My Science School

The pandemic has been on for nearly two years now, and due to that many of you may not be discovering as many new places as you want to. But you can still. travel. How? By turning the pages of a book, you can go where you want your heart to go.

From long ago

• The "Little House" book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder may not really be travel books but more of books about shifting of residences, discovering new people and places. Well, did you know that these books have also come under wide criticism for their views on race stereotypes?
• Extremely enjoyable is this adventure book by Jules Verne. It's "Around the World in Eighty Days". Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout take us on a whirlwind tour of the world in just 80 days, would you believe it? It is seen as Jules' best book.
• "The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien may be last century but the adventures of Bilbo Baggins never cease to amaze. Bilbo is a home-loving hobbit who goes on a quest that moves from being fun and light-hearted to a more difficult and sinister one in this fictional universe created by Tolkien. The writer was inspired by the World War I and Greek fairytales.

And recently

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

Here's a road trip with a difference. When sisters Raina and Amara get into the same car from their home in San Francisco to get to a family reunion, they have conversations that haven't happened in a long time. Such as how things changed once Amara was born and then when their younger brother came along. A wonderful emotional and funny story for you.

The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz

Set in 1242, this book tells the story of three children and their Holy dog. A chase through France, a farting dragon, and a king - this is not just a hilarious story but one filled with magic and adventure and the discovery of new places.

Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave by Jen White

Liberty, 12, and Billie, 8, have just lost their mother and have to go off to live with their father, a person they haven't met or even seen since they were very young. He is a travel photographer and life is super-adventurous initially but then one day he abandons them as he can't handle two children! How the children get back home negotiating strangers and challenges is a story worth reading.

Dhanak by Anushka Ravishankar, Nagesh Kukunoor

A novel written on a film, "Dhanak" is a heart-warming story of two siblings out on a journey. Pari, the sister, has promised her brother Chotu that she will get him back his eyesight by the time he turns nine. Well, time is running out as the boy's ninth birthday approaches. Suddenly something happens that coaxes the two young children to travel to the deserts of Rajasthan in their quest for vision.

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Vie

Meaning:

Used as a verb, vie means to compete with someone for something or to strive for superiority.

Origin:

The first-known use of the term "vie" in English can be traced back to the 16th Century. It was initially used as a noun in the sense "make a vie" meaning "make a bet" especially in the card game. But this sense of the word has become obsolete now. Vie is probably a short form of envie in Middle English which has many meanings: to make a challenge, envy, hostility towards others which arises from their superior advantages. This in turn came from the Old French term envier meaning "to compete, or invite for a challenge). It originated from the Latin invitare meaning "to invite".

Usage:

Athletes from many countries are vying for the title. He vies with his classmates to get the first rank in the upcoming exam.

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Roil

Roil is a verb used to refer to churning or making a liquid muddy by stirring up the sediment or making something move fast in a circular motion. Figuratively, it means to perturb or annoy.

Origin:

Of uncertain origin, the first-known use of roil in English was recorded in 1590. It perhaps came from Old French ruiler ‘to mix mortar’, from late Latin regulare ‘regulate’.

Usage:

Violent winds roiled the sea. The announcement of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19, created panic globally, roiling markets.

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Deleterious

Meaning:

An adjective, "deleterious" means harmful or damaging, often in a subtle or unexpected way.

Origin:

The term originated from the Greek deleterias meaning "noxious or destructive" via Medieval Latin deleterius. It is derived from deleter meaning "destroyer." It came into English in the mid-17th Century.

Usage:

Carbon emissions have a deleterious impact on us and our planet.

The lack of sleep can have a deleterious effect on the body's ability to recover from illness.

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Mulligatawny

This noun refers to a rich soup usually of chicken stock seasoned with curry.

Origin:

The word, said to have been used first in the 18th Century, has an interesting origin. It is an anglicised version of the Tamil words milagu (pepper) and thanni (water), which were used to prepare soup. The soup, and as a consequence the word mulligatawny, became popular during the British rule.

Example:

Our family's jealously guarded recipe of mulligatawny includes a generous portion of roasted cumin.

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Beefy

An adjective, beefy means hefty, or strongly built with large muscles. It also means something like beef (meat from cattle).

Origin:

The term beefy has been in use in English since the mid-18th Century. It derives from Old French boef which in turn came from Latin bos or bov meaning "ox". The adjective is a combination of "beef (noun) in the colloquial sense of human muscle" +"y" (adjective suffix meaning "characterised by").

Usage:

The stranger who came home last night, was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck.

The child who initially felt intimidated by the presence of beefy bodyguards at the entrance soon became friendly with them.

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You think maths is useful only as part of one's academic life? Actually, maths helps us do many important tasks in our daily life.

1. Time and task management skills: When we wake up in the morning, we look at the time to see whether we have enough time to complete various tasks. Additionally, we use maths when it comes to reading a clock / watch or planning one's tasks. Maths is the primary factor in managing time while completing various tasks in our daily lives.

2. Budgeting and dealing with money: Managing money, understanding discounts, and buying for the best price all involve the knowledge of maths and, at least, a basic understanding of how percentages work. Here's an example. How much would a shirt or blouse cost once a 50 % discount is applied? What about once the taxes are added? These questions can be answered only once we understand how discounts and percentages work.

3. Understanding your favorite sports activity: Basic knowledge of maths also helps keep track of scores for every sports activity. Geometry and trigonometry can also help students find the best way to hit a ball, make a basket, or run around the track in an effective manner.

4. Baking your favorite pie: Measuring the ingredients to add to a recipe and kitchen inventory planning require an understanding of fractions and conversion. For example, if the recipe calls for two cups, but you only have a quarter-cup measuring tool and a half-cup measuring tool, how much adds up to two?

5. Home decor and interior designing: A fair knowledge of dimensions, units, and unit conversions is required to be able to sail through any basic home decoration. Common questions when you are trying to set up your new space or apartment could range from the dimensions of wallpaper needed for a wall to having enough space to fit your favorite couch. It's very important to know these basics before you head to a store.

6. Exercising and dieting: We set our routine according to our workout schedule, count the number of repetitions while exercising, etc., just based on maths. Additionally, we set up diet and meal plans based on effective management of time and meals.

7. Driving: Operating a car or motorcycle is ultimately nothing but a series of calculations with respect to the number of km to the destination, the amount of petrol in the vehicle, the distance that can be covered in a given amount of time or per litre of fuel, how a traffic jam can slow the pace, etc.

8. DIY clothing and design: Maths is also an essential aspect of designing. From taking measurements and estimating the quantity of clothes to producing clothes according to one's needs and tastes, maths is followed at every stage.

9. Critical thinking: Technically, 'critical thinking' is not even maths as there are no numbers involved. However, knowledge of maths surely increases the ability to think critically. The more maths skills you gain, the more you observe the minute details, question available data, rule out unnecessary data, and analyse it for your benefit.

10. The base of other subjects: Although maths is a unique subject, it also forms the base for every other subject, including physics, chemistry, economics, history, accountancy, and statistics.

Maths is a tool in our hands to make our lives easier and more seamless. The more mathematical we are in our approach, the more rational would be our thoughts.

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Worms

Worms are similar to viruses in damaging the computer. A computer worm is a type of virus that replicates itself, but does not alter any files on your machine. It is a type of malware that can self-replicate without a host program. Worms cause damage by multiplying so many times that they take up all the available memory or hard disc space. As a result, the computer works very slowly and may even crash. If the worm affects the hard disc space, it takes a long time to access files. The user will not be able to save or create new files until the worm has been eradicated. Worms are hard to detect and often go unnoticed until the computer begins to slow down or starts having other problems. Some of the most prevalent examples of worms are the famous “I loveyou”, “Blaster” and “conficker” worms It is good to have an anti-virus program installed on the system that can detect and remove worms before they have a chance to replicate or spread to other computers.

Trojans

Trojan is a small program that is hidden inside another software. It does not get installed automatically like a virus. It is a malicious program that is designed to appear like a normal program. You have to run or install the program. Once activated following installation, Trojans can execute their malicious functions.

Unexpected changes to computer settings and unusual activity even when the computer is idle are signs of presence of Trojans or other malware on a computer. You have to be very careful while installing or running any program. Do not install any program unless you are sure that it is free from all malware. If your computer gets infected with a Trojan, run anti-malware tool to scan and remove it.

What can be done about malware?

Malware is a very prevalent problem. Many companies develop certain programs called anti-malware programs that helps stop and remove malware. These anti-malware programs use different ways to find malware present in a system. One has to install and run these anti-virus and anti-malware software on the computer to remove any malware from it.

How can you prevent malware?

• Don't open email attachments from unknown people or unexpected sources.
• Ensure that your USB drive is secure before you use it on your own computer.
• Remember to scan your computer periodically by using a malware scanner.

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Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants because they are smaller and compositionally different from Jupiter and Saturn, the gas giants. Jupiter and Saturn are composed of mostly hydrogen and helium, with large mantles of metallic hydrogen (which acts like a metal, due to the pressure and temperature within these planets) and only small cores of rock and ice. This is why they are called gas giants: They are mostly gaseous, with very little rock and ice.

Uranus and Neptune are composed of some hydrogen and helium, but they also contain heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Beneath their relatively thin outer shells of hydrogen and helium, these planets’ mantles are largely made of compressed, slushy water and ammonia. The ice giants’ rocky, icy cores are also proportionally larger than the amount of gas they contain, unlike the gas giants. This is why Uranus and Neptune are called ice giants.

The “ice giant” terminology took hold in the 1990s when researchers realized Uranus and Neptune were compositionally different from Jupiter and Saturn. Classifying them differently better reflects the variations in the formation of the outer planets, giving astronomers a clearer picture of how our solar system and others formed.

Credit : Astronomy.com 

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Triton is the largest of Neptune's 13 moons. It is unusual because it is the only large moon in our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction of its planet's rotation?a retrograde orbit.

Scientists think Triton is a Kuiper Belt Object captured by Neptune's gravity millions of years ago. It shares many similarities with Pluto, the best known world of the Kuiper Belt.

Like our own moon, Triton is locked in synchronous rotation with Neptune?one side faces the planet at all times. But because of its unusual orbital inclination both polar regions take turns facing the Sun.

Triton has a diameter of 1,680 miles (2,700 kilometers). Spacecraft images show the moon has a sparsely cratered surface with smooth volcanic plains, mounds and round pits formed by icy lava flows. Triton consists of a crust of frozen nitrogen over an icy mantle believed to cover a core of rock and metal. Triton has a density about twice that of water. This is a higher density than that measured for almost any other satellite of an outer planet. Europa and Io have higher densities. This implies that Triton contains more rock in its interior than the icy satellites of Saturn and Uranus.

Triton's thin atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen with small amounts of methane. This atmosphere most likely originates from Triton's volcanic activity, which is driven by seasonal heating by the Sun. Triton, Io and Venus are the only bodies in the solar system besides Earth that are known to be volcanically active at the present time.

Triton is one of the coolest objects in our solar system. It is so cold that most of Triton's nitrogen is condensed as frost, giving its surface an icy sheen that reflects 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it.

NASA's Voyager 2?the only spacecraft to fly past Neptune and Triton?found surface temperatures of -391degrees Fahrenheit (-235 degrees Celsius). During its 1989 flyby, Voyager 2 also found Triton has active geysers, making it one of the few geologically active moons in our solar system.

Credit : NASA Science 

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Neptune, that icy gas giant that is the eighth planet from our Sun, was discovered in 1846 by two astronomers  – Urbain Le Verrier and Johann Galle. In keeping with the convention of planetary nomenclature, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea (the equivalent to the Greek Poseidon). And just seventeen days after it was discovered, astronomers began to notice that it too had a system of moons.

Initially, only Triton – Neptune’s largest moon – could be observed. But by the mid-20th century and after, thanks to improvements in ground-based telescopes and the development of robotic space probes, many more moons would be discovered. Neptune now has 14 recognized satellites, and in honor of of their parent planet, all are named for minor water deities in Greek mythology.

