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India is recognized globally for its premier engineering institutes IITs and IIMs. Students from these colleges are behind some of the world's unicorns. They have a history of producing some wonderful innovations for a better world. <br /><br />From efficient electric cars, autos running on hydrogen to machines for the blind - the diverse innovations inside the campus labs are usually aimed at solving the real pain points of people and making their lives easier. <br /><br />Big or small, their ideas have contributed to our society for years. They are out to revolutionize the world and we are simply proud of their stellar innovations. Let's go over some of them:<br />
<strong><br />An Electric Race Car that participated in Formula Students competition at Silverstone Circuit, UK</strong><br />

	
	
	
	
	
	<div type="image" msid="51806943" hostid="261"></div>











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IIT-B students unveiled EVo1 at the Powai Institute campus, it is India’s first electric race car. A team of 60 students designed this car in 2012. It has a top speed of 115 km per hour and weighs about 320 kgs. It has acceleration from 1 to 100 kmph in 5 seconds and from 0 to 60 kmph in 3.5 seconds. It possesses high efficiency DC motors and Lithium polymer batteries.<br />
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<strong>SmartCane for the easy mobility of those visually-challenged </strong><br />

	
	
	
	
	
	<div type="image" msid="51807035" hostid="261"></div>











 A group of passionate technologists, an IIT professor and a social entrepreneur joined hands and came up with an innovative product that aims to alleviate the hardships faced by visually challenged people when it comes to independent mobility.SmartCane™ is an aid for the visually impaired that provides safe and independent mobility which eases their integration into the society. It helps its user diagnose any above-the-knee obstruction from a distance of 3 meters. Frugality and resourcefulness have ensured that this product costs only INR 3,000.<br />
<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&amp;v=3etHWJL2izs<br />
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<strong>An App which Facebook ended up buying</strong><br />
<br /> Abheek and Soham were inspired to create Tagtile by an incident in a restaurant in San Francisco. The <keyword id="137562" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="IITians">IITians</keyword> heard the restaurant owner complain about the websites and apps offering deals. Thus, Tagtile was launched in March 2011 to satisfy the merchants as well as customers with exciting deals and offers. Tagtile won many acclaims and became one of the widely used apps. It also received an award in October 2011 for Best Startup in a competition among 100-odd start-ups in the Silicon Valley.Initially a partnership deal, ended with Facebook buying the year-old product. The deal brought along an offer for Abheek and Soham to join Facebook as product manager and engineer.<br />
<br />
<strong>Drones which the Indian Army now uses </strong> 
	
	
	
	
	
	<div type="image" msid="51807041" hostid="261"></div> <keyword id="1791200" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Bombay-students">IIT Bombay students</keyword> invented NETRA - an autonomous hovering Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a drone that helps the Indian army with rescue operations during natural calamities.<br />
<br />
<strong>Water rides You can now walk On </strong>Mirik Gogri and Ayush Jain, Two IIT-Bombay alumni formed Humming Whale Product Innovations, a company that innovates path-breaking products and solutions. The team came up with a fun idea of walking on water, which they later gamified into a ride. They are now all set to introduce the product at various gaming zones, amusement parks, events and parties. The duo also came up with rewritable T shirts. 
	
	
	
	
	
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 Write and erase. Cool, isn't is? The t-shirt was a hit on online shopping websites and was worn by a movie cast that appeared on popular TV show Bigg Boss.<br />
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<strong>Hydrogen Autos with less noise and Pollution may take over Delhi roads</strong> 
	
	
	
	
	
	<div type="image" msid="51806957" hostid="261"></div>











 Professor LM Das of IIT-D conceived the idea of using compressed hydrogen as an automotive fuel with Delhi's air pollution in mind . In the early '80s, it was a bold initiative — an idea ahead of its time. Lay acquaintances thought he was talking about making a hydrogen bomb. Detractors in the scientific community dismissed his research as a freak project. But Das soldiered on alone over the next three decades as associates came and went. He says - Unlike petroleum-derived hydrocarbon fuels, pure hydrogen does not produce toxic carbon monoxide or the heat-trapping carbon dioxide on combustion. There are no oxides of sulphur, nor any particulates. Water vapour and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are the only byproducts. Although NOx is a pollutant, Das claims their engine has been optimized to reduce its emission greatly.<br />
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<strong>Machine that reduces waste and in turn quenches thirst</strong>
	
