WHERE DID THE UNIVERSE COME FROM? PART 1: EINSTEIN'S BIG BLUNDER

100 years ago, Albert Einstein published
three papers that rocked the world.  These papers
proved the existence of the atom, introduced the
theory of relativity, and described quantum
mechanics.

   Pretty good debut for a 26 year old scientist, huh?

   His equations for relativity indicated that the universe
was expanding.  This bothered him, because if it was
expanding, it must have had a beginning and a beginner.
Since neither of these appealed to him, Einstein introduced
a 'fudge factor' that ensured a 'steady state' universe,
one that had no beginning or end.

   But in 1929, Edwin Hubble showed that the furthest
galaxies were fleeing away from each other, just as the
Big Bang model predicted.  So in 1931, Einstein embraced
what would later be known as the Big Bang theory, saying,
"This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation
of creation to which I have ever listened."  He referred
to the 'fudge factor' to achieve a steady-state universe
as the biggest blunder of his career.

   As I'll explain during the next couple of days,
Einstein's theories have been thoroughly proved and
verified by experiments and measurements.  But there's
an even more important implication of Einstein's discovery.
Not only does the universe have a beginning, but time
itself, our own dimension of cause and effect, began
with the Big Bang.

   That's right -- time itself does not exist before
then.  The very line of time begins with that creation
event.  Matter, energy, time and space were created
in an instant by an intelligence outside of space
and time.

   About this intelligence, Albert Einstein wrote
in his book "The World As I See It" that the harmony
of natural law "Reveals an intelligence of such superiority
that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting
of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."*

   He went on to write, "Everyone who is seriously
involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced
that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe--
a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in
the face of which we with our modest powers must feel
humble."*

   Pretty significant statement, wouldn't you say?

   Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment:  "Bird Droppings
on my Telescope."

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WORLD'S FIRST HACK-FREE SOFTWARE 'DEVELOPED'

Scientists have developed what they claim is the world's first hack-free software which can protect systems from failure or malicious attacks. The 'seL4' microkernel has been developed by a team led by Australia's ICT Research Centre of Excellence's spinout company -- Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs). It is a small operating system kernel which regulates access to a computer's hardware.

Its unique feature is that it has been mathematically proven to operate correctly, enabling it to separate trusted from untrusted software, protecting critical services from a failure or a malicious attack, say the scientists.
In future applications, seL4 could ensure that trusted financial transaction software from secure sources like banks or stock exchanges can operate securely on a customer's mobile phone alongside "untrusted" software, such as games downloaded from the Internet, according to its developers.
It could also provide a secure and reliable environment for mission-critical defence data, operating on the same platform as everyday applications like email. Or, it could protect the life-supporting functions of an implanted medical device, such as a pacemaker, from hacking, they say.
"Our seL4 microkernel is the only operating system kernel in existence whose source code has been mathematically proven to implement its specification correctly. Under the assumptions of the proof, the seL4 kernel for ARM11 will always do precisely what its specification says it will do," lead scientist Gerwin Klein said.
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US AND EUROPE SPLIT ON CUTS

At Davos, Switzerland — European and US leaders laid out starkly different recovery strategies on Friday, with one side calling for deep spending cuts and the other warning against drastic action.
Members of the business and political elite gathered at the World Economic Forum were treated to appearances by Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But, as delegates debated how best to protect and nurture the world's tentative economic recovery, these top figures from three of most prosperous Western economies brought very different messages.
Cameron vowed that under his leadership Britain would pursue huge spending cuts to slash its yawning deficit, despite the week's alarming British growth figures, which have triggered fears of renewed recession.
"Our first priority is to kill off the spectre of massive sovereign debts," he declared. "Those who argue that dealing with our deficit and promoting growth are somehow alternatives are wrong."
Cameron urged Europe to kickstart growth by slashing regulation and boosting enterprise, rather than through stimulus spending, and said he would reduce the deficit through cutting public spending and raising retail sales tax.
"It's going to be tough, but we must see it through. The scale of the task is immense, so we need to be bold in order to build this economy of the future," he argued, stressing that many European leaders agree with him.
Merkel also banged the drum for deficit reduction, warning delegates that: "Indebtedness is the biggest danger for prosperity on this continent. This is why we have to resolutely work against it.
"Budget consolidation remains of prime importance to us and has not caused us any problems, quite the opposite," she said, arguing that Germany's spending cuts have strengthened its return to growth.
But Geithner came with a quite different message, stressing that the United States was not for its part ready to contemplate drastic spending cuts until the health of the recovery was assured.
"You've got to make sure that you don't hurt the recovery and take too much risk that you damage the early expansion by shifting too prematurely to substantial restraints," he told the same Davos audience.
"We're not going to let that happen. There are some people who like to move... very quickly to do very deep cuts in spending but it is not the responsible way to do it," he said, in a question and answer session.
"It would undermine the long-term objective of making sure that we achieve a sustainable fiscal position," Geithner argued.
On Tuesday, Britain revealed that its economy slumped unexpectedly in the fourth quarter of 2010, shrinking 0.5 percent in the three months to December, after expansion of 0.7 percent in the third quarter.
Experts put some of the blame on unexpectedly extreme winter weather, which disrupted Christmas shopping and air travel, but the dip has given ammunition to critics who argue that Cameron is cutting too much, too fast.
In Washington, the US Commerce Department said Friday that the US economy grew at its fastest clip in five years in 2010, with growth reaching 2.9 percent for the year, reversing the 2.6 percent contraction in 2009.
Consumer spending grew 4.4 percent in the last quarter, while growing exports and declining imports also served to boost growth.
"There is much more confidence now that we've got a sustainable expansion," Geithner said ahead of the data release, while admitting: "It's not a boom, it's not an expansion that's going to offer the possibility of a rapid employment rate."
Obama's Republican critics -- who have just formed a majority in the House of Representatives -- are demanding deep spending cuts to rein in a budget deficit expected to hit a record 1.5 trillion dollars this year.
The annual Davos conference has attracted 2,500 key decision makers from business and politics to this snow-bound high altitude resort for four days of the world's most influential elite networking event.

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ISRO, SGL JV to develop third version of IGIS

After a successful launch of the second version of IGIS, India's first indigenous integrated GIS image processing software, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), alongwith its joint venture partner ScanPoint Geomatics Limited (SGL) is now planning to tap the need for microwave data processing. With the country set to witness the launch of a synthetic aperture radar satellite in the second half of 2011, the ISRO-SGL JV intends to develop the third version of IGIS to process microwave data emerging out of the satellite. "Not many packages combine tools of image processing with GIS like IGIS does. With the synthetic aperture radar satellite to be launched in second half of this year, there will be a need for reading and processing the microwave data that will be generated from the satellite. The current version can only process optical images and data and not microwave data. The next version of IGIS can focus on that need and create a fresh demand," said RR Navalgund, director, Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO. The recently launched second version of IGIS has more than 300 applications including advanced GIS analysis, terrain analysis, 3D modelling, hydrology modelling, raster GIS analysis, GPS tools, zonal tools, tracking analyst, decision support and uncertainty management. The IGIS 1.1 version offers multi-criteria and multi-objective evaluation techniques with decision alternatives. The product also includes image processing tools for automated feature extraction, object segmentation, change detection and time series analysis. The JV between ISRO and Ahmedabad-based SGL began last year when the former floated a tender for development of an indigenous GIS image processing software which eventually SGL won. While the first version IGIS 1.0 was launched last year, the second version IGIS 1.1 was unveiled on Thursday. On its part, SGL is also looking at providing software solutions for specific sectors like defence, mining, urban planning, land records and power line management. "We are looking at specific sectors for spatial planning solutions. We intend to provide total software development and support solutions to these sectors," said Arup Dasgupta, director, SGL.                                               SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG

Market crash: Investors lose Rs 11 lakh cr since Diwali in INDIA

Investors have lost a whopping amount of nearly Rs 11,00,000 crore in the stock market in less than three months since Diwali last year, with over Rs 3 lakh crore  being wiped out in the past three days alone.

The stock market today plunged to its lowest level in nearly five months after three consecutive days of fall -- a period during which the benchmark Sensex plummetted by about 755 points, including a 288-point dip witnessed today.

