System.Link:http://sci.esa.int

4 May 2012:The British science journal Nature has published online a Japanese Avian Influenza report that had been suspended because of U.S. fears it could used to wage bioterrorism.The report by the Japanese team, led by professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo, suggests that the highly pathogenic H5N1 Avian Flu viruses that have been infecting birds in Asia since the latter 1990s have the potential to spread between mammals, including humans.The researchers also found that the viruses contained a gene called the H5 Haem-agglutinin combined with the genes of H1N1 virus.In last February, the World Health Organization recommended the two reports be fully published, while seeking to suspend their full release for the immediate future.Link:http://www.nature.com

5 May 2012:The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the technology arm of the Indian Railways, has developed a GPS-based solution with help of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to avoid train accidents.ISRO’s INSAT-3C satellite will aid in this and the project is called Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN).Trains in future may know each other’s location, and start breaking, in case of danger ahead.The government’s focus is to reduce the number of accidents and installation of real-time monitoring service on all trains by the end of 2013, which would contribute in improving themonitoring.Success of the GPS-based system may help Railways in running trains at high speed.The GPS application will also aid in better train schedules, especially in bad weather.Link:http://simran.in

6 May 2012:Moon was closest to the earth today than it will be on any other night in 2012 and will appear significantly larger. The phenomenon, called "Supermoon", this year coincides with `Buddha Purnima'. Today at 9.05 pm, the distance between the earth and the moon was 3,56,955 km, the closest this year, and the angular size of the moon will be 0.5515 degrees.It was very interesting to note that on May 6, the moon set at western horizon a few minutes before sunrise and then rose again on the same evening about an hour after the sunset.On November 28, the moon will be the farthest from the earth this year and the distance between the two will be 4,06,349 km.Thus, the full moon of today will be about 11% bigger than the full moon of November 28.Link:http://www.nasa.gov
 
7 May 2012:The port city of Thoothukudi will soon boast of a desalination plant with a capacity of generating freshwater up to two million litres daily.In addition to Tuticorin, desalination plants will be set up on the islands of Amini, Chetlet, Kadamath, Kalpeni, Kultan and Andrott, which are all part of Lakshadweep islands.The technology was developed by National institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) based on low temperature thermal desalination (LTTD) technology. LTTD is a process under which the warm surface sea water is flash-evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep sea water.Till date, four LTTD plants have been successfully commissioned in the country, one each at Kavaratti, Minicoy, Agatti, Lakshadweep andChennai.Link:http://www.niot.res.in
 
8 May 2012:Scientists have announced the discovery of a new found crocodile species that may have been the largest to ever roam the Earth, living in East African waters between 4 million and 2 million years ago.These crocodiles that prayed upon human beings, grown larger than 27 feet (8 meters).Christopher Brochu, an associate professor of Geosciences at the University of Iowa, found out the new species while examining enormous fossils housed at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi. It took four men to lift the skull of one of the specimens, which were from the Turkana Basin, an area surrounding Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.The study is published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.Link:http://www.tandfonline.com


9 May 2012:First couple to clone their pet dog, Nina and Edgar Otto spent $155,000 at an auction to have their dead Lab Sir Lancelot cloned to produce Lancelot Encore.Lancelot Encore is the first commercially cloned dog. The process began in 2008, when their 11-year-old dog was diagnosed with, and then died due to, cancer.The cloning was done in conjunction with a San Francisco firm called BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea.While Lancelot may be the first dog to have ever been commercially cloned, it is not the first pet to be doubled.A cat called Little Nicky earned the title as the first commerically cloned pet when a woman in Texas paid $50,000 for the service.Link:http://sooam.com


10 May 2012:India's Supreme Court has directed the government to suspend a move to reintroduce the cheetah into two sanctuaries, in Madhya Pradesh and an area in Rajasthan.The plan was to import cheetahs from Africa. The Asiatic cheetah vanished from India many decades ago, pursued by trophy hunters and herdsmen to the brink of extinction during the Raj.A senior lawyer told the court that the proposal to reintroduce the cheetah had not been discussed with the National Board for Wildlife and that the African cheetahs and Asian cheetahs are completely different, both genetically and also in their characteristics.Fewer than 100 of the cheetahs remain in Iran,the vast majority of it in Africa.Link:http://www.envlaws.org


11 May 2012:The satellite centre of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) turned 40 today.ISRO was started as an agreement between India and Russia in 1972, to build the first Indian Satellite Aryabhatta.The agency was formed as the Indian National Committee for Space Research under the leadership of Vikram Sarabhai in 1962. The group was helped and supported under the Department of Atomic Energy.The group taken from the talent pool of India's Nuclear Energy Programme delivered hardly one year later on November 21, 1963 when it held the first successful launch of a Nike-Apache sounding rocket from the Thumba Equatorial Launching Station (TERLS) in Thumba, Kerala.Today, ISRO provides launch services through its commercial arm, Antrix Corporation.Link:http://www.isro.org 


