1 January 2014: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr). It in in memory of Max von Laue who discovered in 1914 that crystals could diffract X-rays, a finding which later turned to be a technique by name Crystallography to know the internal structure of matter at the atomic level. Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has declared 2014 as International Year of Family Farming, in order to reposition family farming at the centre of national agendas. 2014 is also International Year of Small Island Developing States which aims to promote the development of small island States. Conservation groups along with PARC (Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation) is designating 2014 as the Year of the Salamander. Link: http://www.iycr2014.org
2 January 2014: Nasa's Hubble telescope has discovered clouds in the atmosphere of a super-Earth type planet 40-light years away, providing the first-ever weather forecast for a planet outside our solar system. The scrutinized planet, known as GJ1214b, is classified as a super-Earth type planet because its mass is intermediate between those of Earth and Neptune. Searches for planets around other stars have shown that super-Earths like GJ1214b are among the most common type of planets in the Milky Way, but their physical nature is unknown. Previous studies of GJ1214b yielded two possible interpretations of the planet's atmosphere: Its atmosphere could consist of water vapour or it could contain high-altitude clouds that prevent the observation of what lies underneath. But experts have now proof for clouds in GJ1214b's atmosphere. Link: http://hubblesite.org
3 January 2014: Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of Sudipta Sengupta's expedition to Antarctica. Sengupta was one of the first Indian women to visit Antarctica with the marine biologist Aditi Pant, who were part of the Third Indian Expedition to Antarctica that ran from December 3, 1983, to March 25, 1984. One of the major achievements of the 81-member team of the third Indian expedition was setting up of the maiden Indian station, the 'Dakshin Gangotri'. The first expedition was flagged off in 1981 that signalled the commencement of the Indian Antarctic Programme. 'Dakshin Gangotri' was replaced in 1988 by the indigenously-designed second permanent station 'Maitri', shortly before the first station was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990-91. In 2012, 'Bharati', became India's third research base in Antarctica. Link: http://www.ncaor.gov.in
4 January 2014: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has provisionally certified the ambitious Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) programme of GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system. The certification will enable the aircraft fitted with SBAS equipment to use GAGAN signal in space over Indian air space. India is the fourth country to offer safety of life, space based satellite navigation services to aviation sector in the world. The availability of GAGAN Signal in space will bridge the gap between European Union's EGNOS and Japan's MSAS coverage areas, thereby offering seamless navigation to the aviation industry. The GAGAN system, jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation and Airports Authority of India (AAI). It is a step towards Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services in India. Link: http://www.aai.aero
5 January 2014: India's heavy-duty rocket, the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), powered by its own crucial cryogenic engine, carrying the communication satellite GSAT-14, was successfully launched today from the spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.. The launch was the first mission of the GSLV after two such rockets failed in 2010.The successful launch of GSLV was crucial for India as it was the first step towards building rockets that can carry heavier payloads, up to four tonnes. GSLV is a three-stage/engine rocket which is 49.13-metre tall, weighing 414.75 tonnes. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.The successful flight test of GSLV to carry a satellite has propelled India into the club of the US, Russia, France, Japan and China, which have mastered the cryogenic technology. Link: http://www.isro.org
6 January 2014: A rare odonate species, which is known to use tree holes as a larval habitat, has been found in the southern parts of Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot. Many species of odonates are known to use 'Phytotelmata' ie., plant-held waters, as a breeding habitat worldwide. But no species are known to breed in Phytotelmata in India. The new odonate species is called Lyriothemis tricolor. Experts claim that it is for the first time that such an odonate variety has been found in the Indian subcontinent. The species were found to be bred in the tree holes of evergreen and semi-evergreen forests in New Amarambalam, Silent Valley and Thattekkad areas of Western Ghats. The scientists involved in the discovery were Muhamed Jafer Palot from Zoological Survey of India and others. The report is published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. Link: http://threatenedtaxa.org
