REQUEST FORCONTRIBUTINGSCIENCEBASEDARTICLES IN ENGLISH
The Secretary, Odisha Bigyan Academy invites articles in English on
Basic and Applied Sciences from scientists, technologists and professionals
to be published in the English magazine "SCIENCE HORIZON". The
articles shouldbe lucid and easilyunderstood by students of Higher Secondary
schools, undergraduate students and common readers. They should focus on
scientific topics and should be presented in a popular style covering
information on scientific discoveries/inventions, biography of scientists,
eradication of superstitions, development of scientific temper, story,
features, snippets etc. The article should ordinarily be of two to three printed
pages in one side ofA-4 size paper with attractiveheadings. Theauthors whose
articles are published in the magazine will be paid a token remuneration for
each article. The articles should be sent to the Secretary, Odisha Bigyan
Academy by the following address.
Secretary, Odisha Bigyan Academy,Type-4R/25, Unit-IX(F), Bhubaneswar-751022,
ODISHA, INDIA,Tel: 0674 - 2543468
President, Odisha Bigyan AcademyProf. (Dr) Basudev KarVice President, Odisha Bigyan AcademyProf. (Dr) Shashi Narayan MohapatraEditorProf. (Dr) Sodananda TorasiaLanguage ExpertProf. (Dr) D. K. RayManaging EditorDr Rekha DasSecretary, Odisha Bigyan Academy
10TH ISSUE2ND YEAR OCTOBER,2012
Science Horizon
Editorial Board
Dr Ramesh Chandra Parida
Dr Nityananda Swain
Dr Pramod Kumar Mahapatra
Dr Prahallad Chandra Nayak
Dr Bhabendra Kumar Patnaik
Prof. (Er) P.C. Patnaik
CONTENTS
Subject Author Page
1. Editorial: World Space Week Sodananda Torasia 2
2. Mangroves : Biodiversity in Odisha Perspective Bal Krishnan 3
3. Menace of Malaria : Resistance to Antimalarial Drugs Dwijesh Kumar Panda 6
4. Indian Mathematics and Mayadhar Swain 11
5. A Great Indian Mathematician Sulochana Mangaraj 16
6. Evolutionary Biologist - J B S Haldane Bibhuprasad Mohapatra 17
7. Make your own Barometer Model Nikunja Bihari Sahu 19
8. Junk Food and its Effect on Health Chitroptala Devadarshini 21
9. Science Behind Lightning and Thunder Kamalakanta Jena 24
10. Irrigation of Tail-end areas of canals indeltaic regions of Odisha Akshaya Bandhu Pattanaik 28
11. Bio-Sensors Bishnu Prasad Behera 35
12. Ashoka Tree (Saraca asoca) Samarendra Narayan Mallick 38
13. Quiz on Insects Prafulla Kumar Mohanty 42
14. 5W'S+H : Muscles (1) Nityananda Swain 44
15. Nobel Prize Winners for the Year 2012 Editorial Board 47
The Cover Page depicts : Sputnik-1, Theme for World Space Week 2012, Logo for WSW,Kalpana Chowla and Meteorological Satellite Kalpana-1
EDITORIALWORLD SPACEWEEK
Since time immemorial humans have watchedthe skies with awe and wondered about it. The firstattempt of man to conquer space began with the launchof the first human made Earth satellite, Sputnik-1 onOctober 4, 1957, followed by the Luna-2 mission of13.9.1959, when man-made objects reached thesurface of the moon. On April 12, 1961, erstwhileUSSR launched Vostok-1 spacecraft, with cosmonautYuri Gagarin on board, which made one orbit aroundthe Earth, making it the first human space flight. Later,on 20.7.1969 U.S. Apollo 11 mission landed, NeilArmstrong and EdwinAldrin. Subsequently there weresix manned and numerous unmanned landings.
On December 6, 1999, The United NationsGeneral Assembly declared World Space Week(WSW) as an annual event to be commemorated fromOctober 4 to 10. The choice of dates was based ontwo Important dates in History of Space Explorationviz; 4th October 1957, mentioned above and 10thOctober 1967, the day of signing of a landmarkinternational treaty, governing space exploration andthe peaceful use of resources in space.
WSW aims to educate people around the worldabout the benefit that they receive from space,encourage greater use of space for sustainableeconomic development, demonstrate public support forspace programmes, excite young people about scienceand foster international cooperation in space outreachand education. This is the result of coordinated effortsby the global space community. WSW is officiallydefined as "an international celebration of science andtechnology, and their contribution to the betterment ofthe human condition". It is the largest annual spaceevent in the world. WSW is observed as an annualholiday, in most of the countries of the world includingEurope, Russia and Asia.
Since its declaration in 1999, WSW is observedeach year with a theme. Some of the themes of therecent years are as follows:
In 2007, the theme was "50 Years in Space",celebrating the 50th anniversary of the space age. In2008, thetheme was "ExploringtheUniverse"; in 2009,the focus was on "Space for Education" and in 2010, ithighlighted "Mysteries of the Cosmos". The theme for
2011 WSW was 50 years of Human Spaceflight.During the fifty years following 1961, more than 280human space flight missions have been conducted byUSSR/Russia, USA and China, adding significance tothe celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the historicalhuman space flight around the world.
The 13th annual WSW was observed fromOct.4 to Oct.10, 2012 with the theme "Space forHuman Safety and Security". More than 350 eventswere organised, spread over 65 countries, in whichprogrammes highlighting the ways in which humanspace activities made daily life better for us hereon earth.
In India, Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabd, incollaboration with Space Application Centre of ISROand many other scientific institutions, organised aSpecial OutreachProgram on 'Meteorological SatelliteKalpana-1: A Decade of Service to the Nation'.Kalpana-1 is India's first exclusive meteorologicalsatellite built by ISRO. Kalpana-1 was named afterthe Indian born American astronaut Dr. KalpanaChawla, who died in the US Space Shuttle Colombia,disaster. To quote, S.Ingersoll, scientist of ISRO'sLiquid Propulsion Systems Centre, India is the onlynation in the world which is using satellite launchingand space science for the socio-economic developmentof its citizens in a big way. He added, "If the countriesinvolved in outer space missions could exchange allinformation they could gather, it would certainly bringabout revolutionary progress in all spheres."
The other activit ies included anAstrophotography Exhibit ion in New Delhi,InternationalAstronautical Congress meeting in Naplesetc. Some of the achievements highlighted include,astronomers spotting thehuge "Diamond Planet", madelargely ofdiamonds. Inadditionto this blastingof SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket into space heralded a New Era ofCommercial Resupply Flights to ISS which carriedscienceequipments and ice creamfor Sunita Williams.This alien planet, a so-called"Super Earth", also called55 Cancri e, was discovered around a nearby star inthe Milky Way Galaxy.
It is hoped, celebrating the WSW over the yearswillgoa longwayinachievingtheaims forwhichitstands.
Sodananda Torasia
3ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
MANGROVES : BIODIVERSITY IN ODISHA PERSPECTIVEBal Krishan
Introduction
Mangroves are a group of treesand shrubs
that exist and grow in the inter-tidal region of
sea shores. They occupy the fringe of intertidal
shallow space between the land and sea.
Mangroves have unique property to tolerate
saline water.
Mangroves have highly specialized
adaptations that have helped them to colonize
and thrive in intertidal areas. Importantly,
mangroves have developed special means of
dealing with concentrates of salt that would
kill or inhibit the growth of most other
vegetations. Thespecial adaptationwaysinclude:
Waxy coating and salt secreting pores
on the leaves that control salt water
penetration and get rid of excess salt.
Concentration of salt in the sap.
Removal of salt by concentrating it in
branches, and leaves prior to dropping
the same.
Distinguished adaptation is their spiky
ve rtical root system called
pneumatophores or respiratory roots or
peg roots. These can be seen at low tide
protruding from the mud or sand. These
roots draw air into the underlying root
system, allowing the plant to breathe,
and grow in soils ( Fig. 1).
Viviparous nature is another important
adaptation. In these mangroves after
flowering, their seeds germinate before
becoming detached from the parent tree.
This allows the seedlings to get a head
start before the seeds fall into water
and disperse to new areas with the tides
and waves. If the seeds get a suitable
place, the seedlings can quickly become
established.
Mangroves: Species,Habitat&Distribution
Mangroves grow in the tropics as well as
the temperate zones. There are at least ninety
recognized species of mangroves in the world
belonging to nearly twenty families.
Mangroves favor sheltered shores on
tidal flats in estuaries and bays. They grow
best in areas where silt is brought down by
rivers or is banked up by waves, tides andcurrents. They are often found growing among
Fig. 1 Mangroves with respiratory root system
ScienceHorizon4
OCTOBER, 2012
salt marshes and other coastal wet landcommunities.
In India, mangroves are found in sitesalong coasts such as the Chilka lake andBhitarkanika in Odisha, Sundarbans in WestBengal, the deltas of Godavari and Krishnaalong the east-coast, Vembanad in Kerala,
Kundapur andHonnavar in Karnataka, Malvan,the Gulf of Kachchh and gulf of khambat inGujarat along west coast and north region ofAndaman and Nicobar. Mangroves are alsofoundinMumbai, Jaitpurarea inKonkan regionof Maharastra.
Theexisting mangroves or the tidal forestin Odisha is concentrated in an approximatearea of 219 Sq.km., spreading in the districtsof Balasore (3 Sq.km.), Bhadrak (19 Sq.km.),Jagatsinghpur (5 Sq.km.) and Kendrapara (192Sq.km.). Thesemangroves vegetationare foundin a small deltaic area of the Mahanadi,Brahamani and Baitarani rivers. Odisha has
significant diversity of mangroves species.The common species of mangroves found areAvicennia alba, Bruguiera parviflora,Ae gi al it es rotun di fo li a, Xyl oc ar pu sgranatum, and Tylophora tenuissima .However, mangroveswhichwere once plentifultowards the margin of the Chilka andits islandsare no more found there. Mangrove ofassociated species like Cressa cretica,Acanthus ilicifolius, Excoecaria agallocha
and Deris indica are sparsely distributed asrepresentatives of the extinct mangrove forest
in the Chilka.
Importance of Mangroves :
Mangroves have great importance
directly or indirectly. Following are a few of
them.
Serves as 'BufferZone' between the land
and sea; protects the land from erosion.
Save the marine diversity, which is fast
diminishing. Mangroves provide shelter
for the juveniles and adults of many fish
species. Mangroves also provide habitat
for other forms of wildlife (Snakes,
Crocodiles etc.) including birds such as
threatened mangrove Honey Eater.
Mangroves provide food, as mangrove
trees produce large amount of organic
matter, which is directly or indirectly
taken as food by small animals,
detritiores (Crabs etc.), fishes and other
animals. Fishes like prawns, sardines,
sea fish and Bombay duck grow well in
mangrove forests.
Mangroves play an invaluable role as
nature's shie ld against cyclones,
ecological disasters and as protector of
shorelines. They help to control strong
winds, tidal waves and even tsunamis.
They provide a buffer between the
terrestrial and nearby marine environment
by trapping and stabilizing sediment,
nutrients and contamination from run
off andhelp maintenanceof waterquality.
5ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
Mangroves have great ability to absorb
excesswater andhence play an important
role during flood, purify the water by
absorbing impurities and harmful heavy
metals and enable us to breathe a clean
air by absorbing pollutants in the air.
Mangroves provide timber andfuel wood
of high calorific value; which is always
in great market demand.
Tannins, insecticides and pesticides are
also obtained from various species of
mangroves.
Some species of mangroves have
medicina l proper ti es . Leaves of
Acanthus ilicifolius and Calophyllum
inophyllum are used to cure rheumatism.
Leaf juice and roots of Ceriops tagal
areused to cure malaria and skin diseases.
Roots and fruits of Barringtonia
racemosa are utilized to cure cough and
asthma.
It is a potential source for recreation and
tour ism; main source of income
generation for shoreline communities
like fisher folk.
Extinction of Mangroves :
The area under mangrove forests has
considerably decreased in our country, and
many species are extinct in Odisha due to
several factors. Threats to mangroves mainly
include:
Dumping of waste.
Oil spills and toxic chemicals.
Tidal barriers, drainage and flood
mitigation works.
Trampling by humans.
Uncontrolled stock access.
Climate change and sea level rise.
Protect ion & Conser vation ofMangroves :
It is important to protect the existing
mangroves diversity. Following ways may help
to protect mangroves.
Restoration and reintroduction of
mangroves.
