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| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
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Car ‘to break 1,000 mph barrier’
Pesticides poison environment
Prof Yash
Pal
Trends
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Car ‘to break 1,000 mph barrier’
ONE OF the Farnborough International Air Show’s wildest propositions is the Bloodhound SuperSonic car, unveiled for the first time yesterday after The 42ft, full-size, fibre-glass prototype reveals the super-slick shape that the design team believes will enable the car to hit 1,000 miles per hour, boosted by Eurofighter Typoon jet engines.
The construction of the rear portion of the car by aerospace group Hampson Industries is to go ahead next year. And a separate contract to build the nose is imminent. If speed tests on a British runway next year go according to plan, the Bloodhound will go to the Hakskeen Pan dried-up lake bed in South Africa to try to break the world land-speed record, which stands at 763 mph. The design of the back of the vehicle is crucial to avoid dangerous “lift” at high speeds and to manage the sonic boom shockwave. The Bloodhound SuperSonic is also being used to help to inspire children to study science, maths and engineering. By arrangement with The Independent |
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Pesticides poison environment
Suicides among farmers in India are often linked to the high cost of input for intensive crops, especially with respect to pesticides (insecticides, herbicides and fungicides). Farmers borrow money to meet the costs and in the event of a crop failure, end up with large debts.
Nearly 42 per cent of the crop productivity is lost due to weeds, pests and diseases. This necessitates repeated application of pesticides leading to debt and desperation and sometimes suicides. Why farmers are using lot of pesticides? The less the farmers know about insect ecology, the more insecticides are used. They are spraying nine rounds when five are required. This often leads to insecticide resistance and chaotic fluctuations in insect populations, exacerbating the problem. Farmers know that the pesticides are highly toxic but they are not aware of their adverse effect on environment. One of the reasons may be the lack of education. In district Ambala, 5 per cent farmers are graduate and 55 per cent have just passed middle school and almost 25 per cent are illiterate. The education status in other states is still worse. Indiscriminate use of pesticides in the modern agricultural practices leads to contamination of soil, surface and ground water. Their residual concentration in the food products is alarming. Leafy vegetables, cereals, fruits, rice, meat, milk, fish and even human milk have been contaminated by various pesticides in a range of 0.1mg-25.7mg. The herbicide, 2, 4-D is identified as a carcinogen in humans and dogs and the insecticide acephate is a mutagon, carcinogen, foetotoxic, feminizes rats and kills birds. Organophosphate pesticides affect the nervous system by disrupting the enzyme that regulates acetycholine, a neurotransmitter. In India, the use of 2, 4-D and atrazine herbicides has been increaseing every year. Gradually, evidence began to accrue that pesticides might pose greater risks than first assumed. How one can minimize this problem? The answer to this lies in insect resistant crops that are developed through genetic engineering. It utilises the common soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that has been used commercially for more than 60 years as an But even in 2010 the total sales of Bt products constituted less than 3 per cent of the total value of all insecticides, as there are risks and benefits to currently available genetically engineered plants. The non-consumable genetically engineered crops can be grown as it reduces the amount of pesticides used in some crops and contributes to enhance safety for human beings and the environment. |
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This universe
Please explain the saying: “when we move our finger we disturb the whole universe”?
The law of gravitation says that all matter has a gravitational field. Every atom in your body is attracted by every other atom in the universe. This mutual attraction implies a connection in between. The force of attraction depends on the product of the masses and varies inversely as the square of distance. Therefore it would be a very tiny affair between your fingers and the universe. But it cannot become zero. Therefore we can proudly say that we can move the universe by moving our fingers. Since lot of things, including fingers are being moved, it will be impossible to claim the credit for any movement that might be felt. If we suppose that the universe lies in a box, then where does the box lie? I think it is too limiting to think of the universe lying in a box unless you are imagining the universe to be a toy you can play with. When you talk of the universe you automatically include every thing you can think of, including what you call the box. By definition there cannot be anything including space and time, that is not a part of the universe. I have a feeling that you have been made to think of a three dimensional space including the box because one does talk often about the size of the universe, especially when one refers to the expansion of the universe. I suggest that instead of such a picture, you should argue that the linear radius of the universe is arbitrarily defined as the distance of the most red-shifted heavenly body our largest telescopes can see. If you have not come across the word “redshift”, I might simply define it as lengthening of the wave length of light due to the velocity of the source away from us. The observation of such redshifts first suggested that the universe is expanding. If all the hydrogen present in sun gets converted into helium, then what would happen? After helium is exhausted, the core of the sun would cool and the consequent reduction of pressure would lead to gravitational contraction and rise of temperature to a level where helium would begin the burn to produce carbon and heavier elements. Enormous energy would be produced in this process also. It is believed that since this process will happen at higher levels in the sun the increase in the outward pressure would make the sun blow up in size to a stage when it would become a giant fireball extending beyond the orbit of the earth. Such a stage in the evolution of the sun is called the Red Giant stage. |
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Trends
LONDON: Archaeologists have discovered a wooden version of British prehistoric monument Stonehenge at the same site, the project's leader told Reuters. By using virtual technology, the archaeologists found a circular ditch less than one kilometer away from the iconic stone circle, which is thought to date back to the Neolithic period 2,000 to 4,000 years ago.
Octopuses found with cold-resistant venom
HONG KONG: Researchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures. They hope to analyze the venom to see if it has medical uses, said one of the researchers, Bryan Fry, of the University of Melbourne. Their discovery, during a six-week expedition to Antarctica in 2007, was published in the journal Toxicon.
Test can predict success of IVF
WASHINGTON: U.S. researchers have developed a formula that can predict whether fertility treatment will succeed more accurately than using age alone, and used it to develop a commercial test. They said their test, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, could save couples the agony and expense of multiple attempts to have babies using in vitro fertilization, also known as IVF.
Screening speech may aid autism diagnosis
WASHINGTON: A device may be able to automatically screen young children for autism based on how they talk, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The small recorder fits into a child’s pocket and analyzes the words the child says during the day, and a software program evaluates how the child makes certain sounds.—Reuters |
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ONE OF the Farnborough International Air Show’s wildest propositions is the Bloodhound SuperSonic car, unveiled for the first time yesterday after The 42ft, full-size, fibre-glass prototype reveals the super-slick shape that the design team believes will enable the car to hit 1,000 miles per hour, boosted by Eurofighter Typoon jet engines.
