‘WORLD’S HIGHEST RESOLUTION’ LUNAR IMAGES RELEASED

China recently released a set of “world’s highest resolution” lunar images taken by its second moon orbiter,Chang’e-2, as it braces to launch its next mission to land a rover to explore its surface. China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) recently published a set of full coverage map of the Moon and its images with a resolution of seven meters captured by Chang’e-2. The map and images are the world’s highest-resolution lunar images ever published that cover all of the moon, state runs Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Dongkui, deputy chief commander of China’s lunar probe project.The imageswere photographed by acharge-coupled device(CCD) stereo camera on Chang’e-2 from the heights of 100 km and 15 km over the lunar surface betweenOctober 2010 andMay 2011, the SASTIND statement said.

EXCESS SUGAR INTAKE, HARMFUL

It may not be providing any nutritional benefits, but added sugar does plenty of harm. There is a great body of scientific evidence that proves the harmful effects of sugar when the intake is in excess. Most importantly, consumption of excess sugar goes beyond increasing body mass or obesity. And obesity is not the only reason why people develop diseases/ conditions that constitute the metabolic syndrome — diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular diseases, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In sulinis the vital hormone required for storing excess sugar as glycogen in the liver, fat in the adipose tissue and in the muscles. Insulin is also required for breaking down the stored glycogen/fat into glucose when a person is hungry or fasting. This two-way conversion stands compromised inindividuals with insulinresistance. The growing scientific evidence, both epidemiological and mechanistic, very clearly shows that excess sugar induces “all of the diseases associated with the metabolic syndrome.” Fructose in sugar increases uric acid levels. It can also increase blood pressure in some individuals. Uric acid is a waste product resulting from the metabolism of food. Fructose exerts toxic effects on the liver “similar to those from alcohol.”

ANTARCTIC SUBGLACIAL LAKE REACHED

A Russian team has succeeded in drilling through four kilometres (2.5 miles) of ice to the surface of amythical subglacial Antarctic lake which could hold as yet unknown life forms, reports said Monday. Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists want to study its eco-system which has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years under the ice in the hope of finding previously unknown microbiological life forms. Valerie Massson-Delmotte of the climate and environment laboratory at the French Atomic Energy Commission, said Lake Vostok was of particular interest as it had been formed over the course of 400,000 years. RIAN ovosti said that the possibility that the lake existed had first been suggested by a Soviet scientist in 1957. Scientific research drilling in the area started in 1989 and the lake’s existence was confirmed only in 1996.

SALT-LOVING WHEAT COULD EASE FOOD CRISIS

Plant scientists on Sunday said they had bred a strain of wheat that thrives in saline soils, boosting the quest to feed Earth’s growing population at a time of water stress and climate change. Durum wheat with a salt-loving gene had yields which were up to 25 per cent greater than ordinary counterparts, according to trials carried out in highly saline fields. The gene, called TmHKT1;5-A, helps remove sodium from the water that is transported from the plant’s roots to the leaves, said a research team led by Matthew Gilliham of the University of Adelaide, southern Australia. Spotted in a scan of ancestral wheat strains, TmHKT1;5-A was inserted into a commercial strain by traditional cross-breeding, not through genetic engineering, which is contested in many countries. Durum wheat — Triticum turgidum — is used for making pasta, bulgur and couscous. It ismore salt-sensitive than bread wheat ( Triticumaestivum ). By some estimates, world food requirements will soar by 70 per cent by 2050 as the planet’s population rises from seven billion today to nine billion. The challenge will be made even tougher by the impact of climate change on rainfall patterns.

WHITE RICE INTAKE INCREASES RISK OF TYPE II DIABETES

Each serving of polished rice a day increases the risk of Type II diabetes by 11 per cent, according to a study being published today (Friday) in the British Medical Journal. Polished rice is commonly called white rice, and one serving refers to nearly 160 grams. “Higherconsumption ofwhite rice is associated with a significantly increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian (China and Japan) populations,” wrote the authors from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. The conclusion was based on a meta-analysis of 3,52,384 people who were followed up for four to 22 years. The participants were from China, Japan, the United States and Australia. HOMININ GENOME SEQUENCED Scientists in Germany said recently they have sequenced nearly all the genome of the Denisova people, an extinct human-like species contemporary with the Neanderthals. The work by the Max Planck Society’s Evolutionary Anthropology Institute in Leipzig is the first time that full genetic data has been obtained about any of the archaic hominins which roamed the earth until they were displaced by modern people. Svante Paabo, leader of the team, said, “We hope biologists will use this genome to track down genetic changes that were important in the development of modern humans’ culture and technology.” The group worked with less than 10 milligrams of DNA fromthe finger bone of a female. The bone fragment, found in the Denisova Cave in Siberia in debris 30,000 to 50,000 years old, was the first evidence of the existence of the vanished species.

