Science

Taipei, January 05: A marine biologist says he has discovered a new crab species off the coast of southern Taiwan that looks like a strawberry with small white bumps on its red shell.

National Taiwan Ocean University professor Ho Ping-ho says the crab resembles the species living in the areas around Hawaii, Polynesia and Mauritius.

But it has a distinctive clam-shaped shell about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) wide, making it distinct. Taiwanese crab specialist Wang Chia-hsiang confirmed Ho’s finding.

Washington, January 05: NASA scientists said Monday they have identified another five planets orbiting stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

But none of them appears to be the long sought after Earth-twin that could support life the way the home planet does, Kepler telescope specialists said at a news conference in Washington.

New Delhi, January 05: The longest annular solar eclipse of the third millennium will occur on January 15. There won’t be an annular solar eclipse longer than this one till 3043.

An annular eclipse is when the sun is visible like a ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre.

The last annular solar eclipse visible from India was in 1976. Even then, it could only be seen from the northeast parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi, January 05: If vehicle manufacturers have introduced green cars at the Delhi Auto Expo, the city-state’s administration has decided to do its bit to reduce carbon footprint: provide electric charge stations.

The Delhi government is also planning incentives like base price discount, lower VAT, and road tax and registration charge refund to boost the sale of environment-friendly electric cars.

Thiruvananthapuram, January 05: In another three years, the world will see the Universe’s splendour and its inherent majestic patterns from a completely new window when the Planck microwave observatory comes out with its results.

“It will be a complete surprise. I dare not to even imagine,” Nobel laureate physicist James C Mather who first saw those grand designs two decades back, told Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress here.

New York January 04: Do you have teenaged child who sleeps late? If yes, its time to worry as a new study claims that adolescents who stay awake late at night are at a greater risk of suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.

According to the study published in the journal Sleep, youngsters who go to bed early are significantly less likely to suffer from depression and think about committing suicide.

New York, January 04: Their beams can penetrate the thickest clothing, and with a price tag of up to GBP 1,00,000 a go they are not cheap. But, security experts warn that full-body scanners can only ever be one of many weapons in the aviation industry’s ever-evolving battle against terrorists.

Such machines have been tested at Heathrow and Manchester airports but never routinely used in the U.K. Now, on the say-so of Gordon Brown, airports operator BAA says it will install the devices as quickly as it can.

Scanners come in two types

Thiruvananthapuram, January 04: Indian defence scientists are readying a weapon system to neutralise enemy satellites operating in low-earth orbit, a top defence scientist said in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

“India is putting together building blocks of technology that could be used to neutralise enemy satellites,” Defence Research and Development Organisation Director General V K Saraswat told reporters on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress.

Chennai, January 03: The 20th Annual Conference of Indian Nuclear Society (INSAC-2009) will be held here from tomorrow at the Chennai Trade Centre.

The three-day conference is being jointly organised by INSAC and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) with the theme: Materials and Manufacturing in the Nuclear Industry.

The conference comes at an appropriate time when in India and the world over, there are plans for major expansion programs in nuclear energy,” a press release from IGCAR said.

Chennai, January 03: Around 600 people connected with nuclear power industry across the world will participate in the three-day conference on ‘Materials and Manufacturing in Nuclear Industry’ organised by Indian Nuclear Society (INS) commencing here Monday.

The conference will be inaugurated by Anil Kakodkar, former chairman Atomic Energy Commission, while P. Rama Rao, president of INS, will deliver the presidential address.

The current chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Srikumar Banerjee will give a plenary talk on Material Science and Technology in Nuclear Industry.

London, January 03: Here’s a shocker- Young kids who are smacked by their parents grow up to be more successful than children who’re never spanked at all, claims a new study.

Lead researcher Marjorie Gunnoe, professor of psychology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said: “I think of spanking as a dangerous tool, but there are times when there is a job big enough for a dangerous tool. You just don’t use it for all your jobs.”

London, January 02: Women knew it all along. And now, a study has confirmed it to the entire world – nothing makes a girl cry as much as a man.

More than three in four women blame their partners for making them cry, not to mention their fathers or sons, reports The Daily Express.

But 63 percent of men reckon their wives, girlfriends and even mothers can reduce them to tears, said the study by Rohto Dry Eye Relief.

The survey of 2,000 adults also found that when it comes to men, the pressures of work, being treated badly by the boss or horrid workmates can also bring on the tears.

Washington, January 02: Years back, planetary scientists discovered that the Moon, long thought to have no atmosphere, actually has an extremely thin exosphere. But, they have been uncertain about how it gets the layer.

In fact, they believed that the ions that make up the lunar exosphere are generated at Moon’s surface by interaction with solar photons, plasma in the Earth’s magnetosphere, or micrometeorites.

Thiruvananthapuram, January 01: Organisers of the 97th edition of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) are all ready for the event, which will see more than 4,000 delegates and 3,500 student delegates participating.

“Everything is ready and the inaugural ceremony is being held in a newly built hall at the Kerala University campus which can accommodate more than 6,000 people. 50 delegates from abroad have also registered,” former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair, who is the general president of the 97th ISC, told reporters here Friday.

ORANGE BLUE MOON: Some people insist that last night’s full moon was not Blue. They’re right. It was orange:

“This was, hands down, the most spectacular moonrise I have ever seen–an orange Blue moon!” says photographer Doug Zubenel of De Soto, Kansas.

New Delhi, January 01: Indian science witnessed its crowning moment in 2009 when its maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-I revealed to the world the existence of water on moon and nuclear scientists designed a new atomic reactor that uses little uranium per unit of energy.

Tamil Nadu-born and Baroda-educated Venkataraman Ramakrishnan brought cheers as he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year.

New Delhi, December 31: Eclipse enthusiasts can expect a partial lunar eclipse on New Year’s Eve (December 31) in 2009. It will be difficult to see with the naked eye.

The last eclipse of 2009 occurs on New Year’s Eve. This minor partial lunar eclipse takes place in Gemini, and is visible primarily from the Eastern Hemisphere. Greatest eclipse takes place at 19:23 UT when the eclipse magnitude will reach 0.0763.

Pathanamthitta, December 31: “The future of Space Science in India is bright and India’s successful lunar Mission, Chandrayan-I, is a testimony to this bare truth,’’ says Shyam Bhaskaran, scientist attached to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Dr. Bhaskaran who had worked closely with Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore in India’s maiden Moon Mission was talking during his visit to Mar Athanasios College For AdvancedStudies Thiruvalla (MACFAST) at Thukalasserry near Thiruvalla on Wednesday.

Washington, Dec 31: Seeing into the remotest reaches of space, way beyond the capacity of the most powerful existing (Hubble) telescope, may now be possible with MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument detectors) cameras.

‘The MIRI is one of four science instruments aboard the James Webb telescope that is designed to record images and spectra at the longest wavelengths that the Webb can observe,’ said Matt Greenhouse, NASA project scientist.

Mumbai, December 30: The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia launched a new patent broadside against Apple, escalating a battle for control of the smartphone market that has already led to a flurry of lawsuits.

Nokia filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday alleging that Apple infringes Nokia patents in “virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers” sold.

Moscow, December 30: Russia has made this year’s last launch from the Baikonur Space Centre in Kazakhstan, launching a Proton-M carrier rocket with the US telecommunications satellite DirecTV-12, the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos said today.

”The launch was carried out without incidents, the spacecraft is expected to be orbited at 12:32 Moscow time (1502 IST),” a Roskosmos spokesman told reporters.

New Delhi, December 29: Cyber crimes in India are increasing in the absence of a strong and stringent cyber law i.e. Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000).

The ICT Trends of India 2009 have proved that India has failed to enact a strong and stringent Cyber Law in India. On the contrary, the Information Technology Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) has made India a “safe heaven” for cyber criminals, say cyber law experts of India. Even cyber law enforcement is a big challengein India.

New Delhi, December 29: One of the prominent varsities in the US, the Boston University, is likely to open a campus in India. Its president is visiting New Delhi in January for the purpose.

Varsity president Robert A. Brown is expected to meet Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and attend a seminar on de-regulating Indian education Jan 9.

The development took place after Sibal toured the university in October and had a discussion with Brown about an Indian campus of Boston University.

Chennai, December 29: Sky enthusiasts in India, especially in Tamil Nadu, will have a rare opportunity to witness the longest annular eclipse of the sun, occurring on Jan 15 next.

“The annular phase runs from 10.44 am (IST),when the eclipse begins in the Central African Republic to the end of the eclipse on the Chinese Yellow Sea coast at 14.29 pm (IST),” Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre Executive Director Dr P Iyamperumal told PTI today.

He said the maximum duration of annularity would reach 11 min 08 sec over Indian Ocean thus making it the longest annular eclipse.

Washington, Dec 29: The technology has raised significant protests among privacy watchdogs because it can show the body’s contours with embarrassing clarity. Those fears have slowed the introduction of full body scanner machines.

High-tech security scanners that might have prevented the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a jetliner have been installed in only a small number of airports around the world, in large part because of privacy concerns over the machines’ capability to see through clothing.