Tuesday, December 29, 2009

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY- 2009 AT A GLANCE


November 2009
NASA signs agreement with ISRO for use of Indian satellite oceansat-2(19th Nov 2009) US space agency NASA has signed an agreement with ISRO to use data from Indian satellite Oceansat-2, for various American agencies for research activities, including weather forecasting. Launched on September 23, 2009 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota, Oceansat-2 is designed to provide service continuity for operational users of the Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) instrument on Oceansat-1.
Scientists Create Bacteria that Light Up Around Landmines (16th Nov 2009) A stunning 87 countries around the world are still littered with undetonated landmines, and their impact is devastating. Thousands of people are killed or injured by mines every year, and they pose a grave threat to ecosystems and wildlife. But an unexpected solution may be on the way--scientists have developed a special kind of bacteria that actually begins to glow in the presence of landmines. Scientists produced the bacteria using a new technique called BioBricking, which manipulates packages of DNA. The bacteria are then mixed into a colorless solution, which forms green patches when sprayed onto ground where mines are buried. The bacterial stew can also be dropped via airplane in extremely sensitive areas. Then, only a few hours after it's sprayed or dropped, the bacteria begins to glow green if it's next to an undetonated explosive. This, of course, would be an invaluable asset in the ongoing quest to rid nations like Somalia, Bosnia, and Cambodia of their atrocious, deadly minefields. Scientists are especially optimistic about the bacteria because the solution is cheap and easy to mass produce.
"Significant" Moon Water Released by NASA Crashes (13th Nov 2009) In October, NASA crashed a two-ton rocket and the SUV-size LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) into the permanently shadowed crater Cabeus on the moon's South Pole. The crashes were part of an effort to kick up evidence of moon water. The LCROSS team took the known near-infrared light signature of water and compared it to the impact spectra LCROSS near-infrared recorded after the probe had sent its spent rocket crashing into the moon. They have good fits with each other. Additional support for moon water came from LCROSS's ultraviolet spectrometer, which detected energy signatures associated with hydroxyl, a byproduct of the breakup of water by sunlight.
New ocean forming in African desert (5th Nov 2009)
Geologists have confirmed that the African continent is being torn in two, forming a new ocean. An international collaboration has shown that a 35 mile long rift in the Afar region of the Ethiopian desert, which opened in 2005, is likely to be the beginning of a new sea. The recent study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, brings together seismic data from the formation of the rift, showing that it is driven by similar processes to those at the bottom of oceans.
Snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro to melt in twenty years (3rd Nov 2009)
Scientists at the Ohio University predicted that the ice sheets of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain peak, will melt in the next twenty years due to global warming. The ice that was present in 1912 gradually decreased by 85% by 2000, and by 2007 another 26% of the amount in 2000. This was the first time that the volume of the ice in Kilimanjaro was measured. The tests were conducted by Lonnie Thompson, a professor at Ohio University.
October 2009
Scientists report discovery of 32 new exoplanets (20th Oct 2009)
With help from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), scientists have reported the discovery of 32 new exoplanets. The latest batch of exoplanets announced comprises not less than 32 new discoveries. Including these new results, data from HARPS have led to the discovery of more than 75 exoplanets in 30 different planetary systems.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry to India-born scientist (October 7 2009)
Three Americans won 2009 Nobel Prize and one among them is India-born. They are Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath. Ramakrishnan is India-born American and Ada Yonath is Israeli. They were awarded with Nobel Prize in chemistry for mapping ribosomes. It is the protein-producing factories within body cells, at the atomic level.
NASA telescope discovers giant ring around Saturn (October 7 2009)
The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced. The thin array of ice and dust particles lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane, the laboratory said. Although the ring dust is very cold — minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit — it shines with thermal radiation.