NIRBHAY LIKELYTO BE TEST - FIRED IN APRIL

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a new sub-sonic cruise missile called Nirbhay (Fearless in Sanskrit), which may be test-fired in April. This is the first time that India has developed a cruise missile that will travel at a sub-sonic speed (less than the speed of sound). India and Russia have jointly developed BrahMos, a supersonic, cruisemissile, which travels for 290 km at 2.8 Mach (2.8 times the speed of sound). Nirbhay has many technologies derived from Lakshya. Themaximum speed of Lakshya is 0.65 Mach. Nirbhay is India’s equivalent of Tomahawk, a long-range, sub-sonic cruise missile, developed by the U.S. Nirbhay is a two-stage, surface-tosurface missile. While a booster engine would “kick the first stage” from the ground, the second stage has a turboprop engine, akin to an aircraft’s. It can carry multiple payloads and engage several targets. “Even if there are multiple targets, it can pick out a target and attack it. With a range ofmore than 750 km, Nirbhay can remain in the air for a long time. Capable of flying at the height of a tree (so, it is known as “treetop missile), it can soar to a minimum of 10 km and a maximum of 50 km. The DRDO will also soon test-fire Helina, the helicopter-fired version of Nag, the third-generation anti-tank missile. Helina is a portmanteau term, standing for helicopter and Nag (the cobra).Nag has ‘fire and forget’ and ‘top attack’ capability. Carrying an eight-kg warhead, it has an infra-red seeker and can destroy enemy tanks four kmaway. Based on the information available from the target, Helina will lock on to it midway through its flight and zero in on to it. Amodified versionofArjun-Mark I main battle tank will prove its mettle by firing a LAHAT missile from an Army range this month. The LAHAT (Laser Homing Attack or Laser Homing Anti-Tank missile) is a third-generation semi-active low-weight anti-tank missile. This version was fired from the Arjun tank in 2004. The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, a DRDO facility at Avadi, designed and developed the Arjun.

NEW TECHNIQUE TO RUN ULTRA FAST INTERNET

Researchers in the secondweek of March 2012 invented fibre-optic technology, under a project called Sardana to run ultra-fast Internet. It demonstrated speed of upto 10Gigabits per second (Gbps), around 2000 times faster than today’s fastest Internet speed. The research showed that by using existing fibre infrastructure Internet’s speed could be increased. Within next three years, yearly global internet traffic will be measured in Zettabytes(one trillion Gigabytes), which is a four-fold increase fromtoday. You Tube and Netflix will havemost of the traffic.

TWO GENES LINKEDTO PARKINSON’S IDENTIFIED

Scientists identified at least two genes, NACP and MAPT linked to Parkinson’s disease, a findingwhichmay pave the way for better treatments for the secondmost prevalent neurological condition after dementia. The two genes are related to protein accumulation in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease and can indicate how quickly the disease will progress in aperson. The study showed that these two genes could be used as a surrogate marker to estimate the rate of Parkinson’s disease progression, with positive predictive values of 94 to 100 per cent for certain genotypes. WATER ONTHE PLANET CALLED GJ1214B DISCOVERED Researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian centre for Astrophysics discovered that the planetGJ1214b was largely covered in water. They used Hubble Space Telescope to discover the water on planet. GJ1214b was discovered in2009 by the ground-based MEarth Project.GJ1214bwas described as a super-Earth. It is approximately 2.7 times Earth’s diameter and weighs almost 7 times as much. This presence of water on the planet was confirmed when it crossed in front of its host star. The light of the star, filtered through the planet’s atmosphere, provided clues to the mix of gasses, supporting the water vapor theory. LAKSHYA-1TEST-FLIGHT India’s indigenously developed micro-light pilotless target aircraft ‘Lakshya-1’ was successfully test-flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, as part of a routine trial. Lakshya-1, fitted with an advanced digitally controlled engine, was once againtest-flown at about 1.10 p.m. from a mobile launcher.

