Scientists grow artificial ear from living tissue

PTI | Jul 31, 2013, 11.55 PM IST
READ MORE boston|artificial ear|3D printer|the wire|Stem Cells
LONDON: Scientists have developed an artificial 'lifelike' ear, using a 3D printer and cartilage from sheep, that works just like the real organ.


Researchers hope the lab-made substitute organs can be used to replace the damaged or missing body parts of patients.

More research and development will be needed before it could be used in clinical transplants on patients, scientists said.

Researchers hope that patients with missing or deformed outer ears, such as kids suffering from a congenital deformity called microtia, might soon be offered living substitutes that could be permanently attached to their heads.

The artificial ear has a key feature in the form of a cartilage scaffold with an embedded titanium wire which retains the shape of the structure as well as maintaining its flexibility, 'The Independent' reported.

"The technology is now under development for clinical trials, and thus we have scaled-up and redesigned the prominent features of this scaffold to match the size of an adult human ear and to preserve the aesthetic appearance after implantation," researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said.

Researchers formed a collagen connective tissue from a cow into the shape of a human pinna - the fleshy visible part of the ear - and held in place by titanium wire.

They then "seeded" the porous collagen with ear cartilage cells taken from a sheep and the cells grew within the porous collagen fibres.

Scientists grew the ear on mice and rats lacking an immune system to show that it was possible for it to be connected to a blood supply without tissue rejection.

The ear would have to be either made from a patient's own stem cells or used with anti-rejection drugs to be used in a human transplant.

Scientists said a key feature of the technology is that the ear can be designed to look as natural or 'lifelike' as possible by pulling the skin taut over the wire and cartilage frame using vacuum suction.
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Monogamy evolved to protect babies

, TNN | Jul 31, 2013, 06.53 AM IST
READ MORE University of Manchester|University College London|Monogamy
LONDON: The threat of infants being killed by unrelated males is the key driver of monogamy in humans and other primates, according to scientists.

Astudy of 230 primate species by academics from University College London, University of Manchester, University of Oxford and University of Auckland is the first to reveal this evolutionary pathway for the emergence of pair living.

The team found that following the emergence of monogamy males are more likely to care of their offspring. Where fathers care for the young, not only can they protect infants from other males but also share the burden of childcare. Infants are most vulnerable when they are fully dependent on their mother, because females delay further conception while nursing slowly developing young. This leads to the threat from unrelated males, who can bring the next conception forward by killing the infant.

Sharing the costs of raising the young between both parents shortens the period of infant dependency and can allow females to reproduce more quickly.

To uncover the evolutionary pathway that led to monogamy, the team gathered data across the primates. These were then plotted on a family tree of the evolutionary relationships between those species. Computational modelling methods were used to re-run evolution millions of times across the family tree to discover whether different behaviours evolved together and, if so, which behaviour evolved first.

Until now, many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of monogamy among mammals. These include the benefit of paternal care when the cost of raising offspring is high, the ability to guard solitary females from rival males and protection against the risk of infanticide from rival males.

This "Bayesian" approach allowed the team to determine that male infanticide is the cause of the switch from a multi-male mating system to monogamy in primates. It showed that two-parent care and solitary ranging by females are a result of monogamy , not the cause. "This is the first time that the theories for the evolution of monogamy have been systematically tested, conclusively showing that infanticide is the driver of monogamy," said lead author Dr Kit Opie of University College London. 
 
 
 

  1. Step-Father Is Cruel - Teen Health FX

    www.teenhealthfx.com › FX Answers › Emotional Health‎
    Jun 23, 2009 - My step-father is, for lack of a better term, cruel. He is very much abusive (emotionally/verbally) and he's been that way all my life (or at least as ...

  2. Stepfamily - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepfamily‎
    A stepmother is one's father's wife and not one's natural mother. ... The earliest recorded use of the prefix step-, in the form steop-, is from an 8th-century .... by ingratiating herself with the stepdaughter, and once she obtains it, becomes cruel.

  3. 13 Oct 1917 - STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY. Position of the Mother.

    trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1655950‎
    STEPFATHER'S CRUETiTY. Position of the Mother. Attention was directed by Mr. Cotter in the Legislative Assembly yesterday to tbo shocking treatment, ...