Maintaining the flow of tidal currents to
ensure healthy growth of mangroves.
Preventing eutrophication and soil
eros ion in mangrove forests and
minimize sedimentation.
Avoid walking, riding or driving through
mangrove areas at low tide.
Control of water and land pollution; ban
of waste, oils and chemicals disposal in
the mangroves forest areas.
Government of India has declared
mangroves as ecologically sensitive regions
under the Environment ProtectionActof 1986.
The Coastal Zone Regulation body prohibits
ScienceHorizon6
OCTOBER, 2012
developmental activities and waste disposal in
mangrove habitats. The Supreme Court of
India's decision to bring mangroves under the
definition of forest has helped in notifying
some mangrove forests such as Bhitarkanika
in Odisha and Sunderbans in West Bengal, as
sanctuaries. In view of the significant role of
mangroves in coastal protection during 1999
super cyclone in Odisha, this ecosystem was
declared as ecological hot spot.
Mangroves are an important part of
ecosystem, and are also ideal sites for bio
diversity assessment and ecosystemfood webs
functioning due to their unique features. The
existing diversity position of mangroves
necessitates creation of awareness and
popularization of unique mangroves and their
habitats, such as the Chilka Lake and among
the general mass, so as to conserve and get the
benefits of these unique systems in various
ways.
Further Readings:
Naskar,K. and Manda,R. (1999).Ecology and
Biodiversity of Indian Mangroves. Daya
publishers, New delhi, 754 p.
Singh,V.P. and Odaki,K. (2004). Mangrove
Ecosystem: Structure and Function. Scientific
Publishers, New Delhi, 297 p.
Scientist,Regional Research Station Rubber Research Institute of India,
Dhenkanal - 759 001, OdishaMobile : 98612 89239, E mail: [email protected]
MENACE OF MALARIA :RESITANCETO
ANTIMALARIAL DRUGSDwijesh KumarPanda
Introduction
The global
battle of malaria
is dras ti ca lly
becoming more
and more furious
with continuous rise in microbial resistance
to the powerful antimalarial drugs. Malaria
parasite shares a complex life cycle between
a vertebrate host and an insect vector. The
parasite plasmodium enters the blood stream
through the bite of an infected female
Anopheles mosquito. This parasite can not be
passed by any other species of mosquito and
amongst Anopheles mosquito only a few of
their species are able to carry the malaria
parasite, may be because related species have
a higher trypsin like activity in their midguts.
Life Cycle of the Parasite
Through its life cycle, the parasite
undergoes four to five different forms and
each formlives in specific sites such as salivary
glands and midgut of mosquito and liver and
red blood corpuscles of human host.The
di ff er en t fo rms of the paras it e are
gametocytes, sporozoi tes, merozoites ,
schizonts and trophozoites.
7ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
Gametocyte is a sexual stage of
reproduction of plasmodium that circulates in
blood stream. When the mosquito sucks blood
containing gametocytes, it enters the salivary
gland of mosquito where they develop into
sporozoites.
As sporozoites, they are injected from
mosquito's salivary glands into the blood
stream where they initially remain in the host's
liver cells. Thereafter, merozoites are formed
as a result of multiple asexual fission.
All merozoites are released into the
blood stream and are taken up by the red blood
corpuscles of human host. Some of these turn
into ring, form trophozoites that spill again to
form schizonts.
On maturation, schizonts rupture red
blood corpuscles and release the merozoites.
This release coincides with violent rises in the
body temperature during the typically observed
malarial attacks. Some left over trophozoites
can develop into the sexual form, the
gametocyte, which can be taken by a blood
sucking mosquito and start another cycle.
The incubation period is usually around
10 to 15 days.Infection of Plasmodium ovale
and Plasmodium vivax produces a dormant
form, i.e. hypnozoites, in liver cells that may
relapse the malaria, months and even years
after the initial onset of the original disese.
Hence it is essential that these infections are
eventually treated with primaquine to kill the
liver stages of Plasmodium species.
The natural remedy for this deadly
disease was discovered in1638, when the wifeof a Spanish Viceroy fell desperately ill with
malaria. She was then cured using the herbal
remedy of 'quinquina' bark which was namedcinchona in her honour. The quinine bark was
the most widely used treatment for malaria,
proving to be the first chemical compoundsuccessfully used to treat an infectious
disease. Even today quinine is obtained only
from the natural sources due to difficulty insynthesizing the complex molecule. Only four
of the 36 alkaloids found in Cinchona bark
possess antimalarial activity.
Quinine's mode of action.
Quinine has a schizonticidal effect
against Plasmodium vivax, malariae, and
falciparum and has gametocidal activity for
P. vivax and P. malaria. There are two main
derivatives of quinines chloroquine and
mefloquine. It is a weak base that concentrates
in the food vacuoles of plasmodium
falciparum. When the hemoglobin from red
blood corpuscles enters into the food vacuole,
the schizonts convert them to hemozoin (a
malarial pigment) through a polymerization
pa thway involving a se lf tox in -
ferriprotoporphyin (FP). This self toxin form
is usually the target for drug action.
Chloroquine blocks the polymerization
ScienceHorizon8
OCTOBER, 2012
process by binding to the FP and chloroquine-
FP complex act as catalyticpoison to the
polymerization process which is called the
hemoschizontocidal effect. On the other hand,
mefloquine interferes with the transport of
hemoglobin and other substances from
erythrocytes to food vacuoles of malaria
parasite. Lack of hemoglobin interrupts the
generation of FP to wcichchloroquine binds.
This mechanism explains the antagonistic
effect of chloroquine and mefloquine on
parasite growth.
Antifolate drugs.
Folic acid synthesis is another target
for antimalarials. Due to high rate ofreplication, malarial parasites increasingly
require nucleotides for DNA synthesis.Plasmodium are capable of synthesizing folicacid but human host can not synthesize folate.
The incapability of parasite to useexogenousfolate makes folate biosynthesispathway a good drug target. Dihydropteroatesynthase (DHPS), one of the enzyme involved
in folate synthesis is inhibited by sulphas-based drugs-sulphadoxin and dapsone.Also aubiquitous enzyme dihydrofolatereductase
(DHPR) participates in biosynthetic reactionsand its inhibition prevents formation of anintermediate thymidylate and leads to an
arrest in DNA synthesis followed by parasitedeath. The most common DHFR inhibitorsused as antimalarials are pyrimethamine andproguanil.
Drugs affecting redox mechanism
Some an ti -p ro to zo al dru gs like
primaquine and artemisinin derivatives act on
the oxidative stress. The reactive oxygen
intermediates (ROI) such as superoxide anion
radical and hydrogen peroxide are produced
with metabolic processes which can damage
cellular components such as lipids, proteins
and nucleic acids. With high metabolic activity
most protozoan pathogen produce more ROI.
Malarial parasite also produces ROI as a
consequence of hemoglobin digestion. In all
the cells there is a mechanism by which these
ROIs can be detoxified. This defence
mechanism includes two enzymes like
superoxide dismutase and catalase that
functions to prevent oxidative stress by
detoxifying superoxideand hydrogen peroxide
respectively. The drugs affect the ROI defense
mechanism and increases the level of
oxidative stress in the parasite the leads to
parasite death.
What keeps malaria alive inspite of
having active antimalarials ?
Fear of Resistance
The antimalarials regimen fights against
protozoan parasite, plasmodium, the most
prevalent species across the globe. But the
intricate resistance is clearly the major
decisive factor for clinical failure of
antimalarial drugs.
9ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
The factors affecting resistance may be
genetic. They are spontaneous, rare and
independent of drug used. The very reason that
can change the intraparasitic components is
the mutation in the genes encodinga particular
component. Either mutation or changes in
copy number of genes can affect the
susceptibility of parasite to the drug by
influencing intraparasitic concentration of
drug. Resistance can be acquired by a single
genetic events or multiple unlinked events
may be necessary (epistasis).
The first type of resistance to be known
was to chloroquine. The biological mechanism
supporting the resistance was found to be
related to the development of an efflux
mechanism that expels chloroquine from the
parasite such it could not reach the level
required to effectively inhibit the process of
haem polymerization. Similar mechanisms
were suspected to be the reason for resistance
to other quinolone antimalarials as quinine or
mefloquine. With respect to the antifolates,,
two gene mutations have also led to synergistic
blockages of two enzymes involved in folate
synthesis. Moreover, Plasmodium has
developed resistance to the most commonly
used antifolates combination drugs- Sulfadoxin
and pyrimethamine.
There are a number of other reasonable
influential causes for the spread of resistance.
1. The resistance of antimalarials can be
increased by phenotypic plasticity. This
process has been exhibited by some
species of Plasmodium.
2. The prescribed treatment can also
substantially influence the development
of re si st ance depending on the
combination of drugs. Its intake and
in te ract ion as wel l as drug's
pharmokinetic and dynamic properties.
3. Same microbes possess resistance genes
and survive in the presence of
antimalarials. These survivors replicate
and their progeny dominates over the
microbial population, thereby amplifying
the resistance.
4. Some biological influences can
directly affect the parasite's ability to
survive in the presence of anti-malarial.
In short, any factor that reduces the
elimination of the parasite can
facilitate the deve lopme nt of
resistance. It can be compromised with
the immune system, pregnant women
and young children.
5. More than 50% of medicines are
dispensed and sold inappropriately.
Overuse, underuse and self-medication
are the factors for the evolution of
bacterial resistance.
ScienceHorizon10
OCTOBER, 2012
We can not ignore any further thethreat of malaria
This is a serious concern, since the rate
at which new drugs are produced can not be
matched by any means with the rate of
development of resistance. In addition,the
improper use of drug, potentially increases
the risk of resistance to a greater extent. The
two most important approaches to minimize
antimalarial resistance are:
1. Prevent the spread of resistant
parasites.
It can be controlled by use of bed nets,
mosquito repellants and environmental control
like swamp drainage.
2. Prevention of malarial infection.
This will directly reduce the number of
cases and thereby the requirement of
antimalarial therapy.
The antimalarial drug presently available
is narrowing with the widespread resistance
to al l known classes of antimalar ia l
compounds, even the most recently introduced
class of drugs, artemisinins. They originate
from Chinese herb ginghago and the most
common derivatives of parent compound are
dihydroartemisinin, artesunate, artemether and
arteether. WHO has recommended the use of
artemisinin based combination therapies for
treating falciparum malaria in all countries.
The artemisinin has declined and there is
cur rent ly no subs ti tu te for precious
artemisinins.
The treatment of Malaria has almost
reached deadlock. In case the resistance to
artemisinins develops and spreadsmore widely,
we will be ultimately caught unarmed, without
any effective armaments to fight with this
deadlydisease. Lookingat thecurrent scenario,
the time has come to accelerate the antimalarial
drug discovery by explo ring various
approaches like repurposing the drugs that are
used for other infections or diseases, study
natural products with medicinal significance
for the treatment of malaria and target based
drug recovery. Hopefully, future discoveries
with proper execution may contribute to
control and eventually eradication of this
looming threat of malaria.
Malaria is preventable, treatable and
curable, yet it is the largest killer of children
in the world.
References ;
1. W.H.O. Bulletin- 2012.
2. Malaria Journal, March, 2012.
M.D., Ph.D (Medicine)Falariogist, Pathologist & Microbiologist.
M5/12, AcaryaVihar, BhubaneswarTele: 0674-2542934, email:[email protected]
11ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
INDIAN MATHEMATICS AND Mayadhar Swain
The year 2012 has been declared as the'National Year of Mathematics' by Govt. ofIndia, in recognition of the contribution of thegreat mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan(1887-1920) to mathematics. In his short lifespan, Ramanujan independently compliednearly 3900 results, mostly in number theory.In this year of mathematics, we can recollectthe achievements of Indian mathematicians asa whole. It may be noted that ancient Indianmathematicians had discoveredmany theoremsand formulae in mathematics. These wererediscovered much later in Europe buthistorians of mathematics have given credit tothe European mathematicians. However,gradually the achievements of Indianmathematicians are being revealed. Here wepresent the ach ievement s of Indianmathematics for .
What is ?
is a mysterious number which hasattracted the imagination of mathematicians
through the ages.
is defined as the ratio of perimeter
and diameter of a circle. This is being used by
middle level school students in their geometry
lessons.
The unique property of is that it is an
irrational number. If a number can not be
expressed as the ratio of two integers, it is
called an irrational number. 2 , 3 and e are
some of the examples of irrational numbers.
