Technology

Bangkok, September 25: A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said on Friday.

WWF International said that scientists in 2008 discovered 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and one bird species in the region. That works out to be about three species a week and is in addition to the 1 000 new species catalogued there from 1997 to 2007, the group said.

Johannesburg, September 25: South Africa’s natural water resources are declining, the Cape Times reported on Friday, quoting from a study released this week.

“With each of the national water studies carried out since the 1950s, our estimate of the country’s total natural water resources has declined,” project director Brian Middleton told the newspaper.

“If we were allocating water according to the higher estimates made in previous studies, we would find that there is simply not enough water available to meet our needs.”

Washington, September 25: Millions of Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico for the winter and scientists have long speculated on how the insects find their way. It turns out their antennas are the key.

How do we know? Well, researchers painted butterfly antennas black, and the insects got lost.

Managing to fly south may not sound like a big deal to people armed with maps and satellite receivers, but all butterflies have for navigation is the sun in the sky.

And the sun keeps moving, so the butterflies have to constantly adjust to stay on course throughout the day.

Pasadena, September 25: A spacecraft orbiting Mars has spotted water ice in several impact craters midway between the north pole and equator – the first time ice so close to the surface has been discovered so far south on the red planet.

Instruments on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter estimated that the newfound ice is 99% pure.

Previous spacecraft have spied ice lurking below the Martian surface. Before the Phoenix lander froze to death last year, it dug trenches and touched ice specks at its arctic landing site.

Paris, September 25: The stunning remains of a “four-winged” dinosaur have confirmed that birds owe their ancestry to two-footed dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago, the world’s most famous fossil-hunter said.

Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing is staking the claim thanks to an astonishingly-preserved fossil of a bird-like dinosaur called Anchiornis huxleyi.

Until now, A. huxleyi was thought to be a primitive bird. It was presumed to have been a near-contemporary of Archaeopteryx, the first recognised bird, which flew around 150 million years ago.

Bangalore, September 25: India on Friday hailed the discovery of water on the moon as a triumph for its lunar programme as the country aims to cement its reputation as a serious player in the space industry.

The mood among India’s space scientists has gone from disappointment last month when its Chandrayaan-1 satellite mission was prematurely aborted to jubilation with news of a major discovery made in partnership with Nasa.

Tokyo, September 25: Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game console outsold Nintendo’s Wii nearly fivefold in Japan in the three weeks to September 20, helped by the launch of a new cheaper, slim version, a survey said on Friday.

Sony sold 257 254 PS3s in its home market in the three-week period, while Nintendo sold 52 229 Wii consoles, the research by video game publisher Ascii Media Works showed.

Paris, September 25: French archaeologists have discovered the oldest known place of worship dedicated to the dugong, or sea cow, on an island just north of Dubai, two research centers said on Thursday.

The sanctuary believed to date back to 3 500 to 3 200 years BC was discovered on Akab island in the United Arab Emirates, 50km north of Dubai.

Why are we asking this now?

The American space agency Nasa announced yesterday that three separate missions examining the Moon have found clear evidence of water there. The discovery has huge implications not only for science, but geopolitics as well.

Water, as on Earth? Water you could float a boat in?

Toronto, September 25: Capturing carbon directly from the air is the only way to prevent dangerous climate changes, says a pioneering Canadian scientist.

University of Calgary scientist David Keith says governments need to earmark more research funding for technologies to capture carbon dioxide in surrounding air to save the planet. Keith has successfully tested an air capture technology last year. The market for carbon capture technologies is estimated to reach $1 billion a year within 20 years.

Bangalore, September 25: This is a revolutionary finding that could spur space scientists on to look for possibility of life in the lunar environs. US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has detected traces of water across the entire surface of the Moon.

The path-breaking finding was made using Nasa’s payload on board India’s first unmanned moon-bound space craft, Chandrayaan-1. DNA had first reported (May 22 edition) that Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Nasa had “for the first time found sure-fire hints of presence of water on the Moon”.

San Francisco, September 25: Internet messaging sensation Twitter is to close a new funding round of $100 million from investors who value the company as high as $1 billion, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The privately held company, which is yet to register a profit, intends to use the funds to beef up its system as it tries to grow fast to compete with Facebook.

