has not only warmed by more than 3 degrees Celsius in recent years but also shrunk from 45 days to less than 10 days over last two decades,” said Ghulam Rasul, director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

“This is in no way a good omen for springtime vegetable and fruit farmers,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He said at least 34 meteorological stations broke temperature records for March this year in most parts of the country, with temperatures sometimes more than 10 degrees Celsius above the monthly long-term average between 1981 and 2010.

Nausherwan Nawab, a senior science officer at a vegetable research center of the state-run National Agricultural Research Council, said lower spring temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius a decade ago resulted in slow and steadyGoogle Taps the Crowd for Novel Browser Extensions

Published Jun-16-15

Breakthrough:
Internet behemoth Google dives into the knowledgeable crowd for creative and practical extensions to its Chrome browser.

Company:
Google, United States

The Story:

Time and again crowdsourcing has been used to solve problems, generate bold new thinking and deliver novel products. Part of its success comes from the diverse backgrounds of solvers, who are sometimes in competition with each to deliver superior solutions. For solution seekers the benefits are obvious, and can include uncovering an approach (including an existing one) that meets their needs and that they would otherwise not have thought of.

Solvers too, receive a host of benefits. They can include financial rewards, the intellectual rigor of coming up with something novel, exposure to a wider audience, a boost to the CV and