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Dwindling helium supply Boost to nano tech research Prof Yash
Pal THIS UNIVERSE Trends Boy or girl? Depends on diet Praise as good
as cash |
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Dwindling helium supply During the first week of this year, Prof Lee Sobotka at Washington University warned that helium is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years. “Helium is nonrenewable and irreplaceable……… unlike hydrocarbon fuels (natural gas or oil) there are no biosynthetic ways to make an alternative to helium”, he clarified. It is a rare gas with many properties critical to several applications in high technology. As helium does not become radioactive, it is a good coolant in nuclear reactors. Helium is the primary coolant in Pebble Bed Modular Reactors, innovative reactors of 165 MWe, being installed in South Africa. Helium is used as cover gas in the Indian pressurised heavy water reactors Helium being non-flammable is a safer gas to fill balloons than hydrogen. It is an ideal inert gas shield for arc welding. In some countries, helium is cheaper than argon, another gas used for the same purpose. Helium is an excellent protective gas in growing silicon and germanium crystals. It is the pressurising agent of choice for liquid fuel rockets. Helium is a leak detection agent to identify extremely tiny leaks. Helium’s role in nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry is unique. A world without helium is unthinkable! Helium may be of primordial or radiogenic origin. NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite provided some evidence of helium gas left over from the big bang. Uranium-238 and thorium-232 in the earth’s crust and mantle emit alpha particles which pick up two electrons and become radiogenic helium. In the entire life span of the earth, only half of the uranium-238 atoms have decayed — yielding eight helium atoms in the process. Helium mixes with natural gas and will remain with it till it is extracted. Helium that escapes into the atmosphere may be lost permanently. The atmospheric concentration of helium is very low at about 5.2 parts per million, too low to be harvested economically. India currently imports virtually all its helium requirements of 10,000 normal cubic metres per month from the USA. Scientists at Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), an institution under the Department of Atomic Energy, did some pioneering work in the field; they estimated that thermal spring gases at Bakereswar and Tantloi in West Bengal contain 1.4 and 1.26 vol % of helium respectively. Extracting and purifying helium from thermal springs and monazite sands are not commercially The Ministry of Science and Technology had set up a special task force in early 2005 to identify India’s helium reserves. Taking into account the strategic importance of helium, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation set up a Rs 250 crore pilot plant at Kutralam in Tamil Nadu to produce 3,000 normal cubic metres per hour of helium from natural gas. Poland, Russia, China. Algeria and Netherlands separate helium commercially from natural gas; helium is present in their oil fields at concentrations ranging from 0.18 and 0.9 vol percentage. In some US oilfields helium is present at 8 vol%. The US government accumulated so far a reserve of 110 million standard cubic metres of this precious resource. In 1996, The US Congress decided to liquidate it by 2005 in such a way as to cause minimum market disruption. A report from the National Academy of Sciences prepared on a direction from Congress assured that such a disposal of helium reserves will not have substantial adverse impact on US scientific, technical, biomedical, or national security interests. The committee’s assurance on price stability through 2010 went wrong. The price of liquid helium is about $5 a litre; it rose more than 50% during the last year. The vagaries of the market place can hurt any dependent country India’s decision to operate an indigenous plant to extract helium is strategically sound even if indigenous helium may turn out to be costlier than imported helium. K.S. Parthasarathy is former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
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Boost to nano tech research After IT and BT, it seems to be the turn of nanotech, the science of producing “micro and mini devices” capable of outsmarting conventional systems, to hog limelight. Bangalore, India’s own “Silicon Valley,” will soon host one of the three centres of the Indian Institute of Nano Science and Technology. Mohali near Chandigarh and Kolkatta will be the two other locations for this institute of excellence. According to Dr T. Ramaswami, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India’s Nano science and technology mission has planned an investment to the tune of Rs 10,000 million to create an eco system to make India a global hub for research and development in nano technology. Meanwhile, Nano Excel, a Singapore based enterprise, is planning to promote a nanotech park in Bangalore. According to sources in Nano Excel, the park will provide the necessary infrastructure for the industrialists keen on churning out nano products for a variety of end uses. In fact, in recent years, the scope of nano technology has been expanding fast and as pointed out by Dr.Ramaswami agriculture, water purification, health care systems and nano textiles were emerging as important areas for nano technology applications. “In purifying water for instance, nano silver can be used as a coat for ceramic filters to eliminate bacteria and viruses. A nano metre, equal to one billionth of a metre, will have a sieving system finer than the conventional systems. Similarly, nano materials used on the surface of the textiles can create self cleaning textiles that do not allow water to