My Science School

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honour, was renamed after hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand by the Prime Minister on August 6. PM Modi said he had been getting many requests from citizens to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dyan Chand. "Major Dhyan Chand was among India's foremost sportspersons who brought honour and pride for India. It is fitting that our nation's highest sporting honour will be named after him,” PM Modi tweeted.

The government's decision comes a day after Indian men's hockey team ended the 41-year wait for an Olympic medal when it defeated Germany 5-4 and secured first hockey medal for the country since the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

The women's hockey team too performed admirably and just missed out on a medal when it lost to Great Britain 3-4 and finished 4th earlier in the day.

The change came at a time when India's hockey teams (both men's and women's) had captured the imagination of the nation with their splendid performance at the Tokyo Olympics. The award, launched in 1992, comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of 25 lakh. In this context, it is significant to note that Dhyan Chand won three Olympic golds for the country and his birthday (August 29) is being celebrated as National Sports Day.

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Last year on July 13, a row erupted over Israeli spyware Pegasus allegedly being used for targeted surveillance on a host of public figures in India.

Pegasus is a type of hacking software sold by Israeli surveillance company, NSO Group. It is said that the spyware is capable of extracting data from phones and can infect devices without the knowledge of users. According to reports, Paris-based media non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International accessed a leaked database of thousands of phone numbers targeted by Pegasus across the world. It was said to contain data of government clients of Pegasus since 2016. The data was shared with global media groups as part of a collaborative investigation called Pegasus Project. Subsequently, on October 27, the Supreme Court directed a panel of technical experts to investigate whether the government used military-grade Pegasus spyware to monitor politicians, activists, tycoons, judges and journalists.

More authoritarian countries frequently claim journalists, dissidents and human rights activists are criminals or a national security threat making them worthy of intrusive surveillance.

And in many of those countries there is limited or no accountability and oversight on how the powerful capabilities are used.

The spread of encryption has increased the drive for governments to get inside people's devices. When phone calls were the main means of communication, a telecoms company could be ordered to wiretap the conversation (which once meant literally attaching wires to the line).

But now the conversations are often encrypted, meaning you need to get to the device itself to see what was said. And devices also carry out a much richer treasure trove of data.

In the past, ransomware - in which hackers demand a payment to unlock access to your system - was the province of criminal networks. It is now sold as a service on the dark web.

An individual can simply agree a deal to give them a cut of the profits and they will hand over the tools and even offer support and advice, including helplines in the case of problems.

Other techniques - like location tracking and developing profiles of people's activity and behaviour - which once required specialised access and authority are now available freely.

Credit : BBC 

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Last year between March 27 and April 29, elections were held in the States of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country. While the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress pulled off a spectacular victory in West Bengal to form the government for a third consecutive term, the DMK-led alliance wrested power from the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF got a record second term in Kerala, while the BJP retained power in Assam. In Puducherry, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) which contested part of the NDA along with the BIP and AIADMK, emerged victorious. While Mamata Banerjee returned as CM in West Bengal and Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala, M.K. Stalin became the CM of Tamil Nadu for the first time. However in Assam, the BJP chose Himanta Biswa Sarma over incumbent Sarbananda Sonowal to head the State. In Puducherry, AINRC founder N. Rangasamy took over as CM. heading a coalition government.

Change of guard: in a departure from tradition, the BJP changed CMS even before their term ended in three of the four States-Uttarakhand Assam, Karnataka and Gujarat-for non-performance, dissidence or other reasons. On March 10, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced with Tirath Singh Rawat, who within a few months passed the CM's baton to Pushkar Singh Dhami aged 45 on July 4. Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa. 78, resigned on July 26, and Basava Raj Bommai was made the CM. In Gujarat, Vijay Rupani was replaced by Bhupendrabhai Patel in September. In a surprise move, the Congress also changed the CM of Punjab mid-term-Amarinder Singh was replaced by Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab CM in September. After his unceremonious exit as CM, Amarinder Singh formed his own party. Punjab Lok Congress, and announced that his party would contest the coming state polls in alliance with the BJP.

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Even as the country was reeling under the devastating COVID impact, several states had to face the fury of nature in the form of cyclonic storms, floods, landslides and earthquakes. In one of the most tragic disasters in India, over 200 were either killed or went missing in the glacier burst in Uttrakhand's Chamoli district on February 7. Assam witnessed a 6.0 magnitude earthquake on April 28, killing two and injuring over a dozen people. While Cyclone Tauktae which made landfall in Gujarat coast on May 17 killed over 170 people in regions such as Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Gujarat. Cyclone Yaas hit Odisha on May 26, killing 20 people; mass evacuations from the coastal areas of Odisha and West Bengal resulted in saving a lot of lives.

