Category: Science and Technology

Coral Reefs and climate change

Deepwater Coral Reefs Unlikely to Welcome Shallow-Water Animals ...

Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems. Scientific evidence now clearly indicates that the Earth’s atmosphere and ocean are warming, and that these changes are primarily due to greenhouse gases derived from human activities.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, so far the oceans have taken up 90% of the excess heat generated by human-caused global warming. Even if emissions are aggressively curtailed, the oceans will continue heating at an accelerating rate for decades. What’s more, the oceans are acidifying. They’ve soaked up an estimated 20–30% of human carbon emissions; as carbon dioxide dissolves into these waters, their pH plummets.

Warming and acidification are stressors for corals (and for many other marine organisms). Heat causes coral to lose its algae and bleach. At the same time, increasing acidity makes it difficult for individual corals, typically millimeters in size, to build the calcium carbonate deposits that form large reef structures. If the pH is low enough and the corals unhealthy enough, reefs can even start to dissolve, making them vulnerable to shattering during storms.

Unhealthy reefs threaten not only the organisms that inhabit them but also the livelihoods of the people who depend on them. Reefs are the backbone of near-shore ecosystems around the world, providing a home for thousands of species of fish as well as mollusks, crustaceans, sea turtles, and countless other creatures. Without their associated reefs, nearby fisheries are at risk of collapse. The world’s reefs are valued in the tens to hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Each year, for instance, the Great Barrier Reef contributes about A$5.6 billion (US$3.84 billion) to Australia’s economy.

Scientists around the world are looking for all kinds of ways to protect and maybe even revive corals. One option is to create more marine protected areas—essentially national parks in the ocean. Scientists say creating marine refuges, where fishing, mining, and recreating are off limits, make the reefs healthier, and so more resilient.

“Diet And Its Effect On Human Psychology”

Diet or food has been an important and essential source for survival of mankind. It provides the basic energy and elements helping us to perform day go day activities and keeping ourselves healthy and fit. Humans have been traveling since times in search of better food resources along with clean and pure water resources and better shelter opportunities. With time humans’ diets have transformed and have seen a greater impact on their behaviour as well as their health. Today most of the people try eating vegetarian and vegan food as compared to non vegetarian food. But along with that the concentration if junk food or food lacking basic nutrients have increased in the market as they offer better taste. This has surely resulted in a rise of aggressive behaviour and less level of patience especially among the youth. 

Scientists have researched on the topic of “How diet affects human psychology and What are the associated behavioural aspects as well”. They did find a great link between food and human psychology. There are various tests and experiments which show that eating junk food brings out more and more aggression among people , reducing patience level and filling them with feelings like anxiety and stress. There was an experiment testing the decision capacity of individuals after giving them both a nutrients rich diet and a nutrient deficit diet. It was recorded that the person who ate health was able to think and decide better as compared to other people. There were many other experiments which did show that people do get fascinated towards these junk food because of the it’s ingredients. It came up in studies that sugar is more addictive than cocaine and any other drug. Junk food has a good amount of sugar in it, so whenever people see these junk foods, they have an urge, which truly drives them to eat it. 

Scientists relate this aspect of humans with the food they eat as most of the just k food lacks essential proteins, carbohydrates, fibre and omega-3. Omega 3 is essential as it reduces blood pressure, heart related disease and prevents stroke. Other proteins, calcium and iron help the body to grow and remove daily muscle fatigue. Junk food contains sugar, which increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and most probably heart related diseases. That’s The reason why heart attacks and other problems related to cardio have seen a hike. People usually prefer these things so as to calm their Taste buds which they often do not get by eating healthy food, since most of it lacks taste. 

People should understand that especially in today’s era of pandemic  we need to make our immune system strong and make ourselves fit and healthy  but eating these unfit and junk food won’t let us grow better and healthier. One can have them but in a limit. Everybody has their own daily protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin limit  and if it’s not fulfilled, the body goes on degrading and the body seems dull and unhealthy. So one should try to eat better, healthier food, along with exercising on a daily basis, which will not only make them fit but also encourage other people in their surroundings to get fascinated by the results and will shift towards betterment and thus a better way of living with healthy humans all around. 

