Top 10 Breakthroughs of The year 2011

HPTN 052: The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 per cent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). Some researchers consider HPTN 052 a "game-changer" because of its near-100 percent efficacy in reducing HIV transmission rates. And, indeed, it has already sprung many clinicians and policy-makers into action. For all these reasons, Science spotlights the HPTN 052 study as the 2011 Breakthrough
of the Year. Science's and its publisher, AAAS, the non-profit science society, have identified nine other groundbreaking scientific accomplishments during 2011.

The Hayabusa Mission: After some near-disastrous technical difficulties and a stunningly successful recovery, Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years, and analysis of the grains confirmed that the most common meteorites found on Earth, known as ordinary chondrules, are born from these much larger, S-type asteroids.

Unraveling Human Origins: Studying the genetic code of both ancient and modern human beings, researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still-unidentified ancestors in Africa. One study this year revealed how archaic humans likely shaped our modern immune systems, and an analysis of Australopithecus sediba fossils in South Africa showed that the ancient hominin possessed both primitive and Homo -like traits.

Capturing a Photosynthetic rotein: In vivid detail, researchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PSII, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The crystalclear image shows off the protein's catalytic core and reveals the specific orientation of atoms within. Now, scientists have access to this catalytic structure that is essential
for life on Earth — one that may also hold the key to a powerful source of clean energy.

Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers using the Keck telescope in Hawaii to probe the faraway universe wound up discovering two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals, just as the universe's earliest stars must have been, but that formed much later. The discoveries show that pockets of matter persisted unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.

Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium leading the gang in their digestive tract: Bacteroides , Prevotella or Ruminococcus . Follow-up studies revealed that one of these bacteria thrives on a high-protein diet while another prefers vegetarian fare. These findings and more helped to
clarify the interplay between diet and microbes in nutrition and disease.

A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research. The ongoing trial, which has enrolled more than 15,000 children from seven African countries, reassured malaria researchers, who are used to bitter disappointment, that discovering a malaria vaccine remains possible. Strange Solar Systems: This year, astronomers got their first good views of several distant planetary systems and discovered that things are pretty weird out there. First, NASA's Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today's models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare "retrograde" orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space — all unlike anything found in our own solar system.

Designer Zeolites: Zeolites are porous minerals that are used as catalysts and molecular sieves to convert oil into gasoline, purify water, filter air and produce laundry detergents (to name a few uses). This
year, chemists really showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.

Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments have revealed that clearing senescent cells (those that have stopped dividing) from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms. Mice whose bodies were cleared of these loitering cells didn't live longer than their untreated cage-mates — but they did seem to live better, which provided researchers with some hope that banishing senescent cells might also prolong our golden years.

A new Candidate Malaria Vaccine

A new candidate malaria vaccine with the potential to neutralise all  strains of the most deadly species of malaria parasite has been developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Oxford. The results of this new vaccine independently confirm the utility of a key discovery reported last month from scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute who had identified this target within the parasite as a potential ‘Achilles' heel' that could hold significant promise for vaccine development. The most deadly form of mosquito, Plasmodium falciparum , is responsible for nine out of ten deaths from malaria. Vaccinating against malaria is likely to be the most cost-effective way of protecting populations against disease; however, no licensed vaccine is currently available. Dr Sandy Douglas, a Wellcome Trust
Clinical Research Training Fellow from the University of Oxford and first author on the new study, adds: “We have created a vaccine that confirms the recent discovery relating to the biology of RH5 antigen,
given it can generate an immune response in animal models capable of neutralising many — and potentially all — strains of the P. falciparum parasite, the deadliest species of malaria parasite.” Our next step will be to begin safety tests of this vaccine. If these prove successful, clinical trials in patients may begin within the next two to three years.

Fighting Iron Deficiency

Someone with an iron deficiency should substantially reduce consumption of coffee and black tea. This is according to Petra Renner- Weber, a member of Germany's Home Economics and Nutrition Science
Association. She says that tannin in the drinks inhibits the absorption of iron. “About two hours should pass after a meal before drinking coffee or tea,” she added. Renner- Weber said the body absorbed iron from animal products such as meat and sausage best. When its iron stores are depleted, the body absorbs a lot of iron from food. When stores are well supplied, it takes in little of the mineral.
She advises vegetarians to eat ironrich vegetables such as beets as well as legumes and whole grains. She said that vitamin C and organic acids enhanced the absorption of iron from plant foods and so she recommends drinking a glass of orange juice at meals or having fruit salad for dessert. Iron deficiency, which a doctor can detect with a blood test, is caused by an unbalanced diet or, in women, heavy menstrual periods, Renner-Weber said. Symptoms included tiredness, weakness, increased susceptibility to infections, problems with hair and nail growth, and dry, chapped skin. Men require about 10 mg of iron daily, and women 15.

Supernova of a Generation

It was the brightest and closest stellar explosion seen from Earth in 25 years, dazzling professional and backyard astronomers alike. Now, thanks to this rare discovery—which some have called the “supernova of a generation” — astronomers have the most detailed picture yet of how this kind of explosion happens. Known as a Type I a supernova, this type of blast is an essential tool that
allows scientists to measure the expansion of the universe and understand the very nature of the cosmos. On August 24, the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) team discovered the supernova in one of the arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy (also called M101), 21 million light years away. They caught the supernova just 11 hours after it exploded.