	
	
	
	
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Designed and developed in just 95 days by two IIT Bombay students - Anurag Meena and Satyendra Meena - is a revolutionary machine which accepts used cans or bottles, and dispenses 300 millilitres of clean (RO and UV treated) drinking water in exchange. It is currently on a pilot test run at the IIT-Bombay boys’ hostel. In the coming months, it will also be installed in several other places in Mumbai and Chandigarh.<br />
<br />
(Image credit: PagalGuy)<br />

10 brilliant innovations by IITians to make India a better place to live in

Secrets of the American Museum of Natural History

<div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width: 800px; height: 450px;"></div><div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div><div><div><div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channelid="UCVLZmDKeT-mV4H3ToYXIFYg" data-layout="full" data-count="&quot;hidden&quot;"></div></div></div><p class="embed-spacer"></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The <a href="http://www.amnh.org/">American Museum of Natural History</a> is one of the largest museums in the world. Tucked into its 1.6 million square feet of space are several secrets. Some you can see, some you cannot.</span></p><p><em>Produced by <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/author/kevin-reilly">Kevin Reilly</a>. Additional camera by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/author/alex-kuzoian">Alex Kuzoian</a>.</em></p><p><strong>Follow <keyword id="72550" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="TI">TI</keyword>:</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/techinsider">On Facebook</a></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:618px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/10th-annual/10th-Annual-Photo-Contest-Finalists-Travel-194333031.html?c=y&amp;page=7&amp;navigation=thumb#IMAGES">Photographed by Hai Thinh Hoang/Smithsonian.com</a></p></div>The Smithsonian just released the finalists from its </span><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/10th-annual/10th-Annual-Photo-Contest-Finalists-Natural-World-194333591.html" target="_blank">10th annual photo contest</a>. This <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">year's front runners are absolutely stunning.</span></p>
<p>The <keyword id="6360717" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="contest">contest</keyword> received over 37,600 photo submissions this year from photographers hailing from 112 countries. The pictures are broken down into five categories, including The Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, and Altered Images.</p>
<p>Each category was narrowed down to 10 photographs for a total of 50 finalists. <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/10th-annual/Vote-for-the-10th-Annual-Photo-Contest-Viewers-Choice.html" target="_blank">Voting for the Reader's Choice Award</a> is now open to the public until March 29 at 2 p.m. EST.</p>
<p>All of the submissions are outstanding, but 15 in particular caught our eye.</p>

