Page 241 - Environment
Himachal CM asks banks to help increase farmers' income
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday said the banks should focus more to improve the investment credit by funding those schemes that helped in increasing the income of the farmers.
Saturn's iconic rings are 'very young': Study
Saturn's spectacular rings are very young -- no more than 100 million years old, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth, scientists using data from the Cassini spacecraft have found. Precise measurements of Cassini's final trajectory allowed scientists led by Sapienza University of Rome in Italy to make the first accurate estimate of the amount of material in the Saturn's rings, weighing them based on the strength of their gravitational pull. The finding, published in the journal Science, show that the rings are relatively recent, having originated less than 100 million years ago and perhaps as recently as 10 million years ago. Their young age puts to rest a long-running argument among planetary scientists. Some thought that the rings formed along with the planet 4.5 billion years ago from icy debris remaining in orbit after the formation of the solar system, researchers said. Others thought the rings were very young and that Saturn had, at some point, captured an object from the ...
NASA's Cassini reveals new details on Saturn's rings
The rings of Saturn may may have formed much later than the planet itself, according to a new analysis of gravity science data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
More asteroids bombarded Earth, Moon beginning 290mn years ago: Study
The number of asteroid impacts on the Earth and the Moon increased by two to three times starting around 290 million years ago, according to a study. The finding, published in the journal Science, challenges our understanding of a part of Earth's history by looking at the Moon, the most complete and accessible chronicle of the asteroid collisions that carved our solar system. "Our research provides evidence for a dramatic change in the rate of asteroid impacts on both Earth and the Moon that occurred around the end of the Paleozoic era," said Sara Mazrouei from the University of Toronto in Canada. "The implication is that since that time we have been in a period of relatively high rate of asteroid impacts that is 2.6 times higher than it was prior to 290 million years ago," Mazrouei said. It had been previously assumed that most of the Earth's older craters produced by asteroid impacts have been erased by erosion and other geologic processes. However, the new research shows ...
Tata group plans to invest in lithium ion battery manufacturing in Gujarat
Tata group Chairman N Chandrasekaran Friday said the conglomerate plans to invest in lithium ion battery manufacturing in Gujarat. Speaking here at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, he said group firm Tata Chemicals is also looking to enhance its soda ash capacity to one million tonnes annually. "Many of our group companies like Tata Chemicals and Tata Motors have very significant presence here. We look forward to continuing our investment in the state," Chandrasekaran said. Tata Motors' plant at Sanand rolls out Tigor electric car besides manufacturing other models such as hatchback Tiago, compact sedan Tigor and Nano. "We want to make further investments, not only in manufacturing electric vehicles, but also in lithium ion battery projects here," Chandrasekaran added. He further said, "We are in discussions with the state government for significantly increasing our capacity of Tata Chemicals to reach one million (10 lakh) tonnes of soda ash." At present, the company's plant at ...
Graffiti in Tokyo could be Banksy artwork
Japanese officials have said that a piece of graffiti found at a monorail station in Tokyo could be the work of British anonymous artist Banksy, the media reported on Friday.
Govt builds 1.37 crore rural homes since April 2014
66.6 lakh homes have been completed under PMAY-G
REPL bags contract from UP govt for water supply project in Bundelkhand
Infrastructure consultancy firm REPL Friday said it has got a contract from Uttar Pradesh government to plan, design and prepare a project report for piped drinking water in Bundelkhand. The company has bagged the contract from the State Water and Sanitation Mission under the Department of Rural Development of the UP government, it said. "The larger scheme of water supply project of the state government will focus on addressing the acute problem of drinking water supply in Bundelkhand region, and at a later stage, arsenic/fluoride and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis affected areas in UP including the Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions," REPL said. Currently, the rural household needs to travel a great distance to fetch water and people still face the challenge of accessing pure drinking water, the company added. REPL will prepare a detailed project report (DPR) which includes the overall planning, engineering survey, designing of the supply model of piped ...
Police seize 23 vehicles, fine 40 drivers for traffic rule violations in Rajouri
Jammu and Kashmir Police seized 23 vehicles and fined 40 drivers for violations of traffic rules in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said. During a drive, several police teams checked vehicles in the past two days and seized 23 vehicles that were plying on roads without requisite documents, they said. Drivers of 40 other vehicles were fined for violations of various traffic rules, they added.
Toyota launches Camry Hybrid at Rs 36.95 lakh in India
Automobile major Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Friday announced the India launch of Camry Hybrid Electric Vehicle (EV) here at an ex-showroom price of Rs 36.95 lakh.