27 Club' Hypothesis is Incorrect

The list of well known musicians who have died at age 27 may look like more than a coincidence — Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain,  and Brian Jones to name a few — but their age is unlikely to have been the cause of their demise, according to research published in the British Medical Journal. While  fame may increase the risk of death for musicians, probably due to their rock and roll lifestyle, this risk is not  limited to age 27, say the authors led by Adrian Barnett from Queensland University of Technology in Australia. To test the “27 club” hypothesis, the authors compared the mortality of famous musicians with that of the UK population. They included 1,046 musicians (solo artists and band members) who had a number one album in the UK charts between 1956 and 2007. During this period (1956-2007) it was found that 71 (7 per cent) of the musicians died. The authors used mathematical analysis to determine the significance of age 27. They found no peak in the risk of death at this age, however musicians in their 20s and 30s were two to three times more likely to die prematurely than the general UK population. The research team found some evidence of a cluster of deaths in those aged 20 to 40 in the 1970s and early 1980s. But there were no deaths in this age group in the late 80s. The authors conclude that the “27 club” is based on myth, but warn that musicians have a generally increased risk of dying throughout their 20s and 30s. Protecting an anti-malarial drug from developing resistance: It is a drug that has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine. In the fight against malaria, a disease that over 200 million people are estimated to have caught in 2010, some 655,000 of whom died of it, protecting the effectiveness of artemisinin-based drugs has become vitally important.
A number of Indian pharmaceutical companies have been among those manufacturing and marketing drugs that are likely to foster resistance to artemisinin in the malaria parasite, according to the latest World Malaria Report that was recently released. Artemisin and its derivatives have saved countless lives after the single-celled parasite, Plasmodium falciparum , that causes the most dangerous forms of the disease became resistant to the drug chloroquine. However, strains that are resistant to even artemisinin have emerged in parts of South-East Asia and could potentially spread, as has happened with earlier antimalarial drugs.  To prevent that from happening, the global health agency recommends that artemisinin be given in combination with another drug. Such artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) should, it says, be first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria caused by P. falciparum . The two-drug combination reduced the chances of the parasite developing resistance. Moreover, a three-day course of a recommended ACT generally cleared the parasites from the body. The use of ACT has grown rapidly. Globally, the number of ACT courses procured by the public sector jumped nearly seven-fold between 2005 and 2006, and then more than doubled, reaching 181 million, in 2010, according to the World Malaria Report. The  demand for these drugs was expected to reach 287 million treatments this year and touch 295 million courses in 2012. Ten of the 28 manufacturers of monotherapies were in India, according to a spokesperson  for the WHO Global Malaria Programme. “Oral artemisinin monotherapy is banned in India,” according to the ‘Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria in India' published in 2010 by the National Institute of Malaria Research in Delhi and the Union Health Ministry's National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

Nuclear Disaster Response Failed During Tsunami

Japan's response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with  problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay  in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, an interim report revealed on December 26. The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and  government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was depicted in the report detailing a government investigation. The 507-page interim report, compiled by interviewing more than 400  people, including utility workers and government officials, found authorities had grossly underestimated tsunami risks, assuming the highest wave would be 6 meters (20 feet). The tsunami hit at more than double those levels. The report  criticized the use of the term “soteigai,” meaning “outside our imagination,” which it said implied authorities were shirking responsibility for what had happened. It said by labeling the events as beyond what could have been expected, officials had invited public distrust. The report, set to be finished by mid- 2012, found workers at Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that ran Fukushima Dai-ichi, were untrained
to handle emergencies like the power shutdown that struck when the tsunami destroyed backup generators setting off the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. A better response might have reduced the core damage, radiation leaks and the hydrogen explosions that followed at two reactors and sent plumes of radiation into the air, according to the report. The government also delayed disclosure of radiation data in the area, unnecessarily exposing entire towns to radiation when they could have evacuated,  the report found. The government recommended changes so utilities will respond properly to serious accidents. It recommended separating the nuclear regulators from the unit that promotes atomic energy, echoing frequent criticism since the disaster. Japan's nuclear regulators were in the same ministry that promotes the industry, but they are being moved to the environment ministry next year to ensure more independence.

Microalgae

To its votaries, tiny organisms known as microalgae could hold answers to some intractable problems. That includes curbing carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to global warming and reducing the
burden of industrial effluents. “We can change trash into gold” and safeguard human existence on the planet, exclaimed Ji-Won Yang of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. Microalgae, like plants, are capable of photosynthesis, using the energy from sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar. Prof. Yang spoke of his team's efforts at treating municipal wastewater using the single-celled green alga,Chlorella vulgaris. Such wastewater contained plenty of organic compounds and nutrients to sustain the organism. The oils that then accumulated in the cells could be harvested and turned into biodiesel. It was found that untreated wastewater gave the best algal growth. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria found in the wastewater could be acting as growth enhancers, he noted. A pilot plant based on the alga had been established at a plant of the China Steel Corporation. To meet pollution control norms, the effluent
was earlier being neutralised with sodium hydroxide. The large quantities of sludge that resulted had then to be disposed in a secured landfill. It had been possible to engineer a treatment process to efficiently
carry out the neutralisation by providing suitable conditions for a blue green alga, Chroococcus  turgidus, to grow in the effluent. As the alga grew, it reduced the acidity of the effluent. This algal strain had
been isolated from the effluent itself. The remediation plant had been working well for over five years, producing negligible quantities of sludge and saving money that had earlier been spent on sodium hydroxide.

