Exclusive Video: tragedy in Himachal, 24 student swept away

On an trip to Himachal Pradesh, 24 students from Hyderabad washed away by the Beas on Sunday after a hydropower plant allegedly discharged water into the river without any warning. Exclusive video of incident source:amarujala.com.

Hyderabad Engineering Students Swept Away In Beas River

Hyderabad engineering students had no warning of gushing waters 

Distraught father Bonath Shekar Naik shows a portrait of his son Rambabu who is feared dead in the tragedy

One day after a wall of water swept away and killed 24 Hyderabad engineering students on a hill tour, Himachal authorities on Monday suspended three officers of the Larji dam project from where the floodgates were opened, catching the sightseers on the Beas riverbank off-guard. As evidence mounted, along with anger and grief, over callousness being the main cause of the deaths, Himachal chief minister Virbhadra Singh ordered a high-level probe and vowed to punish officials who had turned the faucets to release water. The three project officials suspended for negligence were resident engineer Mandeep Singh, executive engineer MS Dadwalia and operator Harwansh Lal of Larji Hydroelectric projects. The rulebook says dam authorities must inform the state and the local administration on when water is being released so that people downstream can be alerted about the rise in water levels. But Mandi deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar said, "I did not receive any phone call from the authorities and I have no idea if they sent a written communique."

With survivors from VNR Vignana Jyothi Engineering Institute and locals in the Mandi area accusing Larji project officials of releasing 250 cumecs of water without proper warning on Sunday, knowing full-well that crowds throng the banks in the peak tourist season, dam authorities rejected charges of negligence, saying they were within their rights to release waters in a hurry. Dam officers, who did not want to be named, claimed they had sounded the mandatory hooters in time. Angry locals, however, said the hooter was sounded after the accident as a face-saver. The spot, about 35km from Kullu, from where the 24 engineering students of Hyderabad were swept away by the swelling Beas is known for its scenic beauty and regularly draws tourists to the edge of the water. It is for this reason that the dam authorities should have been extra careful, say locals. Deena Chand, a local, said, "They are lying that they had sounded the hooter in time. We heard it only after the students were swept away."

photo of students who were swept away in Beas river in Himachal Pradesh

Gayatri Devi, a resident of Thalout village, said, "Tourists come to enjoy themselves. They want to touch the river and the water was at a safe level initially. Authorities have made a big mistake." P C Negi, managing director of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd, which operates Larji, said, "In emergencies, we release water without informing the authorities and by sounding hooters to alert people downstream". He insisted that on Sunday northern grid had informed the state load dispatch committee about less demand due to which power generation was reduced across projects in the state. This forced them to release the water.
"It was not that water was released from Larji dam alone. It was also released from Bhakra, Baspa and Bassi projects. The alert was sounded but the students could not understand its meaning. They arrived at the spot just 30 minutes before water was released," he added. "Had the water not been released, it could have damaged the dam," he claimed.

VNR Engineering Girls Students Washed Away in Himachal Pradesh

Local residents however are angry. Himalaya Niti Abhiyan president Kulbushan Upmanyu has asked chief minister Virbhadra Singh to register an FIR against the official who released the water without any warning. "The state government should apologize to the families of deceased," he said. Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, who travelled to Mandi, shared the local anger. "There is a primary and secondary school close to the accident site and locals are concerned about the safety of the children," she said, urging the local government to heed the local fears.

Routine broken

Locals of Thalout, Shalanala and other surrounding villages allege that Larji hydropower project authorities normally released water after 9pm. This time they released it around 6pm without sounding the mandatory hooters in time. "We did not hear any hooter before the students arrived," local Shiv Lal alleged.

Louder hooters soon

Hooters with higher frequency will now be installed at Larji dam site. At present three hooters with a range of 1 to 1.5km have been installed. The state electricity board managing director P C Negi said that hooters of 2 to 3km sound frequency would be installed along the riverbank to ensure the safety of people downstream.