The Best Entries From Smithsonian's Photo Contest Finalists 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The London <keyword id="11996701" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="natural-history-museum" source="Orion">Natural History Museum</keyword>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-wildlife-photos-of-the-year-2020-11">Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest</a> celebrates the diversity and fragility of life. </li><li>This year the <keyword id="11996702" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="contest" source="Orion">contest</keyword> drew a record of more than 50,000 entries from photographers in 95 countries.</li><li>The frontrunners' photos show wild cats overcoming great odds, narwhal shrimps loitering in the coral, and an orphaned bat on the mend.</li></ul><p>The Iberian lynx almost disappeared from the face of the Earth. </p><p>Hunting, poaching, and habitat loss culled the wild cats from the Iberian peninsula. By 2002, fewer than 100 Iberian lynx remained in Spain, and they were completely wiped out in Portugal. </p><p>But conservation efforts have brought them back from the brink of extinction. The elusive <keyword id="11897851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="animals" source="Orion">animals</keyword> have even started to overlap with humans again.</p><p>The young lynx in the photo above grew up in an abandoned hayloft in Spain's Sierra Morena mountains. Photographer Sergio Marijuán set up his camera amongst the hay and waited for months to get the shot: the lynx poised in the doorway, its back legs outstretched, peering directly into the camera.</p><p>The image is a frontrunner in the prestigious <keyword id="11893490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wildlife" source="Orion">Wildlife</keyword> Photographer of the Year contest, which is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. The competition aims to showcase the diversity and fragility of the planet's wildlife. </p><p>This year, the contest drew more entries than ever before - more than 50,000 photos from photographers in 95 countries. </p><p>"These extraordinary images showcase the rich diversity of life on Earth and spark curiosity and wonder," Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, said in a press release. "Telling the story of a planet under pressure, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition illuminates the urgent challenges we face and the collective action we need to take."</p><p>The museum will announce the winning images in October, but on Tuesday, it released a small sample of its top picks. Below are nine of the "highly commended" frontrunners.</p><h2>Several photos show predators struggling</h2><div type="image" title="four cheetahs grimace swimming against roiling brown waters" height="1373" width="2061" msid="85821050" hostid="261"></div><p>In January 2020, these male cheetahs braved rough waters to reach new hunting grounds on the other side of Kenya's swollen Talek River. Photographer Buddhilini de Soyza followed them along the opposite bank for hours as they chose their crossing point.</p><p>"A couple of times the lead cheetah waded into the river, only to turn back," de Soyza said in a statement about the photo.</p><p>The animals avoided calmer stretches of water, possibly fearing crocodiles, before leaping in and paddling across. De Soyza feared they wouldn't survive the raging river, which was high from unusually heavy rain. But all five cheetahs (one didn't fit into the photo) made it across.</p><h2>This gecko fought for its life but wound up in a death coil</h2><div type="image" title="green snake wrapped around blue gecko with red spots gripping snake's head in its mouth" height="1374" width="1099" msid="85821051" hostid="261"></div><p>Photographer Wei Fu was taking pictures of birds at a park in Bangkok, Thailand when he heard loud croaking and hissing. He followed the ruckus and found a red-spotted tokay gecko perched in a tree, blaring warning sounds at a golden tree snake that was slowly descending towards it from a higher branch.</p><p>The snake launched itself at the gecko, biting it and injecting venom. The lizard clamped its powerful jaws around the serpent's head in self-defense.</p><p>They wrestled, but after a few minutes, the snake had wound itself around the gecko, squeezed its life out, and begun the slow process of swallowing it whole.</p><h2>A clumsy young white-tailed kite bungled a pass</h2><div type="image" title="white bird with wings extended mid-air holds mouse in claw while smaller bird with brown speckles reaches claws up to take the mouse" height="787" width="671" msid="85821052" hostid="261"></div><p>The California bird was trying to take a live mouse from the claws of its father while hovering in mid-air, according to photographer Jack Zhi. This is how the juvenile must eat until it can hunt for itself. The exchange is also practice for future courtship, when a male bird offers prey to a female.</p><p>This gold-speckled youngster had only been flying for two days. It clumsily tried to reach its claws upward to take the mouse, but didn't quite get the prize. It learned quickly, though, and circled around to grab its prey from behind the older bird.</p><h2>Other predators were more successful</h2><div type="image" title="lion dripping with fresh blood stares into camera" height="752" width="564" msid="85821053" hostid="261"></div><p>This young lioness in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park began eating her wildebeest prey while it was still alive. With one paw holding the struggling animal down, and bright red blood dripping from her muzzle, she looked right into photographer Lara Jackson's camera. </p><h2>A 10-year-old photographed this parakeet feeding its young</h2><div type="image" title="bright green parakeet greets three green chicks poking their heads out of a tree" height="786" width="524" msid="85821054" hostid="261"></div><p>Gagana Mendis Wickramasinghe was stuck at home when Sri Lanka went into lockdown in the spring of 2020. So he passed his time sitting on his parents' bedroom balcony with his older brother, watching a pair of rose-ringed parakeets raise their young.</p><p>The parakeets had chosen a dead areca-nut palm tree that Gagana's parents had left standing to attract wildlife. The parakeets' hole was eye-level with their balcony, which gave Gagana and his brother plenty of time to experiment with their cameras and trade lenses to snap pictures of the vibrant green birds.</p><h2>On an island within an island, a red fox scavenged for dead salmon</h2><div type="image" title="fox creeps through dark shallow waters" height="831" width="1248" msid="85821056" hostid="261"></div><p>This animal is one of two foxes living on a small island in Karluk Lake, which is nested in Alaska's Kodiak Island. Photographer Jonny Armstrong followed the fox for several days as she pounced at birds, ate berries, and even nipped at the heels of a young brown bear.</p><p>Then a storm began to roll in, bringing a somber backdrop. As the vixen scanned the shallows for sockeye salmon that had died after spawning, Armstrong laid on his stomach at the water's edge to capture her focused gaze.</p><h2>Narwhal shrimp may communicate via their antennae</h2><div type="image" title="narwhal shrimps drift in feathery blue coral with their antennas touching" height="831" width="1248" msid="85821057" hostid="261"></div><p>When Laurent Ballesta went diving with his camera off France's Mediterranean coast, he stumbled upon a bizarre scene. Thousands of narwhal shrimp were swaying in the coral more than 250 feet below the surface. Their long, wiry antennae were touching - contact that may play a role in social behaviors like mating.</p><h2>Some images depict animals out of their habitats, like this orphaned bat</h2><div type="image" title="baby bat lies on table with baby blanket with a human hand cradling the bat" height="787" width="1136" msid="85821059" hostid="261"></div><p>This grey-headed flying-fox pup was just three weeks old when someone found her on the ground in Melbourne, Australia.</p><p>At a shelter, caretakers fed her special formula and laid her on a "mumma roll," which simulates a mother bat around which she can wrap her legs and wings. They even gave her a dummy to suck on. That's when photographer Douglas Gimesy captured her portrait.</p><p>After a few months, the orphan can be weaned onto fruit and flowering eucalyptus, then released into a nearby wild bat colony.</p><p>Grey-headed flying-foxes only live in eastern Australia. Their numbers are falling in the face of extreme heat, deforestation, and human infrastructure like power lines and barbed wire, where they often get caught.</p><h2>Climate change also threatens the Apollo butterfly</h2><h2><div type="image" title="black and white butterfly settles on white daisy" height="786" width="1180" msid="85821061" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>On a summer vacation in the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park along the border of France and Switzerland, Emelin Dupieux enjoyed mountain meadows full of flowers and butterflies. One of his favorites, the Apollo, is among Europe's most threatened, since its mountain habitats are getting warmer due to climate change.</p><p>With wings that span up to 3.5 inches, the black-and-white butterfly wasn't hard to follow, but it was difficult to photograph - the oxeye daises it perches on sway easily in the wind. After much fiddling with his camera's settings and focus, Dupieux snapped this peaceful photo, called "Apollo landing." </p>