Ordinary Tissue TransFormed into Heart Muscle Cells

Scientists discovered a way to transform ordinary tissue into beating heart muscle cells. It could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches for making a damaged heart to repair itself. Scientists used a zebrafish system to develop a small and robust molecule, which can transform stem cells into beating heart muscle cells. The scientists in their experiment found that cardionogen treatment enlarged the zebrafish heart by stimulating production of new cardiac muscle cells from stem cells. The scientists discovered three structurally related molecules  (Cardiongen-1, 2 and3) after screening4000 compounds. It could promote or inhibit heart formation depending on when they were administered during development.

New theory Explains How Fishes Grew into Amphibians

A small fish crawling out of a drying desert pond underlines a theory that ties up the fishes with the amphibians, reveals a study. “Such a plucky hypothetical ancestor of ours probably could not have survived the overwhelming odds of perishing in a trek to another shrinking pond,” said Gregory J Retallack, professor of geological sciences at University  of Oregon, who led the study. This scenario comes from the late Devonian period, roughly 390 million to 360 million years ago, which late Harvard palaeontologist Alfred Romer propounded, the Journal of Geology reported. Challenging  Romer's theory on fish survival, Retallack said that the transitional fossils were not associated with drying ponds or deserts, but were found consistently with humid woodland soils, according to a university statement.

Papaya Mealy Bug

In India mealybug infests a whole range of crops nd numerous weeds.  Infested growing points become stunted and swollen which may vary depending upon the susceptibility of each host. Heavy clustering of mealybugs can be seen under leaf surface giving the appearance of a thick mat with waxy secretion. Severe infestations resemble patches of cotton all over the plant. They excrete copius amount of honey dew that attracts ants that leads to the development of black sooty mould, which inhibits the plants' ability to manufacture food. Both nymphs and adults suck the sap from leaves causing withering and yellowing of leaves. Fruit may drop prematurely on crop plants. Heavy infestation can cause defoliation and even  death of the plant. When fruits are infested, they may be entirely covered with the white, waxy coating of the mealy bug. Infestation can  lead to fruit drop, or fruit may remain on the host in dried and shrivelled condition. Biological control by release of natural enemies has proved to be very successful. The National bureau of agriculturally important insects (NBAII) has successfully imported three parasitoids to suppress the mealybugs effectively. The larvae of Spalgius apius commonly called
as blue butterflies feed on all stage of the mealybug. As the young larvae are similar in appearance to  mealybugs, it is difficult to recognize them amidst the host population. Adult is a small butterfly with upper
side of the wings dark brown in colour and ash coloured lower sides with dark striations. Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Karur has mass multiplied the parasitoids successfully in the laboratory as well as field conditions.

Solar-Powered Sprayer That Solves Many Problems

One need not be a genius to develop any commonly used devices. Take the case of the humble yet important knapsack manual sprayer (hung  on the shoulders). Though many models are available on the shelves, priced at different rates, most of them last for only a few years. “Regularly filling them with water, pesticides and fuel (in case of fuel operated ones) makes it difficult to lift and hang them on the shoulder. After an hour of spraying, the weight of the machine creates a backache and shoulder pain for farmers,” says Mr. David Raja Beleau, Assistant Director of Horticulture Kadayam, Tamil Nadu, who developed a solar powered battery operated sprayer for farmers.

High-Speed Bullet Train in China

China on 23 December 2011 launched a high-speed bullet train in Quingdao, Shandong province. Its  speed can reach up to 500 kilometre per hour. The train was launched by China’s largest rail vehicle maker, CSR Corp. Ltd. The six-car train has a maximum tractive power of 22800 kilowatts, compared with 9600 kilowatts for the CRH380 trains. The train is made from plastic materials
reinforced with carbon fibre. It is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese sword. CRH 380 trains are currently in service on the Beijing- Shanghai High-speed Railway. It holds the world speed record of 300 kilometres per hour.China has the largest network of bullet-train track in the world, with 8000 miles of track.

Memory Gene Npas4

A team of neuroscientists found a gene that turns on when memories are stored in the brain. This discovery could help trace the exact locations of memories in the brain. It could help in creating and altering
memory. The gene is called Npas4 , which is very active in the hippocampus. The animal is known to have a brain structure critical in forming long-term memories. During mice studies Scientists found that by taking out Npas4 from test subjects, neuroscientists were able to prevent new memories from forming.

Tube Light Flicker

Both conventional fluorescent lamp and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) produce white light by the process of fluorescence underlying the conversion of invisible ultra-violet (UV) generated from the  electrical discharge (passage of electricity) along the column of the tube to visible light occurring on the white coating made of powdery luminescent material coating inside the walls of the tube.The process of generating white light from these lamps is the same although chemical composition of the luminescent materials (phosphors) used in these lamps are different which eventually determine the light output produced. There is slight difference in the process of initiating the electrical discharge between CFL and conventional fluorescent lamp. In a conventional fluorescent lamp, the electrical discharge along the
lengthy column of the tube (usually 4 feet long) is struck through a high voltage with the help of a choke (voltage converter) and bi-metallic strip starter combination. Upon switching on, the lamp circuit is
closed due to the deflection of bimetallic strips establishing contact. Also the electrical discharge is initially built along the medium argon/ neon-mercury mixture followed by regular discharge through mercury
vapours to yield stabilized generation of UV light. These two processes  take some time to stabilize. On the other hand in the case of CFL having built-in integrated electronic ballast comprising array of AC- DCAC converters and oscillators, with the instant generation of high frequency (50 kHz) in the CFL column,  the electric discharge is struck instantly without any delay and starts fluorescing facilitating a quick start as high frequency helps to strike electrical discharge faster.

