Facebook Photo on Sale ?

In early 2012 Facebook bought Instagram, a popular photo sharing service and a competitor to Yahoo's Flickr or Google's Picasa. To take absolute control on Instagram photo, Facebook first stopped Instagram support on Twitter. In a move to make this business profitable Facebook changed the terms & condition of Instagram, which empowers the service to use its user's photo for advertisement without taking consent of user. Immediately users across the world started to copy their photo to Copygram, an Instagram backup application and close their account. Due to havoc criticism Instagram backed out from this decision and co-founder Kevin Systrom posted an open explanation. But this movement backed by Facebook raised another serious question. Are the millions of photo uploaded on Facebook by users across the globe safe ? What is the plan of Facebook, the third largest country after China and India, with its citizen ?

Search For Life in Antarctica

A team of British scientists are going to start a mission on the ice land of Antarctica. After fifteen years of extensive planning,the project is finally going to see day light.This team of 12 scientists will explore the lake Ellsworth area.They will drill through the ice layer(nearly 2 miles) and search for microbial life. This lake was discovered in 1996 by British scientist Martin Siegert.

New Rover in Mars in 2020

After the huge success of  Curiosity rover in the land of Mars,the space research organization,NASA declared another plan for sending a new rover there in 2020. NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that the Obama administration is co-operating in all possible ways and it is very much committed on Mars mission. "With this next mission,we are ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the red planet,while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in 2030's" he said. 

Philips launches four new Music Docks

Good news for audiophiles. Philips has launched four new speaker docks for iOS devices. These new models come with built in  lightning I/O. This new product from the house of Philips contains one portable speaker and three  units for home use. This will be available on market by the time of Christmas.

New Gmail 2.0 for iPhone-iPad

Google has designed a new version of Gmail for iPhone and iPad. This latest version, Gmail 2.0 contains many advanced features such as capability to use several user accounts simultaneously at the same time and easy switching form one to another. The user interface comes with a cool new look. It shows and uses profile picture or display picture whenever possible. Search prediction has also been included in this new version.

Introducing the Gmail app for iPhone and iPad: version 2.0 goo.gl/JTlsx
— Gmail (@gmail) December 4, 2012

Voyager 1 in Magnetic Highway

In its' mission to explore the universe, Voyager 1, the spacecraft sent by NASA, has crossed the magnetic highway in the interstellar space. The spacecraft, launched 35 years ago to study the outer planets, is now about 11 billion miles (around 18 billion km) away from the earth. At this distance, it takes radio signals traveling at the speed of light 17 hours to reach the earth (Light moves at 186,000 miles/sec).

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system! go.nasa.gov/TF9BHw
— NASA (@NASA) December 3, 2012

Qatar towards Solar Energy

Qatar, the country which currently holds the topmost position in liquefied natural gas export,is going to invest $20 billion on solar energy plant. This project, which is expected to start in 2014, will be completed by 2018. The power generated by this plant will be generally used for desalination plants. Currently, the country produces 7000 megawatts annually and the total power consumption is around 5000 megawatts. This solar energy plant will produce 1800 megawatt, which will make the share of renewable energy 16 percent in the electricity production scenario.

Waging Life for Life

Ambitions have grown high over sense to set apart right from wrong, we walk forward like an uncontrolled herd of mad buffaloes to achieve a golden star which we know not will be blown off to us as barely dust arising from the looming mirage. As we set up high goals and endeavor continuously against our own mother nature to shape a world of comfort and ease, we tread a step forward to make ourselves extinct.

Starting from cutting down trees to chopping down forests for our material needs, we have been mercilessly driving away the animals, destroying their niche and habitats. Not only the inter-species fight, today when we don't even hesitate to wage intra-species fight with man killing his fellow human, animals are known to set better examples of brotherhood.

A perfect example of it is a story that relates from Teluk Anson, Malaysia. There stands a board in the forest amidst some old railway track reading aloud: THERE IS BURIED HERE A WILD ELEPHANT WHO IN DEFENSE OF HIS HERD CHARGED AND DERAILED A TRAIN ON THE 17th DAY OF OF SEPT. 1894. Railway connecting Teluk Anson to Tapah, Ipoh was completed in 1893 and its daily rumbling through the jungle had threatened the habitat of the gentle giants. Finally one day an elephant stood defiantly on the railway tracks and as the train headed towards it collided with it head on at 50 mph. The impact derailed the engine and 3 coaches.