September 2009
13-year-old Indian to address UN climate change summit (September 21 2009)
A 13-year-old Indian girl from Lucknow, Yugratna Srivastava has won the honour to address US President Barack Obama, President Hu Jintao of China and other world leaders on behalf of the world's three billion youth and children. The UN summit that Yugratna would address is part of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's campaign to bring about a fair and ratifiable green house gas reduction agreement at this year's Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. "World leaders must recognise the energy and potential which lies in children and youth. This age group is just like flowing rivers and they make their own way in the direction in which they march," said Yugratna, a lively, committed and very passionate teenager.
May 2009
Largest ever telescope launched from French Guiana ( May 15 2009)
Ariane 5 rocket, the world's largest telescope was launched on May 15 from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana to investigate the origins of the universe. The Herschel telescope was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) at a cost of 1.1 billion euros ($1.49 billion). The main objective of the telescope is to determine how the stars and galaxies are formed in the universe. The Physicist Albrecht Poglitsch, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, worked on the development of Herschel's instruments. The stars are comprised of gas and dust, a mix that makes it impossible to see into the star itself with light. Herschel's strength is to enable a look into the gas-dust clouds. The primary mirror of the Herschel telescope is 3.5 meters in diameter, more than four times larger than those of previous infrared space telescopes and almost one and a half times larger than the Hubble space telescope. Herschel will tap into previously unexplored wavelengths and examine phenomena that had been out of reach for other observatories. The telescope will begin to carry out its three-and-a-half-year mission in about a month.
First face transplant patient in US shows face ( 6th May 2009)
Five years ago, Connie Culp, 46-year-old woman in a shotgun blast left a ghastly hole in the middle of her face. Five months ago, she received a new face from a dead woman. She stepped forward to show off the results of the nation's first face transplant, and her new look was a far cry from the puckered, noseless sight that made children run away in horror. Culp's expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understand. Her face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles.
UK scientists to develop Swine Flu vaccine (4th May 2009)
As the world is getting ready to fight against Swine Flu (H1N1 virus), researchers from all over the world have stepped up to build a vaccine to fight the scary disease.
A team from National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in Hertfordshire had started their work for developing a vaccine against the H1N1 virus. The researchers aim to drill a hole in hen's egg, considered for growing up flu viruses. The process involves injecting a small amount of virus into each egg. The scientists are using two different techniques for the process.
The first one is 'reverse genetics', where scientists take the H and the N surface proteins from the H1N1 virus and mix them with a laboratory virus known as PR8. This leads to a creation of a harmless hybrid virus, which can be used for the vaccine.
The second technique involves injecting both the H1N1 and PR8 viruses into eggs and allowing the hybrid strain to be created through a natural re-assortment of their genes. The vaccine will work by dodging the immune system into it has been infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus so that it creates antibodies against it. The researchers hope that the first seed strain of H1N1 swine flu vaccine will be ready in three to four weeks. It will then take another four or five months for vaccine manufacturers to produce the vaccine in bulk.


April 2009
PET bottles potential health hazard (29th April 2009)
Wagner, a lead researcher stated, “Drinking water from PET plastic bottles is harmful to human health”. It has a higher probability of drinking estrogenic compounds (which affects reproductive hormones) through water. He analysed 20 samples of mineral water. Nine samples came out of glass bottles, nine were bottled in PET plastic and two were in cardboard. The specialised yeast, which change colour in the presence of estrogen like compounds, revealed estrogenic activity in seven of the nine plastic bottles (and both cardboard samples), and compared with just three of the nine glass ones. The levels of these compounds in the water were surprisingly high.
ISRO launches RISAT-2 (20th April 2009)
The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched a revolutionary spy satellite RISAT-2. It is designed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries. It can take images through the thickest cloud cover, rain and snow or fog conditions during night and day or even of the hundreds of winding mountain valleys. It will be used extensively for purposes like mapping, managing natural disasters and surveying the seas, it can also see through camouflage like cloth or foliage used to conceal camps or vehicles. It will enable India to keep a watch on terror camps, military installations across boundaries, missile sites and suchlike. It should also help keep track of ships at sea that could pose a threat. The RISAT will reduce India's dependence on foreign suppliers like Ikonos for satellite imagery.

