Thursday, March 22, 2018
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
MOVIE OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2018
Director : Ava DuVernay
Story : A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Camera : Tobias A. Schliessler
Editor : Spencer Averick
Running : 109 minutes
Country : United States
A Wrinkle in Time is a 2018 American science fantasy adventure film directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle. The book has been continuously in print since its first publication. The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on March 9, 2018.
Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry's classmates and teachers see her as a troublesome and stubborn student. Her family knows that she is emotionally immature. The family includes her scientist mother, her missing scientist father, and her five-year-old brother Charles Wallace Murry, a child genius who can sometimes read Meg's mind.
Unable to sleep during a thunderstorm, Meg descends from her attic room to find Charles Wallace sitting at the table drinking milk and eating bread and jam. They are then joined by their mother, and are visited by their new eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Whatsit who casually mentions there is such a thing as a tesseract, which causes Dr. Murry to almost faint.
The next morning, Meg discovers that the term refers to a scientific concept her father was working on before his mysterious disappearance. The following afternoon, Meg and Charles Wallace encounter Meg's schoolmate, Calvin O'Keefe, a high-school . They then go to visit an old haunted house near town which Charles Wallace already knows is the home of Mrs. Whatsit.
There they encounter two companions of Mrs. Whatsit's, the equally strange Mrs. Who and the unseen voice of Mrs. Which. She promises that she and her friends will help Meg find and rescue her father. A budding love interest develops between Meg and Calvin. In the evening, Charles Wallace declares it is time for them to go on their mission to save their father.
Movie: http://www.imdb.com
BOOK OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2018
Title : The Radium Girls:
The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
Author : Kate Moore
Pages : 480
Publisher : Sourcebooks
ISBN : 13-9781492649359
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.
Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.
But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of American history, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.
Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved thousands of lives.
Link: http://books.sourcebooks.com
EVENT OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2018
To mark the 30th anniversary of its creation in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold its 47th session in Paris. UNESCO will host the meeting, which is a highly significant choice given the institution’s mandate in scientific and environmental issues, which echoes that of the IPCC to make science work for the fight against climate change.One of the topics of this 47th meeting, to be held on 13-16 March, will be to provide the IPCC with long-term resources to maintain its essential work, as its financial situation is currently delicate. France is now taking action and will raise its contribution to €1 million per year until 2022. The next session in October 2018, focusing on adopting the report on limiting global warming to 1.5°C, must also be prepared.
The IPCC reports are the scientific source of reference for informing the choices of political leaders, particularly for climate negotiations. This day of commemoration will be open to the public, which can attend the lectures and debates throughout the day on 13 March. Registration is mandatory, please e-mail: pointfocalgiec@developpement-durable.gouv.fr
Further information: http://sdg.iisd.org
SPECIES OF THE MONTH: MARCH 2018
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| Courtesy: http://mini-ielts.com |
The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department believes it has found a new species of bamboo in the Maredumilli ranges of East Godavari district. The species is yet to be given a botanical name, while local tribes call it kampa veduru. Morphological studies and molecular characterisation (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA analysis) confirmed it was a new species.
The work on the bamboo has been going on for five years, since the time scientists from the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, visited Maredumilli. Dr. H.C. Naithani, a bamboo specialist, felt it was a new species. To validate the findings, samples were sent to the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) for DNA barcoding.
Bamboos in the Eastern Ghats include Dendrocalamus strictus, Bambusa bambos (giant Indian bamboo, and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii. The research studies were done in Palakonda range (Srikakulam forest division), Rampachodavaram (Kakinada), Lakkavaram (Chintur), Turimella (Giddaluru) and Chamala range (Tirupati).
