5 steps to a new fitness routine (HEALTH +)

So, what's your definition of exercising? Start exploring what suits your needs and body type the best. To start with, if the gym feels awkward, then try a 30 minutes brisk walk routine 6 times a week.
Rent exercise videos along the way, or if your budget allows spend on that new fitness class you've been eyeing. Nothing makes the cut? Consider joining a kickbox, karate or dancing class.
Choose between group based activities. If you are not a self-motivating natural-born athlete, then try out a combination of weekend sports (like biking, swimming, cycling or even a Frisbee game with your friends).

Keep your waistline in check by enhancing your social interaction through fitness pursuits. Group based fitness activities offer the added advantage of helping you de-stress in the company of others - something that's definitely preferrable to just being around people when you're hard at work and incredibly stressed out.

Try and adjust your old routine before starting a completely new one. When you reach a plateau in your training, it is not necessary or even advisable to perform a completely new routine. Instead adjust certain variables such as sets and reps, intensity, or a combination, and see if this makes a positive impact upon your training," says our fitness expert, Sophia Yasmin.
But who doesn't need a break? And don't we all love them? So, every 8-12 weeks, a one to two week break from the gym will help rejuvenate the body, adds Yasmin.


Get acquainted with all the indicators of progress: The feeling you get when you fit into your high school jeans again, or can lift heavier without getting exhausted, is immense. Some of the other positive indicators of a good exercise routine are:
- Your family doctor congratulates you on improved levels of cholesterol.
- You have more energy all throughout the day.
- You are able to perform heavy physical activities like moving furniture, without experiencing aches and pains.
Watch out for these mistakes when starting a new fitness routine:
- The 'gym slouch' - Leaning on equipment assists your back more than you should usually require, if you're already healthy and have no structural issues. Refrain from backrests, handles and bars unless lifting heavy.
- Stretching errors: Always start with a warm up, then stretch, and finally start your workout. Also, always end with a cool down phase of deep breathing with stretches. Remember - a good workout must begin and end well.

Asus announces Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Asus has introduced its micro-site for the brand's upcoming tablet Eee Pad Transformer Prime, soon after the roll out of its first promo. The device will be officially unveiled by the company, at the press event to be held on November 9th, as per Asus Chairman Jonney Shih who revealed this at AsiaD conference.


Transformer Prime is the latest model that will be successor of Asus' popular Honeycomb running tablet, Eee Pad Transformer. The gadget will be powered by a NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 Quad core processor.


However, there is no confirmation as of now on the other specifications, it is said to be having a 10-inch display screen and it will be running over Ice Cream Sandwich on-board. Besides, it will also be including the WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS for connectivity.


On the other hand, the Eee Pad Slider will be available from November  in Bangkok. We were hearing that Asus will release the Slider in India by October but still it is not available in the country.


We hope the new upcoming tablet, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime will definitely take months to land in India, even after the global release of the device.

NASA Telescopes Help Solve Ancient Supernova Mystery

A mystery that began nearly 2,000 years ago, when Chinese astronomers witnessed what would turn out to be an exploding star in the sky, has been solved. New infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, reveal how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered remains ultimately spread out to great distances.The findings show that the stellar explosion took place in a hollowed-out cavity, allowing material expelled by the star to travel much faster and farther than it would have otherwise.


"This supernova remnant got really big, really fast," said Brian J. Williams, an astronomer at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Williams is lead author of a new study detailing the findings online in the Astrophysical Journal. "It's two to three times bigger than we would expect for a supernova that was witnessed exploding nearly 2,000 years ago. Now, we've been able to finally pinpoint the cause."In 185 A.D., Chinese astronomers noted a "guest star" that mysteriously appeared in the sky and stayed for about 8 months. By the 1960s, scientists had determined that the mysterious object was the first documented supernova. Later, they pinpointed RCW 86 as a supernova remnant located about 8,000 light-years away. But a puzzle persisted. The star's spherical remains are larger than expected. If they could be seen in the sky today in infrared light, they'd take up more space than our full moon.


The solution arrived through new infrared observations made with Spitzer and WISE, and previous data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton Observatory.


The findings reveal that the event is a "Type Ia" supernova, created by the relatively peaceful death of a star like our sun, which then shrank into a dense star called a white dwarf. The white dwarf is thought to have later blown up in a supernova after siphoning matter, or fuel, from a nearby star.


"A white dwarf is like a smoking cinder from a burnt-out fire," Williams said. "If you pour gasoline on it, it will explode."


The observations also show for the first time that a white dwarf can create a cavity around it before blowing up in a Type Ia event. A cavity would explain why the remains of RCW 86 are so big. When the explosion occurred, the ejected material would have traveled unimpeded by gas and dust and spread out quickly.


Spitzer and WISE allowed the team to measure the temperature of the dust making up the RCW 86 remnant at about minus 325 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 200 degrees Celsius. They then calculated how much gas must be present within the remnant to heat the dust to those temperatures. The results point to a low-density environment for much of the life of the remnant, essentially a cavity.


Scientists initially suspected that RCW 86 was the result of a core-collapse supernova, the most powerful type of stellar blast. They had seen hints of a cavity around the remnant, and, at that time, such cavities were only associated with core-collapse supernovae. In those events, massive stars blow material away from them before they blow up, carving out holes around them.