Higgs Boson

The results announced from CERN on December 13 by the two teams — ATLAS and CMC — do not provide definite and conclusive evidence of the presence of the elusive Higgs boson, but they have collected sufficient data that is consistent with the possible appearance of the God particle. According to theorists some subatomic particles gain mass by interacting with the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the only undiscovered part of the Standard Model of physics, which describes the basic building blocks of matter and their interactions. The combined results presented last month by the two teams provided no room for the Higgs boson to hide in. The results had narrowed down the mass region where the Higgs particle is most likely to be — between 114 GeV and 141 GeV (gigaelectoron volt). The latest results have further narrowed the mass range — 115-130 GeV range in the case of ATLAS, and 117-127 GeV by CMC. “We have not collected enough evidence for a discovery. There is an excess of events compatible with the hypothesis that it could be a Higgs,” Guido Tonelli, spokesman for CMC was quoted as saying in Nature . But more confirmatory data is required before its presence can be proved. According to the journal, if supported by further data, the results suggest a Higgs particle with a mass of about 125 GeV. This is because the ATLAS results are “consistent with a 125- 126 GeV Higgs at a statistical level of at most 3.6 standard deviation, while the CMC team found 124 GeV signal of at most 2.6 standard deviation,” Nature states.

Oyster ‘language'

Scientists in Japan have begun studying the ‘language' of oysters in an effort to find out what they are saying about their environment. Researchers are monitoring the opening and closing of the molluscs in
response to changes in seawater, such as reduced oxygen or red tide, a suffocating algal bloom, that can lead to mass die-offs. Using a device they have nicknamed the ‘kailingual,' scientists from Kagawa
University want to see if they can decode oyster movements that might warn of possible problems. The kailingual uses a series of sensors and magnets to send information on the opening and closing of shells in response to environmental changes. The technique has never before been used on oysters farmed for food, but has been employed by pearl oyster farmers.

Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f

NASA's Kepler mission on 20 December 2011 discovered the first Earthsize planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets,  calledKepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the  smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is a bit larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. To validate Kepler-20e and  Kepler- 20f, astronomers used a computer program called Blender, which runs simulations to help rule out other astrophysical phenomena masquerading as a planet. Kepler-20e orbits its parent star every 6.1 days and Kepler-20f every 19.6 days. These short orbital periods mean very hot, inhospitable worlds. Kepler-20f, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, is similar to an average day on the planet Mercury. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e, at more than 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, would melt glass. The Kepler-20 system includes three other planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. Kepler-20b, the closest planet, Kepler-20c, the third planet, and Kepler-20d, the fifth planet, orbit their star every 3.7, 10.9 and 77.6 days. All five planets have orbits lying roughly within Mercury's orbit in our solar system. The host star belongs to the same G-type class as our sun, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

Measuring Radiation on Journey to Mars

The Radiation Assessment Detector, the first instrument on NASA's next rover mission to Mars to begin science operations, was powered up and began collecting data December 6, almost two weeks ahead of schedule. RAD is the only instrument scheduled to collect science data on the journey to Mars.The instrument is measuring the energetic particles inside the spacecraft to characterize the radiation environment an astronaut would experience on a future human mission to the Red Planet. “We are seeing a strong flux in space, even inside the spacecraft, about four times higher doses of radiation than the baseline we measured on the launch pad from the RTG, or radioisotope thermoelectric generator, used to power the rover. It's very exciting to begin the science mission.” RAD will measure the relevant energetic particle species originating from galactic cosmic rays, the Sun and other sources. Of particular interest are the particles accelerated by coronal mass ejections on the surface of the Sun, which spew fast-moving clouds of radiation across the solar system. RAD was designed to characterize radiation levels on the surface of Mars, but an important secondary objective is measuring the radiation on the almost nine-month journey through interplanetary space, to prepare for future human exploration.

NASA Developed Space Harpoon

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) built a prototype capable of launching test harpoon tips across a distance of a mile (1.6km). It would be safer to collect comet material using the space harpoon before landing on the celestial bodies. The samples thus collected will help reveal the origins of the planets and how life was created on Earth. NASA’s Stardust mission had recovered particle samples in 2002. These samples included an amino acid, glycine, which is used by living organisms to create proteins. It endorsed the fact that some of life’s ingredients had formed in space and were delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts. A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes a tail.

India Successfully Test- Fired N-capable Agni-I Missile

India successfully test-fired its nuclear capable Agni-I strategic ballistic missile on 1 December 2011 from the test range at Wheeler Island off Odisha coast, as part of the Indian Army's user trial. It was testfired from a mobile launcher, from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR). The Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army, as part of their training exercise, executed the trial with logistic support provided by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at the ITR. The trajectory of the missile, which had an operational strike range of 700 km, was tracked by sophisticated radars and electro-optic telemetry stations located along the  sea coast and ships positioned nearthe impact point in the downrange area. Agni-I missile is equipped with a specialised navigation system which
ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy. Agni-I was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), the premier missile development laboratory of the DRDO in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Hyderabad. The last trial of the Agni-I missile was successfully carried out on 25 November 2010 from the same base.

