My Science School

On July 17, 1984 Savitskaya launched aboard Soyuz T-12, together with Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov and research cosmonaut Igor Volk. On July 25, 1984, Savitskaya became the first woman to spacewalk, conducting EVA outside the Salyut 7 space station for 3 hours and 35 minutes, during which she cut and welded metals in space along with her colleague Vladimir Dzhanibekov. The importance of their mission was to test the Universal Hand Tool or Universalry Rabochy Instrument (URI). This tool created at the Paton Instituite in Kiev, Ukraine could be used to cut, solder, weld, and braze in space. During the EVA, Savitskaya performed a total of 6 cuts of titanium and stainless steel, 2 coatings of anodized aluminum, 6 tests of tin and lead solder, and test cuts of a 0.5 mm titanium sample. Of the 57 Soviet/Russian spacewalkers through 2010, she is the only woman, and as of April 2020 is still the only Soviet/Russian woman to walk in space. The return to Earth took place on July 29, 1984.

Savitskaya recalled that, during her second mission, she expressed concern about the extravehicular welding exercises, as "I did not understand the point of it. We might burn our spacesuits or the exterior of the station." but her overall excellent performance on both flights silenced critics who questioned a woman's capability to perform space missions. Savitskaya’s and Dzhanibekov’s training and tests allowed for Dzhanibekov to direct two members of the Salyut 7 crew, Kizim and Solovyov, who had performed multiple EVA’s to repair the ship, in the techniques to operate the URI in order to fully repair the fuel line. The total duration of their mission lasted 11 days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes

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Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon although the project was cancelled.

He was one of the 20 Soviet Air Forces pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut training group in 1960. As most cosmonauts, Leonov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His walk in space was originally to have taken place on the Voskhod 1 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2 flight instead. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 4.8-metre (16 ft) tether. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule. Leonov had spent eighteen months undergoing weightlessness training for the mission.

From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team ("Chief Cosmonaut") and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where he oversaw crew training. He also edited the cosmonaut newsletter Neptune. He retired in 1992.

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Extravehicular Activity (EVA), are activities performed by space-suited astronauts outside their spacecraft in orbit above the Earth. This collection of 20 framed photographs and corresponding captions include those activities performed during an EVA, which may include satellite capture and repair, assembly/connection of exterior spacecraft components, or performing special experiments or tests.

EVAs may be either tethered (the astronaut is connected to the spacecraft; oxygen and electrical power can be supplied through an umbilical cable; no propulsion is needed to return to the spacecraft), or untethered. Untethered spacewalks were only performed on three missions in 1984 using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), and on a flight test in 1994 of the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER), a safety device worn on tethered U.S. EVAs.

The Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China have conducted EVAs.

China became the third country to independently carry out an EVA on September 27, 2008 during the Shenzhou 7 mission. Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang completed a spacewalk wearing the Chinese-developed Feitian space suit, with astronaut Liu Boming wearing the Russian-derived Orlan space suit to help him. Zhai completely exited the craft, while Liu stood by at the airlock, straddling the portal.

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Gerty Cori was an Austrian-American biochemist, known for her discovery of how the human body stores and utilises energy. In 1947, she became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the third woman to win a Nobel.

Gerty Theresa Cori was born in Prague in 1896. She received her primary education at home before entering a lyceum for girls in 1906. She entered the Medical School of the German University of Prague, where she met her future husband Carl Cori. She received the Doctorate in Medicine in 1920 and got married the same year.

Immigrating to the United States in 1922, the husband-wife duo joined the staff of the Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, Buffalo, N.Y. Working together on glucose metabolism in 1929, they discovered the 'Cori Cycle the pathway of conversion of glycogen (stored form of sugar) to glucose (usable form of sugar).

They became naturalised citizens of the U.S. In 1936, they discovered the enzyme Phosphorylase, which breaks down muscle glycogen, and identified glucose1phosphate Cori ester) as the first intermediate in the reaction. The Coris were consistently interested in the mechanism of action of hormones and they carried out several studies on the pituitary gland.

Although the Coris were equals in the lab. They were not treated as equals. Gerty faced gender discrimination throughout her career. Few institutions hired Gerty, despite her accomplishments, and those that did hire, did not give her equal status or pay.

In 1947, Gerty Cori, Carl Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen. However, the happiness was short-lived. The same year Gerty was diagnosed with myelosclerosis, a rare form of bone marrow cancer. She struggled with the disease for the next ten years of her life, and succumbed to it in 1957.

