Science

Washington, January 13: The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that last year was tied as the planet’s hottest on record.

Surface temperatures in 2010 were tied with 2005: both years, up approximately 1.12 degrees Fahrenheit over the 20th century’s average.

Surface temperatures for the Earth’s oceans were also up by 0.88 degrees Fahrenheit in 2010, once again tying with 2005, this time for the third warmest year on record.

Chandigarh, January 13: Chandigarh airport, considered a gateway to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, grounds to a halt for several days every year thanks to dense fog. But it is looking at better days at last with the CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) being installed.

ILS is a crucial device that helps in the safe landing of an aircraft during foggy conditions and low visibility.

Kochi, January 12: A Kochi-based firm Wednesday launched what it claimed was India’s first multi-platform auto fare calculating application that uses GPS.

MindHelix Technologies claimed that its ‘Tuk Tuk’ meter, a mobile phone application, will enable the commuter to get accurate fare from auto-rickshaws thus puting a stop to their being cheated on false fare claims.

The meter is the first multi-platform application in India that can dynamically calculate the distance travelled using Global Positioning System (GPS) and the fare due, a company official said.

Sharjah, January 12: A team of researchers are claiming to have made a scientific breakthrough by developing a medical formula for treating cancer using camel’s milk and urine.

Abdalla A. Alnajjar, president of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation, said the team had started its project in 2008 and reached “wonderful” results at the international level.

“The medicine, a combination of camel’s milk and urine, has been tested on mice and will later be tested on human beings,” he said.

The experiments were conducted in Sharjah University and the Cancer Institute in Baghdad.

Washington,January 11:Robert Muglia, a 23-year Microsoft Corp. veteran and president of its server and tools business, will become the latest high-ranking executive to leave the company.

In a letter to Microsoft employees Monday, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer took the unusual step of saying it was his decision to seek a new leader for the server and tools division, a $15 billion-a-year business that encompasses everything from programming tools to database software to Microsoft’s Windows operating system for servers.

Washington, January 08: When we cry, we may be doing more than expressing emotion. Our tears, according to striking new research, may be sending chemical signals that influence the behavior of other people.

The research, published on Thursday in the journal Science, could begin to explain something that has baffled scientists for generations: Why do humans, unlike seemingly any other species, cry emotional tears?

Chennai, January 07: A group of 54 engineering students [^] from the city has designed a 10-kg nano satellite to monitor greenhouse gases (GHG) that the Indian space agency is planning to launch in April.

The students from the SRM University, some 40 km from the capital city, have been working on the project ‘SRMSAT’ since 2008. The satellite weighing just 10 kg is being developed under the guidance of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at a cost of Rs.1 crore.

London, January 07: Microsoft has unveiled a new version of its flagship Windows software to run on microchips designed by British company ARM.The chip designs will feature in a new range of Windows-based products, including tablets and mobile phones, which are likely to hit the markets in two or three years.

The deal will allow Microsoft to push into the high-end tablet market, which includes products such as Apple’s iPad.

The software was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in the US, the Daily Mail reported.

Scientists have found the answer to one of the most long-standing mysteries of physics: Why the Sun’s outer atmosphere or the corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface.

They have discovered a major source of hot gas that replenishes the corona: narrow jets of plasma, known as spicules, shooting up from just above the Sun’s surface.

Canada, January 06: A 10-year-old Canadian girl has won herself a little star power for discovering a supernova.

Kathryn Aurora Gray of Fredericton spotted an exploding star on Sunday while looking at images of the night sky sent to her by an astronomer friend of the family.

She is the youngest person ever to make such a discovery.

Kathryn’s father, Paul Gray, is an amateur astronomer and was staring at the computer with his daughter when she spotted the supernova.

Tokyo, January 05: China has completed a prototype of its first known stealth aircraft, media reports said Wednesday, reinforcing the nation’s military buildup ahead of a visit by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

China is to start test flights of the J-20 this month with an eye to the deployment of the fighter as early as 2017, Japan’s Asahi daily reported, citing unnamed Chinese military sources.

Tehran, January 04: Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Reza Taqipour says a national open source operating system is on the way.

“The operating system will be primarily installed for industrial centers and organizations and then home users could utilize it if they are willing,” Mehr news agency quoted Taqipour as saying on Monday.

