Google Phone Search

Google Phone Search

  8:45:00 PM    Science Lover

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Google Phone Search - Voice Search for Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai New! and Bangalore New!, India

Google Phone Search is a new pilot service making local business information, movie times and real time flight status accessible from any phone.
Google Phone Search gives you the power of Google Search while you are on the go. This service is completely free of charge, bringing you the information you need, right when you need it the most. It can be reached from any phone number - landline or mobile.
Dial from any phone 1-800-41-999-999 (toll free)
Once you find the information you're looking for, you can:
Get the information sent to you for free via SMS
Have the information read to you
To give you the information you need quickly and efficiently, we are using a combination of advanced speech recognition technology and local experts - ensuring that you always find the best answers to your questions in the fastest way possible.
To find out more about getting other Google products on your mobile device, visit Google Mobile web site.
Note: Google Phone Search is still in its pilot stage and is available to users in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India only. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We're fine-tuning the service to serve you better. It is currently only available in English, Hindi and Telugu.

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Unnatural selection?

Unnatural selection?

  9:53:00 AM    Science Lover

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How far will parents go? A group of ethicists fear that genetic science will soon make it possible for couples to customise their offspring down to intelligence levels and even the length of eye lashes…


Picture this: prospective parents excitedly clicking through an online catalogue, ticking off the optimal mix of traits for their yet-to-be-conceived child.

Will they opt for blue eyes or brown? Perhaps green, for a touch of originality? What colour skin? And do they want a boy or a girl?

Are they aiming for an Olympian athlete, or will they stack the deck in favour of intellectual prowess? Why not both?

For some people, this would be a dream come true. For others, a nightmare of widening inequality touching on eugenics.

For biologists, it raises acute questions about evolution. And no, this vision clearly does not belong to the hazy future of science fiction…

Of Freckles and long eye lashes

Dozens of clinics in the United States – one of the least regulated markets for fertility services – already provide would-be parents in-depth profiles of potential sperm and egg donors.

Atlanta-based Xytex Corporation, for example, offers a long list of genetically-coded physical attributes, right down to the length of eyelashes, the presence of freckles and whether ear lobes are detached.

There is also a summary of the donor’s medical history and – for an additional fee – personality and educational profiles, a personal essay and photos, as an adult and a baby.

Much of this information has no relation to genetic pedigree and even when it does, the result – a human child – may not come out as advertised. But that has not dampened enthusiasm for the tests.

Most couples shop in this market to compensate for either male or female infertility.

But there is nothing – in science or, in some countries’ law – to prevent matching a donor egg with donor sperm to create an embryo that can be purchased and implanted in the buyer’s womb.

This option was offered by at least one “embryo bank” in Texas before it reluctantly withdrew the procedure under an ethical firestorm.

Even parents who don’t need outside help to procreate may soon be clamouring for “preimplantation genetic diagnosis” of embryos to check not only for genetic defects and disease – the original intent – but also for sex and desirable traits as well, experts say.

“We need to look carefully at these selection technologies,” said Marcy Darnovsky of the Centre for Genetics and Society in Oakland, California.

“It is not bad to have a desire for a girl or a boy,” she said. “But what are parents going to do if they don’t get the kind of kid they asked for. Would they take her back?” she said.

A new human species?

An even more problematic scenario for some is the leap from genetic selection to genetic engineering. “The pressure to change genes will probably come from parents wanting to guarantee their child is a boy or a girl, or to endow them with beauty, intelligence, musical talent or a sweet nature,” notes Peter Ward, a scientist at the University of Washington and author of Future Evolution.

For now, germ-line therapy is out of reach. But were science to master the genome, the temptation to tweak it to increase smarts, looks and longevity would be overwhelming, Ward argued last month in the journal Science.

“One day, we will have it in our power to bring a new human species into this world,” he said.

Not all researchers agree, however. “I think that all of these worries are misplaced – genetics is far too complex to allow for easy manipulation of human traits,” said Steven Pinker, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University.

Nearly all diseases and traits are determined not by one or two genes but the interaction of many, he pointed out. There is no such thing, in other words, as a master gene for intelligence or musicality.

“I doubt that parents would take a risk greater than five per cent that something would go wrong,” he said. “Testing is easy and safe. Manipulation is hard and risky.”

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Google Latitude lets you track friends,kids

Google Latitude lets you track friends,kids

  9:57:00 AM    Science Lover

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A new service on Google Maps, called Latitude, allows cellphone users to check their own location, as well as track their friends' whereabouts. The software, which can also be installed on a laptop or PC, plots a user's location - marked by a personal picture on the map - by relaying on cellphone towers, GPS or a Wi-Fi connection. As for privacy concerns, Latitude - functional in India lets the user decide who can monitor his location, and in how much detail.

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New Google Earth allows exploration of oceans,Mars

New Google Earth allows exploration of oceans,Mars

  10:52:00 AM    Science Lover

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Google Earth 5.0 - the latest version of Google's free earth-mapping software allows users to plunge into oceans and explore Mars. New features include 3-D images of underwater terrain, articles and videos about marine science, and a location-archiving facility to track changes in a region. Users can also created narrated tours of places using the software's images, and even view 3-D satellite imagery of the Red Planet, taken during space expeditions.

