Comet ISON to be visible in December

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), discovered on September 21, 2012, by Eastern European and Russian astronomers Arytom Novichonok and Vitali Nevski, using a 16-inch telescope as part of sky survey programme of International Scientific Optical Network, will make its closest approach to earth on December 26.

Comet ISON, said to have the potential to become a bright object visible to the naked eye, could not be sighted on November 28 (Thanksgiving Day 2013) due to cloudy skies, but can be sighted on December 26. The comet is named after the organisation, where its discovery was made, the Russia-based International Scientific Optical Network (ISON).

The comet is believed to have originated from the oort cloud region, a cloud of icy bodies, well beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto.

“According to its calculated orbit, on December 26, the comet is set to pass 6.3 crore km from the earth approximately. The ISON does not have chances of colliding with our planet,

Metals in your smartphone have no substitutes

Our lives are so dependent on these materials that a scarcity of a handful of elements could send us back in time by decades.

A few centuries ago, there were just a few widely used materials: wood, brick, iron, copper, gold and silver. Today’s material diversity is astounding. A chip in your smartphone, for instance, contains 60 different elements. Our lives are so dependent on these materials that a scarcity of a handful of elements could send us back in time by decades.

If we do ever face such scarcity, what can be done? Thomas Graedel of Yale University and his colleagues decided to investigate. He chose to restrict his analysis to metals and metalloids, which could face more critical constraints because many of them are relatively rare.

The authors’ first task was to make a comprehensive list of uses for these 62 elements. This is a surprisingly difficult task. Much of the modern use of metals happens behind closed doors of corporations, under the veil of trade secrets. Even if we can find out how certain metals are used, it may not always be possible to determine the proportions they are used in. Their compromise was to account for the use of 80% of the material that is made available each year through extraction and recycling.

The next task was to determine if there were any substitutes for these uses. But, as Graedel writes, “the best substitute for a metal in a particular use is not always readily apparent.” Elemental properties are quite unique and substitution will often reduce the performance of the product. But it can be done.

Two examples stand testament to that. In the 1970s, cobalt was commonly used in magnets. When a civil war in Zaire caused scarcity of cobalt, scientists at General Motors and elsewhere were forced to develop magnets that used no cobalt. More recently, a shortage of rhenium, which is used in superalloys for gas turbines, forced General Electric to develop alternatives that use little or no rhenium.

Graedel’s analysis of substitutes involved ploughing through scientific literature and interviewing product designers and material scientists. The results are a sobering reminder of how critical some metals are. On seeing the data, Andrea Sella of University College London said, “This is an important wake up call.”

None of the 62 elements have substitutes that perform equally well. And 12 out of the 62 have no substitutes at all (or if there are substitutes, then they are inadequate). These 12 elements are: rhenium, rhodium, lanthanum, europium, dysprosium, thulium, ytterbium, yttrium, strontium, thallium, magnesium and manganese.

Economists have long assumed that a shortage of anything will promptly lead to the development of suitable substitutes, an attitude fostered in part because there have been successful substitutions in the past, such as the cobalt and rhenium examples. But metals are special, Graedel said: “We have shown that metal substitution is very problematic. Substitution would need to mimic these special properties – a real challenge in many applications.”

“The clarity of Graedel’s thinking is impressive,” said Sella. “No one has analysed metal criticality in such detail.” One of Graedel’s biggest contributions has been developing a visual way of understanding how critical metals are. They created a 3D map, where the three axes represent supply risk, environmental implications and vulnerability to supply restriction.

The scarcity of metals came to public attention in 2010 when China suddenly decided to restrict its export of a group of metals called the rare earths. Prices of these metals shot up by as much as five times and caused companies around the world to consider reopening their rare earth mines. This hadknock-on effects on the prices of everything from gadgets to wind turbines.

Some comfort may be drawn from the fact that consumptions of some metals can peak. For example, the use of iron has reached saturation in many countries. And, in the US, this seems to have happened for aluminium too. This, however, is the case only for bulk metals. Scarcer metals, even with superior recycling, may never reach saturation.

Apart from China, a handful of countries, including the US, South Africa, Australia, Congo, and Canada, hold the most diverse and largest metal reserves. “A national disaster or extended political turmoil in any of them would significantly ripple throughout the material world in which we live,” said Graedel.

As Sella puts it, Graedel’s measured analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is a warning of a serious issue. “But he has a thoughtful way of putting it.”

India to push for freeing Internet from U.S. control

To insist on Internet data storage within the country

In view of its growing cyber security concerns, India has decided to challenge the U.S. government’s control over the Internet and ensure that the trio of the U.S., Russia and China does not ignore India’s concerns while developing an international regime for Internet governance.

India will also push for storing all Internet data within the country, besides ensuring control and management of servers.

“The control of Internet was in the hands of the U.S. government and the key levers relating to its management was dominated by its security agencies…Mere location of root servers in India would not serve any purpose unless we were also allowed a role in their control and management. We should insist that data of all domain names originating from India…should be stored in India. Similarly, all traffic originating/landing in India should be stored in India,” says an internal note prepared after the meeting of Sub-Committee on International Cooperation on Cyber Security under the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

Notably, the key function of domain name system (DNS) management today is in the hands of the U.S. National Telecommunication and Information Administration and the Department of Commerce. Though after persistently putting pressure on companies, India managed to get root servers installed in the country, it wants a say in management of these servers. India is also seeking a key role in policy making on Internet governance at the international level, said a senior government official engaged in India’s cyber security preparedness.