12 May 2012:The earliest known Mayan calendar has been found in an ancient house in Guatemala. Furthermore, there is no sign that the much-hyped myth that the Mayan calendar would end in 2012, and with it the world, has any bearing in reality.All that ended in 2012 was one of its calendar cycles, as per William Saturno of Boston University, who led the exploration and excavation and co-author Anthony Aveni, professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University.The hieroglyphs date back to the ninth century, making them hundreds of years older than the calendars in the Maya Codices, which were recorded in bark-paper books from 1300 to 1521.The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this.Link:http://www.bu.edu


13 May 2012:Iran plans to establish a world award, which will be named after the Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.The award will be presented annually to a maximum of two figures, which represent great cultural, political and social currents in the world.The Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Iranian Academy of Sciences, the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, and the Institute for the Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works are the main organizers of the award.The winners, which will be selected by a jury composed of 11 to 15 members, will be announced annually on January 31 that marks the anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s return from years of exile in France in1979.Link:http://www.khamenei.ir


14 May 2012:In climate talks beginning today in Bonn, India will oppose the EU's move to start negotiations on the draft of a new climate protocol in 2012 itself.The Indian government is expected to object to the shifting stance of EU that would set the wheels in motion to end the Kyoto Protocol even before the developed world provides its emission reduction targets under the second phase starting in 2013. At Durban last year, a bargain had been struck to have a second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol with the developed countries officially giving their targets under the deal in 2013. In return, the developing countries led prominently by India had agreed to start discussions on a new global deal under the existing convention that would come into play by 2020.Link:http://unfccc.int


15 May 2012:The Indira Gandhi National Open University ( IGNOU) will launch a new online course on biodiversity from 2012 July.The course "Appreciation Programme on Sustainable Management of Biodiversity ( APSMB)" aims to recreate and secure linkages between people and nature.It provides an understanding of biodiversity science in an effort to sensitise people to the threats posed to it while promoting the conservation of biological diversity of ecosystems.The one-month online course can be pursued by graduates in any discipline.Indira Gandhi National Open University was established in 1985 mainly for distance and open education.It is the largest university in the world with 3,500,000 students. IGNOU hosts the Global Mega Universities Network (GMUNET) initially supported by UNESCO.Link:http://www.ignou.ac.in


16 May 2012:SpaceX, owned by the billionaire entrepreneur, Elon Musk, is soon to become the first private company to build a spacecraft in order to dock with the International Space Station.The US Space Shuttle program, which began in 1981, ended with the final voyage of the Atlantis in July 2011.Since then NASA has relied on Russia to deliver Americans to the International Space Station (ISS). On May 19th, the Falcon 9 rocket will launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once in space, the rocket will release into orbit the Dragon Capsule, a reusable spacecraft that will then be bound for the space station and will deliver supplies to astronauts aboard.SpaceX will use the Dragon Capsule to transport astronauts to the space station within the next 2 to 5 years.Link:http://www.spacex.com


17 May 2012:The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of US federal advisers, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.The new drug is a pill by name Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner.Gilead Sciences Inc.,has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for AIDS. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread.Truvada first made headlines in 2010, when government researchers showed it could prevent people from contracting HIV.AIDS causes the body's immune system to breakdown, leading to infections which are eventually fatal.Link:http://www.gilead.com


18 May 2012:India is moving towards a proposal for government control of the Internet to the United Nations General Assembly.India is pushing for the creation of a forum called ‘Committee for Internet Related Policies' (CIRP) to develop internet policies, oversee all internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate internet-related treaties and sit in judgment when internet-related disputes come up.The catch is that India's formal proposal is for CIRP to be funded by the U.N.run by U.N.'s Conference on Trade and Development arm that report directly to the U.N. General Assembly.At present, the Internet is governed by a voluntary, multi-stakeholder group called ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which keeps the Internet free and decentralized.Link:http://www.icann.org 


19 May 2012:Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will conduct a crucial test on an indigenously built cryogenic engine, today.The cryogenic acceptance test will take place in Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. If it succeeds, it will be used in the cryogenic stage of the modified version of Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle -GSLV Mark III, later this year.It will have a multi-mission launch capability for Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO), polar and intermediate circular orbits.ISRO's first attempt to use a cryogenic engine on board GSLV had failed on April 15, 2010. A cryogenic engine is a rocket motor that is fired by a mixture of liquid fuels (Oxidiser) such as Hydrogen and Oxygen at very low temperatures.Link:http://www.isro.org


20 May 2012:Bombay Natural History Society and the Katerniaghat Foundation along with Forest Department of Uttar Pradesh are planning to set up a conservation centre for vultures, whose population has drastically fallen in India. Wildlife experts and the state forest department are working out details of the project called Vulture Safe Zone. The project in the Terai region will be funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Vultures were once one of the most commonly sighted birds in India and neighbouring countries. Their numbers have been falling dangerously since the 1990s in India. Experts mainly blame pesticide and Diclofenac poisoning for this. According to published accounts, the fall in vulture population in 2000-07 was about 44 per cent.Link:http://www.rspb.org.uk


