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Low oxygen levels affect reproductive function in female fish – across multiple generations

Low oxygen levels (‘hypoxia’) are a pressing concern for marine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide, and this may deteriorate as ocean temperatures rise. Hypoxia causes stress in organisms, which can cause reproductive impairments that persist across generations — even the offspring that have never been exposed to hypoxia. Previous studies discovered that hypoxia can disrupt sex hormones, resulting in birth defects and affecting reproduction of male fish over several generations. This study shows how hypoxia can also affect female marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) over multiple generations — and thus may pose a significant threat to the sustainability of natural fish populations worldwide.




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India witnesses 40% increase in peak Internet traffic: Report

There was significant spike in downloads and uploads per user, owing to the high volume of work and streaming content across India.




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Secure your money, cybercrime cases double during lockdown

The criminal minds too have evolved during this pandemic. While there has been a significant drop in number of heinous crimes in city, cybercrime cases have spiked since lockdown.




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'Significant' increase in cybercrime against women during lockdown: Experts

There has been a significant increase in cybercrime against women, especially sextortion, during the COVID-19-induced lockdown with "caged criminals" targeting them online, say experts.




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131 percent increase in viruses targeted towards remote workers: Fortinet

Cybercriminals are unleashing a surprisingly high volume of new threats in this short period of time to take advantage of inadvertent security gaps as organizations are in a rush to ensure business continuity.




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Chinese hacking group targeting governments across Asia: Report

The group has been very active during the last five years, especially in 2019-20.




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Microsoft joins tech race to clean up shipping with big data

Maritime ships, which transport around 90 percent of the world’s goods across the seas, generate about 3 percent of global carbon emissions.




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Data-crunching investments by insurers rise 20% in 2019

The driving force is the challenges that are emerging due to substandard and unstructured data




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Want to secure your critical business data? Join the automation forces

Machines can protect systems in a way humans just can’t and, for that reason, advanced automation is going to be the way forward as companies look to protect their estates in a battle-ridden landscape.




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IT companies want government to release past dues to tide over coronavirus crisis

A Nasscom study said the central government, as well as several state governments and public sector undertakings, owed close to Rs 5,000 crore for just technology projects to the IT industry.




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Virus takes a toll on blue collar staff; no pay for 12 crore

Jobs are also expected to nosedive in the remaining quarters of the year unless demand picks up by the festive season later this year, experts tracking the sector said. Travel, hospitality, tourism, aviation, retail, outdoor entertainment, food and beverages and real estate sectors have been hit the most, staffing agency TeamLease said.




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NABH to set Digital Health Standards, Telemedicine accreditation in focus too

The NABH Digital Health Standards aims to consider all relevant aspects of the application of patient interfacing technologies across the continuum of care applicable for outpatient, inpatient, and remote patient monitoring.




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India phone exports more than doubled on-year to 3.6 crore units in FY19-20

“We have attracted interest from companies such global giant Samsung and Chinese OEMs in the mobile phone segment coupled with the right set of incentives for them,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst, TechArc. “The mass domestic market, which was underpenetrated for long, has provided an opportunity to these players to address local demand as well as set-up base here,” he added.




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Zoom heads for end-to-end encryption launch with Keybase acquisition

The company is planning to develop tools that will give more controls to meeting hosts and allow users to securely join a meeting.




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Volty IoT plans Rs 50 crore GPS devices plant in Andhra Pradesh

The company said the proposed manufacturing facility will cater to the growing need for GPS trackers in sand and mineral mining. Its chief executive officer Konark Chukkapally said the Andhra government has made it mandatory for all the vehicles involved in the transportation of sand to have GPS trackers.




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How IoT helps Smartworks increase employee productivity

IoT is helping Smartworks create workplace of the future by increasing employee productivity and lowering down energy consumption by 15 percent.




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IoT tech firm Singularity Automation raises Rs 8.5 crore funding

The company said it will utilise the capital to work with manufacturers to build IoT products for the consumer segment that can be plugged into its platform.




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Microsoft Cloud services witness massive 775% jump

Microsoft has seen a huge 775 per cent increase in its Cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or 'shelter-in-place orders.