Twitter, which allows users to blog short messages from their cellphones, currently has about 50 million users and hopes to match Facebook’s 300 million users worldwide.

Chennai, September 24: The sensational discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface by an instrument owned by the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and carried by India’s Chandrayaan-1 has been termed by scientists as a “very precious find”.

“Moon water is more precious than gold,” an Indian space scientist told IANS, declining to be named.

He said the presence of water makes a lot of difference for future explorations. “For instance, we may not have to carry water from earth,” he added.

Chennai, September 24: The American space agency NASA is expected to announce Thursday major findings of its moon mineralogy matter that went on board India’s Chandrayaan-1.

The announcement has been kept under wraps, but it is speculated it will be about the presence of water or ice on the moon.

ISRO placed in orbit seven satellites including Oceansat-2 within a span of 20 minutes on Wednesday, its first successful mission after the abrupt end of the ambitious Chandrayaan-I project.

At the end of the 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C14 blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota with ignition of the core first stage and put the satellites in orbit one after another.

New Delhi, September 23: Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, in association with Korean handset maker Samsung Mobile, Wednesday launched India’s first Android-powered mobile phone.

Priced at Rs.28,990, Samsung Galaxy (I7500) has a 3.2-inch full touch-screen and WiFi connectivity, and will provide users access to Google mobile services and full web browsing at high speed.

Android is an open-source operating system for mobiles and wireless devices that allows developers to design applications independent of the handset type.

New York, September 23: Internet major Yahoo! will be launching a global brand campaign focusing on showcasing its core product enhancements, among others. The campaign would be launched in India on October 5.

In a statement, the firm said it would be launching a global brand campaign to celebrate its connection with people and communicate core product enhancements. “The brand campaign will launch on September 28 in the US and October 5 in the UK and India, and extend into 2010.

Sriharikota, September 23: India successfully launched its 16th remote-sensing satellite Oceansat-2 and six small Europeans satellites on board a rocket that blasted off from here at 11.51 a.m. Wednesday.

The 44.4-metre tall, 230-tonne Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) freed itself from the launch pad at the spaceport and lifted itself up, lugging the 960-kg Oceansat-2 and the six nano satellites all together weighing 20 kg.

Chennai, September 23: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday launched seven satellites into space from the Sriharikota range off Orissa.

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) took off with the 970-kg Oceansat-2 and six European satellites.

Oceansat-2 is India’s 16th remote sensing satellite and will replace Oceansat-1, which has completed 10 years of its space journey.

Oceansat-2 is slated to have a mission life of five years and is meant to help identify potential fishing zones and aid weather forecasting.

Chennai, September 19: While the preparations for launch of India’s ocean monitoring satellite Oceansat 2 and six other nano satellites Sep 23 is on, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready for the bigger launch slated in the next two months — that of the communications satellite GSAT 4.

San Francisco, Septembar 19: The founders of Skype have sued owner eBay Inc and an investor group that has agreed to buy the Webphone service, accusing them of copyright violation and potentially disrupting the $1.9 billion deal.

The lawsuit brought by Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, says Skype used its technology without authorization.

Brussels, September 18: NATO proposed a new era of cooperation with Russia Friday, calling for joint work with Moscow and Washington on missile defense after the United States scrapped a planned anti-missile system.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described as “correct and brave” President Barack Obama’s decision to drop the missile shield intended for Europe by predecessor George W. Bush. Russia’s NATO envoy welcomed the NATO cooperation proposals.

Washington, September 18: Google Inc said Apple Inc rejected its Google Voice application for the popular iPhone, contradicting Apple’s statement to regulators last month.

The issue prompted the Federal Communications Commission to send letters to the companies and AT&T Inc, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier, seeking explanations.

New York, September 17: Japan, which has promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, could play a leading role as a catalyst for change in global efforts to reduce the impact of climate change, World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature has said.

The new administration in Tokyo could play a crucial role in the UN climate change conference to be held here next week, it said.

Beijing, September 17: China’s military-backed space program has selected 45 astronaut candidates, including its first women hopefuls, for a training program less than a year after the country completed its first spacewalk.

The 30 male and 15 female candidates are part of a program to pick five men and two women astronauts to participate in three more manned missions planned before 2012. The missions are to prepare for the rendezvous and docking tasks required for constructing a space station, a news agency reported on Thursday.