7 January 2014: Under the High Altitude Balloon Development Project (HAA) a 61,000 cubic meters balloon indigenously developed in India at the Balloon Facility, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Hyderabad was launched from Balloon Facility campus located near Moula-Ali. This is for the first time that a regular stratospheric balloon has penetrated the Mesosphere in India. This breakthrough will provide an opportunity for our scientists working in the area of atmospheric dynamics to conduct experiments and collect data up to 50 km. So far only balloons from USA and Japan have accomplished this feat. The balloon reached the maximum altitude of 51.661 kilometers in 2 hours 9 minutes and created the record. The instruments safely landed near Husnabad town, in Andhra Pradesh and the recovery crew recovered the payload intact. Link: http://www.tifr.res.in
8 January 2014: A medical student who shared his notes online has found unexpected success after his popular website was voted by medical professionals as a global industry innovator. Tom Leach, who studied medicine at Manchester University, at the Royal Bolton Hospital , initially simply shared his notes with friends who passed them on. Since creating the site almostadoctor.com in 2009, the student from Derbyshire's small project has mushroomed.At first, it was only used by Manchester students, but word of mouth in the medical community soon got it noticed. Now it is used by thousands of students, with hundreds of articles and course notes contributed from students and doctors around the world. It's like the Wikipedia of medicine, with doctors as editors to verify the contents. Dr Leach was recognized by the Health Service Journal as a top innovator. Link: http://almostadoctor.co.uk
9 January 2014: Orbital Sciences Corp, one of two companies hired by US space agency NASA to make supply runs to the International Space Station, delivered its first cargo ship today. Space station flight engineers used the outpost's 60-foot-long robotic arm to pluck a Cygnus freighter capsule from orbit as the the International Space Station sailed 425 km over the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. The capsule, which is about the size of a small bus, was ltched to a docking port on the space station's Harmony module. The capsule is loaded with 1,461kg of food, equipment, science experiments and supplies for the station. NASA hired the companies following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. The US space agency also is managing a heated three-way competition between SpaceX, Boeing Co and Sierra Nevada Corp, to develop spaceships to fly astronauts. NASA hopes to break the Russia's monopoly on shuttle-taxi flights by 2017. Link: http://www.orbital.com
10 January 2014: A company based in the United States has developed new smart contact lenses that give wearers 'superhuman' vision, allowing them to see fine details not visible to the natural eye. The contact lenses also give wearers enhanced focusing abilities, so they can see near and far at levels beyond what the normal eye can see. Dubbed 'iOptik', the system could do away with TV screens.If users put a finger up to their eye while wearing the contact lenses, they can actually see the fine details of their fingerprint, Mashable reported on Thursday. The eyewear system , developed by Washington-based Innovega , is made up of two parts, glasses and contact lenses. The system also allows users to see projected digital information, such as driving directions and video calls. The tiny 'screens' sit directly on a user's eyeballs and work with a pair of glasses. Link: http://innovega-inc.com
11 January 2014: Scientists may have solved a 2000-year-old puzzle of what led to the untimely and mysterious death of Macedonian leader Alexander the Great at the age of 32. Leo Schep from the National Poisons Centre at New Zealand's University of Otago believes a poisonous wine made from an innocuous looking plant may have killed Alexander, who built a massive empire before his death in 323 BC. Some historians believe that Alexander's death was due to natural causes, while others maintain he was secretly murdered. The study, co-authored by Pat Wheatley, found the most plausible culprit was Veratrum album, known as White Hellebore. The wine from the plant could have accounted for the 12 torturous days that Alexander took to die, speechless and unable to walk. Other suggested poisons would have killed him more quickly. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
12 January 2014: Taking another step towards "learning machines", a group of European universities are going to launch an online platform through which robots can learn new skills from each other worldwide, a kind of 'Wikipedia for Robots'. The platform, dubbed RoboEarth, will be presented next week after four years of research by the team of scientists from six European research institutes, Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Philips, ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Technical University of Munich (Germany) and the universities of Zaragoza (Spain) and Stuttgart(Germany), according to a release from Eindhoven University. The operation of the platform will be demonstrated to a delegation from the European Commission, which is currently financing the project, using four robots and two simulated hospital rooms. Link: http://www.roboearth.org