The elephant gave his life for the sake of his herd and the fruits of his sacrifice show up today as a blooming jungle thrives there still today.

Kasab without Ticket

86 cases were slapped against Ajmal Kasab before he was hanged till death on 21st November, 2012 in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune, Maharashtra. One of those cases was entering platform without taking platform ticket !!!

He did not buy a platform ticket while attacking the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station.

Best of d day so far...Kasab ws alleged in 86 cases including entering Railway Station without Platform ticket.
— salim merchant (@salim_merchant) November 21, 2012

The Genocide Trauma

Its calm under the waves in the blue of the world's oblivion. But the inside is all on fire. The suffering of the Rohingya people seems to be interminable and a constant fear of persecution floats in the atmosphere. The call for their protection needs the United Nations to interfere once more. The Burmese President Thein Sein had proposed the Burmese people to live in camps under the supervision of the UN forces. They don't even owe the citizenship of Burma's Arakan state.

The clash between the Rohingyas and the Rakhines was so severe that it called for the interference of the European Union countries, Asian countries and the Organisation of Islamic forces to restore peace and order. Right to citizenship and equality of the Rohingya people in their own native land comes much after their innate life to live.

Compelled to become refugees, 2 million Rohingya people have already fallen prey to genocide whereas 1 million are still excruciated in Arakan state and 500'000 are dispersed all around Burma, the land of Pagodas.

"We make war so that we may live in peace." May be the bloodshed of the Rohingyas and Rakhines wash away their rivalry so that they coexist in peace thereafter.

Chilika :An Ecological Boon

The state of Odisha in India houses the largest coastal brackish water lagoon in India and the second largest lagoon in the world , the Chilika Lake. Designated as the first Indian Wetland of International Importance(in 1981) under the Ramsar Convention, microbial diversity of this lake s varied enough to attract research projects and bio prospecting of micro-organisms for isolation of bio-active compounds.

Waste to fuel concept is being investigated by the use of effective micro-organisms isolated from the brackish water of Chilika Lake. Several isolated microbes show multiple enzymatic abilities and can be used for degradation of food waste which contains starch, fats, proteins, cellulose, chitin  pectin, xylan, etc.The products of the reactions involved like glucose, glycerol, fatty acids can be used for fermentation or fuel generation. This concept is being explored for its potential in biological waste management.

Being rich in biodiversity, it attracts several migratory birds from the snow-capped regions every year. But unfortunately the foolish human acts have resulted in extreme bio-magnification in Chilika. The ill-effects of the irrational human activities has greatly affected the population  of the Irrawaddy Dolphin, the flagship species of Chilika Lake.

As such the Odisha government has taken a step forward towards preserving its rich natural heritage and has collaborated with many organisations to conduct projects regarding clearing of waste and bio-remediation  This optimistic step towards the bequest of Chilika is an act more friendly for mankind than for nature.

The very fact makes one realize we are more connected to the nature than separate from it.

Green Gasoline

Air Fuel Synthesis, a small company located in Stock-on-Tees, in the north of England, claims to have developed an air capture technology using which they can create synthetic gasoline with only air and electricity. The Christian Science Monitor explains how it works: Sodium hydroxide binds with the carbon dioxide present in the atmospheric air blown into a tower to form sodium carbonate. Energy is added to separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Hydrogen and carbon dioxide are mixed in the right proportions to form synthetic gaseous hydrocarbons which can be further   converted into synthetic gasoline.

The resulting gasoline is in its pure form with a high calorific value and can either be used directly or blended with commercially extracted and refined gasoline. But the question is whether it is a full-proof method to reduce our carbon footprints and move a step away from our decline.

It can be made 'completely carbon neutral' only if a renewable energy source is harnessed to supply additional energy required in the process. Burning coal to fuel the process will hardly make it carbon neutral.

This innovative prospect has the potential to become a landmark project being able to produce truly green gasoline. Though it is too good to be true but it is true and can prove to be a mighty weapon against the fast-drifting climate change.

Let's wait for a major breakthrough in the efforts designed , though rare, to have a clean life with sterile air to breath in.

Sandy v/s Nilam

While the superstorm Sandy has already wreaked great havoc in the New York city, southern India awaits to be churned up by the catastrophic cyclone Nilam.

