The Megha-Tropiques satellite, an Indo-French joint effort, that will study the tropical climate, launched last week from the island of Sriharikota, the Indian spaceport. The one-tonne satellite was the biggest of four satellites carried by the ISRO rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Not enough satellites study the tropical climate, compared to the numbers that look at climate over higher latitudes. The hope is to fill this gap and better understand the weather elements behind dramatic conditions in the tropics especially monsoon, cyclones and floods. This project is a part of the Global Precipitation Mission that aims at tracking precipitation all over the world.
Barking Fish
Piranhas don’t just bite, they bark. The aggressive meat-eating fish use a variety of sounds for intimation and other purposes. Curious researchers in Belgium lowered a microphone into a tank and recorded barks before fights broke out, drumbeats in a chase and gentle croaking sound while biting. The red-bellied Piranhas make these sounds by tensing the muscles connected to their swim bladders repeatedly, different speeds for different sounds.
Reversing effects of cigarette smoke
Attempts at protecting people from cigarette smoke are mostly focused on prevention; not enough strategies look at treating the problem. Now, German scientists have shown how smoke-induced emphysema can be reversed in mice by administering existing pharmacological compound. This agent blocks the activity of an enzyme (iNOS) involved in formation of nitric oxide that accumulates to form peroxynitrite causing lung damage. The Anti-iNOS prevents changes in the blood and development of high blood pressure that lead to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. ‘Mice lacking the iNOS enzyme were protected from both emphysema and pulmonary hypertension,’ the researchers report.
Nuke future imminent
The world’s oldest scientific establishment, London’s Royal Society, believes nuclear power will grow worldwide, despite panic and fears over safety in some parts of the world like Germany and Switzerland. It said last week that many new nuclear power stations were being planned in China, Russia and Southeast Asia. In a report, the Royal society suggested governments and international authorities to learn from mistakes like Fukushima and get busy developing policies that take stock of safety, growth and waste, from start to finish on the drawing board itself.