44 Indians shortlisted for one way trip to the Red Planet

As if setting foot on the Moon was not enough, spaceflight agencies are now in a race to send people to Mars. This time, it is the Netherlands-based Mars One leading the pack, taking leaps ahead NASA who openly stated intentions of sending astronauts to the Red Planet.

The Mars One project makes it possible to live in a world beyond our grasp. It aims to establish the first human colony in a foreign planet by 2024, opening an exciting opportunity for anyone who wants to live in a world other than ours. There is just one catch, though. The mission is a one-way trip to Mars, which means there's no turning back for them.

Yet roughly 200,000 applications flooded Mars One. However, not everyone is fit to go there. When the company screened the applications in December last year, a tad 1,058 was shortlisted. This time, the pool is reduced even more to 705 aspirants and 44 of them are Indians.

"We are excited that 44 Indians have been shortlisted in round two. It shows that India is a major player in Mars trip and the chance of an Indian being selected for the final trip is pretty high," said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive of Mars One, in an interview with Indian local paper Hindustan Times.

A total of 27 men and 17 women from India made the cut, outlasting the other 18 Indian hopefuls who got in the first screening. They made up the 32 percent of the 136 applicants from Asia and most of them come from the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, and Thiruvanathapuram.

After completing Mars One's tasks of providing a physician-approved medical statement of health and opening an online Mars One profile to the public, the 44 Indians, as well as the rest of the shortlisted applicants from the Americas (313), Europe (187), Africa (41) and Oceania (28), will now proceed to the Round 2 of screening where they will be interviewed by the Mars One selection committee.

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Google tests balloons to beam internet from near internet

Google is launching balloons into near space to provide internet access to buildings below on the ground.

About 30 of the super pressure balloons are being launched from New Zealand from where they will drift around the world on a controlled path.

Attached equipment will offer 3G like speeds to 50 testers in the country.

Access will be intermittent, but in time the firm hopes to build a big enough fleet to offer reliable links to people living in remote areas.

It says that balloons could one day be diverted to disaster hit areas to aid rescue efforts in situations where ground communication equipment has been damaged.

But one expert warns that trying to simultaneously navigate thousands of the high-altitude balloons around the globe's wind patterns will prove a difficult task to get right.

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New device can detect Cancer, HIV or any disease in 10 minutes: UK Scientist

A UK scientist claims to have developed a cheap, hand-held device that detects almost any disease such as TB, Malaria, HIV infection or Cancer in just 10 minutes.

The Q-POC machine, costing 500 pounds, can micro-analyse tumours and the genetic signatures of the disease before advising on the best type of drugs to use.

Using his garage in Uckfield, East Sussex, as a makeshift laboratory, 37-year-old Jonathan O'Halloran hit on the ground-breaking idea of releasing DNA within a barely visible sample and making multiple copies to allow an accurate diagnosis, whether cancer mutations exist and which oncology drug will work best.

The device is undergoing rigorous clinical trials and be used across the National Health Service(NHS) as early as next year, the 'Daily Express' reported.

The first prototypes are in advanced trials and experts say they have the potential to to prolong the lives of newly-diagnosed cancer sufferers and saves the life of millions with infectious diseases.

"we are using the device to extract, amplify and analyse DNA from tumors or other samples to make sure the patients gets a personalised service as soon as possible," said O'Halloran. 

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Fighter Aircraft with deadly 'laser weaponry' coming to reality

The US Military technology developer, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is working on two new plans to make laser weaponry a reality, a report said.

DARPA's answer to increasingly sophisticated surface-to-air threats is the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), the liquid cooled lasers that would be mounted on turrets on combat airplanes to shoot down incoming rockets or missiles.

According to CBS News, DARPA'S description of HELLADS also mentioned "additional capability for offensive missions as well, adding precise targeting with low probability of collateral damage."

DARPA said HELLADS would be ten times smaller and lighter than current lasers of similar power.

According to the report, the second project DARPA is working on is Aero-Adaptive/Aero Optic Beam Control (ABC), the lasers that are designed to shoot backwards, the direction that most oncoming missiles come from.

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India to launch Mars Mission this year

After its successful unmanned Chandrayaan mission to the Moon in 2008, which brought back the first ever clinching evidence of the presence of water there, India is now eyeing the Mars.

The Indian Space Research Organisation is planning to launch a space mission to the Red Planet later this year. The unmanned satellite, Mangalyaan, will study the thin Martian atmosphere and will take take 8 months to reach the distant planet.