Details of Agni-I:

• Agni-I strategic ballistic missile is an indigenously developed surfaceto- surface missile

• It is a single-stage missile

• It is powered by solid propellants

• Agni-I can carry payloads up to 1000 kg

• It Weighed 12 tonnes

• It was 15-metre-long

Why Mobile Phones Switched When Travel in a Flight?

Airplanes, soon after takeoff and much before landing, fly at an altitude of higher than a kilometre during their flight. They have to ascend to these high altitudes for the aerial flight to avoid turbulence due to
clouds and the clear air turbulence (CAT) present at low and normal altitudes. At such high altitudes, the pilots have to largely depend on the avionics and computer-assisted coded signal communications. The pilots know the flight location and destination besides other geographical details by guided commands from the Global Positioning System (GPS) which links the control tower, airplane cockpit and geostationary satellites. Further, they can know the weather and other meteorological conditions and directions of landing and takeoff at the airports, only through wireless communications from the control towers at the airports. In poor weather, the pilots use instrument landing system (ILS) to find the runway. Most of these avionics are remote operations and all the communications are in wireless radio and microwave semionics. All the wireless signal trafficking is accomplished by modulated radio and microwave transmissions which type the cell phones also owe their functioning to. If there are any mobile phones on board in the cabin of the flight in ‘ on' mode during takeoff, flight and landing, the microwave transmission between the mobile phone towers and the mobile phones might interfere with the communications the flights are busily engaged in (between the cockpit and the control towers).

YETI Demystifies Mathematical Modeling

Young Ecologists Talk and Interact (YETI) 2011, at the Indian Institute of Techonlogy-Guwahati, witnessed  a unique activity on the second day. Instead of interaction on ecology or conservation, participants in one of the workshops were asked to do an arithmetic exercise using calculators. They were amazed at the results they got as they had no idea that these could be related to studies in ecological sciences. It was Vishwesha Guttal, assistant professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore, who demystified mathematical modelling of ecology for the young ecologists. Mr. Guttal helped them understand that through proper application of simple mathematical modelling, interesting results of ecological studies could be found.

Innovative Technique Showcased at National Conference

“A single person combines in himself the work of a weatherman, an engineer, a marketing executive, a veterinarian, and above all a statesman endowed with the responsibility of feeding his people, says Mr  G. R. Sakthivel an enterprising and innovative farmer from Sathyamangalam, Erode, Tamil Nadu. A member of the scientific advisory committee of MYRADA-KVK and Erode district organic farmers'
federation, Mr. Sakthivel developed a simple yet effective mechanism to filter cattle waste and use the same in sugarcane cultivation. The four compartment system includes the filtration technique, ensuring that an enriched solution gets collected at the end, mixed with water, and sent by drip irrigation system to the field. The first section is meant for collection of cow dung and urine mixing. After thorough mixing, the solution is sent to the second compartment for first filtration. The solid matter is used for biogas production and the upper part of the solution is then allowed to flow into a third compartment where jaggery is added for fermentation. The clear enriched filtrated medium is collected and used for irrigation. By adopting this technology  the farmer can save Rs.27,000 per acre as it reduces labour and fertilizer cost, according to Mr. Sakthivel. This technology aids water holding capacity in the soil and presence of earth worms is considerably increased in the fields.

Land Mine Technology to Help Detect Breast Cancer

Scientists claimed that now a simple test could diagnose breast cancer in women in eight seconds. They claim to have developed it from a technology that is used to detect land mines. The new screening tool,
called MARIA, is safer and more comfortable than traditional mammogram X-rays. It can be used on women of any age, unlike current  technology. Scientists already carried out three successful trials with
300 women at Frenchay and Southmead hospitals. They also claimed that results from the trials showed a diagnostic success rate of 80 per cent. MARIA stands for Multistatic Array processing for Radio
wave Image Acquisition, is made from 60 antennas, which create a complete scan of the breast in eight seconds.

Genetic Tests to Detect Breast Cancer

Scientists recently developed a genetic test to detect breast cancer. It will help those women who are in the early stages of breast cancer. It will save them the trouble of undergoing chemotherapy. Scientists invented the Oncotype DX test, which can help doctors determine the likelihood of breast cancer returning and if further intervention is needed. The test uses a small sample of breast tumour tissue and focuses on groups of genes, which can influence how a cancer is likely to grow and respond to treatment. At present,  the test is available in the US and American Society for Clinical Oncology and the National. Comprehensive Cancer Network include it in their treatment guidelines for the early stage of breast cancer.

Why is it Hard to Pull an Empty Mug Completely Immersed Upside Down in Water?