Triton, being the largest and most massive of Neptune’s moons, was the first to be discovered. It was observed by William Lassell on October 10th, 1846, just seventeen days after Neptune was discovered. It would be almost a century before any other moons would be discovered.

The first was Nereid, Neptune’s second largest and most massive moon, which was discovered on May 1st, 1949, by Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. The third moon, later named Larissa, was first observed by Harold J. Reitsema, William B. Hubbard, Larry A. Lebofsky and David J. Tholen on May 24th, 1981.

The discovery of this moon was purely fortuitous, and occurred as a result of the ongoing search for rings similar to those discovered around Uranus four years earlier. If rings were in fact present, the star’s luminosity would decrease slightly just before the planet’s closest approach. While observing a star’s close approach to Neptune, the star’s luminosity dipped, but only for several seconds. This indicated the presence of a moon rather than a ring.

No further moons were found until Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989. In the course of passing through the system, the space probe rediscovered Larissa and discovered five additional inner moons: Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea and Proteus.

In 2001, two surveys using large ground-based telescopes – the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes – found five additional outer moons bringing the total to thirteen. Follow-up surveys by two teams in 2002 and 2003 respectively re-observed all five of these moons – which were Halimede, Sao, Psamathe, Laomedeia, and Neso.

And then on July 15th, 2013, a team of astronomers led by Mark R. Showalter of the SETI Institute revealed that they had discovered a previously unknown fourteenth moon in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from 2004–2009. The as yet unnamed fourteenth moon, currently identified as S/2004 N 1, is thought to measure no more than 16–20 km in diameter.

In keeping with astronomical convention, Neptune’s moons are all taken from Greek and Roman mythology. In this case, all are named for gods of the sea, or for the children of Poseidon (which include Triton, Proteus, Depsina and Thalassa), minor Greek water dieties (Naiad and Nereid) or Nereids , the water nymphs in Greek mythology (Halimede, Galatea, Neso, Sao, Laomedeia and Psamathe).

However, many of the moons were not officially named until the 20th century. The name Triton, which was originally suggested by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book Astronomie Populaire, but not into common usage until at least the 1930s.

Credit : Universe Today

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Neptune has five rings: Galle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams. Its rings were named after the astronomers who made an important discovery regarding the planet. The rings are composed of at least 20% dust with some of the rings containing as much as 70% dust; the rest of the material comprising the rings is small rocks. The planet’s rings are difficult to see because they are dark and vary in density and size.  Astronomers think Neptune’s rings are young compared to the age of the planet, and that they were probably formed when one of Neptune’s moons was destroyed.

The Galle ring was named after Johann Gottfried Galle, the first person to see the planet using a telescope. It is the nearest of Neptune’s rings at 41,000–43,000 km.  The La Verrier ring was named after the man who predicted Neptune’s position. Very narrow, this ring is only about 113 kilometers wide. The Lassell ring is the widest of Neptune’s rings. Named after William Lassell, it lies between 53,200 kilometers and 57,200 kilometers from Neptune, making it 4,000 kilometers wide.  The Arago ring is 57,200 kilometers from the planet and less than 100 kilometers wide.

The outer ring, Adams, was named after John Couch Adams who is credited with the co-discovery of Neptune. Although the ring is narrow at only 35 kilometers wide, it is the most famous of the five due to its arcs. Adams’ arcs are areas where the material of the rings is grouped together in a clump. Although the Adams ring has five arcs, the three most famous ones are Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The arcs are the brightest parts of the rings and the first to be discovered. Scientists are unable to explain the existence of these arcs because according to the laws of motion they should distribute the material uniformly throughout the rings.

The rings of Neptune are very dark, and probably made of organic compounds that have been baked in the radiation of space. This is similar to the rings of Uranus, but very different to the icy rings around Saturn. They seem to contain a large quantity of micrometer-sized dust, similar in size to the particles in the rings of Jupiter.

