The Punjab Energy Development Agency has released a draft green hydrogen policy aiming to achieve a green hydrogen and ammonia production capacity of 100 kilo tonnes per annum by 2030. The policy proposes extending incentives under the existing “Punjab Industrial and Business Development Policy 2022” to new green hydrogen and …
A new device to detect the much feared AIDS virus, is now available in Malaysia. The test is done on the oral fluid of the suspected patient, instead of the usual procedure of testing the blood. This could be of help to children and people who object to have their …
Researchers at the British Eagle Cycles in south Wales, UK, have developed a super bike - a racing cycle with a one-piece carbon-fibre frame and superb aerodynamics, which makes it lighter and quicker than traditional steel frame bikes. Named Lotus Bike - after a British sports car manufacturer who helped …
Phillip Tobias, head of the anthropology department at Witwatersrand University, with his discovery: primate bones dating from 3.5 million years ago, marking a crucial transition stage in foot structure between apes and humans. Prehensile feet enabled the pre-human Australopithecus to climb trees efficiently as well as walk on its 2 …
People who are colour-blind are often at a disadvantage when it comes to using public displays and colour-coded systems. Now, availability of computer-controlled colour displays has made it possible to simulate how colour blind-people perceive a complex colour screen. Scientists at France's Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle have @eveloped a computer …
THE controversy over the 1,000 megawatt Cogentrix power projecr in Mangalore, Karnataka, has come to an end with the Centre formally giving its approval to the project in principle and the Cogentrix management promising to adhere to strict environment standards. However, the final environmental clearance for the project will be …
A few years ago, social activist Pramila Dandavate had asked me at the end of a talk whether the Indian environmental movement had a symbol similar to Gandhiji's charkha during the freedom struggle. My answer was, of course, no, as indeed there is none. But I have since thought a …
FRANCE's nuclear testing shenanigans the Mururoa atoll have caused an international furore (see Down to Earth, 31, 1995). Among the most hostile ics of the French moves on the atol the international environmental gram Greenpeace. The group claims that 45 founder David McTaggart and 2 grove members had infiltrated the …
British scientists have developed an artificial hand that is as deft at handling objects as a real one. Homer Rahnejat and Russel Speight of the Bradford University in northern England, in association with Medi Mehdian of the Greenwich University, London, have constructed a prototype hand that has 16 degrees of …
JAPAN must get its act together on the energy front, says the International Energy Agency (iea). In a news conference organised in Tokyo in mid-June, Robert Priddle, director of the iea warned that unless the Japanese government made serious efforts to ease restrictions on the energy industry -- for better …
WITH the fossil fuels depleting fast, hot dry rock (HDR) found several kin under the earth's surface promises an ecofriendly, economically viable and virtually inexhaustible energy source. The Australian Geological Survey Corporation (AGs()) predicts that one cubic km of rock at 25(Y'C can produce the energy equivalent of 40 million …
What are the most serious environmental problems facing Russia at present? More than 15 per cent of Russia's territory is ecologically unsafe. The poor quality of drinking water and radiation are the main problems, along with air and chemical pollution. Some 75 per cent of Russia's waterbodies are highly contaminated …
India has been increasingly under pressure from the North to reduce her carbondioxide emissions. But many of the developed countries have not done enough to cut down their own emission levels. Doesn't this expose the North's double standards? We have called for a differentiated but common responsibility among the countries …
Dorvial Michel, a scientist at Compagnie Industrielle de Tubes et Lamps Electriques Citel, a French company, has devised a lightning arrester. The device has an external metal casing containing a neutral gas (that does not react easily), a metal electrode and a fuse. Under normal conditions, the electrode is electrically …
IN A French government report on the space sciences, strong recommendations have been made to the authorities to move away from the European Space Agency (ESA) partners who are allegedly holding "enterprising French scientists" back with their feet-dragging tactics when it comes to coughing up funds for research. The report …
ACTIVISTS of the environmental group - Greenpeace stopped a ship from dumping toxic wastes off Israel's coast. This incident occured in the first week of May, this year. To stall the dumping, inflatable Green-peace boats circled the Israeli ship - carrying toxic waste from the Haifa Chemicals Ltd company- off …
A $91 million electricity generation plant, jointly financed by a French construction firm and the Ivorian government, promises to metamorphose the west African nation of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) from an importer of power to a major supplier in the region. The plant will generate 100 megawatts (mw) initially, which …
AN AMERICAN company, Ultralife Batteries, has launched the world's first lightweight rechargeable battery made entirely from solid materials. The battery, launched a few weeks ago, can be recharged more than 1,000 times with only a tiny loss of capacity. In comparison, conventional batteries can be recharged a maximum of 200 …
Slaughter goats to save the exotic Galapagos tortoises, says Julian Fitter, chairperson of the newly constituted Galapagos Conservation Trust. The cluster of islands in the Galapagos Sea survives on its tortoise- smitten tourism industry. But goats, breeding in their thousands every year on Mount Alcedo, are destroying the cloud forest …
The ministry of nonconventional energy sources (MNES) is in the process of drafting a policy for the increased use of renewable energy. In the light of the plan priorities set by the Planning Commission, what should the key areas be? The priority for the plan should be to promote research …