DRDO CONDUCTED TEST OF INTERCEPTOR MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY DRDO

 conducted a successful test launch of the interceptor missile. DRDO’s Air Defence Missile AAD-05 successfully hit the ballistic missile and destroyed it at a height of 15 kms off the Coast of Orissa near the Wheelers Island. A modified Prithvi missile mimicking the ballistic missile was launched at 1010 hrs from ITR Chandipur. Radars located at different locations tracked the incoming ballistic missile. Interceptormissilewas ready to take-off at Wheelers Island. Guidance computers continuously computed the trajectory of the ballistic missile and launched AAD-05 Interceptor Missile at a precisely calculated time. With the target trajectory continuously updated by the radar, the onboard guidance computer guided the AAD-05 Interceptor Missile towards the target missile. The onboard radio frequency seeker identified the target missile, guided the AAD-05 InterceptorMissile close to the target missile, hit the target missile directly and destroyed it. Warhead also exploded and destroyed the target missile into pieces. India is the fifth nation to have these ballistic missile defence capabilities in the world.

SCIENTISTS TRANSFORMED SKIN CELLS DIRECTLY INTO BRAIN CELLS

Scientists recently transformed skin cells directly into brain cells. This scientific finding could bypass the need for stem cells. Stem cells can be turned  into any other specialist type of cell ranging frombrain to bone. Therefore, these cells are used in a range of treatments.Alternatively, skin cells can be reprogrammed into induced stem cells.These could be made from a patient’s owncells and transformed into the required cell type. However, the process can activate cancer-causing genes. Therefore, the scientists are trying to convert a person’s own skin cells into specialist cells.

BISONS ADAPTEDTO CLIMATE CHANGE

Ancient bison bonesdiscovered at a Canadian goldmine are helping unravel themystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change, a study reveals. The 30,000-year-old bones were unearthed by University of Adelaide researchers, which helped them analyse special genetic modifications (epigenetic changes) that turn genes on and off without altering the DNA sequence itself. Epigenetic changes can occur rapidly between generations, even without going through standard evolutionary processes. Such epigenetic modifications (the effect of environment on genes) could explain howanimal species are able to respond to rapid climate change.

POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANET DISCOVERED

International astronomers said on Thursday they have found the fourth potentially habitable planet outside our solar system with temperatures that could support water and life about 22 light-years from Earth. The team analysed data from the European Southern Observatory about a star known as GJ 667C, which is known as an M-class dwarf star and puts out much less heat than our Sun. However, at least three planets are orbiting close to the star, and one of themappears to be close enough that it likely absorbs about as much incoming light and energy as Earth, has similar surface temperatures and perhaps water. The new rocky planet, GJ 667Cc, orbits its star every 28.15 days—meaning its year equals about one Earth month — and has a mass at least 4.5 times that of Earth, according to the research published in Astrophysical Journal Letters .Other planets circling the same star could include a gas-giant and an additional super-Earth.

AVACCINE TO TREAT BREAST CANCER

Scientists developed a vaccine to treat breast cancer, using a patient’s own cells. The cells were modified in the laboratory in such a way that the immune system could detect the cancerous cells as foreign and attack them. The patients were given four weekly injections of their personalized vaccine. The pre-vaccination samples were compared with post-vaccination samples by the scientists and its was found that five patients almost 20 person had no disease, which proved that their immune system had wiped out the tumour. The scientific experiment showed that the breast cancer vaccines developed in this way could be effective against breast cancer. The scientific findings were published in the Journal of Immunotherapy.