Not only is it hard to pull out any empty mug completely immersed upside down in water but also it is harder to push an empty mug upside down into water.The latter difficulty is mainly due to the buoyancy, the air sac, captured inside the mug, experiences during such operation. However, when we try to pull out the same empty mug or the mug already drowned, in an upside manner, we experience certain difficulty of pulling it out. This difficulty stems from a different cause and owes to the surface tension phenomenon of liquids.The atoms or molecules of a liquid in its bulk regions have their chemical valences fully satisfied in all the six directions (front and rear, left and right and up and down or mathematically, x and x', y and y' and z and z' directions of space) whereas those present on the surface of the liquid have only five of their directions (front and rear, left and right and down) chemically satisfied while leaving the upward connectivity missing (say, z direction). This deficiency has the effect of keeping all the atoms or molecules of the liquids, on their surface, more firmly coherent on their lateral sides enabling the surface of such liquid act like an elastic skin. Hence, it would demand certain amount of force to tear of the surface of the liquids. The amount of force required to open apart one unit length of the liquid's surface is defined as the surface tension of the liquid. Its value is unique to the liquid and is highly sensitive to the temperature, pressure and purity of the liquid. For water, its value is about 72 dynes per cm (or 72 milli newtons per meter). When a mug is pulled out upside down, its brim has to tear open the surface of water layer by a length (perimeter) equal to the mug's brim to detach itself from the surface of the water. Say, the mug  has a perimeter (brim) of about 12 inches (i.e., about 30 cms) and a mass of about half  kilogram with negligible thickness. Then, it is held on its brim by the water surface by a surface force of about 0.02 newtons when the mug is about to detach from the surface. This means, we have to apply this much additional force (besides the force required against gravity) when the mug's brim is pulling out from the liquid's surface besides the usual force of about 5 newtons against the gravity. The 5 newtons against the gravity would have been the only force required had there been no surface tension phenomenon. Hence, we feel it hard to pull out an empty mug, upside down, from water.

Technology to Produce Pocket TV

British scientists recently developed a technology, which could be used to produce pocket TV. Scinetists developed a new form of light-emitting crystals, known as quantum dots. These dots can be used to produce ultra-thin televisions. The tiny crystals are 100000 times smaller than the width of human hair. This can be printed onto flexible plastic sheets (which can be rolled up) to produce a paper-thin display.

Blue Brain Project

Science has advanced in the Second Millennium in ways that we now challenge ourselves into doing what we could not have earlier. We have embarked on an experiment to determine the ultimate particle of
 which all nuclei, atoms, molecules and materials are made anywhere on earth or in the vast sky. We look for the “God particle”. We have sent man-made crafts to other planets, and have made machines and tools that enquire whether life exists elsewhere in the sky, and whether there are other planets similar to ours that may supports life- “second earths”. We have read the “book of human life”, the 3.2 billion- letter-long code of DNA that makes us what we are. There are two ways to approach this grand challenge. One is to try and understand the neurons (nerve cells) of “lower” organisms – worms, flies, fish, rats and such, and build on this knowledge. This involves experiments on the “normal” organism and on its “mutants” – its cousins who are born (or tampered with in the lab) with one or more neural problem.
Many biologists are involved in such experiments, and several more directly study humans with neurological problems and try to make sense out of the basis behind such errors in the brain. By the mid-1970s, information technology had advanced to such a level that companies, notably IBM, had thought of modelling the “thought” behind chess games that we humans play. The advanced computers programming
that they did at that time was christened “Deep Thought” (a term coined by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, including Dr. Thomas Anantharaman). It is these advances in computers that
led Dr. Henry Markram of Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne, Switzerland, to think of creating supercomputer models of the brain that would be accurate to the last biological details. To this end, he
has put together what he calls the Blue Brain Project (the blue here symbolizing supercomputers). The approach of Blue Brain is binary. It uses the information available from the hundreds of thousands of publications of neuroscientists on one hand, and ability of computer programmers to create connectivities between the millions of “neurons” in silico on the other. Combining the two, he expects to build a facility that would aim at data integration and help build brain models.Gesture-based communications are quite common in other primates such as orangutans and chimpanzees, which cannot speak but
use a variety of hand, feet and limb gestures to communicate among themselves and also with their human care-takers. Dr. Amy Follick of Emory University, Atlanta has been able to distinguish 31 manual gestures and is 18 facial/vocal gestures.

Bone Marrow Cancer Genes Identified

Scientists identified genes that can increase a person’s risk of developing multiple myeloma by 30 percent. Multiple myeloma is an aggressive form of bone marrow. A team at the Institute of Cancer Research  used a technique known as genome wide association study to scan the DNA of 1675 patients with multiple myeloma. When results were compared, scientists found that two regions of the DNA that were more common in people with multiple myeloma and were therefore linked to a higher chance of developing the disease. Multiple myeloma is also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease. It is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell responsible for the production of antibodies.

More Potent Ways to Design HIV Drugs found

In perhaps the most comprehensive survey of the inner workings of HIV, an international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has mapped every apparent physical interaction the virus makes with components of the human cells it infects. This work may reveal new ways to design future HIV/AIDS drugs. In back-to-back papers published in the journal Nature , the survey reveals a pathogenic landscape in which HIV's handful of proteins makes hundreds of physical connections with human proteins and other components inside the cell. In one paper, the team details 497 such connections, only a handful of which had been previously recognized by scientists. Disrupting these connections may interfere with HIV's lifecycle, and the existence of so many new connections suggests there may be several novel ways to target the virus. In a companion paper, Krogan and collaborating labs investigated one such connection in detail. They discovered that an HIV protein called Vif makes a physical connection with a human protein called CBF-â, hijacking its function. The UCSF-led study has provided the most comprehensive and detailed picture to date of all the interactions HIV has
with the human cells it infects, and identifying these interactions may lead to the development of new drugs to treat the disease. Interfering with this association may be a way to block the virus. Ultimately, if
scientists can design compounds to do this safely and effectively, those compounds could form the basis for a new type of HIV/AIDS treatment.