The best wildlife photos of 2021 capture a rare Iberian lynx, a snake strangling a gecko, and a lion dripping with blood

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"></span><p></p></span>A fire broke out Friday afternoon on the fourth floor of the Museum of Natural History, which houses the dinosaurs exhibits,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/FDNY-Firefighters-Respond-Fire-American-Museum-Natural-History-285649161.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_NYBrand">NBC New York reports</a>.&#xa0;</p>
<p>The building was promptly evacuated, a spokesperson for the museum told NBC.&#xa0;</p>
<p>While there are no reports of any injuries, the extent of the damage is still unknown.</p>
<p>Witnesses, however, reported heavy smoke.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>We just got evacuated from <a href="https://twitter.com/AMNH">@AMNH</a> Came down smoky stairs. Real fire.</p>
- Susan Perkins (@NYCuratrix) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCuratrix/status/543503798418034688">December 12, 2014</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>OMG the <a href="https://twitter.com/AMNH">@AMNH</a> is on fire!! We were evacuated &amp; it was crazy! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/americanmuseumofnaturalhistory?src=hash">#americanmuseumofnaturalhistory</a> <a href="http://t.co/VOJaqgF6ZL">pic.twitter.com/VOJaqgF6ZL</a></p>
- Margot G (@Margotjg) <a href="https://twitter.com/Margotjg/status/543508583120658432">December 12, 2014</a><strong style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;"><em>&#xa0;</em></strong>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Of course the one day I want to visit the Museum of Natural History it catches on fire. <a href="http://t.co/rIjetYzgz2">pic.twitter.com/rIjetYzgz2</a></p>
- Natalie (@natalielovestv) <a href="https://twitter.com/natalielovestv/status/543503506960035841">December 12, 2014</a>
</blockquote>
<p><strong><em><br /></em></strong>Eyewitness News, still covering the situation, shows smoke pouring out of the building's first floor.&#xa0;</p>
<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"></span><p></p></span></span></p>

