1 April 2018: One place China's Earth-bound and out-of-control spacelab, Tiangong-1, will probably not hit today is Point Nemo. Officially called 'oceanic pole of inaccessibility', Point Nemo was named in honour of Jules Verne's fictional submarine captain. Point Nemo in the southern Pacific Ocean, is a watery graveyard for titanium fuel tanks and other high-tech space debris. It is further from land than any other dot on the globe: 2,688 kilometres from the Pitcairn Islands to the north, one of the Easter Islands to the northwest, and Maher Island, part of Antarctica to the South. By far the largest object descending from the heavens to splash down at Point Nemo, in 2001, was Russia's MIR space lab, which weighed 120 tonnes. The The massive, 420-tonne International Space Station would also end in Point Nemo, in 2024. Link: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov
2 April 2018: Hubble space telescope discovers Icarus, a blue supergiant star , 9 billion years away from earth, the most distant and farthest individual star ever located halfway across the universe. The scientists have christened the newly found distinct star as Icarus but officially it has been named MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star 1. According to the team which detected the Icarus, the light emitted by the star took almost nine billion years to reach earth and they believe that till now it might have died, forming a neutron star or a black hole. The researchers determined that the brightness of the star had been magnified by a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. The increase in the brightness of Icarus is due to an additional magnification from a star within the galaxy. The discovery is stated in the journal Nature Astronomy. Link: https://www.nature.com
3 April 2018: Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) and Department of Botany, University College, Tviandrum, Kerala have successfully used extracts from Bael tree (Aegle marmelos) to neutralise adverse effects of cobra venom, thus confirming what was known to traditional healers. The research team found that the extracts inhibited destruction of red blood cells and action of acetylcholinesterase blockers induced by the venom. Acetylcholinesterase blockers prevent muscle contraction of ribs and chest making breathing difficult, a major reason for instantaneous death due to cobra bite. The research team included Dr S Sreekumar, N C Nisha, D A Evans and C K Biju. Bael, also known as Bengal Quince, can be found throughout India and South East Asia. The study is published in the journal Current Science. Link: http://www.currentscience.ac.in
4 April 2018: Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, one of India’s leading biologists, was appointed the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. The Bengaluru-based geneticist and development biologist had retired from his post as Secretary, Department of Biotechnology earlier this year. VijayRaghavan takes over from nuclear scientist Rajagopala Chidambaram, who has served as Principal Scientific Advisor, under three prime ministers since 2001. Born on February 3, 1954, he studied chemical engineering at IIT-Kanpur, before enrolling for a PhD in Bioengineering in Switzerland. He was conferred the Padma Shri on 26 January 2013. He is also a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In April 2014 he was elected as a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. Link: https://www.ncbs.res.in
5 April 2018: Link: https://www.ncbs.res.in
Director : Stanley Kubrick
Story : 2001: A Space Odyssey
Author : Arthur C. Clarke
Camera : Geoffrey Unsworth
Distributor : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running : 161 minutes
First Release : 2 April, 1968
New, 'un-restored' 70mm prints of 2001: A Space Odyssey will be released to mark the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's science fiction masterpiece. Warner Brothers would premiere a new print at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12, introduced by filmmaker Christopher Nolan, with members of Kubrick's family in attendance. The re-release will then open in select U.S. cities beginning May 18.
Though hotly debated upon its release, the film co-authored with science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has since been acknowledged as one of the most creative and influential movies of all time, and one of the most visually innovative. Spanning a million years of man's evolution, it is centered on a journey to understand the purpose of an undecipherable object of alien origin.
It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay, and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. In 2012 it was ranked No. 6 on the Sight + Sound critics' poll of greatest films of all time. Critic Roger Ebert, who included the film in his all-time 10 best list, wrote, "Alone among science-fiction movies, '2001' is not concerned with thrilling us, but with inspiring our awe."
The studio says that the new 70mm prints are being struck from elements copied from the original camera negative, without any digital remastering, effects or edits -- as closely as possible matching the film as it was originally presented in April 1968, projected in 70mm on Cinerama screens. The film will be released in 4K resolution Blu-ray with HDR.
More details: http://www.visual-memory.co.uk
Title : Indian Scientists:
The Saga of Inspired Minds
Author : Biman Basu et al.
Pages : 218
Publisher : Vigyan Prasar
Release : March, 2018
ISBN : 978-81-7480-282-8
The celebrated Indian Scientist Sir C.V. Raman was a qualified accountant. He was not encouraged to take up science as a career, as was the norm in those days in India. So after qualifying the Financial Civil Services Examination, he joined the Indian Finance Department as Assistant Accountant General at the age of eighteen-and-a-half! But science and research boiled in his belly.
