JAI SRI RAM

SCIENCE FOR KIDS

Compiled by S.Geethapriya Price Rs. 22.00 Published by

Sri Aanjineyaa Pathippagam

1849, P.K.N ROAD, MUTHU CYCLE COMPLEX, BYE PASS ROAD, SIVAKASI-626 189 CELL : 90034 - 58722

CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Ginger, the New Wonder Medicine Peppermint to Chase Mosquitoes Away The Smart Polluters Dry Clouds Distress Signals the Leafy Way Road of Jute Shirt that is a Mobile Phone When a Cat Preys for Lunch Your Mobile Phone Has a Bug The Hottest way to Catch Crooks Logging on to Aliens The Flower that Cleans itself A Train of Villages on the Net A Smelly New World on the 6 8 10 14 17 20 23 27 30 33 36 40 44 48 51

CONTENTS
16. Scientists Find More on the Eureka Man 17. Planets! Planets! And more Planets! 18. Jupiter's New Moon 19. Underwater Terminator 20. High Performance, Low 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. Pollution A New Way to Fight Age? And Now, Schoolbags Online Evergreen Clothes How Lizards Defy Gravity Skyrocketing Holidays This One is for your Eyes 54 59 62 66 68 71 74 76 78 82 85 89 91 94

Only 27. Jurassic Park II 28. The Cool and Cunning Lark 29. The Scent of an Enemy

Web 15. Hot Dog!

1. Ginger, the New Wonder Medicine

Ginger has always been an essential part of most Indian kitchens and grandmothers' medicine boxes. This spice has been used to treat the feeling of vomiting and indigestion. Now the Western world has also discovered the wonderful
Science features for kids brings to you

qualities of ginger. They see it as a powerful medicine against nausea across the world.

exciting discoveries and inventions across the world, from path-breaking to the unusual, written with the objective of making science accessible to children. We carry news about research on weather, animals, science, environment, earth, health, living beings, astronomy, and more. From roads of jute to new moons and mobile phone bugs . Fun science for children at its best .

In India, grandmothers have known all along that the juice squeezed from ginger mixed with lime juice can stop one from feeling like vomiting. Since the taste is not very appealing,

especially to children, jaggery or gur is often used to mask the strong taste of ginger. Then it is no longer a medicine, but a sweetmeat that everyone likes to eat! And now, British scientists are conducting six studies on the spice's effect on various types of nausea, including seasickness and sickness caused in the treatment of cancer. Already, the studies have begun to show results. Scientists have found that those who took a tablet containing the juice of ginger every day, felt much better than those who took allopathic medicines that are available in chemist shops. After the results are made final, companies will manufacture it as a herbal medicine.

2. Peppermint to Chase Mosquitoes Away

Padma Vasudevan, a scientist from India's capital, Delhi, has made an important discovery. Her team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, has found that peppermint oil chases away mosquitoes. It can also kill the mosquito larvae (Larvae are the wingless forms that hatch out of insect eggs). The best news of all is that it is very effective against the Anopheles mosquito, which spreads malaria.

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The scientists did an interesting experiment. They first took out oil from the peppermint plant called Mentha piperita. Then they poured some of that oil on top of water that contained mosquito larvae. The next day they found that the larvae had been killed. Several people decided to test the ability of the oil to chase away mosquitoes. They rubbed the oil on their bodies and slept out in the open. Eight out of 10 people said they did not have mosquitoes biting them.

3. The Smart Polluters

Health officials in Canada are very busy these days. They are placing chickens at fixed points all along their border with the United States of America. That's an enormous distance of 2,500 km.

It's not a practical joke, nor have the Canadians gone mad. They are using these chickens to see if the deadly West Nile virus is lurking around. The virus infects birds, so they think that the chickens have a good chance of catching the virus. Or the virus will catch the chickens.

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The Canadians are worried because the West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. It killed seven people in New York last year. Countries around the world are realizing something important. That it may just be possible to stop certain kinds of people from entering their land, but it is very difficult to try and stop viruses that travel from one end of the earth to another. When they travel to new places, they adjust very easily to those climates and sometimes start destroying the local plant and animal life. These biological polluters are called smart polluters. These smart polluters can be carried across borders of countries unknowingly. Just as we humans are travelling across the globe more often than earlier, these biological polluters have also started journeying much more. They travel in the ballast of tankers. They slither into aircraft through their wheels. They bore their way into objects that air travelers may be carrying from one country to another. There are some good examples of how these polluters work. The water hyacinth of South America is choking lakes in China and Africa. Tree snakes from Papua New Guinea are busy eating up bird varieties in the country of Guam, which is quite far away. Tiger mosquitoes from Asia are busy biting Americans. Suddenly, a lot of things become clearer. Like why the customs officials in many foreign countries prevent you from bringing in a small plant, or a decorative item made of wood that is in its natural form They tell you that its in the rules.

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They have these rules because they know that these varieties of plants that are special to specific places have the power to spread new diseases among native plants and animals. They are called biological polluters and they always create problems in places where they do not belong. They could be special varieties of plants, bugs or even animals.

4. Dry Clouds
It is that time of the year when all of us look to the sky, waiting for the first drops of rain to fall on our faces. We wish the monsoon would come soon. But for people who live in polluted cities like Delhi or Tokyo, there's some bad news. Israeli scientists have discovered that air pollution may actually stop rain from falling. To know how pollution may prevent rain from falling, it is necessary to know how and when rain falls. The sun beats down on the earth and heats up the land and water.

