Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication
JAI VIGNAN
All about Science - to remove misconceptions and encourage scientific temper
Communicating science to the common people
'To make them see the world differently through the beautiful lense of science'
Members: 22
Latest Activity: 4 hours ago
WE LOVE SCIENCE HERE BECAUSE IT IS A MANY SPLENDOURED THING
THIS IS A WAR ZONE WHERE SCIENCE FIGHTS WITH NONSENSE AND WINS
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
"Being a scientist is a state of mind, not a profession!"
"Science, when it's done right, can yield amazing things".
The Reach of Scientific Research From Labs to Laymen
The aim of science is not only to open a door to infinite knowledge and wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error.
"Knowledge is a Superpower but the irony is you cannot get enough of it with ever increasing data base unless you try to keep up with it constantly and in the right way!" The best education comes from learning from people who know what they are exactly talking about.
Science is this glorious adventure into the unknown, the opportunity to discover things that nobody knew before. And that’s just an experience that’s not to be missed. But it’s also a motivated effort to try to help humankind. And maybe that’s just by increasing human knowledge—because that’s a way to make us a nobler species.
If you are scientifically literate the world looks very different to you.
We do science and science communication not because they are easy but because they are difficult!
“Science is not a subject you studied in school. It’s life. We 're brought into existence by it!"
Links to some important articles :
1. Interactive science series...
a. how-to-do-research-and-write-research-papers-part 13
b. Some Qs people asked me on science and my replies to them...
Part 6, part-10, part-11, part-12, part 14 , part- 8,
part- 1, part-2, part-4, part-5, part-16, part-17, part-18 , part-19 , part-20
part-21 , part-22, part-23, part-24, part-25, part-26, part-27 , part-28
part-29, part-30, part-31, part-32, part-33, part-34, part-35, part-36, part-37,
part-38, part-40, part-41, part-42, part-43, part-44, part-45, part-46, part-47
Part 48, part49, Critical thinking -part 50 , part -51, part-52, part-53
part-54, part-55, part-57, part-58, part-59, part-60, part-61, part-62, part-63
part 64, part-65, part-66, part-67, part-68, part 69, part-70 part-71, part-73 ...
.......306
BP variations during pregnancy part-72
who is responsible for the gender of their children - a man or a woman -part-56
c. some-questions-people-asked-me-on-science-based-on-my-art-and-poems -part-7
d. science-s-rules-are-unyielding-they-will-not-be-bent-for-anybody-part-3-
e. debate-between-scientists-and-people-who-practice-and-propagate-pseudo-science - part -9
f. why astrology is pseudo-science part 15
g. How Science is demolishing patriarchal ideas - part-39
2. in-defence-of-mangalyaan-why-even-developing-countries-like-india need space research programmes
3. Science communication series:
a. science-communication - part 1
b. how-scienitsts-should-communicate-with-laymen - part 2
c. main-challenges-of-science-communication-and-how-to-overcome-them - part 3
d. the-importance-of-science-communication-through-art- part 4
e. why-science-communication-is-geting worse - part 5
f. why-science-journalism-is-not-taken-seriously-in-this-part-of-the-world - part 6
g. blogs-the-best-bet-to-communicate-science-by-scientists- part 7
h. why-it-is-difficult-for-scientists-to-debate-controversial-issues - part 8
i. science-writers-and-communicators-where-are-you - part 9
j. shooting-the-messengers-for-a-different-reason-for-conveying-the- part 10
k. why-is-science-journalism-different-from-other-forms-of-journalism - part 11
l. golden-rules-of-science-communication- Part 12
m. science-writers-should-develop-a-broader-view-to-put-things-in-th - part 13
n. an-informed-patient-is-the-most-cooperative-one -part 14
o. the-risks-scientists-will-have-to-face-while-communicating-science - part 15
p. the-most-difficult-part-of-science-communication - part 16
q. clarity-on-who-you-are-writing-for-is-important-before-sitting-to write a science story - part 17
r. science-communicators-get-thick-skinned-to-communicate-science-without-any-bias - part 18
s. is-post-truth-another-name-for-science-communication-failure?