Fire Breaks Out In Dinosaur Exhibit At The Museum Of Natural History

<ul class="summary-list"><li>World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that there will be more pandemics in the future during a video shared on the first <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/12/27/default-calendar/international-day-of-epidemic-preparedness">International Day of Epidemic Preparedness</a> on Sunday.</li><li>Tedros said the world failed "to prepare" for the <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> pandemic, and in the future countries should work to "prevent, detect, and mitigate emergencies of all kinds, whether they be naturally occurring epidemics or deliberate events."</li><li>He said investments in public health and "all-of-government, all-of-society, one health approach" could help countries successfully prepare for future pandemics.</li></ul><p>World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that COVID-19 won't be the world's last pandemic while speaking in a video statement on the first <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/12/27/default-calendar/international-day-of-epidemic-preparedness#:~:text=The%20first%20ever%20International%20Day,for%20and%20partnership%20against%20epidemics.">International Day of Epidemic Preparedness</a> on Sunday.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1343137156399816704">Tedros used his message</a> to encourage countries to prepare better by working to "prevent, detect, and mitigate emergencies of all kinds, whether they be naturally occurring epidemics or deliberate events."</p><p>"History tells us his will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life," he said.</p><p>He said investments in public health and an "all-of-government, all-of-society, one health approach" could help countries successfully react to global health crises in the future.</p><p>"If we fail to prepare, we are preparing to fail. … Last year, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board published its first report, which concluded, the world remains dangerously unprepared for a global pandemic," he said in the video.</p><p>Nearly 1.8 million people across the world have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began and more than 80 million people have tested positive for the virus.</p><p>In the United States alone, more than 332,000 people have died from the virus and more than 19 million have tested positive, according to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">Johns Hopkins</a>.</p><p>COVID-19 vaccines are currently being given to healthcare workers, and are expected to be given to the general public in 2021.</p>

WHO chief warns that COVID-19 won't be the world's last pandemic as he tells countries to prepare for future emergencies

<ul><li><strong>Business Insider spoke to Mike Martin, a former British Army Officer and conflict expert.</strong></li><li><strong>Martin's new book Why We Fight is about the evolutionary psychology of warfare. </strong></li><li><span><strong>He told us about the two reasons that people fight in wars.</strong></span><span></span><span></span></li></ul><p> </p><p>Read the full transcript below:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Mike Martin: </strong>Hi, my name's Dr. Mike Martin, I'm a former British Army Officer and an expert on conflict, and I've just written a book called Why We Fight, about the evolutionary psychology of warfare. Why is war part of human nature? Well, I think there are a number of reasons for that.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Firstly, and this is the most obvious one, everybody practices warfare. Every society throughout history, almost up to including the current day, practices warfare. Another key reason why war is part of human nature is that humans are part of the animal kingdom and in the animal kingdom, individual animals of every species compete against all the other individuals in that species. And they compete for mates, and for food, and for territory, and for social status.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Humans are just the same, the only difference is that we, as part of the primates, and primates with slightly bigger brains, have got the ability to generate larger social groups. So all that war is is the individual competition that we see throughout the animal kingdom timesed up by our ability to build bigger groups.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">So when we're looking at how to free the world of war, particularly when we've argued that it's part of human nature, you have to look right across human history, so you go back 200,000 years and you come right up to the present day.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Now, if you look across human history at that scale, there are two big trends that come out. One is a massive decline of violence.So from the stone age through to the present day, in some cases violence has fallen up to 500-fold. Today is the safest time, without fail, to be alive.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">The other macro trend over that period of history is ever-increasing group size. When one group is fighting another in a war, effectively it's the outsides of those groups that are fighting, and the bigger the group the larger the peaceful interior of the group.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">So, relatively speaking, the levels of death ie violence, are lower when the groups are bigger, when those groups are fighting a war or having inter-group conflict. But the other reason is this strange statistical relationship that was discovered in the sixties, and that relationship is this: that groups tend to go to war with each other, human groups tend to go to war with each other at the same rate, no matter what the size.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">And if groups are part of security structures, like NATO, that counts as a group, but it effectively means that conflict is minimized, 'cause if you have larger groups, you have less groups by definition. Now, these two trends, ever-decreasing violence and ever-increasing group size, correlate.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">If we want to rid the world of violence then we need to focus on building the biggest social groups possible. And of course that means a global polity.</p><p><em>Produced by <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/author/charlie-floyd">Charlie Floyd</a>.</em></p>