Mechanism Controlling the Fat in Human Body

Scientists made a key discovery about the mechanism controlling the fat in human body. It sheds new light on how proteins regulate appetite control and insulin secretion.This is the first time such a mechanism was described and it's unique, showing the importance of this protein to cellular function. CPT1 is the protein responsible for regulating fatty acid oxidation in the liver and is critical for metabolism. Its activity determines whether a person suffers from fatty liver in one case or ketosis in the other. The discovery will help in better understanding of why some people has a speedy metabolism and others struggle to control their appetite.This would be a major breakthrough in tackling the obesity crisis faced by humans.

Diamond-Studded Planets

Recent findings have revealed that some stars in the Milky Way could be harbouring carbon super earths  — gigantic planets completely bereft of life but potentially holding billions of tonnes of diamond. The finding comes from a lab experiment  at Ohio State University, where scientists recreated the temperatures and pressures of earth's lower mantle to study how diamonds form there. The goal was to understand what happens to carbon inside planets in other solar systems, and whether solar systems that are rich in carbon could produce planets that are mostly made of diamond. Wendy Panero, researcher in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State along with doctoral student Cayman Unterborn used what they learned  from the experiments to construct computer models of the minerals that form in planets composed with more carbon than earth. “It is possible for planets that are as big as 15 times the mass of the Earth to be  half made of diamond,” said Unterborn, according to a university statement. Our results suggest carbon- rich planets can form with a core and a mantle, just as Earth did,” said Panero. “However, the cores would likely be very carbon-rich much like steel and the mantle would also be dominated by carbon, much in the form of diamond,” he added.

National Seminar on Eco-Friendly Crop Protection

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in popularizing organic and consumer-safe pest management technologies, to cater to organic and export-focus cultivation of crops in India. A national seminar
on Biotechnological approaches in organic and eco-friendly crop protection towards promoting knowledge transfer and technology awareness was organised recently by the Sun Agro biotech research centre
(SABRC) and the Department of Zoology, University of Madras in Chennai. He also emphasized the need to adequately support the organic farming communities with appropriate technologies, especially
eco-friendly pest control options to be available at farm level. He also recalled the past initiatives of SABRC in convening two such national seminars earlier in the last five years, with focus on organic and eco-friendly pest management technologies. He explained that this successful  campaign for mass production and field release of the imported bioagent was an outstanding success story in biological pest  control at national level. About 60 experts from several ICAR institutes and other Universities participated.

Adult Stem Cells in the Heart

An international team of scientists led by Prof Richard Harvey of the University of New South Wales and colleagues at Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute discovered a new population of adult stem cells in the heart. The findings were piblished following recent reports that stem cells harvested from human hearts during surgery show promise for reversing heart attack damage. Scientists claimed in their findings, published in the latest edition of the 'Cell Stem Cell' journal that the adult stem cells can augment the development of new regeneration and repair therapies for people who have suffered cardiac failure. This is the first time this new population of stem cells was formally described, and its origins clearly defined. A mouse was used as a model system. The first part of the study included the discovery and characterisation of a new population of multi-potent, adult stem cells that live in the heart . The stem cells were found to be powerful in dividing, and responding to their native environment to form whatever tissue is needed for  repair. The new group of cells are multi-potent, and highly specific to  the heart. These cells when translated into the human setting is expected to work well at regenerating and repairing a broken heart or a heart that has suffered injury through heart attack or heart failure. The scientists are of the opinion that population of cells are very high up in the stem cell hierarchy, and can generate a number of progenitor cells that would exist in a healthy heart, ready for action.

Hydro Gel Developed by Researchers

Scientists developed a hydro gel that regenerated healthy and scar-free tissue on skin damaged by severe burns. The hydro gel helps in formatting of new blood vessels and skin including hair follicles. The injured soldiers, fire victims and people with third degree burns can avail of the gel. Third-degree burns typically destroy the top layers of skin down to the muscle. The treatment involves, dressing up the
wound, which includes hydro gel and 3D framework of polymers.

Saguna Baugh

Saguna Baug is a farming outfit at Malegaon-Neral of Raigad District. It was set up as a role model to inspire those who move away from farming. Started by a Gandhian freedom fighter, popularly known as
Harikaka Bhadsavle it is presently being taken care by his son. After twenty years of tedious and persistent efforts this beautiful agricultural project is wide-open for visitors.

Oxidative Stress Damages DNA

Researchers have now decoded the mechanism that repairs DNA damaged in this way. This repair mechanism could lead to less invasive approaches in cancer therapy.

Pattern of Hydrogen Bonds

A pattern of hydrogen bonds between odorant and receptor, accounting for the specificity of the olfactory sensors has been found. Computer simulations helped predict if odorants activate a certain
receptor or not.

Bees, Flowering Plants Adjust to Earlier Spring

An analysis of bee collection data over the past 130 years shows that spring arrives about 10 days earlier than in the 1880s, and bees and flowering plants have kept pace by arriving earlier.

Maturation Clock

An increase in fruit yield might be achieved by manipulating a molecular timer that determines the number of branches that make flowers.

Small Spider’s Brains Overflow into Their Legs

Smithsonian researchers report that the brains of tiny spiders are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs. As the spiders get smaller, their brains get proportionally bigger.
New horned dinosaur announced A new species of horned dinosaur was just announced by scientists, nearly 100 years after the initial discovery of the fossil.

