My Science School

The scientific name for bats is Chiroptera, which is Greek for “hand wing.” That’s because bats have four long fingers and a thumb, each connected to the next by a thin layer of skin. They are the only mammals in the world that can fly, and they are remarkably good at it. Their flexible skin membrane and movable joints allow them to change direction quickly and catch mosquitoes in midair.

There are two main types of bats: microbats and megabats. Most bats are microbats, which eat insects like moths, that come out at night. Vampire bats are the only species of microbats that feed on blood rather than insects. But not to worry—they prefer to drink from cattle and horses, not humans.

To navigate dark caves and hunt after dark, microbats rely on echolocation, a system that allows them to locate objects using sound waves. They echolocate by making a high-pitched sound that travels until it hits an object and bounces back to them. This echo tells them an object’s size and how far away it is.

In contrast, megabats live in the tropics and eat fruit, nectar, and pollen. They have larger eyes and a stronger sense of smell than microbats but have smaller ears because they don’t echolocate. There are more than 150 species of megabats, which are usually, but not always, larger than microbats.

Credit : National Geographic 

Picture Credit : Google

Many people are unaware that over 500 plant species rely on bats to pollinate their flowers, including species of mango, banana, durian, guava and agave (used to make tequila). So, next time you drink some tequila or eat a mango, say thanks to the bats! The pollination of plants by bats is called chiropterophily.

Plants pollinated by bats often have pale nocturnal flowers (in contrast, bees are mostly attracted to bright, daytime flowers). These flowers are often large and bell shaped, and some bats have evolved specifically to reach the nectar at the bottom of them. The tube-lipped nectar bat of Ecuador and the banana bat that lives only on the Pacific coast of Mexico both have extraordinarily long tongues for this exact reason. The tube-lipped nectar bat’s tongue is more than one and a half times the length of its body!

While these plants rely on bats to pollinate their flowers, bats also rely on the fruit and flowers of these plants to survive. Disturbing this intricate system can have severe consequences. For example, in Mexico, the lesser long-nosed bat that is partly responsible for the pollination of agave plants, used to make mescal and tequila. However, in the majority of tequila production, farmers harvest the plant before it puts out its flowers, meaning it has to reproduce through cloning. This is bad for bats, as they feed on the flowers as well as pollinating them. It’s also bad for the agave crops, as they lack diversity – all tequila plants in one farming area have been traced to less than a handful of clones. Disease has recently killed off more than a third of the agave plants in some areas, something that might have been avoided by allowing more agave plants to flower and reproduce through pollination. 

Credit : Bat Conservation Trust

Picture Credit : Google

There are over 1,400 species of bats worldwide. Bats can be found on nearly every part of the planet except in extreme deserts and polar regions. The difference in size and shape are equally impressive. Bats range in size from the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat (also called the Bumblebee Bat) that weighs less than a penny — making it the world’s smallest mammal — to the flying foxes, which can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet. The U.S. and Canada are home to about 45 species of bats and additional species are found in the U.S. territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

Over 300 species of fruit depend on bats for pollination. Bats help spread seeds for nuts, figs and cacao — the main ingredient in chocolate. Without bats, we also wouldn’t have plants like agave or the iconic saguaro cactus. 

At least 12 types of U.S. bats are endangered, and more are threatened. These amazing animals face a multitude of threats including habitat loss and disease, but we're working to change that. A unique international conservation partnership in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico has been working to help one species, the lesser long-nosed bat, recover to the point it can be removed from the Endangered Species list. In 1988, there were thought to be fewer than 1,000 bats at the 14 known roosts range wide. There are now an estimated 200,000 bats at 75 roosts! 

Credit : U.S. Department of the Interior

Picture Credit : Google

 In 2000, Chawla was selected for her second voyage into space, serving again as a mission specialist on STS-107. The mission was delayed several times, and finally launched in 2003. Over the course of the 16-day flight, the crew completed more than 80 experiments.

On the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle returned to Earth, intending to land at Kennedy Space Center. At launch, a briefcase-sized piece of insulation had broken off and damaged the thermal protection system of the shuttle's wing, the shield that protects it from heat during re-entry. As the shuttle passed through the atmosphere, hot gas streaming into the wing caused it to break up. 