t. why-is-it-difficult-for-scientists-to-have-high-eqs
u. art-and-literature-as-effective-aids-in-science-communication-and teaching
v.* some-qs-people-asked-me-on-science communication-and-my-replies-to-them
** qs-people-asked-me-on-science-and-my-replies-to-them-part-173
w. why-motivated-perception-influences-your-understanding-of-science
x. science-communication-in-uncertain-times
y. sci-com: why-keep-a-dog-and-bark-yourself
z. How to deal with sci com dilemmas?
A+. sci-com-what-makes-a-story-news-worthy-in-science
B+. is-a-perfect-language-important-in-writing-science-stories
C+. sci-com-how-much-entertainment-is-too-much-while-communicating-sc
D+. sci-com-why-can-t-everybody-understand-science-in-the-same-way
E+. how-to-successfully-negotiate-the-science-communication-maze
4. Health related topics:
a. why-antibiotic-resistance-is-increasing-and-how-scientists-are-tr
b. what-might-happen-when-you-take-lots-of-medicines
c. know-your-cesarean-facts-ladies
d. right-facts-about-menstruation
e. answer-to-the-question-why-on-big-c
f. how-scientists-are-identifying-new-preventive-measures-and-cures-
g. what-if-little-creatures-high-jack-your-brain-and-try-to-control-
h. who-knows-better?
k. can-rust-from-old-drinking-water-pipes-cause-health-problems
l. pvc-and-cpvc-pipes-should-not-be-used-for-drinking-water-supply
m. melioidosis
o. desensitization-and-transplant-success-story
p. do-you-think-the-medicines-you-are-taking-are-perfectly-alright-then revisit your position!
q. swine-flu-the-difficlulties-we-still-face-while-tackling-the-outb
r. dump-this-useless-information-into-a-garbage-bin-if-you-really-care about evidence based medicine
s. don-t-ignore-these-head-injuries
u. allergic- agony-caused-by-caterpillars-and-moths
General science:
a.why-do-water-bodies-suddenly-change-colour
b. don-t-knock-down-your-own-life-line
c. the-most-menacing-animal-in-the-world
d. how-exo-planets-are-detected
e. the-importance-of-earth-s-magnetic-field
f. saving-tigers-from-extinction-is-still-a-travail
g. the-importance-of-snakes-in-our-eco-systems
h. understanding-reverse-osmosis
i. the-importance-of-microbiomes
j. crispr-cas9-gene-editing-technique-a-boon-to-fixing-defective-gen
k. biomimicry-a-solution-to-some-of-our-problems
5. the-dilemmas-scientists-face
6. why-we-get-contradictory-reports-in-science
7. be-alert-pseudo-science-and-anti-science-are-on-prowl
8. science-will-answer-your-questions-and-solve-your-problems
9. how-science-debunks-baseless-beliefs
10. climate-science-and-its-relevance
11. the-road-to-a-healthy-life
12. relative-truth-about-gm-crops-and-foods
13. intuition-based-work-is-bad-science
14. how-science-explains-near-death-experiences
15. just-studies-are-different-from-thorough-scientific-research
16. lab-scientists-versus-internet-scientists
17. can-you-challenge-science?
18. the-myth-of-ritual-working
19.science-and-superstitions-how-rational-thinking-can-make-you-work-better
20. comets-are-not-harmful-or-bad-omens-so-enjoy-the-clestial-shows
21. explanation-of-mysterious-lights-during-earthquakes
22. science-can-tell-what-constitutes-the-beauty-of-a-rose
23. what-lessons-can-science-learn-from-tragedies-like-these
24. the-specific-traits-of-a-scientific-mind
25. science-and-the-paranormal
26. are-these-inventions-and-discoveries-really-accidental-and-intuitive like the journalists say?
