Washington: Ever thought the curtains in your house are not bright enough? Researchers at MIT have created designs for flexible photovoltaic materials, known as solar textiles, that can also be draped as curtains, which may change the way buildings receive and distribute energy. According to a report in Science Daily, these new materials work like the now-familiar photovoltaic cells in solar panels. Made of semiconductor

Bizarre microbes flourish in the most punishing environments on Earth from the bonedry Atacama Desert in Chile to the boiling hot springs of Yellowstone National Park to the sunless sea bottom vents in the Pacific. Could such exotic life emerge in the frigid arctic plains of Mars? Nasa's Phoenix spacecraft could soon find out. Since plopping down near the Martian north pole a month ago, the three-legged lander has been busy poking its long arm into the sticky soil and collecting scoopfuls to bake in a test oven and peer at under a microscope.

When a pair of tiger cubs are relocated to the Sariska Tiger Reserve in the coming days, wildlife experts won't leave them at the mercy of marauding poachers who wiped out big cats from the sanctuary in Rajasthan by 1993. The cubs, to be shifted from the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, will be fitted with radio collars and constantly monitored by a satellite. The collars, each costing Rs 8 lakh, have been procured from a Canada-based firm, Lotek, sources said.

Amitabh Sinha Three decades after it set up a permanent base in Antarctica, India plans one not very far from the North Pole NEW DELHI, JUNE 22: Three decades after it set up base in Antarctica, India will have a home on the other extreme of the globe when a permanent research station is inaugurated in the Arctic later this month.

Amitabh Sinha Three decades after it set up a permanent base in Antarctica, India plans one not very far from the North Pole NEW DELHI, JUNE 22: Three decades after it set up base in Antarctica, India will have a home on the other extreme of the globe when a permanent research station is inaugurated in the Arctic later this month.

With an early onset of rainy season ensuring a near-zero emergency upkeep, gear up for more bumpy rides. Scientists at Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) say the road authorities

ISRO will set up 1,000 automatic weather stations (AWS) across the country within the next six months as part of its effort to collect region-specific data on weather and make need-based meteorological services available for civilian purposes. AWS is a meteorological equipment with sensors to measure rainfall, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric temperature and direction of wind. The data collected would be sent to specially-equipped centres via satellite for processing. The stations will generate data on an hourly basis.

Paris: European and US scientists will bid a fond farewell on July 1 to the space probe Ulysses, which has circled the Sun gathering data for 17 years, almost four times its expected lifetime. The first major collaboration between Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1990, "changed forever the way we view the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space,' David Southwood, ESA's director of science, said in announcing the end of mission. Stuffed with 10 observational instruments, the 370-kg probe is the only satellite to have circled the Sun's poles.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today stressed the need for establishment of flood forecasting stations in coordination with organisations like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Meteorology department to mitigate the losses due to flash floods.

JORHAT