Credit : Universe Today 

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Neptune is the fourth largest planet in terms of diameter, making it the smallest in physical size of the gas giants. The average distance from the center of the planet to its surface is 15,299 miles (24,622 kilometers). But like most spinning bodies, Neptune's rotation causes it to bulge slightly around the equator. The resulting shape is known as an oblate spheroid. The radius at the poles is 15,125 miles (24,341 km), slightly smaller than the equatorial radius of 15,388 miles (24,764 km). The average diameter across the planet is 30,598 miles (49,244 km), almost four times the diameter of Earth.

Although Neptune comes in fourth in terms of diameter, it ranks third in terms of mass, ahead of Uranus. The gas giant weighs in at 1.02 x 1026 kilograms, or 102 trillion trillion kilograms. It is more than seventeen times as massive as Earth.

The rock, ices, and gas that make up the icy giant fill a volume of 15 trillion cubic miles (62 trillion cubic kilometers), almost 58 times the volume of Earth.

The density of Neptune is 1.638 grams per cubic centimeter. The low density indicates that, like Uranus, its atmosphere is made up of more ices than Saturn and Jupiter, causing scientists to call it an "icy giant". The distance to Neptune from the sun keep the planet's temperature low through the year, although some astronomers suspect the planet originally formed closer to the star.

Despite hosting a significantly lower mass, Neptune's surface gravity is second only to Jupiter.

Credit : Space.com

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Teratology is the science that studies the causes, mechanisms, and patterns of abnormal development. The authors present an updated overview of the most important milestones and stages of the development of modern teratology. Development of knowledge and society led to the recognition that causes of congenital developmental disorders (CDDs) might be caused by various mechanical effects, foetal diseases, and retarded or arrested development of the embryo and foetus. Based on the analysis of the historical development of hypotheses and theories representing a decisive contribution to this field, we present a survey of the six Wilson?s fundamental principles of teratology. The aim of observing these principles is to get insight into developmental relations and to understand mechanisms of action on the level of cell populations (elementary morphogenetic processes), tissues and organs. It is important to realise that any negative intervention into the normal course of these processes, either on genetic or non-genetic basis, inevitably leads to a sequence of subsequent changes resulting in CDDs. Moreover, the classical toxicologic monotonic dose-response paradigm recently has been challenged by the so-called “low dose-hypothesis”, particularly in the case of endocrine active substances. These include some pesticides, dioxins, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), and bisphenol A. Despite modern approaches of molecular biology and genetics, along with top diagnostic techniques, we are still not able to identify the actual cause in more than 65 to 70% of all congenital defects classified as having an unknown etiology. Today CDDs include any birth defect, either morphological, biochemical, or behavioural.

Teratology started as a descriptive science, stemming from a variety of mystical and scientific theories explaining the etiology of congenital malformations, such as maternal impression, the position of the stars, hybridisation, etc. While superstitions and fantastic explanations of congenital developmental disorders (CDDs) prevailed, there existed also biological theories which seem to be rational today. Further development of knowledge and society led to the recognition that causes of CDDs were manifold. Various mechanical effects, foetal distress, retarded or arrested development of embryo and foetus and several chemical substances and physical factors may come into play.

Credit : NCBI

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The Apgar score is a test given to newborns soon after birth. This test checks a baby's heart rate, muscle tone, and other signs to see if extra medical care or emergency care is needed.

Babies usually get the test twice: 1 minute after birth, and again 5 minutes after they're born. If there are concerns, a baby may get the test again.

The Apgar score measures five things to check a baby's health. Each is scored on a scale of 0 to 2, with 2 being the best score:

• Appearance (skin color)
• Pulse (heart rate)
• Grimace response (reflexes)
• Activity (muscle tone)
• Respiration (breathing rate and effort)

A baby who scores a 7 or above on the test is considered in good health. A lower score does not mean that your baby is unhealthy. It means that your baby may need some immediate medical care, such as suctioning of the airways or oxygen to help him or her breathe better. Perfectly healthy babies sometimes have a lower-than-usual score, especially in the first few minutes after birth.

Credit : Kids Health 

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