13 January 2014: Scientists have found that materials which make an invisibility cloak a real-life possibility can perform advanced mathematical calculations, paving way for development of a new kind of analogue computer. An international team of researchers has found that so-called metamaterials, which can alter the properties of light waves often to render an object invisible, could perform mathematical operations as well. Nader Engheta, at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues decided to explore a different use for metamaterials, one that adapts the old idea of analogue computing. Engheta's team has simulated a metamaterial capable of calculus functions like differentiation and integration, and other fundamental mathematical tools. The metamaterial computer works because light waves can draw mathematical curves, akin to a graph. Link: http://www.seas.upenn.edu
14 January 2014: Chilika lagoon in Odisha was named Destination Flyways by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The lagoon was named so for its sustainable and resilient destination for migratory birds. Chilika is the only site to be selected from Asia by the UNWTO and was included in a list of eight such sites. Chilika Lake is situated on the east-coast of India in Orissa. It is the largest brackish water lake in Asia with estuarine character that sprawls along the east coast. It is the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl on the Indian sub-continent. It is one of the hotspot of biodiversity in the country, and some endangered species listed in the IUCN Red List of threatened Animals inhabiting the lagoon for at least part of their life cycle.The Destination Flyways initiative aims at promotion of sustainable tourism. Link: http://biodiv.unwto.org
15 January 2014: A team of scientists, lead by the veteran entomologist Prof. TC Narendran, described five new insects from the holes of a fallen tree. They found these new insects during their exploration in the forests of the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Kerala state of India. So, three of the new insects are named after the locality of collection as Metapelma periyaricum, Metapelma kokkaricum and Calosota idukkiensis. Kokkara is a place in the Periyar Ttiger Reserve, from where they got the specimens of new insects. Idukki is the district, where the Tiger Reserve is located. Another new insect, Calosota iochroma got its name from the Greek words referring the metalic pinkish colour. The fifth species Tetrastichus demonaxi, is named after the wood-eating insect Demonaxi decorus. The paper appeared in the latest issue of SAMAGRA, the journal of Centre for Research in Indigenous Knowledge, Science & Culture. Link: http://criksc.blogspot.in
16 January 2014: China is cloning pigs on an industrial scale according to a report highlighting new techniques being used to 'mass produce' cloned versions of the animal.The Beijing Genomics Institute produces 500 cloned pigs a year, making it the world’s biggest centre for cloning the animals. The BGI has a gene sequencing centre with 156 machines, huge when compared with Europe’s largest sequencing centre, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge which has 30. The BGI ‘mass produce’ pigs to test out new medicines and techniques to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's as the animals share a similar genetics to humans. The Institute was founded in 1999 and looks to replace expensive machines with people for quicker and cheaper cloning, to benefit the public by producing better food or higher quality healthcare. Link: http://www.genomics.cn
17 January 2014: India's first climate change theatre was opened at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala today to educate people on one of the pressing developmental issue in the world. According to Science City authorities, while this theatre is India's first, it is second in the world, with the other in Canada. The 18-metre diameter theatre, inaugurated by Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral, has been set up in a dome-shaped building with seating capacity of 125 persons. The theatre provides a unique experience showing videos on two screens - flat and dome shaped and illuminating the static and moving objects along with special light and sound effects, as the video displays storyline of the film. The 25-minute film explores what future might look like if humans do not take action on current or impending problems which could threaten civilization. Link: http://www.pgsciencecity.org
18 January 2014: China's first Moon rover 'Yutu' has experienced an abnormity due to "the complicated lunar surface environment," according to the state administration of science, technology and industry for National Defence (SASTIND). Scientists were "organising an overhaul". The Jade Rabbit, or 'Yutu' in Chinese, was deployed on the Moon's surface on December 15, several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed. Today, 'Yutu' rover collected a large amount space observation and moon exploration data. The lunar probe mission, comprising the lander Chang'e-3 and rover Yutu, was launched in December 2013 as part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme. The mission, which made the first soft-landing on Moon since 1976, makes China the third country to successfully send a lunar rover to the moon, after the US and the former Soviet Union. Link: http://english.cntv.cn