27. how-the-brain-of-a-polymath-copes-with-all-the-things-it-does
28. how-to-make-scientific-research-in-india-a-success-story
29. getting-rid-of-plastic-the-natural-way
30. why-some-interesting-things-happen-in-nature
31. real-life-stories-that-proves-how-science-helps-you
32. Science and trust series:
a. how-to-trust-science-stories-a-guide-for-common-man
b. trust-in-science-what-makes-people-waver
c. standing-up-for-science-showing-reasons-why-science-should-be-trusted
You will find the entire list of discussions here: http://kkartlab.in/group/some-science/forum
( Please go through the comments section below to find scientific research reports posted on a daily basis and watch videos based on science)
Get interactive...
Please contact us if you want us to add any information or scientific explanation on any topic that interests you. We will try our level best to give you the right information.
Our mail ID: kkartlabin@gmail.com
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 5 hours ago. 1 Reply 0 Likes
The problem is simple: it's hard to know whether a photo's real or not anymore. Photo manipulation tools are so good, so common and easy to use, that a picture's truthfulness is no longer…Continue
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Headlines in the media screaming: Humans dump 8 million tonnes of plastics into the oceans each year. That's five grocery bags of plastic for every foot of coastline in the world.Plastic, plastic,…Continue
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday. 1 Reply 0 Likes
As we age, it's common to notice posture changes: shoulders rounding, head leaning forward, back starting to curve. You might associate this with older adults and wonder: will this happen to me? Can…Continue
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday. 1 Reply 0 Likes
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Researchers have found that plant leaves can directly absorb microplastics (MPs) from the atmosphere, leading to a widespread presence of plastic polymers in vegetation. Concentrations of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) were detected in leaves collected from multiple environments, including urban areas and agricultural sites. The study is published in the journal Nature.
Researchers performed field investigations and laboratory simulation experiments to quantify plastic accumulation in plant leaves. Leaf absorption was confirmed as a significant pathway for plastic accumulation in plants, with evidence of translocation into vascular tissue and retention in specialized structures like trichomes.
MPs have been detected throughout terrestrial environments, including soil, water, and air. Laboratory studies have shown that plant roots can absorb MPs, with submicrometer and nanometer-sized particles of PS and polymethylmethacrylate transported upward from the roots of Triticum aestivum, Lactuca sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana. Root uptake through the apoplastic pathway has been observed, yet translocation to shoots occurs slowly.
Airborne MPs have been measured at concentrations between 0.4 and 2,502 items per cubic meter in urban settings such as Paris, Shanghai, Southern California, and London. Laboratory experiments demonstrated the foliar absorption of nanoparticles including Ag, CuO, TiO2, and CeO2.
Plastic particles have been shown to deposit on plant surfaces, and some studies reported internal accumulation following exposure to high levels of commercial PS models.
At the most polluted sites, concentrations of PET reached tens of thousands of nanograms per gram of dry leaf weight. PS levels followed a similar pattern, with the highest values detected in leaves from the landfill site.
PET and PS were also found in nine leafy vegetables, with open-air crops exhibiting higher levels than greenhouse-grown counterparts. Nano-sized PET and PS were visually confirmed in plant tissue.
Older leaves and outer leaves of vegetables accumulated more plastic than newly grown or inner leaves, suggesting an accumulation over time.
Laboratory exposure of maize to plastic-laden dust resulted in measurable PET absorption in leaf tissue after just one day. PET was not detected in roots or stems under similar root-exposure conditions. Fluorescent and europium-labeled particles enabled visualization of stomatal entry and subsequent migration through the apoplastic pathway.
Part 1
In a recently published article in the journal Nature Communications, researchers present results indicating that repeated treatment with piperaquine, an antimalarial drug, can lead to the parasites developing decreased sensitivity to this drug. These findings may impact the use of piperaquine in the future.
Piperaquine is an important antimalarial drug characterized by a long half-life, meaning it remains in the body for several weeks and protects against new infections. This is a key asset of this drug. However, the researchers behind the study have discovered that this advantage can disappear with repeated treatment in areas with high malaria transmission.