21 May 2012:The Central Minister for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan informed the  Lok Sabha today that National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) in its first meeting decided that under Mission Clean Ganga no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents flow into the river by 2020. In order to meet the shortfall in the sewage treatment infrastructure, projects amounting to Rs. 2598.47 crore have been sanctioned under the NGRBA for the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.Besides, a World Bank assisted project to be implemented over a period of 8 years at an estimated cost of Rs 7000 crore has also been approved for conservation and restoration of water quality of the river Ganga.Link:http://moef.nic.in


22 May 2012:SpaceX - the first private commercial rocket blasted off to the International Space Station today morning.It would be the first commercial, rather than government-operated , spacecraft to dock at the space station, after NASA has ended its Space Shuttle Programme.With success of this flight, SpaceX would begin a $1.6 billion contract to fly 12 cargo missions to the space station.The SpaceX had an aborted liftoff on Saturday morning,and it had to wait until Tuesday at 3.44am for the space station's orbit to line up with the launching pad, enabling the cargo capsule known as the Dragon to be in orbit.On Thursday, it is to fly about 1.5 miles underneath the space station to demonstrate its communication and navigation systems.Link:http://www.spacex.com


23 May 2012:According to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology conditions are likely to approach or exceed the El Nino threshold in the second half of 2012.The El Nino weather pattern is linked to extreme weather around the world including heavy rain and droughts that can hit production of crops and other commodities.
The Australian bureau tracks seven climate models from compatriot meteorology centers around the world, of which five indicate above El Nino conditions, while the remaining two sit on the neutral - neither El Nino or La Nina - and warm border.While the seven models hint at a return to El Nino, the World Meteorological Organization last week said it still maintains its neutral outlook for the second half of 2012.The last El Nino was recorded in 2009/10.Link:http://www.bom.gov.au



24 May 2012: India's first state-of-the-art seismic research and monitoring centre will come up here at a cost of around Rs.400 crore at Hajarmachi in Maharashtra.The centre would also carry out research to ascertain whether there is any link between earthquakes and water storage reservoirs.The centre is in close proximity to one of the oldest and largest irrigation projects in India, Koyna Dam and Karad in the same district (Satara),which is considered an earthquake prone region.Incidentally, Satara is a neighbouring district of Ratnagiri where the 9,900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is coming up amidst fears of heightened seismic activities.Besides Doppler Radar systems are installed Mumbai and Nagpur.Link:http://www.imd.gov.in


25 May 2012:The 2nd Sustainable Mountain Development Summit began in Gangtok in Sikkim today.Over 250 delegates from eleven mountainous States and the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal will discuss the key issues of the Indian Himalayan region including the North East for two days.The Summit will also focus on water, mountain livelihoods and communities & forests.The Summit will be concluding with the ‘Sikkim Declaration’ that will highlight key concerns of the Himalayan region tomorrow.The first Summit meet was held in Nainital on the 21st and 22nd of May 2011.The summit is organized by the Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim in collaboration with the Central Himalayan Environment Association,Nainital,Uttarakhand.Link:http://www.imi-smds2.com


26 May 2012:Climate change may be the main culprit behind the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization around 4,000 years ago, says a new study.The study, combining the latest archaeological data along with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies, suggested that decline in monsoon rains led to weakened river dynamics, and played a critical role both in the development and the fall of the Harappan culture, which relied on river floods to fuel their agricultural surpluses.The research, which was conducted between 2003 and 2008, also claimed that the mythical Saraswati river was actually not fed by glaciers in the Himalayas as believed. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Link:http://www.pnas.org 


27 May 2012:India's first laboratory to study formation of clouds and their interaction with the environment is taking shape at the popular hill station of Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. The High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory started functioning from an IMD office in the hill station about 100 km from Pune 10 days ago. The location of the research centre, about 1,500 m above the mean sea level, would give scientists an opportunity to study the clouds and study its interaction with the environment.Mahabaleshwar offers a unique location for the experiment receiving nearly 500 mm of rains every year.Construction of the laboratory is expected to start in October, and is likely to be completed by June next year.Link:http://www.imd.gov.in  


28 May 2012:Researchers have succeeded in taking a stunning image of a newly synthesised molecule called Olympicene.The molecule - just over a billionth of a metre across - gets its name because its five linked rings resemble the Olympic symbol.The team, based at IBM Research Zurich, announced its first success with a molecule called Pentacene, five linked hexagonal rings of carbon all in a line.THJe photo of the molecule was taken by University of Warwick researchers Anish Mistry and David Fox using Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy.The molecule show linked ring structures that are reminiscent both of the Olympic rings and a great many compounds made from rings of carbon atoms, including the "miracle material" graphene.Link:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk 


29 May 2012:A team of medical scientists from Toronto University today visited areas of Gorakhpur division affected by Japanese Encephalitis outbreak.The seven-member team, along with experts from National Institute of Virology, Pune visited Kushinagar district and most affected areas of Gorakhpur district.Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is caused by the mosquito bite and usually occurs at the onset of monsoon. However, another type of viral brain fever is also prevailing in the area for last 2-3 years.The scientists have termed the disease as Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, (AES) which affects adults as well. The National Institute of Virology has established a field lab to detect the strains of viruses that cause AES.Link:http://www.who.int 