COMMENTS ON POSTS

Guys listen please i would love to hear from you if u like some page on my blog or even u dislike it no problem or do u need some other posts or my blog annoying you what ever comes in your mind just let me know just do comment at the last of the particular post because a blogger needs your valuable feed back so that I/HE/SHE may get some inspiration because today more than 70 people are watching may posts but no one is commenting on it I just need your comment whether you like it or dislike it. Just give 2 minute of your life if u reading this blog. if u don't wanna show your name to the world just mail me at s21alam@gmail.com or even you wanna give on suggestions of phone then call me at 9094131904 please let me know your suggestions. 
THANKS 


BEST REGARDS

Beware bottle gourd, if juice is bitter(HEALTH +)

The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday asked people to avoid drinking bottle gourd juice if it is bitter. It is consumed in India for controlling diabetes.


In an advisory to the public and physicians of all Indian systems of medicine, the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, said a small piece of bottle gourd (lauki) should be tasted, before extracting its juice, to make sure that it is not bitter. Also, it should not be mixed with any other juice, and medical help should be sought immediately if one felt discomfort, nausea, vomiting or any feeling of uneasiness after consuming lauki juice.


The advisory is based on the report of an expert committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research, chaired by S.K. Sharma, head of the Department of Medicine, AIIMS, which was set up to investigate the safety of consuming lauki juice.


Last year, a senior scientist died and his wife was taken ill seriously after they drank the juice which was bitter. The matter was also raised in Parliament by Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi, MP from Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh.


The committee said any patient with symptoms of discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and gastrointestinal bleeding after consumption of lauki juice should be put on IV fluids before a detailed examination of the vital organs was carried out. Details of the quantity of the juice consumed and its taste should be recorded.

Mukesh Ambani richest Indian: Forbes

TaMukesh Ambani, who heads the oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries Group, has retained his position as the world’s richest Indian with a networth of USD 22.6 billion, as per the Forbes India annual rich list.


Despite a fall of USD 4.4 billion in his networth over the past one year, Mr. Ambani managed to hold the top slot.


He is followed by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and technology czar Azim Premji, as per the list published on Thursday by the Indian edition of global business magazine Forbes.


Mr. Mittal was ranked second with a networth of USD 19.2 billion, while Mr. Premji was at the third position with USD 13 billion of networth, Forbes said.


The 100 richest persons in the country together saw their networth falling by 20 per cent in one year, to USD 241 billion, as inflation, corruption scandals and falling stock and currency prices diminished their wealth.


The list comprises of 57 billionaires, a dozen less than the last year.


Forbes said that Mr. Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani saw the biggest erosion in his wealth in absolute terms, while power producer Lanco Infratech’s Madhusudan Rao was the biggest loser in percentage terms as his networth fell by 78 per cent during the past one year.


Mr. Anil Ambani’s net worth declined by USD 7.4 billion to USD 5.9 billion and he “slipped out of the top 10 for the first time since his 2004 debut”. He was ranked 13th in this year’s list.


In the top-five, Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal and Azim Premji were followed by Essar group’s Shashi and Ravi Ruia (USD 10.2 billion at 4th position) and Savitri Jindal (USD 9.5 billion at 5th).


Others in the top 10 include Sunil Mittal (USD 8.8 billion at 6th position), Gautam Adani (USD 8.2 billion, 7th), Kumar Mangalam Birla (USD 7.7 billion, 8th), Pallonji Mistry (USD 7.6 billion, 9th) and Adi Godrej (USD 6.8 billion, 10th).


This year’s list included 14 new faces and the richest debutante was the founder and CEO of the London-listed oil and gas firm Indus Gas — Ajay Kalsi, at the 38th position with a networth of USD 1.39 billion.


Father-son duo Kapil and Rahul Bhatia of travel group, InterGlobe Enterprises, made their debut at position 51, with a networth of USD 1.09 billion after their budget carrier IndiGo became India’s third-largest and most profitable airline.


Also debuting on the list was V.G. Siddhartha, ranked 84th with a net worth of USD 595 million, and founder of coffee shop retail chain Café Coffee Day.


Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “This has been a turbulent year for India’s richest. Despite the economy growing at close to 8 percent, a spate of corruption scandals and rising inflation have taken a toll.”


Indrajit Gupta, Editor of Forbes India, said: “Even though it’s been another tough year for the wealthiest Indian entrepreneurs on the 2011 India Rich List, the fact that there are as many as 14 new entrants is a clear pointer to the exciting and diverse business opportunities in this part of the world.”


The magazine said that the networth of persons on the list are based on share prices and exchange rates as on October 12 and privately held companies were valued on the basis of their comparison with similar publicly traded firms.


The networth figures of individuals also include family fortunes, it added. 

Jugnu' Launch Marks Watershed in Indian Space Technology

 New Delhi: The successful launch of Jugnu, a loaf-sized nano satellite designed by IIT-Kanpur, on Oct 12 marks a watershed in Indian space technology for miniaturisation and an indigenously designed ejection system that ends dependence on imports.

Jugnu, placed into orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C18 (PSLV-C18) of the Indian Space Research Organsation (ISRO), miniaturises communication capabilities, power source and a control system, comprising the basic functions of a much bigger satellite, into a foot-long package just four inches in height and width, weighing only three kilograms.IIT-Kanpur designed Jugnu's ejection system, a complex piece of technology that makes space missions possible by separating the satellite from the launch vehicle and placing it in a precise orbit. The mechanism went through dozens of rigorous tests before certification by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre as spaceworthy. IIT-Kanpur will be filing a patent through ISRO before dedicating it to the nation.

