My Science School

Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas that gets released into the atmosphere due to anthropological activities. It is responsible for about 30% of the Earth's warming.

Methane clouds have been in the news recently with large plumes of methane being spotted over countries such as China, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and so on. The recent methane hotspots were attributed to waste sectors in these countries. And the scenario is alarming.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas and is responsible for about 30% of the Earth's warming. According to scientists, the potent greenhouse gas has 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. As such, reducing emissions of methane is one of the fastest ways to cool the planet.

Waste sector triggering methane clouds

A cloud of methane near a waste site in India was observed earlier this month. According to the satellite images taken, the methane plume is the result of the landfill in the country. The estimated emissions rate was 1.328 kg per hour of methane. These clouds of methane can cover vast areas and sometimes stretch for even 200 miles. All these observations were made through the satellite images released by the GHGSat, which is involved in high-resolution remote-sensing of greenhouse gas from space. Garbage and landfills can generate the potent greenhouse gas. This happens when organic material such as food waste breaks down in the absence of oxygen Landfills and wastewater are responsible for about 20% of the methane emissions generated from human activity. Not doing enough to stop these emissions can affect the global climate goals.

Sources of methane leak

Methane gets released into the atmosphere due to anthropological activities. It is also generated as a byproduct of oil and coal production and as part of agricultural activities. If not properly sealed, closed or abandoned coal mines can leak methane. This can go on for years.

Monitoring methane from space

Satellites can identify and track methane from anywhere, thereby aiding in tracking the methane footprint. This helps in climate transparency, bringing in accountability for countries and companies releasing methane. Greenhouse gases can be quantified and attributed in real-time. A total of 120 countries are part of the global methane pledge, which aims to cut the release of the gas by 30% by the end of this decade from the 2020 levels.

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1000 trees are presently walking down the streets of the city of Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Or rather, the indigenous trees planted in big wooden containers are being lugged around by volunteers. The idea is to let people experience a greener and cleaner alternative.

The unique initiative has been launched as part of the art project 'Bosk, envisaged by architect Bruno Doedens and his collaborator, the late Joop Mulder.

The trees will keep moving around the city till August 14, after which they will be planted across the city. The idea emerged from Doedens 2021 essay Planet Paradise. The essay questions the relationship of humans with the natural world.

Bosk means forest in the local Frisian language. The move is an attempt to raise awareness about climate change. The trees are being moved by thousands of volunteers and roads are closed when the trees are walking. The trees rest on the weekend.

It all started in the month of May, when volunteers started moving the trees in huge wooden containers. After starting their journey, the trees first stopped at Stationsplein. outside Leeuwarden's train station.

Whilst the trees aren't moving, seating areas are provided between the trees to let the people experience life when there is more green cover. Around 60-70 varieties of native trees such as maple, oak, elm, willow, alder, and ash are planted in the wooden containers.

QR codes have been given which lets one know the details such as the species name, its lifespan, soil type, and so on. The city gardening team gets an alert whenever water is required by the tree. A soil sensor alert has been provided for this.

 The trees will get their permanent home in the city after 100 days. The trees will trundle down these roads until August 14 and will later be planted across the city where the greenery is limited.

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Autumn showcases nature in all its splendour. How do the colours of leaves change during the season? Why do leaves fall? How do animals react to the change in season? Come, let's find out

Autumn is a transitional period between summer and winter. It is one of the four seasons in the temperate zones. According to the Hindu calendar. Sharad ritu is synonymous with autumn. But autumn

is not very distinct in India, except in some parts of the Himalayas, especially the Kashmir Valley. In the northern hemisphere, autumn begins with the September equinox which occurs on September 22 or 23 each year. This is when the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward. During the equinox, the day and night are of nearly equal duration.

Fall colours

French littérateur Albert Camus has aptly described the season- "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower!" Indeed as the days grow shorter with a perceptible nip in the air, Mother Nature too begins to discard her universal green and sets the countryside on fire with gorgeous red, orange, yellow or brown.

