Rakhshanda's Blog

Green University: Saudi Arabia’s KAUST With Eco-Friendly Environment

2009-11-04T16:02:00.000+05:30

With the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, otherwise known as KAUST, a new era in academic learning, combined with new innovations in ecological architecture and design, has begun in which both men and women students will benefit jointly.

The new campus opened its doors in September in the Red Sea city of Thuwal. The Campus is constructed in a manner to utilize the maximum benefit of sea breezes for cooling, the buildings have been constructed in order to screen out a good amount of the heat that is generated by the hot Arabian sun; making the internal environment more sustainable for the students.

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GEC launches Gujarat's first GIS-based website

2009-11-03T00:00:00.000+05:30

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India offers to share satellite data with ASEAN countries

2009-10-29T01:15:00.000+05:30

India offered to help South East Asian nations in management of natural disasters by sharing satellite data for the region and launch small satellites built by them."We would be ready to share satellite data for management of natural disasters, launch small satellites and scientific instruments and payloads for experiments in remote sensing and communication for space agencies and academic institutions in ASEAN countries," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.The Indian Space Research Centre (ISRO) has one of the largest constellation of advanced remote sensing satellites in the world which orbit the earth at regular intervals. Images of the earth received from these satellites can be utilised for disaster management initiatives in the ASEAN region, parts of which are prone to cyclones and earthquakes.

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Killer Algae was Key Player In Mass Extinctions

2009-10-20T19:53:00.000+05:30

A new theory suggests lowly algae may be the killer behind the world's great species annihilations. Anywhere there is water, there can be toxic algae. The microscopic plants usually exist in small concentrations, but a sudden warming in the water or an injection of dust or sediment from land can trigger a bloom that kills thousands of fish, poisons shellfish, or even humans.

James Castle and John Rodgers of Clemson University think the same thing happened during the five largest mass extinctions in Earth's history. Each time a large die off occurred, they found a spike in the number of fossil algae mats called stromatolites strewn around the planet.

Farmers use vending machines to sell produce

2009-10-12T12:21:00.000+05:30

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Online atlas to map Indian state’s biodiversity 8 October 2009

2009-10-08T19:39:00.000+05:30

The Karnataka Biodiversity Board (KBB) is preparing an online atlas of the state’s biodiversity. The atlas, the first of its kind in the country, will provide information about the diversity of Karnataka’s wildlife species and their habitats and help researchers, resource managers, decision-makers and the public. This would help conservation planning and decisionmaking.The KBB official said that once the atlas was ready, any individual, group or agency concerned about biodiversity and interested in protecting the diverse species and habitats in the state, could access a range of data under one umbrella.The board has identified four organisations— Atree (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment), Bangalore University, EMPRI (Environment Management and Policy Research Institute) and the Forest College of the Agriculture University— for the development and maintenance of this atlas.The National Biodiversity Board would be the primary funding agency for this project. Institutions involved in the project would prepare their respective cost estimates.

Source : http://www.expressbuzz.com

Iran test-fires missiles amid nuclear tension

2009-09-28T08:46:00.001+05:30

Iran test-fired missiles to show it was prepared to head off any military threat, four days before the Islamic Republic is due to hold rare talks with world powers worried about its nuclear ambitions.
It coincide with escalating tension in Iran's nuclear row with the West, after last week's disclosure by Tehran that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant.

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Thinning Of Greenland And Antarctic Ice

2009-09-27T12:24:00.001+05:30

The most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers. The findings are an important step forward in the quest to make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise.

Reporting in the journal Nature, researchers from British Antarctic Survey and the University of Bristol describe how analysis of millions of NASA satellite measurements* from both of these vast ice sheets shows that the most profound ice loss is a result of glaciers speeding up where they flow into the sea.

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Everest "memento" for Obama to show climate change impact

2009-09-20T10:06:00.000+05:30

Nepal's sherpa community is sending a piece of rock from Mount Everest to U.S. President Barack Obama to underscore the impact of global warming on the Himalayas.

Environmental group WWF said Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had promised to carry the "memento" and give it to Obama when world leaders meet in New York next week as "a symbol of the melting Himalayas in the wake of climate change."

Heads of state will attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting as well as hold talks on climate change in New York.

The rock was collected from the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) Mount Everest by Apa Sherpa, who climbed the mountain for a record 19th time in May.

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San Francisco Launches First Airport Carbon Kiosks

2009-09-19T20:10:00.000+05:30

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German ships successfully make "Arctic Passage"

2009-09-12T22:40:00.002+05:30

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EPA to declare CO2 a dangerous pollutant

2009-09-01T20:10:00.000+05:30

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Ganges River Dolphin Survival Threatened by Oil Exploration

2009-08-31T14:25:00.001+05:30

Dolphin protected areas must be established if the Ganges River dolphin is to survive in the Brahmaputra river system, new research indicates. The study was prompted by the need for accurate dolphin population data after Oil India Ltd. proposed to start prospecting for oil along the bed of the Brahmaputra River using air guns and explosives.
Such prospecting "has potentially disastrous implications for Ganges River dolphins," the report concludes.Estimates have put the total population of the Ganges River dolphin, Platanista gangetica gangetica, at around 2,000. Between 240 to 300 of these inhabit the Brahmaputra River system in India, according to the survey prepared for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Sir Peter Scott Fund.

