PUNE: Weather scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology are studying high resolution climate projections over South Asian Monsoon region which is expected to contribute to future crop and water management and planning in India. The study undertaken is part of the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO) Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) for which Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR) of IITM is acting as a nodal agency for South Asia.

Astronauts Being Trained For Mission To Look For Minerals, Get Info On How To Destroy It. Washington: Nasa is reportedly training a team of astronauts for a mission to land on an asteroid by the end of the next decade. The US space agency is training the astronauts to land on an asteroid to explore its surface, search for minerals and even learn the skills they may need to destroy it should one pose a threat to the Earth, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.

SHILLONG, May 10 – The Central Silk Board (CSB) and State Space Application Centres has taken up a project to extend the silk cultivation area in the State to meet the growing demand of silk in the country thereby provide employment in the rural areas of the State. The current demand for silk is 30,000 ton but the country produces about 23000 ton, according to the CSB. The board is trying to extend the cultivation of silk in non-traditional areas like Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, etc.

In collaboration with the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is all set to start the first Census Data Centre on its campus. The centre will provide research opportunities based on information on the country’s population size, composition, living conditions, social and cultural aspects. While census data includes important summary indicators and tables, massive data at the unit level has potential for in-depth analysis of social, economic and demographic conditions of the country’s population.

HYDERABAD: After designing and commissioning several low-cost groundwater defluoridation plants in flurosis -affected villages of Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology is now looking forward to set up model defluoridation units in Rajasthan. Defluoridation refers to methods of water treatment that reduce the concentration of fluoride in the water, normally, in order to make it safe for human consumption.

Washington: Earth-like rocky planets that humans could live on may be more common in the universe than stars, says an international team of planetary scientists which included an Indian-origin researcher. Aditya Chopra at Australian National University and colleagues claim that determining whether these planets are habitable has become the new holy grail of astronomy.

WASHINGTON: Half of the 24 new lizard species known as skinks, all discovered on the Caribbean islands, may be close to extinction and the other half are also under threat. Researchers led by Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University, attributed their loss to the mongoose, a predatory mammal introduced by farmers to control rats in sugarcane fields during the late 19th century.

NEW DELHI: The rise in sea level by 1.29 millimetre every year along the Indian coastline has not caused any major erosion, science and technology and earth sciences minister Vilasrao Deshmukh informed the Rajya Sabha today. He said during Question Hour that the ministry of environment was conducting a study on the impact of the rising sea levels.

The UK’s University of Liverpool has tied up with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to identify areas in India that are at higher risk of malaria outbreaks, following changes in monsoon rainfall patterns. The UK-based university’s School of Environmental Sciences started working on the project in January with the CSIR's Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS) in Bangalore.

With concerns rising over the increased environmental destruction due to development projects, the state has formulated its first draft of State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) to integrate climate change into the future policy framework of planners. The draft has been prepared in consultation with IRG Systems South Asia Pvt Ltd to give due consideration to safeguarding the ecology while approving major environmentally fragile projects.