The leaves of many deciduous plants change colour. A leaf contains three pigments-chlorophyll (green), carotenoid (yellow, orange and brown) and anthocyanins (red). Of these, chlorophyll and carotenoid are present in leaf cells during the growth period. But the chlorophyll covers the carotenoid and hence we see only the green colour. Anthocyanins are produced only in autumn under certain conditions in some trees.

During winter, there is not much sunlight for photosynthesis to take place. Trees begin to temporarily shut down their food factory. The green chlorophyll begins to disappear from the leaves and the vivid colours of the carotenoid come alive.

The eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada, Scandinavia, western parts of Europe, China, Korea and Japan are famous for the spectacular fall foliage. Thousands of tourists flock to these places to soak in the flamboyance of nature before everything gets covered by a white blanket of snow!

Why do leaves fall?

The root, stem and branches of trees are able to withstand the harsh winter but not so the tender leaves- they freeze in winter. Therefore, the leaves are shed to ensure the tree's survival. With the onset of autumn, a layer of cells called the 'separation layer forms at the base of each leaf. When this layer is complete, the leaf is separated and it falls.

Trivia

*As the mercury begins to drop in the late fall season, people look forward to the ‘Indian Summer’. It is an unusually warm, dry spell which follows frosty weather.

*Autumn is associated with a sense of melancholy, especially by poets. "To Autumn" by well-known English poet John Keats is an ode to the season.

*Chinar, the signature tree of Kashmir, paints the entire valley in gold and crimson red during autumn.

* In the West, the new academic year in schools and colleges coincides with the fall season.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Come autumn and animals know instinctively that the fun and frolic of summer is over and it's time for hard work! The falling temperature and reducing daylight trigger hormonal changes in animals. Many birds, animals and even insects begin their long, arduous journey to warmer places to escape the harsh weather ahead

Those who wish to stay put find their own ways to brave the winter. Furry animals grow a thicker coat, while birds grow extra feathers. As autumn gets underway, squirrels, beavers, rodents and even ants get busy gathering food for a snowy day. For those who plan to sleep through winter, autumn is feasting time! Bears chipmunks, hedgehogs, etc. consume excess food and store it as body fat to sustain them during hibernation.

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You might have heard the phrase "carbon dating" mentioned in the context of the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque case. But what is carbon dating? Let's find out.

Scientific dating process

Carbon dating is a scientific process used to determine the age of an archaeological find or fossil. A key tool in the hands of scientists, archaeologists, and paleontologists, it is a widely used method of calculating the age of things that were once living by measuring the amounts of carbon, a chemical element, in them.

Carbon is found in every living being on Earth, meaning all living things have carbon in them in different forms. The method of carbon dating depends on the decay of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope found in Earth's atmosphere.

Radiocarbon dating, also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating, is a radiometric dating method. It uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-containing materials up to 50,000 years old. The carbon dating method was proposed by American physicist Willard F. Libby in 1946 at the University of Chicago. One of the best discoveries that throws light on our present and past, carbon dating is also used in climate studies, biomedical applications and other fields.

Where is it used?

Anything that was once alive can undergo the carbon dating method. Things such as metal and stone do not have any organic material, so they can't be dated using this method.

How is it arrived at?

Radiocarbon is present in every living organism. However, once the organism dies, it stops absorbing the carbon-14 radioisotope and the amount of the isotope present in the organism's tissues goes down. According to scientists, carbon-14 has a half-life of about 5,730 years- that is, half the amount of the radioisotope present at any given time will spontaneously decay during the following 5,730 years. As carbon-14 is said to decay at this constant rate, an estimate of the date at which an organism died can be arrived at by measuring the amount of radiocarbon still remaining in it. So it is the decay of carbon-14 that enables the dating of archaeological and other finds.

