Will India have it's own OS?

 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is working on creating a futuristic computing system, including India's own operating system. Two software engineering centres are being set up for this purpose in Bangalore and New Delhi and 25 scientists at each of these centres are working towards it. "We do not have our own operating system. Today, various bodies, including banks and defence establishments, need security. Having our own operating system will help us prevent hacking of our systems," said V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and DRDO Director-General.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the Centre for Development of Telematics, besides universities and industries are in touch for the fulfillment of the project. Citing security reasons, he refused to provide details of organisations involved in the project. The new operating system would also have commercial use. Saraswat also said that it was fairly a costly affair, without elaborating on the timeframe.

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Did early humans evolve in Europe, not Africa?

Received wisdom that modern humans emerged in Africa then dispersed across the rest of the globe is being challenged by skulls found in Dmanisi, a site in Georgia to the south of Russia.Analysis of the skulls suggests that instead, small numbers of very early ancestors of modern-day humans may have migrated to Europe, where they evolved into Homo erectus, the immediate predecessor of modern Homo sapiens.Then, Homo erectus filed back into Africa before eventually making the crucial transition to Homo sapiens.

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Dangerous Hurricane Jimena Blasts Toward Baja California

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Swine Flu Origins Revealed

The flu virus(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A new analysis of the current swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus suggests that transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the existing outbreak.The work, published online in Nature June 10, highlights the need for systematic surveillance of influenza in swine, and provides evidence that new genetic elements in swine can result in the emergence of viruses with pandemic potential in humans.

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Google closing in on cheap renewable energy goal

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Asia gives huge boost to Earth Hour call for global climate action

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Russian spaceship docks despite engine failure

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Mumbai local body to use GIS to detect underground water leakages

MUMBAI, India: The first pilot project by Brihan Mumbai Mahanagarpalika (BMC), the city’s civic body, to detect underground leakages in pipelines will begin in coming few days. GIS is going to be one of the components of the techniques being applied, along with sound sensors and ground penetration radars (GPRs).

Detection of leakages is part of BMC's plan to conduct a water audit aimed at studying the existing infrastructure for water supply and gauge the extent of wastage. The pilot project will be implemented in areas between Goregaon and Dahisar. "After we carry out GIS mapping, we will know the exact location of utilities following which the details will be available,'' said a senior civic official. 


Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Malaysia uses satellite to fight illegal logging: report

Malaysia is zooming in on forests with a satellite in order to fight illegal logging which its government says is harming the major timber exporting country, a report said. Darus Ahmad, deputy director-general with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency, said the "eye in the sky" programme was put in place in October. "There is always criticisms that our forests are diminishing," he was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times newspaper. Darus said that using satellite images the authorities can establish a national forest inventory of the country's total area of forest cover.

They can then check whether logging in a particular area is legal or not, he said, adding that the facility was currently available in the western peninsular part of Malaysia only.

Darus also said the system can be used to prevent air pollution by detecting forest fires and illegal land clearing. In the 1990s alone, Malaysia lost more than 13 percent of its forests, with much of the deforestation on the island of Borneo, which it shares with Indonesia and Brunei. The World Wildlife Fund at the time estimated that illegally logged trees made up about one third of Malaysia's timber exports.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last year pledged not to indiscriminately approve logging licences, amid mounting concern that clearances are threatening endangered species and tribal communities. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who also heads the National Forestry Council, later warned that illegal logging could undermine Malaysia.

"It can jeopardise our efforts to preserve biodiversity, flora and fauna and have an impact on global warming. At the international level, illegal logging portrays a negative image of our country," he said.

"It can harm our national economy as the timber industry produces 23 billion ringgit (6.8 billion dollars) worth of wood-based products a year," he added.

The European Union market accounts for about 30 percent of Malaysia's annual timber exports.


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Digital land records to aid farmers of UP, India

LUCKNOW, India: In an effort to prevent land disputes among farmers and to benefit them through welfare schemes, the Uttar Pradesh government has roped in the services of Remote Sensing Application Centre (RSAC) to prepare land maps and digitise records with the help of GIS.

"The government has decided to digitise existing land records and maps. For this it has roped in services of RSAC, which will use Geographical Information System to take satellite images to know the situation," a senior planning department official said. RSAC Director A N Singh said the centre would prepare satellite images of a particular area with the help of GIS technique and compare it with the existing land records. These will then be uploaded in the computer with the help of overlay method to know the exact geographical situation and land use. 