30 May 2012:A research article published by the scientists of the Centre for Earth Sciences, Bangalore, and Peechi Seismic Observatory, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thrissur, points out that the increase in the frequency of earthquakes during 2011 in the vicinity of the Idduki reservoir is unusual and is a cause for concern.The study also points out the proximity of the Idukki Dam to the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam upstream of the Periyar River making the questions more compelling.Researchers further note that the area had experienced only very low-level microseismic activity till last year.The study is published in the journal Current Science.Link:http://cs-test.ias.ac.in/cs 


31 May 2012:Seven scientists shared the Kavli prizes, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in partnership with the Kavli Foundation.The prize for Astrophysics is shared by David Jewitt of the University of California, Jane Luu of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology.They were cited for discovering and describing the Kuiper Belt.The Neuroscience prize is shared by Cornelia Bargmann of the Rockefeller University in New York, Winfried Denk of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Germany, and Ann Graybiel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.The prize for Nanoscience goes to Mildred Dresselhaus of MIT.Link:http://www.kavliprize.no 

MOVIE OF THE MONTH: MAY 2012

                                                                                         
Director                 : Barry Sonnenfeld
Executive Producer : Steven Spielberg 
Based on                : The Men in Black by
                                Lowell Cunningham
Starring Will Smith
Release date           : May 25, 2012 
Running time          : 106 minutes 


A decade has passed since the release of the last movie in Will Smith's blockbuster "Men in Black" series. But Baskin-Robbins is banking on the idea that those years haven't had the amnesiac effect of the silver wands wielded by the titular alien fighters. Because on May 1, the Dunkin Brands-owned ice cream is debuting a several frozen treats inspired by "Men in Black III," which is hitting theaters on May 25.


Veteran MIB field agent Agent J learns that Agent K's life and the fate of Earth are at stake. He must time-travel to 1969 to stop an alien criminal named Boris from assassinating K and changing the course of history of the planet, travelling back from the future to 1969 to team up with the young version of Agent K (Josh Brolin) to stop the alien criminal, while apparently also facing a twenty four hour time limit before he will be trapped in the past forever.


The film was first announced on April 1, 2009, by Sony Pictures Entertainment president Rory Bruer during a Sony ShoWest presentation.As of March 2010, Will Smith remained undecided whether to join this film or another, The City That Sailed.Director Barry Sonnenfeld in May 2010 confirmed the return of the protagonists played by Tommy Lee Jones and Smith.


Principal photography began on November 16, 2010.The first set photos for the film turned up online on November 17, 2010. Shooting was scheduled to resume from March through June 2011. Filming was done in April 2011 in the Morris Park section of The Bronx. Parts of Coney Island, in Brooklyn, had parking and filming permits posted for April 24 and May 2-4, 2011, production dates of what the permits titled MIB³.


Activision has announced that they're developing a video game based on the film by the name of MIB: Alien Crisis. It will however feature a never before seen MIB agent instead of Agent J or Agent K, the game is due for release on the 22nd of May 2012. Back in Time by Rapper Pitbull was released as the first single from the soundtrack on March 26, 2012.


Movie Website   : http://www.meninblack.com
Review Courtesy: http://www.wikipedia.comhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com

BOOK OF THE MONTH: MAY 2012

                                                                                       
Title        : Chasing Venus:
                 The Race to Measure the Heavens
Authors   : Andrea Wulf
Publisher : William Heinemann
Pages       : 336
ISBN        : 10: 0307700178
Price        : $16.95

On June 5 or 6, depending on the time zone, millions of people around the globe will watch Venus glide across the sun in a rare celestial event that won't happen again until 2117.The Transit of Venus was the key to unlocking the distance between Earth and the sun and by extension, the size of our solar system. In a fitting homage to these strenuous efforts of 18th-century astronomers,the Indian born British writer British Andrea Wulf has written an absorbing account of their expeditions to do so in 1761 and 1769. 


On June 6, 1761, the world paused to observe a momentous occasion: the first transit of Venus between the earth and the sun in more than a century. Through that observation, astronomers could calculate the size of the solar system--but only if the transit could be viewed at the same time from many locations. Overcoming incredible odds and political strife, astronomers from Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden, and the American colonies set up observatories in remote corners of the world only to have their efforts thwarted by unpredictable weather and warring armies. 


She begins the story with legendary astronomer Edmond Halley.In 1663 James Gregory suggested that observations of a transit of the planet Mercury could be used to calculate the Solar Parallax. Aware of this a young Edmund Halley made observations of such a transit in 1676 from St Helena, but was disappointed to find that the resulting calculation of the Solar Parallax at 45" was accurate. He proposed that more accurate calculations could be made during the next transit which was due until 1761. But Halley died in 1742.


On the basis of his observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 from the Petersburg Observatory, Mikhail Lomonosov predicted the existence of an atmosphere on Venus. Lomonosov detected the refraction of solar rays while observing the transit and inferred that only refraction through an atmosphere could explain the appearance of a light ring around the part of Venus that had not yet come into contact with the Sun's disk during the initial phase of transit.


