nIndian researchers have found a novel use for waste tea leaves from plantations. Coarse tea leaves, which are not plucked but are pruned every two to three years, could serve as feedstock for extracting polyphenols such as catechins that are known for their antioxidant, anticancer and antimutagenic properties. The extract thus prepared using suitable but edible solvents could be used as a nutrient additive in food and confectioneries, says a report from the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore. Significantly, this would help utilise the waste material from tea plantations. Considering that India accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the total tea production of the world, the process — for which CFTRI has filed a patent — could also generate employment for many, particularly in the northeastern states where there are a large number of tea gardens.

nAn Indo-German team of astronomers has discovered the longest known intergalactic particle beam ejected from a massive black hole. The beam, reported by scientists at the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune and the Max Plank Institute in Germany, stretches to more than a million light years, twice the length of the longest beam previously observed. According to their paper in the latest issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, the beam emerges from a large elliptical galaxy called CGCG 049-033, which is about 600 million light years away. A closer look at the emission from the galaxy was made possible by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope near Pune. Jets, such as the one discovered by Joydeep Bagchi of IUCAA, are formed when gas falling towards a giant black hole generates a mixture of heat, high-energy particles and magnetic fields. The work would help scientists ascertain how such jets of matter bind together as they shoot across galaxies.