Chandigarh: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be deploying airborne lasers and sensors to generate precision data about Himalayan topography and the amount of snow cover over the world’s highest mountain range. This data, part of which would be translated into maps, would assist in the movement and deployment of troops, planning military operations as well as provide inputs for civic development and calculating the extent and availability of fresh water resources.

A two-day marathon exercise to count the migratory birds descending on the wetlands of Pong Dam lake near here will commence on Monday.

The annual census of migratory and local birds at Maharana Pratap Sagar (an artificial lake) takes place towards the end of January and beginning of February every year to note the trend of arrival of migratory birds from Siberia and South Asian countries.

Looking at the swirling grey waters of the Bhote Koshi River, Ratna Kaji remembers when it turned into a "monster," leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.

"It came down roaring, washed away homes and people when they were sleeping," the 77-year-old said of the 1996 flood, caused by a massive landslide that blocked the river which eventually gushed out by breaking its mud wall.

"People had hardly any time to gather their belongings."

The melting down of the Himalayan glaciers due to climate change may be solving the current water crisis, but can also have a devastating effect on animal and human lives in the long run, environmentalist and polar explorer Robert Swan has said. “What scares me is that people think that it is fine for the glaciers to melt. What they need to realise is that getting so much of water through melting glaciers can have hazardous effects in the future,” Swan said.

China has announced it will accelerate plans to expand a railway network in Tibet to reach two towns near the border with India and will also consider building a railway line to Nepal, officials said this week.

New railway lines from Lhasa to Xigaze (Shigatse in Tibetan) and the town of Nyingchi, which lies in a prefecture bordering Arunachal Pradesh, will be built as key projects under a five-year development plan (2011-15) for the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which was announced on Wednesday.

An experiment using tulsi has entered phase II clinical trial, says scientist

India is now working on herbal solutions for protecting its security personnel and civilians against radiation with widely found tulsi (basil) showing very encouraging results.

While an experiment using tulsi (basil) has entered crucial phase II clinical trial, research on two other herbs are being carried out by scientists at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Life Sciences, New Delhi.