Mathematicians have tried for long to find
the exact value of and lastly it was
concluded that its exact value cannot be found
out and it is an irrational number. The Swiss
mathematician Jahann Heinrich Lambert
(1728-1777) proved its irrationality in 1761.
We use the value of as 22/7 or 3.14. But it
is an approximate one.
Another unique property of is that it
is a transcendental number. A transcendental
number is a number that is not the root of any
integer polynomial, meaning that it is not an
algebraic number of any degree. The German
mathematician Carl Luis Ferdinand Lindman
(1852-1939) discovered in 1882 that is a
transcendental number.
There is a compet it ion among
mathematicians to find the more accurate value
of . Now its value has been found out correct
to more than five trillion decimal points.
ScienceHorizon12
OCTOBER, 2012
The decimal representation of truncated to 50 decimal places is : =
3.141592653589793238462643383279502
88419716939937510…….
Although has been defined in relation
to circle, astonishingly it has found places in
many areas of mathematics, science andengineering. It has come up in many
mathematical and scientific formulae.
Early History
The Egyptians mentioned about in
their writings as early as 1650 BC. The
Babylonians around the same time used 25/8
or 3.125 as its value. Of course, at that time it
was not mentioned as . The symbol ,
which is the 16th letter of Greek alphabet was
first given by theWelsh mathematician William
Jones (1675-1749) in 1706 and was
popularized by Leonard Euler (1707-1783) in
his writings.
The Greek
m a t h e m a t i c i a n
Archemedes (287BC-212BC) gave the first
theoretical calculation of. He determined itsvalue between 223/71
and 22/7. He used a
circle and a regular polygon of 96 sides tofind this value. In the fifth century, the Chinese
mathematician TsuChung determined the value
of as 355/113, which is correct up to 7 digits.
During the 17th century, after the
invent ion of calcu lus, the Europeanmathematicians used the infinite series
expansion to find the value of . Before theadvent of computers, its value had been found
correct to 620 decimal places.
Indian Mathematics and
Indiahas a great tradition in mathematics.
It is found in the Vedas. Later mathematicianswere also astronomers. So to help them in
their study of astronomy, ancient Indianmathematicians have developed mathematics. is found in many works of the Indian
mathematicians. Shatapath Brahmana (writtenbetween 8th to 6th centuries BCE) gives the
value of as 339/108 = 3.139….
Sulva Sutra
The Baudhayana Sulva Sutra gives themethodof transformationofa square intoa circle
and viceversa, fromwhich thevalue of can becalculated. Some examples are given below:
(a) To transform a circle into a square, thediameter is divided into eight parts; one
[such] part after being divided intotwenty-nine parts is reduced by twenty-
eight of them and further by the sixth [ofthe part left] less the eighth [of the sixth
part].
(b) Alternatively, divide [the diameter] intofifteen parts and reduce it by two ofthem; this gives the approximate side of
the square [desired].
Archemedes
13ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
The construction method in (a) gives the
value of as 3.088 while the construction
method in (b) gives as 3.004.
Aryabhatta (476-550)
Aryabhatta in his book
Aryabhatiyam has written
that "Add four to 100,
multiply by eight, and then
add 62000. By this rule the
circumference of a circle with
a diameter of 20000 can be
approached." Fromthis we find the value of as 62832/20000 = 3.1416 and it is correct
up to four decimal points. Also Aryabhatta
has written that this is the approximate value
of and its exact value cannot be
determined. It means, he had known that it is
an irrational number.
Brahmagupta (598-670)
Brahmagupta has writtenin his bookBrahmasphutasidhanta that,
"The diameter and the squareof the radius multiplied by 3
are the practical circumferenceand the area of circle. Theaccurate values are the square roots from the
squares of those two multiplied by ten".
So Brahmagupta used 3 as a practicalvalue of and 10 as an accurate value of .
The Jain mathematician Nemichand (975) has
also taken this value of .
Bhaskaracharya (1114-1185)
Bhaskaracharya has given
value of as 3927/1250. It
seems that it is not his original
discovery. It is same as that given
by Aryabhatta except that both
the numerator and denominator
have been divided by 16. This value is also
found in the book of Lala (720-790).
Madhava (1350-1425)
Indian mathematical genius Madhava has
discovered the trigonometric series of sin (x),
cos (x), and tan-1(x). His series on tan-1(x) is,
tan-1x = x - x3/3 + x5/5 - ...
In the history of mathematics, it is known
as Gregory- Leibniz series. Because, not
knowing the discovery of Madhava, James
Gregory (1638-1675) and Gottfried Leibniz
(1640-1716) have rediscovered it in Europe
during the 17th century. This is now known as
Madhava Leibnizseries. InMadhava's formula,
putting x = 1, one can get the series for as,
tan-1(1) = /4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...
From this series, Madhava calculated
the approximate value of as
3.141592653592……, which is correct up to
11 decimal places. Historically this was a
great achievement, since the European
mathematicians at that time were far behind
this value.
Aryabhatta
Brahmagupta
Bhaskaracharya
ScienceHorizon14
OCTOBER, 2012
Madhava has given thefollowing formula
for the computation of the circumference c of
a circle having diameter as d.
2 2 22
2 3
12d 12d 12dc 12d ...3.3 3 .5 3 .7
Since c = d, this can be reformulated as a
formula to compute as follows:
2 3
1 1 112 1 ...
1.3 3 .5 3 .7
This is obtained by substituting x =/6
in the power series expansion for tan-1(x). In
Europe,Abraham Sharp discovered this series
in 1717. He calculated the value of correct
to 72 places using this series.
It is to be noted that Madhava was the
founder of the Kerala School of
Astronomy and Mathematics. No surviving
works of Madhava contain explicit
statements for tan -1(x), or . But in the
writings of later mathematicians of Kerala
like Nilakantha Somayaji (1444 -1544)
and Jyesthadeva (1500 - 1575), references
of Madhava are found.
Sankar Variyar (1500-1560)
The Kerala mathematicianSanker Variyar
in his book Kriyakramakari has written,
"Multiply 104348 with the diameter of the
circle and divide the product by 33215, you
will get the value of circumference." From
this we can get,
= 104348/33215 = 3.14159265391
Puthumana Somyaji (b1733)
Puthumana Somayaji, an astronomer-
mathematician of the Kerala School of
Astronomy and Mathematics has written the
book Karanapaddhati where value of is
given as:
1) 3 3 33 4 {1/(3 3) 1/(5 5) 1/(7 7) ...}
2) 3 6 {1/1.3.3.5 1/ 3.5.7.9
1/ 5.7.11.13 1/ 7.9.15.17 ...}
He has al so wri tt en , "Mul ti ply
10000000000 with the circumference of the
circle and divide the product by 31415926536,
you will get the diameter of the circle. Half of
this is radius". From this, the value of is
found to be 3.1415926536.
Sankar Varman (1774-1839)
Sankar Varman of Kerala School of
Astronomy and Mathematics has derived
value of correct to 17 decimal places in
his book Sadratnamala. He has written, "if
the diameter of a big circle becomes
100000000000000000, then its
circumference will be
314159265358979324". From this, the
value of will be 3.14159265358979324.
Srinivas Ramanujan
SrinivasRamanujan discoveredsomenew
series for in 1910, but their importance
was felt longafter his death when his formulae
15ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
were used conveniently
in computer to find more
accurate values of .
One most quoted and
wonderful formula for
as discovered by
Ramanujan is given
below.
4 4kk 0
1 2 2 (4k)!(1103 26390k)9801 (k!) 396
Ramanujan had discovered the following
two interesting series on :
2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...202 3 5 7 8 11 12
Here the denominators are the integers
with an odd number of prime divisors.
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9...
2 3 5 7 8 11 13 17 2
Here the denominators are the integers
containing an odd number of dissimilar prime
divisors.
Conclusion
Mathematics flourished in India startingfrom the Vedic period up to fifteenth century.
Of course, after that there were no important
discoveries in mathematics in India tillnineteenth century. It may be due to the turmoil
at political and social level during that time.
Then a genius named SrinivasRamanujan wasborn in India. Among his other discoveries in
mathematics, his series on has a special
Srinivas Ramanujan
place in the history of mathematics. These are
now being used by modern mathematicians to
find the accurate values of up to millions of
places using computers.
Reference
1. Joseph, G. G. (2000). The Crest of thePeacock, non-EuropeanrootsofMathematics.Princeton and Oxford: Princeton UniversityPress.
2. Srinivasiengar, C. N. (1967). The History ofAncient IndianMathematics. The World PressPrivate Ltd, Calcutta.
3. Datta, B. andSingh, A. N. (1962). HistoryofHindu Mathematics, a source book, Parts 1and 2, (single volume). Bombay: AsiaPublishingHouse.
4. Kim Plofker (2009). Mathematics in India.Princeton:Princeton University Press.
5. T.A. Sarasvati Amma (2007). Geometry inAncient and Medieval India. MotilalBanarsidass Publishers Limited.
6. Bag , Amulya Kumar (1966)."Trigonometrical seriesin theKaranapaddhatiand the probable date of the text". IndianJournalofHistoryof Science(IndianNationalScience Academy) 1 (2).
7. Rao, S. Balachandra (1994): IndianMathematics and Astronomy : SomeLandmarks, Jnana Deep Publications,Bangalore.
8. Beckman, Peter, History of Pi, St. Martin'sPress, 1989.
Deputy General Manager,MECON Limited, Ranchi
E-mail: [email protected]
ScienceHorizon16
OCTOBER, 2012
A GREAT INDIAN MATHEMATICIANSulochana Mangaraj
Ifyou cananswer thefollowing questions
correctly, you will find the name of the greatIndian mathematician appearing vertically in
the central thick lined boxes.
1. A pit or depression found in a bone.
2. A closed plane figure having three sidesand three angles.
3. A nonmetallic liquid, somewhat like
chlorine and iodine and gives off anirritating vapor.
4. The diseasecaused by Bacillus Anthracis.
5. A compound in which a metal issubstituted for one of the hydrogen
atoms of ammonia.
6. The thick, outer, spongy tissue coveringthe aerial roots of epiphytic orchids.
7. The protein coat of a virus.
8. An equilateral parallelogram usually
having two acute angles and two obtuseangles.
9. A reptile that has a third eye on top of its
head.
10. The first man-made fibre from cellulose.
11. An order of Amphibia living near waterand feeding upon earthworms.
12. Any device or apparatus in which data
may be stored and from which it may beretrieved.
13. A plane curve formed by the intersectionof a right circular cone with a planeparallel to a generating straight line ofthat surface.
14. A fatty substance present in the corkcells of many plants.
15. The number obtained by adding two ormore numbers.
16. A fluid naturally contained in plant oranimal tissue.
17. A line segment going straight from thecentre to the circumference of a circle.
18. Any member of a kingdom of amulticellular organisms that producetheir own food by photosynthesis.
A great Indian mathematician - SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN
Science Teacher, Kostha New Govt. High School,
Bidyadhara, Mangaraj, Walliganj,W. No.-2, Bhanjpur, Mayurbhanj. 757002
12
34
56
78
9
1011
1213
1415
1617
18
ANSWER
1. FOSSA, 2. TRIANGLE, 3. BROMINE, 4. ANTHRAX,
5. AMIDE, 6. VELAMEN, 7. CAPSID, 8. RHOMBUS,
9. TUATARA, 10. RAYON, 11. APODA, 12. MEMORY,
13. PARABOLA, 14. SUBERIN, 15. SUM, 16. JUICE,
17. RADIUS, 18. PLANT.
17ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST- J B S HALDANEBibhuprasad Mohapatra
A two-year-old boy named Jack was
making curious faces at the mirror before
him. His mother Louisa Kathleen saw the
child's activity & asked him what he was up
to. The boy replied "Trying to copy dogs,
Mummy". The idea of experimenting upon
himself was to remain with John Burdon
Sanderson Haldane FRS known as Jack, a
Briti sh-born geneti cist and biologist ,
generally credited with a central role in the
development of neo-Darwinian thinking.
J B S was born on
November 5, 1892 at
Oxford. He grew up in the
house of his father John
Scot t Ha ldane' s
laboratory. In hi s
childhood John Scott
Haldane CH FRS (May 3,
1860 - March 14/March 15, 1936) began to
toy with scientific apparatus and began to help
his father in his experiments (at the age of
eight). His father an FRS, was a Scottish
physiologist famous for intrepid self-
experimenting, which led to many important
discoveries about the human body and the
nature of gases. His son Jack accompanied
with him on various hazardous scientific trips
into deep mines. J B S learnt several languages.