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When the land and water have absorbed as much heat as they can, they throw the rest back, and that heats up the air. The air warms up and rises. It contains water vapor, or water in the form of gas. As the air rises, it becomes cooler. The water vapor hits particles of dust that are always present in the air. It condenses, or gets changed into a dense or thick form. It forms droplets. When these droplets become too big and heavy, they fall back to the earth as rain. Now, the smoke released by cars, trucks, buses, scooters and factories adds to the particles in the air around us. Because there are so many of these particles, many small droplets form, but they are not big enough to fall down as rain. These clouds are called dry clouds. Clouds that contain no rain. The Israeli scientists took many pictures of these dry clouds caused by air pollution. They showed water droplets half the size of those present in clean clouds. The only way to get back good rains is by cleaning up the environment. Factories and traffic must not release too much of smoke and trees must be planted wherever possible. Or, a time may come when clouds will form but no rain will fall.

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5. Distress Signals the Leafy Way

Wondered how plants talk to each other? They do not have the same language as humans but they have their own ways. Recent research by scientists at Kyoto University, Japan, describes how the Lima bean plant protects itself and its neighbors from the spider mite or the red spider. It sends out clear distress signals. Its not like they make weird noises to attract attention, though. It does it very silently. The Lima bean plant emits chemicals to send the message of a troublesome intruder to all its neighbors. That is the signal for all the plants to get their defense mechanisms working. Plants all over the world have qualities, which make then special in their own ways. Some plants produce chemicals that give the leaves and stem a strong taste or smell of chilies, spices and herbs used for cooking.

These substances either discourage or even kill insects and other animals that might try to eat the plant. Since plants cannot escape from creatures that feed on them, many have evolved features to protect them against herbivorous or plant eating animals. The two main defenses that plants use are armor and poison.

In the Galapagos Islands cacti grow a thick stalk more than two meters tall putting the tender leaves well out of the reach of the giant tortoises.

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Japanese azaleas produce toxic chemicals that let them survive even among hungry deer. Some of these chemical substances may even prevent the growth of nearby plants. For example, radishes produce a chemical substance, which slows the growth of spinach similarly, walnut and apple trees cannot grow together because chemicals released from walnut tree kill the apple tree. So it is not just a self-survival instinct that plants have. They also have an instinct for community feeling, as the Lima bean plant shows. Nature is full of unending surprises!

6. Road of Jute
You must have seen jute rugs, jute dolls, even jute clothes. But, have you seen, or even heard of jute roads? A research centre in Calcutta, the National Institute of Research on Jute and Allied Fiber Technology (NIRJAFT), is planning to make a road with jute. It will be 24 kilometers long.

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The scientists at the centre say the road will be stronger than normal roads. They can talk with such confidence because they have tried it out earlier. And, the road they made was indeed stronger. It did not develop holes after the monsoons got over. Most of the roads in the country need repairs after the rains. They actually look like they have broken bones after the beating they receive at the hands of the monsoons. NIRJAFT made a road in a village called Guptipara, which is about 100 kilometers from Calcutta. When they were making the road, they used a thin layer of jute between the gravel, or small stones used in making roads, and the soil. This ensured that the rainwater, which collected by the roadside, was drained much faster than usual. As a result, the road lasted much longer. The scientists say the thin layer of jute also helps keep the gravel in place.

This was reported in the The Times of India recently. The report mentioned a scientist as saying that by using jute, a road's life can be increased by three to four years. The research centre is planning to make wide rolls of jute, which will be used to make these roads. And, eventually when it does degenerate, it will become a part of the soil. For jute is biodegradable.

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7. Shirt that is a Mobile Phone

Clothes that can make phone calls, play music, dial your pal's number, keep you snug during cold weather, operate your computer

This

is

not

fantasy.

British

company,

called

Electrotextiles, has created a dazzling range of clothes -clothes that have a mind of their own! Scientists, working for the company, have invented a fabric that can be blended with flexible electronic materials to create intelligent clothing. The result is electronic garments. If you think the wearer has to be wired to different gadgets, think again. These designer clothes are wire-free, soft to touch and washable!! Like any electronic device, these high-tech clothes have to be powered. Currently, a tiny nine-volt battery serves the purpose. But the researchers hope that in the near future, the clothes will generate electricity by using body heat. These clothes are 100 per cent shock proof, they say. The Electrotextiles team has also created the world's first cloth keyboard. This keyboard can be sewn into your trousers or skirt. To use this device, you will have to sit down and tap on your lap! These 'lap-tap' gadgets

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are all set to take over laptop computers!

The ski-jacket is also programmed to send signals to a satellite. This technology is known as global positioning and can be used to track lost skiers and wandering kids. Having completed the cloth keyboard, scientists have already started work on a new project -- a necktie that can be used as a computers' mouse. What next? Do you have any ideas?

Another useful garment is the shirt-cum-mobile phone. This handy invention enables drivers to chat comfortably -- with both hands on the wheel! Other popular electronic wear include the denim jacket (with flexible ear-phones stitched into the hood) and the electronic ski-jacket with a built-in heater.

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8. When a Cat Preys for Lunch

Many people have always believed that animals hunting for prey always catch the ones that are young, old or sick. For it would be difficult for those creatures to escape a predator's hold. Till now there was no actual proof of this fact. But latest research by French scientists in Paris, France, has proved that it is true. A report on their research came out in 'The Economist' magazine recently. How did they do it?

The scientists studied the hunting habits of domestic cats. And they studied the health of birds that were killed by cats with those killed in accidents. They made a detailed study of one organ or part of the birds' bodies which was an indication of its good health. That organ was the spleen. The scientists chose the spleen because of a particular reason. Birds that are healthy have larger sized spleens than those which keep getting infections. The spleen greatly helps in strengthening the birds' immune system or their capacity to fight disease. So from the size of the spleen the French scientists could find out if the birds killed by domestic cats were healthy or sickly. They examined more than 500 birds from 18 different species and made very interesting discoveries. The spleens of birds killed by cats were much smaller than those killed in accidents. It means that they were not very healthy. This was true of 16 out of the 18 species they studied. By and large the spleens of birds

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killed in accidents were three times larger than the spleens of birds killed by domestic cats. Also most of the birds killed by the cats were young. Of those that died in accidents, half were young and half were adult. So while it is true that the young and the sickly birds are at a greater danger of becoming a cat's lunch or dinner, old birds are able to take care of themselves.