Hyderabad engineering students had no warning of gushing waters

One day after a wall of water swept away and killed 24 Hyderabad engineering students on a hill tour, Himachal authorities suspended three officers of the Larji dam project from where the floodgates were opened, catching the sightseers on the Beas riverbank off-guard.

12th Floor of Sundarban Park Building In Fire Video

Couple charred to death in Thane high-rise blaze

A Fire broke out on the 12th floor of Sundarban Park building here on Sunday. According to the initial reports, many got trapped inside the building in Samta Nagar.

Four fire engines were rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control. The fire, which residents claim broke out at around 6:00 am today, was caused due to a short circuit.

According to the officials, Shivajirao Choughule, 82, and his wife Nirmala, 78 were killed in the fire, and two others on a lower floor were injured while attempting to escape.

Fire on 12th floor of a Thane building leaves 2 dead, 2 injured

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Delhi World's Most Polluted City

Delhi beats Beijing to become world's most polluted city: How does your city fare?

India's capital, Delhi, may have surpassed Beijing to become the city with the worst air pollution in the world.
In "Delhi world's most polluted city: Study" published Jan. 29, Hindustan Times, one of India's highest circulated daily newspapers, cited the latest Environmental Performance Index (EPI) report by U.S.-based Yale and Columbia universities to substantiate claims of India overtaking China in the hierarchal list of cities with the worst air pollution. Delhi and Beijing were followed by Cairo, Santiago and Mexico City. "The study described India's air pollution as the worst in the world, tying with China in terms of the proportion of population exposed to average air pollution levels exceeding World Health Organisation (WHO) thresholds," the article read. EPI project director Angel Hsu of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, however, said that the EPI research does not compare cities and focuses only on nationwide pollution.

"The EPI does not rank cities, nor do the data in the EPI provide any information on city-level performance," Hsu said. "Beijing reports [pollution] data on an hourly basis over a publicly accessible platform. Delhi's reporting is not as consistent or transparent, making direct comparison impossible. Delhi may or may not have dirtier air than Beijing, but it is clearly behind in how it makes air quality information available to its citizens." Although the air quality comparison between Beijing and Delhi is speculative, it is undeniable that Delhi has pollution problems. Research from India's Center for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that Delhi's PM 2.5, which refers to the toxic pollutants that can enter a person's lungs and cause severe health problems such as lung cancer, has hit 575 micrograms per cubic meter while the permissible limit is only 60 m/cum.

"While it is true that a comparison doesn't take into account the unique issues facing the two cities, it also remains true that Delhi has been very lackadaisical in its attitude towards air pollution," Anumita Roychowdhury of CSE said. "China has been much more stringent and it shows, their air pollution levels are lowering while ours are rising."

Tirupati Venkateswara Swamy 60 Years Old Rare Video

Tirupati Venkateswara swamy 60 years old rare video footage. Original shoot in tirumala

Tirupati Venkateswara swamy 60 years old rare video footage., shoot by Telugu Film Industry, narrated by Shree Kongara Jaggayya an Indian Film Actor from Telugu cinema & Theater.

Mangalyaan Successfully Cruising Towards Mars As It Leaves Earth's Orbit

India's maiden spacecraft to Mars has successfully left the Earth's orbit and is now cruising towards Mars after a crucial and tricky midnight operation. The complex operation began as planned at 49 minutes after midnight and lasted 23 minutes in which the spacecraft was given a nudge so that it escapes the Earth's gravity. Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO says the operation went off successfully and the Mangalyaan has left the Earth's embrace and is now on course on the highway to Mars.  "The trans-Mars injection has been completed successfully," K Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, Launched on November 5, 2013 from Sriharikota, the Mangalyaan had till now been rotating around the Earth. It was given that final extra kick through a sling shot mechanism as it began its over 750 million kilometer journey to Mars. Each day, the Mangalyaan will cover over 2.5 million km hurtling into space till it is slowed down to be captured by Mars.

