Tuesday, March 18, 2014

SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2014

1 March 2014: India may soon join the worldwide effort to find space-time ripples. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that his nation intends to host a crucial part of the world's largest gravitational wave observatory. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by some of the most violent events in the universe, such as the merging of two black holes. The experiment that might get there first is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). It has two detectors in the US, one in Washington, the other in Louisiana. The international LIGO team is now trying for a third site, which would allow them to triangulate and locate the sources of gravitational waves.  India can be a candidate for this, offering the third LIGO site. As per the Prime Minister, the Indian government now just has to give its final approval. Link: http://www.ligo.caltech.edu   
 

2 March 2014: Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory observators have spotted a never-before-seen comet, its first such discovery since coming out of hibernation late last year. The comet was spotted when it was 230 million kilometers from Earth.The new comet, officially named "C/2014 C3 (NEOWISE)", has a tail about 40,000 kilometers long. According to Amy Mainzer, the mission's principal investigator from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the comet has a highly-eccentric 20-year orbit that takes it high above the plane of the solar system and out past the orbit of Jupiter. The discovery was made by Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer or NEOWISE. It was  originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It was shut down in 2011 after its primary mission was completed. In September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE. Link: http://theskylive.com
 

3 March 2014: World Wildlife Day will be celebrated today with several programmes about fauna and flora. The day reminds us of the urgent need to stop wildlife crime, which has serious economic, environmental and social impacts. On December 20, 2013, 68th session of the UN General Assembly had decided to proclaim March 3, the day of adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as World Wildlife Day, to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora.In its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the important role of CITES in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species' survival. CITES, with 179 member states, regulates international trade in over 35,000 species of plants and animals, which was signed on March 3, 1973, in Washigton. Link: http://www.un.org

4 March 2014: India and Japan today signed an agreement for setting up a laboratory to focus on research in health sciences, medicine and agriculture. While the two countries established a joint research laboratory--DBT-AIST International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB) in Japan in 2003, the new lab will come up in India to give a further boost to scientific collaboration. Accoring to Vijay Raghavan, secretary in the Department of Biotechnology, the engagement today reflects a very deep understanding and friendship in the scientific sphere between India and Japan. The lab to be set up would focus on bio-imaging research through advanced microscope, a key component in health science and biology research. The partners in the initiative include the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan and Regional Centre for Biotechnology under the Department of Biotechnology. Link: http://www.rcb.res.in

5 March 2014: A new dinosaur species has been discovered which is the largest land predator discovered in Europe. Scientists discovered bones belonging to this dinosaur to the north of Portugal's capital Lisbon. They were originally believed to be Torvosaurus tanneri, a dinosaur species from North America. Closer comparison of the shin bone, upper jaw bone, teeth and partial tail vertebrae suggested that it might warrant a new species name, Torvosaurus gurneyi.Torvosaurus gurneyi had blade-shaped teeth up to 10cm long which indicates it may have been at the top of the food chain in the Iberian Peninsula. Torvosaurus gurneyi was one of the largest terrestrial carnivores, and an active predator. The discovery was reported by Christophe Hendrickx from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon. The research findings appeared in the journal PLOS ONE. Link: http://www.plosone.org
 

6 March 2014: NASA would launch a water-related satellite in collaboration with India's ISRO. The Nasa-Indian Space Research Organisation Synthetic Aperture Radar mission is a part of its plan to launch in the next seven years a series of satellite related to water and drought. Among others include the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2); Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-on and Surface Water Ocean Topography mission. In addition to this, NASA is scheduled to launch three new Earth science missions this year. ISS-RapidScat, scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, will extend the data record of ocean winds around the globe. Nother one, the  Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), launching in November, will inform water resource management decisions on water availability. Link: http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov

7 March 2014: Although the world community has done a good job of restricting the use of ozone-depleting CFCs, a new study has identified four more gases that we are still emitting and which also take a toll on Earth’s ozone layer. Furthermore, at least two of the four are accumulating at rates that the researchers say merit concern. And these new gases are by no means the only offenders. The four are also potent greenhouse gases, according to Johannes Laube from East Anglia University. CF-113a is one of the four. Its source may be agricultural insecticides, but that is only a guess as its exact origins are unknown. The four chemicals appeared only in the recent samples, which showing that they are products of human activity. The new report is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Link: http://www.nature.com
 

8 March 2014: The National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) will be setting up two committees to deter fears among the public about GM crops: a committee on 'public understanding' of science of GM crops and another on 'political understanding' of GM crops. The environment minister M Veerappa Moily recently decided to give a go ahead to field trials of all those transgenic varieties of GM crops which had been cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in March, 2013. The scientists, incidentally, made public their resolution the day when activists from a number of anti-GM groups, including Greenpeace and Coalition for a GM Free India, unfurled a banner of protest: "Moily Selling the Nation". They highlighted that the governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Tamilnadu had earlier denied permissions for GM field trials in their respective states. Link:http://www.naasindia.org

9 March 2014: A postage stamp in honour of Yuri Gagarin’s 80th birth anniversary was presented at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) in Trivandrum today. It is adorned with a photo of the first cosmonaut and with flowers. Gagarin’s space flight was considered as a greatest milestone in the space science technology. The contribution of Gagarin was lauded by India’s scientific community, along with the whole world. In May 2013 Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) released a stamp which was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova’s flight into space.  The stamp was circulated when the whole world was celebrating the anniversary of the historic flight of the first female astronaut. India Post also released a commemorative envelope with an image of Tereshkova, with the inscription in both Hindi and English: 'The 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova's flight into space'. Link: http://yurigagarin50.org