Phobos: Reimagining through a new view

3, 2, 1, Liftoff. You may remember the moment when the countdown was going on for the PSLV C25 at 02:36 PM IST to lift from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013, carrying the other five payloads containing the colour camera which now captured new images of Phobos moon. Let’s have the insights on the Mangalyaan. Mangalyaan or Mars Craft from its Sanskrit root words, the orbiter weighing 3 thousand lbs (1.35 thousand kgs) was a successful mission lately after being criticized for the initial failure. The budget was merely 73 million dollars or 450 crores Indian rupees equivalent to an Indian cinema movie’s box office collection for Ghajini in 2008 as recorded in 2019.

The planet Mars has two moons, namely Phobos and Deimos. The closest and the biggest among the two moons is Phobos. It was picturised as shown above with the color corrected six frames MCC on July 1, 2020, with 210m spatial resolution. The MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission) was 7.2 thousand km away from Mars and 4.2 thousand km from the moon Phobos. It is said that it comprises of carbonaceous chondrite. The giant crater on the surface, namely Stickney, Shklovsky, Roche & Grildrig was noticeable in the picture.

Actual image of the moon Phobos. Courtesy: ISRO

With its fuel efficiency estimated to be only for six months survives till now and achieved success on its first launch itself. On December 1, 2013, it went out of the gravitation field sooner. On September 24, 2014, after a long journey of 300 days makes it enter into the Mars orbit. The subsequent mission by ISRO, MOM 2 or Mangalyaan 2 did fail when the Vikram lander had lost connection after it crashes over the surface. There is no proper evidence of what exactly went wrong in the mission, but it is said that the ALP (Automatic Landing Program) braking thrusters had failed to result in the incidence. There was a big controversy between NASA and ISRO claiming the lander was found, although an Indian scientist spotted it.

Now ISRO with its grand vision is planning for Chandrayaan 3 to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022. This mission is again a cost saver with 35 million dollars for the new equipment and another 51 million dollars for the launcher. India has been already prosperous in launching 104 satellites just in a single mission. Chandrayaan 2 was made only with 141 million dollars budget.

The MOM as described has five instruments onboard:

1) MCC with a 2K×2K area array CMOS sensor for beautiful images of Mars in colourised format.

2) TIS (Thermal Infrared grating spectrometer) houses an infrared detector known as a microbolometer.

3) Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) by its name is used to measure the presence of methane in the atmosphere, which is a differential radiometer with acute accuracy in parts per billion.

4) Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA) is a spectrometer to determine the contents in the martian environment

5) Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) is a photometer to find abundance in composition to know the actual components on the surface and more.

By these, we can know more about Mars and its moons. Also, you can check out the 3D model of Phobos here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2358/phobos-3d-model/

And also, about NASA’s blog claiming to find clues of the crashed Vikram lander: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/vikram-lander-found

“Celebrating Plastic Bag Free Day And Finding Technological Aspects to fight with Plastic”

Humans have been developing science and technology so as to make their life more comfortable and easy. This humans have made some of the products which have proven to be boon for mankind. Such a product and material which has made life of humans more easier and comfortable.The ease of carrying material and storing them,manufacturing components and many more benefits have been available through this material to humans. Cost Effectiveness, light weight, easy to carry , rust resistance and many more things make this material the best to be used. But with times this has lead to deteriorate the condition of earth. This material as we know takes about 100-500 years to decompose and even more . These have led to pollution of our rivers, ocean sea and our land. 

We humans mostly focus on using plastic as single use plastic and throw it as soon as it’s used.This is especially for carrying bags. Every year, billions of waste material is recorded around the world with maximum concentration of plastic in it. People to get rid of this are starting campaigns which include recycle, reuse and even some believe in getting rid of it simply by burning, but a strong and well planned action to reduce and utilize the waste or stop product hasn’t been seen. 