This is how humans could live in a world without war, according to a conflict expert who used to be in the British Army

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarcellusShaleBank1.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p></td></tr></table>A biennial survey of U.S. gas reserves has just printed its highest-ever estimate, reports the </span><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e91ca04e-a11c-11e2-bae1-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_oil-gas%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz2PzApfQqg">Financial Times</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p>The Potential Gas Committee <a href="http://potentialgas.org/press-release">says</a> there is now 2,384 trillion cubic feet of recoverable <keyword id="6354703" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Natural-gas">natural gas</keyword> in America, up 486 tcf from the previous all-time high in 2010.</p>
<p>Most of the new reserves came from recalculations in the Atlantic, Rocky Mountain and Gulf Coast areas.</p>
<p>Here's why it went up, according to PGC Director John Curtis, <a href="http://potentialgas.org/press-release">via PGC's release:</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Our knowledge of the geological endowment of technically recoverable gas continues to improve with each assessment," PGC director John Curtis said. "Furthermore, new and advanced exploration, well drilling, completion and stimulation technologies are allowing us increasingly better delineation of and access to domestic gas resources—especially ‘unconventional’ gas—which, not all that long ago, were considered impractical or uneconomical to pursue.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Consequently, our present assessment, strengthened by robust domestic production levels, demonstrates an exceptionally strong and optimistic gas supply picture for the nation.”</p>
<p>Thanks to revisions for the Marcellus Shale, PGC now ranks the Atlantic area as the country’s richest resource area, with 33 percent of total gas resources. The Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain areas combine for much of the rest.</p>

A New Estimate Of US Natural Gas Reserves Is The Highest In History

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eatmo/2663768256/sizes/o/in/photostream/">flickr/eatmo</a></p></td></tr></table>The US Supreme Court heard the most high-profile genetics case in history on Monday, as justices considered whether private firms should be allowed to patent human genes linked to breast cancer.</span></p>
<p>The court's decision could have broad implications for research, patient health and the pharmaceutical industry, with nearly 20 percent of the approximately 24,000 human genes currently under patent, some linked to cancer and Alzheimer's disease.</p>
<p>At issue are the actions of Myriad Genetics, a Utah-based company which holds patents on genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, both associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.</p>
<p>The firm says patents for the two genes, awarded in 1998, have helped it raise the money "necessary to decode the genes, design and deliver the tests, interpret the results, and help patients," to the benefit of a million people.</p>
<p>Critics accuse Myriad of barring research by other institutions on the BRCA genes and making the test too expensive for many patients, with a cost of $3,000 to $4,000.</p>
<p>"Competition is what leads to innovation and improvement," said Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and a plaintiff in the case.</p>
<p>"We don't want to tie up the uses of our genes," he told reporters, adding that if Myriad did not own the patents, "I would start offering testing to my poor patients in the Bronx."</p>
<p>Dozens of breast cancer survivors and women's health advocates assembled on the Supreme Court steps as the arguments were heard inside. Some hoisted signs, including one that read: "Corporate Greed is Killing My Friends."</p>
<p>Another plaintiff, Lisbeth Ceriani, said her doctors recommended the test after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she was initially unable to get it because Myriad did not contract with her health insurance to cover the cost.</p>
<p>She later found the means to pay for it with the help of a grant.</p>
<p>"It's important to me because there are so many other women who have not been able to access the test. I have a daughter who will one day need to be tested," she said outside the court.</p>
<p>Opponents of gene patenting in this case, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, include more than 150,000 geneticists, pathologists and laboratory professionals.</p>
<p>The ACLU argued that patents on human genes "violate the First Amendment and patent law because genes are 'products of nature' and therefore can't be patented."</p>
<p>Countering that point, Myriad attorney Gregory Castanias told the nine justices that "genes are themselves a human construction."</p>
<p>CEO Pete Meldrum has argued that Myriad's patents are on "synthetic molecules based on the genes that were created in the lab in order to deliver life-saving tests to patients."</p>
<p>"We think it is right for a company to be able to own its discoveries, earn back its investment, and make a reasonable profit," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>James Watson, Nobel laureate and co-discoverer, with the late Francis Crick, of DNA's double helix structure in 1953, filed an amicus brief that argued human genes are a product of nature and cannot be monopolized by any entity.</p>
<p>"Knowledge per se cannot be patented. Myriad should not own breast cancer genes," Watson said outside the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>When asked by a reporter if he ever thought to patent his discovery in 1953, he answered: "It never occurred to me."</p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p>Copyright (2013) AFP. All rights reserved.</p>
</div>
<p></p>