At the age of 16 i.e. in 1908, he got Russell
prize, which was named after Bertrand Russell
for his brilliance in mathematics.
He had hisbasic education in humanities.
Under the guidanceof his father he didresearch
at Oxford in Physiology, the science of living
systems. Human physiology includes study of
organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and
bio-molecules which carry out the chemical,
mechanical, physical, bioelectrical, and
biochemical functions of humans in good
health. He joined in Cambridge University in
1922 and did research in biochemistry, also
called biological chemistry, a study of
chemical processes in living organisms,
including, but not limited to living matter.
He started research under Sir Frederick
Gowland Hopkins OM FRS, the discoverer of
vitamins (20 June 1861 - 16 May 1947), was
an English biochemist who was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in
1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the
discovery of vitamins. He had discovered the
amino acid, tryptophan, in 1901. J B S became
interested in genetics, the science of genes,
heredity, and variation. His brilliant work led
J B S Haldane
ScienceHorizon18
OCTOBER, 2012
him to be elected a Fellow of The Royal
Society in 1932. He joined as Professor
of Genetics in University College, London
in 1933.
J B S made contributions to several
diverse subjects like mathematics, cosmology,
biochemistry, physiology, medicine, evolution
and genetics. He used mathematics (queen of
all sciences) in his biological researches. His
observations on were interesting :
"If you are faced with a difficulty or a
controversy in science, an ounce of algebra is
worth a ton of verbal argument". He used
mathematics in genetics. His most significant
contribution is an estimation of the rate of
mutation of a human gene. Mutations are
accidental changes in a genomic sequence of
DNA: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome
or the DNA or RNA which enables a child to
inherit a characteristic totally absent in his
or her parents. He calculated that mutation
occurs once for every 50,000 people, per
generation. He was able to show that Charles
Robert Darwin's theory of evolution is
correct. He also explained how life could
have originated on the earth from a "hot
dilute soup" of certain chemicals.
Some of his discoveries in biochemistry
have already become laws of enzyme
chemistry.
Enzymes are biological molecules,
organic catalysts which assist in catalyzing
some chemical processes, occurring inside a
livingbody. He studied how chemicals, carbon
dioxide gas, ice cold temperature affect breath.
From these studies he also discovered a cure
for tetanus & convulsions.
J B S was not only a scientist confined
to the laboratory, but he had also personal
courage to serve the nation and unconditional
devotion towards common people. He was
also a social worker who fought for common
causes.From his childhood days, when he
used to meet miners & fisherman, he had
developed respect for the common man.
During World War II (1939-1945), he
criticised the inadequate air raid precautions
taken by the British Government.
He wrote on varied subjects from
genetics to politics. Some of his most famous
books are:
Possible Worlds and other essays and
Biochemistry of genetics,On Being the right
size and other essays and the causes of
evolution, What is life? and Science & Ethics.
J B S also wrote popular science articles and
gave lectures. He also wrote "My friend, Mr
Leakey" for the benefit of children. In science
popularisation his writings are at par with
19ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
those of Julian Huxley (1887-1975), the
eminent eugenicist.
He left U.K in 1957 and came to live in
India, a country he had come to love during his
several visits. He was inspired by Hindu
philosophy, the Hindu way of life & the
principle of non-violence.
The Bhagavad Gita impressed him. He
even liked the dhoti & kurta and used to wear
them. He knew that India contained a large
variety of animals & plants(fauna & flora) in
large numbers. He gave lectures on scientific
topics at various places and also guided young
scientists in their research. He was appointed
a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute
(ISI), Calcutta, and later became Director of
Gene ti cs & Biometry Laboratory, in
Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
On 1 December 1964 , at the age of 72,
he died of colon cancer at Bhubaneswar. He
was survived by his wife, Helen Spurway
(1915-1978), and his younger sister, Naomi
Mitchison.
Haldane wrote a comic & cheerful
poem," Cancer's a Funny Thing", while in the
hospital, mocking his own incurable disease,
which is considered to be one of the best
poems written on a scientific subject.
Rayagada Head Post OfficeMob:- 8270083653
MAKE YOUR OWNBAROMETER MODEL
NikunjaBihariSahu
A Barometer is an
inst rument used in
meteo ro logy to
measure atmospheric
pressure. A common
Barometer uses
mercury as an indicator
for pressure exerted by
the atmosphere. The first Barometer of this
type was devised by an Italian physicist, named
Evangelista Torricelli in 1643.
Pressure tendency over a region can
forecast short termchanges in weather. Normal
atmospheric pressure at sea level is equivalent
to 76 cm of mercury column. While a slowly
risingatmospheric pressure, typically indicates
settled weather, a sudden drop in pressure
often forecasts an approaching storm with
heavy rain and wind (sometimes called
Cyclones). On the contrary, a rising pressure
indicates a fine, dry, and windy weather
(sometimes called Anti-cyclones). Because
barometers are quite reliable devices in
forecasting weather, these are widely used.
Indeed, these make great gifts! The following
project describes the basic principles of a
barometer in its most simplified version.
ScienceHorizon20
OCTOBER, 2012
What Do You Need
A plastic jar, a plastic container, two
good quality balloons ( one big and the other
small), cello-tape, cotton thread, small piece
of paper, three pieces drinking straw (good
quality) each nearly-6 cm long, pen, Fevicol
or any other glue, paper cutter knife, pin etc.
How To Make it
Tear the small balloon with knife and
attach the balloon sheet on the mouth of the
small container by stretching it tightly and
fixing the edges with cotton thread and cello-
tape. Pierce a hole at the centre of this
balloon sheet with the pin and insert a small
straw (called the Central straw) vertically
into the hole air-tightly. This straw should be
sealed at its upper end with a drop of glue.
Fix a second straw (to serve as our Pointer
straw), at the top of the central straw with a
pin. The Pointer straw should be supported
on another straw (with a pin) which is fixed
vertically on the wall of the container with
cello-tape. Put the small container inside the
plastic jar.Attach a large balloon sheet on the
mouth of the jar following the method already
discussed.
Do and Observe
Pull up the balloon sheet on the top of
the plastic jar with hand. The air inside the jar
expands simulating low pressure condition.
The balloon sheet on the mouth of the small
container swells up due to the higher pressure
of air inside it. This makes the central straw to
go up that pushes the Pointer straw to move
down. Thelinkage system of thestraws enables
the displacement to be magnified to indicate
the pressure change clearly. Similary, press
the balloon sheet on the jar down. The
compressed air creates a higher pressure
outside the small container, and hence, the
Pointer straw moves up.Apaper strip (marked
with 'Normal Pressure', 'Low Pressure' and
'High Pressure' with pen) may be fixed on the
wall of the jar facing the Pointer straw to
indicate the pressure change.
There you have a Barometer Model !
Education Officer, Regional Science Centre,Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Bhubaneswar-751013,
Phone : 9938974485
21ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
JUNK FOOD AND ITS EFFECT ON HEALTHChitroptala Devadarshini
Our diet has radically changed over the
decades. In Indian traditional diet, people used
to have full meals consisting of a variety of
foods such as rice, chapatti, dal, vegetables,
and meat preparationsalongwith papad, pickles
and sweet dishes. Over a period of time, lots
of changes have taken place due to changes in
lifestyle and due to the influence of the
western culture on our food habits. Our diet
has undergonea radicalchangeover the decades
and the so called "junkfoods" have become an
integral part of our diet. The junk foods are
tasty, readily available and some are quite
inexpensive. All these attributes have
contributed to their popularity, especially
among the children and teenagers.
What are junk foods ?
Junk foods are referred to those packaged
foods readily available in the market. These
have limited nutritional value and are usually
high in salt, sugar, fat or calories. Generally
they offer very little nutrients in terms of
protein, vitamins and minerals but lots of
calories from sugar and/or fat, ultimately
providing us empty calories.
Should junk foods be totally avoided ?
Junk foods can be eaten occasionally but
not in excess. Foods like potato chips,
chocolates, cakes, pastries, lollies, soft drinks,
burgers, pizzas etc are high in salt, sugar, and/
or fat. They should be enjoyed only
occasionally. If they are consumed in excess
amounts, instead of nutritious meals, the
person is likely to become over weight and
may also develop diseases due to deficiencies
of vitamins, minerals, which may lead to other
health complications.Howoften and how much
one can have these junk foods depends on his/
her weight, age and activity pattern. For
example, if a person is overweight, physically
active and consumes nutritious and balanced
diet, then these foods can only be consumed
2-3times in a week. More of these could be
consumed only if one is active and not over
weight, and the daily requirement of all
nutrients get fulfilled.
Are all junk foods bad ?
If one points out that potato chips are
baddue to lack ofnutrients, then white polished
rice also lacks many nutrients like high quality
proteins, vitamins and minerals etc. Parboiled,
hand -pound rice is superior in nutrient content
to white polished rice. However rice with dal
becomes a good nutritious combination, but
the rice and dal are poor in vitamins and
minerals, and with the addition of vegetables it
ScienceHorizon22
OCTOBER, 2012
is a more nutritious meal. Although in junk
foods, there is excess of calories from
carbohydrates and fat, it is not as bad as one
gets an impression. It is only the
combination and excess of any food that is
to be avoided.
Various salts, carbohydrates and fats are
the synonyms for the villains of present day
dietitian's vocabulary. However without
adequate amount of these "villains", foods
would beblandand would not bevery palatable.
So we need adequate nutritious foods for
various functions of our body.
What are the effects of junk foods onchildren ?
Junk foods are really high on fats,
carbohydrates and hence calories, which make
them, low on nutritional value. Junk food and
childhood obesity are very much interrelated
due to the popularity of these foods like pizza,
burger etc. Children, as well as their parents,
are not much aware of the following facts
about junk food.
Carbohydrates /Sugars
High sugar levels make the children more
prone to develop type 2 diabetes. Getting
affected by diabetes at such an early age reduces
or inhibits the insulin production in their body,
which is very harmful.
Fats/Oils
Saturated fats in the junk foods are very
harmful for the kid'shealth. They heighten the
level of bad choles te ro l (LDL) and
triglycerides in blood, leading to many
problems that were not usually associated
with child age, like ailments of heart and other
cardiovascular diseases leading to dyslipidemia
and coronary heart diseases.
Salt
Excessive salt levels in fast food
ultimately results in high blood pressure which
leads to rupture and cracking of the arteries
and veins. To repair these blood vessels, the
body accumulates lipoprotein and converts it
into cholesterol that ultimately resulting in
high cholesterol level in the blood. Moreover,
preservative salts like monosodium glutamate
(Aji no Moto) can induce cancer when
consumed in excess.
Other effects
Children at their growing age need a lot
of vitamins and minerals like Iron, Cobalt,
Zinc, Copper etc. High consumption of junk
foods make the children more prone to
conditions like loss of appetite, constipation,
fatigue, exhaustion, lack of concentration and
diseases like anemia are caused due to Iron
and Copper deficiencies. Junk foods are very
23ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
high on starch and tasty consequently these
cause food cravings of the children. Due to
high consumption of junk food the healthy
foods like vegetables, fruits and other natural
food has almost vanished from the daily diet
of some children, which further results in the
calcium deficiencies that affect bone
developments and thus impair growth.
What should be done ?
Several problems occur when junk foods
are consumed in excess by the children.
Children get carried away by the TV ads
featuring cinema idols promoting these
products. This has adverse effect on them
when consumed in excess. The children do not
feel hungry for the nutritious meals and
ultimately get less nutrition. If excess amount
of these foods are consumed with respect to
other nutrients, then calories become
excessive and it results in obesity.
Public awareness regarding the nutrition
is most important. Many parents are not well
equipped in planning a meal due to lack of
knowledge on nutrition and functions of
different nutrients in our body. They need to
be educated by the nutritionist/ dietician so
that, they can plan a balanced meal and thus
provide their children a balanced diet as per
the growth requirements. The Recommended
Dietary Allowances (RDA) for Indians, by
National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad
suggests that for best health, children should
"enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods".
This means eating different food types to
obtain all the required nutrientswithout excess
energy (calorie) intake. Variety also refers to
choosing a wide range of foods from within
each food group, particularly from the plant-
based food groups (Fruits, Vegetables,
Legumes and Cereals). It is also important to
have plenty of water as part of one's diet.
Now as these foods are replaced by junk
foods, children miss many important
nutrients, as a result their physical and mental
growth are stunted.