10 March 2014: A recent study in India has found copious quantities of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. Some samples were found to have banned pesticides such as Chlordane, Carbofuron, Captafol and DDT. The minimum quantity of Captafol fungicide in a sample of bitter gourd was 10 ppb, while the maximum was 48 ppb in another sample, when the maximum residue limit is 20 ppb as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).In one sample of cucumber, the residue was 230 ppb, 192 ppb of Deltamethrin was found in another sample of cucumber along with 108 ppb of Ethofenprox. The maximum residue limit (MRL) of these pesticides in cucumber has not been determined. About 54 types of pesticides were detected from different samples. The study was done by Pesticide Residue Testing Laboratory, Pune.Link: http://www.fssai.gov.in


11 March 2014: With the third anniversary of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe today, the aftermaths of the disaster continues. The difference with Fukushima is the scale of disaster. With Fukushima were multiple meltdowns at the six-nuclear plant site. There’s been continuing pollution of a major part of Japan, with radioactivity going into the air, carried by the winds to fall out around the world, and gigantic amounts of radioactivity going into the Pacific Ocean moving with the currents and carried by marine life that ingests the nuclear toxins. Leading the Fukushima cover-up globally is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), formed by the United Nations in 1957 . Working with the IAEA is the World Health Organization. WHO was captured on issues of radioactivity and nuclear power early on by IAEA. Link: http://www.iaea.org

12 March 2014: Today is a most auspicious anniversary, the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, which has revolutionised our means of communication and sharing information. Or rather, it’s one of the 25th anniversaries of the World Wide Web. There is a touch of arbitrariness to the choice of today, it was in March 1989 when a British computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, wrote a proposal to develop an information management system at the famed Cern laboratory in Switzerland where he worked, using hypertext to create a network of interlinked documents. Berners-Lee didn’t post the first website until August 1991, and it didn’t go live for anyone to access until later that month. Cern is now best remembered more as the birthplace of the World Wide Web. The internet itself, has a diffuse genesis, and as a result, Robert Kahn and Leonard Kleinrock, are all plausibly described as the fathers of the internet. Link:http://www.livinginternet.com

13 March 2014: Legislation introduced to the Hawaii House of Representatives would officially celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. State Rep. Kaniela Ing (D) today introduced the bill, H.R. 145, to designate February 12 of every year as Charles Darwin Day in Hawaii. The resolution describes Darwin as “arguably the most influential person in science,” noting that his ideas on evolution have shaped modern biology. Darwin’s theories were the beginning of a momentous change in the understanding of evolution that have led to significant strides in the field of science all over the world as well as here in Hawaii, the bill states. The resolution also says that the theory of evolution has furthered the survival of the human race. The bill is similar to legislation that was introduced to the U.S. House by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) this year. Link: http://darwinday.org

14 March 2014: Today is commemorated as 'Save a Spider day' and it is for the conservation of spiders. The message is to encourage people not to kill a spider they find in their home but rather move it outside. One of the main reasons to observe such a day is the prevalence of "arachnophobia" among the general public throughout the world. In fact, arachnophobia, or fear of spiders, is believed to be the most common phobia among the people. Kerala has 600 species of spiders against the total 1550 species identified in the country. In the Western Ghats ranges, there are sky islands- huge hills which are islands by themselves. The spiders in that region are different. Contrary to the popular belief, there are very few spiders that pose any risk to humans. India do not have toxic species except Tarantula which can cause itching or a swelling on the body. Link:http://www.smithsonianmag.com

15 March 2014: The amended ecologically-sensitive areas (ESAs) in Kerala will be mapped using colour codes ranging from dark green to red, each colour representing green zones, water bodies, residential areas, plantations and farm lands. The blue colour will represent water bodies while red will represent built-up areas. Farmlands will be given yellow colour while green will denote rich bio-diverse areas and grey barren lands. The total area under ESAs is around 9993.7 sq kms, of which forest land is around 9,107 sq km and grasslands/barren land 856.7 sq km. The recent draft notification of MOEF had exempted 3,115 sq km of ESAs in the state.The maps are being prepared by the state biodiversity board with the technical assistance of the state remote sensing and environment centre. The maps was uploaded on the State Biodiversity Board website so that various stakeholders can post their suggestions within 60 days. Link: http://keralabiodiversity.org
 

16 March 2014: NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) searched through hundreds of millions of objects across our sky but was unable to find any evidence of the hypothesized celestial body in our solar system commonly dubbed 'Planet X'. Researchers previously had theorized about the existence of this large, but unseen celestial body, suspected to lie somewhere beyond the orbit of Pluto. In addition to 'Planet X', the body had garnered other nicknames, including 'Nemesis' and 'Tyche'. This recent study found no object the size of Saturn or larger exists out to a distance of 10,000 astronomical units (au), and no object larger than Jupiter exists out to 26,000 au. The second WISE study, on objects beyond solar system, found 3,525 stars and brown dwarfs within 500 light-years of our Sun. The study is published in the Astrophysical Journal. Link: http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu

17 March 2014: The observatory at St. Xavier's College in Kolkata, one among the largest astronomical observatories set up in any educational institution in India, has been revamped and restored.  St. Xavier's College observatory is one of the oldest observatories in Asia which is now being revamped with 'Advanced Technology Hemispherical Rotating Motorised Dome' for studying night-time celestial observations was recently inaugurated. Set up in 1865 by Father Eugene Lafont, the observatory has been inoperative for around 120 years. It was this very observatory that predicted the 1867 cyclone. The observatory has been renamed Fr. Lafont Observatory. The Astronomy Observatory Dome is the largest in the country with a diameter of 24 feet and height of 15 feet. The revamping was done by Banglore-based Astro Creations and Impex Pvt. Ltd. Link: http://www.sxccal.edu

18 March 2014: The latest International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) Red List of Birds (2013) shows that fifteen bird species in India continue to be critically endangered (CR). Moreover, three other bird species have been uplisted to Near Threatened (NT) and Vulnerable (VU) categories. The species falling under the Critically Endangered category in India include migratory wetland species: Baer's Pochard, Siberian Crane and Spoon-billed Sandpiper; non-migratory wetland species: White-bellied Heron; grassland species: Bengal Florican, Great Indian Bustard, Jerdon's Courser and Sociable Lapwing; forest species: Forest Owlet and scavengers: Indian Vulture, Red-headed Vulture, White-backed Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture. Himalayan Quail and Pink-headed Duck are now considered Extinct for all practical purposes. Link:http://www.iucn.org

19 March 2014: Ludhiana and Kanpur are among the 10 most polluted cities in the world, according to the World Health Organization. The pollution is measured as the microgramme (mcg) concentration per cubic metre of air of particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometres (PM10).The figures are the average for the year. Seasonal spikes can be many times higher. The list of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world is as follows: (1) Ahvaz, Iran 372 mcg/m3, (2) Ulan Bator, Mongolia 279 mcg/m3, (3) Sanandaj, Iran 254 mcg/m3, (4) Ludhiana, India and Quetta, Pakistan, 251 mcg/m3, (5) Kermanshah, Iran 229 mcg/m3, (6) Peshawar, Pakistan 219 mcg/m3,(7) Gaborone, Botswana 216 mcg/m3, (8) Yasuj, Iran 215 mcg/m3, (9) Kanpur, India 209 mcg/m3. The WHO's health guidelines are maximum exposure of 20 mcg/m3, measured as an annual average.
Link:http://www.who.int

20 March 2014: Wild life Conservation and Agro-Rural Development Foundation (WARD) has declared 2014 as the 'Year of the Sparrow'. Today, World Sparrow Day, WARD has pledged to take efforts to conserve and protect sparrows along with increasing awareness about it. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated last year (2013). Then it was called World House Sparrow Day, but now onwards it will be called World Sparrow Day. It is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organisations across the world. The theme for World Sparrow Day, this year is Chirp for the Sparrow, Tweet for the Sparrow aimed at building public opinion for conservation of small birds. Link: www.worldsparrowday.org

21 March 2014:A team of scientists may have identified a potential gas hydrate zone in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, known for having India's largest natural gas reserves. Gas Hydrates are ice-like structures, essentially comprising Methane gas trapped in water. Hydrates are found in high pressure, low-temperature areas under the ocean bed. The gas in hydrates can be isolated for energy purposes. Hydrates are formed in regions where natural gas reserves are known to exist. It is estimated that gas hydrate reserves of India are nearly 1,500 times natural gas reserves. The discovery was made by National Institute of Oceanography, National Centre for Antarctica. It also believed that exploiting 10 percent of the reserves can power the country for a century. The study is published in Journal of Earth Systems Science. Link: http://www.ias.ac.in

22 March 2014: Field trials for ten varieties of GM (genetically modified) food and other crops were revalidated by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the statutory appraisal arm of the Environment Ministry. These included field trials for rice, wheat, maize, cotton and sorghum, though the states which are the major producers of these crops remain opposed. However, two of the agricultural states, Maharashtra and Punjab have favoured field trials for GM crops. The Maharashtra government has issued no-objection certificates to 28 applications for GM crop trials to seven private companies and the Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research.In November 2013, the Maharashtra government became the first state to permit field trials of GM food crops.Link: http://www.moef.nic.in
 

23 March 2014: Today marks the 25th anniversary of the first public announcement of 'Cold Fusion'. On 23rd Marh, 1989, Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah hypothesized that electrolysis of heavy water using Palladium (Pd) electrodes produced excess heat, that can be explained only in terms of nuclear reaction. In July 1989 an group of Indian scientists at BARC led by P. K. Iyengar and M. Srinivasan and in October 1989 a team from USA reported 'Cold Fusion' from their labs. However, some researcherss who had initially reported that they had replicated the Fleischmann and Pons results, later retracted their claims. One of the points of criticism of 'Cold Fusion' is that, Fleischmann and Pons  oroginal demonstration lacked of 'control experiment'. Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com
 

24 March 2014: Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, when an Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska on March 24,1989, releasing 11 million gallons (40 million liters) of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, fouling about 1,300 miles of coastline.The disaster was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the 2011 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico surpassed it in terms of volume in 2011. An estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters and 300 harbor seals were killed in the immediate aftermath, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Sea otter populations have finally bounced back to pre-spill levels,but the herring population crashed and has never fully recovered. Largely in response to the Exxon Valdez spill, the Oil Pollution Act became law in 1990. Link: http://www.evostc.state.ak.us

25 March 2014:Today is the 100th anniversary of Norman Borlaug who has earned the nickname 'Father of the Green Revolution'. During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of high-yielding wheat varieties combined with modern agricultural techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in India, greatly improving the food security of the nation. The same happened to the world also leading to the 'Green Revolution' earning Borlaug the title "the man  who saved over a billion people from starvation". Borlaug died on September 12, 2009. Borlaug was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, for his contributions to the world food security. Link: http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org
 