About 250 scientists from ISRO monitored its health. The command for the spacecraft to leave the Earth's orbit and head into the Sun-centric orbit was executed from the Mission Operations Center in Bangalore.
The success of the mission can be assessed only when the spacecraft reaches the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014. Once it reaches Mars, the Mangalyaan will revolve around the 'Red Planet' for six months and announce India's triumph.

However, the risks are many and no country till date has succeeded in reaching Mars on its maiden attempt. More than half of all missions to Mars have ended in failure, including China's in 2011 and Japan's in 1998.
The Rs. 450-crore mission to Mars has made international headlines, at least in part for its cost-efficiency.

Humans Emerged From Male Pig And Female Chimp

Humans emerged from male pig and female chimp, world's top geneticist says. Humans are actually hybrids, who emerged as an offspring of a male pig and a female chimpanzee, according to one of the world's leading geneticist. Turning the theory of human ancestry on its head, Dr Eugene McCarthy — one of the world's leading authorities on hybridization in animals from the University of Georgia has suggested that humans didn't evolve from just apes but was a backcross hybrid of a chimpanzee and pigs. His hypothesis is based on the fact that though humans have many features in common with chimps, there are a lot more that don't correspond to any other primates. He then suggests that there is only one animal in the animal kingdom that has all of the traits which distinguish humans from our primate cousins.

"What is this other animal that has all these traits? The answer is Sus scrofa - the ordinary pig" he says. He explains: "Genetically, we're close to chimpanzees, and yet we have many physical traits that distinguish us from chimpanzees. One fact, however, suggests the need for an open mind: as it turns out, many features that distinguish humans from chimpanzees also distinguish them from all other primates. Features found in human beings, but not in other primates, cannot be accounted for by hybridization of a primate with some other primate. If hybridization is to explain such features, the cross will have to be between a chimpanzee and a non-primate - an unusual, distant cross to create an unusual creature." Dr McCarthy suggests that Charles Darwin told only half the story of human evolution. "We believe that humans are related to chimpanzees because humans share so many traits with chimpanzees. Is it not rational then also, if pigs have all the traits that distinguish humans from other primates, to suppose that humans are also related to pigs? Let us take it as our hypothesis, then, that humans are the product of ancient hybridization between pig and chimpanzee," he said.

According to Dr McCarthy, if we compare humans with non-mammals or invertebrates like the crocodile, bullfrog, octopus, dragonfly and starfish, pigs and chimpanzees suddenly seem quite similar to humans. Pigs and chimpanzees differ in chromosome counts. The opinion is often expressed that when two animals differ in this way, they cannot produce fertile hybrids. This rule is, however, only a generalization. While such differences do tend to have an adverse effect on the fertility of hybrid offspring, it is also true that many different types of crosses in which the parents differ in chromosome counts produce hybrids that capable themselves of producing offspring. There is substantial evidence supporting the idea that very distantly related mammals can mate and produce a hybrid. Another suggestive fact, Dr McCarthy says is the frequent use of pigs in the surgical treatment of human beings. Pig heart valves are used to replace those of human coronary patients. Pig skin is used in the treatment of human burn victims. "Serious efforts are now underway to transplant kidneys and other organs from pigs into human beings. Why are pigs suited for such purposes? Why not goats, dogs, or bears - animals that, in terms of taxonomic classification, are no more distantly related to human beings than pigs?," he said.

"It might seem unlikely that a pig and a chimpanzee would choose to mate, but their behaviour patterns and reproductive anatomy does, in fact, make them compatible. It is, of course, a well-established fact that animals sometimes attempt to mate with individuals that are unlike themselves, even in a natural setting, and that many of these crosses successfully produce hybrid offspring," he adds. Dr Eugene McCarthy says that the fact that even modern-day humans are relatively infertile may be significant in this connection. "If a hybrid population does not die out altogether, it will tend to improve in fertility with each passing generation under the pressure of natural selection. Fossils indicate that we have had at least 200,000 years to recover our fertility since the time that the first modern humans (Homo sapiens) appeared. The earliest creatures generally recognized as human ancestors (Ardipithecus, Orrorin) date to about six million years ago. So our fertility has had a very long time to improve. If we have been recovering for thousands of generations and still show obvious symptoms of sterility, then our earliest human ancestors, if they were hybrids, must have suffered from an infertility that was quite severe. This line of reasoning, too, suggests that the chimpanzee might have produced Homo sapiens by crossing with a genetically incompatible mate, possibly even one outside the primate order," he said.