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Amazon, Microsoft offer little relief to small cloud clients

While Amazon Web Services, or AWS, and Microsoft are restructuring some large contracts on a case-by-case basis, according to people familiar with the decisions, smaller companies aren’t receiving the same flexibility.




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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Vista Equity Partners to invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms for 2.32% stake

With the latest deal, Jio Platforms is set to net a combined Rs 60,596 crore for the unit of Reliance Industries which comprises mainly its telecom business under Reliance Jio Infocomm




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Zoom heads for end-to-end encryption launch with Keybase acquisition

The company is planning to develop tools that will give more controls to meeting hosts and allow users to securely join a meeting.




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Chinese hacking group targeting governments across Asia: Report

The group has been very active during the last five years, especially in 2019-20.




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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India witnesses 40% increase in peak Internet traffic: Report

There was significant spike in downloads and uploads per user, owing to the high volume of work and streaming content across India.




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Amazon invests Rs 2,500 crore in marketplace and data centre units

The investment follows a Rs1,715 crore infusion into Amazon’s payments and wholesale arms last month.




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How RBL Bank is using tech to create new revenue streams

RBL Bank’s focus on machine learning is helping it create new revenue streams that has already led to the creation of its first tech-based product--API Banking.




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Coordinating cross-border ecological networks

Establishing ecological networks across national boundaries is recognised as essential to supporting biodiversity. New research in Germany has indicated that these networks could be improved through greater exchange of knowledge and better links with land planning.




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Humans are increasingly dependent on nature

Humans are more dependent upon ecosystem services and biodiversity than ever before, according to researchers. A new study has demonstrated that human well-being derived from three major ecosystem services has been increasing in 152 countries, particularly in countries considered to be biodiversity hotspots.




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Valuing biodiversity through multi-criteria analysis

Social and economic aspects should be considered alongside environmental issues when valuing benefits provided by ecosystems and biodiversity. A recently published study outlines the use of multi-criteria assessment methods for valuation that simultaneously take into account a wide variety of economic, social and environmental decision criteria.




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Biofuel crops compete with wildflowers for bees

Pollination of intensively farmed, flowering crops could affect the pollination of wild plants in neighbouring fields, according to a study by German researchers. In their one-year study, they found fewer bees visited wild plants that are close to oilseed rape fields, although the longer-term picture is less clear. The researchers warn that increasing cultivation of biofuel crops could possibly reduce wild flower populations.




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Increasing green infrastructure ecosystem services in urban areas

A new model has been developed that could help metropolitan areas adapt to climate change by increasing ecosystem services provided by green spaces and farmland through calculating the percentage of evapotranspiring surface for different types of land use and the degree of fragmentation between ecosystems. To demonstrate how it works, researchers have applied this 'land use suitability strategy' model to an Italian municipality.




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Animal-pollinated crops provide essential nutrients for humans

Crop pollination is a vital ecosystem service, yet the numbers of animal pollinator species, such as bees, are in decline. Now, a team of German and American researchers have demonstrated how crops that provide the highest levels of vitamins and minerals essential to our diet globally depend heavily on animals for pollination.




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Arctic microbes: Good or bad for mitigating climate change?

The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice affects not only animals that live on the ice but also microbial communities that live within the ice. A recent study discusses how microbes are affected by climate change, in some cases providing an early warning of major environmental shifts but in other cases amplifying them.




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Strategy for wetland restoration/creation in agricultural landscapes

New research has outlined a four-step approach to multipurpose wetland creation or restoration: clarifying the objectives, defining the scale and analysing possible conflicts, before finally defining a strategy.




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Insect diversity improves crop pollination

The decline in numbers of wild bees has caused concern regarding falling levels of pollination for important agricultural crops. Researchers have now demonstrated that the diversity of the pollinator community can significantly affect pollination.




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Choice of tree species and site can increase plant diversity in plantation forest

Careful choice of tree species and sites could transform plantations into refuges for woodland plant diversity, new research from Ireland suggests. Plantations of native species on or near historic woodland and those with adequate light levels below the tree canopy were found to support more plant species.