Ejection systems - or separation mechanism - available with ISRO are meant only for much larger satellites weighing between 100 kg and 1,000 kg, but not for a nanosat like Jugnu, said Nalinaksh Vyas, Jugnu's project leader and professor of mechanical engineering at IIT-Kanpur.

They are usually imported at a cost of 50 lakh ($100,350) apiece, he added.

Vyas told IANS that "there were several challenges in terms of both design development and administrative ones", which were successfully overcome by the enthusiastic band of 50 boys and girls from various engineering and science disciplines of IIT-Kanpur.

Jugnu cast such a spell on students that some of them even shunned tempting job offers at the peak of the IT boom, just to stay with the project, recalls Prof Vyas. Some even quit lucrative jobs to join the team. "Others like Shantanu Agarwal opted for M.Tech after completing B.Tech to be able to continue with the project," added Vyas.

Vyas mentioned Shashank Chintalagiri, a young physicist, as the mainstay of the project who inspired others with his innovativeness and bold approach, fixing problems as and when they arose, besides Preneet from the physics stream, Kshitij Deo (mechanical) and Anant Goyal.

Chintalagiri, elaborating on his experiences as a project member, said:

"A nanosatellite is smaller but has the same kind of functionality as a larger satellite does. We were initially torn between ISRO's 'right way' of doing things and a more practical approach that we could fit in our small size and weight.

"Eventually, we decided to go ahead and design our system, taking cues from other nanosatellites built around the world. When we gave our system a rough shape, only then did we compare it with what ISRO would do on its own satellites and made modifications accordingly.

"We would never have been able to achieve the size reduction we did by blindly following ISRO specifics, and ISRO themselves knew that as well. We were able to combine technology used in daily life . . . with the design principles of space technology," Chintalagiri concluded.

Initially, only three students had volunteered for the project begun in 2008 as part of the IIT-Kanpur Golden Jubliee celebrations, in a bid to foster space research capability among IITians and to develop technology for nanosats. The current lot included first year undergraduates to final year post-graduates and 14 faculty heads from as many disciplines to complete this challenging assignment.

Jugnu has started transmitting a beacon (blinking signal) round the clock all over the earth. Amateur frequency bands will be used for communication so that the 'beacon' can be tracked by amateur HAM (radio operators) around the world.

Top 5 superfoods for instant energy (HEATH +)

Ginseng tea
Known for centuries as an antioxidant cure-all, ginseng is also a stimulant which provides increased energy and concentration. It's difficult to find dried ginseng, never mind fresh, so we recommend getting your fill of this ancient root through a cup of ginseng tea. Its warmth will have a calming effect on your nerves while simultaneously giving you the energy to power through any late-night task.


Bananas
Boasting three naturally-occurring sugars - sucrose, fructose, and glucose - bananas are an obvious choice for a quick energy boost. But don't let all that sugar fool you into thinking the fix is only temporary. Bananas also contain fibre, which will help sustain the glucose levels in your blood, thus giving you a steady source of energy over a longer period of time.


Aged cheese
Unlike their soft, younger counterparts, aged cheeses contain high levels of the amino acid tyramine - known for its ability to encourage the secretion of stimulant hormones in the body. So, the next time you need a boost, try a piece of Parmesan, Stilton, or any other hard cheese. Beware of eating them in excess, though.


Strawberries
Strawberries are a great, low-cal addition to a healthy lifestyle, packing enough vitamin C, manganese, and fibre for a 'berry' nutritional punch. One serving of strawberries - about eight medium strawberries - is high in fibre and an excellent source of vitamin C. The star player in strawberries is vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps repair the body's tissues, boosts immunity, and fights excess free radical damage.


Wheatgrass
Wheatgrass is chock full of nutrients. In fact, it contains 25 times the nutrients of vegetables. Many people drink shots of wheatgrass juice as a general health booster. Wheatgrass juice which contains chlorophyll, minerals, and vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, and K, protein and 17 amino acids is easily absorbed in human blood.

Brain Scans Support Findings That IQ Can Rise or Fall Significantly During Adolescence

 IQ, the standard measure of intelligence, can increase or fall significantly during our teenage years, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust, and these changes are associated with changes to the structure of our brains. The findings may have implications for testing and streaming of children during their school years.Across our lifetime, our intellectual ability is considered to be stable, with intelligence quotient (IQ) scores taken at one point in time used to predict educational achievement and employment prospects later in life. However, in a study published October 20 in the journal Nature, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) and the Centre for Educational Neuroscience show for the first time that, in fact, our IQ is not constant.


The researchers, led by Professor Cathy Price, tested 33 healthy adolescents in 2004 when they were between the ages of 12 and 16 years. They then repeated the tests four years later when the same subjects were between 15 and 20 years old. On both occasions, the researchers took structural brain scans of the subjects using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).


Professor Price and colleagues found significant changes in the IQ scores measured in 2008 compared to the 2004 scores. Some subjects had improved their performance relative to people of a similar age by as much as 20 points on the standardised IQ scale; in other cases, however, performance had fallen by a similar amount.


To test whether these changes were meaningful, the researchers analysed the MRI scans to see whether there was a correlation with changes in the structure of the subjects' brains.


"We found a considerable amount of change in how our subjects performed on the IQ tests in 2008 compared to four years earlier," explains Sue Ramsden, first author of the study. "Some subjects performed markedly better but some performed considerably worse. We found a clear correlation between this change in performance and changes in the structure of their brains and so can say with some certainty that these changes in IQ are real."


