Tag Archives: India

Dinosaur Die Out Might Have Been Second of Two Closely Timed Extinctions

By Guest PostSeptember 6, 2012Scienceaerosols, ammonite, antarctic peninsula, antarctic sediment, Argentina, asteroid, asteroid impact, carbon dioxide, deccan plateau, dinosaurs, earth, eduardo olivero, environmental effect, eric steig, fossil, free swimming, greenhouse gas, hell creek formation, history, India, isaac hilburn, james ross island, joseph kirschvink, magnetic field, magnetostratigraphy, mass extinction, matthew diamond, Mexico, montana, ocean floor, particles, peter ward, planet, ross mitchell, second event, sediment deposit, seymour island, species, thomas tobin, timothy raub, university, volcanic eruption, Washington, yale university, yucatan peninsula

The most-studied mass extinction in Earth history happened 65 million years ago and is widely thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs. New University of Washington research indicates that a separate extinction came shortly before that, triggered by volcanic eruptions that warmed the planet and killed life on the ocean floor.

The well-known second event is believed to have been triggered by an asteroid at least 6 miles in diameter slamming into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. But new evidence shows that by the time of the asteroid impact, life on the seafloor – mostly species of clams and snails – was already perishing because of the effects of huge volcanic eruptions on the Deccan Plateau in what is now India. (more…)

Witch Hunts Targeted by Grassroots Women’s Groups

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2012Culture, Economy, Generalalcoholism, anuradha chakravarty, basanti, chicken eggs, culture, disease, domestic abuse, economic, factor, gender equality, government, grassroots movement, India, jalpaiguri, livestock, loan, loan program, michigan, microcredit, microcredit group, native india, plantation worker, practice, self help, social movement, sociologist, soma chaudhuri, state university, stomach illness, tea plantation, tradition, tribal people, village, witch, witch hunts, witchcraft, women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Witch hunts are common and sometimes deadly in the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri, India. But a surprising source – small groups of women who meet through a government loan program – has achieved some success in preventing the longstanding practice, a Michigan State University sociologist found.

Soma Chaudhuri spent seven months studying witch hunts in her native India and discovered that the economic self-help groups have made it part of their agenda to defend their fellow plantation workers against the hunts. (more…)

In India, 1 in 4 Online Minutes are Spent on Social Networking Sites

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012TechnologyComscore, comscore mmx, Facebook, google sites, India, kedar gavane, Microsoft, nic, rediff, top online sites, Yahoo, YouTube

Google Sites, Facebook and Yahoo! Sites Lead as Top Destinations in India

comScore to Present Complimentary Webinar on “The Rise of India’s Digital Consumer and What it Means for the Future”

Mumbai, India, August 20, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on the top online sites and activities in India from its comScore MMX service. The report found that Google Sites ranked as the top destination in June 2012 reaching nearly 95 percent of the online population, while social networking reigned as the top online activity accounting for 25.2 percent of all online minutes. These findings, among others, will be presented via a complimentary, live webinar titled The Rise of India’s Digital Consumer and What it Means for the Future on Tuesday, August 21. For more information and to register, (more…)

Multiple Husbands Serve as Child Support and Life Insurance in Some Cultures Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostAugust 4, 2012Cultureamerican women, anthropology, culture, economic repercussion, extra husbands, India, kathrine starkweather, marriage structure, multiple husbands, nepal, non classical polyandry, polyandrous cultures, polyandry, raymond hames, tibet, united states, university of missouri, university of nebraska, women

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Marrying multiple husbands at the same time, or polyandry, creates a safety net for women in some cultures, according to a recent study by a University of Missouri researcher. Extra husbands ensure that women’s children are cared for even if their fathers die or disappear. Although polyandry is taboo and illegal in the United States, certain legal structures, such as child support payments and life insurance, fill the same role for American women that multiple husbands do in other cultures.

“In America, we don’t meet many of the criteria that tend to define polyandrous cultures,” said Kathrine Starkweather, doctoral student in MU’s Department of Anthropology in the College of Arts and Science. “However, some aspects of American life mirror polyandrous societies. Child support payments provide for offspring when one parent is absent. Life insurance allows Americans to provide for dependents in the event of death, just as secondary husbands support a deceased husband’s children in polyandrous societies.” (more…)

IBM THINK Exhibit App for iPad and Android Tablets Traces Ancient Roots of Modern Innovation

By Guest PostJuly 26, 2012Technology2011 think, ancient roots, android tablet, breath sensor, charles, China, computer watson, diabetes detector, epcot center, exhibit app, ibm think, India, indonesia, ipad, jeopardy, lee green, lincoln center, mathematica, microscope, modern art, modern innovation, museum, new york city, orlando, plane prototype, ray eames, rfid chips, russia, Thailand, turkey, walt disney, wright brothers

ARMONK, NY – 26 Jul 2012: To celebrate centuries of science and technology innovations, IBM has reinvented its award-winning 2011 THINK exhibit at New York City’s Lincoln Center as a free interactive app for iPad and Android tablets. Geared to tech fans and educators, the IBM THINK exhibit app is an “innovation time machine” that shows how early tools have evolved into modern advances that create healthier populations, greener energy and safer, less congested cities.

