El único animal conocido que sobrevive en el espacio.

Desde 2007, los científicos han estado exponiendo tardígrados, comúnmente llamados osos de agua, en el espacio exterior en la órbita baja de la Tierra.

Estas criaturas son capaces de soportar condiciones extremas como alta presión, frío extremo y pueden sobrevivir casi 10 años sin agua.

Si bien son criaturas que viven en el agua, estos pequeños animales son capaces de suspender el crecimiento y entrar en un estado de criptobiosis lo que significa que congelan el crecimiento y la reproducción durante un tiempo.

Estos animales son capaces de sobrevivir el viaje ida y vuelta al espacio y los científicos dicen que podrían haber llegado a la Tierra en algún objeto celeste.

La magia de los agujeros de gusano

Los agujeros de gusano o puentes de Einstein-Rosen son quizá el método espe­culativo más recurrente para referir una máquina del tiempo en términos de físi­ca.

Aunque el concepto ya era manejado por Einstein desde 1916, el término fue ideado y generalizado por el físico teórico Kip Thorne y un equipo de científi­cos del Instituto Tecnológico de California, Estados Unidos, en 1988.

Consiste básicamente en la conexión de dos agujeros negros para crear un tubo que se mantendrá abierto por acción de materia exótica estelar.

Así, las bocas de este túnel de espacio-tiempo podrían conectar dos distintas etapas en la historia.

En realidad esto no podría funcionar de manera correcta debido a que sería destruido por la energía generada en su interior; Stephen Hawking men­ciona que la radiación energética que penetre por un extremo sería reproducida en la otra época y al entrar en un ciclo continuo se duplicaría en cada intercam­bio y acumularía tanta energía que finalmente lo haría colapsar.

El físico Li-Xin Li, del Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología Avanzada de Beijing, China, propuso una solución a este dilema con la ayuda de un espejo gigante.

Basándose en la teoría gene­ral de la relatividad de Einstein, Li-Xin estima que una máquina del tiempo funcional podría construirse a partir de dos agujeros de gusano de diez kilómetros de ancho, cada uno con una esfera reflejante del mismo tamaño a una distancia mínima de su entrada.

De acuerdo con su teoría, publicada en la revista Physical Review, los centros de las esferas deberán estar alineados, de manera que cualquier tipo de radiación y ondas gravitacionales po­drán ser reflejados de inmediato hacia el espacio sin ocasionar daños.

La limitante en todo caso sigue siendo la misma: no sólo habrá que crear un agujero de gusano, tarea por lo demás complicada, también hacer una esfera de tales proporciones y de un material muy resistente.

La resurrección en el cine de ciencia ficción

La resurrección es patrimonio de las religiones y hasta la fecha, elude los esfuerzos científicos.

No obstante, la ficción científica o ciencia- ficción ha retomado la idea en relatos o películas de corte fantástico que deleitan y seducen a grandes audiencias.




Frankenstein (1815). La novela de Mary Shelley que se considera la pieza que inaugura la historia de la Ciencia- Ficción, es un relato de resurrección. Víctor Frankenstein, prototipo del “científico loco", recupera los miembros de distintos cadáveres y los une para conformar una nueva criatura. El resultado es un monstruo que termina por ma­tarlo y constituye todo un arquetipo del género.




Solaris (1962). La novela del polonés Stanislaw Lem fue adaptada en una gran cinta de Andrei Tarkovsky (1972). En ella conocemos los extraños acontecimientos que el psicó­logo Kris Kelvin vive en la estación espacial situada en el planeta Solaris, entre ellos el regreso de Hari, su esposa que se había suicidado años antes. Aterrado, Kelvin la expulsa en un cohete, pero ella regresa indemne, provista de una fuerza sobrenatural.




La noche de los muertos vivientes (1968) Aunque los zombis no son una invención de George A. Romero, es este director de cine quien ha explotado con mayor inteligencia e inventiva el tema. En ésta, la primera cinta de una serie irregular dirigida por él, los muertos regresan a la vida como agresivos autómatas que se alimentan de la carne de los humanos normales.




Alíen: la Resurrección (1997). Alíen, la serie cinemato­gráfica de culto iniciada por el director Ridley Scott en los años setenta, también aborda la posibilidad de la resurrec­ción. En esta entrega, situada doscientos años después de los episodios iniciales, la agente Ellen Ripley (interpretada por Sigourney Weaver) resucita mediante un proceso de clonación para atestiguar horrorizada el poder en aumento de los extraterrestres.