Over 30 people died in landslides in Mumbai following torrential rains in July. Rains lasting several days triggered floods across Maharashtra in July, leaving over 250 dead and major rivers in spate. Telangana also witnessed flooding caused by heavy rain in low-lying areas. On October 16, flash floods caused by heavy rains in Kerala killed over 40 people, while a few days later heavy rains and landslides in Uttarakhand claimed 64 lives. Cyclone Jawad wreaked havoc across Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha in the first week of December. Environmentalists have warned that climate change and indiscriminate construction in coastal regions could lead to more disasters.

The cyclone has been given the name ‘Tauktae’ (pronounced Tau’Te) by Myanmar. It means 'gecko', a highly vocal lizard, in Burmese dialect. The World Meteorological Organisation and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN ESCAP) led Panel on Tropical Cyclones – a global body which also includes regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMC) as well as tropical cyclone warning centres -- prepares the names of the cyclones.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is among six RSMCs in the world, is mandated to issue advisories and name tropical cyclones in the north Indian Ocean region.

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India is among the most severely affected countries in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The second wave, which began around February 2021 in the country, was more devastating than the first, leaving infected patients gasping for breath. The country witnessed a massive death toll due to the coronavirus, with the numbers surpassing 4.5 lakh as of November 2021. The soaring cases overwhelmed the healthcare system, leaving hospitals struggling to cope. During April-May when the second wave peaked, several hospitals around the country ran out of the life-saving medical oxygen given to critical COVID patients. With patients flooding hospitals, several states faced shortage of beds, oxygen cylinders and other equipment. The Indian Railways ran Oxygen Express trains for transporting Liquid Medical Oxygen to different parts of the country. At judicial intervention, the Centre stepped up oxygen production, set up oxygen plants at hospitals, urged states to make rational use of LMO and imposed restrictions on the industrial use of oxygen.

The rate of decline of cases from the first wave was slow - active cases began declining only from late September last year, a trend which continued till the beginning of the second wave in the middle of February.

The decline appears to have been faster in the second wave, and it is not clear why.

Experts say one reason could be the virus has burnt through a large part of the population.

But then what about the fact that the second wave appears to have been driven by mutant strains to which previously infected people may not be entirely resistant?

Dr Mukherjee said her models indicated cases would come down to between 150,000 and 200,000 by end of May, and by the end of July may return to where they were in February.

But, she said, a lot would depend on how India's states exit from local lockdowns.

Positive rates should be at or below 5% for at least 14 days before a state or country can safely reopen, according to the World Health Organization.

Dr John says if India manages to test an average of 1.8 million samples daily, a positive rate of 5% would mean about 90,000 daily new cases.

"That will be a healthy sign that things are under control," he said.

Credit : BBC 

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More than beautiful, monarch butterflies contribute to the health of our planet. While feeding on nectar, they pollinate many types of wildflowers. The flowers they chose are varieties that are brightly colored, grow in clusters, stay open during the day, and have flat surfaces that serve as landing pads for their tiny guests. Monarch butterflies are also an important food source for birds, small animals, and other insects.

The vivid markings of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) serves as a “skull and crossbones” warning, signaling “Poison!” to the butterfly’s predators. Female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of poisonous milkweed leaves. As the caterpillar hatches, it eats its own egg; then switches to a diet of milkweed leaves. The milkweeds’ toxins remain permanently in the monarch’s system, even after the caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly. Animals that eat a monarch become very sick and, thereafter, will avoid this distinctively patterned butterfly.

Monarch butterflies live mainly in prairies, meadows, grasslands and along roadsides, across most of North America. The adult butterfly drinks nectar from a variety of flowers, uncoiling and extending its long proboscis to sip food. When not in use, this flexible “tongue” coils back into a spiral.

Most monarchs will live only a few weeks, but the generation that emerges in late summer and early fall is different. These butterflies are born to travel and may live for eight or nine months to accomplish their lengthy migration. Scientists think the monarchs use the position of the sun and the changing weather to know when it’s time for their long journey.

Credit : National Park Service

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Dragonfly, (suborder Anisoptera), also called darner, devil’s arrow, or devil’s darning needle, any of a group of roughly 3,000 species of aerial predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates (order Odonata).

