According to a recent study conducted at University of Otago in New Zealand and Ruhr University in Germany pigeons could actually be smarter than perceived earlier as they possess the ability to 'read'.

The feathered creatures can learn to distinguish real words from non-words by looking at their letter combinations, reports Daily Mail.

The study, touted to be the first of its kind, proves that a non-primate species has 'orthographic abilities' that is the capability to recognize a three-dimensional object represented in two dimensions, such as a word.

In the experiment, researchers from, a group of 18 pigeons whittled down to four of the brainiest birds, which were trained over the course of eight months.

Washington D.C. [USA], Sept. 11 : A recent study has found out that giraffes actually are not one species, but four.

For comparison, the genetic differences among giraffe species are at least as great as those between polar and brown bears.

The unexpected findings highlight the urgent need for further study of the four genetically isolated species and for greater conservation efforts for the world's tallest mammal, the researchers said.

"We were extremely surprised, because the morphological and coat pattern differences between giraffe are limited," said researcher Axel Janke.

Giraffes are also assumed to have similar ecological requirements across their range, he added, "but no one really knows, because this megafauna has been largely overlooked by science."

Washington D. C. [USA], Sept. 3 : A recent study has revealed that warm springs in the Great Lakes and Northeast regions which create havoc for agriculture may start earlier by mid-century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.

Very warm springs have been anomalies, but this new analysis of climate model data shows an increased frequency to nearly one in every three years by the end of this century.

Assistant professor Toby Ault said, "The spring of 2012, with its summerlike warmth, brought plants out of dormancy and then had a lengthy freeze. This was a nightmare scenario for many growers, and it showed us a snapshot of what global warming might look like in this region."

Washington, D. C., June 7 : United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House on Tuesday.

"Deepening a multi-faceted partnership. US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter calls on PM @narendramodi," tweeted Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama met in the White House. Marking their third major bilateral summit, the leaders reviewed the deepening strategic partnership between the United States and India that is rooted in shared values of freedom, democracy, universal human rights, tolerance and pluralism, equal opportunities for all citizens, and rule of law.

Washington D. C., June 3 : Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here, the United States has expressed its desire to build stronger with its 'vital partner' India, based on security and economic stability.

"The breadth of the U. S.-Indian relationship is wide. As we mentioned earlier, it addresses security; it's got a strong economic component. We're looking to build closer relationships across the board with India, because we see it as a vital partner in the region," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said in a press briefing.

Talking about the Prime Minister's visit specifically, he added that US Secretary of State John Kerry will be involved with the visit and that there will be meetings at the State Department.

Washington: US Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's new top campaign aide Paul Manafort lobbied for a group charged for operating as a front for Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI and received USD 700,000 from it, a media report has said.

The company of Paul Manafort, who was recently hired by Trump campaign as its convention manager allegedly received USD 700,000 from the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) between 1990 and 1995, Yahoo News reported.

The money was received by Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, which was Manafort's lobbying firm.

Ghulam Nabi Fai, the head of Kashmiri American Council, was sentenced by a US court for two years of imprisonment on charges of receiving money from ISI and working on its behalf.

Washington: Thoughtful construction of messages on Twitter has helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi build a powerful online brand and emerge as a techno-savvy global leader, a US university study conducted by an Indian-origin professor has said.

In a latest study based on analysis of more than 6,000 tweets by Modi over a five-year period, Joyojeet Pal, an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, said his social media image has become all the more important because he has virtually shunned traditional media.

"Thoughtful construction of messages on Twitter has helped Modi build a powerful online brand, allowing him to overcome a problematic past and emerge as a techno-savvy global leader who speaks directly to his electorate," said Pal.

Washington D. C., Mar. 13 : A day after altercations and protests forced him to cancel a campaign rally in Chicago, US presidential candidate Donald Trump called for protesters who disrupt his rallies to be arrested.

According to CNN, Trump's call to arrest protesters came at a campaign in Kansas City in Missouri, where he was repeatedly interrupted at the beginning of his address.