The first model of the Mangalyaan was unveiled at the Indian Science Congress in Kolkata on Sunday. The Rs. 450-crore mission will be launched from Sriharikota using the workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The government says the satellite which will be placed in an orbit around Mars wilolbe able to carry nearly 25 kg of scientific payload on board. According to ISRO, the tentative objects of the mission will be to focus on remotely accessing life, climate, geology, origin and evolution and sustainability of life on the planet. "This is technology demonstration project, a mission that will announce to the world India has capability to reach as far away as Mars," an ISRO official said. 

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Internet pumps out 830 million tonnes of CO2 in the environment annually: Report

Internet, video and other cloud services, which comprise information communications and technology (ICT) industry, spews out more than 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, researchers found.

Carbon dioxide is also the main greenhouse gas and the emissions from the information and communications industry alone accounts for about two percent of global CO2 emissions, the same proportion as the emissions from the aviation industry.

Researchers note that controlling those emissions requires more accurate but still feasible models, which take into account the data traffic, energy use and CO2 production in networks and other elements of the ICT industry, the Journal Science and Technology reveals.

The researchers suggest, based on their models, that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.

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World's largest solar telescope to set up in Ladakh

India is expected to start building the world's largest solar telescope on the icy heights of Ladakh to study the sun's atmosphere and understand the formation of sun-spots and their decay process.

The Rs. 300 crore project is expected to come up at either Hanle or Merak, which is very near to the Ladakh's Pangong Lake along the line of actual control with China.

Currently. the world's largest solar telescope is the McMath-Pierce Solar telescope with an aperture size of 1.6 metres in Kitt Peak National Observatory at Arizona in the US.

"Fabrication of the National Large Solar Telescope is expected to begin in late 2013," Siraj Hassan, Principal Investigator for the project, told reporters on the sidelines of the 100th Indian Science Congress here.

The telescope with an aperture size of 2 meters is planned to be completed by 2017 and will be the largest such facility in the world at least till 2020 when US is expected to commission its four meter telescope at Hawaii.

The main objective of the facility would be to study the formation and decay of sun spots, their subsurface structure and why do they have a penumbra and hoe is it formed, Hasan said.

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New cardboard helmet: Lighter and Safer

An Indian-origin researcher has designed a new lighter and safer bicycle-helmet entirely made up of cardboard.

The helmet 'Kranium' has been constructed by cardboard and designed by Royal College Art Student Anirudha Surabhi, which promises to be 15 percent lighter than standard helmets, while absorbing up to three times the impact energy during the collision.

Surabhi was inspired to create the Kranium following a nasty fall from his bicycle which caused a cracked helmet and minor concussion.

The designer was also inspired by the woodpecker's ability to withstand repeated heavy impact, thanks to the bird's unique corrugated cartilage structure which separates beak from skull.

The Formula 1 team Force India is incorporating the Kranium technology in to its own helmet design, the report said. The Kranium is waterproof and boasts some green credentials, due to it being manufactured from recycled paper.

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Supersized telescope to help humans in making contact with aliens within 12 years

Whether alien life exists or not could be confirmed by 2024 with the help of a supersized 1.3 billion-pound radio telescope.

Former ministry of defence UFO project leader Nick Pope, said that the development of the square kilometer array telescope would reveal "new and exciting possibilities," the Daily Express reported.

If everything goes according to the plan the square kilometer Array will be fully operational and humans could be able to make contact with the aliens with 12 years, said Pope, who studied UFO sightings at the MoD for 21 years.

The square kilometer array to be started in 2016, is set to be the world's largest radio telescope and will answer some of the fundamental unanswered questions of our universe.

Made up of thousands of radio wave receptors covering 1,900 square miles of Earth's surface in the Australian outback, scientists have claimed it will provide alternative views of the universe that thoise seen with optical telescopes.

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Gadgets soon to identify their users by measuring heartbeats

Smartphones, tablets, gaming devices and other devices may soon recognize their owners at a touch. The gadgets will identify their users by measuring their heartbeats through their finger tips.

"ECG biometrics identifies people by their cardiac rhythm," Foteini Agrafioti, an engineer at the University of Toronto who developed a version of the technology and started a company, Bionym, to make it.

"Not just their heart rate but the actual shape of their heartbeat," he added.

Heartbeat could be a secure alternative, or supplement, to more established biological ID measures, such as fingerprints. And unlike some futuristic identification schemes, heartbeat IDs are technologically ready to go.

The finger sensors have made it possible to embed heartbeat measurements into smartphones and other devices, although they aren't precise enough for doctor's diagnosis.

Meanwhile, engineers have found that the exact shape of ECG spikes varies from person to person. Everyone has his or her own unique shape, which remain even during heart rate changes caused by excitement or exercise. That shape also stays the same over time.