26 March 2014: Astronomers have discovered a Dwarf Planet dubbed ‘Biden’, the orbit of which is stretched out of another Dwarf Planet called Sedna, discovered ten years ago. The newly discovered planet is with the official name 2012 VP113, but the discovery team has decided to call it ‘Biden’ after Joe Biden, the current Vice President of US. Biden is about 450 kilometers wide which orbits roughly 12.4 billion kilometers away from the sun, ie., some 83 Astronomical Units (one astronomical unit, or AU, is 93 million miles, the average distance from the Earth to the sun). The International Astronomical Union officially recognizes five dwarf planets. They are Ceres, the largest asteroid and Dwarf Planets: Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. The report is published in the journal Nature. Link: http://www.nature.com

27 March 2014: The National Research Centre on Mithun (NRCM) located in Porba village in Medziphema, Nagaland celebrated 25 years of its existence today. The centre is aimed at improving the characteristics of Mithun, the domesticated variety of Wild Gaur found in the North-Eastern hilly region of India. The centre was established by Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) which began functioning from Shillong, Meghalaya during the period of 1988. The Centre was shifted to Nagaland in 1994. Mithun is believed to be domesticated from Wild Gaur more than 8000 years ago, and so they taxonomically share the common scientific name: Bos frontalis. This animal forms an important livestock component of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur and it is the State Animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Link: http://www.nrcmithun.res.in

28 March 2014: The World Health Organisation declared India free of polio virus today, in a function held in New Delhi. India's last case of the wild polio virus was detected in January 2011 in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal. Three years without any new cases means a country can be certified as polio-free. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world left where the virus remains endemic, largely due to violent conflicts, weak health systems and poor sanitation. It was in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched to ensure nationwide vaccination in endemic nations. In Pakistan, the only country where polio cases are increasing, gunmen frequently attack polio workers, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to sterilize Muslims. Link: http://www.polioeradication.org

29 March 2014: A landmark effort by the Indian state of Karnataka to connect isolated protected forests could lead to the building of Asia's largest unbroken forest. Since 2012, the southern state of Karnataka has declared nearly 2,600 sq km (1,000 sq miles) of forests as protected areas, linking a series of national parks, tiger reserves and sanctuaries. In southern Karnataka, the missing links in the Bannerghatta-Nagarhole landscape have been bridged to achieve an unbroken stretch of 7,050 sq km that includes adjoining protected areas in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In central Karnataka, the Kudremukh-Aghanashini landscape across 1,716 sq km has been made contiguous. In the north, Anshi-Bhimghad landscape has linked a stretch of 2,242 sq km in Goa and Karnataka. Link: https://164.100.133.59/aranya

30 March 2014: The Assam Government’s move to dehorn its state animal, One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornisrhinos), to tackle the mounting poaching threat has drawn widespread condemnation from the international conservation community, including rhino-lovers. The conservationists have termed the move as both unethical and impractical besides contributing little to curb poaching. Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrik, a rhino-expert from Africa, has termed the move as ‘disastrous, as a rhino without a horn would make it susceptible to various disorders concerning its behaviour and activities, affecting its survival chances. Dehorning was a failed exercise in Zimbabwe, as poachers still targeted the rhinos to dig out even the stumps that have grown after dehorning. Link: http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com

31 March 2014: Global warming is driving humanity towards more risks as per the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Working Group II report, launched today by Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC. The first Working Group report was published on 27 September 2013 which dealt with the Physical Science Basis of Global Warming. What is published now is the second Working Group report dealing with the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of the world due to Global Warming. The third Working Group report, concerning the mitigation of climate change will be published on 11 April 2014. The IPCC has published four comprehensive assessment reports so far, the first in 1990, a supplementary report in 1992, a second assessment report in 1995, and a third report in 2001. A fourth report was released in 2007 and the fifth assessment will be issued on 31 October 2014. Link: http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov


MOVIE OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2014


Are you on a journey to the cloud? You might be like Cyrus Agarwal, the star of Oracle’s new science-fiction movie, 'Cloud Odyssey: A Hero’s Quest'. Cyrus has set his sights on the mysterious cloud planet Terranuvem. To get there, Cyrus and the crew of the Stratus will test the limits of technology, tenacity, and human ingenuity.

The time has come for humanity’s first interstellar trek. The destination? Terranuvem, the cloud planet. Chief Engineer Cyrus Agarwal has been chosen to ready a ship for the voyage. He must make the right architectural choices to transform the ship for the long journey and be prepared for the unknown.  He will be tested and will overcome challenges during the mission. 

A breakout session following the movie will provide strategic cloud insights for IT pros. That’s important, because as enterprise adoption of cloud computing accelerates, organizations must have a roadmap for moving to an enterprise cloud. Your first step is planning, then deploying and finally the ongoing process of supporting and delivering cloud services.

The session will explore different approaches for implementing a cloud, and will offer best-practices information on how organizations can successfully manage the process of cloud migration. After the movie, you’ll learn how to build, deploy and deliver private clouds that enable IT organizations to provide the business with greater agility, lower cost and lower risk.


Review Courtesy: http://www.forbes.com

BOOK OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2014


Title         : The Galapagos
Author     : Henry Nicholls
Pages       : 256
Price        : $ 19.56
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN        : 10: 1781250537
 

“The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention.” So wrote Charles Darwin of the Galapagos in the first edition of his Journal of Researches.Some of the earliest visitors to the Galapagos were horrified by what they found. For the Bishop of Panama, for instance, (who first discovered the islands in 1535), this rabble of raw, parched, Pacific volcanoes with their devil-like iguanas and gargantuan tortoises was like hell on earth.