Biggest Genetics Case In History Hangs On Whether Genes Are 'Products Of Nature'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Almost a third of the presidents of the US have been Freemasons.</p><p>It's a statistic that sounds straight out of a conspiracy theorist's fever dream (or "National Treasure," at the very least).</p><p>Masonic lodges essentially function as combination social clubs, secret societies, and charitable organizations. The fraternal organization has been around since at least the 1700s, likely arising from early modern organizations of stonemasons. Masons themselves trace their roots back to the construction of King Solomon's temple.</p><p>Today, there are several offshoots of Freemasonry, but the branch that most folks would recognize requires that members be men and profess belief in the existence of a deity. Conversations about <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> and religion are banned, and a Bible must be displayed in each lodge.</p><p>Candidates must get through three degrees of the craft in order to become Freemasons. First, they are "initiated" as apprentices, then "passed" to the level of fellowcraft, and, finally, "raised" as full Masons (if the people in the lodge vote them in).</p><p>Since the society is ostensibly mysterious and said to partake in ancient rituals, public perceptions about Masons tend to range from fascination to fear. In fact, the first ever third party in US political history ran on the platform of taking down Freemasonry.</p><p>So, what drew a grand total of 14 chief executives (15 if you count LBJ, who was initiated but never raised) to become Masons?</p><p>Let's take a look at some of their Masonic experiences to find out:</p>

