May 2012 Science and Technology

Scientists at the Tomato Genome Consortium (TGC) successfully sequenced the genomes of tomato. It will increase the vegetable’s production worldwide and decrease its price. Indian scientists were also the part of the research. The Department of Biotechnology funded the Indian initiative and it was supported by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research.

AWARDS
Indian author Rahul Bhattacharya, on 29 May 2012 won the prestigious Ondaatje Prize 2012 for his book The Sly Company of People Who Care. He is the first Indian author to have received this award. Bhattacharya was also conferred with the Hindu Literary Prize for Best Fiction, 2011 for the same book.
The award is presented to the author who is a citizen of or who has been resident in the Commonwealth.

April 2012 Science and Technology

India on 26 April 2012 launched its first indigenous all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1). The satellite, whose images will facilitate agriculture and disaster management, was launched successfully on board the PSLV-C19 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The newly launched satellite can capture images of the earth during day and night as well as in cloudy conditions. Besides use in the agriculture sector, RISAT-1 could also be used to keep round-the-clock vigil on the country's borders, but this satellite would not be used for defence applications as RISAT-2, primarily a spy spacecraft, is already doing that job. The RISAT – 1 Launch is the 20th successive successful flight of PSLV. India in April 2009 had launched an imported Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) with all weather capability. The satellite was bought from Israel for 110 million dollar largely for surveillance purposes.

March 2012 Science and Technology

A NASA spacecraft, Messenger in the last week of March 2012 discovered further evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles. NASA’s previous work revealed patches near Mercury's poles that strongly reflect radar, a characteristic of ice. Messenger is only the second spacecraft, after Mariner 10 in the 1970s, to have visited the Mercury, which is the innermost planet in Solar system. The National Green Tribunal on 30 March 2012 suspended the environmental clearance granted to Posco's mega steel project in Orissa in January 2011. The tribunal comprising Justice C V Ramulu and D. K. Agarwal held that the clearance given to Posco's mega steel project in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa will remain suspended till the environment ministry reviews it afresh.

February 2012 Science and Technology

Researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian centre for Astrophysics discovered that the planet GJ1214b was largely covered in water. They used Hubble Space Telescope to discover the water on planet. GJ1214b was discovered in 2009 by the ground-based MEarth Project. GJ1214b was described as a super-Earth.

India's indigenously developed micro-light pilot-less target aircraft(PTA) Lakshya-1 was successfully test flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore on 8 February 2012. Lakshya , a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system is remote controlled from the ground and designed to impart training to both air borne and air defence pilots. The PTA has been developed by India’s Aeronautic Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battle field and target acquisition.

A new study claimed that the theory proposed by Charles Darwin on life's origin was correct. Darwin proposed that the life originated on land in a pond and not in the oceans. The study held by the researchers at the Osnabruck university in Germany found that the first primitive cells might have originated in pools of condensed vapour. This was caused by underground hot water.The scientists discovered that the oceans did not contain the best balance of ingredients to support life.

DRDO on 10 February 2012 conducted a successful test launch of the interceptor missile. DRDO’s Air Defence Missile AAD-05 successfully hit the ballistic missile and destroyed it at a height of 15 kms off the Coast of Orissa near the Wheelers Island.

Astronomers found the fourth habitable planet outside our solar system called GJ667C. The planet is 22 light years from Earth. The newly found planet is rocky in nature. It orbits its star every 28.15 days.

January 2012 Science & Technology

The prestigious 99th Indian Science Congress was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at KIIT University Bhuwaneswar, Odisa. Noted scientist Geetha Bali, vice chancellor of Karnataka State Women's University, will preside over the event, being held on the theme of 'Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation - Role of Women'. KIIT University and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) are jointly hosting the event, which will also feature the Children’s Science Congress and Women Science Congress. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the Children’s Science Congress, while Nirupama Rao, India’s ambassador to United States of America, will inaugurate the Women’s Science Congress. Prime Minister announced that 2010-20 decade would be declared as ‘Decade of Innovation”.

Google updates Gmail with automatic message translation feature

Here is good news for Gmail users. Now, users will be able to conveniently comprehend emails they receive in other languages as Google has announced to roll out the automatic translation feature for all Gmail users over the next few days.

"Since message translation was one of the most popular Gmail labs, we decided it was time to graduate from Gmail Labs and move into the real world. Over the next few days, everyone who uses Gmail will be getting the convenience of translation added to their email," said Jeff Chin, Product Manager, Google Translate, in a blog post.

On receiving a message in a language other than your own, all the users need to do is click on Translate message in the header at the top of the message, and it will be instantly translated into your language