But for Darwin (and all those who came in his intellectual wake) the Galapagos archipelago proved to be more like paradise. The lovely cover of The Galapagos shows three birds from Charles Darwin’s Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, as depicted by taxidermist and illustrator John Gould. The warbler finch (top and bottom) with its slender tweezer-like bill is the smallest of Darwin’s finches. The male vermilion flycatcher (centre) is one of the most colourful land birds in the islands.

In writing The Galapagos, one of my missions has been to mix up the natural and the human history of the archipelago. Most other books on the islands tend to dwell on either the rocks, plants and animals at the exclusion of the humans or vice versa. The author creates a single, accessible volume that does both, revealing much of the wonderful natural history but through the first-hand experiences of some of the islands’ most famous visitors (Charles Darwin, Moby-Dick author Herman Melville and naturalist William Beebe).

The book is a reflection of the work of dozens of scientists and conservationists who have dedicated their lives to the Galapagos over the past several decades. At the same time, it says, how the Galapagos matters to those who live there (through the plants, the animals, the humans whose lives depend on it), to Ecuador (whose tourism industry relies on it), to around 1.5 million people around the world (who have had the good fortune to visit) and to everyone else as a model system (for what it might yet teach us).

Review Courtesy: http://www.theguardian.com
                                                                             


EVENT OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2014

Nuclear Security Summit 2014

The Nuclear Security Summit is a world summit, aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism around the globe. The first summit was held in Washington, D.C. in 2010. The second summit was in Seoul in 2012. The third summit will be held in The Hague on March 24–25, 2014.

The first summit was concerned with making political agreements, while the follow-up in Seoul focused on the progress made on implementing those agreements. The third NSS, in The Hague in 2014, will centre on the results achieved and the future.

The 2014 summit will chart the accomplishments of the past two years, identifying which of the objectives set out in the Washington Work Plan and the Seoul Communiqué have not been met and proposing ways to achieve them.

Website: https://www.nss2014.com











SPECIES OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2014

                    Every Sparrow Has A Day!

House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) may be the environmental icon we usually associate with India. March 20 has been designated World Sparrow Day. What's most wonderful about the scheme is that it is predicated not on the sparrow's imminent extinction in the Indian subcontinent but on its superabundance.

Unlike in the UK, India's house sparrows are ubiquitous. House Sparrows wake us at dawn with their exuberant chatter. They nest in the roofs above our heads. They join us for crumbs once our daily bread is done. They're the bright subliminal extras in almost every human context.

House sparrows also highlight, by contrast, the problem with choosing the tiger as the key flagship species. All these wonderful creatures are in need of our love, but by selecting them as our best way to talk about nature we reinforce the idea that nature is remote and somehow inherently vulnerable.

Courtesy: http://www.theguardian.com
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Monday, March 10, 2014

SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: FEBRUARY 2014

Testing of the indigenously built cryogenic engine at the High Altitude Test Facility (HAT) of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Mahendragiri in early 2013.

1 February 2014: The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli will henceforth be called as the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Propulsion Complex. With this, the long-pending demand of the scientists and stakeholders of the LPSC in Mahendragiri, one of the three such centres in the country, has been met with. The move would now help the complex to get autonomous power and would function as a separate department of ISRO. The Mahendragiri centre, which was functioning under LPSC in Valiyamala in Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, would henceforth directly report to the Isro chairman.The Mahendragiri centre has assembled and tested as many as 125 engines made by Isro so far. ISRO is also considering to make Kulasekaranpattinam of Tuticorin district, its third rocket launching pad. Link: http://www.lpsc.gov.in

2 February 2014: Hit by five cyclones on its eastern coast last year, India plans to procure a a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft from NASA equipped with a lab to study wind patterns at high altitude for better prediction of such calamities. NASA uses the DC-8 aircraft as a flying science laboratory. The platform aircraft, based at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California, collects data for several experiments in support of scientific projects. India may get it by 2015-2016. The government has also tied up with University of Massachusetts, US, for research on weather patterns in the country especially in the Bay of Bengal. This assumes significance as several cyclones, including the powerful Phailin that had hit the country’s eastern coast last year. Study of the wind patterns in depth could help in the prediction of cyclones. Link: http://www.nasa.gov

3 February 2014: British scientists announced today that they are convinced "beyond reasonable doubt" that a skeleton found during an archaeological dig in Leicester, central England, in August 2012 is that of the former king, Richard III who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Now, the scientists are to sequence the entire genome of Richard III. Experts hope the project will reveal the color of Richard's hair and eyes, and uncover the genetic markers for any health conditions he suffered, or might have been at risk of, had he not been killed, aged just 32, at the Battle of Bosworth. Richard III is best known as the hunchbacked anti-hero of Shakespeare's play. He will be the first known historical figure to have his genes studied in this way; scientists have previously sequenced the genomes of Oetzi the Iceman and most recently a hunter-gatherer from Spain. Link:http://www2.le.ac.uk

4 February 2014: Facebook, the world's biggest social network, celebrated its 10th anniversary today. Launched on 4th February 2004, the Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. It had a predecessor called Facemash, opened on October 28, 2003. Zuckerberg wrote the software for the Facemash website when he was in his second year of college. It allowed visitors to compare two student pictures side-by-side and let them choose who was “hot” and who was “not”. Facebook has now established itself as a phenomenon, securing its place in the world of the technology giants. Facebook has now become a part of daily life with a global total of 1.23 billion monthly active users, including 945 million using it on mobile phones. Link:https://www.facebook.com