The unstable craft rolled and bucked, pitching the astronauts about. Less than a minute passed before the ship depressurized, killing the crew. The shuttle broke up over Texas and Louisiana before plunging into the ground. The accident was the second major disaster for the space shuttle program, following the 1986 explosion of the shuttle Challenger.

The entire crew of seven was killed. In addition to Chawla, the crew included: Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon, David Brown, William McCool and Michael Anderson.

Over the course of her two missions, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space. After her first launch, she said, "When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."

Credit : Space.com 

Picture Credit : Google

Most golfers really want to avoid sand traps, but NASA astronaut Alan Shepard had no choice but to deal with one when wielding a six-iron head on the moon's dusty surface 50 years ago this month.

Shepard took a few moments during the Apollo 14 landing to show off his hobby during a live broadcast from the lunar surface on Feb. 6, 1971. He took two shots, with the second ball going "miles and mile," he said on-camera. 

He was exaggerating, according to new analysis from the United States Golf Association (USGA). Based on data from the crew and a modern-day moon mission, the group found that the first ball traveled 24 yards (22 meters) and the second about 40 yards (37 m). By comparison, a 2019 report using golf tournaments' gender categories shows that an average amateur male golfer on Earth can drive the ball 216 yards (198 m), and an average female golfer 148 yards (135 m), although those distances have increased significantly since Shepard's flight. 

To be fair to Shepard, however, he had more obstacles to contend with than your typical Sunday hobbyist. His golf "club" was actually a modified sample collection device with the head attached to the end. He was also wearing a notoriously stiff spacesuit that forced him to swing with a single arm.

Credit : Space.com

Picture Credit : Google

Astronaut, designation, derived from the Greek words for “star” and “sailor,” commonly applied to an individual who has flown in outer space. More specifically, “astronaut” refers to those from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan who travel into space. Those Soviet and later Russian individuals who travel into space are known as cosmonauts (from the Greek words for “universe” and “sailor”). China designates its space travelers taikonauts (from the Chinese word for “space” and the Greek word for “sailor”).

Even though initially most U.S. astronauts were test pilots, this requirement had more to do with their ability to perform effectively in high-stress situations than with their piloting skills, since the spacecraft used in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs had limited maneuvering capability in orbit and came back to Earth using parachutes for reentry. Beginning in 1978, with the advent of the space shuttle, which functioned as a laboratory and operations centre when in orbit and then as a high-speed, difficult-to-control glider as it reentered the atmosphere and flew to a runway landing, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected two types of individuals as astronaut candidates. One group was required to have extensive flying experience in jet aircraft. These astronaut candidates were trained to serve as shuttle pilots and eventually shuttle mission commanders. The second group was chosen to become mission specialist astronauts. These candidates were not required to be pilots (though some were); rather, they were individuals with advanced scientific, medical, or engineering training or experience. Beginning in 1992, in anticipation of participating in missions to the International Space Station (ISS), a number of individuals from various countries became international mission specialist astronaut candidates.

Mission specialists were trained to have primary responsibility during a mission for operating shuttle or space station systems and carrying out payload and experimental activities. Mission specialists also performed extravehicular activities (space walks).

Credit : Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google

The first woman to travel in space was Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova. On 16 June 1963, Tereshkova was launched on a solo mission aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. She spent more than 70 hours orbiting the Earth, two years after Yuri Gagarin’s first human-crewed flight in space.

Tereshkova was born on 6 March 1937 in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo in central Russia. Her mother was a textile worker, and her father was a tractor driver who was later recognised as a war hero during World War Two. At the time of his death on the Finnish front, Tereshkova was only two years old. 

After leaving school, Tereshkova followed her mother into work at a textile factory. Her first appreciation of flying was going down rather than up when she joined a local skydiving and parachutist club. It was her hobby of jumping out of planes that appealed to the Soviets' space programme committee. On applying to the cosmonaut corps, Tereshkova was eventually chosen from more than 400 other candidates. 

Tereshkova received 18 months of severe training with the Soviet Air Force after her selection. These tests studied her abilities to cope physically under the extremes of gravity, as well as handle challenges such as emergency management and the isolation of being in space alone. At 24 years old, she was honourably inducted into the Soviet Air Force. Tereshkova still holds the title as the youngest woman, and the first civilian to fly in space. 

