India, U.S. researchers clash over swine flu strain mutation

India has disputed U.S. scientists' findings that the deadly swine flu virus has acquired more virulent mutations in the South Asian country and rejected their concerns over how authorities are monitoring an outbreak of the disease.

H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu, has killed more than 1,500 people in India this year, compared with 218 in 2014.

.Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said in an article on Wednesday that the genetic information of two Indian strains, deposited in public databases in the past two years, revealed new mutations that could make the virus more deadly.

We found that the strain analysed in the said publication and the sequence data of the original H1N1 virus ... did not show any of these mutations," the institute said.

The government agency also said the strain analysed by the U.S. scientists had no relevance to the current outbreak.

In recent weeks, India has placed orders to increase the stock of diagnostic kits and procured additional doses of anti-viral drug Oseltamivir. Officials are investigating the cause of the steep rise in deaths.

Massive ocean found on Jupiter’s largest moon

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has found strong evidence of a massive saltwater ocean under the icy crust of Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede that could potentially support life.

The subterranean ocean is thought to have more water than all the water on Earth’s surface, researchers said.

Identifying liquid water is crucial in the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth and for the search for life.

“This discovery marks a significant milestone, highlighting what only Hubble can accomplish,” said John Grunsfeld, assistant administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

“A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth,” said Grunsfeld.

Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and the only moon with its own magnetic field. The magnetic field causes aurorae, which are ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas, in regions circling the north and south poles of the moon.

Because Ganymede is close to Jupiter, it is also embedded in Jupiter’s magnetic field. When Jupiter’s magnetic field changes, the aurorae on Ganymede also change, “rocking” back and forth.

By watching the rocking motion of the two aurorae, scientists were able to determine that a large amount of saltwater exists beneath Ganymede’s crust, affecting its magnetic field.

Which animal has the most sensitive eyes?

The human eye is one of evolution's greatest achievements. It can see tiny dust specks and huge mountains, near or far, in full colour. Backed by the processing power of our brains, it can also pick out movement and help us identify the people we love just by their faces.
One of the eye's best tricks is so good, you don't notice it. When you step from the brightly-lit outdoors into a dimly-lit building, the light level drops massively, but your eyes adjust almost immediately. That's because they have evolved to work even when there isn't much light around.
But other species are even better in dim light. Try reading a newspaper in the gloom of twilight, and the black letters will merge with the white background into a smoky greyness that your eyes cannot decipher. However, hand the paper to a cat and it would be fine, or at least it would if it knew how to read.

But even cats, despite their habit of hunting at night, are far from the most light-sensitive animals around. .
To compare how much light animals need to see by, we'll be using lux - the amount of light per square metre. Human eyes work well in bright sunlight, when the illumination can be well over 10,000 lux. We can also see, albeit dimly, in just 1 lux, which is about what you get on a dark night.

Cats have also changed the makeup of their retinas. There are two types of light-sensitive cells there. Cones are colour-sensitive but only work in bright light, while rods only do black-and-white but work in dim light. Humans have lots of cones, giving us rich colour vision in the day, but cats are big on rods. They have 25 rods to each cone, compared to four rods to each cone in humans.
Tarsiers are tree-dwelling primates from South East Asia. They have probably the largest eyes, relative to their body size, of any mammal. A tarsier's body, excluding the tail, is about 9-16 cm. Meanwhile its eyes are 1.5-1.8 cm across, and occupy almost the entire head.

This carpenter bee from the Western Ghats of southern India goes one better. It can even fly on moonless nights, when light intensities are even lower. "They can fly in starlight, on cloudy starlit nights and even when there is a lot of wind.

American cockroach American cockroach 
We can't directly compare cockroaches to the other animals, because their vision has been measured in a different way. But it is clear that their eyes are extraordinarily sensitive.less than one photon per second

We can't directly compare cockroaches to the other animals, because their vision has been measured in a different way. But it is clear that their eyes are extraordinarily sensitive. 

US and UK accused of hacking Sim card firm to steal codes

US and British intelligence agencies hacked into a major manufacturer of Sim cards in order to steal codes that facilitate eavesdropping on mobiles.
the great Sim heist" gave US and British surveillance agencies "the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world's cellular communications, including both voice and data".
It says that among the clients of the Netherlands-based company are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and "some 450 wireless network providers around the world".

