TopNews

London: Mysterious cloud-like plumes seen reaching high above the surface of Mars have puzzled scientists studying the atmosphere of the Red Planet.

On two separate occasions in March and April 2012, amateur astronomers reported definite plume-like features developing on the planet.

The plumes were seen rising to altitudes of over 250 km above the same region of Mars on both occasions. By comparison, similar features seen in the past have not exceeded 100 km.

"At about 250 km, the division between the atmosphere and outer space is very thin, so the reported plumes are extremely unexpected," said Agustin Sanchez-Lavega of the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Spain, lead author of the paper published in the journal Nature.

Washington, Feb 17 : Emma Stone has confessed that she has a fascination with death, afterlife , ghosts and cemeteries.

New Delhi: Betting big on new technologies to boost growth, country's second-largest software services firm Infosys will acquire US-based automation technology company Panaya for USD 200 million (over Rs 1,200 crore).

The all-cash deal is the second-largest acquisition for the Bangalore-based firm, after Swiss consulting company Lodestone, which it bought for about USD 350 million (Rs 1,932 crore) in 2012.

The move comes as part of Infosys' 'Renew and New' strategy to enhance competitiveness and productivity of current service lines by leveraging automation, innovation and artificial intelligence, Infosys said in a statement.

Washington, Feb 17 : A new study has revealed that penguins have no sense of taste as they have lost three of the five basic tastes over evolutionary time.

Penguins apparently can't enjoy or even detect the savory taste of the fish they eat or the sweet taste of fruit. For them, it appears, food comes in only two flavors: salty and sour.

Jianzhi "George" Zhang of the University of Michigan said that even though penguins eat fish, they don't have umami receptor genes.

The researchers suggest that genes encoding those taste receptors may have been lost in penguins not because they weren't useful, but rather because of the extremely cold environments in which penguins live. (While some penguins have since moved to warmer climes, all penguins trace their roots to Antarctica.)

Singapore: Singapore's economy grew more strongly than initially estimated in the final quarter of last year as manufacturing improved, but the country's outlook for this year remained modest at 2.0 to 4.0 per cent in the face of an uneven global recovery.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said the country's economy grew by 2.9 per cent in 2014. The growth forecast for 2015 has been maintained at 2.0 to 4.0 per cent.

Annualised growth came in at 4.9 per cent in the September-October quarter from the previous three months when the economy expanded 2.6 per cent, it said. That was three times the government's initial estimate of 1.6 per cent growth.

This year's growth in the manufacturing sector improved to 2.6 per cent from 1.7 per cent in 2013.

New Delhi: Faced with liquidity crunch, fertiliser industry body FAI has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking arrangement of funds to clear outstanding subsidy arrears, which are likely to cross Rs 40,000 crore by March- end.

In a letter to the Finance Minister, Fertilizer Association of India Director General Satish Chander has said that domestic urea manufacturers have not been paid since August, 2014. Therefore, a number of plants have resorted to shut down.

Chander also pointed that while domestic fertiliser manufacturers suffer "due to non-payment of dues for months together, upfront payments are made to foreign suppliers".