See the latest news on Nibiru

NASA: No, Nibiru (Planet X) will not be destroying the world this month [VIDEO]

If you are planning on the Earth ending on December 21, NASA has some advice for you: Don’t.

The U.S. space agency took to the internet late last week in an attempt to dispel rumors surrounding a potentially catastrophic collision with Nibiru, also known as Planet X. Speaking in an online forum hosted by Google+, the space agency said rumors of an impending disaster were little more than unfounded conspiracy theories.

NASA scientists presented  the “Beyond 2012″ during the last week of November. The rumors stem from what some believe is the end of the Mayan calendar that occurs on December 21. The feature focused on a number of mythical scenarios, including a collision between Earth and Nibiru.

According to NASA, the dwarf planet — which does not exist — would be on display to the entire world.

“By now it would be the brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon, and anybody could go out and see it,” said David Morrison of NASA’s Ames Research Center, referencing how the mythical planet would appear if it was on course to collide with Earth.

“Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn’t exist — it never existed as anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists who don’t seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence,” astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told SPACE.com.

The latest attempt by NASA to dispel rumors related to the mythical planet comes just weeks after the space agency posted answers to a number of questions submitted by readers. The complete collection focused on the theory of impending collisions with Earth, including those involving Nibiru.

“Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said. “If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.”

“The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs,” the space agency added. “Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.”

The latest attempt by NASA is likely not to be the last. The agency has yet to announce any additional plans for dispelling rumors ahead of the December date, although one thing is for certain: we will get our answer later this month.

Nibiru: The Nonexistent Planet

Linked to the close of the Mayan calendar, a variety of rumors have spread regarding ways the world could end in 2012. One popular contender is Nibiru, a supposed planet that some claim will collide with Earth at the end of the year. But despite the buzz, there is no scientific evidence supporting the alleged planet's existence.

Nibiru has been linked to NASA by various bloggers, and is also sometimes referred to or confused with Planet X, another supposed world for which there is no evidence.

Because of the Nibiru NASA connection that’s been claimed, the space agency put out a statement to say there is no Nibiru or Planet X coming to destroy Earth in 2012. What follows below is the true science and history of these supposed rogue planets, with reference to a real object, Comet Elenin, that somehow got mixed up in the whole mess.

The origins of the Nibiru myth

The story began in 1976, when Zecharia Sitchin wrote "The Twelfth Planet," a book which used Stitchin's own unique translation of Sumerian cuneiform to identify a planet, Nibiru, orbiting the sun every 3,600 years. Several years later, Nancy Lieder, a self-described psychic, announced that the aliens she claimed to channel had warned her this planet would collide with Earth in 2003. After a collision-free year, the date was moved back to 2012, where it was linked to the close of the Mayan long-count period. 

When Comet Elenin appeared in 2011, many were concerned that it was the mysterious planet in disguise, despite the fact that planets and comets both appear different under a telescope (a comet has a gas atmosphere [coma] and a tail, while a planet does not). 

Evidence for Nibiru?But instead of slamming into the Earth, the comet strayed too close to the sun and broke into pieces. The leftover fragments continued on their path to the outer solar system for the next 12,000 years, still bits of comet and not a more cohesive planet.

Proponents of the fictitious planet note that, in 1984, a scientific paper was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters which discussed several infrared sources with "no counterparts" that turned up in a survey of the sky. Such surveys are common in astronomy, and usually involve follow-ups that individually detail the more interesting sources. In the follow-up of the 1984 survey, most of the sources turned out to be distant galaxies. None were identified as planets. Both papers are available to the public.

A planet with an orbit so eccentric that it took 3,600 years to orbit the sun would create instabilities inside of the 4.5 billion year old solar system. After only a few trips, its gravity would have significantly disrupted the other planets, while feeling a responding push from those planets that would have changed its orbit significantly.

The easiest and most verifiable piece of evidence arguing against the existence of the theoretical planet can be performed by anyone - according to the information available, a planet with a 3,600 orbit that is due to impact Earth in 2012 should be available to the naked eye. Easily-performed calculations show that by April 2012, it would be brighter than the faintest stars viewed from a city, and almost as bright as Mars at its dimmest. This would make it visible to astronomers everywhere.

The most common rebuttal to this is the cry of conspiracy theory. However, there are hundreds of thousands of amateur astronomers around the world, each with their own telescope. On top of that, most of the thousands of professional astronomers are linked, not to the government, but to private universities.

David Morrison, the Senior Scientist of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, pointed out that "NASA and the government get most of their information from these outside astronomers, not the other way around."

