Ankesh Shahra receives CSR Award (Ruchi Soya)

Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has been felicitated with the CSR Award for Community Development during the World CSR Congress.  Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Dr. Christoph Stueckelberger, Executive Director and Founder of Globethics and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs handed over the trophy and citation to  Ankesh Shahra.

Commenting on the occasion,  Ankesh Shahra stated, “I am very grateful to the World CSR Congress for honouring Ruchi Soya with the award for Community Development. Ruchi believes in sharing its growth with every stakeholder and giving back to the society in a sustainable and transparent manner.

A big congratulations to the team.” Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya is India’s number one cooking oil maker and marketer through popular brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh and Sunrich.

Ruchi Soya is working closely with the communities around its plants in Patalganga and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Ruchi Soya believes in the concept of ‘Giving back to the Society’. The corporate social initiatives of Ruchi Group are executed through Shri Mahadeo Shahra Sukrat Trust with the focus on three core areas of Health, Education and Women Empowerment.

An Integrated player from farm to fork, Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other important parts of the world. Besides being a leading manufacturer of high quality edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati, and bakery fats, Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

Source:  http://newsaboutruchigroup.wordpress.com/

Tiniest planet ever discovered outside our solar system

NASA has discovered the smallest known planet outside our solar system which is slightly larger than the Moon and orbits its Sun like host star every 13 days.

NASA’s Kepler space telescope detected the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to the Sun in a new planetary system. The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our Moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.

The Moon-size planet and its two companion planets were found by scientists with NASA’s Kepler mission to find Earth-sized planets in or near the “habitable zone,” the region in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.

However, while the star in Kepler-37 may be similar to our Sun, the system appears quite unlike the solar system in which we live.

Astronomers think Kepler-37b does not have an atmosphere and cannot support life as we know it. The tiny planet almost certainly is rocky in composition.

Kepler-37c, the closer neighbouring planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the farther planet, is twice the size of Earth.

“Even Kepler can only detect such a tiny world around the brightest stars it observes,” said Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

“The fact we’ve discovered tiny Kepler-37b suggests such little planets are common, and more planetary wonders await as we continue to gather and analyse additional data,” said Lissauer in a NASA statement.

Kepler-37’s host star belongs to the same class as our Sun, although it is slightly cooler and smaller. All three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the Sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds.

The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit, would be hot enough to melt the zinc in a penny. Kepler-37c and Kepler-37d, orbit every 21 days and 40 days, respectively.

We uncovered a planet smaller than any in our solar system orbiting one of the few stars that is both bright and quiet, where signal detection was possible,” said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California, and lead author of the new study published in the journal Nature.

“This discovery shows close-in planets can be smaller, aswell as much larger, than planets orbiting our Sun,” he said.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiniest-planet-ever-discovered-outside-our-solar-system/1077692/0

HTC One looks to redefine photography, social hub

Smartphone maker HTC is looking to breathe new life into its fortunes with its latest product. HTC One, a 4.7-inch phone with the best display in the market at 468 pixels per inch, was launched in Sydney on Thursday.

With this phone, HTC has taken a big step away from the megapixel race. The camera is rated at just four megapixels, but HTC says that doesn’t matter because it has a large sensor. The sensor is bigger than that in some compact cameras. This ensures that the picture quality is high.

HTC One is powered by Android Jelly Bean, running the firm’s custom skin — Sense 5. This version of Sense brings radical improvements to the phone. The most noticeable change is called Blinkfeed. Building on the features in Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10, HTC Blinkfeed lets users integrate all their social networks, calendar, email accounts and displays these with news updates. It’s the default homescreen on HTC One, meaning that it can be accessed by pressing the home button.

Another radical feature of Sense 5 is HTC Zoe, the new gallery app. It captures a short video, letting users choose the best frame and save it as a picture, rivalling BlackBerry Time Shift. Users can also remove unwanted objects from the picture easily. Zoe can also make a short movie by putting together all your pictures and videos, it adds background music on its own.

Other additions include a new music player app that adds new visualisations and pulls lyrics from the web, and Sense TV. The company has built an infrared transmitter into the power button, which helps it double up as a TV remote. Using the Sense TV app, users can see TV schedules and open the channel airing a particular programme.

The phone will be launched in India in March. HTC did not announce the price, but it is expected to be around Rs 42,000.

(The reporter was in Sydney on the invitation of HTC India)

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/htc-one-looks-to-redefine-photography-social-hub/1077641/0

NASA rover Curiosity grabs first Martian rock sample

In a hunt for discovering life on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover has beamed back pictures confirming the first ever sample collected from the interiors of a rock on another planet.

