2 March 2014: Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory observators have spotted a never-before-seen comet, its first such discovery since coming out of hibernation late last year. The comet was spotted when it was 230 million kilometers from Earth.The new comet, officially named "C/2014 C3 (NEOWISE)", has a tail about 40,000 kilometers long. According to Amy Mainzer, the mission's principal investigator from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the comet has a highly-eccentric 20-year orbit that takes it high above the plane of the solar system and out past the orbit of Jupiter. The discovery was made by Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer or NEOWISE. It was originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It was shut down in 2011 after its primary mission was completed. In September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE. Link: http://theskylive.com
3 March 2014: World Wildlife Day will be celebrated today with several programmes about fauna and flora. The day reminds us of the urgent need to stop wildlife crime, which has serious economic, environmental and social impacts. On December 20, 2013, 68th session of the UN General Assembly had decided to proclaim March 3, the day of adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as World Wildlife Day, to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora.In its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the important role of CITES in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species' survival. CITES, with 179 member states, regulates international trade in over 35,000 species of plants and animals, which was signed on March 3, 1973, in Washigton. Link: http://www.un.org
4 March 2014: India and Japan today signed an agreement for setting up a laboratory to focus on research in health sciences, medicine and agriculture. While the two countries established a joint research laboratory--DBT-AIST International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB) in Japan in 2003, the new lab will come up in India to give a further boost to scientific collaboration. Accoring to Vijay Raghavan, secretary in the Department of Biotechnology, the engagement today reflects a very deep understanding and friendship in the scientific sphere between India and Japan. The lab to be set up would focus on bio-imaging research through advanced microscope, a key component in health science and biology research. The partners in the initiative include the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan and Regional Centre for Biotechnology under the Department of Biotechnology. Link: http://www.rcb.res.in
5 March 2014: A new dinosaur species has been discovered which is the largest land predator discovered in Europe. Scientists discovered bones belonging to this dinosaur to the north of Portugal's capital Lisbon. They were originally believed to be Torvosaurus tanneri, a dinosaur species from North America. Closer comparison of the shin bone, upper jaw bone, teeth and partial tail vertebrae suggested that it might warrant a new species name, Torvosaurus gurneyi.Torvosaurus gurneyi had blade-shaped teeth up to 10cm long which indicates it may have been at the top of the food chain in the Iberian Peninsula. Torvosaurus gurneyi was one of the largest terrestrial carnivores, and an active predator. The discovery was reported by Christophe Hendrickx from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon. The research findings appeared in the journal PLOS ONE. Link: http://www.plosone.org
6 March 2014: NASA would launch a water-related satellite in collaboration with India's ISRO. The Nasa-Indian Space Research Organisation Synthetic Aperture Radar mission is a part of its plan to launch in the next seven years a series of satellite related to water and drought. Among others include the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2); Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-on and Surface Water Ocean Topography mission. In addition to this, NASA is scheduled to launch three new Earth science missions this year. ISS-RapidScat, scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, will extend the data record of ocean winds around the globe. Nother one, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), launching in November, will inform water resource management decisions on water availability. Link: http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov
7 March 2014: Although the world community has done a good job of restricting the use of ozone-depleting CFCs, a new study has identified four more gases that we are still emitting and which also take a toll on Earth’s ozone layer. Furthermore, at least two of the four are accumulating at rates that the researchers say merit concern. And these new gases are by no means the only offenders. The four are also potent greenhouse gases, according to Johannes Laube from East Anglia University. CF-113a is one of the four. Its source may be agricultural insecticides, but that is only a guess as its exact origins are unknown. The four chemicals appeared only in the recent samples, which showing that they are products of human activity. The new report is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Link: http://www.nature.com
