Picture
HOUSTON — In a tough and hazardous emergency procedure, a brave spacewalking astronaut repaired a torn solar energy board on the International Space Station (ISS). This permitted the space station crew to expand the wing’s entire length. Astronaut Scott Parazynski fixed homemade braces over the broken wing. He cut off the jumbled wirings that had torn it in two areas when it was unfurled. He then observed as the station crew positioned the wing to its 115-foot length.

The ugly rip involved a guide wire, two grommets, and two hinge wirings. Parazynski first cut a hinge wiring near the bigger tear, with a special instrument to be certain that the solar panel would not bounce back and strike him. The solar pane utilises sunlight to produce electricity. Consequently, it was active with an electricity of over 100 volts, possibly as huge as 160 volts.

"It's a bit of a reach here", Parazynski stated as he straightened to clip the guide wiring. When Parazynski clip the guide wiring, the 90-foot length of the wing recoiled completely to reach a spool where fellow astronaut, Douglas Wheelock, was manipulating and supervising the wing. To everybody’s relief, the wing retracted easily. "Beautiful. Nicely done", said Parazynski.

Without this emergency procedure, the wing posed a structural danger for the space station. The harm could have been more severe, probably pushing NASA to release it and waste an essential power supply for future laboratories. It was Scott Parazynski’ fourth spacewalk, and is the seventh spacewalk of his fifteen-year career as an astronaut.

 
Picture
New Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stated on Sunday that her government approved a detailed project report that is prepared by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASCOMM) for setting up a science and technology park in Delhi.
The proposed park will rise from more than 30 acres in Dwarka at the Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT) campus near the international airport.

“We see the science and technology park at NSIT as a strategic initiative to position Delhi as a pre-eminent research and development cluster for knowledge industries which are today looking at undertaking advanced scientific research in various fields. The strong presence of industry, academia and other resources in and around Delhi enables high-end research and development and innovation and this initiative is an attempt by us to create that opportunity”, said Dikshit.

Dikshit also added that the initiative was a central milestone for establishing Delhi as a global innovation hub and serves as a platform for sustainable and holistic industry. Some areas recognised for research at the park include communication and information technology, micro engineering, environmental sciences, photonics, nanotechnology, automotive technologies, life-sciences, and biotechnology. According to NASSCOM President Som Mittal, “The science and technology park at NSIT can play the role of a catalyst in the development of an innovation cluster in Delhi and thereby making it an important initiative towards the overall development of the Indian innovation ecosystem.

 
Picture
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope caught Ganymede playing ‘peek-a-boo’. In the crisp Hubble picture, Jupiter’s largest moon shows before it ducks behind the huge planet.

The Ganymede finishes an orbit around the huge planet in every seven days.

Composed of ice and rock, Ganymede is considered the largest moon in the whole solar system. It is even larger to the planet Mercury. Ganymede resembles a dirty snowball just like Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system. Jupiter is very big that just a portion of the Southern Hemisphere can be seen in the pictures.

The view of Hubble is sharp that the astronomers see features on the surface of Ganymede, most especially the white crater, Tros, ray system, and the bright streaks of object blasted from the crater. The Tros and the ray system are about Arizona’s width.

The picture also demonstrates the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, the big eye-shaped feature in the upper left. The storm is the size of two Earths, the Great Red Spot is raging for over 300 years. The sharp view of Hubble of the large planet reveals the cloud’s texture in the Jovian atmosphere and several other vortices and storms.

The astronomers utilise the pictures in studying the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. As Ganymede moves across behind the large planet, it reflects the sunlight that passes in the Jupiter’s atmosphere.

 
Picture
Mars’ climate cycles, which lasted for millions of years, have left rhythmic pattern records on thick sedimentary rock layers. The 3-dimensional detail of the records was revealed by one of the telescopic cameras by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA. With the use of High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, researchers reported that is was the first ever measurement of a periodic signal on the rock layers on Mars.