The study shows that repeated treatment with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine can lead to parasites developing drug tolerance by duplicating the plasmepsin 3 (pm3) gene. This allows them to reinfect patients earlier than expected during the expected protective period, reducing piperaquine's effectiveness as a prophylactic medicine.
Leyre Pernaute-Lau et al, Decreased dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine protection against recurrent malaria associated with Plasmodium falciparum plasmepsin 3 copy number variation in Africa, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57726-5
Current methods of contraception rely on hormones, which can cause side effects such as mood changes, headaches or increased risk of blood clots. Blocking fertilization on the surface of the egg has been proposed as an alternative, but antibodies were deemed unsuitable due to possible immune responses triggered by their Fc region.
A new study shows how a small antibody fragment can block fertilization by targeting a key protein on the surface of the egg. This discovery brings a nonhormonal contraceptive one step closer to reality. The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the study, the researchers describe how a modified antibody fragment can block fertilization by targeting the protein ZP2 on the surface of the egg.
This small antibody fragment can block fertilization by targeting ZP2, a key protein in the outer layer of the egg that is involved in both sperm binding and blocking polyspermy.
The researchers have used X-ray crystallography to map the interaction between the antibody IE-3, which is known to prevent fertilization in mice, and ZP2 at the atomic level. A modified, smaller version of the antibody (scFV) was found to be equally effective, blocking fertilization in 100% of IVF tests with mouse eggs. Because it lacks the immune-triggering Fc region of the full antibody, scFV minimizes potential side effects.
Elisa Dioguardi et al, Structural basis of ZP2-targeted female nonhormonal contraception, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2426057122
CT can save lives, but its potential harms are often overlooked. CTs expose patients to ionizing radiation—a carcinogen—and it's long been known that the technology carries a higher risk of cancer.
Radiation from CT scans may account for 5% of all cancers annually, according to a new study that cautions against overusing and overdosing CTs.
The danger is greatest for infants, followed by children and adolescents. But adults are also at risk, since they are the most likely to get scans.
Nearly 103,000 cancers are predicted to result from the 93 million CTs that were performed in 2023 alone. This is three to four times more than previous assessments, the researchers say.
The researchers said some CT scans are unlikely to help patients and are overused, such as those for upper respiratory infections or for headaches without concerning signs or symptoms. They said patients could lower their risk by getting fewer of these scans, or by getting lower-dose scans.
There is currently unacceptable variation in the doses used for CT, with some patients receiving excessive doses.
JAMA Internal Medicine (2025). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai … ainternmed.2025.0505
The drugs we take, from anxiety medications to antibiotics, don't simply vanish after leaving our bodies. Many are not fully removed by wastewater treatment systems and end up in rivers, lakes, and streams, where they can linger and affect wildlife in unexpected ways.
The new findings suggest that even tiny traces of drugs in the environment can alter animal behavior in ways that may shape their survival and success in the wild.
A recent global survey of the world's rivers found drugs were contaminating waterways on every continent—even Antarctica. These substances enter aquatic ecosystems not only through our everyday use, as active compounds pass through our bodies and into sewage systems, but also due to improper disposal and industrial effluents.
To date, almost 1,000 different active pharmaceutical substances have been detected in environments worldwide.
Particularly worrying is the fact that the biological targets of many of these drugs, such as receptors in the human brain, are also present in a wide variety of other species. That means animals in the wild can also be affected.
In fact, research over the last several decades has demonstrated that pharmaceutical pollutants can disrupt a wide range of traits in animals, including their physiology, development, and reproduction.
Industrial farming practices often deplete the soil of important nutrients and minerals, leaving farmers to rely on artificial fertilizers to support plant growth. In fact, fertilizer use has more than quadrupled since the 1960s, but this comes with serious consequences. Fertilizer production consumes massive amounts of energy, and its use pollutes the water, air, and land.
Plant biologists are now proposing a new solution to help kick this unsustainable fertilizer habit.
