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EYE
SPY NEWS |
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Sir, would you like to travel on the world’s first biofuel airplane? |
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At the Paris Air Show this past month, a very special aircraft from North America stole the limelight. Honeywell's corporate Gulfstream G450 reached Paris' Le Bourget Airport on a 50-50 blend of kerosene and a 'bio-jet refined camelina oil'. The seven-hour flight raises hopes of the fulfillment of the aviation industry’s goals on emissions reductions. The bio-jet fuel burns at a slower rate, saving approximately 5.5 metric tonnes of net carbon dioxide emissions. Also, it recoups the emissions generated by consuming carbon dioxide when the base plant material from which it is made is grown.
But its price has to be brought down to make it a viable replacement for fossil jet fuel. Another issue is that of availability. According to the International Air Transport Association's Paul Steele, there is not enough biofuel being made to cover the 70bn gallons of kerosene consumed by the industry every year.
Even Germany's Lufthansa will launch its first commercial biofuel route later this year, provided the carrier gets safety clearance, with 25 per cent of its fuel set to be biofuel.
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Born to the left side of right |
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Next time you criticise the government or talk about Obama killing Osama, make sure you think about your parents. Why? Because scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University have come up with a study that proves that your genes could determine your political leanings in adult life. You may have been shaped or groomed to be liberal – or just born that way.
So do you have DRD4? If you do, you will probably turn out to be a liberal. DRD4 is a specific variant of dopamine receptor gene.
The study was conduced on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The subjects' genetic information was compared with “maps” of their social networks.
According to the study, your adolescence could subvert your genetic coding. If you were socially active during your teenage you will probably be more left-leaning. “It is the crucial interaction of two factors – the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition... that is associated with being more liberal,” the study says. The study didn't find any marked difference as far as ethnicity, culture, sex or age of the subjects
were concerned.
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No light at the end of this tunnel |
Did you know India will be ready with its longest tunnel by the end of 2012? This
11-km long stretch in the Kashmir Valley will connect Qazigund and Banihal. We really have come a long way since 1889 when Barog, a colonial engineer, dug deep into the Himalayas to construct the world's longest railway tunnel.
He did everything right – except that he couldn't get both the sides to align! If he had got it right, this tunnel would have connected Solan and Salogra. But due to silly mathematical mistakes, he not only lost out on world-wide fame but was also fined a grand Re 1. The humiliation killed him – literally. After he committed suicide, the colonial government named a station on the Kalka-Shimla line after him. Barog station is immediately after a 1143 m-long tunnel, which takes about three minutes to cross. Ironically, the Barog tunnel is the straightest tunnel in the world!
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A windmill on the roof of your house? |
Solar panels have been the most tried and tested way of replacing electric grids so far. However, with the advent of micro-hydroelectric projects (we have spoken about this in the previous issues of GT) and now, mini-wind turbines, production of renewable energy is becoming more user-friendly. Till now, wind energy production has only been done on a large scale level, involving the setting up of hundreds of massive wind turbines over a vast expanse of area (popularly known as wind farms).
Here’s the latest: Windtronics, a US-based start-up has developed wind turbines with a diameter of about 6 feet that can generate an average of 1500 KW/hour a year (depending on wind strength). Unlike traditional wind turbines, this one doesn't use a generator and is consequently much quieter. The mini-turbine acts as an electric generator itself--the magnets at the tips of the blades convert magnetic energy into electric energy when the blades move.
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Illustrations: Arundyuti |
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