My Science School

Earlier, there were multiple taxes levied both at the central and the State level which often confused the taxpayers.

India's gross GST revenues was the highest-ever in April at ?1,87,035 crore. It is 12% higher than the same month last year, which was the previous highest tax tally of ?1.67 lakh crore.

Let us know more about GST that simplified our tax regime.

Origin

The concept of GST was introduced in the Budget speech on February 28, 2006. Though initially it was proposed that GST would be introduced on April 1, 2010, GST was introduced on July 1, 2017, under the 'one nation, one tax initiative. Its aim was to bring different types of taxes under a single-tax system.

To implement GST, Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on August 3, 2016. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet approved setting up of GST Council on September 12, 2016. The 49th GST Council meeting took place on February 18, 2023 in New Delhi.

What is GST?

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied on the supply of goods and services, which is paid by the consumer. It is imposed in the State where the goods and services are consumed and not where they are manufactured.

However, some goods and services are exempted from GST and are subjected to a State's existing taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), which is paid at every stage of value addition in the supply chain. These levies are paid at each stage of the production process by the consumer.

As the GST is a destination-based tax there are various types of GST-CGST (levied by the Centre), SGST (levied by the State), UTGST (by the Union Territory), and IGST (levied for the interstate supply of goods by the Centre).

Benefits

Earlier, there were multiple taxes levied both at the central and the state level which often confused the taxpayers. The introduction of GST has eased the manufacturer's job of compiling different taxes into one. Besides, it has brought India at par with the global market by following a universally accepted tax regime. With the implementation of IGST, the manufacturers no longer have to pay CST (Central Sales Tax) and other taxes.

Difference between GSTN and GSTIN

GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network) is a platform that manages the IT system of the GST portal. It is used by the government to track financial transactions and other tax informations. Meanwhile, GSTIN is a 15-digit tax registration number that is provided to manufacturers, traders, stockists, wholesalers, and retailers.

FORMAT OF GSTIN

*First two digits of GSTIN is the State code

*The next 10 digits denote the PAN or Permanent Account Number of business entity/proprietor

The 13th digit is based on the number of registrations done by the business entity within a State

*14th digit is "Z" by default

The last digit is the check code, which can be a number or a letter.

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The Zoological Survey of India is responsible for exploring, surveying and monitoring the faunal diversity of different States and protected areas in the country.

From time to time, we come across news about researchers of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) discovering new species of fauna. But do you know what ZSI is and what its functions are? Let's find out.

A premier organisation in the field of zoological research and conservation, the Zoological Survey of India was established in July 1916. In fact, it began as the zoological section of the Indian Museum in Calcutta in 1875. Headquartered in Kolkata, its main objective is to conduct research and surveys on the fauna of the country and document the rich animal diversity found in different States and protected areas in the subcontinent.

It is the ZSI which is responsible for the classification, categorisation, and description of new animal species, and maintaining a database of all species found across the country. It makes a periodic review of the status of the threatened and endemic species and comes up with conservation strategies for the endangered ones.

The ZSI carries out surveys in different ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, mangroves, backwaters, and coastal areas with the aim of documenting the distribution and abundance of different animal species. These surveys are crucial as they not only promote understanding of the status of the varied species but also help identify areas where conservation efforts are required.

The apex organisation for zoological studies has taxonomists and researchers who identify new animal species, group them into categories, and provide descriptions about them. Every year, the ZSI consolidates information about new fauna in the country and publishes it under the title "Animal Discoveries". It has also published pictorial handbooks and guides to generate interest in people like us to understand and appreciate the fauna of the country.

Did you know that the ZSI also publishes the Red Data Book on Indian Animals? This book contains a record of all the endangered species of animals endemic to the subcontinent. It was first published in 1983.

The ZSI comes under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. It has 16 regional centres spread across the country and over 300 scientists. Dhriti Banerjee is currently the Director of the Zoological Survey of India. In 2021, she became the first woman to take charge as director of the ZSI in its over 100-year history.

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Researchers have come up with a touch-responsive fabric armband that can pave the way for flexible keyboards and wearable sketchpads

Wearables refer to wearable technology - a segment that continues to see path-breaking innovation on a consistent basis. The next such advance in wearables could literally force you to roll up your sleeves as researchers have developed a fabric armband that is a touch pad in reality.

