A new source of renewable energy

Surplus and waste watermelons from farms harvests can be converted into energy now. 2.5 million gallons of clean, renewable ethanol fuel can be got from watermelons that are required for a year destined for your car, truck, or airplane's gas tank.

In United States, every year 360,000 tons of watermelons spoil in fields. Some local growers who are worried about this wondered whether the waste watermelons can be turned into ethanol, the clean-burning fuel derived from plant sugars. In a sequence of new experiments that was published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, Fish and his team showed that they can.

Smog causes serious health problems.

Poor air quality is harmful to health. The primary target is the respiratory system, but air pollution also targets the heart and the immune system. Particle pollution poses particular risks to the cardiac system.

Sources of smog include:

• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) come almost entirely from man-made sources: combustion of fuels in cars and trucks, coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers and gas-powered engines such as lawnmowers and leaf blowers. This occurs because nitrogen gas -- which accounts for about 80% of air -- also burns (oxidizes) when other fuels are burned.

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are vapors that emanate from paint and print shops, gas stations, dry cleaners, lawn chemicals, and from combustion engines, such as those in cars and trucks, boats and diesel locomotives. Trees also release VOCs.

• Particle pollution, or particulate matter (PM), consists of a mixture of extremely small solids and liquid droplets that typically includes aerosols and fine solids, such as dust and soot. Sources include all types of combustion, including vehicle exhaust, power plants, wood burning, construction activity and agriculture.

Causes of tornadoes

Thunderstorms develop in warm, moist air in advance of eastward-moving cold fronts. These thunderstorms often produce large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. Tornadoes in the winter and early spring are often associated with strong, frontal systems that form in the Central States and move east. Occasionally, large outbreaks of tornadoes occur with this type of weather pattern. Several states may be affected by numerous severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

During the spring in the Central Plains, thunderstorms frequently develop along a "dryline," which separates very warm, moist air to the east from hot, dry air to the west. Tornado-producing thunderstorms may form as the dryline moves east during the afternoon hours.

Along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, in the Texas panhandle, and in the southern High Plains, thunderstorms frequently form as air near the ground flows "upslope" toward higher terrain. If other favorable conditions exist, these thunderstorms can produce tornadoes.

Tornadoes occasionally accompany tropical storms and hurricanes that move over land. Tornadoes are most common to the right and ahead of the path of the storm center as it comes onshore.

Working of satellites

A satellite works by receiving radio signals sent from the Earth and resending the radio signals back down to the Earth. In a simple system, a signal is reflected, or "bounced," off the satellite. For example, it is possible to bounce a signal off the surface of the Moon back down to Earth. Because the Moon is very far away, for this to work the signal from the Earth must be very strong and the receiver receiving the signal must be sensitive enough to detect the very weak signal receive back from the moon.

Unlike a passive satellite such as the moon or the early ECHO satellite, a modern communications satellite receives the radio signal and sends it back down to Earth stronger than it was received. This process is called "amplification" of the radio signal. In addition to amplifying the signal, a communications satellite also typically converts the radio from one frequency to another so that the signal getting sent down is not confused with the signal being sent up.

The Green Dinosaur

The Green Dinosaur is one of the common names for this tree, also known as Ribbonwood and Idiot Fruit. It has its own interesting story of life, extinction and rebirth as well as an unsolved mystery!

The Ribbonwood tree (Idiospermum australiense) is a relic species and has a most unusual characteristic which sets it apart from modern plants. All modern flowering plants produce seeds which have either one seed leaf (monocots) or two seed leaves (dicots) but the seeds of the Idiospermum can have between 2 to 6 seed leaves! Normally seeds will germinate and send up a single shoot but the Ribbonwood can sprout more than one shoot per seed. The fruit is large at 80mm (just over 3 inches) and globular, splitting into four segments on the ground. The red, spirally arranged flowers are also another indication of its primitiveness.

The Green Dinosaur was located in the late 1800's by timber cutters south of Cairns who brought it to the attention of a German botanist named Diels. By the time Diels returned to the spot where this tree was found, they had been clearfelled for sugarcane (one of the principal commercial crops of north Queensland). It was believed to be gone forever. However, in 1971, the species was rediscovered - not because someone identified the tree from its unusual tree-ring pattern - but because its fruit was turning up in the stomachs of dead cattle! We now know that its fruit is toxic.

There is another intriguing aspect to the Ribbonwood tree and that is how its seeds are dispersed. The successful continuance of most rainforest species depends on their seeds being dispersed away from the parent plant. The Green Dinosaur's seeds are large, heavy, do not float and are too poisonous for most animals to eat. Gravity dispersal may be why the Ribbonwood tree is only found in very wet lowland rainforest in very few locations.