The planning department official said a pilot project in this regard has been initiated by the state government and RSAC in backward Jalaun district in Bundelkhand region after which it would be implemented across the state. The project was initiated after it was observed that due to lack of records in digital form, farmers had to face a lot of hardship in obtaining duplicate papers and maps of their land when the papers were destroyed or decayed, he said. 


Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Haryana, India to use remote sensing for monitoring drought

Chandigarh, India: Haryana government is planning to use remote sensing satellites for monitoring drought situation in the state, an official spokesman said here.

He said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed between Hisar based Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC), an autonomous body of Science and Technology, Haryana and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) Hyderabad to monitor the drought situation at block level.

Advance Wide Image Field Sensor data from resource satellite of India would be used for the purpose, he added. After analysing and interpreting the satellite data acquired at frequent intervals, a monthly bulletin, indicating the situation in each block, would be prepared.

The bulletin would be circulated to all departments so that required contingency measures to save the crops in the susceptible blocks could be taken, he said. He said the project, a milestone in drought management, would be taken up jointly by HARSAC and NRSC for three years after which the technology would be transferred to HARSAC. 

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CRRI’s 'Hawk Eye' on Indian roads

At first sight, one can mistake this vehicle to be an ultra tech robotic remote-controlled vehicle, but it is the country's first 'Hawk Eye' that is surveying almost 50,000 kilometres of country's highways and roads to gauge their quality and see if they are fit for freight movement and travel. The database will be used to create GIS maps of highways in the country. The project is being undertaken by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and GIS survey and global positioning system (GPS) will help better navigation across the country. 

Mounted on a jeep, the Hawk Eye's instrumentation system includes a laser profiler along with pavement view cameras to measure road surface, collect and process digital images of pavements and other roadside elements. The vehicle has been used in countries like China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Hawk Eye requires high-speed paved roads for operation and is sensitive to rough weather conditions like dust storms and heavy rains. It can gather data while travelling at a speed of 30 to 100 km per hour. 

An advantage Hawk Eye enjoys over other instruments with CRRI is its ability to look at the surface of the road and measure cracking areas. Any area with a crack of above three centimetres is detected by the vehicle's sensors and a preventive measure is suggested by the computers. This helps improve life of highways, which is normally around 20 years in the case of bitumen roads.


Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

China delays finishing mammoth water project

China has postponed completing a huge water transfer project to quench its national capital's thirst, citing stubborn pollution worries for pushing the target date back four years to 2014, official media said on Saturday.

The South-North Water Diversion scheme will channel water from the Yangtze River and its tributaries to ease shortages across northern China, where population growth and frantic industrialization have drained dams and underground reserves.

The main "central route" stretching 1,267 kms (787 miles) from the Danjiangkou Dam in central Hubei province to Beijing was due to be finished in 2010.

But not now.

Hubei officials said on Friday that pollution and ecological strains in the rivers feeding the dam will make that impossible, Hubei's Changjiang Times said, in a report reprinted by the official Xinhua news agency ( www.xinhuanet.com ).

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The global cooling scare that never was

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UAE poised to get its first dedicated eye in the sky

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Australian rescuers save 11 whales after mass stranding

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Chandrayaan-1 enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory

The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully carried out today (November 4, 2008) morning at 04:56 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about two and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of about 380,000 km (three lakh eighty thousand km). 

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu. Since its launch on October 22 by PSLV-C11, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft are performing normally. Chandrayaan-1 will approach the Moon on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
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Greenhouse gas 4 times higher than thought

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India on the moon: Chandrayaan-1 successful

Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden moon spacecraft, was put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the Polar Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1, carrying 11 payloads, was released into a Transfer Orbit 18.2 minutes after the PSLV-C11 blasted off.

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Beluga whales in Alaska listed as endangered

The depleted population of beluga whales that swim off the coast of Alaska’s largest city was listed as endangered on Friday by the federal government.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, called the listing “premature” after she had pressed for more time to make beluga population counts.

Environmentalists hailed the listing decision, but criticized the time it took to materialize.

“Hopefully the State of Alaska will now work toward protecting the beluga rather than, as with the polar bear, denying the science and suing to overturn the listing,” Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it has determined that belugas in Cook Inlet, the channel that flows from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska, are at risk of extinction and deserving of strict protections under the Endangered Species Act.

The population, which fell to a low of 278 in 2005 from 653 in 1994, has yet to rebound from a period of over-harvesting by the region’s Native hunters, officials said.

Hunting of Cook Inlet belugas largely ceased in 1999, but the population continues to struggle, officials said.

“In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering,” James Balsinger, acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service, said in a statement.

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