HUMAN SHOCK ABSORBER FOUND

In a pioneering research, scientists claim to have discovered human “shock absorber” which they say performs the same function in people as shock absorbers do in a car. An international team, led by the University of Sydney, has, in fact, found the molecular structure in the body which functions as human “shock absorber,” the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported. The scientists say the discovery of the molecule can be used on designing improved versions of a human blood vessel and on repairing skin damage, including burns, and can also be applied to treating cardiovascular disease and emphysema, a lung disease which primarily causes shortness of breath. In fact, the team dissected a key part of themolecule in elastin, the protein that keeps tissues such as skin, lungs and blood vessels elastic during normal processes such as body movement, breathing and blood circulation. “This finding will benefit our work on designing artificial blood vessels that use replicas of human elastin, to repair and replace human blood vessels, with implications for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

NEW IRIDESCENT LIZARD, SEA SNAKE SPECIES DISCOVERED

A new species of lizard with striking iridescent rainbow skin, a long tail and very short legs has been discovered in the rainforest in northeast Cambodia, conservationists announced. Scientists named the skink Lygosoma veunsaiensis to honour the Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area in Rattanakiri province where it was found, Conservation International (CI) said in a statement. The lizard was discovered in 2010 in the remote and little-explored rainforest area during biological surveys led by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) in partnership with CI, the group said. The lizard was the third new species in the last two years to be found in Veun Sai, following the discovery of a new type of bat and a gibbon. Scientists have discovered a new species of sea snake in the Gulf of Carpenteria, a shallow sea enclosed on three sides by Australia, which they claim could provide important clues about evolution. The snake, which is unique in having raised scales, has been given the scientific name Hydrophis donaldii and the common name “rough-scaled sea snake” to reflect the scalation, says a team at the University of Queensland.

TEST TUBE HAMBURGERS TO BECOME A REALITY

Scientists have claimed they would serve the world’s first test tube hamburger this October. Ateam, led by Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, says it has already grown artificial meat in the laboratory, and now aims to create a hamburger, identical to a real stuff, by generating strips of meat from stem cells. The finished product is expected to cost nearly 220,000 pounds, The Daily Telegraph reported. Although it is possible to extract a limited number of stem cells from cows without killing them, the scientists say the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter. Each animal will be able to produce about a million times more meat through the lab—based technique than through traditional method of butchery.” According to the scientists, making a complete burger will require 3,000 strips of muscle tissue, each of which measures about three cm long by 1.5 cm wide, with a thickness of half— a—milli metre and takes six weeks to produce. The meat will then be ground up with 200 strips of fat tissue, produced in the same way, to make a hamburger. To produce the meat, stem cells are placed in a broth containing vital nutrients and serum from a cow foetus which allow them to grow into muscle cells and multiply up to 30 times.

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS LINKED TO SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH

Afunda mental discovery reported today (February 23) in Nature uncovers the first molecular evidence linking the body’s natural circadian rhythms to sudden cardiac death. Ventricular arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death: the primary cause of death from heart disease. They occur most frequently in the morning waking hours, followed by a smaller peak in the evening hours. While scientists have observed this tendency for many years, prior to this breakthrough, the molecular basis for these daily patterns was unknown. The discovery will be the first step towards new diagnostic tools and therapies to prevent or treat the occurrence of this fatal event. The research team led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered that a novel genetic factor, Kruppel-like Factor 15 (KLF15), links the body’s natural circadian rhythm to, and regulates the heart’s electrical activity. A lack or excess of KLF15, causes a loss or disruption in the heart’s electrical cycle and greatly increases susceptibility to arrhythmias.A lack of KLF15 is seen in patients with heart failure, while its excess causes electrocardiography (ECG) changes such as those seen in patients with Brugada syndrome, a genetic heart rhythm disorder. With this understanding, scientists can propose new patient treatments with the goal of reducing incidences of sudden cardiac death. This landmark finding proves that circadian rhythms are an important factor in sudden cardiac death. In addition, it raises the possibility that additional factors may affect the occurrence of sudden cardiac death.