Cascading in with a speed of 80mph, the storm has abandoned the lives of millions along the US east coast. This unprecedented happening has caused almost incalculable loss to life, trade, education, infrastructure, finance and economics. On the other hand, whirling from the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, the satanic Nilam is gradually heading towards Andhra Pradesh and is likely to set irreparable loss with incessant rainfall pouring down on normal life.

But amidst these nature's woes, besides the loss of life and property what matters more today is political gain.The mammoth storm Sandy has not only haunted the people of US with unpredictable loss, it has also aroused complexities between the present US President Barack Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney. The presidential campaigns flooded with promising speeches and influential appeals have been held stationary due to the fast moving diabolical repercussions of the storm and meanwhile has led to frenzy and mounting nervousness in both the candidates. Meanwhile it has given the President a golden chance to prove the tenacity of his tenure .

The upsurging Telangana issue is also likely to either come to a halt or else get fueled by the cyclone Nilam.

Though this devastation called up by nature culminates into suffering but not even this misery remains forbidden of the political boundaries. The politicians are deft at reaping out their benefits even out of a barren, paralyzed land.

Embryos are like My Daughters

The latest breakthrough in the field of medicine and science is the prestigious Nobel Prize in medicine grabbed by Sir John Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka. Shinya Yamanaka, a Japanese physician and researcher of adult stem cells, is a stem cell pioneer and his work singles out every other scientific wave. In 2007, he discovered a way to induce ordinary(somatic) body cells into pluripotent embryo-like stem cells dubbed "induced pluripotent stem cells(iPSCs)".

According to Shinya Yamanaka's article in Nature(June 7,2007) his discovery is completely guided by moral concerns excluding any lethal experiment on embryos. In the words of Shinya Yamanaka- "When I saw the embryo, I suddenly realized there was such a small difference between it and my daughter." Neither he used eggs nor embryos for research purpose, rather he used mice.

Recent news regarding research has always hyped human embryonic stem cell research(hESCR) owing to which the American President Barack Obama had even banned the use of human embryos to develop regenerative power and cure.

Shinya Yamanaka, the budding scientist, has proved loyal to Hippocrates saying:- "As to diseases, make a habit of two things-to help, or at least to do no harm". He makes the medical community of scientists understand that stem cell research is not only about therapies and quick cures, it's understanding the basic nature of human cells and that's what he truly owes his success to.

Cannabinoid Annihilation

"Just because its legal doesn't mean it is safe". Negligence to this very fact shows that annihilation is in the air, it is upon us. In spite of laying down 9 Scots in hospital beds, its online demand and marketing continues. Such is the perpetual in reserve knowledge of the street chemists about drug that every-time the law cracks down on an intoxicant, a new strain pops up to compensate its loss.

The latest of these "legal highs" called "Annihilation" has been prohibited in the UK after hospitalizing 9 people in the past 3 months. But how can a person taking a drug called 'annihilation' expect sympathy for hospitalization?

Prof. Les Iversen, the chairman of the British government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs(ACMD), said-"It is an example of how fast moving this field is".

Scientifically, this new synthetic drug which is a principle imitant of marijuana has the potential to cause paranoia, aggression, accelerated heart rate, unconsciousness and numbness.

The ban on this drug is hoped to clear off the dark clouds in the warped world of new psycho-substances.

Faster than Sound

Felix Baumgartner (@FelixBaumgart), a skydiver and commercial helicopter pilot from Salzburg, Austria has jumped from Stratosphere and broke the speed barrier of sound before reaching earth.

Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner and @redbullstratos on a record-breaking leap from the edge of space! redbullstratos.com/live #livejump
— NASA (@NASA) October 14, 2012

"One of the most exciting moments was standing out on top of the world, 30 seconds before stepping off." Felix Baumgartner
— Red Bull Stratos (@RedBullStratos) October 14, 2012

Marijuana Might Be Legalized

Marijuana’s moment finally seems to be here. At Hempfest in Seattle last month more than 100,000 fans rallied for the one-time evil weed. The governor of New York State and the mayor of Chicago recently supported the repeal of criminal penalties against a personal stash. And next month, if current polls hold, voters in Colorado and Washington will approve historic measures that make the pot nearly as legal as heirloom tomatoes. “This is clearly the tipping point,” says Keith Stroup, the grand old soul of the legalization movement. “We are in the process of ending marijuana prohibition in America".