Through interactive content and thousands of images and historical anecdotes, the IBM THINK Exhibit app is filled with stories of progress, from space exploration to weather prediction and medical advances. It documents the roots of Big Data, from early charts, clocks and scales to microscopes and telescopes, from RFID chips and biomedical sensors in clothing to breath-sensor diabetes detectors. (more…)

Ancient Alteration of Seawater Chemistry Linked With Past Climate Change

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2012Environmentadina paytan, alteration, antarctic ice sheet, candace major, cenozoic era, climate and evolution, climate change, collision, dissolution, eocene epoch, eurasia, greenhouse periods, gypsum, gypsum belt, gypsum deposit, hydrated calcium sulfate, icehouse climate, India, iodp, iran, joides resolution, marine, million years, mineral, national science foundation, ocean drillship, oman, Pakistan, phosphorus cycling, plate tectonics, santa cruz, seawater chemistry, sulfate aerosols, sulfate concentration, sulfur composition, ulrich wortmann, university of california, university of toronto, zagros mountains

Dissolution or creation of huge gypsum deposits changed sulfate content of the oceans

Scientists have discovered a potential cause of Earth’s “icehouse climate” cooling trend of the past 45 million years. It has everything to do with the chemistry of the world’s oceans.

“Seawater chemistry is characterized by long phases of stability, which are interrupted by short intervals of rapid change,” says geoscientist Ulrich Wortmann of the University of Toronto, lead author of a paper reporting the results and published this week in the journal Science.

“We’ve established a new framework that helps us better interpret evolutionary trends and climate change over long periods of time. The study focuses on the past 130 million years, but similar interactions have likely occurred through the past 500 million years.” (more…)

Combating Global Problems at BIARI

By Guest PostJune 22, 2012Environment, General, Scienceaids, ambedkar university delhi, anita elizabeth cherian, armed conflict, barbara willaarts, biari, botin foundation, brazil, brown university, cape town, China, chinese cities, civil society, climate change, courtney coelho, development, end project evaluation, environmental awareness, ethiopia, global problem, grass stage theatre, hiv, hiv awareness, India, junia quiroga de cuhan, kathamandu university, ke zhang, latin america, laureate universities, maria cecelia trannin, nepal, new delhi, nigeria, peking university, population, qing hui hou, rebecca hodes, rio de janeiro, rukmini sen, sagar sharma, shimla, South Africa, university, yunnan province, zheng xie

Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). The two-week program began June 11, 2012.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). Participants, who were chosen from a pool of more than 850 applicants, come from several countries, including Brazil, China, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia.

The two-week program began Monday, June 11, 2012. Now in its fourth year, BIARI is centered around four two-week intensive institutes, convened concurrently by Brown faculty, in which participants and leading scholars in their fields share their research and develop new collaborative projects through sustained, high-level dialogue spanning disciplines and continents. This year’s institutes touched on global health and HIV/AIDS; theater and civil society; population and development; and climate change. (more…)

Cloud Computing Security Benefits Dispel Adoption Barrier for Small to Midsize Businesses

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Technologyadrienne hall, cloud, cloud computing, cloud security, cyberattacks, dispel adoption barrier, hong kong, India, malaysia, microsoft corp., microsoft study, midsize business, nevada, ryan brock, singapore, skywire media, small, smbs, software, thomas castleberry, threat, windows intune

Cloud services reduce time and money spent managing security and increase protection against cyberthreats, Microsoft study shows.

REDMOND, Wash. — Research released today by Microsoft Corp. shows that small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are gaining significant IT security benefits from using the cloud, according to a new Microsoft study in five geographies.

The study shows that 35 percent of U.S. companies surveyed have experienced noticeably higher levels of security since moving to the cloud.1 In addition, 32 percent say they spend less time worrying about the threat of cyberattacks. U.S. SMBs using the cloud also spend 32 percent less time each week managing security than companies not using the cloud. They are also five times more likely to have reduced what they spend on managing security as a percentage of overall IT budget. (more…)