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What you need:

A raw egg, a wide glass vinegar

What to do:

1. Fill the glass with vinegar, a little less than the brim

2. Drop the egg into the glass.

3. Leave the egg in the glass for two to three days. Make sure it's away from sunlight. Keep observing what's happening in the glass

4. On the third day, bring the egg out and rinse it thoroughly but gently under tap. Make sure that there is nothing left on the surface of the egg. the 5. On a plain surface, drop the egg from a gentle height of say four inches.

What happens?

While the egg is in the glass bubbles start appearing. The egg also becomes fatter and more translucent.

Once the egg is removed, we find that it has become spongy. So, when you drop it on a surface, it bounces.

Why?

Vinegar is an acid which dissolves the shell of the egg. The shell is made of calcium carbonate, which on reacting with the acetic acid of the vinegar gives out carbon dioxide. Since carbon dioxide is a bubbly gas, you see bubbles in the glass.

And since the acid has dissolved the shell completely, what's left behind is the soft white inner membrane of the egg. This membrane is porous, so some of the vinegar has been absorbed into the egg, making it fatter. The stretchy nature of the membrane gives that bounce to the egg. But make sure you don't bounce the egg too high unless you're ready to clean the mess!

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What you need:

Vegetable oil, water, a glass, red food colour or poster colour salt and a flashlight

What to do:

1. Fill three quarters of the glass with water. Add the red colour into it

2. Slowly pour the vegetable oil over the water. What happens?

3. Now, sprinkle some salt into the glass. Observe what happens.

4. Continue to gradually add salt.

What happens?

When oil is poured into the glass, it separates into a layer that floats on the water. When you add more and more salt the oil starts bouncing around in the water! Why? We all know that everything on Earth is made up of small particles called atoms which give mass to an object. The closer these atoms are packed together, the denser an object is said to be.

Now that we know density, we can understand floating. Simply put, in order to float in a liquid, an object needs to have lesser density than that liquid. Since oil's density is lesser than water, it floats on the water’s surface like film. Salt is denser than the oil and starts sinking to the lower water layer. But the salt takes some oil with it. As the salt reaches the water, it begins to dissolve. That sets the oil free and it floats back to the top. As you add more salt, the amount of oil sinking and floating back increases until you get the effect of blobs of oil bouncing about in the red liquid. If you shine a flashlight behind the glass, the whole effect looks like a lava lamp. Pretty neat, huh?

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What you need:

A mineral water bottle made of thin plastic (ones with small caps tend to work best)

A few drops of water leftover in the bottle.

All your strength!

What to do:

1. Start by pressing at the centre of the bottle, pinching its walls together.

2. Then twist the lower part of the bottle.

3. Hold the bottle like that and unscrew the cap. Squeeze to let the air escape and screw the cap back.

4. Twist the bottle again until you find that it's getting harder to do so. Get an adult to help you if you find the process taxing.

5. Once you feel you can't twist the plastic any more, point the head of the bottle away from yourself and others (and from breakable items!). Keep the twisty pressure on the bottle and unscrew its cap with your thumb.

What happens?

If all goes well, the cap just pops off and goes flying. Also, you see white smoke rising out of the bottle.

Why?

While you've been twisting the bottle, you've been forcing the air inside it to be compressed into an increasingly smaller space. The pressure builds so much that the cap simply pops off.

As the pressure increases inside the bottle, so does the temperature. The rise in temperature causes the leftover water in the bottle to turn into water vapour.

This is the smoke you see escaping from the bottle when you the lid

If you miss even one part of this, straighten the bottle, blow some air in it and try again.

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What you need:

Some baking soda, Warm water, Vinegar, plastic packets that can be zipped or sealed closed.

What to do:

1. Make sure you do this experiment in the sink or somewhere easy to clean. Start by putting 1/2 cup warm water in the bag.

2. Then add in ¹2 cup of vinegar. Half seal the bag now.

3. Take three teaspoons of baking soda. Add them at once into the bag from the little opening you left. Quickly seal the bag and step away from it.

4. You can repeat the experiment by varying the amount of baking soda and vinegar for different bags.

What happens?

The bag starts to expand until it pops!

Why?

It's a simple chemical reaction. The baking soda is chemically known as soda bicarbonate and the vinegar is acetic acid. When both of them mix, they produce carbon dioxide gas as a by-product. The carbon dioxide is a gas so it fills up the bag, and if it exceeds the bag's capacity, things go pop!