Tornados Level Homes In Illinois Towns, Multiple Deaths Confirmed (PHOTOS, Video)

Several tornadoes ripped through parts of northern and central Illinois late Sunday morning to leave a trail of destruction that included leveled homes, overturned cars, several dozen injured and at least five fatalities. Tornadoes were reported in Washington, Pekin, Peoria and other towns. Washington's tornado was among the most devastating of the day touching down in the town 150 southwest of Chicago around 11 a.m. and lasting about 10 minutes, according to the Peoria Journal Star. As of around 2:30 p.m., 37 tornado victims were reportedly being treated in Peoria, though it wasn't immediately clear which towns the victims were from.

The Washington County coroner later confirmed an elderly man and his sister died Sunday afternoon in their farmhouse in the town of New Minden, Ill. as a result of the tornado. “There’s quite a few people that are hurt. Their houses are gone,” Washington Alderman Tyler Gee told CBS Chicago. According to the Epoch Times, The National Weather Service reported an on-the-ground tornado near Washington was moving at 60 miles per hour shortly after 11 a.m.Washington Mayor Gary Manier reportedly told people to "please pray" for the town in the wake of the damage.

source

India to Launch its Mars Mission Today

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25) at the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota.

 ISRO calls it a 'turning point' for country

The mobile service tower which protects the PSLV C 25 rocket from the elements was partially withdrawn on Monday as the countdown progressed towards 14:38 hours on Tuesday, when India's first inter-planetary space mission will be launched. The 44.4-metre tall trusted workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) stood on its launchpad as its tanks were filled with fuel that will power the rocket over its four stages into space to insert the spacecraft into an Earth orbit. Final destination: Mars, the Red Planet, 400 million km and 300 days' journey away. The actual launch operations on Tuesday will only involve about 43 minutes of rocket flight. But it is still set to be the longest initial flight for any launch in ISRO's history.

"If the rocket has to function and the vehicle is able to put the satellite into an orbit of 23,500 km-by-250 km, that is sufficient. There is a band 675 km plus or minus this number. Anywhere within that if it is put, it is a success," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said of the expectations for the initial flight — the first step in the long journey to Mars. If all goes well on Tuesday, the next major test for the mission will come on November 30, when the spacecraft is scheduled to begin its journey to Mars: The trans Martian injection. And then again in September 2014, when it will inject the Mars orbiter into the Mars orbit. The launch will involve 23 minutes of flight when the rocket will be visible to ISRO through its own ground station at Biak near Indonesia. The subsequent operations, during which the rocket will disengage the spacecraft and place it in a Earth orbit, will be tracked by special ship-borne terminals: Nalanda and Yamuna in the South Pacific Ocean.

The specific operations that the ship-borne terminals will monitor are the ignition of the fourth stage of the rocket at 33 minutes, and the separation of the satellite from the rocket at around 43 minutes. After the initial 23 minutes, the rocket will coast for about 10 minutes before the fourth stage ignition takes place. "Up to 23 minutes of flight we can have visibility. Beyond that we don't have visibility. These ship terminals are placed in two positions in such way that the ignition of the fourth stage is seen and the separation of the satellite is seen. Immediately after the separation of the satellite we also have the deployment of the solar panel, which happens automatically based on the command stored in the spacecraft," the ISRO chairman said. "It is a leap forward. It is a turning point for the country if we are able to accomplish this. Any progress we make in this is new learning. Any progress we make from then onwards is a learning for us," he said.