One day he saw the sign board on his way to office with the words 'Indian Association for Cultivation of Science' written on it. On his way back, he visited the Association, where he met Ashutosh Dey, who was to be Raman's assistant for 25 years. First, he started research in his spare time with limited facilities; yet he could publish his research findings in Nature, The Philosophical Magazine and Physics Review.
Meghnad Saha was born in a poor family; his father was a petty grocery shop owner. After his primary education, there was no certainty that young Saha could continue his education. First, his parents could hardly afford his further studies, second, there was no middle school near his village. Saha's brother Jainath found a sponsor – Ananta Kumar Das.
These defining moments in the lives of Raman, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his ground-breaking work in the field of light scattering or Saha – the celebrated astrophysicist, best known for his development of the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars are truly inspiring, as the title of the book itself.
A new compendium- Indian Scientists: The Saga of Inspired Minds, has similar stimulating stories about the greatest scientists India has ever produced. Written by several science writers and compiled by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous body under the Department of Science & Technology, it puts together turning points in the lives of 54 scientists whose achievements laid the foundation for robust growth and development of science and technology in the country.
Vigyan Prasar has deliberately chosen a different style to put down the biography of these celebrated scientists, though it does not fit into the usual structure of biographies. The style and the theme have all the ingredients of a gripping fiction. The book is an inspiring read not only for aspiring scientists, but would captivate every discerning reader. In fact, it qualifies to be a text book in schools for students of science streams.
The effort has been to catch inspirational moments in the life of eminent scientists like Smt. Janaki Ammal, JC Bose, S. Chandrasekhar, Birbal Sahni, SN Bose, Har Govind Khorana, PC Ray, Meghnad Saha, Homi J. Bhabha, SS Bhatnagar, S. Ramanujan and APJ Abdul Kalam. Unlike the present research ecosystem, these scientists lived and worked to achieve the name and fame despite adversities.
Review Courtesy:
http://www.indiansciencejournal.in
50th Anniversary
of
Martin Luther King Assassination
On April 4, 2018, all eyes will turn to Memphis, Tennessee to remember the tragic event that occurred 50 years prior. Our nation’s greatest peacemaker was snatched from us by a sniper’s bullet. It occurred at the Lorraine Motel, 450 Mulberry Street in Memphis, Tennessee, now, the location of the National Civil Rights Museum. That shot would reverberate throughout the world, and on April 4, 2018, the world remembers the event that occurred at approximately 6:01 p.m. CT. The National Civil Rights Museum wants to help the world reflect, but not linger on the past, but instead use that horrific event to propel us for war.
MLK50: Where Do We Go From Here? Is the theme for the year-long commemoration of Dr. King’s assassination. This was the title of Dr. King’s final book as well as the title of the speech he delivered August 16, 1967 at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 2018, our desire is not simply to reflect and recount the history, but to connect the history to contemporary issues, this forward looking theme is most appropriate for this commemoration. The sub-themes for the events will be poverty/economic equity, education, justice and nonviolence.
Link: http://mlk50.civilrightsmuseum.org
Kingdom : Plantae
Class : Angiosperms
Division : Monocots
Series : Commelinids
Order : Poales
Family : Eriocaulaceae
Genus : Eriocaulon
Species : Eriocaulon govindiana
Eriocaulon govindiana, a new species of flowering plant (angiosperm) belonging to the Eriocaulaceae family, has been discovered from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) in the Nilgiri Biosphere. The species has been given the name ‘govindiana’ in honour of P.V. Govindankutty, retired Professor and Principal, Payyanur College, Kannur.
Eriocaulon govindiana grows in medium-altitude marshy areas at altitudes of 800-900 m. Its distribution was restricted to two localities in the sanctuary. Small populations of the species were distributed in marshy patches. The species appears with the onset the south-west monsoon (June-July) and starts flowering by early September.
The flowering peaked in October-November and fruiting in November-January. Many a time the plant grew as undergrowth. Wildfire in the sanctuary posed a serious threat to the plant, so steps should be adopted to ensure the protection of the species in its natural habitat.
This tuberous herbaceous species was discovered by a team of scientists led by M.K. Ratheesh Narayanan, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Payyanur College along with other researchers. The discovery has been published in the recent edition of the Taiwania International Journal of Life Sciences.
Link to full paper: http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw
