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Now you can enjoy a ride on new air-conditioned Tube trains in London

Millions of commuters experience hot and sweaty tube journey while ridding the London Underground- The-Tube. To provide succour, London Mayor Johnson unveiled the first air-conditioned London Underground trains thereby bringing an end to the commuters’ torrid journey woes.

“I can assure passengers who will use them that we hope, rather than arriving at their destinations drenched in perspiration, they will emerge cool as cucumbers and ready to enjoy all that the capital offers,” London Mayor Boris Johnson said. This will ensure that the hot and sweaty journey on the Tube will be relegated to history and be a memory of the past.

The air-conditioned trains will serve the 150 year old Underground’s Metropolitan line beginning in 2010 and additional lines later. By 2015, they are all expected to be up and running. Underground’s 40 % of net the network will be covered where the trains will operate.

The new trains that will be added to the oldest parts of the railway will have nearly 20% more space. They are part of a ₤3 billion ambitious upgrade project. In the meantime, London, Underground is scouting for finding untapped water sources to cool the hottest stations. Presently, water from the river Tyburn is used to drive cool air through Victoria station. Even a alternative solution is considered of putting of ice underneath train seats that will release chilled air into carriages. Forty industrial fans will be installed this summer. It’s a cool beginning for a cooler journey.

Play C-shock to acquaint with British way of life

To cope with their culture shock, international students arriving in Britain are playing an innovative new computer game developed at the University of Portsmouth. The online game C-Shock helps students from overseas adjust in the UK and prepare them for the culture changes they are likely to encounter like availability of alcohol and seeing people engaged in kissing in public.

Hundreds of students arrive in the UK to take up their university place in an unfamiliar surroundings and culture. Already 16, 000 hits are already recorded by the site proving its utility as a guide to overcome culture shock.

The computer game having separate sets of questions for men and women guides them in adapting to various options of how to behave in a particular situation. Maniar said: “When I arrived in Britain I found some aspects of British culture very different to what I was used to in India and it was hard to know how to react or behave appropriately. When I became a student ambassador I noticed overseas students struggling with the same concepts I had grappled with myself and as a member of staff I decided to use technology to help.”

Bleaching hair does wonders for blondes

A scientific study reveals that blondes don’t merely have more fun, but now they are thought to be more confident and amorous too. They feel more attractive, and are more likely to ask someone out on a date and become more adventurous in the bedroom. Contrary to blondes, brunettes are more likely to marry a millionaire and they are believed to have the best sex lives.

Lighter hair is said to boost confidence. This increased confidence apart from looks has a positive effect on a woman’s love life, too. Such women find it easier to summon the required courage to approach their boss and ask for a pay rise after colouring their hair blonde.

Yet according to other research, while blondes may have more fun, they are less successful than brunettes in work. Lighter haired actress Scarlet Johansson and Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding are sited as examples of boosted confidence

Big Bang machine shut down until April`09

According to the officials at the European Centre for Nuclear Research, the world’s largest and newest Hardon Collider, a particle accelerator, will not begin operations again until April. Only two weeks ago, the centre for nuclear research sent the first beams of protons around the machine’s 17 mile-long under ground race track. LHC is built to speed the subatomic particles called protons to nearly the speed of light and then smash them together in search of new forms of matter and energy. This state cannot be produced in smaller machines.

Last Friday, liquid helium, which is used to cool the magnets to superconducting temperatures of only about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit about absolute zero, leaked into the ‘collider tunnel’ due to a faulty electrical connection between two of the superconducting electromagnets.

For repairs, it will be necessary to warm the magnets up and then cool them back down again which will take at least two months. Scientists say this means scant time is available to run the Collider before it has to shut down for the winter in early December considering saving money on electricity.