References
www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
www.diet.com/g/glossary
WWW. Indiaparenting.com
http://www.discover-yoga-online.com/junk-
food-facts.html
Patel. N, Impact of junk food on obesity and
nutritional intake. In Touch, Heinz Nutrition
Foundation India. Vol-7 (3). Oct-Dec 2005
Assistant Professor (Foods &Nutrition),College of Home Sciences, O.U.A.T, Bhubaneswar
ScienceHorizon24
OCTOBER, 2012
SCIENCE BEHIND LIGHTNINGAND THUNDERKamalakanta Jena
Thunder and lightning are common
phenomena in rainy seasons. When the
brilliant silvery line of the lightning glitters
over the clouded sky, our eyes are closed
and we wait for an explosive sound of
thunder. The sound can easily vibrate our
whole heart. We try to locate the culprit who
creates such frightening situations. People
were ignorant about its root till the 18th
century. However, Benjamin Franklin in 1752
came to know that the cause of lightning is
the charge accumulated in the cloud. To be
frank, many aspects about the lightning and
thunder are yet to be understood.
Charging of Cloud
Most rain clouds are negatively charged
at the base and positively charged at the top.
The concrete mechanism behind the charging
of clouds is not fully understood. Still it could
be exp la ined with two hypo theses .
Experiments have shown that when dilute
solutions of water are frozen, the ice gains a
negative charge but the water retains a positive
charge. As we know, water molecules, on
getting sufficient energy, may escape from its
surface. We call it the process of evaporation
that can take place at any normal temperature.
The watervapours so obtained from the rivers,
oceans and even ponds beinglighter, rise up in
air. Up above the sky, it gradually experiences
a decreasing atmospheric pressure. The low
pressure there causes the expansion of the
water vapours and hence lowering of
temperature. It leads towards condensation
and the vapour now alters into infinitesimally
small water droplets. The air could carry those
droplets further above and the droplets get
converted into frozen particles. If, after
freezing has started, rising air tears small
droplets of water away from the frozen
particles, the positive dropletsare concentrated
in the upper part of the cloud and the larger
negative ice particles fall toward the base.
On the other hand, the cloud particles
may move up and down due to change in
temperature of air at different layers. In this
process the particles get charged due to
friction. Experiments have also shown that,
25ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
swiftly falling large drops of water become
negatively charged, whereas, slowly falling
small drops become positively charged. The
polarization of a thundercloud may thus be
due to the rates at which large and small
raindrops fall. Whatever may be the process,
the cloud possesses a region of positive
charges in its upper part and a negative centre
at the base.
Mechanism of Lightning
All of us are familiar with the attraction
of paper scraps by a comb run over dry hairs.
It is because the comb loses electrons during
friction against the dry hairs. Thus the comb
gets positively charged. When shown to the
scraps, it could induce opposite charges in the
near end of the paper scraps. That is why the
scraps, due to Coulomb's law of electrostatic
forces, are attracted towards the oppositely
charged comb. In a similar fashion the lower
negative charge centre of cloud induces a
positive charge region on the surface of earth
beneath the cloud. But the flow of charges
between the cloud and the earth can not take
place due to heavy electrical resistance of the
separating air medium. However, an electrical
potential difference is established between
theearth's surfaceand the cloud.As thequantity
of cloud increases, the quantity of charge
increases. The Coulomb's attraction increases
alongwith the potential difference between
the positive and negative regions.
When the electrical potential difference
between two clouds or between a cloud andthe earth crosses a sufficiently high value at
about 10,000 volts per cm, the air could no
longer remain insulator. Rather it becomescharged (ionized) along a narrowpath allowing
the charges on the cloud to flow towards the
surface of earth producing a great electriccurrent.As a result, a lightning flash is created.
This is known as leader stroke of lightning,
which is not so bright. Now the chargesaccumulated on the earth's surface get a
conducting path to flow towards the cloud.
The flash so created is called a return stroke.Both the strokes meet at about 50 metres
above the ground. The leader stroke takes
about 0.02 second to reach the point and thereturn stroke could reach at the cloud within
0.00007 second. The air particles in the path
ScienceHorizon26
OCTOBER, 2012
get hot due to this short circuitry and the
electric discharge is seen in the form of a
brilliant arc, sometimes several kilometers
long, stretching between the discharge ends.
The shiningelectric discharge between charged
clouds or bright electric discharge between a
cloud and the earth is known as lightning.
Causes behind Thunder
Thunder is the explosive sound produced
by an ordinary lightning discharge. A current
of 20,000 amperes flows during lightning. For
comparison, it may be mentioned that the
current which flows in the wires of our
household electrical appliances is about 2-3
amperes. About 5 ampere current could heat
up the heater coil up to a temperature of 500
oC. (Of course, the heat generation depends
upon the resistance of the path too.) So, the
lightning bolt heats the air around it to a high
temperature of about 10,000° C within a few
millionths of a second. As a result of this the
volume of the air in the path expands thousand
folds so quickly. It suddenly pushes the nearby
air molecules (comparatively at rest) apart
with great force, which sets them into a strong
vibration, much like in an explosion.Awave of
compressed air (a sound wave) with a great
frequency moves out from the lightning bolt.
This could reach our ear to vibrate our ear
membrane. This vibration may cause the notion
of a loud sound in our mind. We call it thunder.
Lightning often occurs in groups of several
bolts very close to each other, and sound
waves from different bolts mix to form a
continuous sound. Echoes from hills or other
reflecting objects contribute to the rumbling
effect.
Thunder Follows Lightning
The above description implies that both
lightn ing and thunder are crea ted
simultaneously. But the light travels as much
as 2,99,792,458 metres in one second,
whereas the sound travels only a distance of
332 metres. Thus, light from the lightning
travels about 9,00,000 times faster to reach
our eye and we see the lightning arc, so to say,
in no time gap. But the slowly moving sound
takes some time to reach our eardrum. This
causes the thunder to follow lightning. The
distance between an observer and the lightning
bolt may be estimated by counting the number
of seconds between the lightning and the
thunder. For example, the thunder heard after
3 seconds time lag means that the lightning
bolt occurs at a distance of 1 kilometre.
Thunder can seldombe heard from a site more
than 24 km away.
Protective Measures
The fundamental property of current is
that it selects a low resistance path for the
flow of charge. Obviously a metallic rodpossesses lower electrical resistance as
compared to a building structure. Therefore,
buildings can be protected from lightning by
27ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
providing them with metallic lightning rods
extending to the ground, from a point above
the highest part of the roof. Power lines and
radio sets with external aerials are protected
against lightningby lightningarresters between
the line and ground wire. A lightning arrester
is nothing but a small gas-filled gap that could
offer a high resistance to ordinary voltages.
But a lightning discharge with a potential of
tens of millions of volts can easily ionize the
gas and provide a low-resistance path to earth
for this discharge. In ships' a free wire
connected to the lightning rod is extended
into the water.
The idea that lightning never strikes twicein the same place is erroneous. Photographic
evidence shows that skyscrapers and other tall
structures may be struck many times in thecourse of a single storm. One should not make
a mistake to rest under a tall tree during
thunderstorm. There is more that a tall tree to
be struck by lightning. It is safer lying flat on
the ground in the open. It is seen that themagnetic lines of force can remain inside a
metallic enclosure but not the electric lines.
Then the safest place for you outdoors in athunderstormmaybe inside your metal-bodied
car.
Again, the loudness of thunder sound is
another problem. It may cause damage to
hearing. Because the loudness of normal
conversation is only 30 decibel, whereas that
of thunder is about 120 decibel.A level of 130
decibel can cause permanent deafness.
Therefore, one should keep closing one's ears
with hands if lightning appears.
Conclusion
It seems that both lightning and thunderare harmful. However, lightning has some
good effects. The soil is enriched with nitrogen
that is released from the atmosphere bylightning and carried to the ground by
raindrops. Some scientists believe that
lightning may have been a key element inthe origin of life on earth, creating from
simple eleme nts complex chemi cal
compounds that gave rise to living matter.
Head, Department of Physics,Govt. Women's Jr. College, Sundargarh
Mob - 9439501651Email - [email protected]
ScienceHorizon28
OCTOBER, 2012
IRRIGATION OF TAIL-ENDAREAS OF CANALSIN DELTAIC REGIONS OF ODISHA
Akshaya Bandhu Pattanaik
Introduction
Major portions of the deltaic areas of
old Balasore, Cuttack and Puri districts arepresently beingirrigated by old and new major
irrigation systems of the Mahanadi, Brahmani,Baitarani and Salandi. During crop season
demand for supply of sufficient quantity ofwater, particularly at the tail-end reaches of
the canals is growing since a few decades.
The old canal system, which was
supplying sufficient quantity of water duringthe last 100 years, are found to be inadequatefor meeting the present day crop requirements.
The project planning and water management
of the new system are blamed for this unhappysituation. The rainfall records of the last fewdecades do not show any marked deviation in
comparison to those of the earlier decades.
Moreover the crop acreage has not increasedbeyond the designed figure.
Factors affecting demand and supplyof water :
The factors which affect the requirementand supply of water to the irrigated areas can
be arranged in three broad groups namelynatural, socialandadministrative, and technical.
Although, eachof these factors described
below individually may not be importantenough but jointly they have created the present
situation of water scarcity in the tail-end areas
of canals.
Natural Factors
The characteristics of the land, the soil
and the weather, which can not be controlled
artificially, with reasonable cost, but whichdetermine the demand and supply of water for
thecrop, have been consideredwhile designing
the irrigation system. With passage of time,
the ayacut, in the old system, has become
levelled, water retention capacity of the soil
has improved and the general weather patternhas not changed much.
Social and Administrative factors
In this group, factors having social and
administrative origin are analyzed. Any
remedial measure to counter the adverse
effects of these factors will require a longperiod to bring the desired improvement.
i. The Land
The land, which is the main livelihood
of the villagers, has been extensively used and
fragmented, giving average size of holdings of
about0.3 acres.Although the general variationin the ground level is low, the local variation
from plot to plot is considerable, mainly due
to spill channels and sand mounds developed
during the period of uncontrolled floods.
29ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
For the best utilization of irrigation water,the area coming under command of an out-let
shouldnecessarily have a gentle and continuous
down-ward slope, away from an out-let. For
this, comparatively sandy mounds seen
scattered all over the ayacut in the new system
and occasionally in the old systemrequire to be
levelled up. Fragmented and undulated land
requires more water for irrigation.
ii . Crop-Pattern
During khariff season mostly paddy is
grown. After harvesting jute, paddy is again
transplanted.
The acreage under high yielding varieties
which are mostly transplanted, have definite
periods from sowing upto transplantation and
then,upto flowering stage.During transplanting
and flowering stages water requirements are
high. After transplantation and application of
fertilizers, water is prevented from flowing
through the plots. This alongwith the field-to-field flow method of irrigation; more or less
compel s the bene fi ci ar ie s to go fo r
transplantation of the entire area coming under
the command of one outlet within a short
period. The old and new irrigation systems
have not been designed to meet this enlarged
requirement. This situation is again repeated
during the flowering stage of the crop.
During rabi irrigation high yielding
varieties of dalua paddy have almost replaced
the traditional pulses. The scarcity of water
supply during transplantation and flowering
stages of dalua paddy is felt more in the
absence of rain.
Earlier, acreage coming under
transplantationwas less, puddlingperiodofwell
grownplants and the flowering period of plants
coming under command of an outlet were well
diversified, resulting in a comparatively smaller
peak in water requirement.
iii) Method of Irrigation
The age-old practice of field-to-field-
flow irrigation, although inefficient, is likely
to be followed for a considerable period, till
the consolidation programme is completed
and field channels with independent outlets
for each or a small group of plots are
constructed and successfully operated. As a
result, large percentage of valuable water (of
the order of 30%) is being wasted as surface
flow and as infiltration loss into the sub-soil,
creating the problem of drainage and water
logging in the low lying areas. Fertilizers and
insecticides used in the crop are also getting
washed away.
Moreover, the gently undulating lands,
because of the present method of irrigation,
need large quantity of water for storage in the
lower areas to irrigate isolated patches of
high land. This phenomenon is abundant in
new systems where land development work
will probably take a few more decades in the
absence of any organized effort.
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OCTOBER, 2012
iv. Arrangement for canal crossings
At canal crossings with restrictedwaterways, considerable head lossalso occurs.