Resurrection Planet (2009). Este peculiar libro de Lucas Colé se inscribe en el no menos curioso género de la "ciencia-ficción cristiana”. Su trama se sitúa en el futuro remoto, después del segundo advenimiento de Jesús a la Tierra y relata un conflicto interplanetario entre un vestigio del anti­guo Imperio romano y Sibaris, el planeta de la resurrección habitado por zombis.

Nagzira : a sleeping gem

It was around 1030 one night when I had received an invite to visit Nagzira WLS. Nagzira? Where? While I continued to speak to Rajneesh Naidu of India Reconnoiterd, my mind was Googling to find this place on the map of India. Rajneesh was hosting an event named ‘Rendezvous at Nagzira’ where he had invited 20 guests from different spheres of life. I had a busy travel schedule for May, but the idea of meeting many photographer friends was enticing. Talking to some of them did not solve the mystery as all of them were clueless about the agenda of the event.  

Jai displaying Flehman's Response

11^th May, 2012. The Indigo flight from Delhi to Nagpurdeparted on time and arrived before time. I like travelling by Indigo for this reason. Udai, Shovna and Suez Akram (of Serai Tiger Resort, Tadoba) was in the same flight. We shared the vehicle provided by the organizers for the 120km road trip from thereon. It was peak of summer in May, and Nagpurhappens to be one of the hottest places of India. We had the AC on for 100km, but switched it off for the last 20km of the journey to acclimatize. In two hours we were expected to be out on a safari under a blazing sun. As we left the highway at Sakoli and started moving through a sparsely wooded area, the warm breeze wafted in made me feel that it would not be hot as was expected. Green cover always helps to keep temperature couple of degrees lower.

Some guests had already arrived at the camp. The campsite is just inside the first level entrance gate to the park. Visitors to the park have to obtain entry permits at this gate. We joined the lunch party which doubled up as a familiarization session. Motley of crowd from various walks of life – conservations, tour operators, media, photographers, tourists, resort owners, formed the group. I was happy with my tag of tourist. The campsite is a socio-economic development initiative of Forest Deptt and is run with the help of the Pitzeri Village Eco Development Committee, a body of local villagers.  Most of these villagers are rehabilitee from the core area of the park. As a conservation initiative, Rajneesh’s group has provided financial assistance to the project. The 5 acre campuses have about 10 basic tents of different capacities, each equipped with a cooler. The campus has a rustic feel about it. A few more trees will make it cooler. Tents layout also needs to be re-worked. There are a few small shops outside the entry gates which stayed open quite late for the remoteness of the place.

Veeru making a majestic entry to the scene

Post lunch we setout for first safari. The core area of park is about 5-6 km from the entrance gate. You have to cross a second gate, which was the earlier boundary of the park. I shared the gypsy with good friend Udai and Shovna. Local lad Bhavesh Nirwan was the 4^th companion in our gypsy. The park is like his backyard where he comes almost every weekend. Having him as our companion was an added bonus as he had excellent knowledge of the jungle. The park was in news those days for regular sighting of A-mark female tigress with her two sub-adult cubs Jai and Veeru. This peace of news has ensured a heavy stream of tiger tourists. 99% of the tourists are day visitors who have single point agenda – tiger sighting. Tiger was low on priority on the first trip. We wanted to have a feel of the forest. Roads are fairly well defined and were in good condition, though dusty. Terrain is mixed, but generally plain with occasional hillocks to climb. The forest has only one natural water source, a lake by which the forest rest house Neelay is located. Till the camps came up, this was the only option to stay. Due to scarcity of natural water sources, the Forest deptt has built many artificial waterholes across the parks which are the lifeline of the park. In summer time, waiting near these waterholes provides rich dividends as animals will invariably come to these to quench thirst. Safari generally moves checking one after another of these numbered waterholes. ‘Pehle 2 no check kar lete hein, then we will go to 7no’… this is how Bhavesh and the guides decided our course of safaris. During the four safaris, we had many sighting of A-mark and the two cubs. After having covered most corners of the jungle, we decided to wait for them at a waterhole on our third safari. After locating Jai and Veeru, we choose our spot carefully by the nearest waterhole anticipating tiger’s route to the waterhole. During the hour long wait, Jai and Veeru were resting inside bushes, around 100 mtr off the waterhole. The tiger tourists, many in private AC cars, were crowding around that place trying to get a peek of the sleeping tigers. To many of them we looked stupid to sit out in the sun, but we knew what we were expecting. Jai and Veeru did not disappoint us. They came out one by one, walking majestically to the waterhole, along our anticipated path and provided us with one of the best photographic sightings of my life. The light was great for photography. Eventually we left our spot after 10 min of relentless shooting to let others enjoy it. The other fantastic sighting was of a flock of about 20 wild dogs. We missed a leopard sighting by a whisker. Despite our effort, we missed Dendu, the dominant male which is known to be temperamental and charges at vehicles.