Young dragonflies, called larvae or sometimes nymphs or naiads, are aquatic and are as dedicated predators under water as the adults are in the air. The functionally wingless larvae are usually mottled or dull in colour, matching the sediments or water plants among which they live. They have bulging eyes somewhat similar to the adults, but possess a formidable anatomical structure not present in the adult. Called the “mask,” it is a fusion of the larva’s third pair of mouthparts. Disproportionately large, the mask folds beneath both the head and thorax when it is not in use. At the end of the mask is a set of fanglike pincers used to seize prey such as worms, crustaceans, tadpoles, and small fish. Different species of dragonfly larvae can be described as sprawlers, burrowers, hiders, or claspers. Their shape, metabolism, and respiration differ concordantly with the microhabitat they occupy.

Larvae crawl from eggs laid in or near water. Some species lay their eggs inside plant tissue, others attach their eggs to substrates at or above the water’s surface, and some may drop or wash their eggs from their abdomen onto water. Larvae absorb oxygen from the water using gills inside the rectum. The abdomen draws water in and pumps it out again through the anus. Water can be forcibly expelled in this way, resulting in jet propulsion as a means of escape. Solid waste is also expelled in this manner. As the larva grows, it molts, its future wings first becoming apparent about halfway through the larva’s development. These wing sheaths then enlarge rapidly with each successive molt. Eventually, the larva crawls out of the water (often at night) and molts one last time, emerging as an adult and leaving behind a cast skin (exuvia).

Many dragonfly families have descriptive common names associated with their scientific names. Examples include the hawkers (Aeshnidae), petaltails (Petaluridae), and clubtails (Gomphidae). Numerous other names related to neither taxonomy nor fact have traditionally been applied to dragonflies, such as horse stinger. Dragonflies have also been known as “snake doctors” in the American South, owing to the superstition that they nurse ill snakes back to health. The term devil’s darning needle is derived from a superstition that dragonflies may sew up the eyes, ears, or mouth of a sleeping child, especially one who has misbehaved. In reality, dragonflies present no danger to humans.

Credit : Britannica 

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Seven different species of sea (or marine) turtles grace our ocean waters, from the shallow seagrass beds of the Indian Ocean, to the colorful reefs of the Coral Triangle and the sandy beaches of the Eastern Pacific. While these highly migratory species periodically come ashore to either bask or nest, sea turtles spend the bulk of their lives in the ocean. WWF's work on sea turtles focuses on five of those species: green, hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, and olive ridley.

Over the last 200 years, human activities have tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient mariners. Slaughtered for their eggs, meat, skin, and shells, sea turtles suffer from poaching and over-exploitation. They also face habitat destruction and accidental capture—known as bycatch—in fishing gear. Climate change has an impact on turtle nesting sites; it alters sand temperatures, which then affects the sex of hatchlings. Nearly all species of sea turtle are now classified as endangered, with three of the seven existing species being critically endangered.

WWF is committed to stopping the decline of sea turtles and works for the recovery of the species. We work to secure environments in which both turtles and the people that depend upon them can survive.

Credit : World Wildlife Fund

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The red rock crab (aka red crab, rock crab) is similar to -- but smaller than -- the Dungeness. This species usually measures less than 6 inches across the back and is characterized by large claws. Despite being less meaty than the Dungeness, red rock crab meat is also very tasty. It can be distinguished from the Dungeness by the presence of black on the tips of its claws and by its red coloration. The red rock crab also prefers rocky substrates, as the name implies.

The red crab has been described as the “other big crab.” The red crab is one of several related species of crustaceans that live in various deep stretches of the Atlantic. Red crabs flank the edge of the continental shelf from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf of Mexico. Blue crabs are called swimming crabs because they can use their paddle-like rear legs to propel themselves through the water. Red crabs have no choice but to walk along the sea floor. Most live at greater depths than do the king crabs.

At the depths where red crabs live, there is little or no light to navigate, and water temperatures hover around 38 degrees. The red crabs scuttle across the ocean floor at depths from 600 feet to a mile deep. Often the red crabs must rely on food that sinks down from the surface. The carcasses of dead whales sometimes provide a kind of nutrition bonanza that the crabs can sniff out from long distances away.

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Also known as the gnu, the wildebeest is a member of the antelope family. They have a large, box-like head with curving horns. The front end of their body is heavily built, while the hindquarters are slender with spindly legs. They have a gray coat and a black mane as well as a beard that can be black or white. There are several races of wildebeest. The species forming the large herds of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem of Kenya and Tanzania is known as the western white-bearded wildebeest, while the eastern white-bearded races inhabit Kenya and Tanzania east of the Gregory Rift. The brindled, or blue, race occurs south of the Zambezi River.

Their habitat is threatened by fragmentation, which is caused when land is fenced off for agriculture. While they are widespread and abundant in certain areas, the spread of civilization and agriculture, the reduction of water sources, and poaching are threatening this iconic species’ survival.

