Vistara will stop giving plastic water bottles on board its flights, in a bid to reduce plastic usage. The airline, which had earlier banned chewing of gutka on its flights, on Wednesday said it “plans
Deniliquin (Australia): Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of this dusty southern Australian town, remembers the constant whir of the rice mill. "It was our little heartbeat out there, tickety-tick-tickety,' he said, imitating the giant fans that dried the rice, "and now it has stopped.' The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia's rice crop by 98% and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.
Playa Punta Norte: A six-ton orca, or killer whale, torpedoes toward the beach, its dorsal fin cutting the Patagonian sea. It launches itself onto the sand in an explosion of water and foam. Before the waters die down, the orca is shaking its immense head from side to side with a sea lion pup clamped between his jaws. Then the orca wriggles into position to catch a wave to carry it back out to sea. This is a rare occurrence, in which a whale seems to defy its instincts by coming onto land, risking death if it becomes stranded on the inhospitable beach.
Researchers from Cleveland metroparks zoo have discovered a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam. Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle was previously thought to be extinct in the wild. Three other turtles of the species are in captivity, said experts from the zoo. "This is one of those mythical species that people always talked about but no one ever saw,' said Geoff Hall, zoo general curator.
Early diagnosis of a heart attack may now be possible using only a few drops of saliva and a new nano-bio-chip designed by John McDevitt, of the University of Texas. The nano-bio-chip assay, the size of a credit card, could be used to analyse a patient's saliva on board an ambulance, at the dentist's office or at a chemist's shop, helping save lives and prevent damage from cardiac disease.
Scientists with the European Space Agency have shown that plants and flowers can be grown on the Moon by demonstrating that marigolds can grow in crushed rock very much like the lunar surface, with no need for plant food. According to a report by BBC News, the new research was presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna. The new step, taken in the experiment, is to remove the need for bringing nutrients and soil from Earth.
Astronauts may be at increased risk of premature aging due to exposure to radiation found in space, suggests a study that could have major implications for long-duration space travel. The findings from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Georgetown University Medical Centre in US shows that astronauts may be at increased risk of colon cancer due to exposure to the high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation found in space. The study shows that the high-energy radiation found in space may also lead to premature aging and prolonged oxidative stress in cells.
The idea of having your personal genetic code unravelled was once a dream reserved for individuals who were fans of science or big on ego
The UPA government on Thursday tried to partly deflect criticism for rising food prices towards the Opposition as well as on factors outside its control. Failure of foodgrain procurement by NDA-governed states and international food crisis, it claimed in Rajya Sabha, were to blame for the prices even as Left joined the Opposition in staging a walkout.
The UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is likely to meet on May 5. However, Left leaders refused to confirm the date. Sources also said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has also written, on behalf of the Left parties, to foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee seeking clarifications about the IAEA safeguard negotiations and reiterating Left's opposition to the nuclear deal.
Summers make water, particularly its scarcity, a fiery issue in urban life. But a young man has made it more than that: He has made water his mission. In fact so driven is C S Sharada Prasad about understanding the extent of the looming water crisis in the country, that he has embarked on a breathtaking journey, straddling 28 states and covering 19,000km in 75 days on a motorcycle. Covering also five Union Territories, this modernday odyssey has a tag: K2K, or from Kashmir to Karnataka.