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When a bee stops at a flower to gather nectar and pollen, it contacts the anthers. Pollen from the anthers attaches to hairs on the bee's body. When the bee moves on, it carries that pollen to the stigma of the next flower it visits. This transfer of pollen between flowers results in pollination. Here's a look at two unusual plants that have unique mechanisms to attract other creatures for helping with their pollination

Dish-advantage

Marcgravia evenia, a plant native to Cuba, has bowl-shaped leaves that act as a satellite dish to reflect sound waves emitted by bats. They also enable the plants pollinators the Cuban nectar-feeding bats-to locate the plant easily amidst the surrounding foliage. Researchers believe that the plant has developed the bowl-shaped leaves in addition to its regular leaves because the curved shape reflects sound waves more efficiently. Even though many plant species are pollinated by bats, this is the first instance of a plant evolving special leaves to aid echolocation of bats.

Bizarre appearance

Hydnora africana is a bizarre-looking parasitic plant with no leaves. It lives off the roots of other plants. It grows completely under the ground except for its flower, which usually grows above the ground. The flower is fleshy from inside but hard as wood from the outside and attracts dung and carrion beetles with its strong, fetid smell. As these insect pollinators stop by, they get trapped in the stiff bristles that line the inner portion of the flower. The flower opens out after a while, allowing the insects to escape but only after they have picked up or deposited pollen. Once has taken place, the flower develops into an edible fruit containing over 20,000 seeds. Hydnora africana is native to the arid regions of southern Africa.

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When the Apple fell on Newton or when Archimedes took a bath, history as we know it changed. Those are the 'Aha' moments when scientific discoveries were made. A look at some of these breakthrough moments.

Archimedes' principle - Archimedes

This was history's first-ever 'Eureka' moment. The story of how the Greek mathematician Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy is a tale worth recounting. It was whilst taking a bath in a tub that the idea hit Archimedes. When Archimedes noticed the amount of water being displaced from the tub as soon as he entered it, he reasoned that the volume of the water displaced is equal to the volume of the body that was submerged. He is said to have run across the streets naked, shrieking "Eureka" at his discovery of the law of buoyancy. And that gave us the Archimedes' principle.

Periodic Table - Dmitri Mendeleev

For Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, it all happened in a dream. The Periodic Table of Elements as we know it was conceptualised in a dream. For months, he was trying to arrive at a logical way to organise the chemical elements. Although he knew the atomic weight was a crucial element, he couldn't find a way to arrange it. One day, after racking his brain over the arrangement pattern, he fell asleep. And lo, the periodic table was born. The idea for the logical arrangement of the elements dawned on him during his dream. He later wrote "In a dream, I saw a table where all the elements fell into place as required."

Law of Gravity - Isaac Newton

Every child grew up listening to the tale of how an apple's fall changed science. It was when Isaac Newton noticed the apple fall that he first got the idea of gravity. He wondered what force attracted everything towards the Earth. The tree that inspired the idea of gravity in Newton still stands in the garden of Newton's old home.

Penicillin - Dr. Alexander Fleming

The discovery of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, revolutionised the course of medicine. Dr. Alexander Fleming had just returned from a holiday and found mould growing on a petri dish of Staphylococcus bacteria. The green mould Penicillium notatum prevented the bacteria around it from growing. He isolated the mould, and understood it produced a substance that could kill the bacteria. He named the active agent penicillin and thus the world's first antibiotic was discovered.

First synthetic dye - William Perkin

The fashion industry must thank William Perkin for his discovery of the first synthetic dye. He was trying to find a cure for malaria, but he accidentally invented the first synthetic purple dye. Perkin was assisting German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann in the process of using coal tar to produce quinine which was an expensive anti-malarial drug. As he mixed different coal tar components with potassium dichromate and sulphuric acid, Perkin produced a purple sludge. The rest is history.

DID YOU KNOW? Newton recounted the story that inspired his theory of gravitation to scholar William Stukeley. It appeared in Stukeley's 1752 biography, "Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life." The UK's Royal Society converted the fragile manuscript into an electronic book in 2010 and made it accessible online to the public.

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