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Men smell of cheese, and women of onion

Men smell of cheese, and women of onion

  10:32:00 AM    Science Lover

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Women smell of onion while men are more likely to whiff of cheese, says a group of scientists after "sniffing" both sexes' armpits.
The bizarre research, which investigated the distinctive armpit odours of men and women, was conducted by scientist at Firmenich,a company in Geneva that researches flavours and smell for the food and perfume industry.
Analyses found that samples for women contained high amount of an odourless sulphur-containing compound,according to New Scientist magazine.
When this was mixed with bacteria usually found under the arm, it was transformed into a chemical called thiol, which is well known for its onion-like smell.
In men , the boffins found high levels of an odourless fatty acid that released a cheesy smell when exposed to enzymes produced by bacteria in the armpits.
"Men smell of cheese, and women of grapefruit or onion," said study leader Christian Starkenmann of Firmenich.
A team of independent testers recruited by the scientists also found the smell from women's armpits was more unpleasant.
Dr Starkenmann hopes to use the findings to develop deodorants aimd at particular sexes.
However, some scientists claim that external factors might mean that this study does not apply universally.
Professor Tim Jacob, who researches the science of smell at Cardiff University in the UK, said : "Factors include what you eat, what you wash with, what you wear and what genes you inherit."

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NASA invites public to choose Hubble's next discovery

NASA invites public to choose Hubble's next discovery

  9:40:00 AM    Science Lover

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To commemorate the international Year of Astronomy, NASA has invited the public to vote for one of six candidate astronomy-related objects for the Hubble Telescope to observe. The options, which Hubble has not previously photographed, range from far-flung galaxies to dying stars. Votes can be cast online March 1 at youdecide.hubblesite.org, and the final images will be released from April 2 to 5.

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Soon you could access Gmail while being offline

Soon you could access Gmail while being offline

  9:43:00 AM    Science Lover

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Over the next few days, Google will be rolling out a new tool to use Gmail while being offline. Using Google Gears, the Gmail inbox and other folders will be downloaded and cached, and can be got at via the Web browser. Those seeking the new feature can check the 'Labs' tab in the 'Settings' section of their account, and enable it if available, Gmail engineer Andy Palay wrote on the company's official blog.

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World through Coloured Glasses: Who Owns the Knowledge In This World?

World through Coloured Glasses: Who Owns the Knowledge In This World?

  7:24:00 PM    Science Lover

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Very interesting article from L Venkata Subramaniam.

World through Coloured Glasses: Who Owns the Knowledge In This World?

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Charles Darwin facing accusations of plagiarism

Charles Darwin facing accusations of plagiarism

  9:54:00 PM    Science Lover

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Experts have criticised Charles Darwin for plagiarism and unjustly claiming credit as the father of evolutionary theory.

As the scientific world prepares to mark bicentenary of the author of 'On the Origin of Species', a group of critics has commissioned computer experts with specialized anti-plagiarism software to scour Darwin's book, published in 1859, for similarities to a paper released the year before by Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist who worked for eight years in modern Indonesia.

Initial indications are that the analysis will reveal that some of the ideas in On the Origin of Species were taken from Wallace, particularly, the idea that species with variations helping them to survive would thrive and pass on these features to their offspring.

As far as the dispute over who deserves the credit is concerned, it is as old as evolutionary theory itself, with Darwin's defenders claiming the two came up with similar ideas independently at the same time, reports TimesOnline.

According to James Moore, a biographer and professor of the history of science at the Open University, the new plagiarism claim is "manufactured."

He added that those pursuing it were under qualified to do so.

"You wouldn't go to a plumber to do your tax return," he said.

The adulation has shocked critics, including lawyer David Hallmark, a trustee of the Wallace Foundation of Indonesia.

"The descent of Wallace from equality to relative invisibility is the direct result of the unlawful conduct of Charles Darwin by suppressing the true worth of Wallace as the author of the theory," Hallmark said.

The software used by Hallmark's copyright experts can detect where phrasing is identical and also signs of an author's style being copied.

Hallmark plans to submit his findings to the International Association of Forensic Linguists in Amsterdam in July.

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Virtual crash dummy to make driving much safer

Virtual crash dummy to make driving much safer

  10:12:00 PM    Science Lover

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Automakers have been crashing test dummies to gain insight into how safety systems protect or fail to protect people during car accidents.

But these dummies made out of plastic and steel, not tissue and bone, have their limitations. Now a virtual dummy being developed by two engineering teams with University of Virginia (UVa) Centre for Biomechanics, will make driving much safer.

These virtual dummies, computational models of a human being, will be complete with lifelike detail of the complexities and characteristics of flesh, bones, ligaments, blood vessels and organs.

Researchers will be able to see, how a neck breaks in a crash, how a lung is punctured by a broken rib or a liver is bruised or a hip shattered.

Besides a virtual dummy test will cost nothing, compared to the typical physical crash test dummy, which costs about $5,000 to $100,000.

"Already, cars and their safety systems are designed on computers," said Richard Kent, one of UVa's team leaders on the project and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

"It's logical that we would create a virtual crash test dummy that would allow us to test these safety systems before they are ever physically built."

Kent and his six-member team is charged with creating a highly detailed and realistic computer model of the human thorax and upper extremities, including the ribcage, muscles and ligaments, and the lungs and heart.

Jeff Crandall, UVa professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is leading another team in the development of a virtual pelvis and lower extremities, said a UVa release penned by Fariss Samarrai.

An international group of automakers and suppliers have formed a Global Human Body Models Consortium, which funded the two teams with $3 million to complete their projects within the next few years.

Teams of researchers at six other universities and institutes are creating models of other parts of the human body, including the head, neck and abdomen.

"Eventually all of these models will be joined together to create the most sophisticated and lifelike simulation of the entire human body ever assembled for safety testing," said Damien Subit, a UVa research scientist working on the model of the thorax.

He said the virtual human will be subjected to nearly infinite virtual crash scenarios to determine in graphic detail what happens to organs, bone and tissue when subjected to forces and impacts from a range of angles at different velocities.

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