Nagzira is yet to be declared as a tiger reserved. It is a Wild Life Sanctuary (WLS), an IUCN Category IV habitat. It was declared a WLS in 1970 and has an area of 152sq km. Both the core and the buffer area are being extended to expand the habitat. All the villages have been rehabilitated out of the core area. It has about 15 tigers, besides leopard and bears. The prey base appears to be small which is a cause of concern. Lack of natural water bodies will continue to hound the park. The lone lake is big enough and was having enough water. Tankers use to pump water from this lake and ferry it to the artificial water holes.

Tourist facilities at the park as of now are limited. Because of lack of infrastructure tourism is at nascent stage. The gypsies are too few and most of them are rickety. These are apparently 3^rd /4^thhand brought from other parks. Rajneesh apprised us of an initiative to finance new gypsy which are likely to come by October 2012. Once new vehicles arrive, entry of private vehicles, at least the diesel ones, will be banned. Authorities are forced to allow private vehicles which were a nuisance. The moment the tigers appeared in the scene, it was a melee. The guards had hard time controlling vehicles. This has come to be a common issue almost all tiger reserves. Nagzira is no different.  Accommodation as now is also limited. Besides the tents, there is a forest rest house. A luxury resort was seen coming up in the periphery of the park. Make sure to book your accommodation and safari before you reach. In my opinion, one should combine this visit with Tadoba.

On the final evening the group sat down to share their experiences and suggestions. The agenda of this event war to expose this motley crowd to this place called Nagzira and discuss on the dos and don’ts to make it a quality destination in future. Sustainable development with concern for conservation was the focus of discussion. Need of the hour is to find a sustainable alternative livelihood for the locals to keep them falling prey to lucrative poaching. Development is a two edged sword. Developing tourist infrastructure will bring in more tourists and hence more means of livelihood for locals. More tourists also mean more funds for forest to spend on conservation. On the other hand, development will destroy some its wilderness and pristine charm. Nobody wants Nagzira to be a la Tadoba or Ranthambhore. It will attract quality tourist only if it can stay untouched of mass commercialization like many other tiger reserves. The big positive for the park is that it has Tigers and they are regularly seen.

Veeru in a royal stance

A lively deliberation that evening enlightened us about initiatives being taken at different corners of India. It was heartening to know that trusts are being set up for each park where all gate fees collected will get parked and will be used only for conservation and socio-economic activities undertaken by the park management. Till now all gate fees collected used to go to the common state treasury, which is used by cash strapped state governments for all purposes – from paying salaries of government employees to btild roads elsewhere. We all believe that fund generated from tourism of a wildlife park should be used only for conservation and maintaining the park.

Rajneesh played a perfect host. From cabs to safaris to food to meeting with forest officials – they took care of everything during those two days. Their hospitality had blown us over. They took care of even small details like, ensuring bottle of mineral water in the cabs. I made several new friends during those two days, some of whom I may not meet again. But Rajneesh is the one whom I will certainly be meeting again and again in future. Looking forward to my first trip to Tadoba.

Last-minute travel has gone mobile

This summer we have seen a notable shift towards the use of mobile devices, when the Brits search for last-minute travel products. For certain types of products, up to 40% of all Google queries are made on either a tablet or other high-end mobile device. We encourage online marketers to align their activities accordingly to ensure full capture of traffic which comes through Search on all devices. Please find more details about our findings at this link.

Posted by Jonas Vang Gregersen, Sr. Industry Analyst

Curious how Google+ can work for Travel brands?

We're pleased to announce a new case study for how LateRooms.com has found success with Google+. A few of the top highlights from the study include: Approaching 600k followers Several posts have been re-shared over 2,500 times and have received 500 comments A 9% CTR uplift with social extensions on their Brand campaign. Take a look at the blogpost here and download the full case study to see more results and quotes from LateRooms.com! Posted by Erica Trittschuh, Industry Manager UK.

More travel research for you to explore

Want to understand how search drives travel purchases? To compare mobile and desktop use? To understand more about the ROPO effect: research online, purchase offline. Or perhaps you want to deep-dive into the travel market in a particular country? Think Insights is home to the latest insights from a wide range of industries including the travel sector. The site houses case studies and thoughts from leaders to help you develop your travel digital strategy. And now the site has expanded to cover 21 different countries, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. You can now search our expanded library by country and by sector, making the latest travel research even easier to find. Plus, there are new tools and videos for you to explore, including: two videos on the consumer journey looking at ROPO and attribution. Check out this video to see how the newly expanded Think Insights website can help you. And follow Think on Google+. Posted by Claire Martin, Product Marketing Manager, Google UK