  4. 03 Jun 1903 - A Stepfather's Cruelty. SHOCKING CASE AT ... - Trove

    trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/83907531‎
    A Stepfather's Cruelty. » - — : SHOCKING CASE AT . . WAEMGUL. A GIRL LIVES'lN THE BUSH. Melbourne, This Day. 'A sad case'' of vagrancy has occurred at ...

  5. 16 Oct 1917 - STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY. - Trove

    trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1656337‎
    STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY. Referring in the legislative Assembly on inda} to the shocking treatment nt Rich mond of a child under three years of age by ita ...

  6. STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY. - Papers Past - National Library of New ...

    paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TH19080608...‎
    STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY. " LAD ROPED TO A MATTRESS. "THRASHING EVERY MORNING." A shocking case of ill-treatment of a child engaged the ...

  7. Father and step-mother guilty of child cruelty - The Africa News

    www.africa-news.eu/.../2907-father-and-step-mother-guilty-of-child-cru...‎
    Jul 21, 2011 - A father and step-mother found guilty of child cruelty against a two-year-old boy have been jailed. On 11th July, Gnagne Sangare (step-mother), ...

  8. a stepfather's cruelty.; little max gilman beaten to death by august ...

    query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res...‎
    Somebody last evening told August Hatzka, a laborer, that his little stepson, Max Gilman, 11 years old, whom he had driven from home by his terrible cruelty, had ...


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation offers relief from depression: Expert

, TNN | Jul 28, 2013, 07.02 PM IST
READ MORE World Health Organization|depression|rTMS|repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
PUNE: Rakesh used to feel low. Soon he lost interest in his job. He took to alcohol to feel better and things kept going downhill after his wife walked out. When he approached doctor for treatment of depression, he had already spent two years in depression.

Today, Rakesh has almost recovered and leading a normal and productive life. Thanks to a new treatment modality called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Rakesh is just one of many suffering from depression and one of the few who got it treated.

According to WHO ( World Health Organization) report depression is going to be second leading cause for disability and India is going to have maximum number cases in world by 2020. Problem however is not the illness but lack of awareness and stigma attached to it.

"Depression if not treated can last for more than a year. Treatment is necessary as depression can lead to professional, family, financial, and physical health related complications including suicide," said psychiatrist Swapnil Deshmukh of Shreeyash Hospital who has treated Rakesh with rTMS.

Various types of treatment modalities are available depending on severity of illness including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), medicine, electro convulsive therapy (ECT), and latest - rTMS ( re-petitive Transcranial magnetic stimulation). All these are standard, well proved and accepted worldwide -FDA approved treatment modalities.

"Around 20% of cases are mild and can be treated with CBT itself but remaining requires medications in addition to counselling. Around 30 to 40% of depression cases can be severe, resistant to treatment, and may require long term medications in these shock treatment (ECT) is very effective," Deshmukh said.

"rTMS is a resent treatment modality in depression and other psychiatric illness in which magnetic waves can directly stimulate affected- less functioning brain areas non-invasively. It is considered to be safest, non-medicine dependent, cost effective treatment modality getting very popular in west. Combination of above mentioned treatment work better," Deshmukh said

Usually, patients with milder depression respond within 3 to 6 weeks, but severe resistant depression may take longer duration, he added.

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Human stem cells help regenerate liver function in mice

ANI | Jul 28, 2013, 04.51 PM IST
READ MORE Stem Cells|liver function in mice|human stem cells
Human stem cells help regenerate liver function in mice
WASHINGTON: Researchers transplanted derived functional hepatocytes from human stem cells into mice suffering from acute liver injury, and found that these liver cells functioned normally and raised survival of the treated animals.

Massoud Vosough and co-authors demonstrate a large-scale, integrated manufacturing strategy for generating functional hepatocytes in a single suspension culture grown in a scalable stirred bioreactor.

In the article 'Generation of Functional Hepatocyte-Like Cells from Human Pluripotent stem cells in a Scalable Suspension Culture' the authors describe the method used for scale-up, differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells into liver cells, and characterization and purification of the hepatocytes based on their physiological properties and the expression of liver cell biomarkers.

David C Hay, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK, comments on the importance of Vosough and others' contribution to the scientific literature in his editorial in Stem Cells and Development entitled 'Rapid and Scalable Human Stem Cell Differentiation: Now in 3D.'