MARCH

Discovery Crew Returns Home From ISS
The Discovery space shuttle crew returned home to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sunday(29/3/09) after completing a 12-day mission.
Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:14 p.m. Saturday(28/3/09), after traveling more than 5.3 million miles. Its crew delivered solar arrays to help power the International Space Station and science experiments taking place there. The astronauts completed three space walks, lasting more than six hours each, to install, repair, and maintain equipment for the station.
The STS-119 flight marked the first trip to space and the first spacewalks for former science teachers Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold. Both are now NASA astronauts. The flight was Discovery's 36th trip to space. It marked the 125th space shuttle mission and the 28th shuttle trip to the space station.
Internet Crime Up 33 Percent, FBI Reports
Internet-based crime increased by 33 percent last year, making 2008 the biggest year ever for reported cybercrime incidents, according to an Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report.
The ICCC, a nonprofit organization run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center dedicated to monitoring online fraud, issued a report Monday showing that fraud losses incurred from cybercrime reached a total of $264.6 million in 2008, compared to $239.1 million the previous year, Reuters reports. Losses in recent years pose a sharp contrast to cybercrime losses of $18 million in 2001.
"2009 is shaping up to be a very busy year in terms of cybercrime," said John Kane, director of the National White Collar Crime Center based in Richmond, Va., and the report's author, to Reuters.
Adobe, Facebook partner to create Flash developer tools
Adobe has partnered with one of the most popular social networking Web sites, Facebook, to give developers a new set of tools to create applications.
The applications will use Adobe's Flash platform and the new ActionScript 3 Client Library for Facebook the two companies developed together. The client library is a free open source programming language that supports Facebook application programming interfaces (APIs) including Facebook Connect.
Microsoft to discontinue Encarta
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) is to exit its Encarta encyclopedia business later this year after losing ground over the years to freely available reference material on the Internet on web sites like Wikipedia.
"People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past," the software maker said in a notice posted on its MSN website.
Microsoft, which axed 5,000 jobs earlier this year to cut costs and warned profit and revenue would fall over the next two quarters, said it would stop selling Encarta software products by June. Encarta websites worldwide, except Encarta Japan, would be discontinued on October 31 and Encarta Japan will cease after December 31, the company said.

OBAMA TO RESTORE STEM CELL RESEARCH FUNDING

US President Barack Obama on Monday signed an executive order reversing Bush administration restrictions on Federal funding for stem cell research. He said that he would ensure that all research on stem cells would be conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight.
This move would be in line with Mr Obama's campaign vow to restore funding to embryonic stem cell research.This development impressed scientists who have long campaigned for the Bush policy to be overturned, but will likely be condemned by conservative right-to-life groups.
Mr Bush barred Federal funding from supporting work on new lines of stem cells derived from human embryos in 2001, allowing research only on a small number of embryonic stem-cell lines which existed at that time.He argued that using human embryos for scientific research - which often involves their destruction - crossed a moral barrier and urged scientists to consider other alternatives. Embryonic stem cells are primitive cells from early-stage embryos capable of developing into almost every tissue of the body.

INDIA TO SEND SUN MISSION ADITYA IN 2012

After the successful launch of the moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now gearing up for a mission to the sun. The proposed sun mission christened as "Mission Aditya", is aimed at unraveling the secrets of the sun. G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian space agency ISRO, announced that, the agency is ready with its new space programme to explore the corona of the Sun in 2012.
"Mission Aditya" will find out answers for how and why solar flares and solar winds disturb the communication network and play havoc with electronics on the earth. It will also uncover the mysteries surrounding the sun's corona that create geomagnetic field disturbances on the earth and often damage man-made satellites and spacecraft moving in the sky under intense sunlight.
Though the sun mission of ISRO has been on the cards for quite some time now, it got a boost after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1. The success of the Aditya Mission will provide vital clues to ISRO to protect its satellites and spaceware from being damaged by hot winds and flares ejected out of the sun's corona.

INDIAN-AMERICAN SCIENTIST VIVEK PAI CREATES TOP WEB TECHNOLOGY

The researchers' team led by Indian American scientist Vivek Pai has developed a revolutionary way to expand internet access around the world. The team of Princeton University computer science researchers created a new efficient data storage system called HashCache which got listed as one of the top emerging technologies of the year in scientific magazine, Technology Review. The scientific magazine is being published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
HashCache claims to store information more efficiently than current methods. The newly created data-caching system is expected to expand web use in developing regions around the world by making internet access more affordable. The new data storage system increases the possibilities of expanding internet facility across the poorer regions as it is very affordable. Compared to RAM, HashCache is capable of storing more information from frequently visited web sites on a local hard drive thereby enabling direct data access. Vivek Pai explained that by increasing the efficiency of internet data transfer, HashCache can reduce the cost of maintaining a hard drive.

FEBRUARY 2009

INDIAN SCIENTISTS TO CLONE PASHMINA GOAT

A team of scientists from Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana is working on a project to clone the famous pashmina goat. A success in this direction is expected to give boost to the dwindling trade in pashmina wool. The project is under a World Bank aided project known as National Agriculture Innovation Project.
The project 'Value Chain on Zone Free Cloned Embryos Production and Development of Elite Germ Plasma Pashmina' hopes to change the pashmina production scenario in the state. A six-member team will use somatic cells of the goat to clone the cell to produce new pashmina goat. Scientists will use a hand-guided cloning technique and the four-phased project will run for next three years.