9. Your Mobile Phone Has a Bug

When people talk of a virus these days, chances are that they are talking about computer viruses that have the power to wipe out all the valuable work they may have stored in their computers. Imagine, this virus has the power to make military systems, giant banks, airports, hospitals and traffic systems come to a halt!

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The softer the name of the virus, the deadlier it may get. Remember the recent Love Bug virus which created such trouble all over the world? It came as an 'I Love You' message and anyone who opened that love-filled e-mail, was caught in the virus trap. What does a computer virus do? It targets electronic objects that are programmed. The virus spreads through connections between these electronic devices. For virus spreading experts, e-mail is a favorite method of unleashing their destructive weapon. But scientists warn that this is not the worst that can happen. There is more. For people are also connected through phones. The next virus may actually target mobile phones, especially those that are programmed to do many tasks apart from just communicating. It would then be easy for a virus to infect those programmes and create major disorder.

For example, these viruses may have the power to record your phone conversations and make others hear them. They could create problems with your electronic money accounts, or they could create a mountain of telephone bills for calls you never made. And that would be a disaster. A report on this was published in the 'New Scientist' recently. One way out would be to have simpler phones with not so many different functions. That way there would be fewer programmes for the virus to attack. But mobile phone manufacturers are in a fix. People no longer want an electronic item to perform just one task. They want more and more functions added on. That would mean more software programmes to make the mobile phone perform all those functions. And that means the possibility of more viruses.

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10. The Hottest way to Catch Crooks

All of us know how crooks are caught. We have seen it in film after film: the police inspector matches the fingerprints on the scene of the crime with the suspect's fingerprints. And the culprit goes to prison.

Fingerprinting has remained one of the best ways to catch a person with a criminal record. The technique was foolproof, for no two people have matching fingerprints -- even identical twins. Unfortunately, things are not so simple any more. Crooks have become smarter and are very careful not to leave fingerprint traces. While some wipe all the surfaces they touch, others prefer using gloves. British police are now using different ways to nab or catch offenders. How do they do it? They try to identify individuals by the heat patterns of their bodies. There are lots of blood vessels in our body and all of these emit heat in the form of infrared radiation. The temperature of skin over blood vessels is thus more than that of the surrounding area. One square inch of skin contains up to 15 feet of blood vessels! (If all the blood vessels of an adult were to be laid in a straight line, it would cover more than 160,000 kilometers!)

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Using gadgets that detect infra-red radiation patterns, British police can now identify a disguised crook even in a crowded area! Special video cameras programmed to detect infra-red radiation record the heat pattern generated by the person. This infra-red pattern is then fed into a computer which picks up a match instantly from its records. The suspect is identified. With the police hot on their trail, criminals are going to find it rather tough to escape undetected!

11. Logging on to Aliens

Do you believe that there might be life on other planets? Would you like to be the first 'Earthling' to make contact with an alien? Well, you can start your search from home. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and you can join the project of the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA

launched

the

Search

for

Extra-Terrestrial

Intelligence (SETI) project, eight years ago. Based at the University of California, SETI's goal is to examine the radio signals coming from nearby stars. Researchers involved in the project believe that a large number of

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stars in the universe could have planets orbiting around them. And they want to know if these planets have conditions suitable to sustain life forms.

SETI computers. The telescope has a bowl-shaped dish which is 1000 feet in diameter. That makes it the world's largest stationary radio telescope. The researchers have to analyze thousands of radio signals daily. They are looking for signals whose patterns would show the existence of hydrogen or water molecules that sustain life on Earth. They could be at it for years before showing a single positive result! Of course, even the researchers know that they cannot do a fast job on their own. So they are distributing the workload. And they want as many helpers as possible. Even you! If you want to join the search for extra-terrestrial life, then download SETI's free software (SETI@home) from http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/. What happens next is fun. While you are away from your computer, the SETI programme downloads a small segment

How does the project work? There is a huge radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. It catches these radio signals, which are then fed into

of the information on radio signals received by the radio telescope.

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It analyses the data and sends the result back to the University of California. There are other benefits too of having the SETI project software in your computer. When you leave your computer unattended, instead of seeing the usual screen saver, you can feast your eyes on a spectacular three-dimensional graph, flickering on the screen. This indicates that your computer is busy analyzing SETI data and searching for signs of alien life! More than 1,824,500 people around the world are currently participating in the SETI@home programme and more are joining in every day. It's a slim chance, but wouldn't it be fantastic if your computer were to be the first to detect an alien signal!

12. The Flower that Cleans itself

How will you explain the meaning of purity to someone? Well, many people do it by giving the example of the lotus -- it grows in muddy waters but the flower remains spotless. It is not surprising that the lotus has a special or sacred place in world religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. It is a symbol of purity, and many a time gods are shown seated on lotus thrones. Now a group of German Scientists has discovered that the lotus plant is truly spotless. It does not allow any dirt to remain on its surface. And there is a clear reason for it. Lotus leaves are round and large and it is almost impossible to get them wet. You may splash as much water as you want on a lotus leaf, but the droplets immediately roll off. What makes this water plant's leaves water repellent?