Problems with hydrogel

While computer trackpads and electronic signature-capture devices can now be found everywhere, these aren't widely used in wearables as yet. Even though there have been suggestions to make flexible touch-responsive panels using clear, electrically conductive hydrogels, it hasn't happened yet. This is mainly due to the sticky nature of these substances, which not only makes them hard to write on, but also irritating to the skin.

A group of researchers looked to solve this issue and decided to incorporate a similar hydrogel into a more comfortable fabric sleeve. For this, they sandwiched the pressure-sensitive hydrogel between layers of knit silk. Their results were published in ACS Nano in May.

In order to make the fabric electrically conductive, the top layer was coated in graphene nanosheets. By attaching the sensing panel to electrodes and a data collection system, a pressure-responsive pad with real-time, rapid sensing was produced. This meant that when a finger slid over it, numbers and letters could be written.

Interprets inputs correctly

The device was incorporated into an arm-length silk sleeve with a touch responsive area on the forearm. A user was able to control the direction of blocks in a computer game and sketch colourful cartoons in a computer drawing program using the armband in experiments. The three-layer, touch-responsive material can thus interpret user inputs and convert it into suitable outputs on a computer.

The success has led the researchers to believe that their proof-of-concept wearable touch panel can inspire the next generation of sketchpads and keyboards. With an armband converting a person's forearm into a flexible keyboard or wearable sketchpads, the way we play games, sketch cartoons, or even sign documents could well change in the future.

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We are on the brink of a massive change happening in the culinary industry where edible cutlery will soon replace single-use, disposable cutlery. This is our weapon against plastic cutlery and single-use compostable utensils. Once edible cutlery becomes mainstream, it has immense potential to prevent single-use cutlery from ending up in landfills or oceans.

Have you felt guilty about tossing away the disposable cutlery you used into the trash? Or ever been told that licking the cutlery was bad table etiquette? What if we told you that now you can eat your cutlery as well?

For instance, the spoon that you used to sip the steaming hot broth would have soaked by the end of your meal and you can just nibble on it and eat that as well! Welcome to the world of edible cutlery.

Plastic utensils and single-use compostable utensils figure among one of the major sources of pollution with a large portion of them ending up in landfills where they remain for years without getting degraded.

By now you must be used to paper or wooden cutlery. Even these aren't hundred per cent natural as they are often coated with plastic or wax to make them resistant to liquids.

They are discarded after single-use and disposing of them is a huge challenge. The solution to this problem is simple. It's cutlery that you can eat!

We are on the brink of a revolution in the culinary industry where edible cutlery will soon replace single-use, disposable cutlery. This is our weapon against plastic cutlery and single-use compostable utensils.

Once edible cutlery becomes mainstream, it has immense potential to prevent single-use cutlery from ending up in landfills or oceans.

The edible tableware line is replete with almost every cutlery you can imagine including straws, spoons, knives, forks, bowls, cups, plates, and even chopsticks!

By now you must be wondering what these are made of and if they are safe to eat.

The edible cutlery is made from ingredients such as millets, flours, grains, herbs, pulses, oil, spices and so on. As such they are generally rich in fibre and protein.

There is even vegan-friendly cutlery that is made from rice, wheat and sorghum, Sorghum, an ancient grain that traces its roots to Africa, is widely used as an ingredient as it's tough and doesn't become soggy in liquids.

Now, what does edible cutlery taste like? The flavour that the cutlery comes in entirely depends on the manufacturer. It can be either, sweet, tangy, savoury, spicy and also plain. In any case, they can complement any kind of food.

So what if you do not want to eat the cutlery? Even then it won't just go to waste. They can be thrown outdoors and can degrade easily as they do not have any specific requirements for degradation. They can even be used as a fertilizer!

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When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

When it comes to classic board games, few have stood the test of time quite like Scrabble. This beloved game has entertained players of all ages and skill levels. It is speculated that the concept of the game was inspired by a short story titled ‘The Gold Bug’ by one of the greatest American writers Edgar Allan Poe.

Welcome to the world of Scrabble, where words reign supreme and strategy is key. For over seven decades, this classic board game has been captivating players with its unique blend of skill and chance. But did you know that Scrabble's origins can be traced back to a short story by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe?