NASA'S KEPLER MISSION TO BEGIN QUEST TO FIND PLANETS HOSTING LIFE

NASA's Kepler spacecraft is all set to begin its maiden journey in search for worlds that could potentially host life. The spacecraft is scheduled to blast-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5, 2009. Kepler is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth. The mission will study rocky planets that orbit sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface that is believed to be essential for the formation of life.
The mission will spend three-and-a-half years in the space. It will survey more than 100,000 sun-like stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. It is expected to find hundreds of planets of the size of earth and larger, at various distances from their stars.

ISRO TO USE HOME-GROWN CRYOGENIC ENGINE FOR GSLV LAUNCH

The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will use an indigenously developed cryogenic engine to launch the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Reports say that IRSO will undertake the launch operation in July this year. The use of home-grown cryogenic engine to put GSAT-4 into orbit will end India's dependency on Russia. India has been importing the cryogenic engines from Russia since 1991. So far, India has launched five GSLV rockets. But now ISRO has developed its own cryogenic engines and all the tests have been completed successfully, the source added.
The launch of GSAT-4 communication satellite using an indigenously developed cryogenic engine will provide internet connectivity in remote villages. The ISRO is also considering to use the GSLV for the Chandrayaan-II mission scheduled for 2012. Earlier, ISRO used PSLV to launch Chandrayaan-I.

JANUARY 2009


WORLD'S FIRST INTERNET CAR RADIO UNVEILED

The Australian researchers have developed a new internet car radio for the first time which enables the users to access 30,000 stations including online broadcasts and AM and FM stations from all round the globe. The internet car radio developed by Melbourne-based online radio aggregator miRoamer was launched in prototype form at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. miRoamer has signed a deal with German-based Blaupunkt which is one of the largest producers of car radios in the world.
Under the new deal, Blaupunkt will produce internet radios which will be fitted in latest models by car manufacturers such as Ford, Holden, Mercedes, BMW and Audi. The internet radio will also be sold separately for those who want to install it in their cars. It is very imperative that radio lovers will prefer internet car radio to traditional broadcasters as it offers a huge number of stations from all over the world. The new product is expected to be launched in the US and Europe in the second half of 2009. In more ways than one, the internet car radio is going to revolutionise the way people listen to radio.

MOTOROLA UNVEILS CELLPHONE MADE FROM RECYCLED WATER BOTTLES

Motorola has unveiled a new kind of mobile phone called MOTO W233 Renew which is made from recycled plastic water bottles. According to the handset manufacturing company, MOTO W233 Renew is also a carbon neutral phone. The company is said to have collaborated with Carbonfund.org to manufacture the new mobile phone. Interestingly the container that holds the phone is also made from recycled material.
In order to uplift its recycling program for mobile phones and accessories, Motorola has also entrusted another postage-paid box with the MOTO W233 Renew which can be used by customers to mail their old phones back to the company for recycling. The postage-paid box is also made from recycled paper, claimed Motorola.
The new MOTO W233 Renew offers nine hours of talk time with ChrystalTalk technology and has messaging capabilities. The new mobile handset from Motorola is expected to be launched at the 2009 International CES in Las Vegas. The phone will be available in the market by the first quarter of 2009.
MOTO W233 Renew has been designed for eco-conscious consumers as well as for those who loves to make phone calls. The recycling program of Motorola is ready to accept any mobile phone or accessory for recycling which it feels will help to recover valuable materials for reuse that will reduce environmental impact.

UK DOCTORS DELIVER CANCER-PROOF BABY

The first British baby genetically selected to be free of a breast cancer gene has been born. She grew from an embryo screened to ensure it did not contain the faulty BRCA1 gene, which passes the risk of breast cancer down generations.
According to the sources of University College Hospital in London the mother, a 27-year-old Londoner, and her little girl were in very good condition. Women in three generations of the father's family have been diagnosed with the disease in their 20s, including his mother, grandmother, sister and cousin.
A girl born with the altered BRCA1 gene have a 50-80% chance of developing breast cancer - but screening can prevent this. The technique used is known as Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which involves taking a cell from an embryo at the eight-cell stage of development, when it is around three-days old, and testing it.
The treatment follows the green-signal given by Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority in 2006, which said doctors could test for 'susceptibility genes' such as BRCA1. A properly functioning BRCA1 protein helps stop cancer before it starts but faulty genes greatly increase the risk of cancer.
BRCA1 and a related version of another gene, BRCA2, account for around 5% of breast cancer.

