Sci&Tech, Medical and Envirnoment:

An analysis of tiger scat samples collected from January to May this year at the Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal has revealed the presence of 20 tigers in the reserve forest
Initially there were apprehensions of a very low tiger population in the reserve because only a few cases of tiger sighting were recorded.
despite the encouraging figures, officials are worried over the skewed gender ratio of tigers at the reserve.

Plans to test-fire two nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missiles in a salvo mode within 20 minutes of each other were aborted on Wednesday after technical glitches were detected in both the weapon systems during countdown.
The missiles which were picked randomly from the production lot were to be launched from the Interim Test Range at Chandipur in Balasore district of Orissa, by the personnel of the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the armed forces as part of regular user trials.
The single-stage, liquid propelled missile is nine-metre tall, capable of carrying warheads ranging from 500 kg. to 1,000 kg. to a distance of 350 km.

It was the brightest and closest stellar explosion seen from Earth in 25 years, dazzling professional and backyard astronomers alike.
Known as a Type Ia supernova, this type of blast is an essential tool that allows scientists to measure the expansion of the universe and understand the very nature of the cosmos.
On August 24, the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) team discovered the supernova in one of the arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy (also called M101), 21 million light years away. They caught the supernova just 11 hours after it exploded.
The PTF team uses an automated system to search for supernovae, and because they were able to point their telescopes at SN2011fe so quickly after its detonation, the astronomers were able to put together a blow-by-blow analysis of the explosion, determining that the supernova involves a dense, Earth-sized object called a white dwarf and, most likely, a main-sequence star (a star in the main stage of its life)

The efficiency of conventional solar cells can be increased up to 66 per cent by using an organic plastic semiconductor material.
It is based on harvesting double the number of electrons from one photon.

A new candidate malaria vaccine with the potential to neutralise all strains of the most deadly species of malaria parasite has been developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Oxford.
Vaccinating against malaria is likely to be the most cost-effective way of protecting populations against disease; however, no licensed vaccine is currently available.
demonstrate that a vaccine they have developed induces an antibody response in animal models capable of neutralising all the tested strains of the P. falciparum parasite.
We have created a vaccine that confirms the recent discovery relating to the biology of RH5 antigen, given it can generate an immune response in animal models capable of neutralising many — and potentially all — strains of the P. falciparum parasite, the deadliest species of malaria parasite.
Our next step will be to begin safety tests of this vaccine.
If these prove successful, clinical trials in patients may begin within the next two to three years.

A new vaccine developed at the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona dramatically reduces tumours in a mouse model that mimics 90 per cent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases.