Environmental Watch

Salton City, USA: Dead palm trees stand at a former yacht club on the shore of the Salton Sea, the biggest lake in California, which has dried up and refilled numerous times, on July 7, 2011 in Salton City, California.

Scientists have discovered that human-created changes effecting the Salton Sea appear to be the reason why California's massive "Big One" earthquake is more than 100 years overdue and building up for the greatest disaster ever to hit Los Angeles and Southern alifornia. Researchers found that strands of the San Andreas Fault under the 45-mile long rift lake have have generated at least five 7.0 or larger quakes about every 180 years. This ended in the early 20th century when authorities stopped massive amounts of Colorado River water from periodically flooding the into this sub-sea level desert basin. Such floods used to regularly trigger major quakes and relieve building seismic pressure but the last big earthquake on the southern San Andreas was about 325 years ago. Dangerous new fault branches that could trigger a 7.8 quake have recently been discovered under the Salton Sea.

China beach goes green with algae!

China beach goes green with algae!  : One of the most popular beach in Eastern China's Shandong province is infested with 'green' of the bad kind -- algae! A huge amount of algae called enteromorpha prolifera has invaded the waters and turned everything in its reach a bright green color. Though it may not be poisonous or harmful to the quality of water, the algaes invasive nature is a threat to marine ecology and coastline tourism.

Leopard mauls six in Siliguri

A leopard attacks a forest guard at Prakash Nagar village near Salugara on the outskirts of Siliguri on July 19, 2011. Six people were mauled by the leopard after the feline strayed into the village area before it was caught by forestry department officials. Forest officials made several attempt to tranquilised the full grown leopard that was wandering through a part of the densely populated city when curious crowds startled the animal, a wildlife official said.

Indian- origin girls bag Google science honour

An Indian- origin girl has developed a solution to the resistance of ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy, bagging a grand prize at the first ever Google science fair.
A total of 15 students were selected for the final round and three girls were announced victorious as the search giant said it was ‘all about girl power’. Two of the three are Indians based in the US. Shree Bose, a high school student, won the grand prize of $ 50,000 ( Rs 22 lakh) scholarship and a trip to the Galápagos Islands with a National Geographic explorer as well as an internship at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
She researched on ways to improve treatment of ovarian cancer after the cancerous cells develop certain resistance to chemotherapy. Through her study, she concluded that AMP kinase, an energy protein of cells, plays a role in the development of resistance. Bose completed her research under Dr. Alakanada Basu, University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Another winner Naomi Shah in the age group of 15 to 16 years devised a model to show that improvement of indoor environment can reduce people’s dependence on asthma medications.
The third winner — Lauren Hodge in the age group 13- 14 — studied the effects of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken.

Dancing festival in Ladakh

Monks wearing masks perform a ritual dance on the second and last day of a festival in Hemis Gompa, 45 km (28 miles) southeast of Leh July 11, 2011. The Hemis Gompa is the oldest and biggest monastery in Ladakh. The annual festival celebrates the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava, the founder of Lamaism (an off-shoot of Buddhism) in the eighth century. The festival is marked by ritual dancing in which dancers wear masks representing deities and evil spirits

 

SINGAPORE MALAYSIA 8 NIGHTS / 9 DAYS @ 37,000/-

SINGAPORE MALAYSIA 8 NIGHTS/ 9 DAYS
Departure City and Dates - Ex-Delhi - July 23 & 30