E-India
• Scientists from 27 countries including India have joined forces to develop an early warning system for earthquakes. If successful, the system could save countless lives.
• In good news for Delhi’s air pollution, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway plan has finally been cleared. The six lane highway is expected to keep Delhi’s traffic under control by ensuring that vehicles (especially goods trucks) do not transit through the capital while travelling elsewhere.
E-Mage
E-Video
The young elephants, Bala and Hari, both 2-years-old, enjoyed a water-spray and a bath with each other during one of the hottest July on record.
Bala is the youngest elephant at the Chester Zoo, UK and was born in January 2013 while Hari was born just a few months earlier in November 2012.
E-Resource & Waste
• Excellent news for all those working towards a carbon neutral future - both developed and developing countries have been rapidly adding to their renewable energy capacity with India having the fifth highest installed wind capacity globally. Good news at a time when Denmark’s wind farms have proved capable of generating 140% of its power requirements.
E-Law
• The NGT continued its efforts to control Delhi’s air pollution in hearings this week. The Tribunal asked the government to present a report on the reasons for Delhi’s poor air quality and suggested several measures including staggered traffic times to control pollution. In a separate order, the NGT affirmed its earlier ruling banning tourism in the Rohtang pass in order to check environmental degradation and glacier melting in the area.
E-International
• Stunning images this week highlighted Pluto’s ice mountains for the very first time. The pictures were taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft after a ten year long journey to the outer reaches of our solar system and are expected to “send a lot of geophysicists back to the drawing boards”.
E-Nature
• Conservationists have hit upon an ingenious method of preventing wild animals from straying onto cropland. The new method uses bioacoustics or pre-recorded animal distress calls as a way to warn animals away from the boundaries of cropland. Animals are unharmed in the process and the method has reported success rates of 90%.
E-Tech
• The first electrically powered flights flew across the English Channel, indicating a new future for such battery powered aircrafts. The planes release zero emissions and could be valuable way to reduce aviation caused air pollution.
E-Quiz
• How many active volcanoes are there in the world?
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