Inside the four craters of the Arabia Terra region in Mars, the rock layers, with similar thickness, were repeated from dozens to hundreds of times. In one crater, the Becquerel is a bundle of 10-layer patterns repeated about 10 times. It is said to correspond in the pattern of changes of Mars’ rotation axis.

Kevin Lewis, author of a report published in the Journal Science, stated, “Each layer has weathered into a stair step in the topography where material that's more resistant to erosion lies on top of material that's less resistant to erosion”.

Some of the periodic changes appear to have affected the resistance of the rock-forming sediments, thus, some of them are formed less than three-feet thick.

The principal investigator of the images, Alfred McEwen from the University of Arizona in Tucson, said, “It's easy to be fooled without knowing the topography and measuring the layers in three dimensions”. He added, “With the stereo information, it is clear there's a repeating pattern to these layers”.

 
Picture
Massachusetts' reputation in the world of technology study and improvement is currently secured, but wadding research dollars and global contest for talent pose a threat to them, based on the latest report regarding the innovation economy of the state.

The 2008 index regarding the Innovation Economy by Massachusetts Technology Collaborative shows that Massachusetts remains on top of principal technology states, as well as, markets in corporate-supported R&D. If Massachusetts were a nation, it could have ranked behind Sweden among the biggest-research-expenditure-as-a-proportion-of-its-market countries.

Massachusetts is not in harmony with its allocation of community research dollars. Massachusetts’ distribution of federal study funds has either decreased or flatlined in the last five years. Even more disturbing is the reducing labour pool once the state does not encourage young individuals to enter the field of science and technology.

The report revealed that the largest threat to the state’s outlook was the increasing educational infrastructure being formed overseas. This puts a great pressure over Massachusetts to fill employment positions with local talent.

As China and India develop accurate postsecondary organisations, the anxiety is that Massachusetts’ import of sophisticated talent for its research positions will decrease.

Only approximately 11% of the state’s secondary school seniors plan to have a college course in information or science technology, mathematics, compared with 15% in business and 26% in humanities.

Massachusetts officers are considering the recent report as proof of the possible impact of the life sciences programme by Gov. Deval Patrick worth $1 billion.

 
Picture
The Homeland Security Department showed off on Thursday an early version of physiological screeners, which could spot terrorists.

The futuristic machine works on the similar theory like in polygraph. It looks sharp wings in breathing, pulse and body temperature that signal a kind of anxiety that is exuded by a would-be criminal or terrorist. The FAST or Future Attribute Screening Technology scans people walking by a set of cameras.

According to Jennifer Martin, a consultant in Science and Technology division of Homeland Security, "We're picking up things with sensors that can't necessarily be detected by the human eye".

This five-year project is the latest effort of the department to thwart terrorism through spotting suspicious people. The TSA or Transportation Security Administration has trained over 2,000 screeners to observe passengers walking through the airports, and to question those who seem oddly nervous or agitated.

The system would be fast and portable, said Robert Burns, the project manager, who envisions machines which can scan people as they are walking into airports, arenas, and train stations. According to Timothy Levine, an expert on deceptive behaviour from Michigan State University, though the machines exactly spot someone whose heart rate suddenly jumps, it may signal the agitation of learning that a flight is delayed.

"What determines your heart rate is a whole bunch of reasons besides hostile intent", said Levine. "This is the whole reason behavioural profiles don't work".

 
Picture
As an effort to fill technical gap in recent years, the heads of electronic companies such as Texas Instruments, Motorola, Intel, IBM, AMD, and Samsung will meet in Brasilia on Friday.

An American company that leads in the field of integrated circuits and the Brazilian government sponsored the assembly as it aims to prompt those electronic companies to invest in Brazil.

Next Wednesday, President Lula da Silva of Brazil will also host in the Presidential Palace all of the executives, an action meant that the country is giving importance for the development of electronic technology.

Minister Sergio Rezende of Science and Technology, considered the increasing demand in the domestic market as the primary reason for Brazil to look for financial partners.

According to the Minister’s opinion, a country that has approximately 200 million people should have improved science and technology in a reasonable amount.

