Science and Technology
In Japan, First Reactor Is Restarted Since Quake
A two-month shutdown of Japan’s nuclear power plants ended on Sunday when officials at a western plant reactivated a reactor for the first time since the disaster last year in Fukushima.The restarting of reactor No. 3 at the Ohi nuclear plant was ordered by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in a decision that has spurred growing public protests.
Zebra Fish Research Facility Opened at CCMB
A state of the art research facility on Zebrafish, an important animal model to study modern biology and human diseases, was inaugurated at the center for cellular and Molecular Biology(CCMB).The genome of Zebrafish was similar to the genome of humans and this has prompted CCMB to deal exclusively with their ti investigate development biology invertebrates.
UK To Test World’s first Pilotless Fighter By 2013
Pilotless fighter planes have come a step closer to reality as British Aerospace revealed that it would test such a new fighter jet next year.The company is set to unveil a new super-fighter which can fly on its own for 24 hours with no cockpit and no human on board, according to a media reported.If all goes as planned the artificial intelligence could mean the end of fighter pilots in the UK and bring down the curtain on conventional aircraft like the F-35.
Iran tests fires Missile, says Israel Target
Iran on 3 July 2012 said it had successfully tested medium rang missiles capable of hitting Israel in response to threats of military action against country.
World’s Smallest fly Discovered
Scientists have discovered what they say is the world’s smallest known fly which feeds on tiny ants, probably decapitating them and using their head casings as its home. with a length of Just 0.4mm. the fly called “Euryplatea nanaknihali”, is five times smaller than a fruit fly and tinier than a grain salt, the researcher said.
Amniotic fluid An Alternative stem Cell Source
Stem cells taken from amniotic fluid can be transformed into a move versatile state similar to embryonic stem cells and may offer an alternative to the medically valuable but controversial cells , scientists said on 3 July 2012.British researchers said . They had succeeded in reprogramming amniotic fluid cells without having to introduce extra genes. This suggests the possibility that stem cells derived from amniotic fluid could be stored in banks and used for medical therapies and i research.
God of all particles found !
British researches from the large Hadron collider at CERN(european organization for Nuclear research) said here on 4 July 2012 they have found a new subatomic particle consistent with the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass to elementary particles. These results mark a significant break through in our understanding of the fundamental laws that govern the Universe”, said prof.john Womersley , CEO of the science & Technology facilities Council. The particle was proposed in 1964 by three groups of physicists, including Britain’s peter Higgs, after whom it was named. The results were labelled as preliminary, based on data collected in 2011 and 2012 data still under analysis. But scientists are 99.99% sure the new particle is Higgs Boson, or the “God Particle”as it better Known.
Home HIV Test Wins FDA Nod
After decades of controversy, the food and Drug administration, or FDA on 3July 2012 approved a new HIV test that for the first time maker it possible to learn in the privacy of their homes easy to use as a home pregnancy kit. The “OraQuick Test”,by Orasure Technologies, uses a mouth swab and gives results in 20-40 minutes.
Yahoo! India RAD Sets Up Lab at IIT Madras
Yahoo ! India RAD has entered into an agreement with IIT, Madras, to support its faculty and students in closed computing research. Yahoo has setup a grid computing lab Madras on IIT Campus, consisting of a cluster of high-end server running its open source Hadoop software, which will provide the infrastructure necessary to conduct research on bid data and cloud computing systems. The lab, which costs over Rs.50 lakh to build. will be accessible to students who have cloud computing courses and doctoral candidates.
Dark Matter Found Between Galaxies
For the first time. astronomers have discovered a giant string of invisible dark matter across the universe between a pair of galaxy clusters. The Universe is thought to be filled with such strings of dark matter, a mysterious substance that cannot be seen, only sensed through its gravitational pull.
DNS Changer Virus
Tens of Thousand of people around the world whose computers were infected with malware known as “DNS Changer” away lose their internet access on 9 July 2012 after the expiry of a US government fix. The virus was created by a gang of cyber criminals to redirect Internet traffic by hijacking the domain name systems of web browsers. The ring behind the DNS changer virus, discovered in 2007, was shut down last year by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI): Estonian police and other law enforcement agencies. Because the virus controlled spo much internet traffic, authorities obtained a court order to allow the FBI to operate replacement servers which allow traffic to flow normally , even from infected computers.
Hubble Discovers Fifth And Tiniest Pluto Moon
US astronomers using the Hubble space Telescope have discovered a fifth and tiniest moon yet orbiting the icy dwarf planet ‘Pluto’. The mini-moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and between 10km and 25 km across. It is visible as a speck of light in Hubble images, NASA said. The newly discovered moon, provisionally named s/2012[134340]1 until it gets a proper name, could help reveal more on how the Pluto system came into existence and evolved ever since. Pluto’s largest moon, charon,which is about 1000 Km across, was discovered in 1978. Hubble observations in 2006 uncovered two additional small moons, Nix and Hydra.
India Successfully Test – Fires nuclear Capable Agni-I Missile
India successfully test fired domestically Agni-I ballistic missile.The missile was launched from a test range at wheeler island off Odisha coast. Agni-I was developed under the join of work of advanced systems Laboratory, the missile development laboratory of the DRDO, DRDL and Research centre Imarat, while it was integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.