Shark Rescues Man Lost at Sea

A 41-year-old policeman from the Pacific Island of Maiana found himself lost at sea with his brother-in-law, in what was supposed to be a two-hour boat ride. The two men -- 41-year-old Toakai Teitoi and 52-year-old Lelu Falaile -- started on May 27 with intentions of boating from Kiribati to Maiana. They stopped to fish along the way, slept overnight and awoke in the morning to find they had drifted out of sight of Maiana and were out of fuel. They had food, but no water. Without water or rescue, Falaile's health failed and he died on July 4.

Teitoi buried his brother at sea and the very next day, a rainstorm that lasted several days allowed Teitoi to fill two 5-gallon containers with water. But weeks continued without incident or rescue. And then on Sept. 11, Teitoi was curled up in the shade under a covered area in the bow of the boat, when he heard a scratching sound on the hull. A shark was bumping against the boat. When the shark had Teitoi's attention, it swam off.

"He was guiding me to a fishing boat. I looked up and there was the stern of a ship and I could see crew with binoculars looking at me," Teitoi said.

The boat, the Marshalls 203, rescued Teitoi after 106 days at sea.

Japan Approves Nuclear Phase-out by 2040

The ruling Japanese government party today approved a policy to phase out nuclear power by the 2030s, a dramatic shift expected to drive demand for efficiency and renewable energy. The plan formalizes Japan’s departure from nuclear power last year in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power station where all but two power stations were shut down for safety checks. As in Germany and Switzerland, public opinion in Japan has turned firmly against atomic energy, which led to today’s decision. Japan’s remaining 50 nuclear reactors will operate until their planned 40-year lifetime but then be shut down, with the latest projected for the mid-2030s. The country intends to keep fossil fuel use at roughly current levels while tripling renewable energy’s share and increasing energy efficiency.

Putin Leads Endangered Cranes in Hang Glider

In the end he didn't have to wear a beak, but Vladimir Putin did don white overalls and big black goggles as he took to the skies over northern Siberia in a motorized hang glider to help endangered cranes begin their migration to wintering grounds in Iran and India.

 Putin, who is a few days short of his 60th birthday, has spent about a year and a half preparing for the trip with the cranes and received 17 hours of advance training on the motorized hang glider.

Wednesday's flight took place in Russia's far north, by the banks of the Siberian river Ob, at the site of a project that rears cranes in their traditional nesting grounds. The birds have almost been driven to extinction by hunters targeting them along their migration routes through central Asia.

After his flight Putin donated the hang glider, which his press spokesman said he had purchased with his own money, to the crane conservation project and shared fish soup and tea prepared over a campfire with the scientists working there, the state-owned paper Rossisskaya Gazeta reported.

Putin followed his close encounter with birds with a close encounter with sea life. On his arrival on Thursday at the Asia Pacific Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which Russia is hosting, he visited a new aquarium in the city. Staff pulled an octopus out of its tank, which Putin proceeded to stroke, Interfax reported.

The cranes will now remain under the supervision of the presidential administration, which already cultivates Putin's nature-loving credentials by assisting schemes dedicated to preserving polar bears, tigers, leopards, and whales in Russia.

Marijuana Fights Cancer

Cristina Sanchez, a young biologist at Complutense University in Madrid, was studying cell metabolism when she noticed something peculiar. She had been screening brain cancer cells because they grow faster than normal cell lines and thus are useful for research purposes. But the cancer cells died each time they were exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. In 1998, she reported in a European biochemistry journal that THC “induces apoptosis [cell death] in C6 glioma cells,” an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A team of Spanish scientists led by Manuel Guzman conducted the first clinical trial assessing the antitumoral action of THC on human beings. Guzman administered pure THC via a catheter into the tumors of nine hospitalized patients with glioblastoma, who had failed to respond to standard brain-cancer therapies. The results were published in 2006 in the British Journal of Pharmacology: THC treatment was associated with significantly reduced tumor cell proliferation in every test subject.

Around the same time, Harvard University scientists reported that THC slows tumor growth in common lung cancer and “significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread.” What’s more, like a heat-seeking missile, THC selectively targets and destroys tumor cells while leaving healthy cells unscathed. Conventional chemotherapy drugs, by contrast, are highly toxic; they indiscriminately damage the brain and body. 

Dr. Sean McAllister, a scientist at the Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, has been studying cannabinoid compounds for 10 years in a quest to develop new therapeutic interventions for various cancers. Backed by grants from the National Institute of Health (and with a license from the DEA), McAllister discovered that cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive component of the marijuana plant, is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, and tumor growth.