Andrea Wulf was born in India and moved to Germany as a child. She lives in London, where she trained as a design historian at the Royal College of Art. She is the author of The Brother Gardeners, long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and winner of the American Horticultural Society 2010 Book Award, and of Founding Gardeners; she is the coauthor (with Emma Gieben-Gamal) of  This Other Eden: Seven Great Gardens and 300 Years of English History

Author Website: http://www.andreawulf.com
Review Courtesy: http://www.powells.com
                                http://www.winnipegfreepress.com
                                http://royalsociety.org
                                http://en.wikipedia.org

EVENT OF THE MONTH: MAY 2012


BONN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

                                                     
14 to 25 May, 2012
Maritim Hotel in Bonn, Germany


Climate change is a complex problem, which, although environmental in nature, has consequences for all spheres of existence on our planet. It either impacts on-- or is impacted by-- global issues, including poverty, economic development, population growth, sustainable development and resource management. It is not surprising, then, that solutions come from all disciplines and fields of research and development.At the very heart of the response to climate change, however, lies the need to reduce emissions. 


The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ends in 2012. At COP17 in Durban, governments of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol decided that a second commitment period, from 2013 onwards, would seamlessly follow the end of the first commitment period. The length of the second commitment period is to be determined: it will be either five or eight years long. In 2010, governments agreed that emissions need to be reduced so that global temperature increases are limited to below 2 degrees Celsius.


There are now 195 Parties to the Convention. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the international climate change negotiations, particularly the Conference of the Parties (COP), the subsidiary bodies (which advise the COP), and the COP Bureau (which deals mainly with procedural and organizational issues arising from the COP and also has technical functions). 


The 36th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), the fifteenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), the seventeenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) will take place concurrently from14 to 25 May. 


Link: http://unfccc.int

SPECIES OF THE MONTH: MAY 2012

    NEW CAECILIAN FROM KERALA

            
Phylum:Chordata
Class    :Amphibia
Order  :Gymnophiona
Family :Caeciliidae
Genus  :Gegeneophis
Species :primus 


A team of scientists from the University of Kerala; Central University, Kasaragod; and London's Natural History Museum, have reported the discovery of a new species of limbless amphibian (Caecilian) from the southern region of the Western Ghats in Kerala.


The new species has been named Gegeneophis primus. And the common name Malabar Cardamom Geg indicating the northern part of the State and the cardamom estate from where it was discovered.The species were collected from the Sugandhagiri Cardamom Estate neighbouring an evergreen forest at Vythiri in the northern district of Wayanad.


Gegeneophis primus belongs to the Indotyphlidae family comprising African, Seychellean and Indian varieties.It is the first new species of Gegeneophis reported from Kerala and the third Indotyphlid caecilian species after Gegeneophis carnosus, described by Beddome in 1870 and G. ramaswami by Taylor in 1964.since1964. 


The specimens were found inside moist soil after digging the shrub-covered bank of a mountain stream.The creature - about 168mm in length and pink in colour - belongs to an enigmatic, limbless group of amphibians known as the caecilians.


The species, unlike other Gegeneophis, lacked scales and secondary annular grooves, as well as a well-developed terminal shield.The wider distribution, natural history and habitat preferences of the species are yet to be determined.


The research team included K. Ramachandran from the University of Kerala, Oommen V. Oommen from the Central University and David J. Gower and Mark Wilkinson from the Natural History Museum.The finding has been reported in the latest edition of Zootaxa, an international journal for zoological taxonomists. 


Original Paper: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa
News Source: The Hindu, BBC Science and Environment

Sunday, April 29, 2012

SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: APRIL 2012





The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh flaging off the first test-run of Chevrolet Tavera running on Microalgal Biodiesel in New Delhi.


1 April 2012: A Chevrolet Tavera car that runs on biodiesel was unveiled by Indian scientists.The “microalgal biodiesel” was produced from mats of microalgae found growing naturally in the West Coast of India by Central Salt Marine and Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnagar.The mileage derived from the test drive was 12.4 km, which is better than the normal average per litre of 10-11 km of the regular vehicles run on diesel. The endeavour is the outcome of an ambitious project initiated in April 2010 under the CSIR-New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (CSIR-NMITLI) by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Link:http://www.csir.res.in

2 April 2012: India has done a trial start of its third research station, Bharti, in Strornes and Broknes peninsulas in the Larsemann Hills region of East Antarctica.It can accomodate 25 people during summer and 15 people during winter.The new station is located almost 3,000 km away from the existing 'Maitri' which can host 70 people in winter and 25 during summer. 'Maitri' started fuctioning during 1988-89.The formal launch of the research station is expected in November 2012.India's first research station in Antarctica wasDakshin Gangotri (1983).It had a Post Office which used the PIN code of Panaji (403001). The address is now shared by Maitri.Link:http://www.ncaor.gov.in