While Tereshkova remains the only woman to have flown solo in space, her mission was a dual flight. Fellow cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovsky launched on Vostok 5 on 14 June 1963. Two days later, Tereshkova launched. The two spacecraft took different flight paths and came within three miles of each other. The cosmonauts exchanged communications while making 48 orbits of Earth, with Tereshkova responding to Bykovsky via her callsign ‘Seagull’. During the flight, the Soviet state television network broadcast a video of Tereshkova inside the capsule, and she spoke with the Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev over the radio. 

In her later life, Tereshkova was decorated with prestigious medals and has held several prominent political positions both for the Russian and global councils. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, she was an official head of State and was elected a member of the World Peace Council in 1966. 

Today, she holds the position of Deputy Chair for the Committee for International Affairs in Russia. She also remains active within the space community and is quoted as suggesting that she would like to fly to Mars - even if it were a one-way trip. 

Credit : Royal Museums Greenwich 

Picture Credit : Google

Guion "Guy" Bluford is a former NASA astronaut who was the first African-American to fly into space. He flew four shuttle missions.

Bluford's class of astronauts from 1978 included two other African-Americans: Ron McNair (who later died on the space shuttle Challenger in 1986) and Fred Gregory (who after flying in space, went on to become a NASA deputy administrator.)

"All of us knew that one of us would eventually step into that role," Bluford later told NASA about being the first. "I probably told people that I would probably prefer not being in that role ... because I figured being the No. 2 guy would probably be a lot more fun."

In the next decade, Bluford would fly three more times as a mission specialist aboard NASA space shuttles. His next mission — STS-61A, also aboard Challenger, in late 1985 — was so packed with things to do that Bluford's shift often needed help from other crew members to fix meals. The eight crewmembers were doing the first Spacelab mission, which was partially run under the German Space Operations Center — another first for NASA.

"After the mission, [the Germans] invited us and our wives to Germany to attend a technical conference highlighting the results of our mission," Bluford recalled in a 2004 oral interview.

"It was a proud moment for all of us as we learned the results of some of the experiments that we performed during flight. The trip also gave me an opportunity to tour Europe with the wife and show her some of the sights that I had seen while training there."

Credit : Space.com 

Picture Credit : Google

Sushruta is considered the "Father of Plastic Surgery." He lived in India sometime between 1000 and 800 BC, and is responsible for the advancement of medicine in ancient India. His teaching of anatomy, pathophysiology, and therapeutic strategies were of unparalleled luminosity, especially considering his time in the historical record. He is notably famous for nasal reconstruction, which can be traced throughout the literature from his depiction within the Vedic period of Hindu medicine to the era of Tagliacozzi during Renaissance Italy to modern-day surgical practices. The primary focus of this historical review is centered on Sushruta's anatomical and surgical knowledge and his creation of the cheek flap for nasal reconstruction and its transition to the "Indian method." The influential nature of the Sushruta Samhita, the compendium documenting Sushruta's theories about medicine, is supported not only by anatomical knowledge and surgical procedural descriptions contained within its pages, but by the creative approaches that still hold true today.

Sushruta Samhita remained preserved for many centuries exclusively in the Sanskrit language. In the eighth century AD, Sushruta Samhita was translated into Arabic as 'Kitab Shah Shun al -Hindi' and 'Kitab-I-Susurud.'

The first European translation of Sushruta Samhita was published by Hessler in Latin and in German by Muller in the early 19th century; the complete English literature was done by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna in the three volumes in 1907 in Calcutta.

Sushruta took surgery in medieval India to admirable heights and that era was later regarded as the 'Golden Age of Surgery' in ancient India. The genius of Sushruta prompted eminent surgeon Allen Whipple to declare, "All in all, Sushruta must be considered the greatest surgeon of the pre-medieval period."

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The modern anaesthetic era is only just over a hundred and sixty years old. Successful anaesthesia for surgery was first demonstrated in 1846. Before that, the few operations that were possible were carried out either with no pain relief or after a dose of opium and/or alcohol.

There were many attempts to relieve pain throughout the centuries. Early examples include loss of consciousness produced by blows to the patient’s head or by compression of the carotid arteries (in the neck). In the Middle Ages, elaborate potions included alcohol and various plant extracts, such as mandrake root. Opium was widely used, particularly in China, and the first intravenous injection of opium was made in the 1660’s. Pain relief in an arm or a leg was produced by squeezing the nerves in the upper part of the limb and also by applying cold water, ice, or snow. Hypnotism became popular as a means of pain relief and medical treatment during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were marked by a rapid increase in knowledge of how the heart and lungs worked, as well as the properties of many gases. In 1799, Sir Humphrey Davy suggested the use of nitrous oxide to produce pain relief. Twenty-five years later, Dr Henry Hickman described the use of carbon dioxide to produce loss of consciousness, while Horace Wells first used nitrous oxide for extraction of teeth in 1844.