The researchers 'developed a system for mass manufacture of stem cell derived hepatocytes in numbers that would be useful for clinical application,' creating possibilities for future 'immune matched cell based therapies,' Hays said.

Such approaches could be used to correct mutated genes in stem cell populations prior to differentiation and transplantation, he adds.

The findings have been published in Stem Cells and Development.
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E-psychiatry software to treat patients in remote, disaster-hit areas

, TNN | Jul 27, 2013, 03.58 AM IST
READ MORE Tata Consultancy Services|diabetes|PGIMER|ICMR
CHANDIGARH: Following Uttarakhand-like disasters, where it is sometimes not possible to reach the interiors and provide timely psychological assistance, an e-psychiatry software, jointly developed by PGIMER and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is all set to take off at the primary hospitals in remote regions of Bilaspur (Himachal), Srinagar (J&K) and Uttarakhand.

Gradually this will expand to other regions of the country. "After successfully passing a three-year field trial in these remote areas, the software has been developed to detect, diagnose and treat mental disorders, which even a non-medico can use," said Savita Malhotra, main investigator of the project at the department of psychiatry, PGIMER.

The project has been funded by the department of science and technology, and the Indian Council of Medical Research ( ICMR). Using the e-psychiatry, total 1,000 patients have been already assessed to check the reliability factor.

The software can be used as a diagnostic and treatment tool by social workers (non-medicos), who can assess the mental disease using a set of validated questionnaires fed into the software. The technology also generates a database of patients' history and alerts the user if there is a case of diabetes or hypertension or pregnancy.

The software includes comprehensive management of 18 psychiatric disorders each in adults, children and adolescents. Explaining about how the tool works, Malhotra said, "Questions are asked from the patient. These questions are fed into the software. After the screening questionnaire is answered, only those modules open for which the patient seems likely to suffer from. For instance, if its schizophrenia, modules which have symptoms close to this disease will open. Finally, after a few responses, which are automated, the diagnosis is confirmed."

Once the disease is diagnosed, treatment is generated on the basis of assessment and few scales, which the software responds to. "Currently, the application is at the secondary level health care. We are now working on to make it useful for primary level health care. Gradually, it will be incorporated in the mobile phones and used by the households," said Malhotra.

According to the WHO, 65 persons per 1,000 suffer from mental disorders. For every one lakh patients there are only 0.2 psychiatrists in India.
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Scientists produce false memories in mice

TNN | Jul 26, 2013, 02.51 PM IST
READ MORE Scientists produce false memories|Professor Susumu Tonegawa|false memories in mice
Scientists produce false memories in mice
The study also provides further evidence that memories are stored in networks of neurons that form memory traces for each experience we have.
WASHINGTON: Scientists have pulled off the plot of Inception — with mice!

Researchers have successfully implanted false memories of an event that never actually took place into a mice brain, showing it is possible to create inaccurate recollections of the past.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have shown that they can plant false memories in the brains of mice.

They also found that many of the neurological traces of these memories are identical in nature to those of authentic memories.

"Whether it's a false or genuine memory, the brain's neural mechanism underlying the recall of the memory is the same," said Professor Susumu Tonegawa, senior author of the paper published in journal Science.

The study also provides further evidence that memories are stored in networks of neurons that form memory traces for each experience we have — a phenomenon that Tonegawa's lab first demonstrated last year.

Neuroscientists have long sought the location of these memory traces, also called engrams. In the pair of studies, Tonegawa and colleagues showed that they could identify the cells that make up part of an engram for a specific memory and reactivate it using a technology called optogenetics.

Episodic memories — memories of experiences — are made of associations of several elements, including objects, space and time. These associations are encoded by chemical and physical changes in neurons, as well as by modifications to the connections between the neurons.

Where these engrams reside in the brain has been a longstanding question in neuroscience.

Tonegawa's lab turned to optogenetics, a new technology that allows cells to be selectively turned on or off using light.

The researchers engineered mouse hippocampal cells to express the gene for channelrhodopsin, a protein that activates neurons when stimulated by light.

They also modified the gene so that channelrhodopsin would be produced whenever the c-fos gene, necessary for memory formation, was turned on.

In last year's study, the researchers conditioned these mice to fear a particular chamber by delivering a mild electric shock.

As this memory was formed, the c-fos gene was turned on, along with the engineered channelrhodopsin gene. This way, cells encoding the memory trace were "labelled" with light-sensitive proteins, researchers said.

