My Science School

Ever been curios to find out about the origins of Tom Sawyer, Faust and more? Here’s peek into the past that will take you where it all began.

THE ANNE FRANK HOUSE, AMSTERDAM: Located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in central Amsterdam in the Netherlands, this is the house where Anne Frank hid alongside her family and four others, and later became a biographical museum. The house also became famous as the Secret Annex. While Anne did not survive the war, her wartime diary was published in 1947. Ten years later, the Anne Frank Foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block.

MARK TWAIN'S HOUSE CONNECTICUT: The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. Connecticut, was the home Mark Twain and his family from 1874 to 1891. Some of his best-known works, while living there  including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A Tramp Abroad were written here. It was named one of the Ten Best Historic Homes in the world in The Ten Best of Everything, a National Geographic Books publication.

YASNAYA POLYANA, TULA, RUSSIA: A house which has seen the genesis of world classics such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Yasnaya Polyana was the house were Leo Tolstoy was born. Tolstoy referred to it as his inaccessible literary stronghold. In June 1921, the estate was nationalised and formally became his memorial museum, which contains the author's personal artefacts. as well as his library of 22,000 volumes.

THE BRONTE PARSONAGE MUSEUM, WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND: Built between 1778 and 1779, The Brontë Parsonage Museum, also known as Hawthorn Parsonage, was the former home of the Bronte family. This was where the renowned Bronte sisters-Charlotte, Emily and Anne- lived for most of their lives, and penned their famous novels. Listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England, the house, now also a museum is maintained by the Bronte Society.  

THE GOETHE HOUSE, GERMANY: It is the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the place where he penned his famous works including Faust, Götz von Berlichingen, and The Sorrows of Young Weather. It was destroyed during the Allied bombing of Frankfurt on May 22, 1944, but was restored after the war between 1947 and 1951, as closely as possible to its original condition.

RK NARAYAN'S HOUSE AND MUSEUM, YADAVAGIRI, MYSURU: The creator of Malgudi lived in this house for nearly two decades before moving to Chennai, in the early 1990s, where he lived until his death. The house is full of memorabilia-oh his family, friends. mentors like Graham Greene, and his study, which has his collections, among others. After his death in 2001, the house fell into complete disarray and a builder wanted to raze it down to build a multi-storey complex. The city's people protested, and in mid-2016, the municipal corporation stepped in, the house was repaired, and made into a museum.

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It is an interactive museum of news and journalism situated in Washington DC, the U.S. It is dedicated to the history and evolution of newsgathering. Spread across seven floors with 15 theatres, an interactive newsroom, and two broadcast studios, it is massive.

History on the go

Established in 1997, The Newsuem showcases all forms of news-from the earliest newspapers to today's digital ones complemented by audio-visuals. Its archive section has 35,000 front pages of newspapers, dating back to about 500 years. The front pages of over 800 newspapers from around the world are displayed daily in the Newseum and also on its website.

The Newseum displays some moving exhibits such as the laptop of Wall Street Journal's correspondent Daniel Pearl who was killed by terrorists in Pakistan, several sections of the Berlin Wall, and the twisted remains of the broadcast antenna from atop the World Trade Center tower that collapsed on September 11, 2001.

When treatment goes electronic

Telemedicine refers to the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients using modern telecommunication tools such as the Internet, video conferencing, telephone, fax, and so on. Telemedicine enables the sharing of medical information about a patient electronically. The process of information sharing can happen in real-time, or the data can be forwarded and analysed later.

It has proved to be a boon for patients in smaller towns and remote villages where up-to-date medical facilities may not be readily available. Doctors from rural hospitals can electronically share patients' data pathological, x-ray and ECG reports and clinical findings - with their counterparts from sophisticated urban hospitals and arrive at a proper diagnosis and line of treatment.

In advanced countries, telemedicine, has been used effectively to handle life-threatening emergencies. Indeed, doctors sitting thousands of kilometres away. have moved the arms and fingers of a surgical robot to carry out surgeries.

Telemedicine has already gained wide acceptance in India. Many major hospitals offer telemedicine services to its patients in remote locations.

Small change, huge consequence

At a scientific conference in 1972, Lorenz presented a paper titled Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set a Tomado in Texas? He explained that a minuscule change in atmospheric pressure (even as miniscule as a butterfly's flapping wing) had the potential to bring about an overwhelming unforeseen change in the weather. He opined that long-term prediction of weather was impossible as changes in the initial conditions could result in vastly different weather.

