Current Affairs: Other Issues: 01 - 15 April 2010

CAG Weekly
(Current Affairs & GK)
By Om Prakash (goldy sir)

Others (Science/Sports/Environment etc.)

Content:

  1. Arctic sea ice recovers slightly
  2. Electric car “filling station”
  3. Discovery lifts off successfully with three women crew members
  4. Emma Bonney downs Chitra for World title
  5. Minor tsunami

Brief Description:

Arctic sea ice recovers slightly

  • Scientists monitoring the Arctic ice cap report an increase in the amount of sea ice that is two years old or more in the region, but they are also warning that the spread of ice is still low compared with the amount seen in past decades.
  • Walt Meier, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), at the University of Colorado, said of the region's sea ice: “I think it's the sixth or seventh lowest maximum of the previous 32 years.”

Electric car “filling station”

  • The first public trial of a system that “refills” electric cars in minutes will be launched this month. The Californian company Better Place will test its automated battery-swap stations in Tokyo.
  • It is the latest element in the company's ambitious plans to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by the start of next year.
  • Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions. The figure is the same for the U.K. According to a study for the country's Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 48 km or more could halve road transport emissions.
  • One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.

Discovery lifts off successfully with three women crew members

  • The Discovery space shuttle blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in a spectacular pre-dawn launch.
  • Carrying a crew of seven astronauts as well as equipment and supplies, it took off on a 13-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
  • The shuttle, a multi-purpose logistics module, carries three women-mission specialists — Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki. NASA said, “With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and one already at the station, the STS-131 mission will mark the first time that four women have been in space at one time.” Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is already at the space station.

Emma Bonney downs Chitra for World title

  • Emma Bonney claimed her fifth World Ladies Billiards title, beating India's Chitra Magimairaj 269-220 in a 90-minute final at the Hall Green Stadium, Birmingha.

Minor tsunami

  • A magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook Indonesia's northwest island of Sumatra, triggering a small tsunami, snapping power lines and sending panicked residents rushing for higher ground.