8 March 2014: The National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) will be setting up two committees to deter fears among the public about GM crops: a committee on 'public understanding' of science of GM crops and another on 'political understanding' of GM crops. The environment minister M Veerappa Moily recently decided to give a go ahead to field trials of all those transgenic varieties of GM crops which had been cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in March, 2013. The scientists, incidentally, made public their resolution the day when activists from a number of anti-GM groups, including Greenpeace and Coalition for a GM Free India, unfurled a banner of protest: "Moily Selling the Nation". They highlighted that the governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu had earlier denied permissions for GM field trials in their respective states. Link:http://www.naasindia.org
9 March 2014: A postage stamp in honour of Yuri Gagarin’s 80th birth anniversary was presented at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) in Trivandrum today. It is adorned with a photo of the first cosmonaut and with flowers. Gagarin’s space flight was considered as a greatest milestone in the space science technology. The contribution of Gagarin was lauded by India’s scientific community, along with the whole world. In May 2013 Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) released a stamp which was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova’s flight into space. The stamp was circulated when the whole world was celebrating the anniversary of the historic flight of the first female astronaut. India Post also released a commemorative envelope with an image of Tereshkova, with the inscription in both Hindi and English: 'The 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova's flight into space'. Link: http://yurigagarin50.org
10 March 2014: A recent study in India has found copious quantities of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. Some samples were found to have banned pesticides such as Chlordane, Carbofuron, Captafol and DDT. The minimum quantity of Captafol fungicide in a sample of bitter gourd was 10 ppb, while the maximum was 48 ppb in another sample, when the maximum residue limit is 20 ppb as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).In one sample of cucumber, the residue was 230 ppb, 192 ppb of Deltamethrin was found in another sample of cucumber along with 108 ppb of Ethofenprox. The maximum residue limit (MRL) of these pesticides in cucumber has not been determined. About 54 types of pesticides were detected from different samples. The study was done by Pesticide Residue Testing Laboratory, Pune.Link: http://www.fssai.gov.in
11 March 2014: With the third anniversary of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe today, the aftermaths of the disaster continues. The difference with Fukushima is the scale of disaster. With Fukushima were multiple meltdowns at the six-nuclear plant site. There’s been continuing pollution of a major part of Japan, with radioactivity going into the air, carried by the winds to fall out around the world, and gigantic amounts of radioactivity going into the Pacific Ocean moving with the currents and carried by marine life that ingests the nuclear toxins. Leading the Fukushima cover-up globally is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), formed by the United Nations in 1957 . Working with the IAEA is the World Health Organization. WHO was captured on issues of radioactivity and nuclear power early on by IAEA. Link: http://www.iaea.org
12 March 2014: Today is a most auspicious anniversary, the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, which has revolutionised our means of communication and sharing information. Or rather, it’s one of the 25th anniversaries of the World Wide Web. There is a touch of arbitrariness to the choice of today, it was in March 1989 when a British computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, wrote a proposal to develop an information management system at the famed Cern laboratory in Switzerland where he worked, using hypertext to create a network of interlinked documents. Berners-Lee didn’t post the first website until August 1991, and it didn’t go live for anyone to access until later that month. Cern is now best remembered more as the birthplace of the World Wide Web. The internet itself, has a diffuse genesis, and as a result, Robert Kahn and Leonard Kleinrock, are all plausibly described as the fathers of the internet. Link:http://www.livinginternet.com
13 March 2014: Legislation introduced to the Hawaii House of Representatives would officially celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. State Rep. Kaniela Ing (D) today introduced the bill, H.R. 145, to designate February 12 of every year as Charles Darwin Day in Hawaii. The resolution describes Darwin as “arguably the most influential person in science,” noting that his ideas on evolution have shaped modern biology. Darwin’s theories were the beginning of a momentous change in the understanding of evolution that have led to significant strides in the field of science all over the world as well as here in Hawaii, the bill states. The resolution also says that the theory of evolution has furthered the survival of the human race. The bill is similar to legislation that was introduced to the U.S. House by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) this year. Link: http://darwinday.org