These large mammals are continually on the move, as they seek favorable supplies of grass and water. The famous Serengeti population of wildebeest is a very large nomadic group. This group makes a migratory circle of 800 to 1,610 kilometers (500 to 1,000 miles) each year, beginning right after the calving season at the start of the year. They are relentless in their advance and many are injured, lost (especially calves), or killed. By the end of the dry season, the wildebeest have almost exhausted the grazing lands and return to the Serengeti plains as the rains begin.

Credit : African Wildlife Foundation

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Former First Lady Melania Trump recently launched a new platform which will release NFTS regularly. The first digital art piece to be sold on her platform is titled Melania's Vision

Melania's platform aims to assist children aging out of the foster care system by way of economic empowerment and access to resources needed to excel in the fields of computer science and technology.

Digital data

NFT stands for Non-fungible token. It is fuelled by block chain technology, meaning it is a unit of digital data. What makes NFTS different from bitcoins is that they are non-fungible. An NFT is unique and cannot be replaced with something else For example, a bitcoin could be traded for another bitcoin but you get the same thing - 10 bitcoins = 10 bitcoins or something worth 10 bitcoins. However if you trade an NFT, you get something that is completely different - an NFT art piece = whatever rate is paid for it.

NFTS can represent digital files such as audio. video, drawings/artwork, a piece of writing, items a video game and any other forms of creative work It can be used to commodify digital creations and fetch money for digital creators.

The first NFTS were based on the Ethereum open source blockchain and appeared around 2015 More recently, NFTS have become hugely popular with collectors and speculators having spent over 200 million dollars on NFT-based artwork in February March 2021. This, compared to 250 million dollars throughout 2020,

How does it work?

Since NFTS are digital data, artists who wish to sell their works as NFTS need to register with an NFT marketplace and then mint digital tokens by uploading and validating their information on a block chain. This can cost an artist anywhere between 40 and 200 dollars. After this, the artist can list his or her work for auction on an NFT marketplace, similar to Amazon or EBay.

What's the benefit?

A piece of digital art can be uploaded or circulated by anyone on the Internet. So what is the benefit for a collector buying an NFT? While the artworks can be reproduced or circulated by anyone, NFT gives the buyer the ownership rights to the original artwork. Like physical art, the artist can still retain the copyright and reproduction rights, but the person who has bought the NFT owns the original artwork.

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As we already know, on average, primates are more intelligent than other mammals, thanks to their larger brains among other aspects. Primates include humans too, considered the smartest of the lot. However, more and more studies are emerging to show just how intelligent non-human primates too are. Come, let's find out more about this through a recent experiment.

Baboons are very intelligent creatures and through various experiments it has been ascertained that they can "decipher elements of language, understanding words in a sequence. This is in addition to having "highly complicated social grouping structures, deep empathy for one another and adaptability to the developing world around them". So it makes sense they were used for a recent experiment on non-human primates.

French researchers worked with nearly 20 baboons raised at a primatology centre. In pairs, the primates were given the task of making the same choice when each was presented with a set of two images on touch screens. If both s in animals made the same choice, they were given a treat. The researchers discovered that in just three days, the baboons had come up with a system to and choose the same image even when they were not aware of what the other baboon had chosen, ruling out one imitating the other. Also, it was not a matter of colour-based choice because the baboons chose the same image even when they were presented with black-and-white ones.

This proved that baboons manage to develop social conventions to work together to Dice obtain a reward. Though earlier they had showed evidence of social conventions such as grooming, "this is the first to show a new behaviour appearing spontaneously in a group, without human intervention". According to the study, "for a behaviour to be considered a social convention its benefit must apply to the whole group, it must work consistently, and it must be one among several solutions". However, it remains a mystery how they do this.

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A newly discovered species of millipede has set a new world record for the greatest number of legs, with 1,306. Previously no millipede had been found with more than 750 legs.

The discovery of the millipede, 60m underground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration in Western Australia, is reported by Nature magazine.

The name of the new species - Eumillipes persephone - derives from the Greek word eu- (true), the Latin words mille (thousand) and pes (foot), and references the Greek goddess of the underworld, Persephone.

E. persephone has a long, thread-like body consisting of up to 330 flexible segments and is up to 0.95mm wide and 95.7mm long. It is eyeless, and has a cone-shaped head with antennae and a beak, and short legs.

Analysis suggests that E. persephone is distantly related to the previous record holder for the greatest number of legs - the Californian millipede species, Ill acme pennies.

