News Titbits - ISRO creates world's lightest material

News nation article - ISRO creates world's lightest material to keep Indiansoldiers warm in freezing temperatures at Siachen

After a long time, this is one positive news that can cheer one up. ISRO has indigenously developed a material that offers thermal insulation - something that can protect things from extreme temperatures. As the article suggests, this is something that would be useful for our army protecting the borders at Siachen.

News Titbits - Budget 2016: For the farmers, the poor and the economy

Another year, another budget, and the message to the middle class remains the same - fend for yourselves, we have nothing more to offer to you, except for a new Krishi Kalyan Cess. Here are the budget highlights - if you feel like going through it. Well, hope that the good that has been planned for the farmers, the BPL families and infrastructure - yields results fast.

News Titbits - 'Google Says Indian Internet Users More Conscious About Online Security'

If you are comparing Indian Internet users with those in the US, then we win hands down in this one! My colleague was shocked to find out that credit card purchases on amazon.com required no OTP authentication or password! The card details saved on the site were enough. I guess, back in US, all they care about is fingerprint / password protection on their devices. It would scare most of us here in India to not have a password / OTP authentication for online transactions. Why, most of us opt for two-step authentication.

In the news article, Google says that more and more internet users in India are searching the internet on questions like password protection, two step authentication - a very good thing. Read the PTI article here.

News Titbits - Miracles: And then there was one

One of the 10 soldiers from the recent Siachen glacier tragedy, was found alive buried under 25 feet of snow and after 6 days. Imagine that! Ok, I cannot even begin to guess the how and what, but the soldier is in hospital, although critical. May God bless him with a speedy recovery. As they say, Jyako raakhe Saaiyan, maar sake na koi. Read the article here.

News Titbits - Your cat likes you 5 times less than your dog!

Interesting bit of research - that shows that dogs produce more of the love-hormone after interacting with their masters, as compared to cats. In simple words, your dogs love you more. More than your cats at least - I always knew this, he he! Dog lovers check this - Cats & Dogs of Politics

News Titbits - Centre to market low-cost medical innovations

The Government is getting ready to lend support and market low-cost medical innovations, like one which can be used to check blood glucose levels. Read article here.
A very good initiative and one which can ensure that simple small ideas of great value to the world do not get lost while dealing with the economics of marketing.

News Titbit - TS bans Chinese manja

Telangana has put a complete ban on the nylon thread used for flying kites, known as Chinese dor or manja. The ban encompasses all non-biodegradeable substances, often coated with glass, which cause grievous injuries to bird and animals. Read article here.
A good decision, but somewhat late. I hope everybody follows the lead. I don't know how we have ended up celebrating almost all of our festivals in a way that abuses our environment.

News Titbits - Police arrest 56 Quacks in Hyderabad

Police arrest 56 quacks in city as raids continue - Following information about quacks operating on a large scale in the city, special teams have raided and arrested around 56 quacks. Come to think of it, it still seems like a small figure. If the health department were to conduct raids across the country, I personally feel that we will need additional prison spaces. Hope they are listening.

News Titbits - Electricity from Algae!

Scientists seek to harvest electricity from algae ingreen-energy effort

Scientists in Toronto are working towards harnessing energy from algae - if it becomes commercially successful, it would be yet another path-breaking achievement in terms of clean energy sources.

News Titbits - Wealth from Waste

How startups like Attero Recycling, Karma Recycling are making money out of garbage - While India is fast running out of garbage dumps to meet the rising amount of garbage it produces, these few start-ups have chosen to base their business on the concept of recycling. Must read. 

News Titbits - Faster than Wi-fi, here come Li-fi

This internet technology is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi

An Estonian start-up called Velmenni, has developed light based network technology that is supposedly 100 times faster than wi-fi! Wow! We will be waiting for it to arrive.

News titbits - World Antibiotics Awareness Week

A dangerous comeback of drug-resistant microbes - A shift towards private sector healthcare, the willingness to pop an anti-biotic instead of waiting for the common cold to subside, the government's focus on insurance instead of regulating price of medicines  - a time bomb waiting to explode.

An article to think about.

Read related post from blog: Soaps, germs and Advertising gimmicks that may not be goodfor you

News Titbits - Maggi is Back!

Snapdeal sells 60,000 Maggi kits in 5 minutes

Maggi is back, and how! Snapdeal reported a sale of 60,000  Maggi kits (Promotional Welcome Back kits by Nestle) in just 5 minutes. Wow! We do have a good appetite for Maggi.

News Titbits - Ramanujan’s 1729

Mathematicians say there’s more to Ramanujan’s 1729 thanmeets the eye - 1729, a number that Ramanujan had mentioned as special, the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. Now, mathematicians say, the number is special in many more ways - in the study of Elliptic curves (something that is gaining importance in the field of cryptography) & K3 surfaces. Read the article to learn a little more about our own great Mathematician.

News Titbits - Exercise more important for people at high risk for Diabetes

New study reveals the best way to prevent diabetes
A new study indicates that people at high risk for Type II Diabetes (one which is linked to lifestyle and genetics), need to exercise twice as much as the rest of the world to prevent the same.

News Titbits - Promote Green

Promote green credit: Javadekar - Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, in a meeting on Climate Change, has suggested promoting 'Green Credit' in lieu of 'Carbon Credit', meaning rewarding companies for green practices rather than making them pay for emissions. A good thought I would say, but needs some clarity.

Real Green Cars: Now, Tata Motors has steppedout of box with its lifecycle assessment of cars - Tata Motors has done a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Tata Nano, a first in the Indian Automobile Industry. It shows the environmental impact of the car, right from sourcing of the raw materials for the car till its end of life. This is a good lead for the industry, towards making more environmental friendly, sustainable products.

News Titbits - Now you can open an NPS account online!

Finally you can now open an NPS or National Pension Schemen account online! Although it is at a pilot stage, this is real good news. One major reason that NPS has not yet taken off, is that most personnel at branches of participating banks do not have adequate knowledge of the product. I have personally approached a couple of banks in the recent past, and they did not know if they could accept the NPS forms. They were more knowledgeable about the Atal Pension scheme, and that one is still offline, only through banks.

Read article - How to open an NPS account online via e-NPS system

News titbits - R.Rajan's take on Property prices, should fall

News article - Property prices should fall: Rajan reads out the riot act toreal estate wallahs - RBI Governor has said that more than a fall in home loan rates, what is needed is a fall in real estate prices. He has suggested that developers sitting on unsold stock should bring down prices - I completely agree with you on this one Sir!

News titbits - RBI pays Govt Rs.22,000 crore as dividend!

Read this - 'RBI pays govt Rs 66,000 crore in dividend' - that is 22% more than last year. Whoa!
I really had no idea about the quantum of RBI's dividend payments to the Government. Quite an eye-opener.

News titbits - Smart chocolate for healthy brain :-)

Read this - 'Scientists say this 'smart' chocolate can prevent Alzheimer' - scientists in New York are working on a chocolate made of cocoa extract that can actually promote brain health!

Now that is one idea that I can heartily appreciate. Kudos guys!