NOVEL TECHNIQUE USING STEM CELLS REVIVES DAMAGED EYE

Treating blindness caused by burns using limbal stem cells harvested from the undamaged eye of the same patient has now become cheaper, easier and safer. Results of a pilot study of the SLET (simplified technique of limbal trans plantation) technique conducted at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute onsix patients, and published recently in the British Journal of Ophthalmology provides the proof. Blindness arises when burns permanently damage the limbal stem cells found in the eye and causes loss in corneal transparency. In such cases, the stem cells are harvested from the healthy eye and transplanted to the damaged eye. There are currently two ways of using limbal stem cells to cure blindness caused by burns. One is to directly transplant the stemcells to the damaged eye. The other technique — cultivated limbal epithelial transplantation (CLET)—is to remove a smaller portion (2 mm by 2 mm) of the limbus containing the stem cells and increase (expand) the cells in the laboratory and then transplant them to the damaged eye. While both methods are good at restoring vision in the damaged eye, they have their own disadvantages. In the case of direct transplantation—CLAU (conjunctival limbal auto grafting), almost 50per cent of the limbus (6 mm to 8 mm length of the limbus), has to be removed fromthe healthy eye. Excess removal of stem cells from the healthy eye can permanently damage it. The new technique (SLET) developed recently by Dr. Sangwan and his team at the Institute and Dr. Sheila MacNeil at the University of Sheffield, UK combines the best of both methods. While only a small portion of the tissue is removed from the healthy eye (as in the case of CLET), the stem cell expansion takes place not in the lab but in the damaged eye itself. This ensures that the healthy eye is never damaged, the procedure is cheaper and there is less risk of contamination (as the expansion does not take place in a lab). “It would cost only half the earlier procedure (CLET),” he stressed. The procedure is quite simple and takes about an hour to perform. In this, the damaged eye is first cleaned and an amniotic membrane is pasted on the cornea using biological glue. The 2mm by 2 mm limbal tissue harvested from the healthy eye is then cut into eight to nine pieces and placed them on the membrane. Glue is then applied on the cut limbal tissue so that it sticks to the membrane. The eye is then bandaged using soft contact lens.

HUMAN ACTIVITY REVERSES SPECIES DIVERSITY

Plant and animal species diversify to occupy specific environmental niches created by several ecological factors. But can a reduction or elimination of environmental niches force the otherwise diversified species to come together and hence resulted in a reduction in species diversity?Astudy published today (February 16) in Nature proves that reversal in species diversity can indeed result when different environmental niches in a given system, say lakes, are reduced or removed. The study highlights the case of whitefish species seen in 17 Swiss lakes.

COLD AIR NOT GOOD FOR HEART

People with heart disease may not be able to compensate for their bodies’ higher demand for oxygen when inhaling cold air, according to Penn State researchers, making snow shovelling and other activities dangerous for some. “This study can help us understand why cold air is such a trigger for coronary events,” said Lawrence I. Sinoway, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director of the Heart and Vascular Institute,Penn State College of Medicine in a press release. Breathing cold air during exercise can cause uneven oxygen distribution through out the heart. But a healthy body generally corrects for this problemand redistributes blood flow, making sure the heart continues to function properly. In people with heart problems — such as coronary artery disease—this may not be the case, said Sinoway.

SMELLING THE ROSES WITH ONE’S EYES

A new study reveals for the first time that activating the brain’s visual cortex with a small amount of electrical stimulation actually improves our sense of smell. The finding was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. “Inparticular we wanted to test the idea that activation of brain regions primarily dedicated to one sense might influence processing in other senses.We found that electrically stimulating the visual cortex improves performance on a task that requires participants to identify the oddodourout of a group of three.” “This study shows that on a basic level the brain structures involved in different senses are really quite interconnected in everyone. This ‘crosswiring’ of senses is found in people with synesthesia, a condition in which people see the colour of numbers or smell words, or hear odours for example,” says Dr. Johan Lund strom at Monell Chemical Senses Center. TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) was directed towards the visual cortex to improve visual perception. Since TMS alters brain activity in a targeted area, it provides a powerful test of the hypothesis that visual cortex activation changes olfactory perception.

LIFE BEGAN ON LAND, NOT SEA

A new study claimed that the theory proposed by Charles Darwin on life’s origin was right. Darwin proposed that the life originated on land in a pond and not in the oceans. The study by researchers at the Osnabruck university in Germany found that the first primitive cells might have originated in pools of condensed vapour. This was caused by underground hot water. The study challenged the prevalent view that life originated in the sea. The studywas based on the analysis of key rock chemicals in ancient in land and marine habitats. It was compared with the genetic reconstruction of Earth’s first cells. The scientists discovered that the oceans did not contain the best balance of in gredientsto support life. Miller’s Grizzled Langur found in Indonesia Scientists rediscovered a large grey monkey-the Miller’s grizzled langur- in the dense jungles of Indonesia. The monkey was believed to be extinct. The monkey has black face framed bya fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar. It has hooded eyes and a pinkish nose and lips. The animal one roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Java and Sumatra and the Thai- Malay peninsula. The area once the habitat of these monkeys had been destroyed by human encroachment, conversion of land for agriculture and mining and fires.