5 February 2014: The 70th anniversary of the pioneering Colossus computer is being celebrated at Bletchley Park. The machine was first used to crack messages sent by Hitler and his generals on 5 February 1944. The celebration will bring together some of the machine's creators and operators at The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC). The machine's code-cracking prowess will be demonstrated on the day using the museum's rebuilt Colossus. Now widely recognised as the first electronic computer, Colossus was kept a secret for 30 years because of the work it did during World War Two to crack German codes. Colossus was created by Post Office engineer Tommy Flowers, and his first prototype was built out of parts from telephone exchanges including 1,600 valves. Later versions used even more valves and about 10 of the machines were in use during war. Link:http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk

6 February 2014: A new earthworm species has been developed by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) that can get rid of the wild aquatic plant Jal Kumbhi growing on the banks of river Brahmaputra. The plant, whose scientific name is Pistia stratiotes, is a big menace in the region since it spreads its tentacles right upto the river bed and impairs the movement of fishermen besides causing widespread pollution. The earthworm is named 'Jai Gopal' with the scientific name Perionyx ceylanesis which has the ability to eat wild vegetation very fast and convert it into organic fertilizer that is suitable for use in farming. Jai Gopal can also withstand different temperature variations and survive temperatures ranging from 0 degrees celsius to 43 degrees unlike foreign species such as Icina Fetida and Udilus Ujini which are used by scientists across the globe. Link:http://ivri.nic.in

7 February 2014: Archaeologists have discovered a 4600-year-old mysterious step pyramid in Egypt, which was built at least a few decades before the Great Pyramid of Giza. Scientists are unsure as to why this pyramid was built and speculate it could have been a symbol of the king's power. Working near the ancient settlement of Edfu, in southern Egypt, archaeologists unearthed the step pyramid that predates the Great Pyramid of Giza by at least a few decades.  The pyramid, which was once 13 meters in height, is one of seven so-called "provincial" pyramids built by either the pharaoh Huni (2635-2610 BC) or Snefru (2610-2590 BC). The provincial pyramids are scattered throughout central and southern Egypt and are located near major settlements. The finding was made by a team led by Gregory Marouard at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. Link:http://chicago.academia.edu

8 February 2014: Jérôme Lejeune has become widely known as the scientist who discovered that Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. He received many awards, including one from former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. But in recent years, Marthe Gautier, a pediatric cardiologist and scientist living in Paris, has claimed that she did most of the experimental work for the discovery. In May 1958, Gautier she soon noticed an extra chromosome, but she was unable to take pictures. In June 1958, she invited by Jérôme Lejeune to get her slides photographed. Gautier claims that she was "shocked" when, after more than 6 months of silence, the discovery was about to be published in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences, with Lejeune as the first author and Turpin the last; Gautier was in the middle, her last name misspelled as Gauthier. Link:http://link.springer.com

9 February 2014: CERN scientists are planning a next-generation circular collider with a circumference of 80 to 100km which will be much more powerful than the Large Hadron Collider that discovered the 'God particle'. The Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said the time has come to look even further ahead. Cern is now initiating an exploratory study for a future longterm project centred on a circular collider with a much bigger circumference. A worthy successor to the LHC, such an accelerator would allow particle physicists to push back the boundaries of knowledge even further. The LHC, which identified the Higgs boson particle in 2012, is housed in a 27km tunnel beneath the Franco-Swiss border. The accelerator is currently undergoing an upgrade that will see its collision energies reaching up to 14 teraelectronvolts (TeV). Link: http://home.web.cern.ch

10 February 2014: The next-generation James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the 24-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, is on track for a planned launch in 2018 and all the pieces of the most powerful space telescope ever are ready for assembly at NASA. James Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful space telescope ever erected, capable of spotting the most distant objects in the universe, providing pictures of the first galaxies formed, and spotting unknown planets around distant stars. 18 mirror segments will be combined to form the 21-foot-wide main mirror of the huge space telescope.James Webb Space Telescope has a mirror six times larger in area than the Hubble’s and so the possibilities of the Webb telescope are dramatic. The James Webb Space Telescope is designed to see to the time when stars began to form in the universe. Link:http://www.jwst.nasa.gov

11 February 2014: ISRO's Mars Orbiter spacecraft Mangalyaan successfully completed 100 days in space today. This is the first Indian-made object sent into deep space from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on November 5 last year. Since then, the spacecraft is continuously monitored by the ground station of Isro's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), located at Byalalu, near Bangalore. Presently, the spacecraft is at a radio distance of 16 million kilometres causing a one-way communication delay of approximately 55 seconds. After travelling the remaining distance of about 490 million kilometres over the next 210 days, the spacecraft would be finally inserted into the Martian Orbit on September 24. To reach there, the spacecraft has to still travel 680 million km. Link: http://www.isro.org

12 February 2014: The glacier that may have produced the iceberg responsible for sinking the Titanic has been found to be moving at record speed, four times faster into the sea than it was in 1960s. Scientists fear that by the end of the century, global warming could lead to the Jakobshavn Glacier in the south west of Greenland moving at 10 times the present speed. Researchers now believe that Jakobshavn is in an unstable state. By the end of this century, its calving front could retreat as far back as the head of the fjord through which the glacier flows, about 50 km upstream from where it is today. Researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency measured the speed of the glacier in 2012 and 2013 and say it is moving into the ocean at the fastest speed ever recorded. The results ar published in the journal of the European Geosciences Union. Link:http://www.egu.eu