14 March 2014: Today is commemorated as 'Save a Spider day' and it is for the conservation of spiders. The message is to encourage people not to kill a spider they find in their home but rather move it outside. One of the main reasons to observe such a day is the prevalence of "arachnophobia" among the general public throughout the world. In fact, arachnophobia, or fear of spiders, is believed to be the most common phobia among the people. Kerala has 600 species of spiders against the total 1550 species identified in the country. In the Western Ghats ranges, there are sky islands- huge hills which are islands by themselves. The spiders in that region are different. Contrary to the popular belief, there are very few spiders that pose any risk to humans. India do not have toxic species except Tarantula which can cause itching or a swelling on the body. Link:http://www.smithsonianmag.com
15 March 2014: The amended ecologically-sensitive areas (ESAs) in Kerala will be mapped using colour codes ranging from dark green to red, each colour representing green zones, water bodies, residential areas, plantations and farm lands. The blue colour will represent water bodies while red will represent built-up areas. Farmlands will be given yellow colour while green will denote rich bio-diverse areas and grey barren lands. The total area under ESAs is around 9993.7 sq kms, of which forest land is around 9,107 sq km and grasslands/barren land 856.7 sq km. The recent draft notification of MOEF had exempted 3,115 sq km of ESAs in the state.The maps are being prepared by the state biodiversity board with the technical assistance of the state remote sensing and environment centre. The maps was uploaded on the State Biodiversity Board website so that various stakeholders can post their suggestions within 60 days. Link: http://keralabiodiversity.org
16 March 2014: NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) searched through hundreds of millions of objects across our sky but was unable to find any evidence of the hypothesized celestial body in our solar system commonly dubbed 'Planet X'. Researchers previously had theorized about the existence of this large, but unseen celestial body, suspected to lie somewhere beyond the orbit of Pluto. In addition to 'Planet X', the body had garnered other nicknames, including 'Nemesis' and 'Tyche'. This recent study found no object the size of Saturn or larger exists out to a distance of 10,000 astronomical units (au), and no object larger than Jupiter exists out to 26,000 au. The second WISE study, on objects beyond solar system, found 3,525 stars and brown dwarfs within 500 light-years of our Sun. The study is published in the Astrophysical Journal. Link: http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu
17 March 2014: The observatory at St. Xavier's College in Kolkata, one among the largest astronomical observatories set up in any educational institution in India, has been revamped and restored. St. Xavier's College observatory is one of the oldest observatories in Asia which is now being revamped with 'Advanced Technology Hemispherical Rotating Motorised Dome' for studying night-time celestial observations was recently inaugurated. Set up in 1865 by Father Eugene Lafont, the observatory has been inoperative for around 120 years. It was this very observatory that predicted the 1867 cyclone. The observatory has been renamed Fr. Lafont Observatory. The Astronomy Observatory Dome is the largest in the country with a diameter of 24 feet and height of 15 feet. The revamping was done by Banglore-based Astro Creations and Impex Pvt. Ltd. Link: http://www.sxccal.edu
18 March 2014: The latest International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) Red List of Birds (2013) shows that fifteen bird species in India continue to be critically endangered (CR). Moreover, three other bird species have been uplisted to Near Threatened (NT) and Vulnerable (VU) categories. The species falling under the Critically Endangered category in India include migratory wetland species: Baer's Pochard, Siberian Crane and Spoon-billed Sandpiper; non-migratory wetland species: White-bellied Heron; grassland species: Bengal Florican, Great Indian Bustard, Jerdon's Courser and Sociable Lapwing; forest species: Forest Owlet and scavengers: Indian Vulture, Red-headed Vulture, White-backed Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture. Himalayan Quail and Pink-headed Duck are now considered Extinct for all practical purposes. Link:http://www.iucn.org
19 March 2014: Ludhiana and Kanpur are among the 10 most polluted cities in the world, according to the World Health Organization. The pollution is measured as the microgramme (mcg) concentration per cubic metre of air of particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometres (PM10).The figures are the average for the year. Seasonal spikes can be many times higher. The list of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world is as follows: (1) Ahvaz, Iran 372 mcg/m3, (2) Ulan Bator, Mongolia 279 mcg/m3, (3) Sanandaj, Iran 254 mcg/m3, (4) Ludhiana, India and Quetta, Pakistan, 251 mcg/m3, (5) Kermanshah, Iran 229 mcg/m3, (6) Peshawar, Pakistan 219 mcg/m3,(7) Gaborone, Botswana 216 mcg/m3, (8) Yasuj, Iran 215 mcg/m3, (9) Kanpur, India 209 mcg/m3. The WHO's health guidelines are maximum exposure of 20 mcg/m3, measured as an annual average.Link:http://www.who.int
20 March 2014: Wild life Conservation and Agro-Rural Development Foundation (WARD) has declared 2014 as the 'Year of the Sparrow'. Today, World Sparrow Day, WARD has pledged to take efforts to conserve and protect sparrows along with increasing awareness about it. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated last year (2013). Then it was called World House Sparrow Day, but now onwards it will be called World Sparrow Day. It is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organisations across the world. The theme for World Sparrow Day, this year is Chirp for the Sparrow, Tweet for the Sparrow aimed at building public opinion for conservation of small birds. Link: www.worldsparrowday.org
21 March 2014:A team of scientists may have identified a potential gas hydrate zone in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, known for having India's largest natural gas reserves. Gas Hydrates are ice-like structures, essentially comprising Methane gas trapped in water. Hydrates are found in high pressure, low-temperature areas under the ocean bed. The gas in hydrates can be isolated for energy purposes. Hydrates are formed in regions where natural gas reserves are known to exist. It is estimated that gas hydrate reserves of India are nearly 1,500 times natural gas reserves. The discovery was made by National Institute of Oceanography, National Centre for Antarctica. It also believed that exploiting 10 percent of the reserves can power the country for a century. The study is published in Journal of Earth Systems Science. Link: http://www.ias.ac.in
22 March 2014: Field trials for ten varieties of GM (genetically modified) food and other crops were revalidated by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the statutory appraisal arm of the Environment Ministry. These included field trials for rice, wheat, maize, cotton and sorghum, though the states which are the major producers of these crops remain opposed. However, two of the agricultural states, Maharashtra and Punjab have favoured field trials for GM crops. The Maharashtra government has issued no-objection certificates to 28 applications for GM crop trials to seven private companies and the Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research.In November 2013, the Maharashtra government became the first state to permit field trials of GM food crops.Link: http://www.moef.nic.in
23 March 2014: Today marks the 25th anniversary of the first public announcement of 'Cold Fusion'. On 23rd Marh, 1989, Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah hypothesized that electrolysis of heavy water using Palladium (Pd) electrodes produced excess heat, that can be explained only in terms of nuclear reaction. In July 1989 an group of Indian scientists at BARC led by P. K. Iyengar and M. Srinivasan and in October 1989 a team from USA reported 'Cold Fusion' from their labs. However, some researcherss who had initially reported that they had replicated the Fleischmann and Pons results, later retracted their claims. One of the points of criticism of 'Cold Fusion' is that, Fleischmann and Pons oroginal demonstration lacked of 'control experiment'. Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com
24 March 2014: Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, when an Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska on March 24,1989, releasing 11 million gallons (40 million liters) of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, fouling about 1,300 miles of coastline.The disaster was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the 2011 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico surpassed it in terms of volume in 2011. An estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters and 300 harbor seals were killed in the immediate aftermath, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Sea otter populations have finally bounced back to pre-spill levels,but the herring population crashed and has never fully recovered. Largely in response to the Exxon Valdez spill, the Oil Pollution Act became law in 1990. Link: http://www.evostc.state.ak.us
25 March 2014:Today is the 100th anniversary of Norman Borlaug who has earned the nickname 'Father of the Green Revolution'. During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of high-yielding wheat varieties combined with modern agricultural techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in India, greatly improving the food security of the nation. The same happened to the world also leading to the 'Green Revolution' earning Borlaug the title "the man who saved over a billion people from starvation". Borlaug died on September 12, 2009. Borlaug was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, for his contributions to the world food security. Link: http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org