Total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, today itself fell by over Rs 1,32,000 crore -- taking the loss for past three days to over Rs 3,00,000 crore amid macro-economic concerns emanating from inflationary and governance deficit related factors.

Experts said that downward pressures in the market extended well beyond the past three days and heavy selling pressure has continued for over two months now, primarily due to heavy outflows by overseas and domestic investors keeping away in the absence of any positive triggers.
In the process, the total investor wealth has fallen to near Rs 66,00,900 crore -- a huge dip of close to Rs 11,00,000 crore since last Diwali on November 5, 2010, the day when the Sensex scaled its record closing level of 21,004.96 points.
The Sensex has now fallen to 18,395.97 points -- marking a plunge of over 2,600 points since Diwali.
So far in 2011, the investor wealth has fallen by nearly Rs 9,00,000 crore, while nearly Rs 2,00,000 crore was lost during the last two months of 2010.
Experts said that a huge dip in investor confidence is also corroborated by a considerable plunge in the trading turnover at the bourses.
The average daily cash market turnover at the bourses have fallen to nearly Rs 15,000 crore, marking a decline of over one-third from approximately Rs 23,000 crore in October-November 2010.
The current level of turnover is not even one-third of the record level of business volume witnessed in mid-2009, when the daily average turnover was close to Rs 50,000 crore.
The intensity of current downward rally on the bourses can be gauged from the fact that only four stocks out of the 50 top blue-chips that make the Nifty index have given a positive return in the past one month. Even the gains of these four stocks -- namely HCL Tech, TCS, Sesa Goa and PowerGrid -- are only nominal between 0.6-7.3 per cent.
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Hubble telescope spots most ancient galaxy ever seen

Astronomers have discovered what they believe is the most distant and ancient galaxy thought to be more than 13 billion years old. The ageing Hubble Space Telescope has detected light from the dim object, which the researchers think would have formed when the universe was just 480 million years old.

This was a period when galaxy formation in the early Universe was going into "overdrive", said a NASA team involved in the discovery.
Galaxies are the vast archipelagoes of stars filling space, such as our own spiral-shaped Milky Way galaxy. But the new galaxy, called UDFj-39546284, is the most distant and ancient one yet spotted by astronomers.
According to Professor Richard Bouwens of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands: "We're seeing these galaxies -- 'star cities'-- that are building themselves up over cosmic time."
The team, comprising US and European astronomers, observed rapid growth over a relatively short period of time. Their data showed there was just one galaxy in existence about 500 million years after the Big Bang.
But this rises to 10 galaxies some 150 million years later. The tally has doubled about 100 million years later.
"You start out with these little seeds in the very early Universe which would eventually have formed stars, then star clusters, baby galaxies then eventually these large majestic galaxies that we know today," according to Professor Bouwens.
"It's very exciting to see this complicated physical process actually take place somewhere that no man has seen before," Professor Bouwens told BBC News.
Dr Olivia Johnson of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at the National Maritime Museum said that quantifying the rapid evolution of the Universe will reveal a greater detail about what was happening in the early cosmos -- such as when the first stars and galaxies formed.
"These are big, open questions in astronomy and the fact that we are finally able to look into the primordial universe for the first time is quite exciting," she said.
According to the researchers, the new image from Hubble will enable astronomers to test their current theories of the evolution of the Universe.
Professor Bouwens stressed that the observation had yet to be confirmed but that he and his colleagues were "pretty confident" that they had discovered the oldest galaxy caught on camera to date.
"There are many different sorts of objects that can masquerade or look very much like these distant objects. We've done lots of checks and lots of tests and we think that this candidate is OK," he said.
The researchers detailed their finding in the journal Nature.
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Latest update OF CHROME, PDF loads in CHROME

Chrome has added  a built in PDF Viewer in the latest update and is been made default, To use it like before ,  go to about plugins in the address bar and disable Chrome PDF Viewer and there enable the Adobe reader !

One more point is you can also check whether the print option comes after right clicking the page which displays the PDF in the built in viewer , Occasionally if you get the display in frame open the frame contents by the same process that is right click , it would take you to a new tab and you can get the options there  !

Or you may also use these shortcuts ctrl + p (print) or ctrl + s (save) for printing and saving respectively in the provided Built in PDF reader !
For more help visit a  and  b.

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