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perfectly clean. This phenomena has been named the 'Lotus Effect' and works best on rough surfaces. A report on the scientists' study was published in the journal 'Planta'. Contrary to popular belief, lotus leaves are not smooth at all. When examined under a powerful microscope, the leaf cells show a bumpy surface. That makes the surface rough. As a result, dirt particles rest only on the tips of wax Scientists have always known that aquatic leaves secrete or give out wax crystals. These crystals help prevent the leaves from getting flooded with the water around the leaves. They also help the leaves retain the required amount of moisture. The leaves are able to do this because wax repels water. Now the scientists have discovered that these leaf surfaces have an amazing ability to clean themselves. Scientists at the University of Bonn carried out extensive research to show that the water droplets rolling off a lotus leaf carry away dirt particles leaving the surface crystals coating the leaf surface. The roughness reduces the contact area between the particles and the leaf surface. A rough surface structure with wax crystals makes it impossible for water to stick. Due to the friction, the water contracts at once. It forms spherical droplets to minimize the contact area with the rough, waxy leaf surface and runs off the leaf very quickly. Since the dirt particles only rest on the tips of the wax crystals they stick more strongly to the water droplets than to the leaf surfaces.

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They are washed away when the water falls on the leaves. On smooth leaves, the dirt particles are pushed from one part of the leaf to the other. This is because the dirt particles have a larger contact area where they can rest comfortably on the flat surface. We must also keep in mind that water usually spreads and only partially runs off the leaves -- that too, only if the leaf is tilted! The dirt particles may get dislodged, but they are mainly displaced from one side of the leaf to the other. Scientists say that the Lotus Effect is particularly beneficial for it helps to protect the lotus leaves from harmful bacteria. The dirt particles on the leaves often contain tiny disease causing fungi and bacteria. While most of the bacteria get washed off, the few that remain eventually perish since they do not get the water they require for survival and growth.

13. A Train of Villages on the Net

Most people have fond memories of train journeys, though some have unpleasant ones of being left behind at a station, while they waited for a steaming cup of tea or coffee. Many film directors, too, have been fond of shooting actionpacked or emotional scenes at railway stations. The famous action scene at the end of the Hollywood Western 'High Noon' showed the cowboy hero, Gary Cooper, silencing the villain. In one Indian film after another, the hero and the heroine have rushed across a crowded station to meet each other never to be separated. Now the Indian Railways has stepped in to make a more effective use of its 7,000 stations all over the country. If the plan succeeds, the stations will connect hundreds of villages to the World Wide Web, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Service (BBC).

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to villages on the rail routes. This would make the Internet connections very cheap. Telephonic conversations are digitally coded into light and transmitted very, very quickly, over great distances through
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fibre optic cables.

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In India, the stations are located at an average distance of seven km, and each station will be set up to enable wireless Internet connection to more than a hundred households in the vicinity. The project is being tried out in a small area first. The It's very simple, really. These stations cover all the major railway engineers are using the cable connection along 40 cities, towns and villages. km of railway track that links the southern towns of All these stations are connected through cables that Vijaywada and Guntur. The track has five stations and each maintain telephonic communication between the stations. of the stations will also provide wireless Internet A team of railway engineers is planning to use the existing connections for 10 to 15 participating households within a cable network to provide Internet connections on rail 10 km radius. routes. If the project succeeds, it would be a feather in the cap of This way they can avoid the time and money required to lay the Indian Railways. But, it will still have to deal with the a fresh cable network to provide Internet connections problem of frequent power cuts. The result may well be battery-operated computers, or perhaps computers powered by solar panels!

These cables have a much larger capacity than copper cables that is normally used. A single pair of lighttransmitting optical fibres can carry over three thousand conversations simultaneously. Every time you blink, someone is forming an Internet One single cable contains such fibre pairs! company somewhere in the more world.than That50 is the pace at which The Indian fever Railways plans to the existing copper the Internet has caught on replace with people. They could be cables with these high-tech optical After that or is young college students with dreams offibres. making a fortune done, opportunities for Internet increase middle-aged individuals trying connectivity to lure the will goddess of tremendously. wealth. Each one is searching for the one great idea that This project also includes up And of cyber couldInternet make his web company click the in asetting big way. they cafes in stations local people who do not towards own a are trying all sortsfor of gimmicks to attract people computer system. The engineers involved in the project are their websites. also thinking of developing low cost Internetand monitors to While some websites offer sounds, animation dazzling make the on computer affordable to them. graphics screen more to make their sites almost a movie-like experience for the viewer, others provide free downloads and contests. A company based in California, US, has decided to offer online smells to people who visit its website. That is, if a pizza image comes on screen your nostrils will catch the

14. A Smelly New World on the Web

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smell of baked bread and gooey cheese!

activate the 'iSmell' device. The device will use the software to reconvert the digital signal and release the correct smell. This gadget reads the digital scent code from the website and creates the corresponding smell from its store of chemicals. This smell is then made to waft in the direction of the user with the aid of a small fan. To ensure that the correct smell is released, the company has created a 'Scent Registry,' which contains a digital index of thousands of scents. The company plans to permit website developers to integrate the appropriate smells (in digital code) to their games and images. The company is also hoping that Hollywood filmmakers will incorporate the smell technology in their movies. Imagine audiences getting the smell of rocket fuel as a spacecraft takes off on the cinema screen! Of course, filmmakers will have to be careful not to shoot in dirty neighborhoods, which has a lot of rubbish lying around.

All you need to do is attach a device called 'iSmell' to your computer. This smart little device, created by the company, contains some chemicals, which when combined in different proportions, can create a huge variety of smells. The company has invented software that converts the complex chemical composition of different smells into digital signals. An onscreen image, which is programmed with the appropriate digital signal, will

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15. Hot Dog!

