Tuesday 26 June 2012

June

RESEARCH
Carry your PC in a memory stick
There are times when people need to use a computer — and not leave a trace. Now, a clever piece of software lets one carry their own personal computer which can easily be carried inside the pocket — and once the person has finished using it, no one will ever know.

Technically, the PC that people would be carrying is not a whole computer; instead, it is a simple USB memory stick. But within it is a full operating system (like Windows), and when you plug it into a PC, that computer will restart into your own personal setup, called Tails.

When you have finished, simply shut down the computer, put the USB stick back in the pocket, and the PC will never know that it has been used.

As everything the user does is contained within Tails, the software on a stick, not a single trace is left on the original PC. That means no cookies of websites browsed, no chance of documents being left in a recycle bin.

As with any technology, there are both good and bad sides to the idea. Critics say this may allow people to carry out illegal activities in secrecy—indeed, even technically on other PCs, whereas privacy advocates will laud the idea of being able to work in complete secrecy.

SPACE RESEARCH
Transit of Venus
In a rare astronomical treat, the planet Venus moved across the face of the sun appearing as a small dark disc on June 6, 2012. The phenomenon is known as the transit of Venus, and the planet appears as a black spot travelling from one limb of the solar disc to the other. This happens because the planet Venus comes between the Earth and the Sun and thus appears as a small black dot on the sun to sky-gazers on Earth.

The next transit of Venus will occur after a century in 2117. The last Venus transit took place back on June 8, 2004.
Transit of Venus is one of the most rare astronomical phenomena. Venus Transits take place in a pattern that repeats every 243 years. The transit takes place in pairs, which are 8 years away from each other and separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years.

So why the long gaps in the transits? That’s because of the difference in the orbit planes of the Earth and Venus.

Historically, the discovery of the transit of Venus not only started a new era of scientific experimentation through international collaborations, but also gave us the first concrete concept of the structure of the solar system.

China successfully accomplishes first-ever manual docking
China's astronaut trio, including its first woman cosmonaut Liu Wang, returned to Earth safely on June 29, 2012, after accomplishing country’s first-ever manual docking that helped it join the exclusive US-Russia club and took it a step closer to setting up a space station by 2020.

The Shenzhou-9 (Divine Grace) spacecraft carrying the three astronauts had a bumpy but safe touchdown in grasslands of Inner Mongolia as it withstood severe heat and friction during the re-entry phase following a 13-day space rendezvous.

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