Carbon Nanoribbons Could Make Smaller, Speedier Computer Chips

Stanford chemists have developed a new way to make transistors out of carbon nanoribbons. The devices could someday be integrated into high-performance computer chips to increase their speed and generate less heat, which can damage today's silicon-based chips when transistors are packed together tightly..

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Air France plane gutted in Chennai

CHENNAI, MARCH 6: A Boeing 747 cargo aircraft of Air France was fully gutted after it caught fire on crash-landing at Chennai airport around midnight yesterday. The airport was inoperational for nearly 15 hours, and all the airlines were forced to either cancel their flights or reschedule them.
However, there was no loss of life due to the mishap. The pilot of the aircraft, Commander Jeans, and four other crew members (three Frenchmen and one Indian) had a miraculous escape. While one of the crew members came down through a rope ladder, the other four were brought down through the rear of the aircraft using the fire engine step ladders. However, the Indian crew member, who came down the rope ladder, sustained a leg injury, requiring surgery. He was operated upon at a private hospital in the city at about 3 pm since the pelvis bone of his right leg had opened up, doctors said. The AAI is hoping to make the runway completely operational by Saturday night, and normality in services is expected to be restoredby Sunday.

About 66 tonnes of cargo material loaded in the Jumbo Jet which came from Bangalore was completely destroyed in the fire. Sources said the aircraft was carrying about 20 tonnes of cigarettes, three cars, garments, medicines and chemicals. Several onlookers who saw the flame from the GST Road said they saw a ball of fire.

The aircraft with flight N. 6745, which came in from the Pallavaram end, is said to have crash-landed as the nose wheel did not open when the flight landed on the main runway. The aircraft came to a grinding halt after it travelled for about 7,000 ft of the runway, whose total length is 12,050 feet. A loud noise was heard for about two kms and smoke could be seen emanating from the nose of the aircraft. Fire tenders were immediately pressed into service.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chennai airport director Sudhir Kumar, briefing mediapersons, said the aircraft, which was scheduled to land at 11.22 pm on Friday night, landed at 11.29 pm. The aircraft `skipped' onelanding, went back and again came for landing, he said. ``The aircraft got bogged down and the runway was blocked. Since the aircraft was stranded in the middle of the runway, air services from and to Chennai were suspended. A `notem' (notice to airmen) was issued to this effect after the crash-landing.

Airport sources said the pilot of the aircraft had come in for ILS (Instrument Landing System) landing, but suddenly the pilot reported to the Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) that he was not landing due to a technical snag and that he would circle and come again. He did not specify what the snag was, it is reported.

The frequency for the aircraft was changed and put to the radar controller. According to preliminary investigation, the pilot was asked by the radar controller if he needed any assistance, but the pilot replied in the negative. He circled over the Chennai airport and again came for landing.

However, this time, the pilot sought for visual landing and did not use the ILS facility. The ATCasked the pilot again if he wanted any aid, but the pilot said there was no problem and he was landing.

Cargo plane breaks in two at airport

An American Kalitta air cargo plane drove off the runway during take-off at Brussels's Zaventem airport and broke in two but there were no casualties.

"The happened during take-off of the plane, which was going from Brussels to Bahrain," a Zaventem airport spokeswoman said. "We don't know what caused it, there is an investigation under way."

The Boeing 747 aircraft's five crew all escaped via an inflatable emergency slide, fire brigade spokesman Francis Boileau said. Four of them had minor injuries.

Boileau said apart from its cargo of cars and equipment, the jet was full of fuel. He said the plane came to a halt some 200 metres from the runway and only 10 metres from a railway line.

"There was a danger of an explosion just after the because it was full of kerosene, about 100 tonnes of it, and there was a big leak when it broke," Boileau said, adding the fire brigade had secured the leak in 30 minutes.

"We see from the tracks on the runway that the pilot tried to stop the aircraft because he understood he could not bring it up into the air, and he drove it off the runway," Boileau said.

The Kalitta Air company's website says it is a Michigan Limited Liability Company owned by Conrad Kalitta.

It started in November 2000 with three Boeing 747 aircraft and the fleet has grown to a present total of 18 B 747 freighters.

INDIA'S BLACK MONEY...

Dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians and corrupt officers have deposited in their illegal personal accounts the huge sum of about US$ 1000 Billion which have been misappropriated by them creating scandals and by corruption. This amount is about 13 times larger than foreign debt. This amount is such a big amount that from it 45 crores of poor people can get Rs. 100000/- each. This huge amount has been collected really from the people of India by exploiting the people of India and by betraying people of India. So really this entire amount belongs to the people of India. So all such property kept in to Foreign Banks must be declared as National property and it should be brought back in India. And for keeping such property in foreign banks illegally, all dishonest industrialists and merchants, scandalous politicians and corrupt officers must be punished at least for 10 years imprisonment to capital punishment. The function of delcaring such property lying in to foreign banks illegally as the national property can be done in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha only by making law. Government will not do this such law until there is heavy pressure on the Government from every corner of the country to make such law because those who have collected such illegal money and kept into foreign banks are themselves sitting in the parliament and in the Government. However, any autocrate Government has to yield to the heavy pressure of public opinion. Azadi Bachao Andolan is actively endeavouring to create such heavy pressure of public opinion to make such law. Once general public can understand the necessity of such law the best opportunity to create heavy pressure on Government is always at the time of elections.
People should declare not to vote for any candidate who does not promise in writing to make such law if elected in the parliament. If atmosphere is created every political party and every candidate of every political party will have to promise to make such law. Once all the candidates committed to make such law are elected in the parliament, such law to bring back all foreign money by delcaring national property will become a reality.
Once such law is enacted and passed by the parliament, all such property kept illegally in foreign banks as personal and private property will become national property. As per the rules of foreign banks, they can not keep national property. They can keep only personal property. As soon as such illegal personal properties are declared as national properties, the foreign banks have no other way except to return it to the Government of India.
Once this huge amount of black illegal money and property comes back to India, entire foreign debt can be repaid immediately in 24 hours only. After paying entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount almost 12 times larger than the foreign debts. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central Government. So even though all the taxes are totally abolished, then also Central Government will be able to maintain their extravagant expenses and huge wasteges of money as being done since last 50 years.
But we do not want to continue the extravagant expenses and huge wasteges of the Government. We want to stop it. The above argument is just to give the idea how huge amount our dishonest leaders, politicians, cricketers, film makers, administrators and rich persons have looted our country and to what extent they have accumulated the wealth. In fact, due to such a huge malpractice and exploitation, our 45 crores of people are dying of starvation. In fact, all these wealth belongs to such poor people from whom the wealth has gone to dishonest upper class of the society i.e. politicians, bureaucrats, cricketers, film makers etc. So legally and morally, both the ways, this entire wealth belongs to the people of India and so it is a national property. So to get it back from foreign countries, foreign banks strong movement is essential.

Strange But True :Space

1.The ancient Greeks called our galaxy the Milky Way because they thought it was made from drops of milk from the breasts of the Greek goddess Hera.
2.Yuri Gagarin survived the first manned spaceflight but was killed in a plane crash seven years later.
3.Astronauts become a little taller in space. There is less gravity, so their bones are less squashed together.
4.Astronauts' footprints and Lunar Rover tyre tracks will stay on the moon for millions of years as there is no wind to blow them away.
5.About 1500 stars are visible at night with the naked eye in a clear, dark sky. There are 88 constellations altogether. The smallest star measures about 1700 km across. It is a white dwarf called LP 327-16.
6.The first object to orbit earth was Sputnik 1, launched by the USSR in October 1957.
7.The first animal in space was the Soviet dog, Laika, in November 1957. It died on the flight.
8.The first person to orbit earth was Yuri Gagarin, from the USSR, in April 1961. 9.The first American to orbit earth was John Glenn in February 1962.
10.The first animals to survive in orbital spaceflight were the Soviet dogs, Strelka and Belka, launched in Sputnik 5 in August 1960.
11.The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, from the USSR, in June 1963.

Strange but True - People

1.The world's largest palace has 1788 rooms. It was built for the Sultan of Brunei.

2.The world's largest recorded gathering of people was at a Hindu religious festival in India in 1989. It was attended by about 15 million people.

3.Abraham Lincoln went to school for less than a year. He taught himself to read and write.

4.The longest recorded swim was 2938 km down the Mississippi River in 1930. The swimmer spend 742 hours in the water.

5.Humans are no match for some animals. The rhinoceros beetle can carry 850 times its own weight on its back. The Emperor moth can detect smells 11 km away. The cheetah can run at 70 km/h. The Polyphemus moth eats 86,000 its own birth weight in 48 hours. The cries of South American howler monkeys can be heard 16 km away.

6.The longest jail sentence passed was in the United States - 10,000 years for a triple murder.

7.It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Try it!.

8.Levi Strauss made the first pair of blue jeans in 1850. They were intended as work trousers for American miners looking for gold.

9.In Ancient Rome only important people wore purple clothes. This is because the purple dye came from a particular kind of shellfish and was very expensive.

Strange but True - Volcanoes

1.The loudest noise ever known was produced by a volcanic eruption at Krakatoa, near Javan, in 1883. The sound was heard in Australia, 5000 km away.

2.When Laki volcano in Iceland erupted in 1783, its lava flow stretched 65 km, the longest ever recorded.

3.There are over 500 active volcanoes in the world.

4.About 20 per cent of all volcanoes are underwater.

5.About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.

6.Lava from an erupting volcano may be as hot as 1200 degrees centigrade.

Strange but true facts about the Earth

1. In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily block out the sun over Europe.

2.About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.

3.A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.

4.Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.

5.The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.

6.The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.

7.American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.

8.The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk.

9.The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.

10.Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.

Egg-walking man pulls car with ears

A Chinese man has managed to pull a car while walking on eggs without breaking a single egg.

the 38-year-old probably has the strangest talent ever seen, but he sure drew a big crowd while he was pulling the car in Dehui, Jinli.

The onlookers were astonished by the man's performance. Zhang says he started learning the stunt when he was only 8 years old.

Another amazing thing this Chinese can do is pick up a 25 kg bicycle with his mouth while, of course, standing on eggs.

We can't figure out what his talents are good for, but they sure are amazing.