So what can be done. As a campaign to stop the use of single use plastic every year, people celebrate “Plastic Free Bag day” on 3rd of july increasing the awareness about how plastic is bad for our nature, and how this problem is piling up, and would definitely lead to nowhere but doomsday. 

 

  • So people usually spread awareness about how plastic products can be utilized or reused most of which we threw away. 
  • People prevent the use of plastic bags on this day and prefer carrying a paper bag or a usual bag.
  • Most of the shopkeepers also do not prefer giving our things in plastic bags and aware people to use paper bags or cloth bags.
  • Most people go on hiking where they collect waste plastic things and recycle them or give it to the people who are good at recycling them and making the best out of waste. Most people also provide charities to these working individuals and this provides a helping hand in saving their earth.

 

We human surly need to understand, that we have polluted our earth with every kind of waste and destroyed its environment. Piling Up of waste, floating plastic In water in oceans and sea, disturbing aquatic life, polluted air, polluted soil and many more problems to be addressed which have made our life horrible . We surely need to shift toward better resources and material having the capabilities and abilities to give better results.Alternative to plastic and be the top contender to be utilized in place of it. The research work should be funded and people should prevent wasting and throwing plastic . Material possessing properties like lighter weight, cost effective nes and eco friendly must be initialised to be launched soon so as to get rid of the problems people need to come up with brighter ideas and reduce plastic waste or utilize in some better manner so that we make this earth better and cleaner and thus a better and purest place to live in. 

Patent for ISRO protective garment for human spaceflight

Another feather adds to the ISRO crown. ISRO has got an Indian patent for its liquid cooling and heating garment suitable for the space Application. The patent is valid for 20 years from the date of application that is, February 8, 2016, and was granted on June 19. while ISRO is a patent owner, the four investors are Srirangam Siripothu, Reshmi Balachandran, Saraswati Kesava Pillai Manu, and Gurumurthy Chandrasekaran.

Spacesuit

The garment is made of biocompatible Fabrics and parts which help maintain comfortable body temperature. According to ISRO the garments has superior heat transfer efficiency and can be conveniently used for maintening the body temperature of the wearer at levels suitable for the physiological performance require. The outer and Inner Layer of the garment are separated by plurality of tubes configured to exclusive a heat transfer fluid

EXASCALE COMPUTING

What is Exascale computing?

The speed of a computer is typically measured by the number of arithmetic operations per second it can perform (floating point operations per second or FLOPS). As of summer 2017, the fastest computers have reached a speed of 93 PetaFLOPS (on a standard benchmark), which is 93×1015 (or 93,000,000,000,000,000) operations per second. A system delivering one ExaFLOPS would be more than 10x faster (with at least 1018 operations per second). In comparison, a standard desktop computer reaches a computing performance in the GigaFLOPS range (one Gigaflop is 109 operations per second). Such an Exascale computer would be roughly more powerful by a factor of one billion.

If (by way of analogy) we let the speed of an Exascale computer correspond to the speed of a moon rocket (which was around 40,000 km/h for Apollo 10), then the computing performance of a typical desktop computer would correspond to about 1/10 of the speed of a snail (which crawls around 3 metres per hour).

History

The first petascale computer that came into operation was in 2008. At a supercomputing conference in 2009, Computerworld projected exascale implementation by 2018. Although the exascale wall for FLOPS was not broken in 2019, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a 1.8×1018 operation calculation per second (which is not the same as 1.8×1018 FLOPS) on the Summit OLCF-4 Supercomputer while analyzing genomic information in 2018. They were Gordon Bell Award winners at Supercomputing 2018.

The exaFLOPS barrier was first broken in March of 2020 by the Folding Home project, used to fold proteins for medical research.

Exascale computing would be a significant achievement in computer engineering, as an exascale computer would have processing power on the order of the estimated processing power of the human brain at the neural level (although the functional power required to simulate a human brain might be lower). The Human Brain Project targets exascale computing capability.