Have you ever run out of coffee powder and had to settle for tea? Found no eggs in the tray? No salami for the sandwich and the nearest shop is too far away? Settled for less? Made do with leftovers? Ranted and raved? Well all that can change in the future. If all goes well, intelligent futuristic kitchens will soon help solve all your problems. The kitchen of the future will give wise advise on planning your menu for the day. Conscious of your weight? - it will tell you the right diet and what is good for your health. It will even keep in mind your likes and dislikes! Under design by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this smart futuristic kitchen promises to keep a weather eye open for all your needs plus some. Radio transmitters are fitted on minute tags attached to each edible food item. The kitchen's computer system is linked to these tags. And will help keep an 'eye' on the larder! If you are all thumbs in the kitchen, the kitchen-mate computer system will spell out the ingredients needed for each dish and indicate how to mix them! The recipe is downloaded by the 'smart' kitchen from the Internet after checking the ingredients in the larder. Want to bake the rich, scrumptious, creamy chocolate cake?

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The kind that mother or grandmother makes? You have it. But beware of nightly raids on the fridge for it will scold you and make you feel guilty for overindulgence! So what happens if the larder is empty like old Mother Hubbard's? The kitchen will automatically call and place an order at the local supermarket.

16. Scientists Find More on the Eureka Man

Why do ships float on water when in fact they should sink? Why does paper float on water and a paperweight sink? The answer to these questions was accidentally discovered 2200 years ago by the Greek inventor and mathematician, Archimedes. One day, while getting into his bath he noticed water spilling over the sides. In a flash, Archimedes realized the relation between the water that had fallen out and the weight of his body - in other words he discovered why some objects float and some sink! Archimedes was so excited with his discovery that he hopped out of the bath, and rushed naked into the street yelling triumphantly, 'Eureka!' 'Eureka!' (Greek word for 'I have found it!).

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area and the steel displaces water equal to its weight. So a heavily laden ship floats because its total weight is exactly equal to the weight of the water it displaces. It is this weight that exerts the buoyant force supporting the ship. Archimedes is also known for his extensive work in geometry; and the invention of the lever and pulley. He also created a range of mechanical devices for the defense of his homeland - the catapult and a mirror system (for focusing Archimedes discovery, now popular as the Archimedes' principle, explains why steel ships, weighing thousands of tons, float. But what is Archimedes' principle? When a body is immersed in water, it experiences a force (known as the buoyancy force). This force is equal to the weight of the water displaced by the body. For instance, a lump of steel will sink for it is unable to displace water that equals its weight. But steel of the same weight but shaped as a bowl, will float. This is because the weight gets distributed over a larger the sun's rays on an enemy's boat causing it to catch fire). In a rare find, scientists have recently managed to unearth a manuscript, the only surviving copy that contains Archimedes' theory of flotation and some mechanical theorems. Particularly interesting is the fact that in many parts of the manuscript, Archimedes gives detailed explanations using diagrams. Researchers now hope to get a valuable insight into how Archimedes' mind worked and how he went about devising his

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abstract theorems. According to historians, Archimedes probably wrote his manuscript on papyrus scrolls, fragile in nature. About a 1,000 years later, the documents were copied onto leather sheets and bound into a book form, to prevent their deterioration. In the Middle Ages about 1000 years ago, in Europe, Christian monks frequently recycled parchment works. The contents of the parchment held little interest for the monks, but they needed writing materials, so they tore apart the original manuscript. The writing was erased by scraping the skin and the pages were cut in half and recycled into a Christian book of religious instructions. The new words were written sideways across the original text. Such works became known as 'palimpsests' (Greek for 'scraped again'). The manuscript that is currently under study at a university in New York is called the Archimedes Palimpsest. For 700 years, it remained in Palestine and

Constantinople, cities that were once centers of learning. In 1906 a Danish scholar discovered the barely legible original text underneath. The book disappeared again around 1920 only to surface in an auction house as recently as 1998. Now scientists are piecing together the cut pages and are using ultraviolet and infrared filters to capture images of the original words. Both infrared and ultraviolet light penetrate the surface text and get reflected. The reflected text is recorded on camera and reveals details that aren't evident to the naked eye. The job is quite complicated, but scientists hope to decipher the writing soon.

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17. Planets! Planets! And more Planets!

Astronomers working at Berkeley and Geneva have found nine new planets circling nearby stars. With this discovery, we now know of 50 extra-solar planets, also called exoplanets. That is a big increase from 41 planets last known five years ago. All these individual planets move in an orbit around a star, which is called their parent star. The astronomers estimate that the Beta Pictoris star has a planet ten times the mass of Earth. It orbits at a distance of about 10.5 billion kilometers, more than ten times the distance of the earth from the sun. And Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky appears to have a planet twice the mass of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. This planet is 8 billion kilometers from its parent star. In comparison, our solar system seems almost tiny. The distance between Pluto, the farthest planet in our solar

system and the sun is "just" 5.9 billion kilometers!

Besides these two planets, there are two others, which are as big as Saturn. These two orbit very close to their parent star. What is surprising is that one of them takes just 2.98 days to complete a round and the other takes 29.8 days. Now the astronomers have to put on their thinking caps to figure out why one circles the star exactly ten times faster than the other! Since many extra solar planets are too far away to see directly, astronomers must detect extrasolar planets by carefully watching the stars to see if they "wobble," or slightly shift their center of mass. Just as the moon has gravitational effects on Earth, and each of the solar

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system planets has a slight effect on our sun, any large object orbiting a star will tug at the star, causing the star to move slightly. When searching for extrasolar planets, astronomers see a slight shift in a star's light as an alert that some object -- perhaps a planet -- may be orbiting it. Several of these stars now seem to show unexplained wobble behavior, a condition that many scientists think is evidence for second and even third planets orbiting them, according to a report in The Hindu. Geoff Marcy of San Francisco State University told the BBC: "The planets we are finding around other stars, all orbit in elongated, elliptical orbits. It's quite frightening that virtually all planets that we have found orbit close to their stars where they heat up and then move out to where they cool down," as reported in Deccan Chronicle. In such a case, water, if it did exist on these planets, would boil and then freeze! In such a situation, would life -- as we know it -- exist on these planets?