13 February 2014: China’s Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, lunar rover is functioning again today after shutting down for a 14-day lunar night, according to Chinese officials. The rover’s normal signal reception function was restored and scientists were working to identify the cause of a mechanical problem reported on January 25. International space experts speculated that the problem could be in the electric motors that close the rover’s solar panels. Launched on the Chang’e-3 spacecraft on December 1, the rover was designed for a three-month mission exploring Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows. China became the third nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, when Chang’e-3 touched down on the lunar surface on December 14. Jade Rabbit is named after the mythological pet rabbit of Chang’e, China’s moon fairy. It is designed to collect soil samples, and search for resources. Link:http://www.ecns.cn

14 February 2014: ERWIN (Emotional Robot with Intelligent Network) is the world’s friendliest robot, built by an Indian student in UK, capable of expressing five basic emotions while interacting with a human. ERWIN is a great listener and responds only when required. He understands when we are unhappy. He is warm, responds to touch and is the perfect companion for the elderly. ERWIN is the world's friendliest robot capable of expressing five basic emotions while interacting with a human. Originally the brain child of Dr John Murray from the School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, UK, ERWIN is helping scientists to understand how relationships might be developed between humans and robots. In the case of conventional human-robot interaction, the robot's lack of identifiable characteristics prevents any relationship bond developing. Link:http://www.lincoln.ac.uk

15 February 2014: NASA's Curiosity rover has taken a photograph of Earth from the surface of Mars, showing what our planet looks like from 100 million miles away.It's rare that a single dot on a computer screen can elicit such a strong reaction, but there is something mind-blowing about Earth's diminutive appearance in the image.While we are used to seeing vivid greens and blues and swirling cloud when the Earth is photographed from space, from this distance the planet and its moon appear like no more than a couple of bright 'evening stars'.Taken about 80 minutes after Mars' sunset on Curiosity's 529th Martian day, the image was 'processed to remove effects of cosmic rays', with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments. Link:http://www.nasa.gov

16 February 2014: NASA is now looking to private entrepreneurs to help exploit resources on the moon. In its latest initiative, NASA is proposing private companies take advantage of NASA's extensive know-how, its engineers and access to its installations to help design and build lunar robots. However, the moon proposal dubbed CATALYST (Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown) would get no economic help from government. Recent missions in the moon's orbit have revealed evidence of water and other interesting substances on the moon. In 2013 NASA reached an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace to build a lunar base. Founded by US billionaire Robert Bigelow, the company offers inflatable space modules. The lunar soil is also rich in coveted rare earth elements: 17 chemicals that are heavily used in everyday electronics. Link:http://www.nasa.gov

17 February 2014: Astronomers in Australia have found the oldest known star in the universe, a discovery that may re-write our understanding of the universe directly following the Big Bang. The team from Australian National University (ANU) say that the star, located around 6,000 light years away from Earth, is roughly 13.6 billion years old. The star has been given the unwieldy catalogue reference of SMSS J 031300.36-670839.3. It broke the record of antiquity, the star HD 140283 installed, open in early 2013. Age was the last 13.2 billion years. Both stars are relatively close to Earth: 186 light-years in HD 140283 and 6 thousand light years SMSS J031300.36-670839.3. Key to determining its age was an analysis of its iron content. The study was published in the latest edition of the journal Nature. Link:http://www.nature.com

18 February 2014: Indian scientists generated about 4500 crore base pairs of genomic sequence data of mango genome using new generation of sequencing technologies. Scientists from five institutes of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) including National Research Center on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore and Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi are working on this project. The first draft of genome was generated with more than 90% coverage of the genome and a total of 78,831 genes coding for different properties of the mango plant. India is the largest producer of mango in the world, with 25 major commercial varieties highly preferred in the International market. Link: https://pag.confex.com

19 February 2014: More than 10,000 people have signed up for an online course to study the work of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs which led to the discovery of the 'God particle'.The free seven-week course, titled 'The Discovery of the Higgs boson', is being run by the University of Edinburgh in UK, where Professor Higgs worked when he developed the 'God particle' theory.He proposed that particles acquire mass by interacting with an all-pervading field spread throughout the Universe. The course, which begins this week, has already attracted more than 10,000 learners to register, the university said in a statement.The course explores the scientific advancements that have led to the building of the Large Hadron Collider, in Switzerland, and to the detection of the Higgs boson in July 2012.The course features filmed lectures of Professor Higgs. Link:http://www.ed.ac.uk

20 February 2014: Union Cabinet of India on today gave its approval for continuation of Nano Mission, a mission on Nano Science and Technology - in its second phase in the 12th Plan Period (2012-17) and sanctioned Rs 650 crore for the purpose. Nano Technology is a knowledge-intensive and "enabling technology" which is expected to influence a wide range of products and processes with far-reaching implications for the national economy and development.It will be anchored in the Department of Science and Technology and steered by a Nano Mission Council. The government had launched the Nano Mission in May 2007 as an "umbrella capacity-building programme". As a result of the efforts led by the Nano Mission, India is at present amongst the top five nations in the world in terms of scientific publications in Nano Science. Link: http://nanomission.gov.in