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Oil spill sparks evacuation off Australian coast

2009-08-22T00:28:00.002+05:30

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An oil leak off Australia's western coast has sparked the evacuation of dozens of workers from a rig, the operator PTTEP Australasia said .

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Eating carbon - Greenhouse gases

2009-08-20T19:37:00.000+05:30

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Wipro’s Green Gamble

2009-08-20T00:28:00.000+05:30

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For Greening Aviation, Are Biofuels The Right Stuff?

2009-08-15T16:36:00.000+05:30

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3D topographic lunar map by September

2009-08-11T00:09:00.000+05:30

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More Accurate Weather Forecasts Coming Soon

2009-08-07T12:29:00.001+05:30

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Asia darkens under longest solar eclipse of century

2009-07-22T15:13:00.001+05:30

A total solar eclipse on Wednesday swept across a narrow swathe of Asia, where hundreds of millions of people watched the skies darken, though in some places thick summer clouds blocked the sun.

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century cut through the world's most populous nations, India and China, as it travelled half the globe. It was visible along a roughly 250 km-wide (155 miles) corridor, U.S. space agency NASA said.In India, where eclipse superstitions are rife, people snaked through the narrow lanes of the ancient Hindu holy city of Varanasi and gathered for a dip in the Ganges, an act believed to bring release from the cycle of life and death.Amid chanting of Hindu hymns, thousands of men, women and children waded into the river with folded hands and prayed to the sun as it emerged in an overcast sky."We have come here because our elders told us this is the best time to improve our afterlife," said Bhailal Sharma, a villager from central India travelling in a group of about 100.But for one 80-year-old woman the trip was fatal. Police said she died from suffocation in the crowd of hundreds of thousands that had gathered to bathe in the Ganges.The eclipse next swept through Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and over the crowded cities along China's Yangtze River, before heading to the Pacific.In Hindu-majority Nepal, the government declared Wednesday a public holiday and thousands headed for water.

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Solar eclipse

2009-07-21T23:24:00.001+05:30

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Are Aluminum Bottles Greener than Glass?

2009-07-19T16:36:00.002+05:30

Aluminum as a substitute for glass bottles has been inching its way into the consumer experience in the last few years, most notably in the US in the form of beer bottles from Anheuser-Busch and Iron City Beer, a popular regional brand founded in Pittsburgh. Coca-cola has also announced plans to roll out aluminum bottles in this country, though only in limited venues.

Now Rexam, one of the world’s largest consumer packaging companies, has developed a lighter, resealable aluminum bottle that it hopes will replace glass bottles for many beverages, including wine.

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Environmental Scientists Use Fish Behavior To Monitor Water Quality

2009-07-14T15:43:00.001+05:30

Researchers are using bluegills to detect industrial and agricultural spills in water supplies. Changes in the environment cause the fishes' behavior and breathing patterns to change. Electrodes are placed inside the tanks that contain the fish and water from a nearby water supply, and they set off an alarm if conditions inside the tank change.

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DubaiSat-1 reaches launch pad in Kazakhstan

2009-07-13T19:46:00.002+05:30

The first remote sensing satellite developed by a UAE entity - the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science & Technology (EIAST) has been shipped from its development base in South Korea to the launch pad in Baikonour in Kazakhstan. DubaiSat-1 is a stepping stone in the UAE's attempt to create a sound infrastructure that enables the collection of space and earth observation data to power the comprehensive development of the nation. The satellite highlights the commitment of EIAST to create a knowledge based economy by leveraging the advances in satellite technology.The launch of DubaiSat-1 consists of three segments; space, ground and actual launch. The ground segment comprises mission control station, image receiving and processing station, and antenna and RF subsystem.

NAVTEQ’s first map of Egypt

2009-07-07T19:38:00.001+05:30

NAVTEQ released first Intermediate map for Egypt. The product will represents the highest 3rd party data available published in standard formats supported by NAVTEQ globally.With this Intermediate Map of Egypt, drivers will have access to approximately 50,000 km of roads and more than 42,000 POIs referenced to the map to enhance the functionality of navigation systems.Egypt has a very complex road network, strong tourism industry and is one of the region's most populous nations, with an estimated population of 78.3 million inhabitants. The Intermediate Map of Egypt has been designed to meet the evolving needs of the growing user base. Intermediate Maps are a separate class of map data provided by NAVTEQ to support customers who are interested in introducing LBS and navigation applications in emerging markets. The launch of Egypt further demonstrates NAVTEQ's ongoing commitment to the region. Future plans include upgrading Egypt to a NAVTEQ map. To accomplish this, NAVTEQ's geographic analysts will drive the roads to collect and verify up to 260 attributes, resulting in the highest quality navigable map and a foundation for new content.

Source : http://www.zawya.com/