Russian Soyuz Space Craft blasted -off From The Baikonour Cosmodrome In Kazakhstan
A Russian Soyuz TMA -o5 M Space craft carrying three astronauts including sunita Williams, the Indian – American astronaut, took off for the International space station on 15 July 2012 from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz launch marked that opened the door to US- Russian cooperation in space science.
Asian Space Powers gear For More Moon Missions
The three major Asian space powers China , Japan & india are entering the next phase of their lunar exploration. Now, all three want to send an orbiter that will circle. The Moon as ‘ well as lander that will gently settle on its surface and release, a rover that will roam about. Chinese space officials says that the ‘Chang’e-3′ could leave for the moon in 2012. India’s chandrayaan-2 mission could be on its way in 2014. Japan plans to send “selene-2’ landing mission to Mon by Tatasuaki okda. south korea plans an orbiter lander mission to Moon around 2023.
Iran on 3 July 2012, test-fired a medium range ballistic missile Shahab-3
The Shahab-3 has a range of up to 2000 kilometres. The Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, the two short-range missiles, with ranges of 300 to 500 kilometres, were also launched. The missile launch was the part of Iran’s Great Prophet 7 exercise. Great Prophet 7 exercise was announced by Iran on 1 July 2012 in the wake of latest European Union sanctions on Iran. The exercise, which involved test of dozens of missiles and domestically-built drones came following European Union’s decision to ban the purchase of Iranian crude oil. The EU’s decision is the clear repercussion of failed dialogue held between Iran and world powers on Iran’s ambitious nuclear programme.
Scientists identified First Radio Waves from Middleweight Black Hole HLX-1
A team of scientists at the University of Sydney on 10 July 2012 discovered the first radio emissions from the middle weight black hole HLX-1, that lies in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away. The research team had used Compact Array radio telescope from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). HLX-1 (hyper-luminous X-ray source 1), lies in a galaxy called ESO 243-49 about 300 million light-years away. As per the new study, the size of HLX-1 is around 20000 times the mass of our sun which makes it an intermediate mass black hole.
U.S Approves Anti – HIV Drug
The U. S Food and Drug administration(FDA) gave its first ever nod for an anti- HIV drug, Truvada , to pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences, Truvada is known chemically as fixed dose, daily intake combination of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fume rate.
India Set TO launch Astrosat Next Year
Astrosat along Journey for a national space observatory. Next year, India is to launch “Astrosat”, the country’s first satellite dedicated to astronomy, which will gaze out at the Universe in x-ray, U.V and visible light bands . The data its instruments supply help scientists to have better under standing of the ways of the cosmos. TIFR, Mumbai will be responsible for developing three of Astrosat’s five instruments .
India pitches for BrahMos induction in Russian naval fleet
India 17July 2012 asked Russia to induct the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in its Navy to strengthen the joint venture between two countries. This was conveyed to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin here by head of the BrahMos joint venture A Sivathanu Pillai. BrahMos missile has been inducted in all the three wings of the Indian armed forces but the Russian side has not yet done so.
Stephen Hawking Launches Supercomputer
Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has launched the most powerful shared-memory supercomputer in Europe. Hawking anticipates that the COSMOS supercomputer, manufactured by SGI and the first system of its kind, will open up new windows on the universe, a university. During the launch, which is part of the Numerical Cosmology 2012 workshop at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, “Cosmology is now a precision science, so we need machines like COSMOS to reach out and touch the real universe, to investigate whether our mathematical models are correct.
World’s smallest semiconductor laser created
Scientists have developed the world’s smallest semiconductor laser, a breakthrough that they say will lead to the development of faster, smaller and lower energy photon-based technologies for treating and studying diseases. Physicists at The University of Texas in collaboration with colleagues in Taiwan and China, have developed the world’s smallest semiconductor laser, a technology for emerging photonic technology with applications from computing to medicine, according to a report published in the journal ‘Science’. The device is constructed of a gallium nitride nano rod that is partially filled with indium gallium nitride. Both alloys are semiconductors used commonly in LEDs. The nano laser is too small to be visible to the naked eye and when fired, it emits a green light.
Army Conducts Successful User Trail of Brahmos
Balasor ( Odisha) On July 29,2012. India on 29 July 2012 successfully test fired Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from the integrated test range at chandipur of odisha coast. The missile with a flight range of up to 29 km is capable of carrying conventional war head if 300 kg. This is a surface to surface army version was test fixed as a part of user trial by the Army. This was test fired from ground mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of ITR.
China Tests Career Rocket Engine
China on 29 July 2012. It has successfully tested a new 120 tones thrust liquid oxygen(LOX) and kerosene engine for its new generation carrier rocket, the Lon March-5 for future space launches. The LOX/Kerosene engine under went a test of a high rotational speed of nearly 20,000 revolutions per minute.
NASA’s Newest Mars Rover Faces a Tricky Landing
The US space agency’s most ambitious and expensive Mars mission yet, and it begins with the red planet arrival on 29 July 2012 of the smartest interplanetary rover ever built. NASA designed for the Curiosity rover is so risky it’s been described as “seven minutes of terror” — the time it takes to go from 13,000 mph (20,920 kph) to a complete stop. The future direction of Mars exploration is hanging on the outcome of this USD 2.5 billion science project to determine whether the environment was once suitable for microbes to live. Previous missions have found ice and signs that water once flowed. Curiosity will drill into rocks and soil in search of carbon and other elements.