Japan satellite blasts into space to deliver artificial meteors
A rocket carrying a satellite on a mission to deliver the world's first artificial meteor shower blasted into space on Friday, Japanese scientists said. A start-up based in Tokyo developed the micro-satellite for the celestial show over Hiroshima early next year as the initial experiment for what it calls a "shooting stars on demand" service. The satellite is to release tiny balls that glow brightly as they hurtle through the atmosphere, simulating a meteor shower. It hitched a ride on the small-size Epsilon-4 rocket that was launched from the Uchinoura space centre by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Friday morning. The rocket is carrying a total of seven ultra-small satellites that will demonstrate various "innovative" technologies, JAXA spokesman Nobuyoshi Fujimoto told AFP. By around noon on Friday, the first of the seven satellites had been successfully sent into orbit, he added, with JAXA officials waiting for signals to confirm the fate of the other six. The ...
Gangetic river dolphins in the Indian Sundarbans struggle with swelling salinity
Kolkata, Jan 18 (IANS/Mongabay) Indias national aquatic animal, the endangered Gangetic river dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica), is rarely visible in the waterways of the Indian Sundarbans. A study sheds light on the rise in salinity in the water and reduced freshwater flow for the mammals disappearing act in the iconic estuarine habitat.
Delhi's air quality worsens, fog disrupts air and rail traffic
Delhi, routinely suffering from air pollution accompanied by thick fog caused by vehicular exhaust and coal burning, witnessed yet another bad day on Friday.Owing to the low visibility, ten trains were delayed in the morning after the minimum temperature settled at 7 Degrees Celsius.Moreover, flights into and out of Delhi were delayed and diverted from 5:30 am to 7 am after the fog reduced visibility to 50 meters.The official data maintained by the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) put the condition at severely polluted. The Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 level was recorded at 146 while the PM 10 was docking at 233 in New Delhi.At Dhirpur, the AQI was 420 at 8 am, while in Mathura Road area, it dipped to 'hazardous' category with AQI 423. AQI near Pitampura, Airport Terminal 3 and Delhi University stood at 434, 397 and 448, respectively.An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very .
Saturn's rings are younger than the planet itself
Saturn's rings are younger than scientists thought and appeared within the last 10 to 100 million years, according to research published Thursday based on findings from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The sixth planet from the Sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago, along with the rest of the planets in our solar system, and spent the bulk of its existence without the characteristic rings it is known for today. Astronomers have long believed the rings could be young, and perhaps formed by collisions between the moons of Saturn or by a comet that shattered in close proximity to the planet. Some of these answers have come into sharper focus because of Cassini, an unmanned US-European probe that launched in 1997 and ended in 2017 with a planned death plunge into Saturn's surface. At the end of its mission, Cassini made 22 orbits, circling between Saturn and its rings, getting closer to them than any spacecraft in history. By studying how the flight path of Cassini was deflected by the gravity
Hitachi debacle strengthens Franco-Chinese hand in UK nuclear
PARIS (Reuters) - Hitachi's decision to freeze its $28 billion (£22 billion) nuclear power project in Britain strengthens the hand of France's EDF and its Chinese partner in talks with the government on how to finance new reactors.
Bihar lifts ban on sale of live fish
The Bihar government on Thursday evening lifted ban on sale of live fish, three days after it banned the sale, transportation and storage of all kinds of fish -- dead or alive -- in Patna for 15 days, an official said.
Centre to make Euro 6 mandatory for initial launch from April 1, 2020: Nitin Gadkari
The Centre has taken a decision to make Euro 6 mandatory for initial launch from April 1, 2020, said Union Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari on Thursday.Addressing Symposium of International Automotive Technology 2019 in Pune, Gadkari asserted: "Our government has taken a decision to make Euro 6 mandatory for initial launch from April 1, 2020. The way automobiles are increasing is not good for the environment.""There is a need of innovation in alternative fuel technology and automotive technology that can make it user-friendly and cost-effective. Our government has taken many steps to increase the use of alternative fuel in India," he said.Notably, the aim of Euro 6 is to reduce levels of exhaust emissions in petrol and diesel cars, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), hydrocarbons (THC and NMHC) and particulate matter (PM).Elaborating about the government's efforts in tribal areas, Gadkari said: "Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra is a tribal area and we are ...
Rajnath approves report on improving border management
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday approved a report by a task force that recommends identifying areas for use of space technology for better border management, according to an official statement.
Germany wants to extend CO2-related aid for firms beyond 2020: sources
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government wants to extend beyond 2020 CO2-related compensation for companies that are heavy energy consumers as Europe's largest economy shifts towards renewables, several sources close to a government coal commission told Reuters.
Alarming levels of heavy metals found in Delhi, Gurugram air
In addition to the well-known PM2.5 pollutant, alarming levels of "brain damaging" heavy metals such as manganese, nickel and lead have been found in Delhi and Gurugram air during November and December 2018, a report released by the Lung Care Foundation revealed on Thursday.