The next day, when the mice were put in a different chamber they had never seen before, they behaved normally.

However, when the researchers delivered a pulse of light to the hippocampus, stimulating the memory cells labelled with channelrhodopsin, the mice froze in fear as the previous day's memory was reactivated.
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UK plans to land man on Mars by 2021

PTI | Jul 26, 2013, 05.11 AM IST
READ MORE Neil Armstrong|NASA|journey|Buzz Aldrin|bones
LONDON: UK scientists have designed a concept mission to land astronauts on Mars by 2021 — 12 years before Nasa expects to send a manned mission to the Red Planet. The plan envisages a three-person crew journeying to Mars aboard a small two-part craft.

Nasa says they will get on Mars at the earliest by 2033, but scientists at Imperial College , London have come up with a mission that could land on the planet eight years.

According to professor Tom Pike, the leader of the London team, the trip would be the next major step for mankind in space — and create a Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for the 21st Century . "We have now come up with a mission concept that uses both robots and humans to get us to Mars and back. The robots will be sent to the northern plains of Mars, with a rocket to get back to Earth — but without fuel," Pike wrote in an article for 'The Sun' .

"Sending the tanks empty saves a huge amount of mass on launch. Instead, the robots will dig up ice on Mars. Once the ice is melted, we can use solar electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen to fill the fuel tanks. Better still, combining hydrogen with the atmosphere can make powerful methane," Pike said.

According to Pike, a threeperson crew will then launch and in the nine months it takes to get from Earth to Mars, without weight from gravity, muscles weaken and bones become brittle — they need artificial gravity.

He said it can be done by splitting the spacecraft into two, tied together by a tether, and spinning the parts around each other. With the right spin speed, they will be fooled into thinking they feel gravity, he said.

The landing on Mars will be an extreme ride lasting just a few minutes. The landing module will approach Mars at 22530.8kph, said Pike.

He said the atmosphere will reduce the speed to 1126.5kph, then parachutes with rockets will slow the module, landing in the warmest place on Mars, near the equator. Pike said in order to return, the crew will have to journey about 1600km north via rover from their landing site to the return rocket.
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NON ELECTRIC AIRCONDITIONED CLOTHS FOR HOT WEATHER


Non-electric cooler bag to keep food chilled for five days

IANS | Jul 20, 2013, 12.51 PM IST

READ MORE North America|Icebridge|Cooler bag
HELSINKI: Taking food to festivals or on holiday even during the hottest of days will soon be easier, as a new non-electric cooler bag designed by a Finnish firm can keep food chilled for at least 4-5 days.
The innovation dubbed "super cooler bag" has been designed by the Icebridge Oy company based in Tuusula, near Helsinki, news website goodnewsfinland.com reported.

Company CEO Jukka Hamalainen said a "non-electric cooling system" developed by the company can be used in many different applications, such as in cooler bags.

"In practice, the basic product is ready but the product for the consumer market is still undergoing a few adjustments. We aim to complete the development work by the end of the year," the official said.

The most noticeable benefit of the "super cooler bag" over traditional cooler bags is its long-lasting and reliable temperature control.

The product is designed for conditions in which electric or otherwise-powered refrigeration space is not available or is insufficient.

"Our product is especially suited for travel, long hiking trips, staying at the summer cottage, sailing excursions and other kinds of events such as festivals," said Hamalainen.

He said the largest markets for the bag will be in the Middle East and in North America.

Icebridge's flagship product is a non-electric refrigeration system for airline catering. It is based on patented technology developed by inventor Jarmo Aurekoski.

The system cools the serving trolley evenly and for a sustained period, meaning that food can be kept cool for up to 23 hours.

The CEO said that 10 airlines have been using Icebridge products.

Dutch airline KLM has been flying with Icebridge coolers for over a year. The company has calculated that the product has helped save 1.2 million euros per year, he said.
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CAN I BE WRONG ?,IF I LOOK AT CREATION AS INSTANT?

THE PRESENT THINKING AMONG SCIENTISTS ARE CREATION IS BIG BANG FOLLOWED BY MANY THINGS ; WHILE THE OTHER SIDE THINKS IT IS ADAM AND EVE  AS THE 6TH GENERATION OF CREATION ON DAY NO: 6.

