Overheating disables bugs used in groundwater purification

October 4th, 2009 LONDON - India's thirst for groundwater is threatening a major water crisis, and adding to global sea level rise, says a report. Virendra Tiwari, from the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, says that satellite measurements have shown that northern India is sucking some 54 trillion litres of water out of the ground every year.

August 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have said that the beefed-up diets of Asia's expanding middle class could lead to chronic food shortages for the water-stressed region. According to a report in National Geographic News, the threat was highlighted in a study by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimate that Asian demand for food and livestock fodder will double in 40 years.

August 23rd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - While warnings by farmers and experts over the years that Punjab's groundwater level is falling dangerously low has been strengthened recently by satellite imagery, authorities seem slow to measure up to the agricultural challenge. Based on satellite imagery, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists have recently warned of a "collapse of agricultural output and severe shortage of potable water" in India's bread basket.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Engineers at Ohio State University, US, have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles. The process improves on the conventional method for brewing butanol in a bacterial fermentation tank.

August 14th, 2009 NEW YORK - Unsustainable use of water in India's northern states threatens farm output and can fuel the spectre of a major water crisis, distressing 114 million people living there, warns a new study. Human activity like irrigation has pushed groundwater levels in India's north down by as much as one foot per year over the past seven years, says the study by scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

August 13th, 2009 Study sees dramatic drop in Indian groundwaterNEW DELHI — Excessive irrigation and the unrelenting thirst of tens of millions of people are causing groundwater levels in northern India to drop dramatically, a problem that could lead to severe water shortages, according to a study released Wednesday. The study comes as India's struggles with water have become a major political issue.

August 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Using NASA satellite data, scientists have found that as a result of human activities, groundwater levels in northern India have been declining by as much as one foot per year over the past decade. More than 26 cubic miles of groundwater disappeared from aquifers in areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and the nation's capitol territory of Delhi, between 2002 and 2008.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - Indian-born academic Bhaskar Sengupta is to lead a top British scientific team to conduct research and training aimed at preventing groundwater arsenic poisoning in eastern India, Queen's University Belfast said Monday. Sengupta, who teaches environmental engineering at Queen's, led a team of European and Indian scientists who last year developed a low-cost technology to deliver arsenic-free water to affected areas.

July 23rd, 2009 Contaminated Wash. site gets new treatment systemRICHLAND, Wash.

July 17th, 2009 Scientists save India's moon mission from failureNEW DELHI — India's only satellite orbiting the moon came close to failure after overheating but scientists improvised to save it and have achieved more than 90 percent of the mission's objectives, an official said Friday. The launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 put India in an elite group to have lunar missions along with the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The 85 Coca-Cola trucks in the city that deliver soft-drink bottles to your neighbourhood store will not belch black smoke any more. Their engines have been changed to use CNG, with the first three trucks of the new "green fleet" flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here Wednesday evening.

July 5th, 2009 States digging deep to monitor waterKINGSTON, N.H. — About a quarter mile into dense woods, geologists watch as a drilling rig twists a shaft deep into the granite bedrock of southeastern New Hampshire.

July 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Two artists in London have come up with a bizarre invention in the form of a 'carnivorous digital clock', which catches bugs, then dissolves their bodies to create electrolytes to power itself. A strip of sticky flypaper moves in a loop over the surface of the unit, much like a treadmill or moving sidewalk.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of Boulder (US) scientists and engineers has tested a new instrument prototype that might be used to detect groundwater deep inside Mars. Known as the Mars Time Domain Electromagnetic Sounder (MTDEM), the instrument uses induction to generate electrical currents in the ground, whose secondary magnetic fields are in turn detected at the planetary surface.

June 17th, 2009 Report: Drier South, warmer North, and more bugsWASHINGTON — The new climate change science report by the federal government looks at effects of global warming on specific U.S. regions and forecasts what's to come: NORTHEAST Already: Winter temperatures have increased by 4 degrees since 1970.