"I'm going to ask that you arrest them. I'll file whatever charges you want. If they want to do this ... we're going to go strongly for your arrests." Trump said to the police

He asserted that arresting the protesters would "ruin the rest of their lives" by giving them a "big arrest mark."

"Once that's starts happening, we're not going to have any more protesters, folks," Trump said.

Hillary Clinton has won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, with polls projecting a large margin between her and rival Bernie Sanders.

Clinton offered a vision for America based on 'love and kindness' in stark contrast to the anger and division promoted by Donald Trump, reports the Guardian.

Clinton led 73.5% to 26% over Sanders. Her victory was widely expected as it gives her momentum ahead of the 'Super Tuesday' primaries in 11 states next week.

'Tomorrow this campaign goes national,' Hillary told her cheering supporters.

Even though Sanders graciously accepted the defeat, he said that the campaign was just a beginning.

This is Clinton's third victory in four contests, after wins in Iowa and Nevada. She lost to Sanders in New Hampshire.

Washington D. C, Jan 29 : Intact nature offers the best defense against the climate change, according to a recent study.

The study conducted by CSIRO, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland found that worldwide responses to climate change could leave people worse off in the future.

The paper discusses how certain adaptation strategies may have a negative impact on nature which in turn will impact people in the long-term.

In response to climate change, many local communities around the world are rapidly adjusting their livelihood practices to cope with climate change, sometimes with catastrophic implications for nature, according to principal researcher Dr. Tara Martin.

Washington D. C, Jan 29 : When a "planetary embryo" called Theia collided with the early Earth approximately 100 million years after the Earth was formed, the moon span off into the orbit around the nascent planet, according to a new study.

Scientists had already known about this high-speed crash, which occurred almost 4.5 billion years ago, but many thought the Earth collided with Theia (pronounced THAY-eh) at an angle of 45 degrees or more, a powerful side-swipe (simulated in this 2012 YouTube video).

The UCLA geochemists and colleagues analyzed seven rocks brought to the Earth from the moon by the Apollo 12, 15 and 17 missions, as well as six volcanic rocks from the Earth's mantle, five from Hawaii and one from Arizona.

Washington D. C., Jan. 20 : Long-term impacts of over-consumption of sugary foods during adolescence can be studied with the help of a recent study conducted on rats.

The study showed that the enjoyment of such foods later in adulthood is reduced in those who over-consumed early in life.

Investigators found that this decrease in reward relates to reduced activity in one of the key hubs of the brain's reward circuitry, called the nucleus accumbens. Such long-lasting alterations could have important implications for reward- related disorders such as substance abuse or eating disorders.

Washington, D.C., Jan. 10 - A research has been conducted recently to find answer for how to get to know a material that one cannot see.

Though recent discoveries, including a super-resolution microscopy which won the Nobel Prize in 2014, have greatly enhanced scientists' capacity to use light to learn about these small-scale objects, the wavelength of the inspecting radiation is always much larger than the scale of the nano-objects with features at the sub-micrometer scales such as quantum dots, nano-particles and nano-tubes, being studied.

A group of scientists, John A. Rogers, Eric Seabron, Scott MacLaren and Xu Xie, are reporting on the discovery of an important method for measuring the properties of nano-tube materials using a microwave probe.

Washington, D.C., Jan. 8 - A new research has found that dinosaurs also engaged in mating behavior similar to modern birds.

Professor Martin Lockley led an international research team that discovered large 'scrapes' in the prehistoric Dakota sandstone of western Colorado.

These ancient scrapes are similar to a behavior known as 'nest scrape display' or 'scrape ceremonies' among modern birds, where males show off their ability by excavating pseudo nests for potential mates.

Lockley, a world-renowned expert on dinosaur footprints, found evidence of more than 50 dinosaur scrapes, some as large as bathtubs, in an area where tracks of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs have also been confirmed.

Washington DC, Dec. 22 - The Human Rights Watch said that the United States Government's investigation into the October 3, 2015 airstrike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan should be treated as a criminal matter.

The attack, involving an AC-130 gunship firing for at least 29 minutes on a designated medical facility, killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens of others.