WELL I WANT TO THINK IN A NEW DIRECTION .
WHY IF  IT HAPPENED ALL IN ONE GO ,IN AN INSTANT OR LESS?

MANY WILL NOT UNDERSTAND MY WAY OF THINKING ;SO I AM GIVING AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF  AN ARTICLE COPIED :-
[1]original below

Instantaneous Creation - Institute for Creation Research

www.icr.org/article/18521/‎
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for He commanded, and they were created” (Psalm 148:5). The concept of “fiat creation” is opposed by evolutionists and ...
 Blinking Text

Chapter 9 - Creation In Genesis - Gradual or Instantaneous?

www.angelfire.com/mo/launchingpad/chapter09.html‎
Is creation in its comprehensiveness as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis stated to have been accomplished suddenly, as instantaneously say as a flash of ...
NOW IF I COPY AND PASTE IT AGAIN BELOW IT WILL BE INSTANTANEOUS ;
[2]copy and pasted below


Instantaneous Creation - Institute for Creation Research

www.icr.org/article/18521/‎
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for He commanded, and they were created” (Psalm 148:5). The concept of “fiat creation” is opposed by evolutionists and ...
 Blinking Text

Chapter 9 - Creation In Genesis - Gradual or Instantaneous?

www.angelfire.com/mo/launchingpad/chapter09.html‎
Is creation in its comprehensiveness as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis stated to have been accomplished suddenly, as instantaneously say as a flash of ...
IN COPY AND PASTE IT WAS INSTANTANEOUS CREATION WHILE IN THE ORIGINAL IT CAME ONE AFTER ANOTHER IN TIMED SEQUENCE


MY QUESTION  AND BELIEF:-  THE CREATION WAS A PREPACKAGED IDEA WHICH IS GETTING REPEATED IN VARIOUS OTHER PLACES IN THE UNIVERSE AND OTHER UNIVERSES IF ANY;INSTANTANEOUSLY AND RANDOMLY



CAN  SCIENCE  ACCEPT IT ? YES IF YOU LOOK AT THE WHOLE CREATION FROM A NEW ANGLE ;FROM A NEW TIME SPACE PERSPECTIVE .


SO THE FINAL QUESTION?WHOSE IDEA WAS IT?



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Found: Way to fix Down's syndrome

, TNN | Jul 19, 2013, 04.56 AM IST
READ MORE X chromosome|UMass Medical School
LONDON: Scientists have for the first time 'switched off' the extra chromosome responsible for Down's syndrome that affects between 23,000 and 29,000 children born in India every year - the highest in the world.


Scientists at UMass Medical School have successfully shown that a naturally occurring X chromosome "off switch" can be rerouted to neutralize the extra chromosome responsible for trisomy 21 or Down syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by cognitive impairment.

This is the first such evidence that the cells causing the genetic defect can be suppressed. This paves the way for researchers to study the cell pathologies and identify genome-wide pathways implicated in the disorder.

Chromosomes are thread-like structures composed of DNA and other proteins. They are present in every cell of the body and carry the genetic information needed for that cell to develop. Human cells normally have 46 chromosomes that can be arranged in 23 pairs.

Of these 23, 22 are alike in males and females; these are called the "autosomes". The 23rd pair is the sex chromosome. Human cells divide in two ways.

The first is ordinary cell division by which the body grows. In this method, one cell becomes two cells that have the exact same number and type of chromosomes as the parent cell.

The second method of cell division occurs in the ovaries and testicles and consists of one cell splitting into two, with the resulting cells having half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. So, normal eggs and sperm cells only have 23 chromosomes instead of 46.

People with Down syndrome are born with three (rather than two) copies of chromosome 21, and this "trisomy 21" causes cognitive disability, early-onset Alzheimer's disease; and a greater risk of childhood leukemia, heart defects and immune and endocrine system dysfunction.
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Invisibility wetsuit' to protect from shark attacks 

{sharks hunt using smell/olfactory sense- ,

just by closing  eyes it will not become night  }

PTI | Jul 19, 2013, 04.59 AM IST
READ MORE Western Australia|suits|Sports|UWA|University of Western Australia
'Invisibility wetsuit' to protect from shark attacks
=
MELBOURNE: World's first 'invisibility wetsuit' to protect sea surfers from deadly shark attacks has been developed by Australian scientists.


The suits are designed to mimic nature and camouflage swimmers while others warn sharks to stay away.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia ( UWA), with designers Shark Attack Mitigation Systems, have unveiled two new wet-suits they claim could save lives. Labelled as "Elude", one of the wetsuits is designed to camouflage a swimmer or diver in the sea and is based on a breakthrough discovery that sharks are colour blind, AAP news agency said.

On the other hand, the "Diverter" sports bold white and dark blue stripes, and is intended to mirror nature's warning signs to ward off any potential shark attack.

A mix of scientific discoveries and observations about nature were used to come up with warning suit designs aimed at reducing the risk to swimmers, surfers and divers, scientists said. "The idea is to reduce the risk of the wearer in certain conditions," prof Shaun Collin, from UWA's Ocean Institute, said.

The five fatal attacks in Western Australian waters in just under 12 months prompted the research into the suits more than two years ago, the report said.
S
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functioning of hypothalamaus and appetite


CHENNAI: When Lekha Sri, 4, started taking only liquid food, her parents Bhaskar and Radhika thought it was just a phase. But when she refused to take any solid food for weeks together, the worried parents took her to a city hospital where the child was diagnosed with a tumour, the size of two fully grown apples, which was pressing against the base of her brain.

Doctors said the tumour affected the functioning of hypothalamaus, a part of the brain that controls, among other functions, hunger and thirst. The girl has regained her appetite after a team of doctors at Global Hospitals removed the tumour.

The first signs of trouble appeared when Lekha Sri's growth came to a halt gradually and she began losing weight. She became too thin and refused to eat solid food. But she was always thirsty. When she was taken to a hospital, the tumour was discovered. The family then approached several hospitals, but none of them were ready to operate on the girl as they considered it a risky procedure. However, a team led by neurosurgeon Dr K Sridhar at Global agreed to perform the surgery and give the girl a second chance at life.

Describing the girl's condition, Dr Sridhar said the child had a tumour, called craniopharyngioma, located between two optic nerves. The tumour caused hypothalamus, which is linked to the pituitary gland and controlled many metabolic processes, to malfunction. "The salt and water balance in the body was thrown out of control. She also had diabetes insipidus, because of which she passed a lot of urine and in turn drank a lot of water," he said.

Lekha Sri underwent a brain surgery two weeks ago to remove the tumour. Doctors said she is recovering rapidly and has already gained two kilos, besides showing a remarkable improvement in appetite. "Usually such tumours can recur as some cells are not visible through the microscope and hence cannot be removed. But as of now she is stable and can lead a normal life," Dr Sridhar said.
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script to unify 22 languages


IIT prof writes one script to unify 22 languages

M Ramya, TNN | Jul 17, 2013, 05.18 AM IST
READ MORE the script
CHENNAI: India has 22 official languages. Schools teach in 58 different languages. There are newspapers in 87 languages. And, about a dozen major scripts are used to communicate in these languages.

Though the country once boasted about this linguistic complexity, people have since found that it poses barriers to effective communication.

An ideal situation would be the use of a single language across India, but researchers feel that it is too ambitious a project. "There are impossible difficulties to creating a unified language in India, not least because of the huge emotional component," said V Srinivas Chakravarthy, an IIT-Madras professor. A simpler goal would be to figure out a unified script that can convey information in all Indian languages, said the professor of biotechnology, whose work spans computational neuroscience and pattern recognition.

Chakravarthy has drawn up one such script that he calls Bharati, which can be used for regular writing and can be learnt easily. "Anyone who knows one of the major Indian scripts can learn Bharati script in an hour," said Chakravarthy, who has applied for a patent for the Bharati script.

Most Indian alphabet systems are organised as vowels and consonants; Bharati follows this pattern without the elaborate flourish. The script combines the simplest features of several existing scripts to come up with a new one that is logical and simple.

Chakravarthy said English is arbitrary. "There is no logic to why A comes first and Z last. Indian scripts are logical," he said. "But, they are also unreasonably complicated and ornate."

For instance, he said, the long form of the alphabet that makes the sound 'ah' in the Devanagiri/Hindi script is written by adding a vertical bar to produce the sound 'aah'. The long form of the alphabet making the sound 'e' is written by adding a hook to make the 'ee' sound.

"Why should we have so many different conventions just to denote the long version of a vowel?" said Chakravarthy. He studied these inconsistencies and made sure that the Bharati alphabets follow a consistent design.

Experts welcome the initiative, saying Indian languages had a lot of shared words. "It's a good attempt that can bring people together. But, whether people, politicians or teachers like me will let it happen is a different thing," said S C Chaudhary, member of the Indian Linguistic Association in Pune. He hoped that the effort would put an end to the domination of English, which is threatening to overtake all other languages.

Awadesh Kumar Mishra, director of Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore, said such a script would be useful for the average Indian, who is likely to know just one language. The Technology Development for Indian Languages programme, initiated by the ministry of communication and information technology, is making a similar attempt to facilitate human-machine interaction without a language barrier, he said.

Chakravarthy's script has immediate application in signs, especially at tourist attractions. Bharati can be developed into an online handwriting recognition system for Indian languages on smartphones and PDAs because it can be used to help develop better algorithms to recognise all languages.
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ONE MORE STUDY,MANY MORE QUESTIONS


Global warming may raise sea levels by more than 2 metres: Study

PTI | Jul 16, 2013, 06.29 PM IST
READ MORE ice-loss in Antarctica|global warming|global sea-level rise
Global warming may raise sea levels by more than 2 metres: Study
Half of that rise might come from ice-loss in Antarctica which is currently contributing less than 10 per cent to global sea-level rise.
Berlin: Each degree celsius rise in global temperatures is likely to raise world's sea levels by more than 2 metres within the next 2,000 years, a new study has warned.

While thermal expansion of the ocean and melting mountain glaciers are the most important factors causing sea-level change today, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will be the dominant contributors within the next two millennia, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Half of that rise might come from ice-loss in Antarctica which is currently contributing less than 10 per cent to global sea-level rise.

"CO2, once emitted by burning fossil fuels, stays an awful long time in the atmosphere. Consequently, the warming it causes also persists," said Anders Levermann, lead author of the study and research domain co-chair at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

The oceans and ice sheets are slow in responding, simply because of their enormous mass, which is why observed sea-level rise is now measured in millimetres per year.

"The problem is: once heated out of balance, they simply don't stop. We're confident that our estimate is robust because of the combination of physics and data that we use," Levermann said in a statement.

The study is the first to combine evidence from early Earth's climate history with comprehensive computer simulations using physical models of all four major contributors to long-term global sea-level rise.

During the 20th century, sea level rose by about 0.2 metres, and it is projected to rise by significantly less than two metres by 2100, even for the strongest scenarios considered.

At the same time, past climate records, which average sea-level and temperature changes over a long time, suggest much higher sea levels during periods of earth's history that were warmer than present.

For the new study, the international team of scientists used data from sediments from the bottom of the sea and ancient raised shorelines found on various coastlines around the world.

If global mean temperature rises by 4 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, which in a business-as-usual scenario is projected to happen within less than a century, the Antarctic ice sheet will contribute about 50 per cent of sea-level rise over the next two millennia, researchers said.

Greenland will add another 25 per cent to the total sea-level rise, while the thermal expansion of the oceans' water, currently the largest component of sea-level rise, will contribute about 20 per cent, and the contribution from mountain glaciers will decline to less than 5 per cent, mostly because many of them will shrink to a minimum, the study found.

  1. Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report ...

    www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-...‎
    Oct 16, 2012 - The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new .... This 'plateau' in rising temperatures does not mean that global ...

  2. What to Make of a Climate-Change Plateau - NYTimes.com

    www.nytimes.com/.../what-to-make-of-a-climate-change-plateau.html‎
    Jun 10, 2013 - The rise in the planet's surface temperature has been markedly slower ... They typically argue that “global warming stopped 15 years ago” or ...

  3. Global warming has not stalled, insists world's best-known climate ...

    www.guardian.co.uk › Environment › Climate change‎
    by Damian Carrington - in 88 Google+ circles
    May 17, 2013 - Prof James Hansen, who first alerted the world to climate change in 1988, said ... causing some sceptics to suggest climate change has stopped or that the .... But forecast global temperature rise of 4C heralds disaster for large ...

  4. Global warming: has the rise in temperatures 'paused'? - The Guardian

    www.guardian.co.uk › Environment › The eco audit with Leo Hickman‎
    Jan 10, 2013 - The "global warming has stopped" line from climate sceptics has always ... The rate of decadal rise in average global temperatures has clearly ...
















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