19 January 2014: Stephen Hawking, famous theoretical physicist and bestselling author, has created a flutter in the scientific world by proposing that what science has theorized about black holes may be wrong. In a paper which is yet to be peer reviewed, Hawking suggests that black holes may not have an event horizon, the boundary that prevents any light or matter from escaping the clutches of its monstrous gravity. What may exist is an "apparent horizon" which is much less tyrannical and only temporarily prevents matter and energy from escaping. Hawking did most of the spadework for the theory of black holes in the 1970s. Later he proposed that 'event horizons' are not as impermeable as theorized and some matter or energy does manage to escape from them. This was dubbed 'Hawking Radiation'. Hawking's new idea is that the 'apparent horizon' is the point where light rays speeding away from the black hole will be suspended. Link: http://www.nature.com
20 January 2014: A comet-chasing space probe is due to wake up from years of hibernation today, but scientists are facing an agonizing wait of several hours until the first signal reaches Earth. Dormant systems on the unmanned Rosetta spacecraft will be switched back in preparation for the final stage of its decade-long mission to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. They had been powered down in 2011 to conserve energy, leaving scientists in the dark about the probe's fate until now. If all goes as planned, the probe will reach 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the coming months and drop a lander onto its icy surface in November. Rosetta, named after a block of stone that helped archeologists decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, will seek to help scientists unlock the composition of comets to know more about the evolution of our solar system. Link: http://www.esa.int
21 January 2014: US space agency NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard a spacecraft headed to an asteroid in 2016. The microchip will travel to the asteroid, named Bennu, aboard the agency's Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx ) spacecraft. The robotic mission will spend more than two years at the 1,760-foot-wide asteroid, obtain a sample from its surface, and return it to the Earth in 2023. The mission promises to help scientists address some basic questions about the composition of the very early solar system, the source of organic materials and water that made life possible on Earth. Those wishing to send messages to Bennu should submit their name online by September 30. Link: http://www.nasa.gov
22 January 2014: A team of scientists from a bunch of universities in the United Kingdom have discovered a giant canyon buried under several kilometers of ice in Antarctica. Its dimensions make it deeper than the Grand Canyon, the valley is up to 3 km deep, more than 300 km long and up to 25 kilometres across. In places, the floor of this valley is more than 2,000 metres below sea level. The research involved scientists from the universities of Newcastle, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, and York, and from the British Antarctic Survey. The researchers spent three seasons investigating and mapping the region in West Antarctica, uncovering the massive sub-glacial valley. The deep valley was carved millions of years ago by a small ice-field similar to those of the present-day Antarctic Peninsula. The findings are published in Geological Society of America Bulletin. Link: http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org
23 January 2014: An international group of scientists, including those from the University of California, Davis, and Korea, have sequenced the genome of a 'hot pepper' (Capsicum annuum).Global production of hot peppers, the most widely used spice, has grown 40-fold during the past two decades. The genetic map sheds light on the biology of the pepper's spiciness, pungency as well as disease-resistance mechanisms. The researchers sequenced the Mexican Landrace variety of 'Hot Pepper' called Criolo de Morelos 334, the variety from the Mexican state of Morelos, which has a consistently high levels of disease resistance for genome sequencing. The project revealed that blocks of genes appear in much the same chromosomal position as in tomato. But the pepper genome was 3.5 times larger than the tomato genome. Link: http://www.nature.com
24 January 2014: Apple Macintosh computer marketed as 'Mac' turned 30 years old today, and Apple has been busy celebrating the occasion.The Mac was a revolutionary computer, and as such, many besides the Cupertino, California tech giant have also been doing their part to commemorate the milestone. Here's a quick roundup of the many ways the tech world is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh. Apple is also celebrating at its retail stores. One of the top sites for Apple news, 9 to 5 Mac put together an enlightening infographic that highlights the top Mac computers released every year since 1984. Among the highlights is the 1997 edition Mac, made for the 20th anniversary. As Apple tends to do during special occasions, the company has retrofitted its website. Users who head to Apple.com are greeted by the picture seen above along with a few paragraphs. Link: http://www.apple.com
25 January 2014: While its flashy younger brother Curiosity is getting all the headlines these days, the Opportunity rover will is celebrating its tenth anniversary on the Red Planet (not bad for a machine expected to last for 90 days) and NASA has revealed a selfie to mark the anniversary. Spirit, Opportunity's now-defunct sister, landed on the Mars on January 4, 2004. But Opportunity hit the Red Planet just weeks later, on January 25, bouncing off the surface while surrounded by airbags before coming to a halt and taking a look around. Since then it has covered 38.7 kilometers of the rocky Martian surface, and taken more than 170,000 images and relayed them back to Earth using satellites of NASA. While there's still a slight chance that the rock is a meteorite debris, the most likely solution is that it was kicked out of the Martian rock by the rover itself. Link: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