Closer home, the 2008 Kamal Hassan-starrer, Dasavatharam, talks about the butterfly effect and chaos theory-in the film, biotechnologist and business tycoon Govindarajan Ramaswamy explains the concept, stringing together a series of incidents from 12th century in Chidambaram, to the present times, that effectively elucidate the concept

The butterfly effect laid the foundation for chaos theory, a branch of Maths that studies dynamical systems. It revolutionised scientific theory because it overturned the previous belief that an approximate idea about the initial conditions could lead to an approximate outcome.

While the butterfly effect is mainly concerned with weather and environment, it is also applied in Quantum Physics, economy, share markets, and business.

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Bakeys is a Hyderabad-based edible cutlery company founded by Narayana Peesapaty. He wanted to use a raw material that wouldn't consume too much water during manufacture. Hence, he opted to make his brand of single-use cutlery from a mix of sorghum (jowar), rice and wheat flours. Sorghum grows well in semi-arid areas and doesn't become soggy quickly when dipped in liquids.

At a time when the world over, people are trying to reduce plastic waste, several innovations have emerged over the years, to aid the cause. A leap in this direction are handy, delectable, consumable cutlery. Yes, you heard right. It is exactly what it sounds like cutlery that you can chomp down, along with the food that comes in it Disposable plastic cutlery, straws, cups, and containers generate large amounts of plastic waste. Hence, researchers have been coming out with new innovations in containers used to hold and package food to try and reduce plastic waste. The container holding the food is itself good enough to eat, and the packaging is either edible or compostable

The flour is kneaded with hot water, shaped and baked hard without using any artificial additive or preservative. Since it is dehydrated, it can last for up to two years if stored in an air-tight container in a cool dry, insect-free place. It should not be wiped, washed or reused.

The spoons, that taste like a dry cracker, come in varied flavours including sugar, ginger-cinnamon, cumin, mint-ginger and carrot-beetroot. The portion dipped in hot food softens, absorbing the dish's flavours.

Uneaten spoons can be disposed in mud or put in a potted plant, because, unlike com-based biodegradable plastic they don't need special composting to break down.

The company has been making such spoons since 2010 in a facility which employs only women. Successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Ketto enabled it to expand, and now, they are sold globally.

Bite size perfection

In 2012, David Edwards, the founder of WikiFoods, launched WikiCells, an edible packaging for foods and liquids.

The WikiCell has two layers. The outer biodegradable layer, which can be peeled off and thrown away, much like a fruit peel, is made of tapioca or sugarcane bagasse, the dry pulpy residue left after sugar has been extracted. It is gelatinous and soft, like a translucent cell. The inner layer is an edible shell made of a hardened composite such as chocolate or isomalt, a sugar substitute.

Incredible Foods, co-founded by Edwards, manufactures and markets WikiCells in the U.S. as Perfectly Free bites in non-dairy ice-cream form and as frozen fruit bites.

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Standing tall as proof of a glorious past and skilled craftsmanship, here are some majestic forts that are steeped in historical and architectural importance.

AMER FORT, RAJASTHAN: Located in Amber, 11 kilometres north-east of Jaipur, the Amer or Amber Fort was the capital of the Kachhawa Rajputs before Jaipur was built. Built by Raja Man Singh sometime in the 17th Century, the most beautiful palace within the Fort is the Sheesh Mahal or the Palace of Mirrors.

AGRA FORT, UTTAR PRADESH: Constructed during 1565-1573 for Mughal Emperor Akbar, this magnificent fort was also known as the "Lal-Qila", "Fort Rouge" or "Qila-i-Akbari". It is among the first sites to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

GWALIOR FORT, MADHYA PRADESH: One of India's oldest, it is located atop the hilltop in Gwalior. During the Mughal rule, it was used as a prison and was continuously occupied by one ruler or the other until the British rule. A stone inscription found inside the temple is proof of the second oldest record of the numeric zero (0) symbol.

KANGRA FORT, HIMACHAL PRADESH: Nestled in the hills of Kangra, around 20 kilometres from Dharamshala, in Himachal Pradesh, this fort was built by the Kangra State's Rajput family. The Fort, which has stood witness to many rulers, including the British, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1905. However, it still remains a popular tourist destination.

CHITRADURGA FORT, KARNATAKA:  It was built in stages between the 11th and 13th centuries by rulers, including the Chalukyas and Hoysalas, and later, the Nayakas of Chitradurga of the Vijayanagar Empire. It was taken by Hyder Ali in 1779, captured by British forces, only to be later reclaimed by Hyder Ali's son, Tipu Sultan.

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