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Patches of flowers boost pollinator diversity and lead to higher crop yields

Falling levels of insect pollination are causing declining yields of important agricultural crops. However, new research from South Africa now indicates that planting small patches of native flowers in agricultural fields can be a profitable and sustainable method of increasing pollination and yield.




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Together, wild bees and honeybees improve crop pollination

The presence of wild bees alongside honeybees was found to increase almond orchard production in a recent study. The findings demonstrate how increased biodiversity enhances ecosystem services, such as pollination, and provide an opportunity to increase agricultural yields whilst also benefitting wildlife.




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Micro wind turbines and wildlife: integrating planning with ecology

The ecological impacts of micro wind turbines (up to 50 kW) are treated in a diverse way by different local authorities in the UK during the planning approval process, research suggests. The study calls for ecologists, policymakers, planners and industry representatives to improve the integration of ecological information within planning, and for greater guidance for local authorities on the ecological considerations of micro-turbines.




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Increased biodiversity decreases the spread

Decreasing biodiversity in an ecosystem can increase the spread of disease, research suggests. Researchers studying amphibian communities in natural wetland ecosystems as well as controlled experiments have shown that as diversity increased, infection rates dropped.




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New barrier to stop invasive crayfish

New barriers have been developed to prevent invasive American signal crayfish from moving upstream and colonising important European crayfish habitat. The barriers, designed to stop crayfish but allow fish to pass, have been found to be effective where water flow rates are sufficiently high.




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Drainage tunnels provide safe road crossings for wildlife

Drainage tunnels running under roads can provide small animals with safe road crossings, mitigating habitat fragmentation, a new study has confirmed. The researchers suggest that the tunnel design can be further improved to aid animal movements, for example, by providing dry ledges to ensure the routes are still available in times of high rainfall.




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Invasive hogweed plant???s impacts decrease over time

The damaging impacts of the invasive alien plant, the giant hogweed, decline over time, new research from the Czech Republic has concluded. Although this plant initially reduces the native species richness of the grasslands it colonises, the study found that numbers of native species increased again in sites that had been colonised by hogweed for 40 years or longer.




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Natura 2000 sites well connected across borders in Germany, Italy and Spain

Connectivity between protected areas is vital for safeguarding many animals and plants. New research has shown that Natura 2000 sites are well connected across provincial borders in Germany, Italy and Spain. This is the result of strong coordination from central governments combined with good regional cooperation, the study???s authors conclude.




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Increasing aridity will disrupt soil nutrient cycles in global drylands

The drying of soils under global warming could disrupt the balance of nutrients in large areas of the Earth's land surface, according to new research. The study focused on ‘drylands' – arid areas with low levels of rainfall – which support over 38%% of the world's population. Such nutrient imbalances could diminish the provision of ecosystem services, such as food production and carbon storage, the researchers say.




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The effects of nuclear power cooling systems on the critically endangered European eel

A case study in Sweden has shown that critically endangered European eels are being lost when they are sucked into the local nuclear power station???s cooling system. A process to pump the eels back into the sea could be beneficial to this species, the researchers conclude.




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Crayfish plague detection: new techniques tested

Crayfish plague, spread by invasive North American crayfish, is currently devastating native European populations. However, while the disease is commonly diagnosed on the basis of diseased animals, free-living infective spores can contaminate water bodies. In the first study to test detection techniques for this disease in natural waterways, researchers found that invasive signal crayfish release low levels of plague spores, allowing it to spread undetected.




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Lugworms harmed by marine microplastic pollution

Microplastic pollution impairs the heath of the marine worms that help maintain sediments for other creatures, new research suggests. This study shows that the energy reserves of lugworms living in sediment contaminated with microplastic particles were reduced by up to 50%.




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Early-flowering crops may increase bumblebee numbers for late-flowering crops

Planting early-flowering crops, such as oilseed rape, boosts the numbers of bumblebees available to pollinate late-flowering crops, such as sunflowers, according to recent research. Carefully managing the timing and coverage of flowering crops in the landscape could therefore ensure pollination services and increase yields, say the researchers.