The authors suggest that the large number of segments and legs may allow the millipede to generate pushing forces that enable it to move through narrow openings in the soil habitats in which they live.

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The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest noir of freshwater on Earth SINCE 1001, the rate of loss of ice man from the ice sheet has increased so-fold amounting to around 10% of the recent rise in global sea levels.

Basal slip

The ice flow is determined by the geological conditions in the ground beneath an ice sheet or glacier. The make-up of the Layers of rock and the temperature of the Earth's crust beneath are some of the key factors. The amount of water present in liquid form between rock and ice is also another factor as this acts as a lubricant in causing what is referred to as "basal slip", increasing the flow of ice.

The remoteness of Greenland and the fact that its ground is covered by ice almost 2.5 km in thickness creates specific problems in figuring out what is happening underneath. A research led by Swansea University in Wales has employed the noise created by Earth's movements to build up a detailed picture of the geological conditions beneath the Greenland ice sheet and the impact on ice flow.

Using Earth's noise

A permanent network of seismic monitoring stations was installed across Greenland in 2009 for a previous research. By measuring Rayleigh waves - seismic waves generated by movements like earthquakes extracted from Earth's noise, researchers were able to produce high-resolution images of the rock underneath the ice sheet.

By measuring the speed shape at duration of the wives, scientists were able to find out the material through which they are travelling through. In addition to this, the material properties of the rocks like rigidity and density, the layering of the rocks and physical properties of the surface soil were also worked out helping identify areas that are most susceptible to faster ice flow.

The researchers were able to find regions of high geothermal heat, soft sedimentary substrates beneath fast flowing outlet glaciers, and outlet glaciers particularly susceptible to basal slip. With a better understanding of the processes leading up to faster ice discharge, the researchers are also hoping to learn more about the global sea level rise.

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Scientists are preparing to drill into a volcano in Iceland in an attempt to create the world's first underground magma observatory. This ambitious project intends to dig deeper into the Earth's layers and further our knowledge about volcanic predictions and risks.

Earth's mantle consists mostly of hot magma, which flows as lava when there is a volcanic eruption. Due to the high temperatures and pressure under Earth's crust magma has remained inaccessible to scientific instruments and hence a mystery. But that's going to change now.

A team of international researchers is preparing to drill two km into the heart of a volcano the Krafla caldera in Iceland- to create the world's first underground magma observatory called the "Krafla Magma Test bed" (KMT). Let's learn all about the project in this Five Ws & One H...

WHAT is Krafla?

Krafla is a volcanic caldera in northern Iceland. A caldera is a large hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. The Krafla caldera is about 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone.

It sports a crater lake of blue water, plumes of smoke, and sulphurous bubbling of dirt and gases. The Krafla has erupted 29 times since recorded history.

How did the KMT project come about?

Though scientific instruments have not been specifically used to reach magma earlier geothermal energy drilling operations have come into contact with magma accidentally. One of these sites is the Krafla caldera in Iceland.

In 2009, when engineers were expanding Krafla's geothermal power plant, a bore drill hit a pocket of 900-degree-Celsius magma by chance, at a depth of 2.1 km. Fortunately, there was no eruption and no one was hurt. However, lava flowed 9m up the well damaged the drilling machines.

Scientists were astonished to find that they were within reach of a magma pocket. That's when they decided to launch a project to study it up close and the result is the KMT.

When did the project begin?

The project was launched in 2014 and the first drilling is due to start in 2024. The $100-million project involves scientists and engineers from 38 research institutes and companies in 11 countries, including the U.S. Britain and France.

What are the objectives of the study?

• The project aims to conduct a long-term exploration of Krafla's magma reservoir and its surrounding hydrothermal envelope.
• By drilling through the rock-magma interface and into magma, scientists believe they can establish where and under what conditions magma beneath a volcano stored
• Scientists hope the project will lead to advances in geothermal power generation.
• They also hope to further knowledge about better predicting volcanic eruptions and risks involved.

What is geothermal energy?

Geothermal energy is the heat that comes from the sub-surface of the earth right from magma. It is a renewable resource that can be harvested for human use

Wells are dug a mile deep into underground reservoirs to access the steam and hot water there, which can then be used to generate power

Iceland produces 25% of its energy from geothermal sources. This is chiefly due to the presence of 600 hot springs and 200 volcanoes in the country.

What are the challenges of the KMT project?

Drilling in such a harsh environment is technically difficult. The materials must be able to withstand the super-heated steam's corrosion. The team has planned to develop the project in a phased manner to address these issues. However, there are also concerns about the likelihood of a volcanic explosion caused by the KMT operation.

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