Disabling Error Reporting

Sorry for infrequent posts, but my exams are nearing and I can't help it.

Nevertheless, here is a simple trick which my friend told me about:

The error report sending message is quite annoying as it continuously pops up.

Here is a simple way to get it out of way:

1. Go to Start -> Control panel.

2. Go to system.

3. Go to the Advanced tab.

4. Under the Advanced tab, at the bottom click on ‘Error reporting’.

Now click on ‘Disable error reporting’.

Thats all for today.

India's manned space probe

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a unit of the country's premier Indian space research programme, plans to send two humans into space by 2015.

The project is awaiting a final clearance from the central government. "The pre-project approval of Rs.95 crore ($19 million) has already come and the approval of the main project is being awaited. The human spaceflight program is to develop and launch an orbital vehicle to carry a two-member crew to the earth's lower orbit. The estimate is that it should happen by 2015. The director also confirmed reports that space suits for the project will be manufactured at organisation's unit here. This is just one of the many things which the organisation would be doing here as part of the major programme.

Mars' interaction with water

The edge of a solar panel on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, in a trench on the Martian surface, where a sample of soil was taken, is seen. This event again raised the old topic of presence of water on Mars.


The spacecraft discovered two minerals that suggest past interaction with water. Still some clarifications has to be made. Scientists are excited with this latest achievement and now they are focusing on their future projects related to Mars.

Quantum Computers, an another step.

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have overcome a hurdle in quantum computer development, having devised a viable way to manipulate a single “bit” in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbours. The approach, which makes novel use of polarized light to create “effective” magnetic fields, could bring the long-sought computers a step closer to reality.


A great challenge in creating a working quantum computer is maintaining control over the carriers of information, the “switches” in a quantum processor while isolating them from the environment. These quantum bits, or “qubits,” have the uncanny ability to exist in both “on” and “off” positions simultaneously, giving quantum computers the power to solve problems conventional computers find intractable — such as breaking complex cryptographic codes.
One approach to quantum computer development aims to use a single isolated rubidium atom as a qubit. Each such rubidium atom can take on any of eight different energy states, so the design goal is to choose two of these energy states to represent the on and off positions.
Ideally, these two states should be completely insensitive to stray magnetic fields that can destroy the qubit’s ability to be simultaneously on and off, ruining calculations. However, choosing such “field-insensitive” states also makes the qubits less sensitive to those magnetic fields used intentionally to select and manipulate them.


To solve this problem, the NIST team used two pairs of energy states within the same atom. Each pair is best suited to a different task: One pair is used as a ‘memory’ qubit for storing information, while the second ‘working’ pair comprises a qubit to be used for computation. While each pair of states is field-insensitive, transitions between the memory and working states are sensitive, and amenable to field control. When a memory qubit needs to perform a computation, a magnetic field can make it change hats. And it can do this without disturbing nearby memory qubits.


The NIST team demonstrated this approach in an array of atoms grouped into pairs, using the technique to address one member of each pair individually. Grouping the atoms into pairs, Lundblad says, allows the team to simplify the problem from selecting one qubit out of many to selecting one out of two — which can be done by creating an effective magnetic field with a beam of polarized light.


The polarized-light technique, which the NIST team developed, can be extended to select specific qubits out of a large groupwithout affecting those nearby. Their work was published in Nature Physics and appreciated by the readers. It is considered as a big step in this new generation of computers.

Lightning on MARS

For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet.




What was saw on Mars was a series of huge and sudden electrical discharges caused by a large dust storm. Clearly, there was no rain associated with the electrical discharges on Mars. However, the implied possibilities are exciting. According to the researchers, electric activity in Martian dust storms has important implications for Mars science.




It affects atmospheric chemistry, habitability and preparations for human exploration. It might even have implications for the origin of life, as suggested by experiments in the 1950s.
The findings are based on observations made using an innovative microwave detector developed at the U-M Space Physics Research Laboratory. The kurtosis detector, which is capable of differentiating between thermal and non-thermal radiation, took measurements of microwave emissions from Mars for approximately five hours a day for 12 days between May 22 and June 16, 2006.




On June 8, 2006 both an unusual pattern of non-thermal radiation and an intense Martian dust storm occurred, the only time that non-thermal radiation was detected. Non-thermal radiation would suggest the presence of lightning.




The researchers reviewed the data to determine the strength, duration and frequency of the non-thermal activity, as well as the possibility of other sources. But each test led to the conclusion that the dust storm likely caused dry lightning.




This work confirms soil measurements from the Viking landers 30 years ago, and it challenges 2006 experiments that suggested otherwise.




Data from the Viking landers raised the possibility that Martian dust storms might be electrically active like Earth's thunderstorms and thus, might be a source of reactive chemistry. But the hypothesis was untestable. In 2006, using theoretical modeling, laboratory experiments and field studies on Earth, a group of planetary scientists suggested that there was no direct evidence that lightning occurred on Mars. This new research refutes those findings.



Mars continues to amaze us. Every new look at the planet gives us new insights.