Future Climate Change

Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will increase during the next century unless greenhouse gas emissions decrease substantially from present levels. Increased greenhouse gas concentrations are very likely to raise the Earth's average temperature, influence precipitation and some storm patterns as well as raise sea levels (IPCC, 2007). The magnitude of these changes, however, is uncertain.

The amount and speed of future climate change will ultimately depend on:

• Whether greenhouse gases and aerosol concentrations increase, stay the same or decrease.

• How strongly features of the climate (e.g. temperature, precipitation and sea level) respond to changes in greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations.

• How much the climate varies as a result of natural influences (e.g. from volcanic activity and changes in the sun’s intensity) and its internal variability (referring to random changes in the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans).

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is one of the most astonishing natural phenomenons as it seems to be drawn from science fiction or comic books, rather than science and natural history. Where else to you find characters with green lanterns, or shooting red beams of light, or escaping with a flash of blue light. How can a living animal make light? The technical answer is that light is produced by energy released from chemical reactions occurring inside (or ejected by) an organism.

One would think that this capability would be rare in nature, yet in the ocean most types of animals — ranging from bacteria to sharks — include bioluminescent members. In fact, it is estimated that luminescence has evolved independently at least 40 times. The functions of bioluminescence are not known for all animals, but typically it is used during ecological interactions for defense (warning or evading predators) or offense (luring or detecting prey), and at times for communication between members of the same species.

Nanotechnology and its Benefits

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions between 1 and 100 nanometers, where single phenomenon enables novel applications. Surrounding nanoscale science, engineering, and technology, nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at this length scale.

A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick; a single gold atom is about a third or a nanometer in diameter. Dimensions between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers are known as the nanoscale. Unusual physical, chemical, and biological properties can emerge in materials at the nanoscale. These properties may differ in important ways from the properties of bulk materials and single atoms or molecules.

The power of nanotechnology is rooted in its potential to transform and revolutionize multiple technology and industry sectors, including aerospace, agriculture, biotechnology, homeland security and national defense, energy, environmental improvement, information technology, medicine, and transportation. Discovery in some of these areas has advanced to the point where it is now possible to identify applications that will impact the world we live in.

Types of medicine

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is that knowledge of life, which deals elaborately and at length with conditions beneficial or otherwise to the humanity, and, to factors conducive to the happiness, or responsible for misery or sorrow besides indicating measures for healthful living for full span of life.

Yoga

Yoga is a science as well an art of healthy living physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. It’s systematic growth from his animal level to the normalcy, from there to the divinity, ultimately. It’s no way limited by race, age, sex, religion, cast or creed and can be practiced by those who seek an education on better living and those who want to have a more meaningful life.

Naturopathy

Naturopathy or Nature Cure believes that all the diseases arise due to accumulation of morbid matter in the body and if scope is given for its removal, it provides cure or relief. For treatment it primarily stresses on correcting all the factors involved and allowing the body to recover itself. The five main modalities of treatment are air, water, heat, mud and space.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy has been practiced in India for more than a century and a half. It has blended so well into the roots and traditions of the country that it has been recognised as one of the National Systems of Medicine and plays an important role in providing health care to a large number of people.

Unani

Unani postulates that the body contains a self-preservative power, which strives to restore any disturbance within the limits prescribed by the constitution or State of the individual. The physician merely aims to help and develop rather than supersede or impede the action of this power.

Siddha

Siddha is very similar to Ayurveda. In the Siddha system, chemistry had been found well developed into a science auxiliary to medicine and alchemy. It was found useful in the preparation of medicine as well as in transmutation of basic metals into gold.

Acupressure

Acupressure is the application of pressure or localized massage to specific sites on the body to control symptoms such as pain or nausea. It is derived from traditional Chinese medicine, which is a form of treatment for pain that involves pressure on particular points in the body knows as “acupressure points”. A practitioner puts pressure on specific points on the body with his or her fingers in order to relieve pain and discomfort, prevent tension-related ailments, and promote good health.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese form of medicine, which involves the insertion of pins in certain vital points of the body. It is used for the treatment of chronic pain conditions such as arthritis, bursitis, headache, athletic injuries, and posttraumatic and post surgical pain.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine generally refers to the use of communication and information technologies for the delivery of clinical care. It may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists in two different countries.

New watch phone

Watch phone trader 3G Watches releases the latest addition to its previously popular fleet of cell phone watches, the all new Flex 110. The Flex 110 is the stylish and classy big brother to the previously trendy sporty Flex. The Flex 110 multimedia watch phone possess the same functions as the Flex, but with a design geared toward the business class.

This shiny and classy cell phone watch is sure to be a hit .Operating on 900/1800/1900 gsm, T-Mobile and AT&T customer's now have what many consider to be the most new styled watch phone to date. The Flex 110 comes ready with touch screen, Bluetooth capabilities, mp3, mp4 player, digital, FM radio tuner, and video camera.

Watch phone trader, 3G Watches specializes in selling high-tech multimedia cell phone watch devices equipped with Bluetooth, mp3, video player, digital, and video camera ready to use in the U.S. with carrier's AT&T and T-Mobile.

Japanese inventions

They've got the ones that clean, and others that can pour drinks, so it was only a matter of instant by Japanese inventors came up with robots that can cook.Various prototype robo-chefs showed off their cooking skills at the International Food Machinery and Technology Expo in Tokyo this week, flipping "okonomiyaki" Japanese pancakes, serving sushi and slicing vegetables.

Japan has one of the world's fastest aging societies and experts say robots can help care for the growing number of elderly, and fill in for the lack of young people willing to take on jobs as chefs, cleaners or caretakers.

Japan is home to almost half the world's 800,000 industrial robots and expects the industry to expand to $10 billion.Tomio Sugiura, president of Sugiura Kikai Sekkei, which manufactured the vegetable-slicing robot, saw a robot in every home in the near future.

End of Dual-Sim Mobile Phones?

More than two weeks after a petition was filed by Madurai resident Somasundaram Ramkumar, the Madras High Court has directed mobile manufacturers to restrain from manufacturing and selling dual sim phones in India.

Apparently, Ramkumar claims to hold Indian patent (No.214388) for plurality of SIM cards in a single mobile handset (in simpler terms, dual SIM phones) and claims the rights over the technology used to manufacture such phones.

The High Court has sought the implementation of the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules 2007 Act. This Act enables customs officials to seize imported goods that infringe patents.

The directive by the High Court has hit the sales of devices from manufacturers like Samsung, LG, MIRC Electronics and Spice Mobile who have quite a few number of dual SIM models on sale.

ForMoreInfo: http://www.techtree.com/India/News/End_of_Dual-Sim_Mobile_Phones/551-100499-547.html

Easy Water Days Are Over

Gerhard Payen is an adviser on water to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President of The International Federation of Private Water Operators - association that connects international organizations with private sector providers of water and sanitation services. He says the U.N. report is an important wake up call to the world.

"The reality today is that water scarcity is increasing in many parts of the world because of increasing usage and also partly due to climate change," Payen explained. "This is a reality. So easy water [i.e., easily accessible drinking water] is over. So in the future, we will have to manage water more carefully. There are potential conflicts. So if the governments don't care that conflicts will emerge, this is at local regional and international level. This is a collective responsibility; all of us have a role to play. We have to realize we are so numerous on this planet. Easy water is over."

Cardinal's NCAA Hopes Die In L.A.

The Cardinal probably will be notified sometime Sunday which team it will play in the postseason, but Stanford's 85-73 loss to No. 13 Washington in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday guaranteed that the Cardinal will not be playing in the March event that matters most - the NCAA Tournament.

In all likelihood, the Cardinal (18-13) will play in a postseason tournament for the 16th straight season, but for only the second time in 15 years, it won't be the main event.

"The NCAA is every team's goal," Stanford junior Landry Fields said, "but I know our team would love to keep playing. It hurts not to play in the Big Dance, but the next best thing is to play in something else."

Something else for the Cardinal might be the National Invitation Tournament, which announces its field Sunday after the NCAA Tournament names its 65 teams.

The Cardinal had given up on earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament weeks ago, but the hope of getting an automatic berth by winning the Pac-10 tournament got a boost when Stanford won three of four games heading into the matchup with regular-season champion Washington (25-7).

Thanks to the efforts of Fields, who filled every column of the stat sheet, and Anthony Goods, who had his second consecutive big offensive game, the Cardinal gave the Huskies a run.

The Cardinal tied the game 43-43 with 17:19 left on a basket by Goods, who had a season-high 26 points one day after scoring 23 in the win over Oregon State.

However, Stanford scored only one point over the next three minutes, while the Huskies stepped up the pace and scored seven straight points, systematically taking the Cardinal out of the game.

The Cardinal could not keep up with Washington's speed and never got closer than five points the rest of the way while losing to the Huskies for the third time this season.

"I thought early in the game when it was going up and down that it would be in our favor, and maybe it was," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Fields had no trouble with the frantic nature of the game, collecting 16 points, a season-high 15 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. He also had five turnovers to put a significant number in every statistical category.

Washington, which ranks third nationally in rebounding margin, collected 18 points on second-chance opportunities, but the Cardinal countered by getting 20 second-chance points of their own. The bigger problem was the transition baskets that helped the Huskies shoot 60.7 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.

Jeanette Pohlen Scored High

Jeanette Pohlen scored a career-high 21 points, including two free throws in the final seconds, as No. 2 Stanford held on to defeat Arizona 70-67 and clinch a share of the Pac-10 regular-season championship.

Stanford (25-4, 16-1) has either won outright or shared the Pac-10 regular-season title for nine straight seasons. The Cardinal can win the 2008-09 crown outright Saturday with a victory over No. 18 Arizona State.

Stanford, which got 16 points from Kayla Pedersen, beat Arizona (11-17, 4-13) for the 12th time and won its 28th consecutive game at Maples Pavilion.

Arizona sophomore forward Ify Ibekwe, the Wildcats' leading scorer and rebounder, returned to action after missing two games with a knee injury and finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Demands More From Batsmen

Mithali Raj, one of the senior batsmen in the Indian women's team, has demanded an improved batting performance during the upcoming World Cup in Australia. India have lost their previous nine completed ODIs - defeated 4-0 by England and going down 5-0 to Australia - in which the batsmen struggled to put up competitive scores.

"A score of 200-plus is a bare minimum. Gone are the days in women's cricket where a team scored 170 and defended it," Mithali was quoted as saying in the Times of India. "Our openers haven't done well and that means the middle order was exposed to the new ball almost every time. That was the problem in Australia and England."

She was pleased with the team's effort during training, when they scored in excess of 200 in both their practice games.The team, she said, had also prepared for faster pitches by batting against bowling machines at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Bandra-Kurla Complex ground.

Though India had a demoralising tour of Australia late last year, Mithali was confident of a better show next month. "It's the end of the season and the wickets won't be too bouncy. If anything they will keep low."

India were runners-up in the previous edition in South Africa in 2005, losing in the final to Australia. They are placed in Group A with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England, and will face Pakistan in the tournament opener at the Bradman Oval in Bowral on March 7.

Researchers for HIV work

Even as Connecticut considers reducing funding for AIDS programs, state public health researchers are winning accolades for their work with those living with HIV.

A program developed at the University of Connecticut's Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention is among a group of eight intervention programs commended recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the program, known as "Options," clinicians are trained to counsel HIV-positive patients during routine medical appointments to avoid risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and drug use, developing a list of behavioral prescriptions for patients to follow as they live with the virus.

"Most interventions focus on people not infected with HIV and not likely to become infected," said Jeffrey D. Fisher, a social psychology professor at UConn and director of the intervention center. "But we also need to help people who have HIV to practice safer sex and drug use."

Such precautions are necessary not just to protect the health of those living with HIV or AIDS, which make patients substantially more susceptible to infection and disease, but also to ensure that continued risky behavior doesn't spread HIV to those with whom diagnosed people share needles or have sex.

Fisher developed the program in the late 1990s with his brother, Bill Fisher, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, and three other researchers from CHIP and Yale University.

The Options program was developed from current behavioral theory and a process of collaboration with those struggling with HIV diagnosis and problems with substance abuse or risky sex, Fisher said. The intervention plan asks clinical workers to work with patients to develop strategies for reducing risk, and to evaluate each patient's willingness to change.

The program was included this year in "The 2008 Compendium of Evidence-based HIV Prevention Interventions," which is compiled annually by the CDC, and recognizes programs that have proven successful at reducing HIV infection and behavior that can increase the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The CDC estimates that 46,000 people were infected with HIV in the U.S. in 2006, the most recent year for which data was available.

Source: theday.com/re.aspx?re=76b88ed9-71a3-4510-a675-6361d367da02

Programming languages

A programming language is an extreme case of a formal language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer, to perform specific tasks. Programming languages are defined using syntactic and semantic rules, to determine structure and meaning respectively.

Programming languages are used to facilitate communication about the task of organizing and manipulating information, and to express algorithms precisely. Some authors restrict the term "programming language" to those languages that can express all possible algorithms; sometimes the term "computer language" is used for artificial languages that are more limited.

CD-Text

CD-Text is an extension of the Red Book specification for audio CD that allows for storage of additional text information (e.g., album name, song name, artist) on a standards-compliant audio CD. The information is stored either in the lead-in area of the CD, where there is roughly five kilobytes of space available, or in the subcode channels R to W on the disc, which can store about 31 megabytes.

Zygosity

In genetics, zygosity refers to the similarity or dissimilarity of the DNA sequences in specific coding segments, or genes, on the homologous chromosomes of a zygote, or fertilized egg. The DNA sequence of any gene can vary among individuals in the population. The various forms of a gene are called alleles, and diploid organisms generally have two alleles for each gene, one on each of the two homologous chromosomes on which the gene is present. In diploid organisms, the alleles are inherited from the individual's parents, one from the male parent and one from the female. Zygosity in general is a description of whether those two alleles code for the same trait expression or different ones, but there are several specific applications of the term.