DESTINATION MARS

A 299-day journey of 400 mn km at a cost of Rs 450 cr

LIFT-OFF: TODAY

PSLV-C25 lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 2.38 pm. In 42-min first phase of the flight, Mangalyaan will be put into a 248 km-by-23,000 km elliptical Earth Parking Orbit.

DEPARTURE: NOV 30

Leaves Earth in a direction tangential to Earth's orbit around the Sun. Encounters Mars tangentially to its orbit around the Sun. Trans-Martian injection of December 1 is most crucial part of mission, says ISRO.

MARS ORBIT INSERTION: SEP 21, 2014

Spacecraft reaches Mars's sphere of influence in hyperbolic trajectory; expected to be captured into planned orbit when it reaches Mars Periapsis. Nine earlier Mars missions have failed at this stage.

Only 21 of the 51 attempted Mars missions have been successful. Attempts by Japan in 1999 and China in 2011 failed.

SOURCE: ISRO

By 2017, India's slum population will rise to 104 million, Top 10 Slums In India

Top 10 Slums In India
India's slum population will surge to 104 million by 2017 - or around 9% of the total projected national population of 1.28 billion that year.

This means urban planners will face escalating challenges as these slums will mostly proliferate in sleepy towns and in semi-rural areas, a consequence of an accelerating rural to urban shift across the nation.

According to data provided in Parliament, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh will host the largest chunks of India's slum population (see box).

In a reply to a starred question by Nashik MP Sameer Bhujbal last week in Parliament, the government offered a projection of the slum population on the basis of the Pranab Sen Committee report submitted in 2010. The committee's previous projection of slum population in 2011 was 93 million, or 7% of a total population of 1.21 billion.

Top 10 Slums In India

Parivartan Slum Ahmadabad

Satnami Nagar Slum Bhopal

Bhalswa Slum Delhi

Dharavi Slum Mumbai

Indiramma Nagar Hyderabad

Mehbullahpur Slum Lucknow

Saroj Nagar Slum Nagpur

Rajendra Nagar Slum Bangalore

Nochikuppam Slum Chennai

Basanti Slum kolkata

But the census of 2011 recorded 1.3 crore urban slum households. So, if a household is estimated at five members, the urban slum population would be around 65 million. This 65 million figure is considerably lower than the Sen Committee's projection of 93 million slum dwellers in 2011 (based on the 2001 census).

The 2011 census shows the problem is growing as it indicates the percentage of people living in slums in smaller cities with a population of less than a million is rising. While 62% people in these cities are slum dwellers, it is 38% in all million-plus cities that include mega metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

In absolute numbers while million-plus cities have 52 lakh slum households, the count is 85 lakh in the sub-million cities. "We are creating a bigger problem by failing to manage both bigger and smaller cities. Places like Khurja and Bulandshahr close to Delhi have become slums due to faulty planning and poor programme implementation. We can't allow unchecked and unplanned urban growth. Governments must understand this and take steps keeping aside their political reasons," said H R Suri, former head of Institute of Town Planners India.
Census data also shows how a large section of the urban population lives in slums in the four metropolitan cities -- as high as 41.3% in Greater Mumbai, 29.6% in Kolkata, 28% in Chennai and about 15% in Delhi.

The socio-economic implications of a large slum population -- which includes the cost of civic services, housing and health care, and increased crime and social tensions -- saw the UPA government frame the Rajiv Awas Yojna as a policy response. The scheme is intended to provide affordable housing to the poor and make urban areas slum free but so far these efforts have registered little progress in focus cities, including Delhi.

There are indications that as urbanization grows, and the projected share of urban households rises in the next two decades from the current 28% to 50% of India's population, the slums are only likely to grow exponentially. 

