Science

Over four millennia ago, the fortress town of Gonur-Tepe might have been a rare advanced civilisation before it was buried for centuries under the dust of the Kara Kum desert in remote western Turkmenistan.

After being uncovered by Soviet archaeologists in the last century, Gonur-Tepe, once home to thousands of people and the centre of a thriving region, is gradually revealing its mysteries with new artifacts being uncovered on every summer dig.

In order to improve a simulation designed to study the evolution of the solar system through time, numerical mathematical methods have been developed at the Computing Faculty of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

Specifically, the methods proposed enable the simulation calculations to be done faster and more accurately.

The methodology developed at the UPV/EHU’s Computing Faculty is a clear example of interdisciplinarity and collaboration.

An Indian scientist and his Taiwanese colleague have discovered a blue super-giant star located in the constellation Virgo, far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy.

Over 55 million years ago, the star emerged in an extremely wild environment, surrounded by intensely hot plasma (a million degrees centigrade) and amidst raging cyclone winds blowing at four million kilometres per hour.

Internet search giant Google has now figured out a way to manage your emails when you die.

Google is working on a new feature that let’s you leave instructions for your online data after death.

The search giant announced the launch of Inactive Account Manager.

According to CBS News, the service is like a will and testament for your digital life.

The feature only applies to your Google accounts, like Gmail, Goolge+ and YouTube.

If you enable the feature, you have a few options for your account, including giving loved ones access to your data or wiping everything.

Washington, April 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Planned space adventures over the next few decades for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) read like a science fiction thriller with a touch of the wild west thrown in, with plans to journey farther and faster than anyone from Earth has gone before.

“The idea is to continue branching ourselves out very slowly into the solar system, pushing the limits and going deeper into space than ever,” said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel, in an interview with RIA Novosti Thursday.

Washington, April 12(ANI): A new study has suggested that high blood pressure in the kidneys of people with apple-shaped bodies may be responsible for their increased risk of developing kidney disease later in life.

The findings suggest that these individuals may benefit from treatments that reduce kidney blood pressure.

People with “apple-shaped” bodies—when fat is concentrated mostly in the abdominal area—are more likely than those with “pear-shaped” bodies to develop kidney disease. The mechanisms underlying this risk are not well understood.

Philips has unveiled an LED lamp that it describes as ‘the world’s most energy-efficient’.

The firm said the prototype tube lighting LED is twice as efficient as those currently used in offices and industry around the world, but offers the same amount of light.

Being able to halve the amount of energy used could bring huge cost and energy savings, it added.

According to the BBC, the prototype tube lighting produces 200 lumens per watt (200lm/W) compared with 100lm/W for equivalent strip lighting and 15lm/W for traditional light bulbs .

In India and Nepal several dozens agricultural fires have been set and are burning, NASA has revealed.

Agricultural fires are set all over the world at different times to prepare the soil for the planting of new crops

NASA took the natural-color satellite images of India and Nepal on April 06, 2013.

The image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite.

ANI

The Sun emitted a mid-level flare on the morning of April 11, 2013, it has been revealed.

The M6.5 flare, which is the strongest flare seen so far in 2013, was also associated with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later.

CMEs can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models show that the CME began at 3:36 a.m. EDT on April 11, leaving the sun at over 600 miles per second.

After Ranthambore and Sariska, Rajasthan will now boast of yet another tiger reserve. The state government has declared the Mukundra Hills a reserve for the conservation of the majestic cats, officials said Thursday.

“We have received the notification letter from the state government. The reserve area is spread over 759 square kilometres in four districts – Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar. About 417 square kilometres have been defined as the core tiger habitat, while an area of 342.82 has been notified as the buffer zone,” a senior forest department officer told IANS.

Washington, Apr 11 (ANI): Dramatic underground explosions, perhaps involving ice, are responsible for the pits inside the two large martian impact craters, that has been captured by ESA’s Mars Express on January 4.

The “twin” craters are in the Thaumasia Planum region, a large plateau that lies immediately to the south of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System.

Dramatic underground explosions, perhaps involving ice, are responsible for the pits inside the two large martian impact craters, that has been captured by ESA’s Mars Express on January 4.

The “twin” craters are in the Thaumasia Planum region, a large plateau that lies immediately to the south of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System.

The northernmost large crater was officially given the name Arima in early 2012, but the southernmost crater remains unnamed. Both are just over 50 km wide and display intricate interior features.

Most developing countries are still struggling to bridge the “digital divide” limiting access to computers and the Internet for low-income citizens, a study showed today.

