Green light to thermal power plants only after ‘human risk’

 New thermal power plants in India will now have to comply with ‘human health and environment’ criteria as part of their mandatory environmental clearance procedures.

 The Union environment ministry has notified a new list of standard conditions, bringing for the first time an exclusive health assessment as an essential point to give green nod to such plants.

 Under its new order the company will have to take into account chronic exposure to air and noise pollution which may adversely affect health of not only workers but also of people living in its vicinity.
 This baseline health status within the study area will be part of the company’s application, seeking environment clearances for setting up new thermal power plants anywhere in the country

Kanpur, Lucknow most polluted cities

Kanpur and Lucknow were the most polluted cities in the country last Sunday.
AQI jumped by 109 units in Kanpur and by 77 units in Lucknow.
Pollution levels have remained high in Lucknow and Kanpur owing to the manifold increase in construction activities and vehicular load along with the shortage of green belt.

Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding construction of road within the flood lines of river Panzara, Dhule, Maharashtra

The application seeks an injunction against the construction of the road within the flood lines and green zone on both sides of river Panzara.

 According to the applicant, road is being constructed in Dhule city by the Public Works Department in violation of Development Plan and also in violation of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, National Water Policy, 2012 of the State of Maharashtra and the directions of this Tribunal prohibiting construction within 50 meters from blue line of the river.

National Green Tribunal finds no illegality in the improvement of an existing road, being undertaken by the State of Maharashtra. Further NGT directs the State of Maharashtra to develop at least one bio-diversity park in the floodplain and also to undertake avenue plantation in the area.

Rare fossil bird deepens mystery of avian extinctions

Today's birds descend from a small number of bird species living before the dinosaur extinction. Some of the birds that went extinct, the enantiornithines, were actually more common than and out-competed modern bird ancestors. Analysis of a newly described fossil, the most complete known from the Americas, demonstrates, too, that the enantiornithines were as agile and strong in flight as the ancestors of modern birds. But after the cataclysm that wiped out most of the dinosaurs, only one group of birds remained: the ancestors of the birds we see today. The 75-million-year-old fossil, from a bird about the size of a turkey vulture, is the most complete skeleton discovered in North America of what is called enantiornithines, or opposite birds. Discovered in the Grand Staircase-Escalante area of Utah in 1992 by University of California, Berkeley, paleontologist Howard Hutchison, the fossil lay relatively untouched in University of California Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley until doctoral student Jessie Aderholt learned about it in 2009 and asked to study it

Purple bacteria 'batteries' turn sewage into clean energy

Purple phototrophic bacteria -- which can store energy from light. when supplied with an electric current can recover near to 100 percent of carbon from any type of organic waste, while generating hydrogen gas for use as fuel. Organic compounds in household sewage and industrial wastewater are a rich potential source of energy, bioplastics and even proteins for animal feed -- but with no efficient extraction method, treatment plants discard them as contaminants. Now researchers have found an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective solution.

Overflowing crater lakes carved canyons across Mars

Today, most of the water on Mars is locked away in frozen ice caps. But billions of years ago it flowed freely across the surface, forming rushing rivers that emptied into craters, forming lakes and seas. New research has found evidence that sometimes the lakes would take on so much water that they overflowed and burst from the sides of their basins, creating catastrophic floods that carved canyons very rapidly, perhaps in a matter of weeks.

New definition of kilogram from next year

India will adopt a new definition of the kilogram (kg) from May next year, after representatives of 60 countries last week voted to redefine the International System of Units.

The new SI System will be helpful in bringing in accuracy while dealing with international trade, biotechnology, high-tech manufacturing and human health and safety, said Consumer Affairs Secretary AK Srivastava during a press briefing in New Delhi.
The existing definition of the kg is over 130 years old. The new SI system, which is defined in terms of the Planck's constant, would be stable in the long term and practically realisable.

The 26th General Conference on Weights & Measures (GCWM), which is comprised of 60 member countries, voted for the redefinition last week. It will adopted on May 20, which is World Metrology Day.

The new definition of kg involves accurate weighing machines called 'Kibble balance'. It uses the constant to measure the mass of an object using a precisely measured electromagnetic force.

National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Director DK Aswal said the facility to produce 'Kibble balance' machines to be used across the country will be ready in the next three-four years. It is expected to cost Rs 60 crore.