3 April 2012: The historic first flight of an Indian into space occured today, 28 years ago, when Rakesh Sharma flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He was accompanied by two Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Malyshev and Gennady Strekalov. Sharma spent a total of 7 days 21 hours and 40 minutes in space. In reply to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's query as to how India looked from space, he said: "Sare Jahan Se Achcha". Rakesh Sharma was awarded the "Order of the Hero of Soviet Union" and with Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime military honour in India.Sharma had Wing Commander Ravish Malhotra as his backup.Link:http://www.spacefacts.de

4 April 2012: Scientists of National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal produced the first calf in the country using OPU-IVF (Ovum Pick-Up in vitro Fertilization) technology in India.The female calf is named ‘Holi'. The researchers collected reproductive cells from the ovaries of a live Sahiwal cow.They are then fertilized and developed into an embryo called ‘blastocyst’.With the help of a surrogate mother, it was led to the birth of a calf. The institute believes that the technology can be applied to a large population of dairy cattle that have problems with pregnancies. It could also be applied to those animals which do not respond to the conventional embryo transfer.Link:http://www.ndri.res.in

5 April 2012:Australian scientists have developed a genetically modified banana that is rich in vitamins and iron, and are sharing the technology with India.India is the largest producer of banana in the world.The Queensland University of Technology and India's Department of Biotechnology have embarked a four-year project to produce the iron-rich bananas to combat widespread aneamia in India caused by the population's largely vegetarian diet.Iron-deficiency anaemia is a major cause of maternal death during childbirth in India and and at the same time, India is the largest producer of bananas in the world.The research is funded by Microsoft founder BillGates.Link:http://www.qut.edu.au 

6 April 2012:Two new reports published today inScience and The Lancet show that the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) is becoming resistant to "Artemisinin"-the best among available drugs for Malaria.The first evidence has come from the Thailand-Myanmarborder.The concern is rising that this could now spread to India and then to Africa, as has happened in the past.But a 10-year study, between 2001-2010, in the region by researchers at Shoklo Malaria Research Unit and Texas Biomedical Research Institute shows that the drug hass become less effective.Malaria deaths have declined by 30 per cent over the past decade, because of"Artemisinin" derived from the plant Artemisia annua. Link:http://www.thelancet.com

7 April 2012:As per the statement made in the Rajyasabha, by Union Minister of Agriculture, India’s cotton output has grown more than two times after it started using Bt cotton seeds for cultivation. The counry’s cotton output has grown from 16.4 million bales of 170 kg each in 2004-05 to 34 million bales in 2011-12.This clearly shows that production has soared with the use of Btcotton.However, farmers of Khargone district in Madhya Pradesh and Dhule district in Maharashtra have alleged that the use of hybrid cotton seeds,produced and marketed by Bayer Bio-Science Pvt Ltd.,adversely impacted their production.The Minister added that production in these regions suffered from average rainfall.Link:http://agricoop.nic.in

8 April 2012: European Space Agency lost contact with Envisat, the biggest Earth-monitoring satellite in history.Envisat was launched on 1 March 2002, carrying 10 instruments to monitor Earth's oceans, ice, land and atmosphere. Though it was designed to work only for five years, Envisat had been working for a decade.
Envisat's data has been used in 4,000 science projects in 70 countries, including landmark research into climate change.It provided valuable data on Fukushima accident and BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.It was also an important tool in tackling illegal fishing.ESA wanted to keep Envisat going until its seven Sentinel satellites planned for 2013.Link:http://www.esa.int

9 April 2012:Researchers at Edinburgh University are working with a team from Harvard Medical School in Boston to be the first in the world to produce mature human eggs from stem cells isolated from human ovarian tissue.Producing human eggs from stem cells would also could revolutionise fertility treatment and might even lead to a reversal of the menopause in older women.Until now, it has only been possible to isolate a relatively small number of mature human egg cells directly from the ovaries of women who have been stimulated with hormones.However,some scientists are even suggesting the possibility of mass egg production that may open doors to human cloning.Link:http://www.un.org/law/cloning

10 April 2012: The water in Periyar contains dangerous chemicals such as Endosulfan, according to a report filed before the Kerala High Court by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram. The study found varying quantities of Endosulfan in 200 samples of water collected from the river at 64 locations.The study areas were Pathalam bund near the Edayar industrial site, the point where the Chalakkal Thodu joins the Periyar, the riverside near FACT, the Merchem Edayar discharge point and the stretch of the Periyar in Eloor.Kerala Water Authority presently uses water from Periyar for Public Water Supply.Link:http://www.niist.res.in

11 April 2012:An earthquake of 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Indonesia, sending residents there and in India dashing out of their homes and offices in fear. The quake struck 308 miles (500 km) southwest of the city of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, at a depth of 33 km.The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service issued a red high-level warning for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and also put out lower alerts for the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states in the southeast of the country. A warning was also issued for the southern coastal states of Kerala and Orissa along with Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.Link:http://www.incois.gov.in