The researchers measured each subject's verbal IQ, which includes measurements of language, arithmetic, general knowledge and memory, and their non-verbal IQ, such as identifying the missing elements of a picture or solving visual puzzles. They found a clear correlation with particular regions of the brain.


An increase in verbal IQ score correlated with an increase in the density of grey matter -- the nerve cells where the processing takes place -- in an area of the left motor cortex of the brain that is activated when articulating speech. Similarly, an increase in non-verbal IQ score correlated with an increase in the density of grey matter in the anterior cerebellum, which is associated with movements of the hand. However, an increase in verbal IQ did not necessarily go hand-in-hand with an increase in non-verbal IQ.


According to Professor Price, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, it is not clear why IQ should have changed so much and why some people's performance improved while others' declined. It is possible that the differences are due to some of the subjects being early or late developers, but it is equally possible that education had a role in changing IQ, and this has implications for how schoolchildren are assessed.

ElSimple exercises to stay tonedHEALTH+VE)

If you're worried about what will happen to your carefully designed fitness routine, with the gyms shut this Diwali, then don't be. Help is at hand.

Take this opportunity to treat yourself to a much deserved break from the same old, tiring gym routines. Today, Strength and Conditioning coach, Arnav Sarkar, helps us map out five simple exercises to stay toned this Diwali. So take out just 20-30 minutes at home, before starting out on Diwali festivities, and get going with these simple moves to stay fit this October.

Rope jumping: Rope jumping is a simple, yet effective, way to clock in the calorie burn when you're short on time. A quick high-impact exercise, skipping or rope jumping will work your body in minimal time. Invest in a simple rope, available across sports stores for a reasonable price range of Rs. 200 - Rs. 700, and skip for 10-15 minutes. Sarkar suggests that in those 15 minutes, you alternate between full speed and slow.

Shadow kickboxing: Keen on learning footwork and punching techniques? Try shadow kickboxing. It is a light and effective workout without any need for expensive boxing gloves or class routines. In an informative post on how you can Kick Goodbye to Body Fat, Arnav has mentioned Kickboxing's benefits - especially for novices. An excerpt: "Always remember to exhale when executing a punch or a kick. You can begin by practicing shadow boxing style, i.e. against the air. Later on you can start working against a heavy kickboxing bag. The bag will provide resistance, and provide some strengthening, and is more fun!"

Burpees: A short and sweet workout that engages your entire body in one explosive session of high-impact training. Here, Sarkar suggests 50-100 reps done in as few sets as possible. "From a standing position squat down, drop your hands to the ground and jump your feet back to assume a push-up position. Do a push-up. Jump your legs forward to between your hands then jump up into the air bringing your knees to your chest and your hands into the air over your head. Repeat." (via The Prison Workout)

Sprinting: Perhaps the easiest and most fun quick holiday fitness solution of all, the humble sprint works your body like very few other full-body workouts can. Within just 10-20 sprints, you will feel energised and ready to take on the Diwali festivities. Sarkar suggests as many 50-100 meters sprints as possible in 10 minutes. Make sure that you start full-strength sprints (engaging shoulders, core, and legs) only once you have warmed up for at least 7-10 minutes, as this will help with correct technique and help avoid injury.

Turn anything (even your clothes) into a touchscreen

Want the convenience of a touchscreen without the hassle of removing your phone from your pocket? Researchers at Microsoft have you covered, with two new touch interfaces that let you turn any surface into a touchscreen or control your phone through a trouser pocket.

OmniTouch combines a pico projector and a Kinect-like depth-sensing camera to create a shoulder-mounted device that can project a multitouch interface on to a wall, desk or even your own hand. Users can define the size and location of their own interfaces, or let the system decide the best choice of display. Chris Harrison, who worked on the project, calls it a "mega Kinect hack" and an extension of his previous device which could only work on skin. While the prototype device is quite bulky, the team says it may be possible for future versions to be the size of a matchbox.

If you'd rather not project your screen for all to see, PocketTouch lets you control your phone while keeping it in your trousers. The team created a prototype device with a grid of touch sensors that can detect finger strokes through cloth and developed a specific unlock gesture that reorientates the screen each time you use it - avoiding the need to flip your phone upside down before using the interface.

They found that the screen was sensitive enough to use existing Microsoft touch recognition software, making it possible to send a text by drawing characters one by one, or control your playlist with a few strokes of your thigh. Both systems are being presented this week at the User Interface Software and Technology symposium in Santa Barbara, California.

SideBySide Projection System Enables Projected Interaction Between Mobile Devices

Researchers at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University have devised a system called SideBySide that enables animated images from two separate handheld projectors to interact with each other on the same surface.The system, suitable for games, education and a variety of other applications, is self-contained in special handheld devices. No external cameras or other sensors are required, which enables people to use the projectors to interact with each other anywhere and at anytime. SideBySide also can be used to exchange contact information, or even share data files. The technology can spur a more participatory and intimate style of interaction than is possible with computers or overhead projectors.

"Smartphones have made it possible for us to communicate, play games and retrieve information from the Web wherever we might be, but our interaction with the devices remains a largely solitary, single user experience," said Karl D.D. Willis, a Ph.D. candidate in computational design at Carnegie Mellon and a lab associate at Disney Research. "Now that handheld projectors have become a reality, we finally have a technology that allows us to create a new way for people to interact in the real world."

The handheld projectors are hybrid devices that emit both visible and infrared light and contain a camera for monitoring the projected images, a ranging sensor and an inertial measurement unit.