“It was important that management and control of the DNS should be supervised by a ‘Board’ consisting of technical experts nominated by governments and India should be represented on this Board. We should seek a larger determinate role for the GAC [Government Advisory Committee] in ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number] a U.S.-based non-profit organisation that coordinates global Internet systems, which we should be effectively represented,” the note adds.

Significantly, under the ‘Affirmation of Commitments’ between the ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce, the ICANN committed that it would not shift outside of the U.S. without the concurrence of the U.S. government and the process of Internet management would be led by private sector. At the meeting, held last month and headed by Deputy National Security Advisor and NSCS Secretary Nehchal Sandhu, it was decided that the Ministry of External Affairs along with the Department of Electronic and Information Technology (DEITy) and the NSCS, will develop a position paper, highlighting India’s concerns regarding representation and management control in the Internet governance domain.

India is also concerned about the proximity of the U.S., Russia and China while deciding on issue of Internet governance. “There was a possibility that the U.S., Russia and China may work out an arrangement that met their concerns and this arrangement was thereafter forced upon other countries. We need to guard against this possibility and ensure that India’s concerns were also accommodated in whatever international regime for Internet governance that ultimately emerged,” the note adds. Notably, today India has third largest Internet users in the world at over 15 crore, only after China (56 crore) and the U.S. (25 crore).

Similarly, India has also decided to favour a pre-dominantly multilateral approach on issues related to Internet governance rather than multi-stakeholder approach which is mainly being advocated by the West. “India feels that the very term multi-stakeholder was something of a ‘misnomer’. A small unrepresentative group of certain individuals, supported by vested interests, appear to have arrogated themselves the right to present certain views in discussions relating to Internet governance. It was not clear as to who they represent and whether who they claimed to represent had in fact nominated them. These persons undermine the positions of the government and were really spokespersons of certain Western interests,” the note says.

Madi to turn into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’

Officals of the Indian Meteorological Department have forecast that Cyclone Madi would turn into a very severe cyclonic storm and move nearly northwards, slowly. As of 10 p.m. on Saturday, the cyclone is located over south-western Bay of Bengal, 520 km east-south-east of Chennai, and 440 km north-east of Trincomalee, the IMD said.

Rainfall was reported at a few places over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands under the influence of the cyclone.

Officials are trying to figure out the speed in which Madi would move, and where it would make landfall. It had moved a distance of 20 km away from Chennai and 70 km off Trincomalee in about 11 hours, from the time of the last report.

With rainfall forecast under the influence of this system, fishermen have been advised to be cautious while venturing into sea and to stay away from deep sea.

China’s lunar probe leaves trace on moon

China’s first lunar probe on Sunday successfully separated from the lander and left deep trace on its loose soil, hours after the communist giant carried out the world’s first soft landing on the lunar surface in nearly 40 years.

“China’s first moon rover, Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, separated from the lander early on Sunday. The 140 kg six—wheeled rover touched the lunar surface at 4:35 a.m., leaving deep trace on the loose lunar soil,” state—run Xinhua news agency reported.

The process was recorded by the camera on the lander and the images were sent to the earth. After the separation, the rover and lander took photos of each other and started their own scientific explorations, the report said.

At about 11:42 pm Beijing Time, the six—wheeled moon rover moved to a spot about 9 metres to the north of the lander and the photographing began, it said.

Yutu will survey the moon’s geological structure and surface substances and look for natural resources for three months, while the lander will conduct in—situ exploration at the landing site for one year.

China’s first lunar rover yesterday successfully landed on the moon, making the communist giant one of three world powers to make a soft landing as part of an ambitious programme that aims to put a Chinese astronaut on the moon.

Cannot ignore benefits of GM crops, says ‘Venki’ Ramakrishnan

Nobel laureate Venkataraman ‘Venki’ Ramakrishnan on Monday came down heavily on those opposed to genetic modification of agricultural crops.

 he said there was definitely a need to be careful while dealing with GM crops with proper regulatory mechanism, but one should not ignore the tremendous potentials on offer such as in terms of developing drought resistant varieties and crops with more nutrients and with greater shelf life.

“India has to feed a large number of people. We can’t ignore the potentials of GM crops. We, no doubt, need to be careful, and have proper controls and effective regulations.”

He noted that varieties of wheat, rice and other crops that are cultivated today were developed over the centuries from the wild varieties through various man-made techniques of selection. “Genetic modification is just another tool for selection [developed scientifically].”

He rejected the argument of anti-GM groups and activists that GM crops are promoted by large multinationals and must, therefore, be opposed in the interest of the sovereignty of developing countries and to protect their small and marginal farmers.

“If needed, India and other countries can set up their own national agencies or institutions to ensure that genetic modification could be pursued independent of the MNCs. But, we can’t ignore the great potentials of GM crops. We can’t do without them. We should not mix up issues.”

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