The study for the World Economic Forum placed Finland at the top of its “networked readiness index” which measures a country’s ability to make use of information technology for growth and well-being.

In second place in the index was Singapore, followed by Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway.

Archaeologists discovered here a 2,000-year-old ritual bath that used a highly sophisticated system of water collection to comport with Jewish law, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Wednesday.

Uncovered during preparations to build a new road in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Menachem neighbourhood, the ritual bath, or “mikveh”, goes back to the period of the Second Temple.

Industries located along the Gangetic delta in Haldia, Kolkata and its outskirts are polluting the fragile ecosystem of Sundarbans, home to 40 lakh people and the Royal Bengal Tiger, a latest study says.

The research, conducted by a group of scientists from Calcutta University and Techno India University, says there has been a steady increase in the percentage of toxic heavy metals leading to the gradual deterioration of water there.

Using WM Keck Observatory, a new study has tracked the “rain” of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and found the extent of the ring-rain is far greater, and falls across larger areas of the planet, than previously thought.

The study, whose observations were funded by NASA and whose analysis was led by the University of Leicester, England, revealed that the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere.

London, April 10 (IANS) A 5,300-year-old iceman — dubbed Ötzi — whose remains were found frozen in the Italian Alps, probably never cleaned his teeth, and suffered from bad breath as a result, researchers have said.

Researchers were stunned by the poor condition of Ötzi’s teeth, and found he suffered from several major cavities as well as a damaged front tooth probably caused by an accident, the Daily Mail reported.

The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, near the Similaun mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. Hence the name Ötzi.

Popular smartphone messaging application WhatsApp has reportedly rebuffed one billion dollar bid from Internet search giant Google.

Google declined to comment on the matter, but Digital Trends reported sources saying both parties have been in discussions for weeks and the current offer is “close to one billion dollars”.

WhatsApp’s business development chief Neeraj Arora told All Things Digital that the company is not holding sales talks with Google.

But the denial will not quash the rumours, the Guardian reports.

Geckos are known for their sticky adhesive toes that allow them to stick to, climb on, and run along surfaces in any orientation – even upside down – and until recently it was a mystery how they kept their unique ability even on wet surfaces.

A 2012 study in which the reptile slipped on wet glass had perplexed scientists, who were trying to unlock the key to gecko adhesion in climates with plentiful rain and moisture.

The radiation environment near the Moon could be damaging to humans and electronics on future missions, it has been revealed.

To characterize this potentially hazardous environment, the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, which orbits at 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the Moon’s surface, measures the radiation that would be absorbed by either electronic parts or human tissue behind the shielding of a spacecraft.

CRaTER has measured the lunar radiation environment since 2009, during the recent solar minimum.

Tech giant Apple’s new smartphone, iPhone 5S, will reportedly be launched in three sizes.

Analyst Brian White said that from discussions with officials at an unnamed “tech-supply chain company” during a trip to China he learned that the iPhone 5S will be available in two, or possibly three, screen sizes, Mac Rumours reports.

Mac Rumours reported that White said Apple now believes that one size per iPhone release does not work for everyone and offering consumers an option has the potential to expand the company’s market share.

An April 4-7 simulation of a manned mission to Mars provided the opportunity for successful tests of some of the technology needed for such an ambitious undertaking, Spanish scientists said.

Participants in Mars Spanish Mission 0, carried out in the semi-arid Los Monegros region, discussed the simulation at a press conference here in Zaragoza.

Washington, Apr 9 (ANI): Researchers have developed solar technology integrating nanowires that could capture large quantities of light and produce energy with incredible efficiency at a much lower cost.

This technology is possibly the future for powering microchips and the basis for a new generation of solar panels.

Despite their size, nanowires have tremendous potential for energy production.

“These nanowires capture much more light than expected,” Anna Fontcuberta i Morral said about her research.

Washington, April 9 (ANI): The world”s first practical “artificial leaf” has gained another innovative feature – the ability to self-heal damage that occurs during production of energy.

This makes the device even more suitable for providing people in developing countries and remote areas with electricity, said scientists.

Daniel G. Nocera, Ph.D, leader of the research team, explained that the “leaf” mimics the ability of real leaves to produce energy from sunlight and water.

Over six million new domain names were registered in the October-December period of 2012, taking the total number of registered domain names to 252 million worldwide, says a report.

“…More than six million domain names were added to the Internet in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of registered domain names to more than 252 million worldwide across all top-level domains as of December 31, 2012,” VeriSign, the global registry operator for .Com and .Net said in a report.