26 March 2014: Astronomers have discovered a Dwarf Planet dubbed ‘Biden’, the orbit of which is stretched out of another Dwarf Planet called Sedna, discovered ten years ago. The newly discovered planet is with the official name 2012 VP113, but the discovery team has decided to call it ‘Biden’ after Joe Biden, the current Vice President of US. Biden is about 450 kilometers wide which orbits roughly 12.4 billion kilometers away from the sun, ie., some 83 Astronomical Units (one astronomical unit, or AU, is 93 million miles, the average distance from the Earth to the sun). The International Astronomical Union officially recognizes five dwarf planets. They are Ceres, the largest asteroid and Dwarf Planets: Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. The report is published in the journal Nature. Link: http://www.nature.com
27 March 2014: The National Research Centre on Mithun (NRCM) located in Porba village in Medziphema, Nagaland celebrated 25 years of its existence today. The centre is aimed at improving the characteristics of Mithun, the domesticated variety of Wild Gaur found in the North-Eastern hilly region of India. The centre was established by Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) which began functioning from Shillong, Meghalaya during the period of 1988. The Centre was shifted to Nagaland in 1994. Mithun is believed to be domesticated from Wild Gaur more than 8000 years ago, and so they taxonomically share the common scientific name: Bos frontalis. This animal forms an important livestock component of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur and it is the State Animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Link: http://www.nrcmithun.res.in
28 March 2014: The World Health Organisation declared India free of polio virus today, in a function held in New Delhi. India's last case of the wild polio virus was detected in January 2011 in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means a country can be certified as polio-free. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world left where the virus remains endemic, largely due to violent conflicts, weak health systems and poor sanitation. It was in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched to ensure nationwide vaccination in endemic nations. In Pakistan, the only country where polio cases are increasing, gunmen frequently attack polio workers, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to sterilize Muslims. Link: http://www.polioeradication.org
29 March 2014: A landmark effort by the Indian state of Karnataka to connect isolated protected forests could lead to the building of Asia's largest unbroken forest. Since 2012, the southern state of Karnataka has declared nearly 2,600 sq km (1,000 sq miles) of forests as protected areas, linking a series of national parks, tiger reserves and sanctuaries. In southern Karnataka, the missing links in the Bannerghatta-Nagarhole landscape have been bridged to achieve an unbroken stretch of 7,050 sq km that includes adjoining protected areas in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In central Karnataka, the Kudremukh-Aghanashini landscape across 1,716 sq km has been made contiguous. In the north, Anshi-Bhimghad landscape has linked a stretch of 2,242 sq km in Goa and Karnataka. Link: https://164.100.133.59/aranya
30 March 2014: The Assam Government’s move to dehorn its state animal, One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornisrhinos), to tackle the mounting poaching threat has drawn widespread condemnation from the international conservation community, including rhino-lovers. The conservationists have termed the move as both unethical and impractical besides contributing little to curb poaching. Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrik, a rhino-expert from Africa, has termed the move as ‘disastrous, as a rhino without a horn would make it susceptible to various disorders concerning its behaviour and activities, affecting its survival chances. Dehorning was a failed exercise in Zimbabwe, as poachers still targeted the rhinos to dig out even the stumps that have grown after dehorning. Link: http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com
31 March 2014: Global warming is driving humanity towards more risks as per the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Working Group II report, launched today by Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC. The first Working Group report was published on 27 September 2013 which dealt with the Physical Science Basis of Global Warming. What is published now is the second Working Group report dealing with the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of the world due to Global Warming. The third Working Group report, concerning the mitigation of climate change will be published on 11 April 2014. The IPCC has published four comprehensive assessment reports so far, the first in 1990, a supplementary report in 1992, a second assessment report in 1995, and a third report in 2001. A fourth report was released in 2007 and the fifth assessment will be issued on 31 October 2014. Link: http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov
