My Science School

When the Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars in February 2021, it marked the beginning of its tasks, which included looking for signs of past Martian microbial life, cache rock, and soil samples for future return to Earth. While the rover is still at it, it has provided for another first already. Based on data provided by Perseverance, scientists have made the first-ever audio recording of an extraterrestrial whirlwind.

Not always on

The Perseverance rover is equipped with what is the first working microphone on the Martian surface. This microphone, however, is not on continuously. Far from it, in reality. This microphone records for about three minutes every couple of days.

This is partly the reason why it has taken this long to get the whirlwind recording, despite the fact that the rover landed in the Jezero where there's been evidence of nearly 100 dust devils, or tiny tornadoes of dust and grit, since Perseverance landed.

This was the first time that the rover’s microphone was on when one of these dust devils passed over the rovers. While there is definitely an element of luck, it wasn't entirely unexpected as it was only a matter of time before the microphone was on at the right time.

"The Martian” might not happen

Taken along with air pressure readings and time-lapse photography, the sound recording of the dust devil will help scientists understand Mars atmosphere and weather conditions better. The information gathered has already suggested that future astronauts on the Martian surface would not have to worry about gale-force winds blowing down antennas or habitats, as popularised by The Martian, the book and the movie of the same name.

In fact, there is reason to believe that the winds might have certain benefits. Scientists believe that the winds blowing grit off the solar panels of other rovers like Opportunity and Spirit might well be the reason why they lasted so much longer. Similarly, the lack of such winds and dust devils in the Elysium Planitia where the Insight mission landed could be a factor as to why that mission's operational period was planned to end in December 2022.

Picture Credit : google 

You might have read in the papers some time back that the Taj Mahal was losing its white marble sheen and turning yellowish due to pollution. Dr. Sachchida Nand Tripathi, who holds the Arjun Dev Joneja Faculty Chair of Civil Engineering at IIT-Kanpur, was in the news for this study. His study helped bring about policy changes in Agra city.

This study specified that black carbon and brown carbon from the burning of trash and fuels was the main cause for discolouration. Using a novel method, the team discovered how the specks of dust on the surface reflect light and affect the colour. This study is crucial to develop strategies that address yellowing of the Taj Mahal and improves air quality.

His work in the field of Atmospheric Sciences has addressed the issues of air pollution and climate change. He has also novel approaches for low-cost sensor-based network technology which can monitor air quality in cities and Real Time Source Apportionment (RTSA). RTSA involves finding out the sources of pollution and how much they affect the environment.

Dr. Tripathi is the Coordinator of the National Knowledge Network devised under the National Clean Air Program, and is a member of its Steering Committee and Monitoring Committee. Further, he is a member of the Executive Council, Climate Change Program, Department of Science and Technology.

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award and the J C Bose National Fellowship are both feathers in his cap. He is an elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI). He also worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre as a senior fellow.

Picture Credit : Google

Meet the $100,000 prize winner of the New Horizon Prize in Physics, Prof. Shiraz Naval Minwalla. He is a theoretical physicist who works with string theory and quantum field theory. He is noted for connecting the equations of fluid dynamics and Einstein's equations of relativity.

He hails from Mumbai. After completing his Masters in Physics from IIT-Kanpur, he went to Princeton University, U.S.A. for his PhD. He was a junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and then served as assistant professor for five years. After that he joined the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.

He won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2011 and Infosys Prize in Physical sciences in 2013. He also got the TWAS prize in 2016.

Picture Credit : Google

T Govindaraju has made significant contributions in the medical field. He is a professor in the Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCAR), Bengaluru. Bioorganic Chemistry uses chemical methods in the study of biological processes.

Prof. Govindaraju is from a remote village in Karnataka. As a school boy, he saw that mentally ill patients were treated cruelly. This image guided him to choose his area of research. He completed his PhD from CSIR-NCL. He then did post-doctoral research in the U.S and Germany. His research was on neuro degenerative diseases and cancer. Neuro degenerative diseases occur when cells in the central nervous system stop working.

You must have also heard about Alzheimer's disease. This occurs when the brain becomes small and the brain cells die. Prof. Govindaraju and his team discovered a new molecule -TGR63 which could be the future drug to treat Alzheimer's. A Delhi based pharma company has obtained the rights to do its trial runs.

Prof. Govindaraju found the similarities between Alzheimer's disease and cancer and this led to the discovery of TGP 18, another molecule-based drug. This could be used to treat lung cancer.

He was a Humboldt research fellow in Germany and a visiting faculty at the University of Paris, France. He is also keen on raising the standards of rural schools and has been a part of outreach initiatives. He is also into bringing awareness about mental illness among school children in Karnataka and other states.

Picture Credit : Google 

Dr. Jagadish Shukla was born in a small village, Mirdha, in Uttar Pradesh. The village had no electricity, not even proper roads. The primary school did not have a building, and Jagadish Shukla had his early classes under a large banyan tree! He could not study science in high school because the schools did not include it.

He went to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and graduated in Physics, Mathematics and Geology. He did MS in Geophysics and then finished his PhD too. Later he got a ScD (Doctor of Science) in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He chose a career in the atmospheric sciences and became a professor at George Mason University in the U.S.

Dr. Shukla’s study areas include the Asian monsoon dynamics, deforestation and desertification. Do you know what is desertification? It is when the soil loses its quality due to weather or human activity.

Dr. Shukla helped establish weather and climate research centres in India. He also established research institutions in Brazil and the U.S. He has been with the World Climate Research Programme since its start and founded the Centre for Ocean- Land-Atmosphere Studies, Virginia, U.S.

He has also established the Gandhi College in his village for educating rural students, especially women, and was awarded Padma Shri in 2012.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

Atish Dabholkar is a theoretical physicist who researches on string theory and quantum black holes.

String theory says that reality is made up of vibrating strings that are smaller than atoms and electrons, whereas, black holes are regions in space with very heavy mass. One can say they eat up everything that enter it. Due to their high gravitational pull even light cannot escape from them. Now, quantum black holes are hypothetical tiny black holes, a concept that was introduced by Stephen Hawking.

Atish Dhabolkar is presently the Director of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. He is a graduate of IIT-Kanpur. He did PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University, U.S. Then he did postdoctoral studies and further research at Rutgers University, Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology.

He worked as a professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. He also served as a visiting professor at Stanford University, US, and was a visiting scientist at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. He joined ICTP in 2014.

He has received many honours, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2006). He was awarded the Chaire d'Excellence of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France the next year. He is also a recipient of the National Leadership award from the President of India in 2008. The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Italy, elected him as a Fellow last year.

Picture Credit : Google