Astronomers probe close to supermassive black hole's edge

Major Potential CO2 Storage in the North Sea

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Pennsylvania wants to allow power companies to capture carbon dioxide emissions and put them into the ground.

GPS for Guwahati police

Guwahati, Assam: City police will soon have global positioning system (GPS)-aided facility for quick responses to emergency situations. It is part of the computer-aided dispatch system (CADS) launched in 2008.A US-based company, InterAct Public Safety Systems, a provider of comprehensive public safety and homeland security solutions, has already started work on the new system for the police, which is expected to be completed within three months. Work on the project started in December last year, a source in the home department here said. Once complete, the computer-aided dispatch system will be like cities in the US and Canada which have this system for faster response to emergencies. “Installation of hardware and software, electronic mapping of the city and plotting of about 1 lakh land telephone lines have already been completed,” a senior home department official said. He said in the first phase, GPS service would be introduced only to the land phone lines but there are plans also to include the global system mobile (GSM) communications and code division multiple access (CDMA) systems subsequently. “There is a question of availability of funds,” he said adding that if the system clicked and achieved its desired objective, other key towns in the state would also be brought under it. The official said initially about 30 patrol vehicles in the city would be fitted with GPS and would be monitored from the police control room. “We expect that introduction of this new technology would enable swifter responses,” the official said.The geographic information system (GIS) map will be able to show the movement of the 30 vehicles live and the base map would have landmarks like roads, railway lines, buildings, locality, police stations, road intersections. “The GIS will be capable of working with the dial 100 application and would display the respective locality of the origin of the telephone call on the screen. The operator at the control room can immediately inform the nearest patrol vehicle from where the phone call had come,” the official said. The entire operation will work under a BSNL server, the official added. The official said the introduction of the GPS system wo-uld also help city police work with minimum manpower. “It will not only help keep an eye on the movement of the patrolling vehicles but also accurately guide them to the spot when an incident takes place in quick time,” he said. Sources said another big advantage of introducing the GPS system would be that no policeman on patrol duty could lie now since the movement of his vehicle would be monitored round the clock. “Many officers do not visit vulnerable areas despite strict orders to do so. There was no way we could prove them wrong,” the official said. Source : http://www.telegraphindia.com/

Astronauts complete tricky Hubble surgery

Global Warming Study: Nations Need to Cut Emissions by 70 Percent

The threat of global warming can be significantly lessened if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, according to a new study. This would help reduce the most dangerous aspects of climate change including massive losses of Arctic sea ice and permafrost and significant sea level rise, although global temperatures will still rise.

The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), will be published in Geophysical Research Letters. It was funded by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor.

"This research indicates that we can no longer avoid significant warming during this century," said NCAR scientist Warren Washington, the lead author for the study. However, a catastrophe can be avoided if the world implements the recommended emission cuts of 70 percent, he said.

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For sale: tropical islands at recession-friendly prices

AFREF to unite Africa geodetically

New England Rescinds Protections for Threatened Atlantic Sea Turtles

The New England Fishery Management Council  voted to rescind protections for threatened and endangered sea turtles, many of which are caught in scallop dredges in New England and mid-Atlantic waters. 

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Emergency Action Taken for Threatened and Endangered Sea Turtles:Six-month Closure Ordered of Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Women more vulnerable to tobacco carcinogens, new results show

World likely to pass dangerous warming limits

The world will probably exceed a global warming limit which the European Union calls dangerous, scientists at Britain's MetOffice Hadley Centre said , presenting a new, 5-year research program.

But not all scientists agree, demonstrating a shift in debate from whether climate change is happening -- on which where there is near consensus -- to how bad it will get and what to do about it.

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