The head loss is high in respect of hume pipeculverts so extensively used for rural roads and
for this no provision exists in theproject design.Temporary wooden crossings also cause such
losses although of lessermagnitude. In addition,cattle crossings and bathing ghats often cause
reduction in the height of canal banks and infree-board i.e. height of canal top above full
water supply level.
v. Other uses of canal
Duringseasonal closures, fishing bunds,six inches to a foot high, are erected at close
intervals of 100 ft. or so in almost all canals.These bunds, if not removed, cause
considerable head loss in addition to reducingthe effective sectional area of canals.
The canal system is also used for bathing
and other community uses like seasoning of
bamboo bundles, and jute plants. Even duringwarm period, buffaloes are allowed to takerest inside the canal for hours together. These
cause unforeseen head losses and reduction in
effective sectional area.
vi. Damage to the canal embankmentsand structures.
The beneficiaries need large quantity of
water within a shor t pe riod dur ingtransplantation and flowering stages of the
paddy crop. As the system can not meet the
enhanced requirements, farmers in their
anxiety to get required quantity of water as
perceived by them, cut canal embankments,
damage the structures, and dislocate the canal
control structures, throwing the entire flow
system out of the delicate balance. During
one irrigation season, it was observed that
about 20% of the cuts were made to irrigate
(1) high patches of land by filling surrounding
low plots with water and (2) patches of land,
kilometers away and not under the command
of the irrigation system. Rest of the cuts
were made (3) to fill ponds (4) to catch fish
(5) to cut off supply to villagers in the lower
reaches in settlement of their old political or
other differences.
Once a cut is made people do not bother
to repair it, resulting in prolonged disruption
in water supply.
Technical Factors
i. Design of distribution system.
For successful growth of crop from
seedling to harvesting stage, sufficient quantity
of water at required time and head needs to be
available at the outlet end. While designing
canal sections some of the important
parameters like silt grade, charge, bed surface
characteristics have not either been considered
or given due importance.For a canal, minimum
width of land is being acquired, sometimes
even at the cost of normal design requirements.
31ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
Simila rl y, dur ing operat ion and
maintenance, attempts to solve the problem ofscarcity supply of water, in a localized manner,
have further deviated the flow from thedesigned condition. The bed load and its
mediumsize diameter and suspended loads ofa canal taking off from a reservoir are low in
comparison to those of a deltaic canal.Adoption of rules framed for design of former
type of canals to the latter has resulted inshallower and wider unstable channels with
tendency to silt up.
ii . Keeping in view the topography of the
area and economy of construction, designershave kept canal slopes varying from 1:4000 to
1:10000. This gives wider and shallowerchannels which result in silting and growth of
aquatic weeds particularly in minor and sub-minor canals resulting in comparatively high
head loss and reduction of channel capacity.
ii i. Provisions of insufficient driving headat the head regulators and for meeting the
contingent requirements discussed earlierhave reduced the discharge to tail-ends of
these canals.
iv. At places, in order to minimize the landacquisition pairs of canals on either side of
drainage channels have been provided. Inthickly populated areas, attempts were also
made where possible to align canals throughold drainage channels with the idea that in
course of time these channels would be filledup with the si lt in the canal water.
Unfortunately, till this process is completed,
which may take few more decades, theirrigation of the command area of these
channels will not be efficient. This has beenthe case in many of these channels particularly
in the new system.
v. Canals in sandy reaches running parallel
to rivers or streams have not been providedwith lining to economise the project
expenditure . It was hoped that, in course oftime, these reaches of canal banks would
become impervious by filling up of intersticeswith silt from percolating canal water. Almost
every year during monsoon when parent riveris in spate and supply to the system is reduced,
sudden drawdownandslips in canal bankoccur,particularly when the river or stream in other
side of canal has high water level after such asituation happens there is less rainfall in the
ayacut.This is further aggravatedandprolongeddue to flood routing in upstream reservoirs
and gradual release of flood accumulation atsubsequent stages . These sl ips cause
reduction in canal cross sectional area and inits carrying capacity. Experiences with old
system, of more than hundred years old donot substant iate above assumption of
development of impervious layer along wettedperimeter with time.
vi. Sometimes, in anxiety, temporary or
permanent type of cross bunds or regulatorsare constructed as localized remedial measures
to tide over the difficult situation of
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OCTOBER, 2012
insufficient water supply at required headduring peak seasonal demands. These
structures, instead of easing the situation,worsen it. They cause more head loss and
sometimes due to rise in water level the drawalfrom the head regulator of parent channel
reduces. The backwater effect of such headingup travelling up a few miles in absence of
falls, sometimes even upto the main canalhead regulator, resulting in reduction of main
canal discharge has been observed.
vii. Similarly, sometimes construction of
extra outlet beyond the design provision arepermitted which allows more than the allottedshare of water in the uupper reaches, starving
the cropin the tail end reachesofthese channels.
viii. Aeration of soil during a crop season is
periodically required for increasing the yield.This can be achieved by proper draining of the
ayacut with administration of controlled dosesof irrigation water. This will reduce the extent
of waterlogged area which has increasedsubstantially in recentyears, owingto extensive
daluapaddy cultivation.
ix. Construction of distribution system :While constructing the distribution system
the principle of avoiding land acquisition, asmuch as possible, has been followed. As a
consequence of this decision, earth for thecanal banks has been borrowed to a large
extent from the bed making the depth of flowmore than the designed value. At places, one
bank of the canal has only been provided for
utilizing the existing road with all its side
borrow pits as the other bank.
These deviations from design conditions
have resulted, presently, in an unstable channelwith comparatively high head loss. If proper
and continuous attention during maintenanceperiod is given, the designed condition may
develop due to sifting in a period of a decadeor so.
x. Opera ti on and Maint enance of
distribution system : Periodic silt clearanceof the canals have lowered at many places the
channel bed below the field level. The siitclearance normally covers the work of removal
of silt alongwith weeds. Oftenweed clearance,not the silt clearance, is needed particularly
for tail-end reaches of small channels.
During rabi season water turbidity is atits lowest causing extensive weed growth even
in main canals. For proper water supply totair-end reaches weed clearance at least twice
during rabi irrigation seems to be a necessity.
Remedial measures
In order to improve upon the present
situation, short term remedial measures maybe taken up immediately till suitable
interventions of more permanent nature areevolved.
i. Immediate measures : Some of the
measures which can give lasting relief andcan be taken up immediately have also been
grouped in this list of immediate measures.
33ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
These me asures, which are mostly
administrative and technical in nature, do not
depend on long time observations required
for bringing improvements in design, water
management, crop pattern and social attitude.
ii . Administrative measures : All cases of
unauthorized acts like, manipulation of canal
structures; constructions of outlets, cross and
fishing bunds; cutting of canal embankments
should be dealt with strictly according to thelaw by the technical and administrative
organizations . The present canal laws do not
give sufficient scope to the technical
organizations to deal with such cases
effectively, rather it makes these unauthorized
acts subjects of dual control. Removal of the
anomaly in the law will bring considerable
improvement in the present situation.
ii i. Technical measures : While authorizing
constructions of new outlets, bridges, cross-
regulators etc. overall design of the system
may have to be studied with a view to find
adverse effects, if any, of such constructions.
Any attempt to solve local problem withoutconsidering the entire system may put the
system out of balance and create similar or
more severe problems elsewhere.
iv. Ob st ructions li ke ba th ing ghat s,
temporary wooden bridges, hume pipe culverts,
etc. though necessary may have to be reduced
in number. Wherever possible, hume pipe
culverts and temporary bridges are to be
replaced by canal crossings which do not
interfere with the canal water way.
v. Earthen grade bunds ac ross and
conforming to the canal design section atclose intervals (say 100') alongwith dowel
bunds along channel length may be constructedto induce silting and to maintain flow nearer
to design state in reaches where the channelsection is large. The characteristics of flow
are such, that channels, having larger thandesign sections encourage formation of
localized mounds which may grow beyond thedesigned bed levels in addition to encouraging
growth of weeds. Such mounds duringmaintenance period, should invariably be cut
to bed level and spoils deposited in the lowpockets. Constant watch and maintenance, in
course of time, will stabilize these channels.
vi. Rotational supply of canal water : Withthe available water supply, the supply for
each of the channels can be theoreticallydoubled, if we close half of these canals
during irrigation period. It has been observedthat crops in the deltaic region can stand
safely two weeks of stoppage of water to thefield in most of the areas except in few sandy
patches.An interval of a week has been foundto be a reasonably good closure period. If
supply period becomes less, say 3 or 4 days,the channels often are closed before the flow
in these attain design condition, more so forlong channels and channels in sandy reaches.
However, any disturbance in water supply
ScienceHorizon34
OCTOBER, 2012
like occurrence of a breach or non supply of
water from head regulator due to flood in theparent river does put temporarily such an
arrangement out of balance.
During supply period, extra discharge
and head can be allowed in the canals, ifrequired, encroaching the freeboard.This helps
in meeting the genuine peak requirements. Inone instance, it was found that number of
unauthorized cuts in a system could be reducedby 80% by raising the full supply level.
Increase in depth of flow, periodically,
drowning and subsequently exposingthe canalbed to the sun, have also helped in reducing
the weed growth. Ploughing up the weeds inthe channel bed, during closure period, can to
a large extent, eradicate the weed nuisance.Most of the canals after running for two years,
under these conditions, were found to haveattained fairly stable geometry.
Most important benefi t of this
arrangement is in increasing the crop area,particularly during rabi season, by about 50% .
During kharif irrigation of bad rainfall years,this arrangement also helps to tide over the
scarcity in water supply. Controlled supply ofwater lowers the ground water table resulting in
reclamation of part of the waterlogged areas.
For the success of this method the
following aspects needbe givendueimportance
(a) The programme of closure should beprepared and circulated well in advance of the
cropseasonand followednot onlywhendrought
situation arises but throughout the crop season.For the convenience of the beneficiaries a
channelshould preferably have a day in a weekfixed for closure and a day for opening.
(b) In case of emergency of canal closure, ithas been found that adhering to announced
programme does not cause any panic amongthe people, even if, half of the ayacut miss one
watering.
(c) This arrangement strains the beneficiaries,the peoples representatives and the officials in
the beginning for a period of couple of years.A cool and effective canvassing is needed
before and during the crop period for evolvingan efficient arrangement and for getting all
concerned adjusted to the changed situation.
Long term measures
No lasting measure can evolve for aproblem whose parameters are changing.
The situation is likely to change after
completion of the consolidation programme,adoption of improved crop pattern andimproved varieties of crops; and modified
methods of irrigation.
New design criteria for the canals
necessarily have to be developed keeping inview the following.
i. The silt charge is different for canals
taking off from reservoirs or immediatelydown stream of these from those of canals in
deltaic region far away from reservoirs.
35ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
ii . Unlike the conditions during fifties, due
to the extensive dalua paddy cultivation, the
canals at present carry more than the designed
quantity of silt free water and for a much
longer period.
ii i. Duty at outlet end is to be reassessed for
the present and for the anticipated improved
crop pattern. The rapid development in
agricultural science makes this assessment
difficult. But if this is not done with due carewe may find many of our new irrigation
systems obsolete within a period of couple of
decades. A serious attempt in this regard may
have to be initiated early.
iv. Improved crop-patterns, keeping in with
the soil characteristics, availability of water
and maximization of net benefits for the
farmers, may have to be evolved. These should
also take into account the temporal and spatial
diversification in peak demand of various crops
to minimize the water requirement.
v. From the above paragraphs, it is evident
that the difficulty now being faced in irrigating
the tail-end areas of deltaic regions can
reasonably be surmounted if suggested
immediateand long term measures are adopted.
Reference :
1. Assorted Write-ups on Ravi Valley
Scheme, Shatakshi Prakashan, Raipur.
29, Kharvel Nagar, Near Ram Mandir, Unit-III,Bhubaneswar-751001
Tel. - 0674-2391020
BIO-SENSORSBishnu Prasad Behera
A bio-sensor is an analytical device thatis capable of providing specific quantitative orsemi quantitative analytical information usinga biological recognition element which is indirect spatial contact with a transducer element
(IUPAC, 1996). The biological recognitionelement is able to interact specifically with atarget. A transducer is able to convert therecognition event into a measurable signal. Itis any device that uses specific bio-chemical
reaction to detect chemical compounds inbiological samples. The first commercial useof bio sensors was done in the year 1975 forglucose monitoring in the bloods of diabetespatients. The current definition of bio sensor
is, it integrates a biological element with aphysio-chemical transducer to provide anelectronic signal proportional to a singleanalyte, which is then conveyed to a detector.
Bio sensors play an important role in the fieldof environmental quality, medicine andindustries, mainly by identifying material andthe degree of concentration present. In thefields of biotechnology, bio-chemistry,
physical chemistry, electro chemistry, lifesciences, elect ronics and sof twareengineering, applications of bio sensors arecominginto prominence. Prof. LelandC. ClarkJn. (1918-2005), American Bio-chemist was
known as the Father of bio sensor, who haddeveloped the blood glucose bio sensor, the
commonly used commercial biosensor.
ScienceHorizon36
OCTOBER, 2012
The term immuno-sensor is often used to
describe biosensors, which use antibodies as
their bio recognition systems. In addition to
enzymes and antibodies, the bio recognition
systems can also include nucleic acid, bacteria
and single cell organisms and even whole
tissues of higher organisms. Specific
interaction between the target analyte and the
complementary bio -recognition layer produce
a physio-commercialchange, which is detected
and measured by a transducer. The transducer
can take many forms depending upon the
parameters beingmeasured, electro-chemical,
optical, mass and thermal changes are the
most common.
Functioning of a Biosensor
Here the analyte is what we want to
detect, for example in a molecule, the amount
of protein, toxin, vitamin, sugar etc.. Next, is
How it works ?
It consists of (i) the sensible biological
element that interacts with the analyte under
study, (ii) The transducer or detector element
that transforms the signal resulting from the
interaction of the analyte with the biological
element into another signal which can be
more easily measured, (iii) The bio sensor
reader device with the associated electronics
or signal is primarily responsible for the
display of the results. This part is the most
expensive part of the sensor device. [Known
manufactures of bio sensors electronic
readers are Palm sense, Gwent,
Biotechnology systems and Rapid Labs.]
Biosensors consist of bio-recognition
systems, typicallyenzymes or binding proteins,
such as antibodies, immobilized onto the
surface of physio-chemical transducers (Fig.l).
Figure 1 - Principles of operation of a Biosensor
37ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
the sample handling or how to deliver the
analyte to the sensitive region? In the third
stage the detection or recognition process
occures. How do we specifically recognize
the analyte? Next process is the signal process.
In the pregnancy test the detection of hCG
protein in urine can also be done through bio
sensors. The basic characteristics of a bio
sensor are linearity, sensitiveness, selectivity
and the response time.
A few sensing techniques are
i) Fluorescence
ii) DNA microarray
iii) SPR (Surface Plasma Resonance)
iv) Impedance Spectroscopy
v) SPM(Scanning Probe Microscopy)
vi) QCM(Quartz Crystal Microbalance)
vii) SERS (Surface Enhanced Raman
Spectroscopy)
viii) Electro-chemical
Applications of Biosensors
FoodAnalysis
Study of biomolecules and thei r
interaction
Drug Development
Crime detection
Medical diagnosis (both clinical and
laboratory use)
Environmental field monitoring(air, soil,
water)
Quality control
Industrial Process Control
Detection systems for biological warfare
agents
Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and
replacement organs
Types of Biosensors
There are several types of bio sensors
are (a) Piezo-electric (b) Electro-chemical
(c) Potentiometric (d) Optical (e) Calorimetric
bio sensors. Piezo -electric devices use gold
to detect the specific angle at which electron
waves are emitted, when the substance is
exposed to laser light or crystals such as
quartz, which vibrate under the influence of an
electric field. In the electro chemical bio
sensor, movement of electron in redox
reactions is detected whena potential is applied
between two electrodes. In the Potentiometric
case, change in distribution of charge is
detected, using ion selection electrodes (ex.
pH meter). Optical bio sensors work on the
principle of change in light absorption. Photon
output for a luminescent process can be
detected with photo multiplier tubes or photo
diode systems. In Calorimetric bio sensors, if
the enzyme catalyzed reaction is exothermic,
two thermistors may be used to measure the
difference in resistance between reactant and
ScienceHorizon38
OCTOBER, 2012
product. Electro-chemical DNA bio-sensors
are also available. The types are electrodes,
chips or crystals. Bio sensors in nano scale
like quantum dots, nano tubes and nano wires
are also used.
Conclusion
Biosensor technology leads itself to fast,
economical and continuous monitoring
capabili ties , currently being used for
development to detect environmen tal
pollutants such as phenols, geotoxins,
pesticides like organophosphates, 2, 4-D etc.
Enzyme based biosensors show the potential
of continuous monitoring of toxic compounds
in the streams, effluents and ground water.
Conclusively, biosensors play an important
role in the medicines, environmental quality
studies and industry mainly by identifying
materialand thedegree of concentration. These
are cheap, small and portable devices that can
be used by semi-skilled operators.
Referencesi) International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry, "Bio-sensor", Compendium of
Chemical Terminology, Internet Edition
ii) www.lsbu.ac.uk/biology/enztech/optical.html
iii) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosensor
iv) Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology by Kirth
and Othmar (vol.4), p.208-220
v) Google images on Bio sensors
Associate Professor, Dept. of Agril. Structures,
Civil & Environmental EngineeringCAET, OUAT, Bhubaneswar-751003
ASHOCA TREE(An Indigenous Endangered Plant)
Samarendra Narayan Mallick
Saraca asoca is a plant belonging to the
Caesalpiniaceae subfamily of the legume
family. It is an important tree well-known in
thecultural traditionsof theIndian subcontinent
and adjacent areas. It is one of the most
legendary and sacred trees of India and one of
the most fascinating flowers in the Indian
range of flower essences. Ashok is a Sanskrit
word meaning without grief or that which
gives no grief or commonly means "without
sorrow". At present it is an endangered plant.
Distribution
The Ashoka tree is a rain forest tree. Its
original distribution was in the central areas
of the Deccan plateau, as well as the middle
section of the Western Ghats in the western
coastal zone of the Indian subcontinent. It is
indigenous to India, Burma and Malaya. Itoccurs almost throughout India unto an altitude
Saraca asoca
39ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
of 750m in the central and Eastern Himalayasand the Khasi, Garo and Lushai hills: it is alsofound in theAndaman Island.
Botany
It is an erect tree, small and evergreen,with a smooth grey brown bark. The crown iscompact and shapely. Leaves are narrowly
lanceolate, 15-25 cms long, cork like at thebase and with a short petiole. Stipules areinterpetiolar and completely united. Flowersare usually to be seen throughout the year butit is in January and February that the profusion
of orange and scarlet clusters turns the treeinto an object of startling beauty. Flowers arebright orange yellow in colour, turning redbefore wilting. Flowers are pinned closely onto every branch and twig, theseclusters consist
of numerous, small long tubed flowers whichopen out into4 oval lobes.Yellow when young,they become orange, then crimson with ageand from the effect of the sun's rays. From aring at the top of each tube spread several
long, half white, half crimson, stamens whichgive a hairy appearance to the flower clusters.
Ashoka flower
In strong contrast to these fiery blooms is the
deep green, shiney foliage. The foot long
leaves each have four, five or six pairs of long
weavy edged leaflets. Young leaves are soft
red and limp and remain pendent even after
attaining full size.
The bark is dark brown or grey or almost
black with warty surface. Stem bark are rough
and uneven due to the presence of rounded or
projecting lenticels. Bark channeled, smooth
with circular lenticels and transversely ridge,
sometimes cracked, fracture splinting,
exposing striated surface, a thin whitish and
continuous layer is seen beneath thecork leaver.
Saraca asoca barks are differentiated from
another bark according some Ayurvedic texts,
"AshokoHamapuspashaVanjulastamrapalavaa
Kankela PindushpashaGandhpuspho Natastha.
Ashoka Seetalsitakoto Grahi Varnya Kashayak
DoshapacchitrashadahkarmishothVishastrizith"
Mythology and Tradition
TheAshoka tree is considered as Sacred
throughout the Indian subcontinent, especially
in India and SriLanka. This tree has many
folklorical religious and literary associations
in the region. Highly valued as well for its
handsome blossoms and the color and
abundance of its flowers, the Ashoka tree is
often found in royal palace compounds and
gardens as well as close to temples
throughout India.
ScienceHorizon40
OCTOBER, 2012
The Ashoka tree is closely associatedwith the Yakshi mythological beings. One of
the recurring elements in Indian Art, often
found at gates of Buddhist and Hindu temples,
is the sculpture of Yakshi with her foot on the
trunk and her hands holding the branch of aflowering Ashoka tree. As an artistic element
often the tree and Yakshi are subjected to
heavy stylization. Some others hold that the
young girl at the foot of this tree is based on
an ancient fertility symbol.
Yakshi under the Ashoka tree, were also
important in early Buddhist monuments as adecorative element and are found in many
ancient Buddhist archaeological sites. With
the passing of the countries the Yakshi under
the Ashoka tree became a standard decorative
element of Hindu sculpture and was integrated
into Indian temple architecture a Salabhanjika,because there is often confusion between the
Ashoka tree and Sal (Shorea robusta) in the
ancient literatures of the Indian subcontinent.
The tree is also regarded with veneration
in Jainism. In the Jain tradition Mahasira is
said to have renounced the world under this
kind of tree in Vaishali.
In Hinduism, theAshoka is considered a
sacred tree. Not counting a multiuse of local
traditions connected to it, the Ashoka tree isworshipped in Chaitra the first month of the
Hindu calendar. It is also associated with
Kamadhenu, the Hindu God of love, who
included an Ashoka blossom among the five
flowers in his quiver. Hence, the Ashoka tree
is often mentioned in classified Indian
Religious and amorous poetry, having at least
16 different names in Sanskrit referring to the
trees or its flower.
In Mahakavya or Indian Epic poetry, the
Ashoka tree is mentioned in the Ramayana in
reference to the Ashoka Vatika (Garden of
Ashoka Trees) where Hanuman first meets
Devi Sita.
In our state Odisha, on the occasion of
car festival of Lord Lingaraj in the month of
Chaitra, the day called as Ashokastami on
which day the Ashok flowers are offered to
worship Lord Lingaraj.
Other trees called Ashoka tree
A popular tree simply referred to and
also known as Ashoka tree of unrelated genus
Polyalthia longifolia (false Ashoka tree), is
bred to resemble the growth pattern of erect
pillar like Mediterranean Cypres trees, it is a
popular park and garden plant, much used in
landscaping on the Indian subcontinent. In
Odisha, Ixora coccinea (Katharangani) is
known as Ashoka tree.
Phytochemistry
Each and every part of the tree is useful
and beneficial for human beings. From whole
plant: Glycosidic principles, non-phenolic,
sapogenetic glycoside, sterols and aliphatic
41ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
alcohols. Leaves of Saraca asoca known to
contain carbohydrate, proteins, tannins,
saponins andshows antibacterialactivity. Barks
contain glycosides, steroids, saponins,
catechol, sterol, organic calcium compounds,
tannins and carbohydrates. Flowers ofAshoka
contains oleic, linoleic, palmitic and stearic
acids (seeds), pelargonidin-3-5-diglucoside,
cyaniding -3,5-diglucoside, stearic, and gallic
acid. Pods of this tree contain catechol, (-)
epicatechol and leucocyanidin.
Pharmacological activity
Oxytoxic activity of the plant was seen
in rat and human isolateduterine preprations.
Estrogen -primed or gravid uterus was more
sensitive to the action of the alcoholic extract.
Spasmogenic, oxy toxic, ute ro tine ,
antibacterial, anti-implantation, antitumor, anti
progestational, antioestrogenic, activity against
menorrhagia and anticancer. Apowdered bark
ash consists of silica, sodium, potassium,
phosphate, magnesium , iron, calcium ,
stromium and aluminium a crystal glycosidal
substances has been isolated from the bark
with galactose as the constituent sugar.
Medicinal Properties
Ashoka is famous for Garbhasaya
Rasayana i.e Rejuvenatorof theuterus.Ashoka
is highly acclaimed for its util ity in
gynaecological problems. The bark is bitter,
astringent, sweet, refrigerant, anthelmintic,
stypic, stomachic, constipating, febrigue and
demulcent. It is useful in dyspepsia, fever,
dispia, burning sensation, viscremegoly, colic,
ulcers, mennorhagia, metropathy, leucorrhoea,
and pimples. The bark of Ashoka is useful in
excessive blood loss during menstruation due
to uterine fibroids, leucorrhoea, and other
causes. It is a blood purifier. Themain chemical
constituents of the bark are tannin, catechol,
an essential oil, organic calcium and iron
compounds. Ayurvedic texts describe more
than 50 preparations for the treatment of a
variety of ailments in which are stem bark is
used as one of main ingredients. The herb
st imulates the uterus making he lpful
contractions more frequent and prolonged.