The infrared channel plays a key role in enabling interaction. It is used to project markers that help the system recognize when the images are moving or overlapping and to communicate information between the devicesThe researchers have developed a number of applications to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology. Games include Boxing, in which matches are performed without a ring; Cannon, in which players knock a stack of bricks off a platform by firing a cannon ball from one screen to another; and Gorilla, in which one player uses a plane and a net to catch the other player's gorilla. They also have developed a 3D viewer, which allows two users to control and explore a 3D model together, and applications for exchanging contact information and transferring files. A question & answer application can be used to teach basic vocabulary to young children.

NASA Selects Science Investigations for Concept Studies

NASA has selected 11 science proposals for evaluation as potential future science missions. The proposals outline prospective missions to study Earth's atmosphere, the sun, the Milky Way galaxy, and Earth-like planets around nearby stars.The selections were made from responses to Announcements of Opportunity for Explorer Missions and Explorer Missions of Opportunity released by the agency last November. The proposals were judged to have the best science value and feasible development plans.


"NASA continues to seek opportunities to push the cutting edge of science," said Paul Hertz, chief scientist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "Innovative proposals like these will help us better understand our solar system and the universe."


Five Explorer Mission proposals were selected from 22 submitted in February. Each team will receive $1 million to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. Mission costs are capped at $200 million each, excluding the launch vehicle. In addition, one Explorer Mission proposal was selected for technology development and will receive $600,000. Five Mission of Opportunity proposals were selected from 20 submissions. Each will receive $250,000 to conduct an 11-month implementation concept study. Mission costs are capped at $55 million each.


Following the detailed mission concept studies, NASA plans to select up to two of the Explorer Mission proposals and one or more of the five Mission of Opportunity proposals in February 2013. The missions would then proceed toward flight and some could launch by 2016.


The selected Explorer Mission proposals are:


-Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) Thomas Immel, Principal Investigator (PI), University of California, Berkeley -- The mission would fly instruments to understand the extreme variability in our Earth's ionosphere, which can interfere with communications and geopositioning signals.


-Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer (FINESSE) Mark Swain, PI, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. -- This proposal would use a space telescope to survey more than 200 planets around other stars. This would be the first mission dedicated to finding out what comprises exoplanet atmospheres, what conditions or processes are responsible for their composition, and how our solar system fits into the larger family of planets.


-Observatory for Heteroscale Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (OHMIC) James Burch, PI, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio -- The mission would use a pair of spacecraft flying in formation to study the processes that provide energy to power space weather storms. These storms create auroras and other electromagnetic activity that can impact orbiting spacecraft operations.


-Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) George Ricker, PI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. -- Using an array of telescopes, TESS would perform an all-sky survey to discover transiting exoplanets,

Fight lifestyle diseases with good food(HEALTH+VE )

There's an ever-increasing list of what the doctors have termed lifestyle diseases - count in diabetes, heart ailments due to rising cholesterol, asthma in most cases, obesity and some more scary names we choose not to mention.


To beat these ailments, or better keep them at bay, one needs to make some lifestyle changes, including one's diet.


Now, this doesn't mean you give up anything - yes, not even sweetmeats and farsan! It all depends on how they are made, and a range of cookbooks out there provide healthier recipes of the same delicacies.


Even exotic recipes have been manicured by medical experts to suit our lifestyle, tackle vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and also help knock of the piling pounds.

Acidity se pareshaan?


The petite Tarla Dalal may be able to help you do away with the Gelosil and Digene doses you gulp down after a sumptuous dinner. She's come out with 'Acidity Cook Book' that contain recipes based on alkaline foods. A detailed text about ways to ease acidity is also included.

Sugar-free, yet sweet


Those diagnosed with diabetics may not have to resist delicacies like shrikhand and Jamun smoothie anymore. Popular cookbook authors like Nita Mehta, Kanchan G Kabra and even Dalal have come out with a plethora of books like: 'Diabetes Delicacies', 'Exotic Diabetic Cooking', and 'Diabetic Snacks'.

Most of these books are multi-cuisine, and some also contain health notes by diabetologists.


Dil ka khayaal


Dalal has researched and penned a number of cookbooks that contain recipes that help keep the heart healthy in the form of books like 'Healthy Heart Cookbook' and 'High Blood Pressure Cookbook' (it provides low salt recipes).


She says these books are the outcome of her changing priorities with age. "I have suffered arthritis. So I thought why not take care of ailments by food."


Cardiologist Dr Dhanashri Chonkar, who has collaborated with Dalal on the 'Healthy Heart Cookbook' feels such recipes, that teach how to cook healthy, yet tasty food are can help prevent heart diseases too.

"It's a great idea is to balance palatability without the unhealthy ingredients," she says.

'Microring' Device Could Aid in Future Optical Technologies

 Researchers at Purdue University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a device small enough to fit on a computer chip that converts continuous laser light into numerous ultrashort pulses, a technology that might have applications in more advanced sensors, communications systems and laboratory instrumentsThese pulses repeat at very high rates, corresponding to hundreds of billions of pulses per second," said Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.


The tiny "microring resonator" is about 80 micrometers, or the width of a human hair, and is fabricated from silicon nitride, which is compatible with silicon material widely used for electronics. Infrared light from a laser enters the chip through a single optical fiber and is directed by a structure called a waveguide into the microring.


The pulses have many segments corresponding to different frequencies, which are called "comb lines" because they resemble teeth on a comb when represented on a graph.