18. Jupiter's New Moon

Does Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, have a 17th moon? Astronomers seem to think it does. Last year, astronomers at the University of Arizona and a Massachusets Observatory discovered what looked like a new moon around Jupiter. They had been scanning the skies for comets and asteroids as part of a spacewatch programme. In fact, when they saw the new moon, they thought it might be a comet or an asteroid. A comet is a small body of ice and dust that orbits the Sun. When it approaches the Sun, the ice in it vaporizes and forms a head and a tail. This object around Jupiter looked nothing like one, though it moved in an elongated orbit like a comet. It looked even less like an asteroid, which is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. In the solar system, asteroids exist in a wide belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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When the scientists made the orbital calculations of the new object, they realized it was not an asteroid, nor was it a comet. It was actually a new moon around Jupiter that had not been noticed before. But, the scientists are still not sure, and they will not be for a few more months. For, Jupiter and its moons are too close to the Sun right now. And, that is why the scientists have not assigned a If the new object was neither a comet nor an asteroid, what was it? The scientists were in a fix. They realized what it was only last month when they observed its orbit. The orbit is the path that every object in the solar system takes while revolving around another object. And every object has a particular kind of orbit. Asteroids have one. Moons have another. Planets have yet another. It is possible to say what exactly an object in the solar system is by calculating the number of days it takes to go round its orbit. permanent name for the moon. It is still known by the number it was allotted when it was first discovered -S/1999J. The new moon has a diameter of only 5 km, which means that the walk from one end of the moon to the other is only 5 km. It is Jupiter's smallest moon. Actually, it is the smallest moon in the solar system. Before the new moon was found, the Jupiter's smallest known moon was Leda, which is about 8 to 16 km. in diameter.

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This is not the first time that one of Jupiter's moons is causing a stir. Some time ago, it was found out that one of its biggest moons, Io, actually does a lot of stirring and shaking. In the entire solar system, it is the only moon which is more volcanically active than earth. For all we know, the new moon may not be the last of Jupiter's moons. There may be many others hiding out there, just waiting to be discovered.

19. Underwater Terminator

It is not an animal or disease. It is a collective name given to plants, which live underwater. Algae do not have specialized body parts such as roots, stems and leaves. They range in size from very tiny cells to 30 meter long weeds. A special characteristic of algae is that they multiply very fast.

US researchers recently identified the algae, which has caused large-scale destruction of European sea habitats almost 4,050 hectares of sea habitats along the

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Mediterranean coast, according to a report in 'Down To Earth' magazine. This algae destroys underwater plant and animal life. Being toxic it forces the fish to seek new homes. Caulerpa Taxifolia (C Taxifolia), was found in Agua Hedionda near San Diego, US. Researchers feel that the algae may have ended up in the sea probably after someone emptied the contents of their aquarium into a lagoon. A lagoon is a shallow water body like a pond, which ultimately gets connected to a larger water body. Due to this reason, the sale of algae was banned for aquarium use in US1999. All algae are not harmful but some like C. Taxifolia can cause a lot of harm to the other creatures living in the sea. Bright green and feathery, C Taxifolia grows fast, and poses a big threat to the delicate balance in the sea environment.

20. High Performance, Low Pollution

With the number of vehicles and industries growing at an alarming rate in India, pollution levels are also shooting up. Most of us go about our daily lives feeling the impact of pollution in smarting eyes and asthmatic sighs, but we do not do much beyond talking about it. But there are some people who are actually thinking of ways in which to preserve a green environment so that we can all breathe cleaner air. They are employees of a thermal or coal-based power plant in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. The amazing fact is that they have been running a 50-yearold power plant without polluting the environment. What is an image of a thermal plant in your mind --

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so that there is minimum pollution. The most polluted area in the plant is the one where coal is dumped from the trucks. It is here that the workers control coal-dust pollution by sprinkling water on the coal. Many trees have also been planted in this area to prevent the spread of the coal-dust. In the area where the conveyor belts carrying coal and ash separately, are situated, coal-dust pollution is controlled black soot coming out from the chimneys, coal dust and ash all around? But, in the power plant here, the scenario is different. There are many trees around the plant. The land around it is green and there is no soot coming out of the chimneys. There is a good reason for this, according to a report in 'Down to Earth' magazine. As soon as the coal is dumped into the yard, the workers sprinkle water on it. By doing this they ensure that there is no coal-dust arising to envelop the surroundings. They also make sure that the coal is burnt little by little through other commonsensical methods such as providing covers on the belts. The water that is used in the boilers is also treated for impurities. This water is then used for spraying in the coal yard. If there is extra water then it is used for gardening. By recycling, the plant has reduced its water consumption needs to a great extent.

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21. A New Way to Fight Age?

We can stay young forever. That is the message Dr Shen Ziyin wants to give the world. And the Chinese doctor claims that he has found an answer to the problems of ageing. His solution is a herbal medicine to slow the process of aging.

And, he has been working for the past forty years to put together the best of both and find a cure for aging. He has taken a hint from the ancient Chinese medicine system called 'shen'. According to Shen, it is the kidney which regulates the functioning of the body as well as its ageing process. It is responsible for the level of activity that the human bodies go through. Studies conducted by Dr Shen show that herbal medicines based on the Shen system slow the ageing process, says a report in 'The Telegraph' newspaper. What do we mean by ageing? It is the beginning of a stage where the body starts losing its ability to fight disease and infections. We notice that when people grow old, they have reduced strength, loss of hair, backache, weakness in general, and wrinkles, among others. This happens because when people grow old, their bodies produce T-cells. These T-cells contain a particular substance called Fas. Fas makes the cells in the body

Dr Shen Ziyin has been trained in Western medicine. At the same time he has access to the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine.

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destruct themselves. So the only way to slow down aging is to slow the production of T-cells in the body. This can happen if people eat low calorie food. Then the body is not active enough to produce extra T-cells. But, is going hungry all the time a good price to pay for staying young? This is where Dr Shen's herbal medicine comes in. But how effective it will be, only time can tell.

