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January 8, 2009 NEW SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS Fourth exploration planned to Arctic SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mumbai: A new exploration to the Arctic is being planned and the Government of India has invited scientific proposals on varied scientific topics like space weather and air quality research and aerosol studies to be conducted there. So far India has sent 28 research missions to Antarctica since 1981 – and as far as the research in Arctic is concerned this would be the fourth mission. The National Centre of Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), an autonomous R & D institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has invited proposals. "We are now planning the fourth exploration mission, and it is a continuation of the programme that commenced nearly two years ago," a researcher of Goa-based NCAOR told Sakaal Times on Thursday. The proposals have been invited from national scientific organisations/institutions, research laboratories and universities with a sustain

Save Sparrows: They Are The Future The number of sparrows is dwindling. And that too very fast. Though the issue may not strike us in one go, the decline in the number of sparrows is really a matter of concern. But one thing that is for sure is that as fellow citizens we can do out bit to save this bird. For Mumbai, our own city, the issue is more important. "House sparrows (Passer domesticus) are the indicator of the environment and they are facing a serious threat. We need to generate funds for extensive research," says Dilawar Mohammed, adding that he would be visiting several places across the country to generate more data on sparrows and their decline. Dilawar has been associated with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and have recently launched a website – www.natureforever.org – to save sparrows. He said that the situation is "serious" as house sparrows are indicators of the environment and the decline shows that. Many reasons have been attribut