NATIONAL NEWS

It can be said with conviction, no netizen is yet to learn of Wikipedia. It will be wrong to state Wikipedia.org as a globally acclaimed site simply; apart from this, as per several studies, it is the also fifth-most-popular Web site in the world, with about 325 million monthly visitors.

However, even after all these, the website is coming across problems increasingly and the most potent of these happen to be the horrific reality that millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police it are relinquishing. Is Wikipedia losing its charm then? This happens to be one of the big questions in the worldwide tech industry.

Scientists on Monday hailed the restart of the Large Hadron Collider as an "enormous success" as two beams began circulating simultaneously in the world's biggest atom smasher.

"The first three days have been in my opinion an enormous success. We've shown that the LHC machine is in superb condition from the beam quality viewpoint," said Steve Myers, director of accelerators and technology at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The environment ministry has rejected a proposal by Indian scientists for an underground laboratory beneath the Nilgiri hills to study ghost-like subatomic particles called neutrinos, delaying the pursuit of a grand science project.

The proposed site for the Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Singara in the Nilgiris is ecologically very sensitive because of its proximity to tiger habitats and elephant corridors, the ministry said, suggesting an alternative site called Suruliyar.

How many persons are aware of Textminator arcade game? Perhaps it is only a handful of people. Truly speaking, Textminator happens to be the first and lone Coin Operated Texting Game in the market targeting a text savvy 13 - 35 year old demographic which texts "an average" of 600 times per month.

In simpler words, it can be said that Textminator is a coin operated arcade game that challenges players to race against the clock by means of texting in the words and phrases that are exhibited on the screen. All these indicate that ardent admirers of heavy texting have been given an opportunity to put their skills to the test with a new arcade game.

An Indian inventor has created a device to stop rampaging elephants in their tracks, amid concern about human injuries and deaths when they run amok, his company said Monday.

Zachariah Mathew's Violent Elephant Control Gear has been designed to provide a humane alternative to sedating the animals, which are often used in religious festivals and are revered in Hinduism.

A prototype of the machine, which was invented by Sandia researcher Rich Diver, was tested recently for the first time.

Called the Counter-Rotating-Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5), the cylindrical machine consists of two chambers on the sides and 14 rotating rings in the center.

The police can now read your e-mails without prior permission from the home department. The Parliament recently cleared an amendment to the Information Technology (IT) Act, allowing the police to intercept or decrypt online information without seeking the home department's nod.

Rising instances of cyber crime have prompted the move aimed at cutting red tape. The amendment empowers the inspector general of police to permit interception or decoding information in cyber space in an emergency. This will help speedy detection of cyber crimes like phishing or sending offensive messages and in tracking terrorists who operate using the Internet.