Between the amateur and professional astronomers, there are plenty of people who would have noticed a new star in the sky.

Nothing to fear

Doomsday reports across the internet frequently incite fear, but it's interesting to note they are nothing new. People have been decrying the end of the world for hundreds of years, to no avail.

Rumors spread like wildfire on the internet, but the same technology can make it easier than ever to delve into the scientific evidence about such events.

Planet X Nibiru Nasa 2012 Doomsday

UPDATE: NASA scientists have reportedly confirmed that the planet Nibiru will collide with Earth on December 21st.

The Nibiru collision with Earth in 2012 has been predicted for a long time, but astrophysicists, cosmologists and astronomers around the world have now come to a consensus that Earth will indeed collide with the planet, which lies just outside Pluto.

Nibiru, in Babylonian Astronomy translates to “Point of Transition” or ”Planet of Crossing,”  especially of rivers, i.e. river crossings or ferry-boats, a term of the highest point of the ecliptic, i.e. the point of summer solstice, and its associated constellation. The establishment of the Nibiru point is described in tablet 5 of the Enuma Elish. Its cuneiform sign was often a cross, or various winged disc. The Sumerian culture was located in the fertile lands between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, at the southern part of today’s Iraq.

As the highest point in the paths of the planets, Nibiru was considered the seat of the summus deus who pastures the stars like sheep, in Babylon identified with Marduk. This interpretation of Marduk as the ruler of the cosmos was identified as an early monotheist tendency in Babylonian religion by Alfred Jeremias.

Natural disasters are accelerating exponentially and astronomers believe that they are being caused by Nibiru coming closer and closer to Earth.

EARTH TO COLLIDE WITH NIBIRU ON DECEMBER 21, 2012!

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
 Answer (A):The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.


Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
 A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.


Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
 A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.


Q: Is NASA predicting a "total blackout" of Earth on Dec. 23 to Dec. 25?
 A: Absolutely not. Neither NASA nor any other scientific organization is predicting such a blackout. The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of "alignment of the Universe" will cause a blackout. There is no such alignment (see next question). Some versions of this rumor cite an emergency preparedness message from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. This is simply a message encouraging people to be prepared for emergencies, recorded as part of a wider government preparedness campaign. It never mentions a blackout.
›Watch the Video


Q: Could planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
 A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. One major alignment occurred in 1962, for example, and two others happened during 1982 and 2000. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.
› More about alignment

"There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there..."
- Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
 A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.


Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the Earth's crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
 A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-switch to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. Scientists believe a magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia.
› More about polar shift


Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
 A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.


Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of the world ending in 2012?
 A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.
› Why you need not fear a supernova
› About super volcanoes


Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
 A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

CURRENT GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: SEP 2012

ABBREVIATIONS
IDF: Infrastructure Debt Fund.
MAHLI: Mars Hand Lens Imager (camera)

AWARDS
Lal Bahadur Shastri Award, 2012
Tessy Thomas, the key defence scientist in the Agni series of missiles, has been conferred the award for her outstanding contribution for making India self-reliant in the field of missile technology. The award is given annually for excellence in public administration, academics and management. It carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a plaque and a citation.

RESEARCH
Home cure for dengue
The juice of the humble papaya leaf has been seen to arrest the destruction of platelets that has been the cause for so many deaths due to dengue.  

Ayurveda  researchers have found that enzymes in the papaya leaf can fight a host of viral infections, not just dengue, and can help regenerate platelets and white blood cells. Scores of patients have benefited from the papaya leaf juice, say doctors.

Papaya has always been known to be good for the digestive system. Due to its rich vitamin and mineral content, it is a health freak’s favourite. But its dengue-fighting properties have only recently been discovered.

Chymopapin and papin-j enzymes in the papaya leaf—help revive platelet count, say experts.

The juice has to be prepared from fresh papaya leaves. De-vein the leaves and grind the green, pulpy part into a paste. You can also use a mixer. The paste is very bitter and you would probably have to mix it with fruit juice. 

Doctors recommend 20-25 ml (about four to five teaspoons), twice a day, for at least a week to get the best results.

SPACE RESEARCH
Williams creates Spacewalk record
Indian-American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese counterpart Akihiko Hoshide successfully restored power to the International Space Station on their second attempt on September 5, 2012. With this Spacewalk, Williams surpassed Peggy Whitson’s record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut.

Whitson worked outside for 39 hours and 46 minutes over the course of six spacewalks. Williams has conducted six spacewalks for a total of 44 hours and 2 minutes.