Odisha: coal mine crash toll mounts to 14

The death toll in coal dump crash at an open cast site of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Odisha's Sundargarh district mounted to 14 with the recovery of four more bodies as search and rescue operation resumed on Sunday. "Four more bodies were recovered from the mishap site at Kulda open cast Basundhara-Garjanbahal coal mine area after search and rescue operation resumed this morning," a spokesman of MCL said. With this the death toll in yesterday's mishap which stood at ten last night rose to 14, he said adding that the operation was still under way and the possibility of the toll mounting further cannot be ruled out. The five persons who were rescued from the heap with injuries are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

A senior police official, who was at the spot during the rescue operation, did not rule out increase in the number of casualties as some more people were suspected to be trapped under the debris. The incident took place when some people from nearby villages were collecting coal from the overburdened dump yard located near the mining area, the spokesman said. Some of them were buried when a portion of the coal dump suddenly collapsed, probably due to heavy rains that lashed the area on Friday, he said, adding search and rescue operation was immediately launched at the site. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered a probe into the incident by the local Revenue Divisional Commissioner.

The MCL and the Odisha government have separately announced ex-gratia of Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh respectively to the next of kin of the dead. The MCL also sanctioned Rs. 10,000 each for the victim's family members for the funeral. It was also providing the medical expenditure for the injured, the spokesman said. Many residents of the area often scour for coal in the dump yard. Entry of people to this area, located outside the mining zone, was illegal and there were notice boards warning about it, the MCL spokesman added.

1, 00,000 people apply for 'one-way ticket' to Mars to never return to Earth

The 6 billion dollar project will be media and sponsors funded and the application fee for people who want to explore the mission will be based on the gross domestic product per capita of each nation.The Mars One project by NASA which aims to colonize Mars beginning in 2022 has reportedly revealed that more than 1, 00,000 people are eager to join the project in a bid to visit the red planet but do not want to come back. According to the CNN, people have applied for a one-way trip to the planet hoping to be chosen to spend the rest of their lives on the unchartered territory.

Mars One CEO and co-founder, Bas Lansdorp said that there are a large number of people who are working on their profiles for the mission. The 6 billion dollar project will be media and sponsors funded and the application fee for people who want to explore the mission will be based on the gross domestic product per capita of each nation. The report said that the multicontinental group of 40 astronauts is set to leave for Mars in September 2022, landing in April 2023 and another group of four will be deployed two years later and none of them will return Earth.

The astronauts will undergo strict training for eight years in a secluded location. The mission to colonise the planet carries with itself a set of health risks; including cancer because of the level of radiation astronauts are exposed to which ultimately limits the number of days on the planet to a maximum of 500 days.

NASA's deputy director of advanced exploration systems, Chris Moore said that engineers could try to limit travelers' exposures by designing a spacecraft in such a way that it provides more protection but as the risks of space travel in general are very high; the risk of radiation is not the biggest concern to them, the report added.

Agarbattis are Hazardous to Health

Burning incense generates indoor air pollutants that may cause inflammation in human lung cells, a new study has found. Previous studies, some by co-author Karin B. Yeatts, research assistant professor of epidemiology and other University of North Carolina (UNC) colleagues, have associated incense smoke with a number of health problems, including eye, nose, throat and skin irritation; respiratory symptoms, including asthma; headaches; exacerbation of cardiovascular disease; and changes in lung-cell structure. Indoor air pollution is an international health concern. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1 million people a year die from chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD), primarily a result of exposure to pollutants from cook stoves and open hearths. Burning incense releases similar pollutants, including carbon monoxide.

In the current study, the authors identified and measured the particles and gases emitted from two kinds of incense typically used in UAE homes. The testing was done over three hours, the typical timeframe during which incense is burned, in a specially designed indoor environmental chamber with a concentration of smoke that might be present in a typical UAE living room. The researchers analyzed both particulate concentrations and levels of gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and formaldehyde.

Human lung cells were placed in the chamber to expose them to the smoke, then incubated for 24 hours to allow particulates to settle and the cells to respond. The resulting inflammatory response, a hallmark of asthma and other respiratory problems, was similar to that of lung cells exposed to cigarette smoke. Incense is burned weekly in about 94 percent of households in the UAE as a cultural practice to perfume clothing and air and to remove cooking odors.