SONY TO LAUNCH WORLD'S LIGHTEST 8-INCH NOTEBOOK PC

In a bid to capture the rapidly growing market for ultra-portable personal computers, Sony Corp of Japan decided to launch 8-inch notebook PC which is considered to be one of the lightest laptops in the world. The new Sony Vaio PC will have Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista operating system. Windows Vista operating system incorporated in Sony laptops will support all the software programs found in full-sized notebooks.
While revealing the plan, Sony said that the new notebook weighs only 1.4 pounds and it is as thin as a mobile phone. The notebooks will available for pre-orders and were released in the market in the first week of February 2009. the Sony notebook is priced at about $900, setting itself apart from Netbooks.
The Red Planet Of Mars May Have Life On It
NASA, the space agency of USA, may be ready to announce alien microbes living below the Martian soil are the cause of a methane haze surrounding the Red Planet of Mars.
Researchers from around the world have shown a greater interest in the Red Planet, as possible traces of water and ice dust have raised hopes of discovering signs of life on or underneath the planet's surface. Even though methane is created on Earth by volcanoes, scientists haven't found any active volcanoes on the Red Planet.
In addition, it seems NASA researchers found high levels of methane in the same regions as water vapor clouds, which are absolutely necessary for life. The study was conducted during a seven year examination of the planet.

INDIAN SCIENTISTS CONDUCT ANTI-WARMING EXPERIMENT IN ANTARCTIC OCEAN

A group of scientists from India and Germany jointly conducted an anti-warming experiment in Antarctic Ocean. It is believed that the experiment may find out a possible solution to on-going global warming crisis. The scientists began their experiment by scattering iron powder on hundreds of square kilometres of the Antarctic Ocean. The iron powder will fertilize the growth of phytoplankton which will eventually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and take it deep under the ocean surface.
The technology of iron fertilization is likely to stop global warming at a very little cost. About six tonnes of iron are to be scattered on 300 sq km of sea. The group of scientists which left Cape Town on board the Polarstern on January 7 includes thirty Indian and 18 from other nations. The tiny organism called phytoplankton can eliminate carbon dioxide which is the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. The technology used by the Indian and German scientists can be path-breaking one in curbing global warming which stands out to be a major threat to mankind.

Important Personalities, New Appointments and Who's Who: 2009


1. Farah Pandit of Kashmiri-origin was appointed special representative of the Obama administration to reach out to the Muslim world. She was appointed by Secretary of State to interact with Muslims across the globe. She was a senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. She also served on the National Security Council and with USAID on assistance projects for Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Born in 1968, Farah belongs to a business family of Kashmir. Her father, Muhammad Anwar Pandit, is originally from Sopore. Her mother, a doctor is from Srinagar city. In early 70s Farah's parents shifted to United States and stayed in Boston, where her father continued his business.

2. Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik took charge as the 19th chief of the India Air Force from Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, who demitted office on May 31. An alumnus of Sainik School, Satara, and the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Air Chief Marshal Naik saw action in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. He was decorated with the Param Vishist Seva Medal and the Vishist Seva Medal.



3. Amal Allana was appointed as chairperson of the National School of Drama (NSD) for a second term on June 15,2009. Allana, an alumnus of the NSD, is the daughter of Ibrahim Alkazi, the founder of the NSD. She joined NSD in 2005 as the chairperson. She has directed several plays, including “Aadhe Adhure”, “The Exception and the Rule”, “Khamosh, Adalat Jari Hai”, “Ashadh Ka Ek Din”, “Mahabhoj”, “King Lear”, “Himmat Mai” and “Begum Barve”. She was awarded many honours, including awards from the Delhi Natya Sangh (1994), Sahitya Kala Parishad (1996), Czech TV for the tele-play “Wapsi” (1983) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for direction (1998).

4. Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director K. C. Chakrabarty succeeded T. S. Narayanasami who was superannuated Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India on May 31,2009.

5. Distinguished journalist and political commentator Harish Khare was appointed as the media adviser to the Prime Minister on June 20,2009. He replaced Deepak Sandhu, who was shifted to the Central Information Commission as its member. Harish Khare will hold the rank of a secretary to the government of India. Prior to this appointment, Khare, was the Chief of Bureau and senior associate editor at The Hindu. He also worked as the resident editor of the Times of India, Ahmedabad. Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank took oath as the fifth chief minister of Uttarakhand along with three ministers on June 28. Replacing B C Khanduri as the chief minister, Nishank was Health Minister in his cabinet. A sitting legislator from Thalisen constituency, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank is a strong leader from Garhwal and is known to be close to the RSS.

6. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam was appointed solicitor general on June 15, the second most important law officer of the country after the attorney general. From the petrol pump scam case to the inquiry commission into Graham Staines murder, he had ample opportunity to render valuable assistance to the Supreme Court as amicus curiae. At the same time, he represented the Centre in high-voltage cases like Bihar assembly dissolution, defreezing of London bank accounts of Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattrocchi and the cash-for-query scam. 51-year-old Subramaniam was additional solicitor general during 2004-09.


7. Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma was appointed country’s next Chief of Naval Staff. He will take charge from Admiral Sureesh Mehta, who retires from service on August 31. Born on November 14, 1950, Vice-Admiral Verma, currently Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Eastern Naval Command, has, during his long and distinguished 39 years of service, commanded aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

8. Senior advocate and former Solicitor General Goolam E Vahanvati was appointed the new Attorney General of Indiafor a period of three years. He became the first Muslim to hold the post of Attorney General of India. G E Vahanvati succeeded Milon Banerjee, who had held the Attorney General’s post in the last government. He and all other law officers had put in their papers on May 29,2009 to make way for a fresh team.

9. Timothy J Roemer was nominated as the next US Ambassador to India. A former US lawmaker and a member of the 9/11 Commission, Roemer is currently head of a Washington-based think tank. He is considered close to President Barack Obama and was among the first few Democrat leaders to support Obama in his run for US Presidency.

10. Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), C B Bhave was elected chairman of the Asia- Pacific Regional Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) at the 34th Annual Conference of IOSCO being held at Tel Aviv, Israel. IOSCO is recognised as the international standard setter for securities markets. The Organisation’s wide membership regulates more than 90% of the world’s securities markets and IOSCO is the world`s most important international cooperative forum for securities regulatory agencies.

11. Seven-time member of Lok Sabha Karia Munda was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha on June 8. The tradition of having the Deputy Speaker from the Opposition was began in 1977, the very year Karia Munda entered the Lok Sabha. Munda was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Khunti in Jharkhand on BJP ticket.

12. One of the most influential figures in modern pop culture, Michael Jackson, died of a sudden cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles on June 25,2009. Jackson, known as 'King of Pop' by fans and often derided as 'Whacko-Jacko' by the media, was 50. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, US. I Want You Back, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White, Earth Song were his biggest hits album. His 1982 album Thriller remains the world's best-selling record of all time. Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5. He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad. Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards. Michael Jackson popularised a dance technique called the moonwalk or backslide. Moonwalk presents the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward. The dance move gained widespread popularity after being performed by Michael Jackson during his song ‘Billie Jean’ on the March 25, 1983. He published autobiography ‘Moon Walk’ in 1988. The book was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.



13. Sri Lankan Army killed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabakaran with at least 18 top leaders including Pottu Amman, B. Nadesan and S. Pulithevan in an intense battle on May 18,2009. Prabhakaran founded LTTE on a culture of suicide attacks and had developed an aura of invincibility. He was the prime architect of the bloody 30-year civil war, and was responsible for the assassinations of several political leaders including India's Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in1991 and Sri Lankan President Premadasa in1993.


14. A 1973 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, Ashok Chawla was appointed Finance Secretary in the Government of India. Ashok Chawla hold various important portfolios in the field of economy, Industry, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Oil and Natural Gas, Insurance and infrastructure. He also worked as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. Also he was given Additional charge of the Department of Financial Services since May 1,2009.

15. 1975 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre H. S. Brahma took the charge of Secretary, Union Ministry of Poweron May 12,2009. He was earlier Special Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority in the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

16. 1971 batch IAS officer of Andhra pradesh cadre J S Sarma took the charge of the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on May 14,2009. He succeeded Nripendra Misra who superannuated on March 22. After Nripendra Misra’s retirement AK Sawhney, the senior-most member in Trai had been acting as the TRAI chairman. TRAI is an independent regulator for all issues relating to telecom and broadcasting. The salary and emoluments for the TRAI chairman's position was recently increased to Rs 3 lakh per month, who holds a three-year term as the industry regulator.



17. Madhu Kannan was appointed managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 11,2009 by its board. Prior to his appointment, he was a managing director (corporate strategy) with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch based in New York. Kannan also held various senior roles across businesses at the NYSE Euronext. The post of CEO was lying vacant ever since its managing director, Rajnikant Patel, resigned abruptly in August 2008.