ISRO’s 100th mission
The Indian space odyssey crossed a historic landmark on September 9, 2012, when a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) put in orbit two foreign satellites. It marked the 100th space mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which started the journey in 1975 with the launch of its first satellite “Aryabhata.”

Among those who watched the majestic rocket lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, 100km north of Chennai, was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

PSLV-C21 injected two satellites into orbit—the French SPOT-6 and the Japanese micro-satellite Proiteres. 

SPOT and Indian remote sensing satellites (launched earlier) are the two leading earth observation satellite series. SPOT 6 is the heaviest foreign satellite ever to have been launched by the ISRO, which has made launching of satellites as a significant business activity, earning precious foreign exchange to the country.

It was PSLV’s 21st consecutively successful flight. PSLV-C21 is India’s 38th satellite launch vehicle to lift off from Sriharikota. India has so far put in orbit 62 Indian satellites. The total adds up to 100. 

GSAT-10 launched
India’s advanced communication satellite GSAT-10 was successfully launched on September 29, 2012, on board Ariane-5 rocket, from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana.

GSAT-10, with a design life of 15 years, is expected to be operational by November and will augment telecommunication, Direct-To-Home and radio navigation services.

At 3,400 kg at lift-off, GSAT-10 is the heaviest built by Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation. It was ISRO’s 101st space mission.

GSAT-10 is fitted with 30 transponders (12 Ku-band, 12 C-band and six Extended C-Band), which will provide vital augmentation to INSAT/GSAT transponder capacity. 

It also has a navigation payload—GAGAN (GPS aided Geo Augmented Navigation)—that would provide improved accuracy of GPS signals (of better than seven metres) to be used by Airports Authority of India for civil aviation requirements.

This is the second satellite in INSAT/GSAT constellation with GAGAN payload afterGSAT-8, launched in May 2011.

CURRENT GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: OCT- 2012

ABBREVIATIONS
APA: Advance Pricing Agreement.
DTC: Direct Tax Code.
GAAR: General Anti-Avoidance Rules.

AWARDS
National Film Awards, 59th
Best Feature Film: “Devur” (Marathi) & “Byari” (Kannada)
Best Director: Gurvinder Singh, “Anhe Ghorey Da Daan” (Punjabi)
Best Actor: Girish Kulkarni, “Deool”
Best Actress: Vidya Balan, “The Dirty Picture”
Best Supporting Actor: Appu Kutty, “Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai” (Tamil)
Best Supporting Actress: Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi, “Phijigee Mani” (Manipuri)
Best Child Artist: Partho Gupte, “Stanley Ka Dabba” and “Chillar Party” cast: Irrfan Khan, Sanath Menon, Rohan Grover, Naman Jain, Aarav Khanna, Vishesh Tiwari, Chinmai Chandranshuh, Vedant Desai, Divij Handa, Shriya Sharma
Best Film on Social Issues: “Inshallah” (Ashvin Kumar) and “Mindscape” (Arun Chadha)
Best Non Feature Film: “And We Play On”
Best Debut Film of a Director: “The Silent Poet” (Manipuri)
Best Children’s Film: “Chillar Party”
Best Music Direction: Neel Dutt, “Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona” (Bengali)
Best Background Score: “Laptop”, Mayookh Bhaumik
Best Singer (Female): Rupa Ganguly, for the Bengali film “Abosheyshey”
Best Singer (Male): Anand Bhate, for Marathi film “Balgandharva”
Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya, “I Am”
Best Screenplay (Adapted): “Shala”, Avinash Deshpande
Best Screenplay (Original): “Chillar Party”, Vikas Behl & Nitish Tiwari
Indira Gandhi award for debut film director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja for “Aaranya Kaandam”
Best Dialogue: Girish Kulkarni, “Deool”
Best Make Up Artist: Vijram Gaekwad, “The Dirty Picture” and “Bal Gandharva”
Best Special Effects: “Ra.One”
Best Costume Design: Niharika Khan, “The Dirty Picture” and Neeta Lulla, “Bal Gandharva”
Best Choreography: Bosco-Caeser for “Senorita...” from “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”
Best Editing: Praveen K.L., “Aranyaa Kandam”
Best Popular film providing wholesome entertainment:“AzhagarsamiyinKuthirai” (Tamil)
Best Hindi Film: “I Am” Directed by Onir.
Best Marathi Film: “Shaala”
Best Kannada Film: “Kurmavatara”
Best Bengali Film: “Ranjana Ami Aar Ashbona”
Best Malayalam Film: “Indian Rupee”
Best Tamil Film: “Vaagai Sooda Vaa”
Best Dogri Film: “Dille Ch Vasya Koi”
Best Manipuri Film: “Phijigee Mani”
Best Punjabi Film: “Anne Gode Da Daan”
Special Mention: Director Shari for “Adi Madhyantam” (Malayalam Film) and Mallika for “Byari” (Kannada Film)
Best Film Critic: Manoj P. Pujari
Best Book Award: Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal for “R.D. Burman The Man, The Music”
Special Jury Award: Anjan Dutta for “Ranjana Ami Aar Ashbo Na”

Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Media Person, 2012
Tushita Mittal of Tehelka magazine has been selected for her reports on life in interior Bengal, Orissa and Chattisgarh, affected by bloody civil strife, naxal and vigilante violence.

DEFENCE
Army operationalises second supersonic BrahMos regiment
On March 4, 2012, the Indian Army successfully test fired the 290-km range BrahMossupersonic cruise missile at the Pokharan range to operationalise the second regiment of the weapon system in service.

The Army has so far placed orders for three regiments of the supersonic cruise missile and, with the latest test-firing, two of them have been inducted operationally.

The Defence Ministry has given a go-ahead to the Army to induct a third regiment for being deployed in Arunachal Pradesh, along the China border.

One regiment of the 290-km range BrahMos consists around 65 missiles, five mobile autonomous launchers on Tatra vehicles and two mobile command posts, among other equipment.

ENVIRONMENT
World’s five hotspots of biodiversity
Here are five of the world’s highest biodiversity ecologies still over 70 percent intact, as identified by the Conservation International. Hotspots require two main criteria: At least 1,500 vascular plant species with over half endemic to the region, or found only there. 

Amazon Rain Forest: The Amazon wilderness, which spans nine countries, is home to 40,000 plant species, of which the majority are not found anywhere else. It is also home to more primate species anywhere in the world, possibly more insects as well. The Brazilian government said in December 2011 that deforestation rates in the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, had fallen to the lowest levels since 1988. 

Congo Basin: Second only to the Amazon in terms of area, the Congo Basin is home to biologically important species from large mammals - antelopes, elephants, and most famously, gorillas - as well as human communities and old growth forests. With a reach across seven African nations, it is only 11 percent protected—largely through national parks.

New Guinea: Islands often have exceptionally rich biodiversity as does New Guinea—it is the world’s highest and second largest behind Greenland, located in the Southwest Pacific. A total of 1,000 species have been discovered since 1998—from birds, butterflies, coral, dolphins, fish, orchids, reptiles, and sharks. 

North American deserts: The Mojave, Colorado, Chihuahua, Sonoran, and Baja California deserts that stretch from the south-western US to Mexico are some of the most biologically diverse in the world, with 6,000 vascular plant species, as well as other special types of animals who have adapted to the climate, from bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, kangaroo rats, jackrabbits, roadrunners, and wild horses.

Southern Africa: The Miombo-Mopane woodlands and savannahs stretch across 10 countries in central southern Africa from Angola to Mozambique. They are home to animal species including the endangered black rhinoceros and almost 80 percent of all African elephants. This wilderness area is threatened by climate change, drought, development and the need to balance the survival needs of the people who live there with conservation efforts.

HEALTH
Popcorn is the perfect health snack
A new study has claimed that popcorn, the humble cinema snack, is the perfect health food. Researchers at the University of Scranton have found that popcorn—already known for being fibre-packed and relatively low in fat—is packed with more health-boosting antioxidants than fruits and vegetables.

Antioxidants are known to reduce one’s risk of cancer, dementia and even heart disease. And, the potent antioxidants, called polyphenols, in popcorn can fight harmful molecules that accumulate in the body and damage cells. They can also help to increase blood flow by relaxing the arteries. The researchers said polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages only about 4 per cent water, compared with the 90 per cent that makes up many fruits and vegetables.

In fact, the study revealed that the amount of polyphenols found in popcorn was up to 300 mg a serving, which would provide 13 per cent of an average intake of polyphenols a day. 

In another surprising finding, the researchers discovered the hulls of popcorn, the part everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in the teeth, has the highest concentration of polyphenols and fibre.

The average person only gets about half a serving of whole grains a day and popcorn could fill that gap in a very pleasant way.  But, the researchers have cautioned that the way it is served—cooking it in oil and adding butter, salt or sugar—can put a dent in its health benefits. Air-popped popcorn has lowest number of calories, compared with popping it in oil. 

PERSONS
Singh, Lt Gen Bikram
He has been appointed as the Chief of Army Staff and will take over from May 31, 2012. He becomes the second Sikh General of the Indian army. He is also the first Army chief who was commissioned after the country’s last full-fledged war, in 1971 with Pakistan.