22. And Now, Schoolbags Online

Who wants to carry a bulky bag to school? Not children. Nobody wants one shoulder to be lower than the other, and paining too. In India, most of us would look at the reduction of textbooks as a way out. But in a country like America, there are always more options. A company called goReader has created a "school bag" which is the size of a laptop computer, weighing about 2.5 kg. The goReader has a color screen and can "hold" all the textbooks that a student may need, says a report in 'The Asian Age' newspaper. The company plans to work closely with the publishers of textbooks so that these books can be supplied on the internet. All the students will have to do is download their text- books. Making notes and highlighting important parts of a lesson can be done just as generations of students have done on their textbooks.

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23. Evergreen Clothes

There is good news for those who love splashing around in rain puddles and don't want to get their clothes dirtied. Or those who play soccer but don't want their shirts to get soiled or wet with sweat. British scientists have created a fabric that never gets dirty or wet! At present, the project is being tested out in a university. Richard Katzmann, the founder of the company is having his creation tested at Chicago's DePaul University, where he studied. Does that mean it is goodbye to the crackle of brand new paper, and the smell of the black ink?

The cloth is treated with a special non-sticky chemical that repels grease and water. This ensures that the clothes remain squeaky clean.

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But the scientists are not yet ready to make public the formula of this "miracle" chemical, says a report in 'The Times of India' newspaper. A well known French company recently launched a new range of jackets that have Teflon in them. Teflon is the plastic coating on non-stick pans that we use in our kitchens. The material has a special characteristic: it does not react to anything. It does not form bonds with other molecules, like grease or water. As a result, dirt and water slip away from the teflon fabric, as easily as a parantha slips out of a Teflon-coated pan. American scientists have gone a step further. They have integrated insecticide in the textile fibre that kills mosquitoes on contact. This new anti-mosquito fabric found immediate buyers. According to reports, several mosquito net manufacturers are trying to outdo each other in the bid to 'net' a contract with the company for use of this new technology.

24. How Lizards Defy Gravity

Lizards slithering up walls or dangling precariously from overhead lights are a common sight in tropical countries. These slimy creatures zipping up walls are called geckos. They are the only lizard species that make any sound, other than hissing -- in fact they make a loud clicking noise that sounds like "gecko", hence the name.

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Recent studies show that the gecko's ability to cling on to surfaces could well lead to the creation of the world's first non-sticky, self-cleaning adhesive! According to scientists at the University of California, gecko feet function a bit like the tape we use for sticking. Of course a gecko's tenacious hold is far, far stronger than any earthly tape. Scientist have often analyzed the feet of geckos in order to understand the lizard's sticking prowess. For years scientists assumed that the pads on the lizard's feet created suction. This idea was discarded when experiments proved that lizards continued to cling on to surfaces -- even in a vacuum. Researchers have only recently discovered what really enables geckos to scuttle across ceilings and walls without losing their grip. By carefully examining the tiny hair that cover a gecko's toes, the team discovered that the microscopic hair split up into even tinier pads called spatulae. These spatulae are incredibly minute

(each is about a lakh times smaller than an inch). The combined adhesive property of these pads is quite impressive -- in fact the adhesive power is so effective that a gecko can dangle from the ceiling by one toe! By filming geckos, running up walls, the scientists discovered that geckos carefully uncurl their toes as they take each step. And when they take their feet off the wall they simply reverse this process - an act similar to the peeling off of tape from a surface. The tiny hair on the toes rolls out to stick to the surface, as the gecko walks, and then peels off as the gecko lifts its toes. Curiously enough gecko feet do not contain any gummy substances, so the lizards do not use glue or liquid to grab on. Nor do they need a special surface to cling on to - like Velcro requires. The fact that gecko hairs function very, very differently from a regular adhesive (or Velcro) is of great interest to scientists.

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Researchers are now keen to use gecko hairs to make the world's first dry adhesives! Scientists also noticed that gecko hairs are self cleaning - apparently, the teeny hair, on the gecko's toes, always remain ultra-clean and springy. Scientists have yet to figure out why, and when they do we can get rid of messy glue and opt for a dry, self-cleaning alternative.

25. Skyrocketing Holidays

Do you wish for an "unearthly vacation? American astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, famous for being the second man to land on the moon, is one of the few people working to promote tourism in space. But if the thought of a holiday in space is mind-boggling, the cost of that thought is even more so - almost $200 million for an out-of-the-world experience! Realizing the need to make space travel as normal as buses or trains, an American company called the X Prize Foundation is trying to cut down the cost of space travel. If the company succeeds, one lucky human could be heading for a space vacation at the cost of a bus ticket! The foundation is organizing a lottery for a seat on the rocket that will zoom up in space. Theres a slight catch, though. The rocket is yet to be designed.

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100 km high into space. While none of the contestants are ready with their designs, a few are confident of creating the ideal spacecraft by the year 2002. The X Prize Foundation was founded in 1996, by a group of American businesspeople intent on creating low-cost space travel vehicles. The X Prize is formulated in the style of early aviation prizes. In the 1900s, hundreds of aviation prizes inspired different aircraft designs. The prizes also motivated pilots to set records which were hitherto thought of as impossible. Since its inception in 1996, the X Prize Foundation has attracted several sponsors. It is now offering $10 million (about Rs 40 crore) for the best rocket design. Seventeen international teams, including a few amateurs, are competing to build the safest and most affordable passenger rocket. The Foundations officials say that for a craft to be eligible for the prize, it must fly twice within a 14-day period with three passengers on board. It must fly Charles Lindbergh, was one such contestant, who became the first person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic alone. Like the organizations of yore, the X Prize Foundation officials are hoping that their efforts will change the way people view space flight -- and tourism.