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, millions of Americans were struggling to make ends meet and find any kind of relief from the economic downturn. It was during this challenging time that Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York, began to conceive the idea for a game that could provide a much-needed distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. Drawing on his own love of puzzles and wordplay, Butts set out to create a game that combined chance, strategy, and language skills, hoping to provide people with a fun and engaging way to pass the time. And thus, the idea for what would become Scrabble was born.

When inspiration strikes

 Butts' childhood fascination with Poe's short story ‘The Gold Bug proved’ to be a key source of inspiration as he began to develop his own word game.

The idea of decoding symbols to uncover a hidden treasure map (which was the basis of the story) resonated with Butts, and he began to experiment with ways to incorporate similar elements into his own game. One idea that particularly intrigued him was the notion of ranking letters by their frequency of use in the English language, as Poe had attempted to do in his story. Butts set out to put together his own ranking system by meticulously counting letters in various publications, including the ‘New York Times’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’. After crunching the numbers and devising a complicated grid, Butts determined that the letters e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, and u were the most commonly used letters, accounting for a staggering 80% of all letters typically used. Using this data as a foundation, Butts went on to create his own word game, one that would go on to captivate players around the world and become a true cultural phenomenon.

The issues that followed

 Butts' road to success was far from smooth, as he spent over a decade tinkering with the rules of his game and trying, unsuccessfully, to secure a corporate sponsor. Despite facing rejection from the Patent Office not once, but twice, Butts persisted in his quest to bring his creation to the masses. He experimented with various names, including the uninspiring "it" and the lacklustre "Lexiko", before settling on "Criss-Cross Words". However, it wasn't until Butts teamed up with James Brunot, a retired American federal officer and social worker, that Scrabble we are familiar with today started to take shape.

Brunot brought his own expertise to the table, redesigning the game, creating the iconic colour scheme, and most importantly, conceiving the name that would become synonymous with wordplay: Scrabble. The game was copyrighted in 1948. Since Brunot breathed new life into Butts' creation, Scrabble has become a global phenomenon. The game is sold in over 120 countries and has been translated into more than 20 languages, with special editions available for those who are visually impaired or prefer magnetic tiles. Such is the game's enduring popularity that April 13 is celebrated annually as National Scrabble Day, in honour of Butts birthday and his legacy as the inventor of one of the most beloved and enduring board games of all time.

Picture Credit : Google 

The indelible ink is used to mark a voter’s finger during elections to avoid fraud, multiple voting, and malpractices

During the elections, you must have seen your parents coming out of polling stations with violet-coloured ink on one of their fingers. This ink is called the voters ink or indelible ink.

History

The indelible ink was first developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1952. In 1962, the Election Commission and the National Research Development Corporation signed an agreement with Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL), established by the Mysuru maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV in 1937, to manufacture and supply the ink.

Since then, the MPVL (an undertaking of the Karnataka government) has remained the sole authorised supplier of indelible ink, having an exclusive licence granted by the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) since 1962.

Usage

For over six decades, the MPVL has been supplying indelible ink for civic body, Assembly and Parliamentary elections.

Besides, this ink is supplied to more than 25 countries, including Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa, and the Maldives.

While in India the indelible ink is applied on the left-hand index finger of the voter in a 25 polling booth, the voters in Cambodia and the Maldives need to dip their finger into the ink. In Burkina Faso, the ink is applied with a brush, and nozzles are used in Turkey.

Mysterious ink

The indelible ink contains silver nitrate that gets absorbed into the nail and skin, making it last for several days. It remains bright for about 10 days before beginning to fade away. It cannot be wiped off by any chemical, detergent, or oil. It gets removed over time as fresh skin cells replace the dead ones.

Though the concentration of silver nitrate ranges from 7% to 25% the exact composition remains unknown as it is manufactured in secrecy.

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You must have often read about earthquakes but do you know that the study of earthquake is called seismology?

Seismology is a scientific discipline to study earthquakes caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth's rocks.

Seismologists have studied quakes induced by human activities such as impounding water behind high dams and detonating underground nuclear explosions.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes occur most often where rock masses move in relation to one another. The major fault lines of the world are located at the fringes of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth's crust. Earthquakes are recorded by instruments called seismographs.