21 February 2014: Odisha state in India has now got it's first Butterfly Park at the botanical garden of Nandankanan. The park spreading over 3,200 sq metre is an open garden and has at least 54 species of butterflies. The park consists of a breeding section and a visitor section. The breeding section came up on 840 square meter, the visitor section is constructed on 2360 square meter. Species such as Banded Peacock, Crimson Rose, Blue Mormon, Commander, Wanderer, Grass Demons and Moneky Puzzle could be seen in the park. The objective behind this garden is to spread much needed awareness among the visitors about the ecological role of the butterflies.It has been designed to act as an in-situ conservation centre for butterflies. To make the park more splendid they have planted at least 6,100 plants of 56 species, while 22 are host species of butterflies.Link:http://www.nandankanan.org

22 February 2014: A study has found that that ability of Tibetans to live in high altitude areas lies in their genes. A new study by scientists from the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve University traced back the genetic origins of high-altitude Tibetans to 30,000 years ago. High elevations are challenging for humans because of low oxygen levels but Tibetans are well adapted to life above 13,000 feet. Due to physiological traits such as relatively low haemoglobin concentrations at altitude, Tibetans have lower risk of complications such as thrombosis compared to short-term visitors from low altitude areas. Unique to Tibetans are variants of the EGLN1 and EPAS1 genes, key genes in the oxygen homeostasis system at all altitudes. To shed light on the evolutionary origins of these gene variants, scientists obtained genome-wide data from 69 Nepalese Sherpa, an ethnic group related to Tibetans. Link:http://news.uchicago.edu

23 February 2014: India will launch four foreign satellites in 2014-15 in the Earth's lower orbit, using its workhorse polar rocket. ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation has signed agreements today with a British firm and a Singapore agency to launch their spacecraft onboard PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). The customers are DMC International Imaging, a subsidiary of the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, for launching its three 350kg disaster monitoring satellites and ST Electronics (Satcom and Sensor Systems) Ltd, Singapore, for launch of its TeLEOS-1 earth observation satellite. The launches will take place between 2014-15. The satellites will be launched from the Indian spaceport at Sriharikota. The space agency is working towards launching SPOT-7, a French satellite onboard the PSLV with four satellites in March/April 2014. Link: http://www.antrix.gov.in

24 February 2014: US scientists announced an important milestone in the costly, decades-old quest to develop fusion energy, which, if harnessed successfully, promises a nearly inexhaustible energy source for future generations. For the first time, experiments at the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have produced more energy from fusion reactions than the amount of energy put into the fusion fuel. The research team was led by physicist Omar Hurricane. They noted that did not produce self-heating nuclear fusion, known as ignition, that would be needed for any fusion power plant. The scientists used 192 laser beams to zap a tiny target containing a capsule less than a tenth of an inch (about 2 mm) in diameter filled with fusion fuel, consisting of a plasma of Deuterium and Tritium, which are two isotopes, or forms, of Hydrogen.Link: http://fsi.stanford.edu

25 February 2014: Today is the 20th annual World Spay Day, a campaign by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI) to raise awareness of spay/neuter as a solution to animal overpopulation.The majority of homeless animals in the U.S. represent puppies and kittens of pets accidentally or intentionally allowed to breed. About half of homeless animals are adopted, while 2.7 million adoptable pets are euthanized. Worldwide, street animal overpopulation is often addressed by local authorities through the use of electrocution, poison or other methods that are ineffective as long-term solutions. World Spay Day globally promotes the benefit of spaying and neutering as permanent, effective methods of birth control, ensuring that those animals will not be continuing to reproduce. Link: http://www.humanesociety.org

26 February 2014: European astronomers have found a previously unknown comet, detected as a tiny blob of light orbiting our Sun deep in the solar system. The new coment is officially designated as P/2014 C1 but popularly named as called TOTAS after the Teide Observatory Tenerife Asteroid Survey, which was responsible for its discovery. The comet's orbit was determined to lie between Jupiter and Mars. This means it will not come close to Earth. The comet was unexpectedly discovered during a routine set of observations at European Space Agency's Optical Ground Station, Spain.The confirmation was announced by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. This year, European Space Agency's spacecraft Rosetta will meet up with another comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta will land the comet in 2014 August. Link: http://www.iac.es

27 February 2014: In a major breakthrough Brajendra Kumar Sharma, a senior research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center has successfully converted plastic shopping bags into Diesel, natural gas and other useful petroleum products. The conversion produces significantly more energy than it requires and results in transportation fuels like diesel. Other products such as natural gas, naphtha, gasoline, waxes and lubricating oils such as engine oil and hydraulic oil also can be obtained from shopping bags. The process involved is called pyrolysis which is essentially heating the bags in an oxygen-free chamber. Previous studies have used pyrolysis to convert plastic bags into crude oil. Plastic trash bags started appearing around the world by the late 1960s.A quarter of the plastic bags used in wealthy nations are now produced in Asia. Link:http://www.sciencedirect.com

28 February 2014: Lichens may hold the key to a potential drug against breast cancer that affects one in 28 women in India, according to a discovery by scientists at Bose Institute's Division of Molecular Medicine. Lichens are made up of a symbiotic association of fungus and alga and are known reservoirs of dyes and drugs. India is home to more than 2,400 species of lichens which is almost 16 per cent of its global distribution. Now, a team of five scientists at the Kolkata-based Bose Institute's Division of Molecular Medicine have shown that an extract of the tropical lichen species Parmotrema reticulatum (PRME) can specifically halt duplication of cancerous cells and and treat breast cancer. The study was done done in collaboration with the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science at Silchar's Assam University. Link: http://www.plosone.org