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26. This One is for your Eyes Only

Any mention of the word 'zari' may remind you of the heavily embroidered Banaras silk sarees that your mother, sister or aunts may have. Embroidering silk sarees with zari, or golden and silver wrapping on silk threads, is an old and well known art in India. A sari with zari work is a dream come true for most Indian women. But if you mention zari to "eye doctor" or optometrist Dr Mohan Ram, he will probably remember a patient's retina. For this optometrist from the LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, has pioneered a new, cheap and efficient method of testing the retina. No prizes for guessing what the replacement is - it's the good old zari! A report on Dr Mohan Ram's path breaking achievement was published in 'The Hindu' newspaper recently. Optometrists spend a large part of their daily routines looking into the eyes of patients. They do so to check whether the retina is working properly. How it is done is interesting: they throw a beam of light on the retina and measure the electrical signals that the retina sends to the brain. It sends the signal through the optic nerve. These signals are called electroretinograms or ERG. They are measured with a special instrument called the DTL electrode.

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There is nothing wrong with this procedure except for one thing. The DTL electrode costs are on the higher side. One metre of electrode fibre costs about Rs 2,500. This increased Dr L.S. Mohan Ram's determination to find a cheaper and equally efficient method of measuring ERG. He succeeded, and in a spectacular way. Unlike the traditional zari, which was made of silk thread, the modern zari is made of nylon threads that are covered with some metallic wrapping such as gold, silver or copper. Thin and flexible, it is a good conductor of heat and electricity. It can also be easily sterilized. Dr Mohan Ram decided to check out the efficiency of zari on 14 normal sighted people. He measured the ERG of one eye with zari and the other eye with DTL. And the patterns of ERG obtained with zari compared favorably with the DTL patterns. Zari had another great advantage: it cost Rs 50 a metre and was easily available locally.

The young optometrist has received a number of honors for his path-breaking achievement. At a meeting in Sydney, Australia, recently, the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV), spoke of Dr Mohan Ram's innovation. Meanwhile, the optometrist is busy at work. He is working with research laboratories to introduce a particular standard in zari, so that it can be used without any problems.

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27. Jurassic Park II

The film Jurassic Park is peanuts compared to this: Last month, Argentine scientists found thousands of dinosaur eggs in hundreds of nests at Patagonia. A report in the journal New Scientist says that it is the biggest nesting site of dinosaurs found thus far. Each nest contained 15 to 30 eggs the size of a grapefruit each. The eggs contained bones of titanosaurs which would have weighed about 15 tonnes when fully grown.

Like several birds today, the dinosaurs also had communal nesting sites, or nests at the same place.

The scientists say that the "vegetarian" dinosaurs had large families but very few of their children would have reached adulthood. The carnivorous dinosaurs would have found it easier to chase the little ones than the big plant-eating adults.

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28. The Cool and Cunning Lark

The very mention of summer and heat makes us think of
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If you are smart like the desert animals, you would probably sleep during the day and move about at night. And, like these animals, you would make a hole in the ground and wait till the sun goes down. But, birds do not
94 have the ability to dig burrows. They have to think of other

desert land. Countless films have shown thirsty travelers lost in the desert, uttering the words, 'Water! Wa-a-ter, waaa..." But then what do you do if the temperature even in the desert shade is as high as 50 degree centigrade, hot winds almost cut you up into pieces, and there is no water, or even saliva in your mouth? Out in the sun, the hoopoe lark's body rapidly loses water -almost 10 per cent of its body weight in one hour in direct sunlight. Even in the shade, it loses about 1.4 grams of water an hour. It saves itself by lying flat on the ground. But the lark is not a bird that believes in sharing and caring, as the scientists found out. They took out a lark from one burrow and placed it in another which was already occupied by another bird. That one was not willing to share its space with the outsider and fought with it. Which is rather strange, for the lizard burrow has enough space for many of them. It is almost three to four metres long. But then that's the way the lark is.

means to escape the sun, by thinking smartly. The desert lark, found in the Arabian desert, is one such creature. Borrow or steal another animal's burrow is its philosophy. It its days in burrows made by the Egyptian spinyIt spends seems the fish were always a smart lot. Only, humans tailed lizard. time to realize the fact. Some years ago, took some Often, thehad original owner of they the house, the lizard, also is scientists discovered that identify family members found in the burrow. But scientists since the lizard is a vegetarian and with their smell. Now, in Glasgow University, quite happy to something have company, the bird to is asafe. The have discovered new, according report in Economist has reported these fascinating facts the journal magazine 'New Scientist'. They have discovered that the discovered scientists the actually desert near Saudi salmon fish by go two a step further. in They keepTaif, a nose out Arabia. for fish that smell like outsiders and not like family. Then The scientists havethem. found that there are as many as 30 they get tough with burrows in every square of desert land. out Andtheir that The reason may be that kilometre they use smell to mark probably the lark's life.And so, when they get a very territory, saves the scientists feel. strong smell of outsiders, they feel threatened. How did the scientists discover this? They brought up 44 salmon from two different families and kept them in several water tanks. All the water tanks had members of both families.

29. The Scent of an Enemy

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Scientists feel this discovery will help people who raise wild fisheries. For, now they know that if they put salmon belonging to the same family in a fast flowing stream, they will not develop very strong bonds. But if they put them in pools they will grow together and multiply.

In some tanks, water was let in and let out. In other tanks they kept circulating the same water. When that happened the fish scents also got stronger. For water gathers more and more of the scent with time. The results were very interesting. In the tanks where water was let in and let out, the fish did not get very strong smells of family or outsiders. But in the tanks where the same water was circulated again and again, the fish scents were much stronger. The salmon in these tanks could easily distinguish the smell of family from outsiders. They got nasty, their fins became erect, they attacked and bit the latter.