The flowers are considered to be uterine
tonic and are used in vitiated conditions of
pitta, syphilis, cervical adenitis, hyperdipsia,
burning sensation, haemorrhoids, dysentery,
scabies in children and inflammations. The
dried flowers are used in diabetes and
haemorrhagic dysentery and seeds are used
for treating bone fractures, stargury and vesicle
calculi. Employed in drug formulations
prescribed in uterine affections, especially
menorrhagia, leucorrhoea and stone formation
in kidney and bladder. Ashoka also has an
astringent but stimulating effect on the
endometrium and the ovarian tissues. Ashoka
has been efficacious in regularizing menstrual
disturbances without producing any side
ScienceHorizon42
OCTOBER, 2012
effect. Its effect on the ovarian tissue may
produce an oestrogen like activity thatenhances the repair of the endometrium and
stops bleeding, it regularizes the intervalbetween two cycles. Besides treating the
symptoms of fatigue and generalized weaknessthe use of Ashoka provides immense relieffrom painful menses, the premenstrual
syndrome and non specific white discharge.The main preparations employingAshoka areAshokarishta and Ashokaghrita. Bark is
reported to cure biliousness, dysentery, colicpiles, ulcers and pimples. Leaves possess
blood purifying properties and their juicemixed wi th cumin seed is used fo rstomachache. Flowers pounded in water are
used in haemorrhagic dysentery and the driedflowers in diabetes. Flowers are usedas useful
to be an excellent uterine tonic. They arealso considered useful in biliousness andsyphilis. In Assam, fruits are chewed as a
substitute for areca nuts. Pods are reportedto make very good forage for cattle.
Conclusion
The Ashoka tree has excellentmedicinal properties mainly for women. Due
to its medicinal values, people should knowabout it .The plant should be conserved not
only in royal gardens it should also beconserved in our gardens as it is an indigenousendangered plant.
Ispat Autonomous College, Sector-16, Rourkela
Sundargarh, Odisha-769003
QUIZ ON INSECTSPrafullaKumarMohanty
1. The branch of science dealing with the
study of insects is
a) Arthrology b) Acarology
c) Araneology d) Entomology
2. Insects are characterised by the presence
of
a) Three pairs of legs
b) One pair of wings
c) Four pairs of legs
d) Three pairs of legs and a pair of wings
3. Which of the following is an insect ?
a) Silver fish b) Jelly fish
c) Parrot fish d) Star fish
4. Moths are found during the
a) Day time b) Night time
c) Rainy season d) Day and night time
5. Which of the following insects are taken
as food by some people in India and
abroad ?
a) Honeybees b) Ants
c) Beetles d) Caterpillars
6. Which of the following insects are
social, organised and disciplined ?
a) Scorpions b) Ants and bees
c) Cockroaches d) Lice7. Which of the following insects is
parasiticand lives on blood ?
a) Lice b) Ear wig
c) Jewelbug d) Stick insect
43ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
8. Which of thefollowing insects bear veryminute seales on the wings ?
a) Dragonfly b) House flyc) Fruit fly d) Butter fly9. Which of the following insects is
considered asthefastesthunterof the air ?a) Largewing fly b) Damsel flyc) Dragon fly d) Lady bird beetle10. Larva is a stage betweena) Egg and pupa b) Eggand adultc) Egg and nymphd) Nymph and adult11. Which of the followingmosquitoes suck
blood ?a) Maleb) Femalec) Both male and femaled) Larvae of mosquito12. Which blood parasites of human beings
are found inside the seats and furnituresof filmhalls, public utility places andhouses ?
a) Mosquitoes b) Bed bugsc) Ants d) Jewelbugs13. The insect which likes fruits and
vegetables isa) House fly b) Fruit flyc) Vegetable fly d) Dragon fly14. From which part of the silkmoths are
silk threads obtained ?a) Egg b) Larvadc) Pupa d) Adult15. Which of the following insects bore
stems of trees ?a) Stem borer b) Stick insect
c) Leaf insect d) Leaf hopper
16. Which of the following insects buildsearthen nest by using need and clay ?
a) White ant b) Red antc) Blackant d) Weaver ant
17. Which of the following insects stings ?a) Wasp b) Honeybeec) Ant d) Both honeybeeandwasp
18. Which of the following is a beetle ?a) An insectwithout wingsb) An insect with 2 pairs of hard wingsc) An insect with hard fore wings and soft
hind wingsd) An insect with soft fore and hind wings
19. Which of the following insects buildsleaf nest in citrus trees such as lemon,mango etc. ?
a) Red ant b) Weaver antc) Blackant d) White ant
20. Which insect is the causative agent ofelephantiasis (abnormal swelling ofcertain parts of the human body) ?
a) Female Anophelesb) Female Culexc) Female Aedes
d) Both male and female Culex
ANSWERS
1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (b) 5. (b)6. (b) 7. (a) 8. (d) 9. (c) 10. (a)11. (b) 12. (b) 13. (b) 14. (c) 15. (a)
16. (a) 17. (d) 18. (c) 19. (b) 20. (b)
Professor and Head, PG Department of Zoology,Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751004
Phone : 0674-2567483 (Res.), Cell - 9238571378,e-mail : [email protected]
ScienceHorizon44
OCTOBER, 2012
Q. We have several questions on muscles
namely, muscle cramp, musle spasm,
muscle stiffness - a rigidity and muscle
paralysis etc. But before knowing about
these conditions, we need to know about
the structure of muscles and their
important functions.
Have you ever seen the muslces ? In ourbody muslces are covered by a layer of skin,
that is why we have no scope of ever knowing
as to how they look like. Only when anybodyfalls a victim of a severe road accident with
deep lacetation wounds, the onlookers happen
to see the portions of his or her torn muscles.
5W'S + H :(Why, Who, What, When, Where and How)
MUSCLESNityananda Swain
However, when
we go to the market
to buy meat, be it of
goat, lamb, cow or
chicken, we, in fact,
buy their muslces
which we call meat.
Edible portions of
fish are mostly its
muscles. So 'meat' is
the popu la r
expres sion of
muscles. Muscles are
located throughtout body and are just the right
size and shape to meet the need of the
individual.
As you know, the human body is
compared with a machine. But it lacks in
wheels, gears, pulleys or belts etc. In spite of
this it is capable of doing a great deal of varied
works like lifting, digging, carrying loads and
so on. So where from does the body derive the
power to perform those works ? Obviously it
is from the muscles.
The blood circulating in muscles
provide the fuel in the form of glucose, fatty
acids and amino acids. In the presence of
oxygen, the muscle cells convert these fuel
compounds into heat and energy. This energy
is spent for work.
Front Muscles of the Body
45ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
You might have known about ATP or
Adenosine triphosphate. ATP is known as the
energy currency of the cells and the
mitochondria present inside cells are known
as the cells' power house. It is because the
energy is abundantly generated in the
mitochondria.
Since muscles consume a lot of energy
for doing work, glucose molecules are stored
in the muscle cells as complex molecules
called glycogen.
Although there are 206 number of
bones, the number of muslces in the body
exceed 600. Muscles make up about half of
the body's mass.
Q. Are the muscles of same type or of
different types ?
There are three different types of
muscles in our body, namely -i. Skeletal muscles
ii. Smooth muscles and
iii. Cardiac musles.
The skeletal muscles are so calledbecause they are found in association with the
bones or the skeletal system. These musclesare contracted or relaxed under our will or
volition. This is why skeletal muscles are also
termed voluntary muscles.
Skeletal muscles move the bones of theskeleton at the joints. They enable us to stand,
walk, run, turn the head, talk, laugh, write etc.
On the otherhand, the smooth muscles
are not associated with the skeleton. Thesemuscles are mostly found in the internal organs
like the digestive tract, the respiratory passage,ureter, urinary bladder, gall bladder and walls
of blood vessels etc. Since these muscles are
not under our conscious control, they arecalled involuntary muscles.
As the name suggests, cardiac muscles
are the muscles of the heart i.e. the muscles of
the walls of its four chambers.
The cells that compose muscle arecommonly spoken of as 'fibres'. Fibres of
skeletal muscles are larger than those of
smooth muscles or cardiac muscles.
ScienceHorizon46
OCTOBER, 2012
Q. What are the functions of muscles ?
The common outstanding property of
the three types of muslces is contraction.
In case of skeletal muscles the contractioncauses movement of a joint, as a result we
can straighten and bend the upper and lower
limbs.
Muscles are responsible for the size and
shape of the body.
They help us to stand up, to sit, to lie
down in a sleeping posture, to bend the
body in different directions, to chew, to
swallow, to move the eyes and tongue as
well as perform various other works. In
these functions, specific muscle groups
participate.
Muscles take part in talking and evenkeeping the mouth shut ! You will be
surpirsed to know that more than 30
muscles participate in different facialexpressions.
Contraction of smooth muscles facilitate
movement of food and faces through the
digestive tract, movement of urine
through the urinary tract as well as
movement of blood through the blood
vessles.
Contraction of the cardiac or heart
muscle causes movement of blood.
Bones become strong due to function of
muscles.
Q. Are there blood supply and nerve
supply to the muscles ?
There are small blood vessels which enter
intomuscle tissue toprovide nutrients,water andoxygento the musclecells. If the blood supply to
the muscles is cut off, the part of the musclesupplied by that particular blood vessel dies.
This is what happens in heart-attack.
When blood supply to the heart muscles is notadequately maintained due to any block in the
artery, muscle cells of the heart die causingheart attack.
The muscles have their respective nerve
supply too. Nerves transmit impulses to themuscles. When the nerve is stimulated, the
muscle contracts. Without intact nerve supply,contraction of muscles is not possible.
The skeletal muscles are supplied bymotor nerves from the brain and spinal cord.The smooth muscles as well as the cardiac
muscles are supplied by nerves from the
autonomic nervous system.
The junction where the nerve endingmeets the muscle fibre is called the
neuromuscular junction. At the junction, acompound called neurotrasmitter is released
to effect the function of the nerve andassociated muscle function. Without proper
nerve supply the muscles cannot function.
(to be concluded)
'ABHIPSA' Sector -6, Plot No.-1131, Abhinab Bidanasi,
Cuttack - 753014
47ScienceHorizon
OCTOBER, 2012
NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS FOR THE YEAR 2012
PHYSICS :
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "forground-breaking experimental methodsthat enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantumsystems"
Serge HarocheBorn:
1944, Casablanca, MoroccoAffiliation at the time of the award:CollègedeFrance, Paris, France, ÉcoleNormale Supérieure, Paris, France.
David J. WinelandBorn:
1944, Milwaukee, WI,USAAffiliation at the time of the award:National Institute of Standards andTechnology, Boulder, CO, USA,University ofColorado, Boulder, CO,USA
CHEMISTRY:
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 was awarded jointly to Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka"for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"
Robert J. LefkowitzBorn:
1943, NewYork, NY, USAAffiliation at the time of the award:Howard Hughes Medical Institute,Duke University Medical Center,Durham, NC, USA
PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE :
The Nobel Prize in Physiologyor Medicine 2012 wasawarded jointly to Sir JohnB. Gurdon and ShinyaYamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"
Sir John B. GurdonBorn:
1933, Dippenhall, United Kingdom
Affiliation at the time of the award:Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UnitedKingdom
ShinyaYamanakaBorn:
1962, Osaka, Japan
Affiliation at the time of the award:Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan,Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco,CA, USA
Brian K. KobilkaBorn:
1955, LittleFalls, MN, USAAffiliation at the time of the award:Stanford Univer sity School ofMedicine, Stanford, CA, USA
ScienceHorizon48
OCTOBER, 2012
PEACE :
The EuropeanUnionwas awarded the2012 Nobelpeace prizefor itshistoric role inunitingthe continent,it was announced inOslo, Norway.
ECONOMIC SCIENCES :
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize inEconomic Sciences inMemory ofAlfred Nobel2012 was awarded jointlyto Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice ofmarket design"
Alvin Eliot RothBorn: December 18, 1951,
United StatesAffiliation at the time of the award:Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
USA, Harvard Business School,Boston, MA, USA
Lloyd S. ShapleyBorn:
1923, Cambridge, MA, USACambridge, Massachusetts
Affiliation at the time of the award:Universityof California, Los
Angeles, CA, USA
Editorial Board
LITERATURE :TheNobelPrize in Literature 2012wasawarded toMo Yan "who with hallucinatory realism mergesfolk tales, history and the contemporary"
MoYanBorn:
1955,Gaomi, ChinaAffiliation at the time of the award:China
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