There are four seismic zones globally (an area where earthquakes tend to focus): Zone Il to V (of which Zone V is seismically the most active region and zone II is the least). As per the seismic zoning map of India, the total area is classified into four seismic zones.

The need for international exchange of readings on earthquakes was recognised by British geologist John Milne, whose work resulted in the International Seismological Summary (ISS) being set up immediately after the World War I.

In cooperation with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Milne had set up a number of seismographic stations around the world.

At present there are several seismological centres across the world to study and inform about the intensity of earthquakes.

International Seismological Centre

International Seismological Centre was formed in Edinburgh in 1964 with the help of UNESCO. It was a successor to the ISS. In 1970, the Centre became an international non-governmental body, funded by institutions from across the world.

Global Seismographic Network

The Global Seismographic Network (GSN) is a digital seismic network that provides free, realtime, open access data through Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). It has over 150 modern seismic stations distributed globally.

National Center for Seismology

National Center for Seismology (NCS) is the nodal agency that monitors earthquake activity in the country. It maintains the National Seismological Network of more than 150 stations across the country.

It monitors earthquake swarm and aftershock by deploying a temporary observatory close to the affected region. It also monitors earthquake activity all across the country through its around-the-clock monitoring center.

The information of earthquakes reported by NCS is disseminated to the central and state disaster authorities concerned in the least possible time to initiate adequate mitigation measures.

NCS provides data on earthquake and seismicity reports of specific regions to even agencies such as insurance companies, industrial units, river valley projects, etc.

The first seismological observatory of the country was established at Alipore (Kolkata) on December 1, 1898, after the 1897 Shillong plateau earthquake.

Meanwhile, the occurrence of devastating earthquakes such as the 1905 Kangra earthquake and 1934 Nepal-Bihar demanded strengthening of the national seismological network progressively from a meagre six in 1940 to eight in 1950, 15 in 1960, and 18 in 1970.

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(Pronounced kan.uhn)

Meaning: A noun, canon refers to a generally accepted rule or principle by which something is judged. This 'canon' is spelt with one 'n' in the middle, whereas 'cannon' refers to a large artillery gun.

Origin: The term canon was derived from the Hebrew-Greek word kanon meaning "cane or measuring rod." It entered Old English from Old French or Late Latin canon meaning "church rule." The use of the word "canon" is said to have originated in reference to a set of Biblical texts regarded as scripture. The sense of the term as "a rule or principle" has been in use since the late 14th Century, and as a "standard of judging" since the 17th Century.

Usage: The recent actions by Russia violate all canons of international law, experts say.

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(Pronounced ret-ro-spect)

Meaning: Looking back on or thinking about past events

Origin: The first known use of this word was in 1601. It comes from a combination of the Latin roots 'retro'(which stands for back or backwards) and 'specere' (which means looking).

Example: We all learn things in retrospect.

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It was the Biro brothers who invented the ball-point pen in the late 1930s which changed writing forever

The ball-point pen or ball pen, as we know it today, was invented by Hungarian journalist and painter Laszlo Biro.

Biro hated the way fountain pens blotted and smudged on the paper. Once, when he was visiting a newspaper printing press, he saw them using quick-drying ink and rollers. The first thing he did was use the newspaper ink inside a fountain pen but found that the ink was too thick and slow to make it to the nib of the pen.

So he approached his brother, Gyorgy Biro, who was a chemist. Together, they created a rolling ball mechanism for the tip of the pen. This ball picked up ink from a cartridge as it turned in its socket and then rolled again to deposit it on paper. They also created just the right consistency of ink for this kind of nib. They patented their invention in 1938 and called the pen Biro. In some countries, the pens are still known by this name.

Unfortunately, the advent of World War II forced the Biro brothers to flee Hungary because they were Jews. They shifted to Argentina where they began selling their pen commercially under the brand name 'Eterpen'. That's how the ball-point pen was born.

Picture Credit : Google 

It was the Biro brothers who invented the ball-point pen in the late 1930s which changed writing forever

The ball-point pen or ball pen, as we know it today, was invented by Hungarian journalist and painter Laszlo Biro.

Biro hated the way fountain pens blotted and smudged on the paper. Once, when he was visiting a newspaper printing press, he saw them using quick-drying ink and rollers. The first thing he did was use the newspaper ink inside a fountain pen but found that the ink was too thick and slow to make it to the nib of the pen.

So he approached his brother, Gyorgy Biro, who was a chemist. Together, they created a rolling ball mechanism for the tip of the pen. This ball picked up ink from a cartridge as it turned in its socket and then rolled again to deposit it on paper. They also created just the right consistency of ink for this kind of nib. They patented their invention in 1938 and called the pen Biro. In some countries, the pens are still known by this name.

Unfortunately, the advent of World War II forced the Biro brothers to flee Hungary because they were Jews. They shifted to Argentina where they began selling their pen commercially under the brand name 'Eterpen'. That's how the ball-point pen was born.

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Did you know Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg accidentally invented the first artificial sweetener saccharin while working on coal tar derivatives?

The first artificial sweetener to be invented was saccharin. Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg is credited with this invention, which was actually pretty accidental. In the late 1870s,

 Fahlberg was working with another chemist, Ira Remsen. Together, they were studying substances derived from coal tar. One evening, Fahlberg returned home and sat down for dinner. As he bit into a roll, he found it sweet. He asked his wife about this, but she claimed that her rolls were perfectly normal. Fahlberg then tasted his fingers. They were sweet. He rushed back to his lab and began checking up all that he had done that day. He found that he had accidentally invented a substance that was as sweet as sugar, but had no fattening effects like sugar. He named this substance 'saccharin'

Fahlberg shared the news of the invention with Remsen, but he filed a patent claiming that he was the sole inventor of saccharin. Saccharin caught on commercially and Fahlberg grew rich. This upset Remsen who was a part of the discovery.

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When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other. It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

Did you know that the light that we observe coming from a star in the sky may not be produced by a single star? That the light emanating from the single point may actually be light coming out from two or even more stars that are orbiting together? These are called multiple-star systems.

The most common star system that you come across will be a binary star system that comprises two stars. When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other.

Did you know that most stars are in binary systems? It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

While the brighter star is called the primary star, the dimmer one is called the secondary. If the stars are of equal brightness, then the discoverer gets to decide on the designation.

Binary stars are very important from an astronomic point of view as they help in understanding stellar evolution. They help determine the masses and luminosities of stars.

But how are these binary stars formed? The most common way of formation of a binary star system is by a process called fragmentation.

According to this, the gas and dust cloud which collapses to form a star splits into two or more stars due to their instability or cooling/heating effects.

These fragments or stars then evolve separately and form the binary star system. But there are rare incidents when a massive star captures a passing one, as the star travels through the galaxy and thereby creates a new binary pair.

Binary pairs can be classified based on a number of factors. One such classification is on how they are observed viz. visual binaries.

They are called visual binaries when the two stars have a wide separation when viewed through a telescope.

The first binary stars to be ever spotted were visual binaries. In 1617, at the behest of a scientist, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei used his telescope to focus on a star at the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, a constellation.

It was discovered that this wasn't a single star, but two stars which later turned out to be six. Sir William Herschel, who is known for cataloguing 700 pairs of stars, used the term binary for the first time in 1802 to refer to the double stars.

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Science fiction (sci-fi) and scientific innovation have been intertwined since the creation of this genre. Here are five marvellous inventions that were inspired by sci-fi.

The Taser

The Taser stun gun is a hand-held electrical non-lethal weapon used by police and law enforcement officers around the world. Invented by Jack Cover, an American aerospace scientist in the 1960s-70s, this device takes inspiration from English writer Victor Appleton's young adult sci-fi novel ‘Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911)’. The purpose of creating this device was to provide an alternative to the firearms that the air marshals were supposed to carry and use in case of a hijack. This invention was a solution to the concern that firing a gun on a plane could damage important and sophisticated machinery or pierce the fuselage.

Cover's invention pays homage to Appleton's book, and its name TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. The scientist is said to have added the 'A' to make the word easier to pronounce.