In a new study, the researchers identified a key molecule produced by plant roots, a small peptide called CLE16, that encourages plants and beneficial soil fungi to interact with each other. They say boosting this symbiotic relationship, in which the fungi provide mineral nutrients to the plants through CLE16 supplementation, could be a more natural and sustainable way to encourage crop growth without the use of harmful artificial fertilizers.
The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
By restoring the natural symbiosis between plant roots and fungi, we could help crops get the nutrients they need without the use of harmful fertilizers.
In this mutually beneficial relationship, soil-borne arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi supply plants with water and phosphorus, which the plants accept in exchange for carbon molecules. These exchanges occur by specialized symbiotic fungal tendrils, called arbuscules, burying themselves into plant root cells.
Around 80% of plants can trade resources with fungi in this way. However, the traits that support this symbiosis have been weakened over centuries of agricultural plant breeding that prioritized creating crops with the biggest yields.
Scientists say new crop varieties could be bred to strengthen these traits again—an opportunity they intend to explore through the Institute's Harnessing Plants Initiative.
Müller, Lena Maria, A plant CLE peptide and its fungal mimic promote arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis via CRN-mediated ROS suppression, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2422215122
Astronomers tallying up all the normal matter—stars, galaxies and gas—in the universe today have come up embarrassingly short of the total matter produced in the Big Bang 13.6 billion years ago. In fact, more than half of normal matter—half of the 15% of the universe's matter that is not dark matter—cannot be accounted for in the glowing stars and gas we see.
New measurements, however, seem to have found this missing matter in the form of very diffuse and invisible ionized hydrogen gas, which forms a halo around galaxies and is more puffed out and extensive than astronomers thought.
The findings not only relieve a conflict between astronomical observations and the best, proven model of the evolution of the universe since the Big Bang, they also suggest that the massive black holes at the centers of galaxies are more active than previously thought, fountaining gas much farther from the galactic center than expected—about five times farther, the team found.
The new measurements are certainly consistent with finding all of the gas.
The results of the study, co-authored by 75 scientists from institutions around the world, have been presented at recent scientific meetings, posted as a preprint on arXiv and are undergoing peer review at the journal Physical Review Letters.
While the still mysterious dark matter makes up the bulk—about 84%—of matter in the universe, the remainder is normal matter. Only about 7% of normal matter is in the form of stars, while the rest is in the form of invisible hydrogen gas—most of it ionized—in galaxies and the filaments that connect galaxies in a kind of cosmic network.
The ionized gas and associated electrons strung out in this filament network are referred to as the warm-hot intergalactic medium, which is too cold and too diffuse to be seen with the usual techniques at astronomers' disposal, and therefore has remained elusive until now.
In the new paper, the researchers estimated the distribution of ionized hydrogen around galaxies by stacking images of approximately 7 million galaxies—all within about 8 billion light-years of Earth—and measuring the slight dimming or brightening of the cosmic microwave background caused by a scattering of the radiation by electrons in the ionized gas, the so-called kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.
B. Hadzhiyska et al, Evidence for large baryonic feedback at low and intermediate redshifts from kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations with ACT and DESI photometric galaxies, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2407.07152
An international team of researchers may have answered one of space science's long-running questions—and it could change our understanding of how life began. Carbon-rich asteroids are abundant in space yet make up less than 5% of meteorites found on Earth.
Published in Nature Astronomy, researchers analyzed close to 8,500 meteoroids and meteorite impacts, using data from 19 fireball observation networks across 39 countries—making it the most comprehensive study of its kind. The paper is titled "Perihelion history and atmospheric survival as primary drivers of Earth's meteorite record."
The team discovered Earth's atmosphere and the sun act like giant filters, destroying fragile, carbon-rich (carbonaceous) meteoroids before they reach the ground.
Scientists have long suspected that weak, carbonaceous material doesn't survive atmospheric entry. What this research shows is many of these meteoroids don't even make it that far: they break apart from being heated repeatedly as they pass close to the sun. The ones that do survive getting cooked in space are more likely to also make it through Earth's atmosphere.