18. Pascal Lamy was reappointed director-general of World Trade Organisation. The General Council, on 30 April,2009 endorsed reappointment of Lamy for a second term of four years. He was elected unopposed for the post as none of the WTO's 153 member states put forward another candidate by the deadline of December 31, 2008. A French political advisor and businessman Pascal Lamy had worked as European Commissioner for Trade. He is also Honorary President of Paris-based think tank Notre Europe.

19. Leader of African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma took oath as fourth President of South Africasince the end of apartheid. He was administered the oath by Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pius Langa in front of Father of the Nation for the New South Africa and first black president Nelson Mandela and 30 Heads of States and Governments on May 10,2009 in Pretoria. Jacob Zuma, a self-taught man who fought the apartheid regime from inside South Africa and spent 10 years in prison in Robben Island along with Mandela succeeded outgoing President Kgalema Motlanthe. Jacob Zuma was the head of the ANC’s internal security wing during the struggle against apartheid. The election held in April 2009, his party ANC polled 65.9 per cent of the votes and narrowly missed getting the two-thirds majority in parliament.

20. Leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Madhav Kumar Nepal sworn in by President Ram Baran Yadav as second Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on May 25,2009. Earlier he received 359 votes out of the 601-member Constituent Assembly and was declared winner. Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and senior congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba proposed Madhav Kumar Nepal’s name while CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal and 21 other Constituent Assembly members supported it. The UCPN (Maoists) boycotted the election announcing they would not support the government. The CPN (unified) and the Janata Dal also boycotted the House. He replaced first Maoist prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda who had resigned on May 4, following a row over the tenure of Army chief General Rookmangud Katawal.

21. Sister Mary Prema was declared new superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, a congregation founded by Mother Teresa. German-born nun Mary Prema replaced Sister Nirmala Joshi, who was re-elected for the third time on 13 March,2009 but she requested to be relieved of her duties due to ailing health. Miss Joshi has led the congregation since 1997, after the death of Nobel laureate Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity (MoC)was established in Kolkata in 1950 by Mother Teresa. She was awarded Nobel Peace prize in 1979. MoC is a Roman Catholic religious order comprising of over 4500 sisters in 133 countries.




22. The government of India appointed Hardeep Singh Puri as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He succeed Nirupam Sen, whose term ended March 31,2009. A 1974-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Hardeep Singh Puri served as India’s ambassador to Brazil and prior to his new appointment, he was as secretary (economic affairs) in the external affairs ministry.
  

23. Horst Koehler was reelected as the President of Germany by a single vote for a second five year term on May 23,2009. The 1224-seat assembly members and state representatives of the country's 16 state legislatures, who include local television celebrities and sports stars, voted in a secret ballot. He had the backing of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the opposition Free Democrats. Horst Koehler received 613 votes while his opponent the center-left Social Democratic Party candidate Gesine Schwan secured 503 votes. Horst Koehler had been managing director of the International Monetary Fund between 2000 and 2004.

24.The ‘Time’ magazine has published Time 100 list of the World's Most Influential People’ in the category of political leaders, celebrities and academicians among others in the May 11,2009 annual Time 100 issue. World's Most Influential People list was prepared by magazine's editors and it was different from popular choice in TIME. com's online poll. Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani (31st) and Oscar winning Indian music director A R Rahman (59th) made it to the list. Democratic senator Edward Kennedy and British premier Gordon Brown made it to the first and second spot respectively. US secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the eighth place, Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Kayani is sitting pretty at the 19th position, just a spot ahead of President Barack Obama. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and media celebrity Oprah Winfrey also placed on the list. Sri Lankan performer in the ‘O Saya’ song of Slumdog Millionaire, Maya Arulpragasam placed 43rd.

25. The U.S. State Department's security director Gregory Starr was appointed new U.N. security chief overseeing the world body's far-flung security operations. Starr was given responsibility of protecting more than 285 U.S. embassies and consulates overseas as well as 100 domestic facilities. He replaced David Veness of Britain who resigned in June 2008 over the December 2007 truck bombing at U.N. offices and another building in Algiers that killed 17 U.N. staffers and injured 40 others.

