Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
Keeping the standard kilogram - a 4 cm high and 4 cm wide platinum iridium cylinder in Paris - clean is a formidable task. The cylinder has to be kept free from dust and contaminants like hydrocarbons (from air pollution) which can change its weight (Science, Vol 268, No 5212). …
Making gears, switches and even motors of nanometre (1 billionth of a metre) sizes is getting common. These nano- machines have potential applications in a host of areas ranging from designing better microchips to futuristic dredges which could clear up clogged arteries! Recently, Charles Martin, Vjnod Menon and Mathushiko Nishizawa …
THE Solar System is usually thought of as the Sun and the 9 planets (with their moons) revolving around it. In this picture, the outer limit of the Solar System is obviously the orbit of the farthest planet Pluto at about 40 astronomical units (I AU is the distance from …
Martin Cooper of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside in the UK has developed a laser technique to deans off the dirt from sculptures without damaging them (New Scientist, Vol 146, No 1978). Short pulses of infrared radiation heat the dirt on the sculpture, with the result that it …
Those who handle expensive cameras know the importance of silica gel - these granules normally put in a small cloth bag are essential to protect the lenses from moisture which could induce formation of fungus. Silica gel belongs to a class of highly porous, sponge-like solids called aerogels, which find …
The versatile computer has found a pew role - that of a therapist. In a study at Georgia Tech, psychologists have used virtual reality to treat a group of 10 people suffering from acrophobia - an irrational fear of heights (Science, Vol 268, No 5208). The patients were exposed to …
Scientists are now using lasers to control the optical properties of gases. This technique has applications in many areas including high- sensitivity microscopy and ultra sensitive magnetometers (Nature, Vol 374, No 6524). Researchers using a laser with rubidium vapour have demonstrated an enhancement of the refractive index - a measure …
Datasonix has introduced a mobile, tape storage product for laptops which offers a host of new features. The product, called Pereos, which uses technology Aeveloped by Sony for its digital tape recorder, is the size of a coffee cup and can store UP to 1.25 gigabytes of data (roughly equivalent …
ONE of the most challenging tasks in the wake of devastating earthquakes, floods and other such natural calamities is the repair of roads and railway supply lines. In particular, mending bridges poses the greatest problem because conventional methods to construct bridges require a lot of time and expenditure. But now, …
Another particle has been smoked out of the woodwork. The Eureka yell on March 2 this year that the top quark had been caught en flagrante at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, USA, was another milestone in the search for the fundamental building blocks of nature: …
The bedrock of our present day understanding of particle physics is the Standard Model. This model seeks to understand the interactions of elementary particles by building up on the 2 pillars of 20th century physics: quantum mechanics and relativity; and abstract concepts of internal symmetries. Electromagnetic interaction has been well …
Over 200 subatomic (or fundamental) particles have been detected so far. Each appears to have an antiparticle, which possesses the same mass as the particle but manifests the opposite side of one other common quality such as the electric charge. For instance, an electron which is negatively charged will have …
ONE of the most specialised and tedious jobs of an astronomer is classifying galaxies after examining them through a telescope. Now, computers are going to help the scientists in this task, which is important because specifying the type of galaxy gives vital clues about its origin and evolution (Science, Vol …
THE WORK done by a team of about 100 astronomers may provide us with the first hints of the answer to a long-standing query - what powers the starlike celestial objects called quasars? (Science, Vol 267, No 5205). Quasars appear like stars from the earth, but are as far off …
BY HOOKING on to computer networks like the Internet, the amount of information you can access through your computer is mindboggling. But this glut of information comes complete with a special, needle - in- a- haystack problem: the retrieval of relevant data, especially when the information is image-based. Now, researchers …
Physicists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have built a device that uses a novel method of producing short tunable pulses of radiation. Working much like the musical accordion, the device employs an extremely short, highly energetic laser pulse from a short-pulse laser moving in a low pressure gas …
The space shuttle Endeavour has used a new earth-imaging radar to photograph the area around the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor. Altho Ugh the main temple complex at Angkor has been restored, much of the'city is hidden in impenetrable Jungle'(Science, Vol 267, No 5200). The radar, developed jointly by the …
A computer chess programme called WChess swaggered through unbeaten at the Fifth Harvard Cup Human vs Computer Intel Chess Challenge. The programme, developed by D Kittinger, scored 4 wins and 2 draws (Communications of ACM, Vol 37, No 12). With 6 grandmasters pitted against 8 computer programmes, the humans outwitted …
A TEAM of physicists working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the us claims that it has gathered experimental evidence suggesting that fundamental particles called neutrinos are not, as believed, massless. Interestingly, the New York Times printed the story of the discovery, announced in February, even before the findings …
A REPORT sponsored by the department of science and technology (DST), called Profile and Productivity of Academic Science in India, gives policymakers a clear window into research by the scientific community. The report, which was finalised in late March and had been stretched out over 3 years, covered 1,075 academics …