The study also found meteoroids created by tidal disruptions—when asteroids break apart from close encounters with planets—are especially fragile and almost never survive atmospheric entry.
Carbonaceous meteorites are particularly important because they contain water and organic molecules—key ingredients linked to the origin of life on Earth. Carbon-rich meteorites are some of the most chemically primitive materials we can study—they contain water, organic molecules and even amino acids.
However, scientists have so few of them in their meteorite collections that they risk having an incomplete picture of what's actually out there in space and how the building blocks of life arrived on Earth.
Understanding what gets filtered out and why is key to reconstructing our solar system's history and the conditions that made life possible.
Patrick M. Shober et al, Perihelion history and atmospheric survival as primary drivers of the Earth's meteorite record, Nature Astronomy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02526-6
Besides harming health, high levels of surface ozone reduce photosynthesis by damaging photosystems, CO2 fixation and pigments. This leads to a reduction in carbon assimilation that results in the decline of crop yields.
According to the ozone study, India's rice yield loss due to ozone pollution rose from 7.39 million tons to 11.46 million tons between 2005 and 2020, costing around US$2.92 billion and impacting food security.
Even if precursor emissions remain at the current level, climate change alone could contribute to the increase in surface ozone in the highly polluted regions of South Asia by 2050 with the Indo-Gangetic Plains, one of the most fertile regions in the region, likely to face significant crop yield losses.
Much of the surface ozone generated is taken care of by nature, such as the monsoon rains. Dealing with the reported increase in ozone levels is best done by reducing the precursors—nitrogen oxides, methane and PM2.5.
G.S. Gopikrishnan et al, Exposure to surface ozone and its associated health effects and economic burden in India, Global Transitions (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.glt.2025.03.002
Footnotes:
1. Estimating the effect of annual PM2-5 exposure on mortality in India: a difference-in-differences approach, The Lancet Planetary Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00248-1. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan … (24)00248-1/fulltext
Part 2
India's cities are already ranked among the world's most polluted, based on concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air. Now new research indicates they are battling rising levels of another life-threatening pollutant—surface ozone.
A study published in the journal Global Transitions says deaths from ozone in India exceeded 50,000 in 2022 and caused losses of around US$16.8 billion—about 1.5 times the government's total health spending that year.
Surface ozone is a toxic gas that not only affects public health but also impacts ecosystems and climate due to the greenhouse effect.
Ozone, a variant of oxygen, occurs at ground level as well as in the upper atmosphere. Formed naturally, the ozone in the stratosphere helps filter out harmful ultraviolet rays that are a part of the sun's radiation. However, surface ozone, also called ground-level ozone, is generated by interactions between pollutants. For example, nitrogen oxides found in vehicular exhaust can react with volatile organic compounds released by industrial activity and waste dumps to produce ozone. Surface ozone is the primary component of smog and can have negative effects on human health and the environment.
Short-term exposure to ozone increases the risk of death from heart disease, stroke, hypertension and respiratory issues, while long-term exposure may decrease lung capacity, induce oxidative stress, suppress immune response and cause lung inflammation.
Climate change, rising temperatures and altered weather patterns can raise surface ozone in a phenomenon described by experts as the "ozone-climate penalty". Factors that affect ozone generation include solar radiation, humidity, precipitation and the presence of precursors—substances that lead to the formation of a pollutant through a chemical reaction—such as methane, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
Ozone pollution increases during the hot summer months and declines during the monsoon period from June to September as heavy rains wash out the pollutants, and reduced solar radiation limits photochemical reactions.
Critically, human exposure to fine particulate matter—known as PM2.5—may worsen the health effects of ozone.
PM2.5 refers to particles smaller than 2.5 microns, which can enter the bloodstream through the lungs.
According to the 2024 World Air Quality Report, 11 of the world's 20 cities carrying the highest burden of PM2.5 are in India.
A study (1) published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that the whole of the population of India lives in areas where PM2.5 levels exceed WHO guidelines.
Part 1
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