Chennai, January 03: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday urged Indian scientists to “think big” and “out of the box” for scientific advancement and innovations in the country.

“The time has come for Indian scientists to think big, think out of the box. The time has come to produce Ramans and Ramanujans as we usher in the decade of innovation,” Manmohan Singh said in his inaugural address at the 98th Indian Science Congress here.

He was referring to eminent physicist CV Raman and renowned mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan both from Tamil Nadu.

Chennai, January 02: The 98th edition of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) that gets underway here Monday will not only focus on the quality of education and excellence in scientific research in Indian universities but also on chemistry of the future, nano materials and the challenges of climate change and energy security, amongst other issues.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to inaugurate the five-day event Monday at the SRM University in Kattankulathur near here.

San Francisco, January 02: Microsoft is working on a new Windows system for mobile devices like tablet computers, according to reports.

The system would focus on devices using energy-saving chips designed by the British company ARM. Many of ARM’s chips are currently used in both the iPad and iPhone from Apple.

Now Windows will reportedly offer versions of its Windows CE and Windows Phone 7 systems that run on ARM chips. Its standard Desktop Windows system will be designed for x-86 architecture chips from Intel and AMD.

Bangalore, January 01: Indian scientists, research scholars and students Saturday began celebrating 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC) for the achievements and contributions made by this important branch of science to the well-being of humankind.

New Delhi, December 31: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the 98th Indian Science Congress in Chennai on Jan 3, an event that will be attended by scientists and academicians from all over the world.

The five-day Congress being held from Jan 3-7 at SRM University in Chennai will have about 14 sessions.

Shimla, December 31: After more than two millenium, the world will see six eclipses, including four solar and two lunar in 2011.

This information was given by President, Environment Research Institute, Kandaghat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajiv Sharma Soor in a statement here today.

He elaborated political, natural and social effects of these eclipses to occur after 2,041 years.

”The first of the four solar eclispses will occur on January 4 from 1210 hrs till 1631 hrs, while the next on June 2 that will not be seen in India. It will be between 0055 hrs and 0437 hrs,” Mr Sharma said.

New Delhi, December 29: A partial solar eclipse will occur Jan 4, 2011. This will be the first of the six eclipses – four solar and two lunar – that people around the globe will see in the new year.

The eclipse will be visible over most parts of Europe, the Arabian peninsula, North Africa and western Asia.

New Delhi, December 29: Leading Indian wire agency Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has launched its free iPhone and Android applications to help readers across the globe track the latest news, updates, features and analyses on a real-time basis.

‘The iPhone and Android applications allow users to read news on all the major categories and topics, such as national, politics, diplomacy, business, sports, entertainment, technology and international,’ the New Delhi-headquartered group said in a statement.

Bangalore, December 29: India’s prospects of hard-selling its capability to launch commercial satellites received a setback when one of its heavy rockets exploded on Christmas day due to a puzzling snag in the first stage, space experts opined.

Chennai, December 29: The snapping of around 10 connectors between the second and third stage of the Indian rocket GSLV led to the failure of the communication satellite mission, according to an Indian scientist.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist denied that Saturday’s failure was caused by the 90-kg increase in the satellite’s weight or the marginal increase in the overall rocket’s weight.

Hyderabad, December 29: As if the wide disparity in the sex ratio was not enough, new matrimonial trends in the city are giving jitters to eligible bachelors.

Gone are the days when prospective brides would only be interested in the property, job profile and character of the groom. But now their first preference is something else – looks. Girls in twin cities are reportedly rejecting or accepting marriage proposals on basis of facial features and personality of the men.

Hyderabad, December 29: Parents of a class V student, studying in a corporate school at Khairatabad dialled the call centre and complained their child Sanjana (name changed on request) was harassed by her class teacher. In another call, this time from a Class X student brought out how 250 students studying in the government high school were facing problems due to lack of proper facilities like toilets, blackboards and others.

New Delhi, December 26: A mobile phone-like device will soon rule out a patient’s need to visit a pathological lab for detection of genetic disorders and also do away with the prolonged wait for a forensic expert’s report to find clues about criminals.

Unlike the traditional method which requires high expertise as well as complicated equipment in an advanced laboratory, genetic analysis of a person can be done using a simple device which will be accessible and affordable to each household.