Stradivarius Violin

Using computed tomography imaging and advanced manufacturing techniques, a team of experts has created a reproduction of a 1704 Stradivarius violin.

Fire & Wind

Firstly, consider the presence of a low velocity wind. ( say, virtually, still air). At any moment of time, this wind is just sufficient to sustain the fire. That is, it functions just as an ‘element.' Obviously, it cannot provide any motive force (kinetic energy) for the fire (flame). Hence, the fire cannot spread. Ultimately, it blows out. Secondly, consider the presence of a high velocity wind. At any moment of time, there is not only sufficient supply of air to sustain the fire but also there is adequate air to provide motive force. Thus, its function is two-fold: as an element and as a motive force. Hence, the fire spreads.

Bacteria Live Inside Cells

Bacteria build camouflaged homes for themselves inside healthy cells, and cause disease, by manipulating a natural cellular process.

Vanishing Elephants, Rise of Modern Humans

With the disappearance of elephants in the Middle East, new hominids who had to be more agile and skillfull to hunt smaller and faster prey took over the Middle  Eastern landscape and eventuallyreplaced Homo erectus.

300 Year Old JACK Tree

The tree is presently in the field of farmer Mr. K. Narasimhaiah and is nearly 300 years old and the tree bears nearly 300 fruits annually, which the farmer sells for Rs 20,000- Rs.30,000.

Evolution & Skull Shape

Skull shape did not occur independently through separate evolutionary events, but by actually precipitating each other.

Cassini Delivers Holiday Treats

Radio signals flying clear across the solar system from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a holiday package of glorious images , including those of Saturn's moon Titan and other icy baubles orbiting Saturn.

New Kind of Metal

New experiments and computations have revealed that iron oxide undergoes a new kind of transition under deep-Earth conditions due to high pressures and temperatures (as atoms, electrons are squeezed together).

Darwin About Emotions

Contrary to what many psychological scientists think, people do not all have the same set of biologically ‘basic' emotions.

Genes of Thyroid Cancer Found

Three genes that increase the risk of thyroid cancer, which has the largest incidence increase in cancers among both men and women, have been discovered, raising important details relevant to diagnosis and
treatment.

Why Alcohol Makes Some Aggressive

If people who focus on the here and now, without thinking about the impact on the future, tend to be aggressive  even when sober, the aggressive effect generally gets greatly magnified when they are drunk.

Foetal Arsenic Exposure

A study advances our understanding of the sources of exposure to arsenic and the potential for consuming harmful levels of arsenic via rice. Arsenic exposure during pregnancy has health risks to the foetus.

Steroids to Retina

Steroids hitching a ride into the retina on nanoparticles called dendrimers offer a new way to treat age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The steroids target damage-causing cells.

Cornea Gene Discovered

Since a transparent cornea is essential for vision, the eye has evolved to nourish the cornea without blood vessels. A gene plays a major role in maintaining clarity of the cornea in humans.

Elderly as Fast as Young in Some Brain Tasks

Healthy older people can be trained to respond faster in some decisionmaking tasks without hurting their accuracy — meaning their cognitive skills in this area aren't so different from younger adults.

Sauropoda Dinosaur

For the first time, the fossil remains of sauropoda has been recorded in  Antarctica. Until now, remains of the herbivorous dinosaurs had been recovered from all other continental landmasses.

Prehistoric Wood Found

Under the cold clear waters of Lake Huron, researchers have found a five-and-a-half-foot-long, poleshaped piece of wood that is 8,900 years old.

Brighter Future For Solar Energy

The efficiency of conventional solar cells can be increased up to 66 per  cent by using an organic plastic semiconductor material. It is based on harvesting double the number of electrons from one photon.

Left-Handedness is a Normal Variant

Most of the time, left-handedness is simply a naturally occurring, normal variant. In some cases, however, it is disadvantageous and may well reflect a genetic defect or early developmental disturbance.

Microbes in Mars-like Conditions

Microbes from ice within a lava tube have been found to thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions. They can tolerate temperatures near freezing, low oxygen levels, and can grow in the absence of organic food.

New Vaccine Attacks Breast Cancer in Mice

A new vaccine developed at the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona dramatically reduces  tumours in a mouse model that mimics 90 per cent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases.

Frogs Find Mates With Matching Chromosomes

When it comes to love songs, female tree frogs are pretty picky. Certain female tree frogs may be remarkably attuned to the songs of mates who share the same number of chromosomes as they do, says a new study.

Double Destruction Due to ‘Double Tsunami'

The destructive tsunami generated by the March 2011 Japan earthquake was a ‘merging tsunami' that doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power before reaching shore.

Record Massive Black Holes Discovered

Astronomers have discovered the largest black holes to date — two monsters with masses equivalent to 10 billion suns that are threatening to consume anything, even light, within a region five times the size
of our solar system.

Solar Storms Could Sandblast the Moon

Solar storms and associated Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) can significantly  erode the lunar surface according to a new set of computer simulations by NASA scientists. This could also cause atmospheric loss for Mars.

Comet Lovejoy Snapped

The recently discovered Comet Lovejoy has been captured in stunning  photos and time-lapse video taken from the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Global CO {-2} Emissions

Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by 49 per cent in the last two decades, according to the latest figures by an international team.