14 US presidents who were members of one of the most powerful secret societies in history

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 2015 New Year's resolution was to read an important book every two weeks and discuss it with the Facebook community.</p><p>Zuckerberg's book club, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ayearofbooks">A Year of Books</a>, has focused on big ideas that influence society and business. For his 12th pick, he's gone with "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062316095/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0062316095&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=SJMFNTVF6M35EW7J" target="_blank">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</a>" by Hebrew University of Jerusalem historian <a href="http://www.ynharari.com/">Yuval Harari</a>.</p><p>First published in 2014, "Sapiens" is a critically acclaimed international best-seller. Harari uses his book to track the evolution of Homo sapiens from hunter-gatherers into self-empowered "gods" of the future.</p><p>"We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers," <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/02/07/383276672/from-hunter-gatherers-to-space-explorers-a-70-000-year-story">Harari told NPR in February</a> to promote the book's US publication.</p><p>"And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights," he said. "These are all things that do not exist objectively, but they exist only in the stories that we tell and that we spread around. This is something very unique to us, perhaps the most unique feature of our species."</p><p>Zuckerberg explains his latest book-club pick <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102182252999291?comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22O%22%7D&amp;pnref=story">on his personal Facebook page</a>:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">This book is a big history narrative of human civilization - from how we developed from hunter-gatherers early on to how we organize our society and economy today.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Following the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691166285/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0691166285&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=EAYIRHQ6QCDU2CPR" target="_blank">Muqaddimah</a>, which was a history from the perspective of an intellectual in the 1300s, Sapiens is a contemporary exploration of many similar questions. I'm looking forward to reading these different perspectives.</p><p>Zuckerberg's book club is growing into an introduction to sociology, with an emphasis on the potential of technology to take humanity into the next stage of its evolution. </p><h3>A Year of Books so far:</h3><ul><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465065694/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0465065694&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=BAOAHH6QEIYELGIN" target="_blank">The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn'?t What It Used to Be</a>" by Moisés Naím</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143122010/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0143122010&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=ZAMR2VFXWUFQ67CH" target="_blank">The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined</a>" by Steven Pinker</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014311493X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=014311493X&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=YIPV4KKBS2IQYE72" target="_blank">Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets</a>" by Sudhir Venkatesh</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555976891/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1555976891&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=VV72DRLDFJDO4IZQ" target="_blank">On Immunity: An Inoculation</a>" by Eula Biss</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812993012/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0812993012&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=Y4R46PORYRQ6DB7N" target="_blank">Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration</a>" by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226458121/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0226458121&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=HMLGFTGHQS5ZPTBM" target="_blank">The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</a>" by Thomas S. Kuhn</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691114714/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0691114714&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=LMQOL65O5PDKN2JN" target="_blank">Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge</a>" by Michael Chwe</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455504211/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1455504211&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=OBZRCXGYLZP5VWAM" target="_blank">Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower</a>" by Henry M. Paulson</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0029153352/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0029153352&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=SLYUNFKV7K2OCRCW" target="_blank">Orwell's Revenge: The 1984 Palimpsest</a>" by Peter Huber</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595586431/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1595586431&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=F53EKUXHPJ6WVFXM" target="_blank">The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness</a>" by Michelle Alexander</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691166285/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0691166285&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=EAYIRHQ6QCDU2CPR" target="_blank">The Muqaddimah</a>" by Ibn Khaldun</li><li>"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062316095/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0062316095&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=bizuckbooks-20&amp;linkId=SJMFNTVF6M35EW7J" target="_blank">Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind</a>" by Yuval Noah Harari</li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-snapchat-cyber-dust-privacy-2015-5">Mark Cuban explains why downloading Snapchat is a huge mistake</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="FuMzJkdTpvQYH_d3c-8LMnnwzGDr7n8x" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Why Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to read an Israeli historian's book about the human race

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Researchers found what appeared to be pendants made from the now-extinct giant sloth.</li><li>The artifacts are believed to date from around 25,000 to 27,000 years ago.</li></ul><p>Pendants made of bony material from giant sloths suggest humans lived in South America thousands of years earlier than previously thought, researchers say.</p><p>Scientists believe the artifacts date to around 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, according to a new <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.0316" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Royal Society's main biological research journal.</p><p>While it was long thought that humans migrated to the Americas by crossing a land bridge from Siberia into Alaska <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/#:~:text=For%20more%20than%20half%20a,corridor%20into%20the%20heart%20of" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around 13,000 years ago</a>, recent research has challenged that view.</p><p>"We now have good evidence — together with other sites from South and North America — that we have to rethink our ideas about the migration of humans to the Americas," Mirian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco, study co-author and archaeologist at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil, told <a href="https://apnews.com/article/giant-sloths-early-people-americas-4c28e6d96f8bd58ede8ac48e0c39b533" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press.</a></p><p>The remains of the now-extinct giant sloth were discovered at the Santa Elina rock shelter in Brazil, and they included thousands of osteoderms — hard bony deposits that form within the skin of certain animals. </p><div type="image" title="Other giant ground sloth skeletons have been found in places like Daytona Beach, Florida." height="1000" width="1333" msid="101785144" hostid="261" sizebytes="226050"></div><p>According to the study, three of the osteoderms appeared to have been polished and had holes drilled into them, suggesting humans had modified them into what was likely "personal ornaments," researchers said. They added that the holes were not caused by natural abrasion, The AP reported.</p><p>The scientists said that the pendants were made within days or a few years of the animal dying, the report adds.</p><p>Findings across such sites also challenge the idea that humans arrived in the Americas in one wave of migration over the Bering land bridge, according to Briana Pobiner, a co-author and paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington.</p><p>"It's very likely that multiple waves of people came to Americas," she said, according to The AP.</p><p>Giant ground sloths could reach 13 feet long, weighed more than a thousand pounds and were equivalent in size to an Indian elephant. It walked on all fours and was one of the largest creatures in South America, per the report.</p>

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