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1.5 million new species discovered during 'health check-up' of world's oceans

A research ship has discovered more than one million new species after trawling through the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern and Indian oceans.

The creatures will be unveiled tonight at a special exhibition at the Science Museum in London, after the ship docked back into London last week.

The team say the discoveries could change our understanding of climate change's impact on the world's oceans - and said their journey showed just how vulnerable the sea is due to man's actions.

More than 30,000 samples of sea water were taken from a variety of spots across the planet, which led to the discovery of 1.5million species - ranging from the relatively large - 1cm in length - to the small, measuring just fractions of a millimetre.

The research provides a snapshot of marine micro-organisms - but points out how much plastic we dump in the ocean, with up to 50,000 plastic fragments per square mile within the Atlantic.

These plastics will not break down for hundreds of thousands of years, and can enter the food chain through fish, seabirds and other marine animals. The toxins can poison the ocean, and also find their way into humans through seafood.

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Research reveals how cats get their stripes

It is very interesting that very rare of us have ever thought how the cats got their stripes. Many of us neglected this because we would have no answer of such an answer.

But a recent research done by scientists revealed that how the cats got their stripes. The new study reveals a mutation shared by the housecats and cheetahs, which may explain how the cat got its stripes.

The sharp evenly spaced stripes of the tabby cat are among the most common of coat patterns. To pinpoint the gene responsible for the difference, an international team of researchers scanned the genomes of feral cats that had either stripes or blotches. Their search led to an unnamed gene about which little is known except that it produces an enzyme that cuts up nearby proteins.

The researchers found that every blotched tabby had mutations in both copies of this gene, whereas every striped cat had at least one copy without the mutation. They then found the distinctive mutations in the same gene among DNA samples from a pedigreed family of king cheetahs, conforming their suspicious that mutations in the gene which they dubbed, turned ordinary stripes into the more regal blotches.

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Delhi boys discovered a new asteroid

Shubham Sharma and Mayank Sharma are on cloud nine which is still well below the asteroid they have just discovered. The provisional discovery of the asteroid is made by the duo as part of All India Asteroid Search campaign 2012.

Students of standard XII at DAV Centenary School, Paschim Vihar and Astronomy enthusiasts Shubham and Mayank along with 75 other teams comprising two participants each from across the country were given access to exclusive data for three months to spot moving objects which could be Asteroids.

The discovery has been made by the students under the guidance of Science Popularisation Assciation of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) in collaboration with International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).

Shubham and Mayank's interest developed in Space activities after winning Space Satellite Design contest organised by NASA last year. "Though I want to do computer science engineering from IIT, I have a huge interest in Astronomy and space activities also," says Shubham.

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Self cleaning cars will soon be a reality

Researchers have developed a new coating that has many potential applications - keeping your car and mobile phones clean for ages and aircraft that need less frequent repainting.

Functional coatings, for example with highly water resistant or antibacterial properties, have at their surface nano-sized molecular groups that provide these specific properties.

Both these molecular groups are easily and irreversibly damaged by minor contact with their surface, quickly causing their properties to be lost, the journal Advanced Materials reports.

Catarina Esteves of the department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology and her colleagues have now found a solution, according to an Eindhoven statement. The solution will make possible a self cleaning car, with a highly water-resistant coating that keeps this self-cleaning property for long periods. Superficial scratches will be self-repaired and the water droplets simply roll off the car, taking dirt with them. An occasional rain shower is all that's needed to keep the car clean.

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Batman to encourage kids to eat healthy

Superheroes such as Batman can prompt children to develop their own healthy eating habits, a recent Cornell University has found.

This study reminds us of Popeye the Sailor, who inspired a generation of growing baby boomers to eat its spinach.

During the study fully 45 percent children selected apple fries after being shown pictures of superheroes and other role models, compared to 9 percent who choose apple fries with no superhero prompts.

On an average children who consumed apple fries consumed only 34 calories whereas children who selected french fries consumed 227 calories. That's almost seven times as many calories just from the side dish of the meal.

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Planet found near Earth may have life

Astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution of Washington believe that they have discovered a planet right at Earth's front door that may be capable of supporting human life. The planet is 22 light years away, previously thought to be 20 light years, and is formally known as Gliese 581g .

The study reveals that the planet is twice the size of Earth. It is known as "Super Earth" due to its ability to hold on to its gassy atmosphere, which increases its chances of retaining liquid. Whether this liquid is frozen and stored under the surface or flowing freely across the planet, the researchers can't say. The scientist from the University of California said that the planet has "Churchly Wheather" similar to what we experience in Australia.

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