Liquid-fuelled rockets

The idea of rockets, space travel, and exploration might not sound exceptionally futuristic today, but for 16-year-old Robert H. Goddard coming across this idea for the first time in English novelist H.G. Wells's ‘The War of the Worlds’ (1898) was something right out of a dream. The famed father of rocketry invented and launched the world's first liquid-fuelled rocket in 1926, making space travel a reality. A few years after this momentous event, the NASA physicist penned a letter to Wells elaborating on the "deep impression" his novel made on the American inventor and motivated him to take this journey "aiming at the stars" both literally and figuratively.

World Wide Web

Millions of people across the globe use the World Wide Web every day. They access it through computers, phones and other digital devices. From ordering food to sharing one's location or some news and pictures with others, we use the Web all the time.

The first proposal for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Talking about the motivation behind this invention, the English computer scientist said, "I believe If you connect people up and you take away the national boundaries and you just leave humanity connected, it will naturally become better." He also credited Arthur C. Clarke's short story ‘Dial F’ for Frankenstein as the inspiration behind the World Wide Web. Acknowledging the impact of his story on Berners-Lee, the English sci-fi writer declared, "I guess I am the godfather of the World Wide Web."

Humanoid robots ASTRO BOY

Japan's Tomotaka Takahashi is one of the world's leading new-generation robot scientists. In 2013, his humanoid robot named Kirobo became the world's first talking robot sent into space to keep astronauts company. Talking about his passion for robotics in an interview, Takahashi said "When I was about six, I started reading the manga comic ‘Astro Boy’ after finding it lying around at home. My dream, from that moment on, was to become a robot scientist. I made my first robot around the same time, from a soapbox and duct tape complete with a robot face." Osamu Tezuka's ‘Astro Boy’ is a manga series that ran from 1952 to 1968. It chronicles the adventures of the titular humanoid. The Japanese scientist also admitted that his 13-inch-tall robot Kirobo's design and colour palette are heavily inspired by the friendly manga character.

Helicopter

Since the beginning of time, the idea of flying from one place to another in little time has been a fascinating topic. The helicopter is one of the many inventions that aimed to accomplish this. Russian-American aviator Igor Sikorsky is credited with inventing the modern helicopter. As a child, his parents exposed him to the technical drawings of da Vinci and encouraged him to pursue science. As a curious kid growing up in Russia, he was fascinated by Jules Verne's 1886 novel ‘Robur the Conqueror (which is also known as The Chipper of the Clouds)’. This book's description of a flying machine called the ‘Albatross’ inspired Sikorsky's design of the helicopter. Starting test flights in 1939, Sikorsky's aircraft was ready for larger production by 1942.

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Elephants are the largest land mammals, and also a keystone species, meaning they play a crucial role in keeping the natural ecosystem balanced. Despite such a significant function, the numbers of African elephants dwindled over the last few centuries due to European colonisation, poaching, and habitat loss. Now the species faces an additional challenge - drought. This climate change-induced drought in Africa can also affect more than one generation of these gentle giants. How? Come, let's find out.

Droughts in most African regions have become longer and more acute. Some have lasted for over two decades. And this can affect elephant populations in more ways than one. "Heat accumulates through an elephant's natural metabolism and physical activity, as well as being absorbed from the environment." But they cannot sweat it off the way humans do because they lack sweat glands. Further, their thick skin slows loss of heat. This is where water comes in; it helps regulate the animal's body temperature and keep it cool. Not just drinking, even swimming and spraying their skin with mud and water cools them down.

Without water, elephants can experience high internal temperatures, which "can disrupt the function of cells, tissues and organs such as the liver and cause them to become sick and die".

Importantly, drought "can also reduce the availability of food, causing elephants to starve. It can also mean young elephants die or don't develop properly, because their parched mothers produce less milk". This is to say, longer-lasting droughts can affect the next generation or even prevent the very existence of that generation.

The creation of artificial water sources for elephants could lead to denial of water to humans and also ecosystem damage due to animal congregation at a specific spot. So, the answer to saving the elephants could be in creating or restoring wildlife corridors.

Traditionally, these animals moved to other places in search of water during droughts. But this has been affected due to fences, fragmented habitats, etc.

Conservationists stress the need for finding such solutions. Because, if we don't find solutions, and quickly, at that, we risk losing not just this majestic beast but also so many other species that depend on it for their survival.

Picture Credit : Google