SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: APRIL 2018

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