penetrate”. Meanwhile, there have been reports of the Hotmail co founder Sabir Bhatia planning to set up a multi billion dollar nanocity near Panchkula in Haryana. For this purpose Bhatia would enter into a deal with a couple of real estate promoters As envisaged now, this Nanocity which would replicate the Silicon Valley would be ready for occupation by 2010. “This Nano city will be much bigger than the Silicon Valley. The success of the Silicon Valley is because of the two world class educational institutions — Stanford and Berkely. We intend to have world class educational institutions in the upcoming Nanocity” said Bhatia. For ease of operational and proper administrative control, this nano city would be organised under four districts: IT, University, airport and biotech. On the power front, Nancoity would opt for solar energy, wind, geothermal and biomass energy sources. According to Dr C.N.R. Rao, a leading Indian nano scientist and a former director of the Bangalore based Indian Institute of Science(IISc), India can still catch up with the advanced countries in the areas of nano science, technology and production. He is of view that what was required was a concerted effort in encouraging more young talent to get into the field, sensitise the industry to various commercial opportunities presented by the nano science and technology and investment to boost research and applications of nano science in various fields. “We have still not missed the nano bus, but must hurry. If we do not do it in two to three years, it might be too late. But as of now we can still join the nano race” said Dr Rao. Giving details of the future direction of nano technology, he said that the global market for nano products currently estimated at around $10 billion could witness an upsurge once the electrical industry begins to exploit the commercial applications of nano technology.
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THIS UNIVERSE This is not just one question, but at least five. Any one of these five can take several pages to answer. But I will be brief. Some of my replies would be biased and personal. In my view, superstitions arose at a time when there were no better answers available to people’s curiosities and concerns. People sought co-relations between happenings and events, particularly those that affected them. These acquired the status of rational explanations. We should have an understanding attitude towards superstitions and view them as components of the cultural history of humanity. Many rituals are also manifestations of the same social and cultural heritage; they might appear senseless at times but they carry with them the stories, myths and beliefs of an earlier time. It is true that there are people in the world who still give these superstitions the same status as rational explanations. That is sad. There are many things we understand at an intellectual level as grown-ups; frequently, however, the “brainwashing” to which we are subjected from childhood, influences and modifies our actions. Knowingly or otherwise, we foment and propagate religious, racial, linguistic, ethnic and national conflicts, knowing all the while that our children stand to inherit a common future. You have asked me if there is such a thing as magic. Yes, there are magicians who are very gifted and clever individuals, who know a lot of tricks, are masters of sleight-of-hand manipulation and, in addition, are cunning psychologists. I do not believe that any magician, even a so-called holy man, can circumvent the laws of physics. You have asked me about the truth of existence of God. Any reply I give can be misunderstood. This is a personal matter, a matter of faith. I do not think that one can scientifically prove the existence, or indeed the non-existence, of God. As far as I am concerned, any God I chose or create for myself would lose my reverence if He started to interfere with the laws He himself had so beautifully designed. What are the salient features of an award winning science project? What are the things the judges look for? Chose a science project because you want to understand, design or build something — not because you want to win a prize. You will be surprised at how much you learn, and new knowledge is the best prize you can get. |
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Trends Using powerful radio telescopes, scientists have captured a supermassive black hole just as it was belching out a jet of supercharged particles, offering a first look at how these cosmic jets are formed, they said on Wednesday. Supermassive black holes form the core of many galaxies and astronomers have long believed they were responsible for ejecting jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. — Reuters
Boy or girl? Depends on diet Snips and snails and puppydog tails ... and cereal and bananas? That could be what little boys are made of, according to surprising new research suggesting that what a woman eats before pregnancy influences the gender of her baby. Having a hearty appetite, eating potassium-rich foods including bananas, and not skipping breakfast all seemed to raise the odds of having a boy. The British research is billed as the first in humans to show a link between a woman’s diet and whether she has a boy or girl. It is not proof, but it fits with evidence from test tube fertilisation that male embryos thrive best with longer exposure to nutrient-rich lab cultures, said Dr. Tarun Jain. He is a fertility specialist at University of Illinois at Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study. —AP
Praise as good
as cash Paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash, Japanese researchers said on Wednesday. They said the study offers scientific support for the long-held assumption that people get a psychological boost from having a good reputation.
—Reuters
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