NASA probe to explore global atmosphere over oceans

WASHINGTON: NASA is set to launch a new airborne mission to map the contours of the atmosphere as carefully as explorers once traced the land and oceans below.The Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom, is the first to survey the atmosphere over the oceans, the US space agency said in a statement. Scientists aboard NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory will journey from the North Pole south over the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand and then across to the tip of South America and north up the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland.ATom will discover how much pollution survives to the most remote corners of the earth and assess how the environment has changed as a result, the statement added."We've had many airborne measurements of the atmosphere over land, where most pollutants are emitted, but land is only a small fraction of the planet," said Michael Prather, an atmospheric scientist and ATom's deputy project scientist at University of California Irvine.

'Gene - An Intimate History' by Indian American oncologist

NEW DELHI: The ethical and moral quandaries thrown up by the question of manipulation of the human genome -- of whether a man can truly transcend his genes -- are hotly debated, as are the unbridled prospects it tantalisingly offers.This knotty dilemma of whether human beings should remain bound to heredity or alter the course of future generations, interspersed with a personal family history of mental illness, is something Siddhartha Mukherjee attempts to tackle in his latest book 'The Gene- An Intimate History'.

This year to be one second longer: US Naval Observatory

WASHINGTON: On December 31 this year, a "leap second" will be added to the world's clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time, the US Naval Observatory has announced.
This corresponds to 4:29:59 am IST, on January 1, 2017 when the extra second will be inserted at the US Naval Observatory's (USNO) Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC. Historically, time was based on the mean rotation of the Earth relative to celestial bodies, and the second was defined in this reference frame.

Three astronauts blast off for ISS in upgraded Soyuz craft

BAIKONUR: Three astronauts blasted off Thursday from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome towards the International Space Station in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft. First-time astronauts Kathleen Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japanese space agency set off for a four-month mission at the ISS with two-time Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin at 0136 GMT."And lift-off!" said a commentator on NASA TV, which broadcast footage of the launch in Kazakhstan.The trio's launch was delayed by over two weeks as Russian space officials carried out further software tests on the modified vehicle Features of the new Soyuz series include upgraded boosters, an improved navigation system, strengthened shielding from debris and more cells on the craft's solar panels.

Safari lioness suffering from deadly disease: IVRI report

KANPUR: The Etawah Lion Safari authorities on Wednesday said the pathology test report of ailing lioness Girishma has confirmed that she is suffering from canine distemper, a viral disease that is generally spread by stray dogs. The report was prepared by the Indian Institute of Veterinary Research (IVRI), Bareilly.
They claimed that they are in constant touch with experts at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), US, and Longleat London Safari in this connection. "After receiving report from IVRI Bareilly on Wednesday, we are in regularly consulting experts through e-mails to know about the course of treatment," safari director Sanjay Srivastava told TOI.

Drought stalled Amazon forest's carbon absorption

The Amazon forest spanning across Brazil, Columbia, Peru and other South American countries is the world's largest forest covering 5.5 million square kilometers. Scientists have estimated that it stores 100 billion tonnes of carbon in its biomass. So any changes in this giant forest have global consequences. It suffered a major drought in 2010, following the 2005 drought.

June ends with rainfall deficiency of 11 per cent

NEW DELHI: Of the four-month monsoon season in the country, June has ended up with the overall rainfall deficiency of 11 per cent and it is fast declining . Monsoon is yet to reach several parts of the