In 2007, McAllister published a detailed account of how cannabidiol kills breast cancer cells and destroys malignant tumors by switching off expression of the ID-1 gene, a protein that appears to play a major role as a cancer cell conductor. 

“Cannabidiol offers hope of a non-toxic therapy that could treat aggressive forms of cancer without any of the painful side effects of chemotherapy,” says McAllister, who is seeking support to conduct clinical trials with the marijuana compound on breast cancer patients.

Most Iconic Scientists of History, Together

Originally captured in 1927 at the fifth Solvay Conference, one of the most star-studded meetings of scientific minds in history, the photo shows notable attendees including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Marie Curie, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac, Madame Curie and Louis de Broglie — to name a few. Of the 29 scientists in attendance (the majority of whom contributed to the fields of physics and chemistry), over half of them were, or would would go to become, Nobel laureates.

Sahara India Ad

In a landmark verdict against Sahara India Pariwar, the decade long sponsor of Indian national Cricket team, Supreme Court of India has ordered the company to return Rs. 17,400 crore with 15% interest to its millions of common investors. In the 263 pages long verdict Supreme Court of India has directed that a total sum of around Rs. 24,000 core is to be returned to public from which the money was collected for two Sahara group companies...

1. Sahara India Real Estate Corporation

2. Sahara Housing Investment Corporation

The complete Supreme Court verdict can be read here.

In response to this blow, today, on 2nd September, 2012, Sahara India Pariwar has come up with a page long advertisement in different newspapers across India.

Earth And Jupiter Captured Together From Mars

Back on May 8th, 2003, the Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor photographed both the Earth and Jupiter in the same region of space. It was the first planetary conjunction observed from another planet, with the Earth 86 million miles away and Jupiter 600 million miles away. The resulting image (shown above right), contains both planets, along with some of the moons.

Here’s a higher-res version of the photograph:

 

The three moons of Jupiter seen in the photograph are Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa (from left to right).

UK's Mini-libraries

  

Lots of villages in the UK have turned red telephone boxes into mini libraries, just take a book and leave one behind. This model can surely be implemented in developing countries where the majority lacks access to libraries.

Naked Prince Harry

British Prince Harry has been caught naked on camera while playing strip billiards with some young ladies at Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. Celebrity gossip and entertainment news website TMZ published the images online.

The royal family of Britain requested the British media not to publish the photo. But The Sun, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has published it.

Prince Harry.Give him a break.He may be on the public payroll one way or another, but the public loves him, even to enjoy Las Vegas.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) August 26, 2012

Mobile Service Providers Turn Green

The Indian local telecom regulator has recommended that companies reduce their dependency on diesel and cut carbon emissions by 50% at all rural towers and 20% at urban towers. Their solution is to run these towers on hybrid power, a combination of renewable and grid power.

Bharti Infratel is one of the companies trying to meet these targets. It has begun the shift to sustainable sources of energy at more than 1,000 tower sites. This has led to savings of nearly seven million litres of diesel a year.

5 SMS per Day

Government of India has limited SMS sending facility to 5 per day. This rule has come into effect from 17th August, 2012 midnight. This has been implemented through TRAI to stop the rumor spread across north-east India regarding a fictitious violence against minority religious groups.

"We have banned bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days," Union Home Secretary RK Singh told PTI.

Due to this regulation, no one will be able to send more than 5 SMS in one go and more than 20 KB of data through mobile phones as MMS during the ban period. Though the limit on SMS is on bulk messages, some operators have reportedly applied this cap on person-to-person SMS as well.

It is being strongly suspected that there is Pakistan's hand behind this NE violence and there is natural anger being shown against Pakistan on social networking sites due to this SMS ban.

SMS limited to 5 per day in India. Due to some Pakistani miscreants I cant text my GF now !!! #5SMSlimit
— Goenda Giri (@goenda) August 19, 2012

Farmer to Green Entrepreneur

A Chinese farmer, Ding Jiangshan, has devoted himself to scientific innovation for 30 years, believing that green energy will be used widely in the future.

In 1990, after obtaining a state patent for a combine harvester that can be mounted on a tractor, he went on to invent more instruments, such as an automatic rope-making machine, solar-powered sweeper, hybrid electric-petroleum vehicle, and fitness bicycle that can generate electricity.
 

“Green and environmentally-friendly technology is a major trend, and my biggest dream is to apply my invention to the daily lives of ordinary people.”

