Sci&Tech, Medical and Envirnoment

Research into new therapies for incurable and life-threatening diseases has suffered a blow after the European Court ruled that procedures that use embryonic stem cells cannot be patented.
They fear it will hamper research and stifle commercial investment.
Medical researchers around the world use stem cells from stores created from surplus IVF embryos. These embryos are donated by couples who have completed their fertility treatment and would otherwise be routinely destroyed by clinics.
Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep, said the decision was “very much to be regretted”.
The judgment says any fertilised human egg is an embryo, that scientific research does fall within the scope of industrial or commercial purposes, and that the ban applies to any procedure that draws on stem cells created by destroying embryos.

The Loktak hydro-electric power project, commissioned three decades back, has reached electricity to thousands, but robbed thousand others of their livelihood.
The Loktak lake, which has to have water to the optimum, often causes flash flood in the agricultural land on its periphery, turning them into swamps unfit for cultivation.
The State government estimates that the Ithai barrage on Manipur river, constructed in 1979 as a part of the power project, has submerged 20,000 hectares of cultivable land
The only option for the thousands of poor farmers living around the lake, spread over 230 sq km area, is to switch over to fishing in the swamps, but that means huge additional investment.
Besides this, large tracts of land and permanent ’phumdies’ (floating biomass) are also temporarily flooded during the rainy season each year.
Over the years, the annual frequency of floods have increased from one to three.
During floods the fish catch goes down drastically as the ponds overflowed with water and silt.
The power project was commissioned without any planning by the State government. They have to give a rehabilitation package or stop flooding
Traditional aquatic vegetation, once a main food item and source of income, has largely vanished from the wetland

For a given long term rate of hurricanes (e.g., once per decade), clustered events are less damaging than random ones as they give reefs time to recover.
Considering this helps predict the future of coral reefs accurately.

Redgram or pigeon pea ( cajanus cajan ) is one of the important pulse crops of Tamil Nadu, the productivity of which is very low.
Transplanting is a new tool by which healthy and vigorous seedlings can be raised in nursery, screened and transplanted in the main field
With the aim of increasing the area under redgram in dryland condition, research efforts were done at Regional Research Station (TNAU), Aruppukottai in which early maturity during pre monsoon pigeonpea cultivars like APK1, Vamban 2, Vamban 3(RG) of 110 days duration were raised in protrays nurseries during pre-monsoon period and 21 days old seedling were transplanted on receipt of soaking rain by augur hole pit method.

Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk unveiled eight cloned coyotes today in a project sponsored by a provincial government.
Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into creating human stem cells from a cloned embryo was found to be faked. But his work in creating Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, in 2005 has been verified by experts and authorities.

Humanoid robots are making an entry into classrooms in academic and research institutions in the Middle East, promising to revolutionise the teaching process especially in the fields of science and mathematics.
Powered by Intel Atom technology, Nao is the first versatile and programmable humanoid robot to be used as a standard research platform and an educational tool
includes visual programming software Choregraphe and a 3D simulator along with numerous application programming interfaces (APIs).

Scientists have successfully demonstrated that they can build some of the basic components for digital devices out of bacteria and DNA

Researchers have revealed for the first time the existence of a new signature of the birth of the first stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

In a major passenger friendly move, Indian Railways has opened the first phase of the Real Train Information System (RTIS) to public for accurate train tracking thus heralding a new era of application of advanced communication and information technologies in various Railway related activities.
This new tracking system is based on Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) and has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Railways’ Research arm namely Research, Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow and noted engineering institute, IIT, Kanpur.