Science

Washington, July 15: Current climate change models prepared by scientists can explain only half the warming that took place on earth in the ancient past, says a new study.

The study contains an analysis of published records from a period of rapid climatic warming about 55 million years ago known as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM).

“In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record,” said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, study co-author from Rice University.

Nasa, July 15: The weather has been anything but cooperative for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, but NASA has promised a sixth attempt late Wednesday for the International Space Station mission.

The shuttle is now set to lift off at 6:03 pm (2203 GMT) on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the US space agency saying there is only a 40 percent chance of unfavorable weather conditions this time.

New Delhi, July 15: Investigators may soon get clearer portraits of accused persons or suspects to aid them in probe.

The Home Ministry is evaluating a beta version of a new software for developing clearer and better portraits of suspects or accused persons than the staid black and white versions during investigation.

The sofware has been developed by Dharamsinh Desai Institute of Technology at Nadiad in Gujarat, an MHA report said.

A beta version of the software, development of which had been delayed by at least three years, was handed over to the Home Ministry earlier this year.

London, July 15: The University of Cambridge has announced a groundbreaking new study to look at the impact of Charles Darwin’s ideas on attitudes to gender and sexuality.

The Darwin and Gender project will make available for the first time in a single resource Darwin’s private and largely unpublished writings relevant to all aspects of gender, in particular, a large body of the great naturalist’s own letters.

The research for the three-year project will be overseen by the Darwin Correspondence Project at Cambridge University Library.

Paris, July 15: Venus Express has charted the first map of the planet’s southern hemisphere at infrared wavelengths, which hints that Venus may once have been more Earth-like, with both, a plate tectonics system and an ocean of water.

The map comprises over a thousand individual images, recorded between May 2006 and December 2007.

Because Venus is covered in clouds, normal cameras cannot see the surface, but Venus Express used a particular infrared wavelength that can see through them.

New Delhi, July 15: India could have 500 million internet users, 100 million broadband connections and 100 million connected devices by 2012, provided infrastructural bottlenecks are removed and 3G and Wi Max networks are rolled out early, industry body representing the IT hardware MAIT today said.

“MAIT has set for itself an ambitious target Goal 511 for achieving 500 million internet user, 100 million broadband connection and 100 million connected devices by 2012.

Seoul, July 14: Hackers extracted lists of files from computers that they contaminated with the virus that triggered cyberattacks last week in the United States and South Korea, police in Seoul said Tuesday.

The attacks, in which floods of computers tried to connect to a single Web site at the same time to overwhelm the server, caused outages on prominent government-run sites in both countries.

Cape Canaveral, July 14: Thunderstorms once again forced NASA to call off the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Monday, the fifth delay for the space station construction mission.

NASA said it would try again early Wednesday evening, after taking a one-day break.

In a scene nearly identical to Sunday, launch managers halted the countdown just minutes before Endeavour and seven astronauts were supposed to blast off in the early evening.

Florida, July 14: The weather has been anything but cooperative for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, but NASA has promised a sixth attempt late Wednesday for the International Space Station mission.

The shuttle is now set to lift off at 6:03 pm (2203 GMT) Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the US space agency saying there is only a 40 percent chance of unfavorable weather conditions this time.

Washington, July 14: Talking cars aren’t science fiction anymore — thanks to scientists who have developed a set of algorithms that will allow robotic cars of the future to communicate with each other to help avoid collisions.

An international team, led by Indian-origin scientists Dr Bhibhya Sharma and Dr Utesh Chand of the University of the South Pacific, has developed the mathematical equations which would also instruct robotic cars how to change lanes safely.

New Delhi, July 14: Government has ordered a probe into the recent death of 75 blackbucks in a Rajasthan sanctuary due to heavy rainfall, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh informed Rajya Sabha today.

“I did not know about this incident. I accept that I should have been careful. I have asked for a detailed report from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as to why Tal Chhaper sanctuary authorities failed to cope with the situation,” he said during Question Hour.

Shimla,july 14: Call it a feather in the cap of the Himachal Pradesh forest department, which has once again managed to breed Western Tragopan – a critically endangered bird – in captivity.

“This time we have succeeded again in breeding the highly endangered Western Tragopan in captivity. This has occurred for the third consecutive year,” divisional forest officer (DFO) K Thrimul said. He is in charge of Sarahan Pheasantry, 160 km from Shimla.

Mumbai, July 13: Baroda-based IT services provider, Ekkay Magic is in talks with a host of banks to offer its cellular based fraud prevention system for all e-commerce transactions in the country.

The company today launched a service named Courbar that sends alerts to customers on any possible account frauds in real time, Ekkay Magic Head of Business Operations Joyesh Sampat told reporters here.

Munich, July 13: German firms on Monday launched a renewable energy project designed to provide European households with electricity from the Sahara.