India witnesses 56% drop in HIV cases

The country has witnessed a 56 per cent drop in HIV related cases in the last one decade.

"This has been possible due to political support at the highest levels to the various interventions under National AIDS Control Programme, including from Parliamentarians and elected leaders at the State and Local Levels and cooperation received from NGOs, civil society etc," Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Google Plus Vanity URL

Google product manager Saurabh Sharma has recently announced in his Google+ profile that Google Plus users are going to get custom URL, popularly known as vanity URL. Here is an excerpt from his post...

"A custom URL is a short, easy to remember web address that links directly to your profile or page on Google+. For instance, +TOYOTA  can now use google.com/+toyota to unveil their latest models, +Britney Spears  can share her upcoming appearances at google.com/+britneyspears, +Ubisoft  can share game trailers and videos at google.com/+assassinscreed, and +Delta  can help travellers find great deals at google.com/+delta. "

This feature is already there on the competing social networks like Twitter and Facebook and it was only a matter of time for Google to roll it out. This again showed that Google is keen to have its grip back on social network after the fail of Orkut. For SEO communities it is going to be a vital move, as a perfect keyword under a PR10 domain Google.com will add a huge link juice to a website.

A Man Without A Country

Guor Marial has a marathon to complete this weekend at the Summer Olympics, but he will be doing this with no nation to represent and no countrymen to cheer him on. 

Marial fled his home as a 9 year old in the midst of the Sudanese civil war. With great difficulty, he eventually escaped to Egypt, where he lived with an aunt and uncle. Then to New Hampshire, where he attended high school. And Iowa, where he enrolled in college. And now Arizona, where he lives, works and runs. But Marial doesn’t identify himself as American and certainly not as Sudanese.  He’s running under a white flag that features the Olympic logo.

“Representing the five rings, it’s the best,” Marial said Friday. “I’m representing the whole world, basically.”

Olympic Volunteers

"Volunteers are not paid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless"

When visitors marvel about the spirit of the games, the volunteers are a very big part of it. They are drawn from every corner of the UK and every background. Filling their ranks are students and pensioners, the unemployed alongside high flyers. There are 70,000 of them, constituting nearly half of the Olympic workforce, Britain's biggest peacetime mobilization of people since the Second World War.

The Olympic volunteers remind us what real engagement looks like. They show us what organizations that fan the enthusiasm of their participants can deliver. They give new life to the old-fashioned notion that good work gives us good societies.The volunteers of the Olympics hint at what an alternative customer experience might look like. And it looks very exciting.

Threatening Rail Project Halted

In a major setback for mining giant Vale, a judge has ordered an immediate freeze on expansion work along the Carajás railway, and sets a daily penalty of US$25,000 for any breach. The existing railway lies next to  the forest home of Brazil’s Awá tribe, who have vocally contested the mining giant’s plans, which they say threaten their livelihoods and those of their uncontacted relatives.

One Awá man said, "We don’t accept the expansion of the train line which passes right in front of our territory. It is really bad! It makes a lot of noise! The hunters can’t find any game; the animals are scared off".

But the railway isn’t the only threat to the tribe’s survival. Despite assurances from Brazil’s authorities, the Awá’s way of life still hangs in the balance, threatened by Loggers, ranchers and settlers– we need action.

Curiosity lands on Mars

“We are wheels down on Mars” was the official word from mission control as NASA’s new Mars rover, Curiosity, reached the surface of its new home.

 

I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 6, 2012

Curiosity's first images showed pebbles, dust, and the shadow of the rover on the surface of Mars.

Curiosity will drill, sample, and laser-shoot rocks on the Martian surface over the course of it's initial two years to figure out what minerals and elements they contain. In particular, it will search for organic carbon that could indicate fossilized life forms and also sniff the Martian atmosphere for gasses such as methane that could be a sign of present-day life.

Bhutan goes Organic

According to Bhutan's Minister of is officially going "100% cage free and organic". 

Addressing the opening session, Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley cited four reasons for the decision:

• Protection of soil health and fertility, ground and surface water, and biodiversity
• Creation of new economic opportunities
• Strengthening of the independence, self-esteem and self-reliance of the nation’s farmers
• Strengthening of culture and rural communities

Both moves are in line with the four pillars of Gross National Happiness, which the Bhutanese Government had embraced as a measure of development, replacing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP):-
1. good governance
2. sustainable socio-economic development
3. cultural preservation
4. environmental conservation.

