Washington, September 26 (ANI): NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed hundreds of small fractures exposed on the Martian surface that billions of years ago directed flows of water through underground Martian sandstone.

Researchers used images from the spacecraft's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera, to detect the fractures.

Images of layered rock deposits at equatorial Martian sites show the clusters of fractures to be a type called deformation bands, caused by stresses below the surface in granular or porous bedrock.

"Groundwater often flows along fractures such as these, and knowing that these are deformation bands helps us understand how the underground plumbing may have worked within these layered deposits," said Chris Okubo of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona, US.

Visible effects of water on the color and texture of rock along the fractures provide evidence that groundwater flowed extensively along the fractures.

"These structures are important sites for future exploration and investigations into the geological history of water and water-related processes on Mars," said Okubo.

Deformation bands and faults can strongly influence the movement of groundwater on Earth and appear to have been similarly important on Mars, according to this study.

"This study provides a picture of not just surface water erosion but true groundwater effects widely distributed over the planet," said Suzanne Smrekar, deputy project scientist for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Ground water movement has important implications for how the temperature and chemistry of the crust have changed over time, which in turn affects the potential for habitats for past life," she added.

The recent study focuses on layered deposits in Mars' Capen crater, approximately 43 miles in diameter and 7 degrees north of the equator.

This formerly unnamed crater became notable due to this discovery of deformation bands within it and was recently assigned a formal name. (ANI)

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Peshawar, Sept 26 (ANI): In an attempt to save innocent civilians from being killed in a military action on the Taliban hideouts, a tribal Lashkar comprising more than 3000 armed volunteers set all the three main Taliban hideouts afire and chased the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants out of their area in Jamrud Tehsil of the Khyber Agency.

"Yes, we successfully purged the area of the militants. Had we not evicted them from the area, the military would have launched an operation which would have taken the lives of hundreds of innocent people, as is the case in other areas," the paper quoted Haji Abdul Manan, the head of the Jirga, as saying.

The 'Mullagori' tribesmen claimed to have taken control of the Taliban hideouts after an exchange of fire, in which they arrested five Taliban, three of them who were wounded.

Besides, they captured three vehicles of the militants, torching one of them and handing over the other two vehicles to the political administration, reported The News.

According to the paper, the decision to burn down militant positions was taken in the second round of Jirga headed by Haji Abdul Manan at Marble Chowk where armed tribesmen from all the sub-tribes of the Mullagori were present. The elders leading their sub-tribes were Malak Imdad, Malak Fazle Mullah, Haji Bacha Gul, Rozi Gul and Haji Aziz.

He said they had torched all the three hideouts in Murad Danda, Zaga mountain and Tora Topai, after a gun-battle for almost one-and-a-half hour. "There were some 80 armed militants who could not face our 3,000 armed volunteers," he said and vowed that in future such elements would not be allowed to carry out activities in Mullagori area.

He added that the Jirga had warned the local tribesmen against sheltering Taliban, and that those violating the Jirga decision would be expelled from the agency and their homes would be demolished. Further, he said the Jirga had also decided to impose Rs one million fine on those found violating the verdict.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the Mullagori tribe gave an ultimatum to the militants to vacate the area in order to avoid military operation and shedding blood of innocent people, but that could not bore positive results. (ANI)

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Washington, Sept 26 (ANI): It's not the size of the letters, but spacing between them, which makes it hard for us to read a book from a distance, according to New York University neuroscientists.

The same applies to objects, including letters, animals, and furniture, which can only be recognized only if they are separated by enough space, the "critical spacing." Objects closer than that spacing are "crowded" and cannot be identified. The critical spacing is a key parameter in the brain's cortical architecture underlying object recognition, said authors, NYU Professor of Psychology and Neural Science Denis Pelli and Katharine Tillman, an undergraduate researcher in NYU's College of Arts and Science.

"The idea that spacing limits object recognition could not be simpler, but it has been very hard to accept because it displaces a firmly held belief that visibility is limited by size, not spacing," wrote Pelli and Tillman.

The human visual system recognizes a simple object by detecting and then combining its features (lines or edges). But this process is hampered when, in seeking to identify an object in clutter, your brain combines features over too large an area surrounding the object, failing to isolate the object's features from those of the clutter. This usually happens when the cluttered object is in peripheral vision (the corner of your eye).

"We can easily see a single bird flying in the sky because there is no crowding, but most of our visual world is cluttered, and each object that we identify must be isolated from the clutter. When an object is not isolated, and therefore crowded, we cannot recognize it," the researchers added.

The critical spacing is greater for objects that are more peripheral (farther from fixation). Objects are crowded when their spacing is less than critical and uncrowded when their spacing is more than critical.

Such dichotomy defines an "uncrowded window" through which we are able to read and search. The size of the uncrowded window increases through childhood and accounts for the increase in reading speed.

The study is appearing in the latest issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience. (ANI)

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Mumbai, Sept 26 (ANI/Business Wire India): Food Ingredient India 2008 Exhibition and Conference (Fi India 2008) is set to be 60 per cent larger than the 2007 edition when it takes place on October 3-4 in Mumbai.

Produced by CMP, UBM India Pvt. Ltd. and in co-operation with PFNDAI (Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India), Fi India 2008 is on track to be the largest show of it's kind on the Indian subcontinent ever.

Fi India 2008 exhibition will bring together thousands of buyers and sellers from food manufacturers, processing specialists, service providers and food industry consultants.

It features a complete cross sector representation with companies showcasing ingredients for food and beverages, food and dietary supplements, functional foods, health foods, medical remedies, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, natural foods and organic foods.

The Food ingredients Processing, Safety and Services (FiPSS) and Natural ingredient (Ni) pavilions are two new areas of information and solutions for food industry players.

The FiPSS pavilion will highlight the latest developments, innovations and trends relating to food processing, safety, compliance and quality assurance. With the rising demand for natural ingredients, Ni would showcase latest innovations across food, cosmetics and medical remedies.

The exhibition also features a two-day conference that brings together Indian and international thought-leaders discussing the pressing industry trends. The 2008 theme, "Novel Foods for Modern Consumers," will provide insight on topics such as: healthier options within the beverages, bakery and snack food industries; the rise in herbal and nutritional products; and other processing issues such as increasing industry regulations, traceability and supply chain problem.

The conference will include highly respected Indian and International speakers like Dr. Huaying Zhang, Director, Heath and Wellness For Asia, Beverages Institute of Health and Wellness, Coca Cola, Beijing; Dr. Saniez-Degrave, Director, Nutrition, Roquette, France; Dr. T.S. Murali, VP-Technical, Frito Lays; Mr. D.S.Mathur, President, Supply Chain, Reliance Retail; and Dr. S.K. Samant, VP-Technical, Cadbury India Ltd. (ANI)

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