He was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry (Sikh LI) regiment on March 31, 1972. During his distinguished career, he has headed the Srinagar-based 15 Corps. He has also served as deputy force commander of a multi-nation UN peace keeping mission in Congo, as also as UN observer in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the early 1990s.

He has studied with distinction at the Defence Services Staff College, the Army War College and the US Army War College, Pennsylvania. He has also done an M.Phil in Defence Management from the Indore University.

His long list of decorations include a Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM), a Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (UYSM), an Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM), Sena Medal (SM) and a Vishist Seva Medal (VSM).

RESEARCH
World’s first cloned Pashmina goat
After becoming the first country to clone the buffalo, scientists in India have made a breakthrough by successfully cloning the first Pashmina goat. The healthy female kid was born on March 9, 2012.

A six-member-team of scientists from Karnal’s National Dairy Research Institute and Jammu’s Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology used somatic cells from the ear of a donor goat to create the clone.

Pashmina is a special breed of goat, indigenous to the high altitudes (above 3,000 mts) of the Himalayas. The sought after Pashmina wool—legendary for its softness and warmth— is made with the fur of these goats.

Each Pashmina fibre is about one-sixth the width of a human hair, and one shawl requires about 24 ounces of wool, the annual output of about four goats.

Unfortunately, the annual Pashmina production in India hardly crosses 40 tonnes—less than 0.5% of the total world production of approximately 10,000 tonnes per annum. Even worse, while the world Pashmina production has almost doubled from 5,000 tonnes in the early nineties, the Indian Pashmina industry has remained static with the Changthang plateau of Ladakh contributing almost 90% of the total production.

Every year, a single goat sheds 100-250 gm of wool compared to 750-1,000 gm per annum in countries like China, Russia and Mongolia.

Scientists say low rates of animal productivity, static population and high disease prevalence is seriously hampering Pashmina production in India.

Successfully cloning the animal will help multiply the number of Pashmina goats drastically. One goat would have given birth to a single offspring every year. Through cloning, we can get surrogate mothers to give birth to 40-50 off-springs annually.

Pashmina wool is the finest in the world, second only to Shahtoosh made from the wool of the Chiru or Tibetan antelope. However, international trade in Shahtoosh shawls has been banned to protect the endangered species. Too delicate for machine driven looms, Pashmina wool is spun and woven by hand.

SPACE RESEARCH
Oxygen detected on Saturn’s moon
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists and an international research team have announced discovery of molecular oxygen ions in the upper-most atmosphere of Dione, one of the 62 known moons orbiting the ringed planet. The research appeared recently in Geophysical Research Letters and was made possible via instruments aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which was launched in 1997.

Dione—discovered in 1684 by astronomer Giovanni Cassini (after whom the spacecraft was named)—orbits Saturn at roughly the same distance as our own moon orbits Earth. The tiny moon is a mere 700 miles wide and appears to be a thick, pockmarked layer of water ice surrounding a smaller rock core. As it orbits Saturn every 2.7 days, Dione is bombarded by charged particles (ions) emanating from Saturn’s very strong magnetosphere. These ions slam into the surface of Dione, displacing molecular oxygen ions into Dione’s thin atmosphere through a process called sputtering.

Molecular oxygen ions are then stripped from Dione's exosphere by Saturn’s strong magnetosphere.

A sensor aboard the Cassini spacecraft, called the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), detected the oxygen ions in Dione’s wake during a flyby of the moon in 2010. 

Perhaps even more exciting is the possibility that on a moon with sub-surface water, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa, molecular oxygen could combine with carbon in sub-surface lakes to form the building blocks of life. Future missions to Europa could help unravel questions about that moon’s habitability.

MISCELLANEOUSRuPay—Rival to Visa and Mastercard
National Payments Corporation of India—a Reserve Bank of India initiative—is set to replay the ATM revolution in the cards business with the launch of RuPay debit cards, which undercut Visa and Mastercard on processing fees on transactions. Coinciding with the launch, the central bank has also directed banks to cut charges levied on shopkeepers for facilitating debit card payments. 

On March 26, 2012, four public sector banks—State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Union Bank of India—launched the first set of RuPay cards in India. The RuPay card is meant to be on the lines of China Union Pay—a Chinese government promoted payments and settlement platform for card transactions that broke the Visa-Mastercard stranglehold. 

India will be able to save hundreds of crores in foreign exchange by having a domestic payment system, as Visa and Mastercard are paid in foreign currency.