Why building a fast computer is hard?

One could naively think that just connecting enough standard computers and memory would result in a fast enough system. However, this is not true. Just putting 1,000 cars or car engines together will neither produce a car 1,000 x as fast nor lead to a usable system 1,000 x as powerful, not to speak of noise, pollution and fuel consumption. Instead, different approaches would be necessary to reach those goals.

Similar barriers exist for computers. At the most basic level, a computer works by moving data from memory to a computer unit, calculating the results and moving the results back to memory. If using standard PC technology for the connection between memory and compute units, the sole movement of data for an Exascale computer would roughly need the same level of power as the whole of the UK. Thus, a promising approach to build Exascale machines is to store data very close to the compute unit where they are needed. One technique to put data closer to the processing unit is to extend the traditional two-dimensional layout of electric circuits by stacking integrated circuits also in the third dimension.  This will not only consume much less energy, but will also be much faster: Nowadays, the transport of data has become a major constraint on processing speed (much more than the computing itself), similar to the speed difference between slow airport security checks and fast flights. An Exascale computer would need hundreds of thousands if not millions of units comprising processing and memory, and fast connections between them, for data that is needed in more than one place. However, designing and producing such novel compute units is very expensive, so it is of paramount importance to find ways to use components which can be mass produced, and used outside the HPC world, to reduce cost.

Road to Exascale

Because of both the importance of increasing the speed to the Exascale FLOPS level and the difficulties encountered in building such computers, the EU, like other big economies, has launched a research program for the development of Exascale technology.  Member states have launched cooperation for the deployment of Exascale computers until 2022. The ETP4HPC think tank & advisory group has defined a research agenda to overcome the multiple difficulties of building and operating Exascale class systems.

Technological Challenges

It has been recognized that enabling applications to fully exploit capabilities of Exascale computing systems is not straightforward. In June 2014, the stagnation of the Top500 supercomputer list had observers question the possibility of exascale systems by 2020. Developing data-intensive applications over exascale platforms requires the availability of new and effective programming paradigms and runtimes systems.  The Folding Home project, the first to break this barrier, relied on a network of servers sending pieces of work to hundreds of thousands of clients using Client–server model network architecture.

Conclusion

Semiconductor engineering has never been easy, but one can argue that the industry had the wind at its back for roughly 60 years. During that time, manufacturing process improvements have complemented architecture and software advances to produce seeming clockwork gains, often doubling the performance every 18 to 24 months. Those process improvements have helped to drive the industry to exascale computing, but now appear to be slowing. As this article highlights, there will be no shortage of innovative approaches and creative concepts that could be perfected over the next decade to continue the exceptional growth of computing capabilities.  This is the beauty of computer engineering – demand driving innovation, and the exascale era is just the next milestone on the never-ending HPC journey.

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS

I Know I am late a moment ago I came to know about that 2nd July was UFO day, I am really very flatter to know about this day in my school days I was very much curious about the galaxy , the unknown mysterious world, other planets , aliens then with the time  I am distracted from my this world, but always when I get time I tried to gather information .so 1st I am telling you the reason behind the day

World UFO Day is an awareness day for people to gather together and watch the skies for unidentified flying objects. The day is celebrated by some on June 24, and others on July 2. June 24 is the date that aviator Kenneth Arnold reported what is generally considered to be the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States,[ while July 2 commemorates the supposed UFO crash in the 1947 Roswell UFO Incident.

RoswellDailyRecordJuly8,1947.jpg
Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947, announcing the “capture” of a “flying saucer” source WIKIPEDIA

What is other side of the sky? Once This question always going round in my mind, other planets, solar system , milky way, black eye galaxy this things are fascinated millions , years after year scientist research and now the craze to know the unknown world , creature from other planet is really noticeable. Series, documentaries, movies based on aliens, other world.  But you know In Chhattisgarh ancient rock painting depicting UFO exist suggesting Alien communication with humans since prehistoric times, Archaeologists JR Bhagat, who discover them , said they depict strange humanoids with no facial features and other painting of flying discs.