Although Paracelsus described the effects of ether on animals in 1540, the first use of this drug for general anaesthesia in humans was in 1842 by Drs Long and Clark. On 16 October 1846, Dr William Morton gave the first public demonstration of ether anaesthesia in Boston. (The operating room where this occurred, known as the Ether Dome, is preserved intact at the Massachusetts General Hospital.) This major advance in the relief of human suffering spread rapidly, and the first use of ether in England and Scotland followed soon after. As the only means of communication was by ship, it took months for the news to reach many countries, and the first recorded anaesthetic in Australia was given in June, 1847.

A few weeks after the famous ether demonstration, Oliver Wendell Holmes popularized the word ‘anaesthesia’. He used the word to describe ‘insensibility – more particularly to objects of touch’, as produced by ether. The word had been used previously to describe simply any lack of feeling, for example, that due to a nerve problem. Holmes also introduced such combination of words as ‘anaesthetic state’ and ‘ anaesthetic agent’.

Professor James Young Simpson of Edinburgh introduced chloroform in 1847. He also described the first anaesthetic death in 1848, the patient being a young girl named Hannah Greener. She was the first of many who suffered sudden heart failure under chloroform. In London, John Snow led the way in analysing complications after anaesthesia and surgery, with a careful evaluation of postoperative deaths. He attempted to modify his practice by referring to what he had learned from previous cases.

Anaesthesia produced by nerve block, or regional anaesthesia, became possible after cocaine was isolated from the coca plant in 1860. Dr Karl Koller first produced anaesthesia of the skin and mucous membranes in 1884. In New York in 1885, Dr Corning gave the first spinal anaesthetic and then the first epidural anaesthetic in 1901.

General anaesthesia became more pleasant for patients when pentothal or sodium thiopentone came into use in the late 1930’s. Muscle relaxation using curare was first demonstrated in humans in Montreal in 1942, allowing a lighter depth of general anaesthesia than had previously been possible. In the 1950’s, the investigation of halogenated hydrocarbons as nonflammable, highly potent anaesthetic agents resulted in the introduction of halothane and the disappearance of ether and chloroform from most operating rooms.

Credit : Australian Society of Anaesthetists

Picture Credit : Google

James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist best known for his contributions to electromagnetism. His works in physics also ushered in the major innovation of 20th-century physics such as the quantum theory and Electrical engineering. He is considered one of the greatest scientists of all time, next only to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh. As a child Maxvell was bright and curious. He wrote his first scientific paper at the age of 14, in which he had described the properties of ellipses, Cartesian ovals and related curves with more than two foci. At age 16, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he published two more scientific papers in 1850 he went on to study at the University of Cambridge under William Hopkins, who is known for nurturing mathematical geniuses.

In 1854, Maxwell graduated from Trinity with a degree in mathematics and was made a fellow of Trinity in 1855 sooner than was the nom. He presented lectures on hydrostatics and optics in 1856, he left Cambridge to accept the professorship at Natural Philosophy at Marischal College. Aberdeen Here, he set out to unravel a mystery that had eluded scientists for two centuries. He studied the nature of Saturn’s rings. It was unknown how the rings of Saturn could remain stable without breaking up drifting away or crashing into Saturn After two years of research. Maxwell concluded that the rings were not made of solid or fluid, but of numerous small particles each independently orbiting Saturn.

 In 1860, he was appointed to the professorship of natural philosophy at King's College. London and it was here that Maxwell came up with his conceptual model for electromagnetic induction consisting of ting spinning cells of magnetic flux Maxvells work in electromagnetism was inspired by his analysis of work by scientists Michael Faraday, Andre Marie Ampere and Hans Christian Oersted. He then formulated the Jour Maxwells Equations which laid the foundation for Albert Einstein's work on the special theory of relativity in producing these equations Maxvell was the first scientist ever to define electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxvell’s equations play the same role in electromagnetism that Newton's laws of motion do in mechanics. We have to thank Maxwell for paving way for the inventions of devices such as radio, TV, microwave radar, microscope and telescope Colour vision, Kinetic theory and thermodynamics, and theory of the Electromagnetic Field are some of his other major contributions Maxvell died of cancer at the age of 48.