By precisely controlling the frequency combs, researchers hope to create advanced optical sensors that detect and measure hazardous materials or pollutants, ultrasensitive spectroscopy for laboratory research, and optics-based communications systems that transmit greater volumes of information with better quality while increasing bandwidth. The comb technology also has potential for a generation of high-bandwidth electrical signals with possible applications in wireless communications and radar.


The light originates from a continuous-wave laser, also called a single-frequency laser.


"This is a very common type of laser," Weiner said. "The intensity of this type of laser is constant, not pulsed. But in the microring the light is converted into a comb consisting of many frequencies with very nice equal spacing. The microring comb generator may serve as a competing technology to a special type of laser called a mode-locked laser, which generates many frequencies and short pulses. One advantage of the microrings is that they can be very small."


The laser light undergoes "nonlinear interaction" while inside the microring, generating acomb of new frequencies that is emitted out of the device through another optical fiber.


"The nonlinearity is critical to the generation of the comb," said doctoral student Fahmida Ferdous. "With the nonlinearity we obtain a comb of many frequencies, including the original one, and the rest are new ones generated in the microring."


Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing online this month in the journal Nature Photonics. The paper is scheduled for publication in the Dec. 11 issue.Although other researchers previously have demonstrated the comb-generation technique, the team is the first to process the frequencies using "optical arbitrary waveform technology," pioneered by Purdue researchers led by Weiner. The researchers were able to control the amplitude and phase of each spectral line, learning that there are two types of combs -- "highly coherent" and "partially coherent" -- opening up new avenues to study the physics of the process.


"In future investigations, the ability to extract the phase of individual comb lines may furnish clues into the physics of the comb-generation process," Ferdous said. "Future work will include efforts to create devices that have the proper frequency for commercial applications.

One Clock With Two Times: When Quantum Mechanics Meets General Relativity

The unification of quantum mechanics and Einstein's general relativity is one of the most exciting and still open questions in modern physics. General relativity, the joint theory of gravity, space and time gives predictions that become clearly evident on a cosmic scale of stars and galaxies. Quantum effects, on the other hand, are fragile and are typically observed on small scales, e.g. when considering single particles and atoms. That is why it is very hard to test the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity.Now theoretical physicists led by ÄŒaslav Brukner at the University of Vienna propose a novel experiment which can probe the overlap of the two theories. The focus of the work is to measure the general relativistic notion of time on a quantum scale.


The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.


Time in general relativity


One of the counterintuitive predictions of Einstein's general relativity is that gravity distorts the flow of time. The theory predicts that clocks tick slower near a massive body and tick faster the further they are away from the mass. This effect results in a so-called "twin paradox": if one twin moves out to live at a higher altitude, he will age faster than the other twin who remains on the ground. This effect has been precisely verified in classical experiments, but not in conjunction with quantum effects, which is the aim of the newly proposed experiment.


Quantum interference and complementarity


The Viennese group of researchers wants to exploit the extraordinary possibility that a single quantum particle can lose the classical property of having a well-defined position, or as phrased in quantum mechanical terms: it can be in a "superposition." This allows for wave-like effects, called interference, with a single particle. However, if the position of the particle is measured, or even if it can in principle be known, this effect is lost. In other words, it is not possible to observe interference and simultaneously know the position of the particle. Such a connection between information and interference is an example of quantum complementarity -- a principle proposed by Niels Bohr. The experimental proposal now published in "Nature Communications" combines this principle with the "twin paradox" of general relativity.


Einstein's "twin paradox" for a quantum "only child"


The team at the University of Vienna considers a single clock (any particle with evolving internal degrees of freedom such as spin) which is brought in a superposition of two locations -- one closer and one further away from the surface of Earth. According to general relativity, the clock ticks at different rates in the two locations, in the same way as the two twins would age differently. But since the time measured by the clock reveals the information on where the clock was located, the interference and the wave-nature of the clock is lost. "It is the twin paradox for a quantum 'only child', and it requires general relativity as well as quantum mechanics. Such an interplay between the two theories has never been probed in experiments yet" -- says Magdalena Zych, the lead author of the paper and member of the Vienna Doctoral Program CoQuS. It is therefore the first proposal for an experiment that allows testing the genuine general relativistic notion of time in conjunction with quantum complementarity.

Eat healthy this Diwali(HEALTH+VE)

Is there a healthy Diwali? Depends on who is answering your question. Grandma and gym assistant aren't going to be on the same plate over this. Mmm…with all the binge-eating, will I look the same post-Diwali? Depends on how many of those ghee-infused diet killers you relished. Food and fitness don't make compatible bedfellows in the festive season.


Stop to take a deep breath from that frenzied shopping and you'll see the conspiracy: the whole season is built to test your resistance quotient. It's sweet temptation, honey!


Look at the ground rules. You distribute sweets when the bonus is announced. You exchange Diwali greetings with, err, mithai.


Diwali specials are as much about boxed sweets as they are about new gifts, clothing/accessory trends. Celebrations include pre-Diwali dinner, Diwali lunch and the party in the evening.


Even before you've unpacked your zari-sequinned anarkali, your table is laden with silver-covered sweets. Nutritionists okay dried stuff, but you munch on with scant regard to conditions apply.


Yes, suggestions pop up on how celebrations can stay within the health rekha during festivals. Don't go shopping when hungry, helpful experts say. Have sweets and fried snacks in small numbers, make moderation your Diwali mantra.

Savour mixture and maladdu over weeks, at leisure. Share, share, share! Sip water, feel full when you approach the goodies. Spoon in one piece at a time, chew well, eat slow.

Push those gifted chocolates to the back of the fridge shelf, and taste them only when you rearrange. Avoid fizz drinks. Go on an Ayurvedic diet two weeks ahead to detoxify, so you're ready for those irresistible aromas.


Why not start with kitchen-prudence? Counterbalance home-cooking with social eating? We could roast, bake or grill what we serve, and put off fried stuff. Use low-fat ingredients such as low-fat milk and natural sweeteners like honey and dates to make sweets. We could distribute sweet boxes. Make a visit to the nearest orphanage for double blessing.


Let's change the composition of the gift hampers by adding diet bars and cartons of fruit juice. They are full and heavy only in the basket.


If that raises eye-brows, it also lowers calorie intake. When you are offered plates piled with enticement, smile sweetly and say you are fasting. You are, at the moment!


Happily, the market is now rich with sugar-free goodies. The delectable date+nuts laddoos are just one of them. Any number of shops in Chennai, B'lore and Mumbai have sugar-free on their inventory — check online. Buy, eat and gift them. Check out classes to make them. Just to be sure, get a dress that fits too well, specially around the tummy.

India's Cellphone User Base Touches 866 Million

NEW DELHI: India's mobile phone subscriber base grew by just 0.86 per cent in August with the addition of 7.34 million new connections, taking the total number of wireless users in the country to 865.71 million, according to telecom regulator Trai.


Videocon saw the decline in its subscriber base in July accelerate in August. The company lost 6.52 lakh customers in August, much more than the 95,010 users it lost in the month of July. S-Tel also lost over 67,000 subscribers during the month. The total telecom subscriber base of the country stood at 899.78 million at the end of August, taking overall teledensity to 74.96 (telecom connections per 100 people), a statement issued by Trai today said.


The number of wireline subscribers in the country reduced to 34.07 million in August from 34.18 million in July, it added.


There was marginal increase in India's broadband subscriber base to 12.69 million in August from 12.50 million in July.


During August, about 18.06 million subscribers made requests to change their operators while retaining their phone numbers through Mobile Number Portability (MNP).


The top three telecom circles where mobile phone users opted for MNP were Gujarat, with 1.7 million requests, followed by Maharashtra (1.47 million) and Karnataka (1.4 million).


However, the number of active mobile subscribers during August, according to visitor location register (VLR) data, was 608.63 million.


VLR numbers provide details on active customers at any given point of time, excluding switched-off and out-of- coverage area customers.


Growth in the wireless category was led by Idea Cellular, which added 2.33 million users, taking its subscriber base to 98.44 million at the end of August, 2011.


Bharti Airtel added 1.15 million subscribers in August, taking its user base to 171.84 million.


Reliance Communications, which was the telecom sector leader in the month of July in terms of new subscriber additions, slipped to number three in terms of new user registrations during August, adding 1.27 million new users to take its total customer base to over 146.06 million.


Vodafone added 1.13 million new customers during the month, taking its user base to 144.14 million. Aircel added over 0.6 million users during the period.


State-run telco BSNL added 0.26 million new users, taking its total subscriber base to 95.41 million.

Virtual wake-up call for brands, celebrities

MUMBAI: Website owners have only a week left to make sure that copycat sites mimicking them are not set up on a piece of cyberspace created exclusively as the home of online pornography.


The internet domain '.xxx', a suffix created to encourage a responsible approach to adult material, is set to go live next year, when it will join top-level domains like '.com' , '.net' , '.org' , and '.edu' . The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which oversees internet addresses, has set October 28 as the deadline for brands and celebrities to register their names and block their misuse in the '.xxx' domain.


Registration will ensure that a company or brand's domain is blocked in the '.xxx' domain for 10 years. Legal practitioners say several top brands, including most of Nifty 50 companies, have blocked their registered brand names or trademarks anticipating misuse, and many more are following suit. "The mechanism ensures that registered trademarks don't get associated with the adult entertainment industry. If one does not register, there is a possibility of losing trademark or trade name to a cyber squatter," said Shailesh Dalvi, a legal practitioner.


Protection of names can be done under several categories through ICANN-accredited registrars, such as Net4India, Public Domain Registry, Sign Domains, Go Daddy and Network Solutions. Category 'Sunrise B' deals with brands and trademarks.


Although open to all, most of the applications in this category are expected from celebrities and sportspersons, besides big corporates. First proposed in 2000, the domain '.xxx' faced opposition from politicians and conservative groups.


The ICANN board approved it in March this year. "Many unscrupulous elements have opened similar or similar-sounding websites with the intent of parody or spoof, or even worse, to disparage well-known brands or personalities," said Safir Anand, senior partner and head (trademarks, contractual & commercial IP) at Delhi-based law firm Anand and Anand.


Anand said the awareness level in India is low as compared to that abroad. "If clients don't register, it has the potential to harm their brand," he said referring to cyber squatting. Cyber squatting is the act of registering names of individuals or brands without their consent and benefiting from their popularity.


In August, a cyber squatter prevented singer Amy Winehouse's father from setting up a charity in his late daughter's name. Companies, too, have not been spared. A New Jerseybased firm registered the name 'bodacious-tatas .com' and used it to display what subsequent legal proceedings referred to as "sexually explicit material". The Tatas won a court injunction in 1999.


The Delhi High Court, too, ruled in favour of the Tatas but it had little effect on the porn site registered outside India. The Tatas then had to approach the World Intellectual Property Organization for redressal. The fear of being linked to questionable websites has prompted a rush of applications.