CHARAMA (Chhattisgarh): Chhattisgarh state department of sarchaeology department has sought help from NASA and ISRO experts.

image of the drawings related to aliens and ufo in Chhattisgarh

The finding suggest that humans in prehistoric times may have seen or imagined beings from other planets which still create curiosity among people and researchers.

The Journey of a Plastic: From Making to Recycling

I originate from deep down from the Earth after millions of years. I’m picked up by the machinery which is collecting my friends and me, and they process us. I go under the distillation process, later separated from some of my colleagues. Then I go through processes like polymerization and polycondensation. Large chains of monomers make us form polymer chains and then distinguished me in two types, thermoplastics which softens on heating, and thermosets stay in the same state. I get melted to form long tubes and cut into small pellets. I get shipped to various places in different industries to make bottles commonly out of me or containers to store essential items. But, I’m sad that I’m leading to global pollution and let us know why.

This story was the plastic on its own. Now let me describe the story of plastics furthermore. These plastics are usually for single-use purposes or discarded in the open without considering the harmful effects of it on nature. About a billion or two make its way daily in the household, packaging sector, etc. Around 8 billion tons of plastic are present since the 1950s, and only 9 percent went through a recycling facility. In some countries like Kenya, the usage of plastic can lead to jail and maybe a hefty 40 thousand dollars fine. Other countries on the same track as France, where the government has been imposing taxes on single-usage plastics. The most polluted oceans, along with beaches filled with nearly 70 percent of plastic waste. Every minute, one million plastic bottles do quench the thirst, but not all the bottles do justice.

Plastic bottles captured in a net

The unfortunate fact is that the plastics every year kill over a million seabirds and animals along with us when we consume them in granular molecules unknowingly. The improper management of these plastic waste makes its way to developing countries when they discard it openly in the streams of rivers polluting the ecosystem and making it less sustainable for the aquatic species to survive. Recent research states these facts that when the final waste marked as recycled is not even destroyed or treated correctly—these results in an increase of ocean debris. Plastic pollution is going to double in the next few decades, as mentioned in a report by WWF, the World Wildlife Fund.

A seabird near an old fishing net.

In this pandemic, have you ever wondered where the masks, the gloves wore by the doctors, and the essential PPE suits end up? Although the hospitals do have an incinerator, a common man litters without any safety precaution, which may affect others if someone comes in contact with the items. However, if it finally makes its way to the water bodies, those can act as the medium to contaminate not only the virus but other diseases too.

What can we do on our end? We can follow the 3R’s or there are more: the commonly known are reduce, reuse, and recycle. By this, if we start sorting the waste and use them effectively, there won’t be a global issue when it can start with you. One step a wise man takes can save others on the way. Be that person and save the planet.

A person is sorting the bottle caps.

“Time Travel And Associated Paradox”

Humans have been fascinated towards time travel and have been developing technology to make it possible one day. The advancement in science has helped humans to make ideas turn reality. Space has always been a mystery to humans and we have always tried harder to solve them at the best of their possibilities. The idea of time travel and humans’ moment to past or future seems to be very fascinating, and humans believe that it is possible. But the fact that we cannot travel back to the era or to the future lies in the Einstein Theory Of Relatively. Which states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light or in simple words it suggests that anything which is travelling with the speed less than light will never be able to move faster in it’s coming time or else to do so it requires enormous and endless power sources which we know that is not possible. 

But different findings have led the belief of scientists to increase in this area and  make those possibilities to be true. It is believed that we can move to other planets or parallel universes through a wormhole. Which is another hypothesis as their significance is still not found. Scientists believe that by creating a wormhole we can reach other planets and even past . There have been particles like tachyons   (Hypothetical) which are supposed to move faster than light. It is believed that with the help of these we can send messages to our past and even travel one day. 