Since people there spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, researchers said, indoor air pollution has become a source of increasing concern. Adding to the concern is that charcoal briquettes frequently are used to ignite and burn the incense. That adds significantly to potentially harmful levels of carbon monoxide and other pollutants, they said.

Microsoft tab sales rounds up to $853 mn hit by promotion costs

 Microsoft Surface tablets sales in their first eight months has totalled on 853 million dollars, revealing the struggle for the company to make a profit out of the product.

According to the BBC, company's latest financial filing also revealed that its advertising budget has swelled for promoting the tablets.

The RT designation refers to the fact that the tablets are powered by an ARM-based chip and offer a limited version of the Windows 8 experience. Users are restricted to running built-in apps or ones downloaded from the firm's own Windows Store, the report added.

Gurgaon gets its first DNA forensic lab

The building blocks of life are as unique as they are universal in all things living. Our DNA makeup is what sets us apart, and can be used to create a map of our characteristics and traits like none other. This was why when the technology of DNA profiling for forensic investigation was first introduced in the 1980s, it was hailed as revolutionary, and made fingerprinting almost obsolete. And the advance made back then remains unparalleled even today. But in India, a lot still needs to be done in the field of DNA forensics.

"There are only around 28-30 DNA forensic labs in India. While China has 300 or so such labs. So clearly there is room for more capacity and forensic capability here," said Devashish Ohri, managing director, South Asia, Life Technologies, a global biotechnology firm, which inaugurated the first privately-run DNA forensics lab of the country in Gurgaon on Tuesday. The new lab, according to the company representatives, will help 'reduce the burden of existing forensic system and address the requirements of DNA database creation for unidentified dead bodies and crime investigations.' Besides this, the facility will act as a much-needed training platform for the forensic sector.

"We will be organizing workshops, interactive camps, and will be partnering with various universities," Ohri said. He said that his team has previously helped set up government forensic labs in the country, and that further collaboration with the state is to be expected. At the moment, the new lab is getting plenty of 'civil cases' that require DNA profiling, like parental testing. "The goal, apart from continuing what we are already doing, would be to engage the government and police more, to help reduce their forensic load," Ohri said. But not many criminal cases are likely to come this way unless there is a 'some change in the government SOP.'

"With the criminal forensic cases, according to the present norm, if we do the sampling, we have to go to the court, which is a kind of bottleneck. But crime cases are only a fraction of what the state forensic labs get," he added. This is the first such foray of the private sector in the field forensics, and those behind the move say that it aside from serving a crucial capacity-building purpose, a privately-run DNA forensic lab also makes perfect business sense.  "The forensic labs of India have been using Life Technologies' reagents and instruments for more than 15 years. I am sure that this lab would bring more efficiency and improve the available forensic capabilities," said Dr J R Gaur, a former director of the State Forensic Science Laboratory, who is now the principal scientific officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

A New Technology May Make Fertilizers Irrelevant

The whole world depends on fertilizers for growing crops because they provide one of the most essential elements needed for plants - nitrogen. Although nitrogen is the largest component of air, plants do not have the ability to absorb it directly. So, they have to depend on nitrogen in the soil. Only legumes like peas, beans and lentils have a method of absorbing nitrogen by using special bacteria. All this may change in the next couple of years if a new technology developed by the University of Nottingham, gets commercialized. This could be a revolutionary change in the way mankind grows its crops. The technology enables all of the world's crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizers.

A leading world expert in nitrogen and plant science, Professor Edward Cocking, director of The University of Nottingham's Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots. His major breakthrough came when he found a specific strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugar-cane which he discovered could intracellularly colonise all major crop plants. This ground-breaking development potentially provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The implications for agriculture are enormous as this new technology can provide much of the plant's nitrogen needs. Indiscriminate use of nitrogen-based fertilizers as it causes pollution of both air and water. A recent study estimated that that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen pollution across Europe is £60 billion to £280 billion a year.