Saturday, February 3, 2018
SCIENCE OF THE MONTH: FEBRUARY 2018
2 February 2018: Four major rivers, Jhelum, Chenab, Indus and Ravi in Jammu and Kashmir have been declared 'national waterways' by the union government, paving the way for inland navigation on them to boost water transport and tourism. As per Sham Lal Choudhary, Minister for Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control, the state government was examining the feasibility-cum-detailed project report of Inland Waterways Authority of India prepared for inland navigation and construction of horizontal and vertical terminals across these waterways. The development of these national waterways will boost the Inland Water Transport and tourism potential on the national waterways of the state, improving the socio-economic profile of people there. Link: http://www.iwai.nic.in
3 February 2018: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) today launched the world's smallest rocket with the ability to put a micro-satellite into orbit, following a failed attempt and several postponements over the last year. The rocket, an improved version of JAXA's SS-520, was carrying a micro-satellite weighing three kilograms and was developed by the University of Tokyo to capture images of the Earth's surface. JAXA had launched the first of these rockets on January 2017, which fell into the sea after launch due to short-circuit during take off. The current launch aimed to test the ability of the Japanese aerospace agency to launch low-cost rockets that can put micro satellites into space at affordable rates against the growing demand for launches from the private sector. Link: http://global.jaxa.jp
4 February 2018: A 23-feet-wide replica of the Moon was flaunted at Gateway of India today. The replica which is half million times smaller than the real celestial body was unveiled for public viewing to mark 70 years of the British Council in India. The Moon replica is on a tour of India with a two-day stopover in Mumbai. The replica was created with the UK Space Agency using NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery. The Moon replica is known as the Museum of the Moon and is created by British artist Luke Jerram. The miniature replica's one centimetre represents five kilometres of the lunar surface. The Museum of the Moon is intended to give audiences a feel where man first landed successfully on July 20, 1969, and the replica comes a year before the golden jubilee of the historic Moon landing accomplished by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. Link: https://uk-india.britishcouncil.in
5 February 2018: An international consortium of scientists sequenced the genomes of seven wild species of rice and two domesticated cultivars: a drought-tolerant variety called Nagina 22, and IR8, so-called 'miracle rice', a high-yield variety developed in 1967 and pivotal in the Green Revolution that helped relieve famine in Asia. Comparing these nine new rice genome sequences to four previously available wild rice genomes, the team has generated paddy's 15-million-year evolutionary history. Because the newly created genetic resource is so broad, representing distantly related rice species that have evolved in habitats throughout Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia, it enables researchers to find out how plants adapted to different growing conditions. The study is published in Nature Genetics. Link: https://www.nature.com
6 February 2018: SpaceX’s big new rocket blasted off today on its first test flight, carrying a red sports car aiming for an endless road trip past Mars. The Falcon Heavy rose from the same launch pad used by NASA nearly 50 years ago to send men to the moon. With liftoff, the Heavy became the most powerful rocket in use today, doubling the liftoff punch of its closest competitor. The three boosters and 27 engines roared to life at Kennedy Space Center, as thousands jammed surrounding beaches, bridges and roads to watch the rocket soar, delayed more than two hours by high wind. Two of the boosters were recycled and programmed to return for a simultaneous touchdown at Cape Canaveral, while the third, brand new, set its sights on an ocean platform some 300 miles offshore. SpaceX's ultimate goal is to establish a city on Mars.
Link: http://www.pnas.org
7 February 2018: Up to 16 percent of all species on Earth could qualify as potential ‘alien species’. The number of newly emerging alien species continues to rise, posing a significant challenge to bio-security interventions worldwide, according to a study. Alien species are those that do not belong to a region and introduced intentionally or accidentally by humans. Researchers analysed a global database of 45,984 records detailing the first invasions of 16,019 established alien species from 1500 until 2005 to investigate the dynamics of how alien species spread worldwide. Between the years 2000 and 2005, one quarter of records are of species that had not previously been found anywhere as an alien, which is a worryingly high proportion. The researcher have reported their finding in the journal PNAS. Link: http://www.pnas.org
8 February 2018: Researchers state that over 1000 new species of mammals have been described globally during the last dozen years. The number of recognized mammal species has increased over time from 4,631 species in 1993 to 5,416 in 2005, and now to 6,495 species. This total includes 96 species extinct within the last 500 years, and represents nearly a 20% increase in overall mammal diversity. The updated tabulation details 1,251 new species recognitions, at least 172 unions, and multiple major, higher-level changes, including an additional 88 genera and 14 newly recognized families. This new listing is now publicly accessible in the Mammal Diversity Database, a website that seeks to continue updating mammal species data, collected allover the world. The study is published in the Journal of Mammalogy. Link: https://academic.oup.com
9 February 2018: Scientists have discovered that permafrost in the northern hemisphere stores massive amounts of natural mercury and a warming climate could release large amounts of this dangerous toxin that may cause neurological effects in humans and animals, ranging from motor impairment to birth defects. The scientists measured mercury concentrations in permafrost cores from Alaska and estimated how much mercury has been trapped in permafrost north of the equator since the last Ice Age. The study found approximately 793 gigagrams, or more than 15 million gallons, of mercury is frozen in northern permafrost soil. That is roughly 10 times the amount of all human-caused mercury emissions over the last 30 years. The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Link: https://academic.oup.com
10 February 2018: NASA's Juno spacecraft accomplished a close flyby over Jupiter’s churning atmosphere this week, successfully completing its 10th science orbit. The closest approach was on February 7. All of Juno’s science instruments and the spacecraft’s JunoCam were in operation during the flyby, collecting data that is now being returned to Earth, the statement added. Launched on August 5, 2011, Juno recently probed the depths of Jupiter’s famous storm, the Great Red Spot. During its first pass over this iconic feature in July 2017, Juno found that the storm penetrates well below the clouds – about 300 kilometres into the planet’s atmosphere. The spacecraft arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. During its mission of exploration, Juno soars low over the planet’s cloud tops as close as about 3,400 kilometres. Link: https://academic.oup.com
11 February 2018: Link: https://academic.oup.com
12 February 2018: Link: https://academic.oup.com
13 February 2018: Link: https://academic.oup.com
14 February 2018: A massive chunk of a Martian meteorite will be carried onboard NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission, to serve as target practice for a high-precision laser on the rover’s arm. The ambitious Mars 2020 rover will collect samples from the red planet’s surface that a future mission could potentially return to Earth. One of the rover’s many tools will be a laser designed to illuminate rock features as fine as a human hair. That level of precision requires a calibration target to help tweak the laser’s settings. The team behind the laser instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) selected Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (SaU008), a meteorite found in Oman in 1999. Earth has a limited supply of Martian meteorites, which scientists determined were blasted off Mars’ surface millions of years ago. Link: https://academic.oup.com
15 February 2018: Exactly 30 years ago, cult sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf first aired on the BBC – and geeks have been obsessed ever since. As the show celebrates its 30th anniversary and looks ahead to a potential new series, we reveal all the ways you can watch Red Dwarf online and get yourself ready for Red Dwarf season 13. Take a look on Twitter today and, amidst the usual slurry of rants about the sorry state of the world, you’ll see something altogether more cheery trending: #RedDwarf30. Yes, on February 15 1988, the first ever episode of Red Dwarf aired on BBC Two, making 2018 the 30th anniversary of the decidedly off-piste science fiction show. Indeed, such is the enduring popularity of Red Dwarf that a new run was commissioned by Dave in 2009 and – unlike many a rehashed TV show – released to critical acclaim. Link: https://academic.oup.com
16 February 2018: NASA is planning to send its new deep space atomic clock on a flight aboard a spacecraft, to test the system’s ability to provide accurate onboard timekeeping for future missions. In deep space, accurate timekeeping is vital to navigation, but not all spacecraft have precise timepieces aboard.For 20 years, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US has been perfecting the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC), an instrument being built for deep space exploration. Most missions rely on ground-based antennas paired with atomic clocks for navigation. Ground antennas send narrowly focused signals to spacecraft which return the signal. An Atomic Clock, GPS Receiver and Ultra-Stable Oscillator make up the Deep Space Atomic Clock Payload, and is integrated into the middle bay of Surrey Satellite US Orbital Test Bed Spacecraft. Link: https://academic.oup.com
17 February 2018: Prenatal testing is hardly a new concept - in fact, for parents-to-be, it's standard practice throughout the course of a normal pregnancy.The gamut of tests available ranges from routine screenings to highly specific panels that can determine the overall health of the developing foetus, as well as assess its risk for a growing number of genetic conditions.In fact, by using the parents' genomes, researchers have been able to construct a complete genetic portrait of a developing foetus for nearly a decade.Since the process is invasive, complicated, and costly, it hasn't yet become common. A new blood-based fetal genetic test, developed by a team at the Beijing Genomics Institute in China, is much simpler than existing methods and can be performed as early as the first trimester of pregnancy. Link: https://academic.oup.com
18 February 2018: Link: https://academic.oup.com
19 February 2018: Rice has been used by many cultures to sustain their populations. According to Dr. Rod Wing, research being done today could help different varieties of rice feed even more of the worlds population. The rice of the future maybe in the world's bowls sooner than we think. Researchers, led by Dr. Rod Wing, a University of Arizona professor of plant science and director of the Arizona Genomics Institute, completed the genome sequencing of 13 varieties of rice in an effort to cultivate new varieties to feed a changing world. Scientists working on the International Oryza Map Alignment Project worked for 15 years to complete and compile the genomes of nine new varieties of rice, including seven wild varieties. Four additional genomes had already been sequenced. Oryza is the genus for rice. Link: https://academic.oup.com
20 February 2018: Link: https://academic.oup.com
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