Utilities giants RWE and E. ON, electro-engineering group Siemens and Deutsche Bank are among the dozen companies involved in the 400- billion-euro
(552-billion-dollar) Desertec Industrial Initiative.

The consortium agreed to form a consultancy by the end of October, which would look into methods of financing and present a concrete investment plan within three years.

Melbourne, July 13: Imagine an eerie experience on board an unmanned aircraft which may soon fly side-by-side with piloted passenger planes.

Well, your imagination may soon come true — thanks to a team of scientists who are carrying out an experiment which, if successful, would make flying machines buzz about without any incident and without direct control inputs from any human.

London, July 13: The ‘bullet fingerprinting’ technology is now being advanced in new ways as a researcher in UK has developed a method to visualise fingerprints even after they have been erased.

The technique, developed by Chemistry researcher Alex Goddard at University of Leicester, involves studying the chemical and physical interactions occurring between the metal and the fingerprint sweat deposit.

Cape Canaveral, July 13: A gathering storm forced NASA to cancel for a fourth time the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on its mission to the International Space station, officials said.

“Looks like the team is ready but the weather is not. At this time we are no-go,” the US space agency’s launch director Pete Nickolenko said with little more than 10 minutes to go before the planned takeoff.

The shuttle launch was rescheduled for today at 1721 IST, Nickolenko said.

Tokyo, July 12: After three failed attempts to launch Endeavour and already a month behind schedule, lightening strikes NASA launch complex, postponing take-off until Sunday.

The launch of space shuttle Endeavour was postponed until Sunday evening so engineers could evaluate the spacecraft following 11 lightning strikes to the Launch Complex 39A area.

NASA confirms none of the strikes hit the shuttle or its external tank or solid rocket boosters, but there were strikes to the lightning mast and water tower.

Hamburg, July 12: Windows XP sometimes sends out annoying warnings about files still ready for burning on CD.

This frequently occurs because the user has dragged files onto the drive symbol for the burner without actually burning the files.

To eliminate the warning, any files in the “CD Burning” folder need to be deleted. To do so, first activate the option “Show Hidden Files and Folders” in Windows Explorer under the Tools, Folder Options, View. Then enter “userprofile” in the Explorer’s address bar. “CD Burning” can then be found under “Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft.”

Hamburg, July 12: July is often a slow month for computer games, but a few of this year’s offerings might still make some people skip the beach and while away a few hours in front of their computers.

Highlights include Overlord II, the sequel to the first smash hit, the role-playing Divinity II, and Call of Juarez, a wild Western action game. There’s also Free Realms, a new online role-playing game.

Hamburg, July 12: Windows XP sometimes sends out annoying warnings about files still ready for burning on CD. This frequently occurs because the user has dragged files onto the drive symbol for the burner without actually burning the files. To eliminate the warning, any files in the “CD Burning” folder need to be deleted.

To do so, first activate the option “Show Hidden Files and Folders” in Windows Explorer under the Tools, Folder Options, View. Then enter “userprofile” in the Explorer’s address bar. “CD Burning” can then be found under “Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft.”

Hamburg, July 12: Many internet users spend more time with their browsers than with their cars. Which makes it all the more important to know the pros and cons of the browser you choose for your global surfing.

With that in mind, Firefox 3.5, which came out June 30, is worth a look. Downloads are free.

“We’ve put more than 5,000 improvements into version 3.5,” says Mike Shaver, one of the chief designers at Mozilla, the company that, with a host of voluntary contributors, backs the browser.

Seoul, July 11 Cyber attackers slowing down US and South Korean websites could enter a new phase Friday by attacking personal computers and wiping out hard disks, a South Korean government agency and web security firm said.

North Korea was originally a prime suspect for launching the cyber attacks, but it was not on a list of five countries where the attacks may have originated, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said.

Washington, July 11: Mozilla has rolled out an Open Web Tools Directory, stuffed with web apps and tools for developers. With its Open Web Tools Directory, Mozilla is aiming to provide developers, a comprehensive collection or list of a wide range of tools available.

According to Ben Galbraith, Co-Director of Developer Tools at Mozilla, the Open Web Tools Directory is aimed to help developers explore the broad universe of tools. The Open Web Tools Directory will help developers track and understand tools available.

Washington, July 11 : Its not just humans, birds can also build fireproof homes, say Japanese researchers at Kyushu University in Fukuoka.

To woo females, male great bowerbirds of northern Australia build bowers that are not only attractive, but also fire resistant.

These bowers have two walls of twigs partially flanking a six-foot-long passageway that the birds cover with conspicuous bits of bones, stones, shells, and fruits, reports Live Science.

In 2006, a part of savanna outside the city of Darwin was caught in fire.