Called N-Fix, the new technology is neither genetic modification nor bio-engineering. It is a naturally occurring nitrogen fixing bacteria which takes up and uses nitrogen from the air. Applied to the cells of plants (intra-cellular) via the seed, it provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix nitrogen. Plant seeds are coated with these bacteria in order to create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship and naturally produce nitrogen. Speaking about the technology, which is known as 'N-Fix',: "Helping plants to naturally obtain the nitrogen they need is a key aspect of World Food Security. The world needs to unhook itself from its ever increasing reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers produced from fossil fuels with its high economic costs, its pollution of the environment and its high energy costs," Professor Cocking said, according to a statement by the University.

Over the last 10 years, The University of Nottingham has conducted a series of extensive research programmes which have established proof of principal of the technology in the laboratory, growth rooms and glasshouses. The N-Fix technology has been licensed by The University of Nottingham to Azotic Technologies Ltd to develop and commercialise N-Fix globally on its behalf for all crop species. Azotic is now working on field trials in order to produce robust efficacy data. This will be followed by seeking regulatory approval for N-Fix initially in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Brazil, with more countries to follow. It is anticipated that the N-Fix technology will be commercially available within the next two to three years, the University statement said. 

World's shortest woman from India meets man with largest feet

World's smallest woman Jyoti Amge has met the man, who is the owner of the largest feet on the planet.
19-year-old Jyoti Amge, who is from Nagpur, India, is just 2ft tall and is totally dwarfed by Moroccan Brahim Takioullah's 1ft 3in feet,

Amge's feet measure 3.72 inches, about four times smaller than those of Takioullah, who at 8ft 1in, is also the world's second tallest man. Amge and the 31-year-old man posed together to persuade people to join The Amazing Feet challenge.

15-year-old Canadian girl invents flashlight powered only by body heat

15-year-old Canadian girl invents flashlight powered only by body heat and earns spot in Google Science Fair finals

This girl's science project really puts your baking soda volcano to shame A 15-year-old girl in Canada has invented a flashlight that only needs the warmth of the hand to turn on.  Ann Makosinski, a high school junior in Victoria, British Columbia, was trying to think of a way of harvesting untapped energy when she was inspired to make the flashlight.

She realized that the warmth generated by the human body was an overlooked energy source. 
Her project objective was to create a flashlight that ran solely off the heat of the hand. 
That objective was accomplished when she discovered Peltier tiles, which produce electricity when one side of the tile is heated and the other is cooled. 

Makosinski realized she could use these tiles to create energy for her flashlight if she left the device hollow. 
Holding the flashlight on the outside would cause the tiles to heat  up on one side while the ambient air would cool down the tile on the inside of the flashlight.  The power created by the tiles was enough to power an LED light, but it did not create enough voltage. 

To troubleshoot that issue she created a circuit that would allow for transformers, upping the voltage. 
It worked! The flashlight does have one issue: it works better in colder temperatures since the inside is better able to cool down comparative to the person's body heat.

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Remnant of stellar collision revealed as new type of pulsating star

 A team of astronomers from the UK, Germany and Spain have observed the remnant of a stellar collision and discovered that its brightness varies in a way not seen before on this rare type of star.
By analyzing the patterns in these brightness variations, astronomers will learn what really happens when stars collide. Stars like our Sun expand and cool to become red giant stars when the hydrogen that fuels the nuclear fusion in their cores starts to run out.

Many stars are born in binary systems so an expanding red giant star will sometimes collide with an orbiting companion star. As much as 90 percent of the red giant star's mass can be stripped off in a stellar collision, but the details of this process are not well understood. Only a few stars that have recently emerged from a stellar collision are known, so it has been difficult to study the connection between stellar collisions and the various exotic stellar systems they produce.

When an eclipsing binary system containing one such star turned up as a by-product of a search for extrasolar planets, Dr. Pierre Maxted and his colleagues decided to use the high-speed camera ULTRACAM to study the eclipses of the star in detail. These new high-speed brightness measurements show that the remnant of the stripped red giant is a new type of pulsating star.
The discovery is published in the journal Nature.