26 January 2014: Four in ten among the Padma awards announced tonight are for those in the field of science. Two of the 127 awardees will receive the highest award, the Padma Vibhushan while 24 will be honoured with the Padma Bhushan. Raghunath Mashelkar, a chemical engineer and former director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was one of the two Padma Vibhushan recipients this year. Mashelkar had between 1995 and 2006 helped transform the culture at the CSIR, a network of 40 laboratories, putting the focus on doing industry-relevant research.Among the Padma Bhushan awardees are P. Balaram, director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation; and V.P. Sharma, former director of India’s Malaria Research Institute. Link: http://www.pib.nic.in
27 January 2014: CERN physicists have succeeded for the first time in producing a beam of antihydrogen atoms, an advance that brings scientists closer to solving the antimatter mystery.Physicists from CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) used Atomic Spectroscopy and Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons (ASACUSA) experiment to produce these. Primordial antimatter has so far never been observed in the universe, and its absence remains a scientific enigma.Nevertheless, it is possible to produce significant amounts of antihydrogen by mixing antielectrons (positrons) and low energy antiprotons produced by the Antiproton Decelerator.To allow for clean high-resolution spectroscopy, the ASACUSA collaboration transferred the antihydrogen atoms to study them far from magnetic field. The study is published in Nature Communications. Link: http://www.nature.com
28 January 2014: NASA's decade-old Mars rover, Opportunity, has found evidence that life-friendly fresh water once pooled on the red planet's surface, reinforcing similar discoveries made by newcomer Curiosity on the other side of the planet. Opportunity, along with Spirit, landed 10 years ago for concurrent 90-day missions to look for clues of the past existence of water. In August 2012, Curiosity, equipped with an onboard chemistry lab, arrived for follow-up investigations to determine if Mars had other ingredients essential for supporting life. On the other side of the planet, Opportunity has been analyzing water-bearing rocks at the rim ofthe Endeavour Crater. Opportunity discovered telltale clays called 'smectites' that form in Ph-neutral water. Opportunity is expected to head toward the rim of Endeavour Crater. The research appears in the journal Science. Link: http://www.sciencemag.org
29 January 2014:Patients who suffer heart attacks have unique cells present in their blood, according to a new study. The findings could potentially be used to predict whether a patient is about to have a heart attack by testing for Circulating Endothelial Cells (CECs). Heart attacks are caused by the build-up of fatty plaque on the walls of a person's blood vessels. If this wall breaks, plaque can be released into the bloodstream: blocking the blood-flow into vessels around the heart. However, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California have discovered that CECs were also released into a patient's blood.The study assessed 79 patients who had suffered a heart attack. Scientists say that the presence of Circulating Endothelial Cells (CECs) in a person's blood after a heart attack was yet not seen in healthy controls. It is published in the journal Physical Biology. Link: http://iopscience.iop.org
30 January 2014: For the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth science missions will be launched into space in the same year, opening new and improved remote eyes to monitor our changing planet.The five launches, including two to the International Space Station (ISS), are part of an active year for NASA Earth science researchers.Researchers will also develop advanced sensor technologies, and use satellite data and analytical tools to improve natural hazard and climate change preparedness. The first Earth science mission of 2014 is the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint satellite project with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The GPM Core Observatory is scheduled to be launched on February 27, 2014. In July 2014, NASA will launch a mission to carbon dioxide's role in climate change. Link: http://www.nasa.gov
31 January 2014: India plans to launch its second mission to moon by 2017 in the wake of the success of its maiden lunar mission.Chandrayaan-II is a mission where we essentially need to move on (lunar) surface to conduct experiments. India will launch Chandrayaan-II with an indigenous rover and lander using GSLV by 2016 or 2017. Chandrayaan–II was supposed to be an Indo-Russia joint mission, but after a failed mission in 2011, Russia decided to review it. In May 2012, ISRO conducted a feasibility study on development of a lander and this has been completed. India will be developing the lander in India. Chandrayaan–I, India’s first unmanned lunar probe was launched using a PSLV-XL rocket by Isro in 2008. Chandrayaan-I was meant to orbit the Earth's natural satellite at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical and geologic mapping. Link: http://www.isro.org