Monday, December 21, 2009

WORLD-INTERESTING FACTS

  • The Atacama desert, along the Pacific Ocean in Chile, is the driest place on Earth. Prior to a freak storm in 1971, no rain whatsoever had fallen on the desert in 400 years.
  • The Dasht-e Lut Desert in central Iran, which is about 62,000 square miles in size, has never been inhabited by humans, and no traces of animal or plant life have been found in it.
  • The weight of ice on Antarctica has depressed the continent's land so far that most of it lies below sea level. The Bentley Trench, the lowest point, is 2,538 metres below sea level. However, Antarctica is also known as the world's highest continent. The continent's ice surface averages over 2,000 metres above sea level.
  • The Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas is. It is about 160 kilometres east of Hope and extends 65 kilometres farther south
  • The only populated continental land south of 40° South Latitude is cold Patagonia, the southern tip of South America. On the other hand, most of Europe, Asia, and two-thirds of North America are north of 40° North Latitude
  • In 1852, the first official calculation of the height of Mount Everest was performed. All six measurements that were made were different. Averaging the six results (between 28,990 feet and 29,026 feet), the result was 29,000 feet exactly. Unwilling to publish a figure that just looked like an estimate, the people who made the calculation arbitrarily added 2 feet to the value, giving a value of 29,002 fee
  • Three of the world's ten longest rivers have their source in China, and three more have their source in Mongolia
  • Because of Iceland's geographical isolation from mainland Europe, no human beings ever set foot on Iceland until mediaeval times. The first humans to arrive on Iceland were Irish explorers, who arrived no later than 795 A.D. They established a colony, but it didn't last. By the time the Vikings arrived eighty years later and established a permanent settlement, only a few hermits remained
  • The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth's surface bounded by land, at about 1,300 feet below sea level. The water in the Dead Sea has no outflow. As water evaporates, minerals are left behind, so that the Dead Sea now has 25% salt content.
  • The world's largest island is Greenland (2,131,600 km²). It is almost three times as large as the world's second-largest island, New Guinea (790,000 km²)
  • The Nile is the only river in the world that has its source near the equator and from there flows into a temperate zone
  • The Grand Canyon was not seen by a white man until May 29, 1869, when it was entered by the geologist John Wesley Powell
  • Istanbul is the only city that resides on two continents, namely Europe and Asia.
  • Antarctica's ice sheet holds 90% of the world's fresh water. This ice sheet is up to 2,000 metres deep in places and covers almost the entire continent.
  • The Eastern side of the Panama Canal connects to the Atlantic Ocean and the Western side of the canal to the Pacific, not the other way around.
  • The coldest place in the Earth's lower atmosphere is usually not over the North or South Poles, as might be expected, but over the Equator. The tropopause, the boundary between the two lowest layers of the atmosphere, varies in height from an average of only 9 kilometres above the two poles to 18 kilometres over the Equator. Air temperature steadily decreases up to the top of the tropopause. So, temperatures often fall as low as -80°C high over the equator, whereas over the poles they rarely fall below -55°C
  • The Sahara Desert, while it is the largest desert in the world, is not the largest sand desert in the world. Most of the Sahara consists of rock. The largest sand desert in the world is the Great Arabian Desert, or Rub-al-Khali, in the Arabian Peninsula. 
  • The Dasht-e Lut Desert in central Iran, which is about 62,000 square miles in size, has never been inhabited by humans, and no traces of animal or plant life have been found in it
  • Niagara Falls is slowly eroding. As millions of gallons of water rush over the falls every minute, the underlying rock is being worn away, causing the falls to recede at the rate of one to two feet per year. Since their formation some 12,000 years ago, the falls already have withdrawn seven miles upstream. At the present rate, they would meet up with Lake Erie (about twenty miles from their present site) within the next 35,000 years.
  • The world's largest freshwater lake without any islands is Bernard Lake, in Ontario, Canada, about 60 kilometres south of North Bay. It is an oval-shaped lake about 8 kilometres long by 2 kilometres wide.
  • The world's largest billboard is 300 metres long and 45 metres high. It is in southeast China, overlooking the Yangtze River at Chongqing. However, this area is so continually foggy that no-one has advertised on it since 1998, so China has decided to tear it down.
  • The Wright Brothers did not fly the first manned airplane. On August 14th, 1901, a man named Gustav Albin Whitehead (born Weisskopf), flew a plane around half a mile (800 metres). However, without documentation such as photographs to support his claim, there was significant scepticism about his claim and it was not taken seriously.
  • The weight of ice on Antarctica has depressed the continent's land so far that most of it lies below sea level. The Bentley Trench, the lowest point, is 2,538 metres below sea level. However, Antarctica is also known as the world's highest continent. The continent's ice surface averages over 2,000 metres above sea level.
  • The lowest mountain in the world is Mount Wycheproof in Victoria, Australia, with a summit just 140 feet above the surrounding plains

WBCS History Optional

Many of you have asked me to provide a complete guidance video for History Optional for WBCS Examination. Here goes the first part of the v...