12 April 2012:Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India,  since this year will celebrate Water Week as an international event to focus on water issues. The first international event in the series will be organized during April 10-14, 2012 at New Delhi. The theme of the event is "Water, Energy and Food Security: Call for solutions". WRIS (Water Resources Information System): a fully web based information system will also be showcased.Two publications ‘Water Resources Development Scenario in India’ and ‘History of Irrigation Development and Management in India’ will also be released.Link:http://www.india-wris.nrsc.gov.in

13 April 2012:Researchers at the Aquatic Biology Department of the University of Kerala discovered a new species of  the so called "Hermit Crabs" that live in shells and carry their homes around with them.The new species is called Ciliopagurus grandis was found from the sea off Sakthikulangara coast near Kollam.The discovery was made by the scientists R Reshmi and Dr. A Bijukumar. They also reported 4 new records species on the Kerala coast, the very first in the country.The four species are Calcinus morgani, Diogenes klaasi, Coenobita brevimanus and Coenobita rugosus.The project was supported by the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment.The scientists reported the finding in journal Zootaxa.Link:http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa

14 April 2012:In a historic achievement, the world's first ever Mithun calf was produced through Embryo Transfer Technology in Nagaland. Mithun is a domesticated form of wild Gaur (Bos frontalis) and is mainly confined to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram in the Northeast. Scientists have named the calf "Bharat", which was born on March 27 and is the result of five years of hard work on embryo transfer technology by scientists at the National Research Centre (NRC) on Mithuns.The idea of the Mithun Institute was conceived in Vision 2030, with the aim to preserve, conserve and propagate superior quality Mithun germplasm for sustainable production system and subsequent utilization.Link:http://www.nrcmithun.res.in

15 April 2012:India’s first public-private partnership incubator, Startup Village, will be formally opened by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park at Kalamassery near Kochi today.The venture that seeks to transform Kerala into a "Silicon Valley" is set up jointly by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the Department of Science and Technology, and the Kerala Government run Technopark, in collaboration with MobME Wireless-a private firm. Startup Village is India’s first technology business incubator in the telecom sector. It will also launch an Entrepreneurs Gardenwhich plans to nurture more than 1,000 trees in the park.Link:http://www.startupvillage.in 

16 April 2012:Breaking through the popular perception of Moon being a geologically inert, Indian scientists found new evidence of the recent volcanic activities on it.Analysing the data collected by Chandrayan-I and USA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a team at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, found evidences of volcanic vent and lava channels as recent as 100 million years old inside an ‘impact crater upon a 2-km high peak in Tycho, a 110 million year old crater.Indian scientists say that Chandrayaan-IIscheduled to be launched in 2013, will take a closer look at this crater.The findings are reported in the April 10 issue of Current Science.Link:http://cs-test.ias.ac.in

17 April 2012:Turkey's first cloned sheep, Oyali died today due to pulmonary infection.The death is not related to cloning technology, as per İstanbul University.Oyali was created using Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) at the faculty of Veterinary Medicine of İstanbul University on 21 November 2007. Oyali was among the world's longest-living cloned animals.Oyali gave birth to a female lamb named Baharon March 30, 2011.Dr. Sema Birler was the chief of the research team that cloned Oyali. Most of the lambs born through cloning have died immediately after birth. The world's first cloned sheep, Dolly, lived seven years, while Oyalı lived for four-and-a-half years.Link:http://bilimap.istanbul.edu.tr

18 April 2012:Bihar is likely to have Asia's first Dolphin Research Centre soon.The proposed centre would be located on the bank of the Ganga near Patna University.A proposal has been sent to the Planning Commission of India by the State Plnning Board of Bihar. The population of Gangetic dolphins has reduced considerably during the last few decades.The Gangetic river dolphin is India's national aquatic animal, but they are killed at an alarming rate for their flesh and oil, which are used as an ointment and aphrodisiac.Gangetic river dolphins fall under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act and have been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Link:http://www.edgeofexistence.org 

19 April 2012:India successfully test-fired Agni-V, the country's first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) a nuclear-capable missile, thrusting India into the club of nations possessing ICBMs.The launch took place at 8.07 from Wealer Island off Odisha coast.The missile travelled almost 5000 km before detonating the warhead at a per-determined spot in Indian Ocean.The Agni-V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agniseries that started in the 1960s.China, France, Russia the United States and Britain along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.India says its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence only, but India has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.Link:http://drdo.gov.in

20 April 2012:In a major milestone in the country's nuclear programme, the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) today commissioned one of its biggest uranium ore mine and processing plant at Tummalapalle in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.According to the studies conducted by the Atomic Minerals Division, there are confirmed reserves of more than 49,000 tonnes of uranium at Tummalapalle and there are indications of much larger reserves,at least three-folds of the current,in the area.When the Tummalapalle uranium mines become completely operational, it could become one of the world's largest uranium deposits.Link:http://www.ucil.gov.in

21 April 2012:Tea would be declared as National Drink of India by April next year.The drink would be accorded national drink status by April 17 next year to coincide with the 212th birth anniversary of first Assamese tea planter and Sepoy Mutiny leader Maniram Dewan.Maniram Dewan who was not only the first indigenous tea planter but also a freedom fighter.The other important reason behind declaring Tea s National Drink is that half of the tea industry labour comprises women and is the largest employer in the organised sector.India is the largest producer and consumer of black tea in the world. More than 80 per cent of households in India consume tea and it is the cheapest beverage in the world after water.Link:http://www.teaboard.gov.in

22 April 2012:Scientists from Beijing Genomics Institute in collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shihezi University, have cloned the world’s first transgenic sheep- Peng Peng. Born on 26 March 2012, Peng Peng was cloned using a simplified technique called Handmade Cloning. The donor cells were collected from a Chinese Merino sheep, in 2009.Peng Peng also has a gene associated with ω-3 Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acid (ω-3PUFA), which may result in improved meat quality by increasing its unsaturated fatty acid content.The birth of Peng Peng means that people could absorb ω-3PUFAs by drinking milk or eating meat in the future.Link:http://en.genomics.cn

23 April 2012:Six scientists of Indian origin are elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the British Royal Society.Prof. VijayRaghavan is currently the Director of National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore.Prof.Tejinder Singh Virdee of Imperial College, London originated the concept of CMS for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.Other Indian-origin scientists include Varinder Singh Aggarwal, Professor, Synthetic Chemistry, University of Bristol; Shankar Balasubramanian, Professor, Medicinal Chemistry, Cambridge University;Chandrashekhar Bhalchandra Khare, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California and Prof. Mathukumalli Vidyasagar of the University of Texas.Link:http://royalsociety.org

24 April 2012:India is working on developing its very own 90-seater civilian aircraft with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). A design bureau has been set up to undertake indigenous design and development of the aircraft, which will be called the National Civil Aircraft (NCA-90). A total of seven prototypes are proposed to be developed by CSIR and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).Bangalore-based NAL had earlier developed India's first multi purpose 14-seater civilian aircraft Saras.Saras was 14-seater while NCA is 90-seater.According to the CSIR, most developed countries have their own national aircraft.Link:http://www.nal.re

25 April 2012:Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited in India has launched the country’s first indigenously-developed anti-Malarial drug, Synriam. It is used to treat Malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum  in adults.Synriam is developed as a fixed dose combination consisting of Arterolane maleate 150 mg and Piperaquine phosphate 750 mg. Synriam trials are ongoing for Malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax and a pediatric formulation.India alone accounts for over 75 percent of the 2.5 million reported cases of malaria in Southeast Asia. Synriam has been shown to be effective in around 117 districts in India that are notably chloroquine resistant.Link:http://www.ranbaxy.com

26 April 2012:India's first indigenous all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) was launched successfully on board the from Satish Dhawan Space Centre,in Sriharikota.RISAT-1 is India’s first microwave remote sensing satellite. The satellite carries a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload which has applications in agriculture, particularly in paddy monitoring in kharifseason and management of natural disasters. RISAT-1 was injected into orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C19). It was PSLV’s 20th successful flight and RISAT-1 is the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it.Till now, India depending on a Canadian satellite for domestic remote sensing.Link:http://www.isro.gov.in


27 April 2012:India has initiated the National Monsoon Mission for a period of five years.The main objectives of the National Monsoon Mission include building of  a working partnership between national and international research organisations for improving the monsoon forecast skill over the country.The programme's seasonal time scale will coordinated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune and medium range scale will be coordinated by the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). The Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) will provide the ocean data and the India Meteorological Department will implement the research outcomes.Link:http://dod.nic.in

28 April 2012Public Accounts Committee (PAC) submitted to Parliament found that the 269 Non-Governmental Organisations disappeared after pocketing the first instalment and another 246 after receiving two instalments of money disbursed by National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) for afforestation.Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also commented that the bogus figures doled out by government agencies about afforestation programmes actually distorted official data about loss of forest cover.This massive deforestation was masked by Forest Survey of India’s afforestation data. At a time when India’s forest cover is fast disappearing, this open loot of public money should be stopped forthwith.Link:http://164.100.24.208/ls/committee

29 April 2012:A Japanese research institute's deep-sea drilling probe has set a new world record for depth, reaching 7,740 meters (25,400 feet) below the sea surface.The Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, was digging the seabed off Japan’s northern coast to take fault samples and study last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.The probe’s drilling pipe hit the fault zone at 6,883.5 meters (22,600 feet) undersea before reaching the target of 7,740 meters. That’s nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) deep.Maritime organizations say the U.S. vessel Glomar Challenger set the previous record of 7,049.5 meters (23,130 feet) below sea surface in the Mariana Trench in 1978.Link:http://www.jamstec.go.jp


30 April 2012: The National Mission for a Green India has been approved by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. The Mission is one of eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).The Mission objective is to increase forest/tree cover on five million ha.,of forested and nonforested land, and improved quality of forest cover on another 5 million ha.,a total of 10 million ha.The mission also aims to reach an annual CO2 sequestration of 50 to 60 million tonnes by 2020.Compliance with the Forest Rights Act, 2006 has been made an essential element of the Mission implementation.The full-scale Mission will run from 2012-13 to 2021-22,the duration of the twelfth and the thirteenth five-year plans.Link:http://moef.nic.in