"So far, we have received over 200 applications for registration from celebrities, sports personalities and large corporate houses. The one-time payment blocks the trademark or domain's use on .xxx for 10 years," said Jasjit Sawhney, MD of Net4India, an accredited registrar of domain namess. Sawhney said a user need not provide a website or its content, since it is not a domain registration. "All one needs is a trademarked name, trademark registration number, nation code, registration date and trademark ownership."

How social media influences health(HEALTH+VE)

Studies say you could have a problem that'll balloon into a health calamity sooner or later. From drug and alcohol abuse to clinical depression and slower cognitive skills, the wondrous world of social media has many health issues hidden under its convenience belt. But there's plenty of good news too. Read on to find out why social media isn't all bad, and what researchers say about clever use of online networking tools for health benefits.


Bigger brain areas linked to Facebook popularity: Contrary to what some believe, more Facebook friends might be related to thicker grey matter areas. Researchers from University College London took MRI scans of 125 university students. The study found that high numbers of Facebook friends were connected to increased size in certain brain regions (via Reuters). Whether this makes us smarter or not, isn't part of the study's findings but we wonder if Facebook intelligence can actually translate into real life as well.


Facebook depression - now at a browser near you: Two years ago, researchers at Stony Brook University, New York, created quite a stir when they declared that Facebook over-use causes depression. The subjects were a group of 13 year old girls, interviewed before and after the period of one year. Results showed that the girls who shared their lives and thoughts on Facebook to a large extent had 'significantly higher levels of depression.' But shouldn't discussing problems help as a coping mechanism? Perhaps not in an environment that is open to people who don't care about you.


Social media in moderation might be the key: More recently, in Jan 2011, another group of researchers from Switzerland found that teenagers who over-used or under-used the internet for networking were at a great risk of teen depression. Heavy users were those who spent more than two hours online, and under-users were those who seldom, if ever, surfed. An interesting detail - 18% of heavy male users were overweight, and 59% of heavy female users were sleep deprived.


Shorter attention spans = poor reading habits: Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield has spoken extensively about how internet habits affect the minds of children. "My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment," she told the Daily Mail in 2009. Shorter attention spans could potentially harm cognitive skill development, especially when you consider that the new babysitter for children is not TV, but the internet.


Now the good news - online social groups may benefit health: In 2010, Damon Centola from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, attempted to create a 'social petri dish' (via Reuters). His objective - to find out which kind of social network group would lead to positive health influences - a large low discussion group, or a small cluster of people who interacted frequently. The end goal was to have the participants register in a health forum. The small cluster worked better in influencing registration. This tells us that we are likelier to react to suggestions, even repeated, from a close group of friends/influencers. And when it's our health at stake - we react well.

Friend Request on Facebook Can be Cyber Attack

NEW DELHI: Cyber fraudsters targetted users of social networking site Facebook with a range of 'friend request' emails to draw them into downloading a banking Trojan, says a report by IT company Cyberoam.


"Malware authors and scammers of today are well acquainted with the behavioral psychology of Facebook users. Many of them are intelligent but won't think twice before accepting a friend request from someone they don't know," said Abhilash Sonwane, Senior VP, Product Management, Cyberoam, while releasing October 2011 Internet threats trend report. Cyberoam conducted this study in partnership with IT security solution company Commtouch.


"Facebook continues to draw the attention of malware authors. An August attack used a range of 'friend request' emails to draw recipients to a download of a banking Trojan," the report said.


The company also noticed people getting lured by 'Free' offers on Facebook which led them to spread spam to their friends as well. The study found an ubiquitous Facebook 'like' button harnessed by advertising scammers to lure users into receiving free merchandise like iPhone 4.


Those wanting to receive the 'free' merchandise were asked to like several pages, provide their shipping addresses and forward the invite on to 100 or so friends - thus ensuring the spread of the scam. The pages were liked by hundreds of thousands of Facebook users, the report said.

Technology That Helps See Through Walls

Washington: Peering through thick walls is no longer science fiction but stark reality, thanks to a new cutting edge technology developed by scientists.


MIT's Lincoln Lab researchers Gregory Charvat and John Peabody have built a system that can see through walls from some distance away, giving an instantaneous picture of the activity on the other side. Their device is an unassuming array of antenna arranged in two rows - eight receiving elements on top, 13 transmitting ones below - and some computing equipment, all mounted onto a movable cart.


But it has powerful implications for military operations, especially "urban combat situations", says project leader Charvat according to a Lincoln Lab statement.


Walls, by definition, are solid, and that's certainly true of the four- and eight-inch-thick concrete walls on which the researchers tested their system.


At first, their radar functions as any other: Transmitters emit waves of a certain frequency in the direction of the target. But in this case, each time the waves hit the wall, the concrete blocks more than 99 percent of them from passing through. And that's only half the battle.


Once the waves bounce off any targets, they must pass back through the wall to reach the radar's receivers - and again, 99 percent don't make it. By the time it hits the receivers, the signal is reduced to about 0.0025 percent of its original strength.


But according to Charvat, signal loss from the wall is not even the main challenge. "[Signal] amplifiers are cheap," he says.


What has been difficult for through-wall radar systems is achieving the speed, resolution and range necessary to be useful in real time.


"If you're in a high-risk combat situation, you don't want one image every 20 minutes, and you don't want to have to stand right next to a potentially dangerous building," Charvat says.


The Lincoln Lab team's system may be used at a range of up to 60 feet away from the wall. And, it gives a real-time picture of movement behind the wall in the form of a video at the rate of 10.8 frames per second.