Here’s is the paradox which do makes rise a potential question to do so. This is known as the Grandfather Paradox. According to this paradox it states the idea that if any person travels to time before their grandfather or sends a message before grandfather had children and if someone through that message kills their grandfather, it would raise a question to their existence. This paradox has been in discussion since ages and is considered a proper problem which really raises the question and theories related to time travel. 

Scientists have been working in this field of developing technology and doing research so as to rediscover particles or any technology which could help us to cross the barrier of time and travel in different years. But this is purely hypothetical since scientists do know that it’s hardly possible to cross the barriers of light and travel faster than it. We need enormous sources of energy or endless sources of energy to run any machine at a speed faster than it. It is still a belief of fiction but people do believe that whatever is thinkable can be achieved so scientists are working in discovering various other phenomena happening in space so as to get the idea of how space works and utilize those knowledge in future projects. The wormhole theory is a relevant theory which does enable human travel to other planets outside our solar system without breaking the famous theory of relativity but still we hardly find any wormholes and if they exist, they are expected to be very small enough for any spacecraft to enter. 

Scientist’s have been finding out different ways so as to make their dream turn reality. It does seem to be impossible but still some people have faith in their work and theories. Science has been bringing out hidden secrets about space with every trip of humans in it. Maybe in future we may be able to do time travel with better technologies, and thus new possibilities and opportunities for mankind

Are gyms eco-friendly?

Time to run from the 'deadmill' gym treadmill

People nowadays are more concerned about their health and are going to the gym to achieve their fitness goals. Many exercisers find that running on a treadmill is easier, and therefore more preferable, than running outdoors. Those who face seasonal allergies or live in cold temperatures seem to have no option but to remain indoors for their workouts. There is also a sense of encouragement from joining a gym. By getting on the treadmill at their local club, they are now a part of a group who strive to be healthy. But by jumping on a piece of exercise equipment they may be helping their bodies but are harming the environment.

While the treadmills these gym-goers choose appear to be rather simple machines that wouldn’t require high amounts of power, one treadmill can burn the equivalent of fifteen 75-Watt light bulbs while in use. Most people would never want to have five lights on in their house, let alone fifteen, yet most people have no problem using a treadmill. While most treadmills are not constantly running, treadmills and other equipment still use energy while in standby mode. Some local gyms are also crowded enough that their machines are in almost constant use, burning large amounts of energy. The temperature raises in the gym, causing the use of fans and air conditioning in addition to the level that it is constantly running at. The lights at most gyms are consistently on and using electricity, even if no one is working out. The soda vending machine alone at a local gym can use about 10 times the amount of a home refrigerator.

An amazing alternative to the conventional gym is the Green Gym, a concept that allows gentle exercise out in the countryside in fresh air. Green Gyms involve members ‘working out’ by planting trees, rebuilding damaged forest footpaths or rebuilding walls. Participants have been found to exercise moderately over a period of about four hours – equivalent to a short session on a treadmill. However, the advantage is that the air is completely pure and, more importantly, the energy expended goes into producing a tangible product. This form of gentle exercise has been found to reduce heart attacks and strokes by about 50%.

Mental health organizations have commented on the well-being effects of the Green Gym. They say that people have a natural biological attraction to nature, which is often referred to as biophilia. Connecting with the natural environment can have therapeutic benefits and can significantly lower stress levels. Not only that, it can improve physical health too.

Carbon-neutral gyms are also starting to appear around the world. Many of these have environmental policies that aim to reduce waste, increase recycling and encourage users to think about the effects of their workout on the environment. Some gyms are even levying a charge on users so that tree planting projects can be resourced. One gym is able to reclaim over 800 cubic metres of rainwater from the roof. This is enough to fill their 25metre swimming pool.

So, going to the gym on a regular basis can have a great effect on your health and body. But it comes at a cost. For the discerning environmentalist, using a gym may be an acceptable option, but it is always a good idea to check that the establishment has an environmental policy, with aims and objectives clearly stated.