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What you need:

Vegetable oil Baby oil, ice, Food colouring Clear glass

What to do:

1. Pour a few drops of food colouring into the glass.

 2. Half fill the glass with vegetable oil. Then pour in the baby oil over it.

 3. It's hard to tell but the vegetable oil stays below the baby oil. Gently drop the ice cube into the mixture.

4. The ice seems to levitate in the mixture...it neither sinks nor floats. After a while, the ice starts to melt, drop by drop

What happens:

The drops of water slowly separate from the ice and make their way to the bottom of the glass. There, they find the food colouring and merge with it. When all of the ice has melted, you see a layer of coloured water that stays below both oils.

Why?

The answer lies in density. We all know that everything on Earth is made up of small particles called atoms which give mass. The closer the atoms are packed together, the denser an object is said to be.

Floating is related to density. Simply put in order to float in a liquid, an object (or another liquid) needs to have lesser density than that liquid. That's how baby oil settles on top of the vegetable oil because it is less dense.

Most substances, when they are cooled become more dense. Water is one of the few exceptions to this rule. When water turns into ice, its molecules are not as close together as they were in liquid form. This makes ice less dense than water. That also makes it less dense than vegetable oil, so it floats in the middle of the glass, right over the vegetable oil. When the ice melts, liquid water sinks through the oil to the bottom of the glass because it is more dense.

Picture Credit : Google

If you can, knowing one more trick won't hurt

What you need:

Two candles, a glass, baking soda, vinegar, matchbox

What to do:

1. Light the two candies and set them upright on a table.

 2. Put a couple of tablespoons of baking soda into the glass.

3. Pour some vinegar. You'll see the mixture bubble Stop adding vinegar when the bubbles threaten to overflow

4. Let the bubbles settle down 5. Then tilt the glass over the candle. Don't pour liquid on the candle just hold the mouth of the glass near the candle flame.

What happens

The candle goes out. If you can't believe it, try it with the other one!

Why?

Baking soda and vinegar react with each other with blaster. A by-product of their reaction is carbon dioxide gas. The bubbles you saw earlier were all carbon dioxide that pushed the air out of the glass. The glass is now filled with the gas which settles in because it is heavier than air. When you tilt the glass over the flame you're actually pouring carbon dioxide over the flame! This carbon dioxide does not allow oxygen to get to the candle wick and the flame starves and goes out! In real life too some fire extinguishers employ carbon dioxide which is quite effective in putting out certain fires.

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Tornados and whirlpools in nature are destructive. But we can observe them safely inside a bottle

What you need:

 A one-litre plastic bottle, a tab, a stopwatch

 What to do:

1. Uncap the bottle. Fill it almost to the top with water.

2. Clamp the mouth of the bottle with your hand and turn it upside down. Hold it over the tub.

3. Now, let go of the mouth of the bottle. Measure the time it takes for all the water to empty out into the tub.

4 Restart the experiment. Fill the water from the tub back into the bottle. Clamp down the mouth and invert it over the tub.

 5. Now, slowly, start moving the whole thing in a clockwise or anticlockwise circle. Keep doing this until you see a tornado forming inside the bottle.

 6. Leave the mouth open and time the water flowing out into the tub.

What happens

When you invert the bottle without swirling it, water slowly falls into the tub below.

But when you start moving the bottle in a circle, a tornado forms and all the water quickly empties into the tub below. The time taken in this case is far lesser Why?

If you don't swirl the bottle, there's a glug- glug sound as the water slowly falls into the tub below. This sound happens because air and water have to take turn passing through the bottles mouth. Air from the outside passes into the bottle to fill it and water from the bottle passes out.

But when you swirl the bottle and make the tomato, you allow the air and water t simultaneously pass through the bottles mouth How? The centre of the tornado is a hole, as it is in the form of a spiral or a vortex. This centre sucks air in and the waiter moves around it. Then the water falls into the tub below thanks to gravity. The process of emptying out of the bottle is much faster when the air and water move like this together. That's the beauty of the vortex.

Picture Credit : Google