Diseases, fights led to collapse of Indus civilization

Inter-personal violence and infectious diseases played a role around 4,000 years ago in the collapse of the Indus civilization that spanned over a million sq km of India and Pakistan, a new study suggests. While contemporaneous civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotomia are well-known their Indus trading partners have remained more of a mystery, researchers said. Archaeological research has demonstrated that Indus cities grew rapidly from 2200-1900 BC, when they were largely abandoned. "The collapse of the Indus civilization and the reorganization of its human population has been controversial for a long time," lead author of the study, Gwen Robbins Schug, from the Appalachian State University, US, said. Climate, economic, and social changes all played a role in the process of urbanization and collapse, but little was known about how these changes affected the human population. Robbins Schug and an international team of researchers examined evidence for trauma and infectious disease in the human skeletal remains from three burial areas at Harappa, one of the largest cities in the Indus civilization. The results of their analysis counter longstanding claims that the Indus civilization developed as a peaceful, cooperative, and egalitarian state-level society, without social differentiation, hierarchy, or differences in access to basic resources. The data suggest instead that some communities at Harappa faced more significant impacts than others from climate and socio-economic strains, particularly the socially disadvantaged or marginalised communities who are most vulnerable to violence and disease.

Decoded: Why birds form a V to fly

LONDON: Birds fly in a distinctive V formation to arrange themselves in "aerodynamically optimum positions" while precisely timing the flapping of their wings, scientists have found. Flying in a V formation helps each bird take advantage of "good air" (upwash) thrown up by the wings of the flyer in front while avoiding detrimental 'bad air' (downwash), according to researchers from the University of London's Royal Veterinary College . They found that birds also flap their wings at just the right time so as maximize an updraft and minimise a downdraft. These aerodynamic accomplishments were previously not thought possible for birds because of the complex flight dynamics and sensory feedback that would be required to perform such a feat, researchers said. "The distinctive V-formation of bird flocks has long intrigued researchers and continues to attract both scientific and popular attention, however adefinitive account of the aerodynamic implications of these formations has remained elusive until now," said Steven Portugal, lead researcher at the Royal Veterinary College. "The intricate mechanisms involved in V formation flight indicate remarkable awareness and ability of birds to respond to the wingpath of nearby flock-mates . "Birds in V formation seem to have developed complex phasing strategies to cope with the dynamic wakes produced by flapping wings," Portugal said. Researchers studied a free-flying flock of northern bald ibises as they flew alongside a microlight on their migration route from Austria to Italy

Now, send your name to asteroid on Nasa’s chip

WASHINGTON: So what if you can't go to space? You can send your name there! US space agency Nasa is inviting people around the world to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard a spacecraft headed to an asteroid in 2016. The microchip will travel to the asteroid, named Bennu, aboard the agency's Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx ) spacecraft. The robotic mission will spend more than two years at the 1,760-foot-wide asteroid. The spacecraft will collect a sample of Bennu's surface and return it to Earth in a sample return capsule. "We're thrilled to be able to share the OSIRISREx adventure with people across the Earth, to Bennu and back," said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission from the University of Arizona. "It's a great opportunity for people to get engaged with the mission and join us for launch," she said. Those wishing to participate in "Messages to Bennu !"should submit their name online by Sept 30

Answer Key of NTSE Stage I Rajasthan (Social Science) 2014

Answer Key of Social Science NTSE Stage I -2014 (Rajasthan)
56 - Jacobin Club
57 - Tipu Sultan & Raja Rammohan Roy
58 - in Sleepers
59 - gaddi
60 - Parsee
61 - National Assembly
62 - Huynh Pho So
63 - Bretton Woods
64 - Seven
65 - Gulamgiri
66 - Kodaikanal
67 - Nanded -River Godavari
68 - (4) iv, iii, i, ii
69 - BDCA
70 - Pre-monsoon rains in Kerala and Karnataka
71 - both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
72 - New Delhi
73 - 6
74 - All the three statements are true
75 - Bihar
76 - (2) iii, iv, i, ii
77 - Legislature
78 - Panchayati Raj Institution
79 - Right against Exploitation
80 - 84
81 - Goa
82 - Mahatma Gandhi
83 - France
84 - Uttarakhand
85 - (3) iv, i, iii, ii
86 - Service to a patient rendered by a nurse
87 - (1) A and B
88 - (3) A, B and D
89 - APL card
90 - (1) A and B

NTSE stage I Haryana

NTSE Stage I -2014 paper of Haryana

http://scertharyana.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/HSTSE-NOV-2013-MAT-1-and-SAT-Question-booklets.pdf

NTSE Stage I 2013 Official Revised Answer Key

official answer key of NTSE SAT, Rajasthan 2013 issued by SIERT, Rajasthan
http://www.scribd.com/doc/176201633/NTSE-2013-Official-Revised-Answer-Key

NTSE SAT Rajasthan 2013

Here is the Previous year paper of NTSE SAT Rajasthan, Stage I
Answer marked in the paper by pen, are marked by the student, can be wrong.
In Social Science syllabus (according to previous year paper) will be 
History - Complete (Class IX as well as X)
Civics - Class IX complete, Class X upto - Political Parties
Geography - Class IX complete, Class X upto - Mineral & Power Resources
Economics - Complete (Class IX as well as X)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/176183413/NTSE-SAT-Rajasthan-2013