Chandrayaan-2 will try out new ideas, technologies

Chandrayaan-2, the proposed second Indian mission to moon, would undertake "extremely good" experiments and try out new technologies but accommodating foreign payloads on board does not appear to be a possibility at this stage.

The first edition of the moon odyssey had six foreign payloads and five Indian ones on board but heavy orbiter (satellite) and lander weight this time has put constraints on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in terms of carry-load of instruments.

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India's first e-reader Wink unveiled, supporting 15 languages

Bangalore-based digital publisher EC Media International Thursday launched its multi-function e-book reader Wink that not only supports 15 languages but will also offer over 200,000 book titles on debut.

Wink will offer consumers a one-stop e-store to access e-reading content of choice via www.thewinkstore.com that would enable access not just to e-books, but also journals, newspapers, magazines and selected articles, EC Media said.

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BARC develops radionuclides for inoperable cancers, arthritis

In a breakthrough which may pave way for an effective treatment of inoperable cancers, scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have developed radio pharmaceuticals, which they claim can be used for curing skin and liver tumours besides alleviating rheumatic arthritis.

"A research carried out in BARC in collaboration with few hospitals in the country has shown Lutetium-177 (Lu-177), Yittrium-90 (Y-90) and Phosphorus-32 (P-32) as very effective therapeutic radionuclides (radio pharmaceuticals) that can be used in the treatment of cancers of liver, skin and in non-cancerous maladies such as rheumatic arthritis and haemophilia," Meera Venkatesh, Head, Radio pharmaceuticals Division told PTI.

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Researchers dismiss superbug controversy

Experts across India on Friday said that the issue of superbug of Indian origin, or New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1), is unnecessarily being fuelled as similar resistances have been found in other parts of the world.

"I don't think that there is a basis to all of these rumours. Resistance phenomena was always there and there are different mechanism, one after the other mechanisms are discovered," said Dr.M.R Sen, Professor of Microbiology at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

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Govt surprised over UK scientists linking new superbug to India

Government today expressed surprise at scientists in the United Kingdom linking a new superbug resistant to antibiotics to India and said that it was drafting a reply to an alert issued by Britain in this regard.

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), a nodal agency under the Health Ministry, is meeting today and "we would soon draft a reply to this," Secretary, Health Research, V M Katoch told PTI.

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RIM unveils new BlackBerry to counter Apple iPhone

Research In Motion(RIM.TO) unveiled a new BlackBerry aimed at wooing consumers away from Apple's(AAPL.O) iPhone and other rivals, but analysts said the handset won't blow away the competition.

Even though the main features of the BlackBerry Torch, including a touchscreen and slideout keyboard, were well-known within the industry, investors registered their disappointment, driving RIM's Toronto-listed shares down 4 percent.

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Toxicity in toys no child's play for Indian scientists

Screening toys made in India and abroad for toxicity - as per the Supreme Court's direction - is turning out to be easier said than done, as much of the estimated Rs.2,500 crore (over $535 million) market is unregulated, say scientists.

Experts from the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, have taken up the uphill task.

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