Greatest Olympian Ever

 

Four years after he broke the Australian swimmer Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in an Olympic, Michael Phelps has now officially become the greatest Olympian ever, breaking the record held by Larisa Latynina, the former Soviet Union gymnast, after winning his 19th medal in the 4x200m relay.

Phelps said once "I've always felt most at home in the water... I disappear from the world. That's where I belong." He was recently congratulated by Mr. Barack Obama for his awesome achievement...

Just got a pretty cool phone call on the way to the pool from Mr. President @barackobama !!! #USA
— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) August 1, 2012

Blind archer in Olympics

Im Dong-Hyun set the first world record of the London Olympics on 20th july, 2012 and then added another as South Korea broke the team record. But whats so special about this 26 year old from South Korea?

Im Dong-hyun sees only 20% in one eye and 10% in another! Im from Chungbuk is legally blind in his left eye with 20/200 vision. That means he needs to be 10 times closer to see an object than someone with perfect 20/20 vision. His right eye has 20/100 vision.

He won team gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics to add to his four world titles and four Asian Games gold medals.

He surely is an encouragement for others like him hoping for a career in sports.

Gagan Narang wins Bronze

Gagan Narang has won Bronze in Men's 10m Air Rifle. This is the first medal for India in London Olympic 2012.

Major Achievements:-

World Record Holder in 10m Air Rifle - 703.5 (600 + 103.5)

4 Gold Medals, CWG Delhi, 2010

Gold Medalist, 10m Air Rifle, ISSF World Cup Final Bangkok, 2008

Gold Medalist, 50m Rifle 3 Positions, ISSF World Cup Changwon, 2009

Gold Medalist, 10m Air Rifle, ISSF World Cup Guangzhou, 2006

Haryana govt announces Rs 1 crore award for Gagan Narang on winning Olympic bronze medal
— ABP News (@abpnewstv) July 30, 2012

Madhura Honey at Olympic

Do you dream of leading the Indian march past at Olympic ? Do you think that this dream wont ever come true because you are not an athlete ? You are wrong. A lady from Bangaluru has just made it possible at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony in London. She is Madhura Honey alias Madhura Nagendra.

Indian March Past at Olympic 2012 in London

Acting chef de mission of the Indian contingent Brig P.K. Muralidharan Raja has said "We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap. There was another man also but he stayed back and did not enter the stadium.... We have taken strong exception to this. The march past is for the athletes and officials attached to the contingent. We are totally taken by surprise how a person could just intrude into the track."

Madhura Nagendra, a post graduate of Christ College in Bangaluru, who is living in London, showed her Olympic passes on Facebook before she appear in the world media. She walked confidently in red & blue along with wrestler Sushil Kumar, who was bearing the national flag of India !!! Her father K. Nagendra said in an interview "My daughter Madhura was officially selected for giving a dance performance in the inaugural ceremony by show creator Danny Boyle... From whatever I learnt and presume that she being an Indian, the London Olympics Organising Committee might also have selected her to 'take' the team inside the stadium. This might have hurt our team's feelings. I feel very sorry for that."

Body Painting Festival

The world's biggest body painting event takes place from July 6 to 8 at lake Woerthersee in Austria's southern Carinthia province. Artists across the globe join the festival with different theme. Here are a few glimpse from WBF 2012...

Nature Jailed by Machine

Nature Conservation

World Bodypainting Festival 2013 - Date Published !!!! 1 - 7 July 2013. Pörtschach, Austria. Planning to join them next year ? Here is the details to contact...

WBA - World Bodypainting Association

WB.Production GmbH

Villacher Straße 120
9710 Feistritz/Drau
AUSTRIA

Tel. +43 4245 21637

world@bodypainting-festival.com

God's Particle found

"It’s hard not to get excited by these results" said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci.

 

On 4th July, 2012 it has been announced at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, that they have found the almost mythical God's Particle in Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Prof Peter Higgs, after which the particle is named along with scientist late Satyendra Nath Bose, was present at the venue of announcement.

Higg's Boson is treated as the elementary particle to provide mass to neutron-proton. Mysteriously this particle is never found alone in the universe. Theories in quantum physics showed a probability of its presence and it is assumed that it was present at the time of Big-Bang, the super explosion from which this universe is believed to be created. Due to its mysterious nature and immense importance of forming the mass in general, it is called as God's Particle.