No rover has ever drilled into a rock on any other planet and collected a sample from its interior, NASA said. Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received yesterday at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to verify for the first time the drill collected a sample as it bore into the rock,” said JPL’s Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity.

“Many of us have been working toward this day for years. Getting final confirmation of successful drilling is incredibly gratifying,” McCloskey said in a statement. The drill on Curiosity’s robotic arm took in the powder as it bored a 2.5-inch hole into a target on flat Martian bedrock on February 8. The rover team plans to have Curiosity sieve the sample and deliver portions of it to analytical instruments inside the rover. The scoop now holding the precious sample is part of Curiosity’s Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device.

During the next steps of processing, the powder will be enclosed inside CHIMRA and shaken once or twice over a sieve that screens out particles larger than 0.006 inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample later will be delivered through inlet ports on top of the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.

The sample comes from a fine-grained, veiny sedimentary rock called “John Klein,” named in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. The rock was selected for the first sample drilling because it may hold evidence of wet environmental conditions long ago. The rover’s laboratory analysis of the powder may provide information about those conditions.

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Project is using the Curiosity rover with its 10 science instruments to investigate whether an area within Mars’ Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favourable for microbial life.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nasa-rover-curiosity-grabs-first-martian-rock-sample/1077627/0

Facebook, Google launch $15 mn prize for scientists who cure deadly diseases

The founders of Google, Facebook and other tech giants have announced a new multi-million-dollar prize for scientists who are working to cure the world’s most devastating diseases. Mark Zuckerberg, his partner Priscilla Chan, Google co-founder Sergei Brin, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner will launch 15 million dollars annual Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in hopes of curing cancer and other diseases

Five scientists will be given three million dollars for ‘recognizing excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life,” the New York post reports. Zuckerberg said in a statement that he believes the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences has the potential to provide a platform for other models of philanthropy, so people everywhere have an opportunity at a better future.

According to the paper, the inaugural year of the prize, however, has gone to 11 scientists who will each receive three million dollars to further their scientific research. Among this years winners were Charles L. Sawyer, who the committee singled out for his work on cancer genes, and Shinya Yamanaka, whose research focuses on stem cells. Art Levinson, chairman of the board of Apple and Chairman and former CEO of Genentech, will serve as the Chairman of the Board of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, which will distribute the prize money each year, the report said.

The first 11 recipients of the Breakthrough Prize are:

– Cornelia I Bargmann

– David Botstein

– Lewis C. Cantley

– Hans Clevers

– Napoleone Ferrara

– Titia de Lange

– Eric S. Lander

– Charles L. Sawyers

– Bert Vogelstein

– Robert A. Weinberg

– Shinya Yamanaka

All prize winners have agreed to serve on the Selection Committee of the Foundation to choose recipients of future prizes.

“We are thrilled to support scientists who think big, take risks and have made a significant impact on our lives. These scientists should be household names and heroes in society,” said Anne Wojcicki. “Curing a disease should be worth more than a touchdown,” said Sergey Brin. “Priscilla and I are honored to be part of this,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “We believe the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences has the potential to provide a platform for other models of philanthropy, so people everywhere have an opportunity at a better future.” “Solving the enormous complexity of human diseases calls for a much bigger effort compared to fundamental physics and therefore requires multiple sponsors to reward outstanding achievements,” said Yuri Milner.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/facebook-google-launch–15-mn-prize-for-scientists-who-cure-deadly-diseases/1077600/0

Google reveals what users of wearable computer ‘Project Glass’ will see

Google has revealed for the first time what view users will get through its “Project Glass” wearable computer. The glasses allow wearers to see sat-nav directions, take pictures and reply to emails, but until today Google has refused to show how they actually work. But now the firm explained for the first time what looking through its high-tech glasses feels like, the Daily Mail reports. “Want to see how Glass actually feels? It”s surprisingly simple. “Say “take a picture” to take a picture. Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live,” Google said.

“Directions are right in front of you. Speak to send a message, or translate your voice. Get the notifications that matter most. Ask whatever”s on your mind and get answers without having to ask,” the firm added. The firm also said all of the footage was captured through Project Glass, which will come in five colours – black, gray, blue, red or white and have removable shades.

According to the paper, Google also detailed how the first people to get hold of them. Potential “Explorer” early-adopters will have to apply in 50 words or less, including a short video (15 seconds max) and five photographs, to explain what they would do with the early version of Glass, the paper said. They will then have to order a 1,500 dollars Project Glass “Explorer” kit and attend the pick up in New York, LA or San Francisco in person, it added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/google-reveals-what-users-of-wearable-computer-project-glass-will-se…/1077591/