The Government of Brazil has taken during the last five years measures to teach technicians, give fiscal incentives, and invite foreign direct investment.

Engineers in Brazil were also given with incentives so as to meet the market demand on electronic technology.

Currently, the country has only 400 specialists.

A contract has been signed by Cadence Design Systems that allows the country to utilise the technology formed by Cadence Design Systems to manufacture integrated circuits.

According to him, the country is in the development stage of integrated circuits, and through financial support, it can take off electronic technology.

 
Picture
India has successfully launched its first ever moon mission on Wednesday. The Chandrayaan-I, an unmanned lunar exploration mission that includes an impactor and a lunar orbiter, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is the national space agency of India.

This successful mission has been a great ego-boost for the country. “It is a proud moment for us”, Kapil Sibal, the minister of Science and Technology said.

Some have raised questions on the country’s logic for spending $80 million in this scientific quest despite the country’s poverty. “It is not a question of whether we can afford it; it's whether we can afford to ignore it”, Dr K. Kasturirangan, ISRO’s chairperson said. He pointed out that $80 million is a comparatively low budget for this type of mission. “And the returns, in terms of the science... the technology, inspiration, stature, prospects for international cooperation... are immense”, Kasturirangan added.

The mission is believed to strengthen the country’s standing in the sector of commercial satellite launch and provide the ISRO with worthwhile experience in developing hi-tech spacecraft, more sophisticated remote navigation technology, and improved rocketry.

ISRO programmes have focused generally on the development in weather forecasting, educational broadcasts, communications, and launching satellites for resource mapping and landscape.

Chandrayaan-I takes the space programme of India to a new edge. “This is really a gear shift in a sense. Chandrayaan-I is a purely scientific, exploratory mission”, said Subhadra Menon, who authored the book chronicling the lunar mission’s history.

 
Picture
Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corporation, had inspired and was admired by the younger generation when he delivered his speech in Beijing during his 10th visit in China. Along with his speech he offered Tsinghua University with new programmes.

Before his visit, a memorandum of agreement with the electronic and PC giants of China, Xiaxin and Lenovo, has been signed.

Science and technology is being given a strong importance by China. For two decades, the country’s science and technology has experienced a broad structural improvement. With the broad overseas study programmes and changes in its school system, China’s human resource base has been improved and expanded.

Late last year, Zogby/463 Internet Attitudes’ poll presented that 49 percent of Americans said that the “next Bill Gates” would come from India, China or Japan.

China has to promote the creation on a continuous basis of more innovations to attain a breakthrough in terms of technical standards, economic competitiveness, intellectual property, and brand building.

On Wednesday, member of the Standing Committee of the national People’s Congress, Wu Jichuan, address to the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum Asia 2007 that this year, the law on scientific and technological advances of China will be revised. To create a more market oriented, more sophisticated policy, and more globally-oriented science and technology is their goal to give way for the Chinese Bill Gates.

 
Picture
The bioeconomy of China will be taking a greater leap towards development, focusing on its output in the upcoming years, chief of the country’s science and technology said yesterday.

Minister of science and technology Wan Gang reported, "The total output value of the bioindustry will reach 500 to 800 billion yuan by 2010. By 2020, the value of the segment will hit 2 to 3 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 4 percent of the country's domestic gross product”. The statement was said yesterday in Tianin during the official opening of the 2007 International Conference on Bioeconomy.

The country will carry out a three-step strategy in order to improve its science and technology department. Starting this year until 2010, as part of the first step, China will focus on technology accumulation. The second step, until 2015, will be involved in the country’s emersion as one of the world powers in technology. On the third step which will last until 2020, China will centre on upholding its position at the top.

Alongside the strategy, China has laid out 10 priorities, such as the agriculture-oriented biotechnology, marine biotech, biofuel technology, medical technology and environmental biotech, the minister stated.

China is also focusing to make productive insights in the 35 categories of the major biotechnologies, including genetic modification and stem cell, Wan added.

Wan commented that to drive bioindustry, the financing mechanism should be improved and a competent investment environment must be created.