Gemalto makes Sim cards for mobile phones and furnishes service providers with encryption codes to keep the data on each phone private.
The Intercept claims that by first cyber-stalking employees at Gemalto and then penetrating their emails, the spy agencies were able to steal thousands of encryption keys at source.
This would allow them to eavesdrop easily on phone calls and texts without seeking permission from telecoms companies or foreign governments, and without leaving a trace.

The Intercept cites as its source documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who is currently living in Russia.

Lenovo taken to task over 'malicious' adware

Computer maker Lenovo has been forced to remove hidden adware that it was shipping on its laptops and PCs after users expressed anger.

The adware - dubbed Superfish - was potentially compromising their security, said experts.
The hidden software was also injecting adverts on to browsers using techniques more akin to malware, they added.
Lenovo faces questions about why and for how long it was pre-installed on machines - and what data was collected.

The company told the BBC in a statement: "Lenovo removed Superfish from the preloads of new consumer systems in January 2015. At the same time Superfish disabled existing Lenovo machines in the market from activating Superfish.

Superfish was preloaded on to a select number of consumer models only. Lenovo is thoroughly investigating all and any new concerns raised regarding Superfish." Users began complaining about Superfish in Lenovo's forums in the autumn, and the firm told the BBC that it was shipped "in a short window from October to December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping".
Clean install
Lenovo has said that it has removed Superfish from new machines and disabled it from others, it was unclear what the situation would be for machines where it had already been activated.
Prof Woodward said: "Lenovo is being very coy about this but it needs to explain how long it has been doing this, what the scale is and where all the data it has collected is being stored.

"There will be remnants of it left on machines and Lenovo does not ship the disks that allow people to do a clean install."
It raises wider questions about the deals that computer manufacturers do with third parties and the amount of software that comes pre-installed on machines.
Mr Westin said: "With increasingly security and privacy-conscious buyers, laptop and mobile phone manufacturers may well be doing themselves a disservice by seeking outdated advertising based monetisation strategies."
Users were particularly angry that they had not been told about the adware.

One Lenovo forum user said: "It's not like they stuck it on the flier saying... we install adware on our computers so we can profit from our customers by using hidden software.

SAVE TIGERS

Project Tiger was launched in 1973 by the Government of India under its then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats and also to protect them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage forever represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the tiger's distribution in the country.

The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.
During the tiger census of 2006, a new methodology was used extrapolating site-specific densities of tigers, their co-predators and prey derived from camara trap and sign surveys .Based on the result of these surveys, the total tiger population has been estimated at 1,411 individuals ranging from 1,165 to 1,657 adult and sub-adult tigers of more than 1.5 years of age.Owing to the project, the number of tigers has improved to 2226 as per the latest census report released on January 20, 2015.
  

If the tigers go extinct,the entire system would collapse.The tiger is a unique animal which plays a pivotal role in the health and diversity of an ecosystem. It is a top predator which is at the apex of the food chain and keeps the population of wild ungulates in check, thereby maintaining the balance between prey herbivores and the vegetation upon which they feed. Therefore, the presence of tigers in the forest is an indicator of the well being of the ecosystem. The extinction of this top predator is an indication that its ecosystem is not sufficiently protected, and neither would it exist for long thereafterSo when a species goes extinct, it leaves behind a scar, which affects the entire ecosystem. Another reason why we need to save the tiger is that our forests are water catchment areas. Therefore, it’s not just about saving a beautiful animal. It is about making sure that we live a little longer as the forests are known to provide ecological services like clean air, water, temperature, regulation.

India--- Prime Minister starts Japan visit

The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is starting a five-day visit to Japan this weekend.
The trip is being seen by analysts as an attempt by the two democracies to balance the rising weight of China across Asia.

Deadly landslide in south-west China

At least six people have died and 21 others are missing after a landslide struck a village in south-west China.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that more than 70 houses in the village in Guizhou province were destroyed.
It also said, quoting officials, that 22 people were injured and had been transferred to hospitals for treatment.
The landslide was believed to have been caused by a breach from a small reservoir
Officials said that they were expecting environmental conditions to "bring some difficulties" to ongoing search and rescue operations.
The landslide which struck Yingping village on Wednesday night was the second disaster to hit China's southwestern region this month.

Earlier this month, an earthquake struck a remote region in neighbouring Yunnan province, killing 615 people.