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He along with a large number of fellow candidates went through many tests first at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bangalore and then to Moscow. The large batch was gradually reduced to a shortlist of four candidates, before a final round of medical tests left just two candidates – Rakesh Sharma and Ravish Malhotra – both of them being IAF pilots. It was made clear at the outset that even though only one of them would finally make the grade for the space odyssey, the other one would be a standby for any eventuality. However, the identity of who exactly would be the lucky one would be taken only towards the last stage before the actual space flight.

AS part of the rigorous training they underwent for nearly two years at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City in the outskirts of Moscow, the duo of Sharma and Malhotra were even locked inside a closed room at an IAF facility in Bangalore for 72 hours to detect if they suffered from claustrophobia. Sharma performed yoga for 10 minutes daily to maintain better fitness in space, as well as zero gravity yoga to combat space sickness. On April 2, 1984, Sharma become the first Indian to go into space when he flew aboard the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The rocket docked and transferred the three member Soviet-Indian international crew which included the spaceship commander Yury Malyshev and flight engineer Gennadi Strekalov, to the Salyut 7 Orbital Station. Over the years, he rose up the ranks and, in 1984, was appointed squadron leader in the IAF. He retired as wing commander and, in 1987, joined the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) wherein he was the chief test pilot at the HAL Nashik and Bangalore divisions, respectively, until 1992. He was also associated with the project involving the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.

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Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to reach outer space in April 1984. A former IAF pilot, he flew abroad the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 as part of a joint programme between the ISRO and the Interkosmos. During a joint television news conference from space, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked Sharma about how India looked from outer space, he said “Sare Jahan Se Achcha” (the best in the world).

The honour Hero of the Soviet Union was conferred upon Sharma on his return from space, making him the lone Indian recipient. India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, was also conferred on him.

Sharma’s Russian companions aboard enjoyed Indian food in space. The dishes were prepared by the Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore which included Pulao, Alu chholey and Sooji halwa.

Sharma carried with him portraits of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, President Zail Singh, defence minister, Venkataraman and soil from Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi.

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Anthropologists want to know why things happen. For example, we know how AIDS is spreading but do we know why? Anthropologists tackle big human problems, such as overpopulation, warfare, and poverty.

Anthropological study and training provide the knowledge, skills and tools to work with people, study the past, and shape the future.

Anthropologists work in practically every environment and setting imaginable. They can be found working in large corporations such as Intel and GM or studying primates in Africa. Anthropologists work in deserts, cities, schools, even in underwater archaeological sites.

From the Greek anthropos (human) and logia (study), the word anthropology itself tells us it is the field that seeks to understand humankind, from the beginnings millions of years ago up to the present day. Anthropology considers how people's behaviors changes over time, and how people and seemingly dissimilar cultures are different and the same.

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Herpetology is the branch of zoology which deals with the study of reptiles and amphibians such as snakes, turtles, and iguanas. It deals with their behaviors, geographic ranges, physiologies, development, genetics, and more.

Herpetologists study animals in the wild, where they determine or assess potential threats from pollution, invasive species, disease, and other factors. They often inventory or estimate animal populations. Herpetologists study their behavior, development, genetics, and distributions to better understand their ecological niches, the ecosystem services they supply, and the challenges they face. They may make recommendations to policy makers on how to protect them. Since many reptiles and amphibians are considered "indicator species", their research may be used to evaluate overall changes in the environment. Herpetologists may plan and manage disease control and conservation programs. Many conduct environmental impact studies or wildlife impact studies for the government. They may share their research findings by writing journal articles or presenting at professional conferences. Some educate the public through programs and talks.

Collection managers at museums care for preserved specimens of amphibians and reptiles. They catalog, organize, and document them, and make them available to researchers. These jobs usually require a master's degree in biology or museum studies.

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Paleontology is more than just dinosaurs! A paleontologist is a scientist who studies the fossilized remains of all kinds of organisms (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and other single-celled living things), and is interested in knowing the history of organic life on earth. Specific work will vary depending on the scope of research or discoveries, and may involve working closely with archeology teams.

A paleontologist works out the relationships between extinct plants and animals and their living relatives today. They study fossils, using them to put together pieces of history that made up the earth and life on it. Fossils are defined as any trace of a past life form, and most fossils are several thousands to several millions or billions of years old. In trying to understand extinction events of the past, they hope to apply their scientific conclusions to extinction in the modern world as environments and global climates change.

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