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: 6 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 6 hours ago. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Q: Why do people say you can't trust science because it changes, and how does that contrast with religious beliefs?Krishna: “Because it changes” - if you don’t understand why the changes occur, you…Continue
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Maternal gut microbiome composition may be linked to preterm birthsPeople associate several things regarding pregnancy to eclipses and other natural phenomenon. They also associate them with papaya…Continue
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Playwright Tom Stoppard, in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," provides one of the…Continue
Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa Sep 6. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Q: Why do some people find comfort in the idea of being "recycled" into nature rather than believing in an afterlife?Krishna: Because ‘"recycled" into nature’ is an evidence based fact and people…Continue
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Covid-19 pandemic could be stopped if at least 70% public wore face...
The Covid-19 pandemic could be stopped if at least 70 per cent of the public wore face masks consistently, according to research published in the journal Physics of Fluids. The study suggests that the type of material used and the duration of mask use play key roles in their effectiveness. While surgical masks were said to be more efficient, cloth masks could also slow transmission.
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Humans are polluting the environment with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and scientists are finding them everywhere
https://theconversation.com/humans-are-polluting-the-environment-wi...
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** Keyhole wasps may threaten aviation safety
Over a period of 39 months, invasive keyhole wasps (Pachodynerus nasidens) at the Brisbane Airport were responsible for 93 instances of fully blocked replica pitot probes—vital instruments that measure airspeed—according to a study published November 25 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alan House of Eco Logical Australia and colleagues. As noted by the authors, the results underscore the importance of risk-mitigating strategies, such as covering pitot probes when aircraft arrive and setting up additional traps to intercept the wasps.
Telomeres are specialized structures at the end of chromosomes which protect our DNA and ensure healthy division of cells. According to a new study from researchers at the Francis Crick Institute published in Nature, the mechanisms of telomere protection are surprisingly unique in stem cells.
For the last 20 years, researchers have been working to understand how telomeres protect chromosome ends from being incorrectly repaired and joined together because this has important implications for our understanding of cancer and aging.
In healthy cells, this protection is very efficient, but as we age our telomeres get progressively shorter, eventually becoming so short that they lose some of these protective functions. In healthy cells, this contributes to the progressive decline in our health and fitness as we age. Conversely, telomere shortening poses a protective barrier to tumor development, which cancer cells must solve in order to divide indefinitely.
In somatic cells, which are all the cells in the adult body except stem cells and gametes, we know that a protein called TRF2 helps to protect the telomere. It does this by binding to and stabilizing a loop structure, called a t-loop, which masks the end of the chromosome. When the TRF2 protein is removed, these loops do not form and the chromosome ends fuse together, leading to "spaghetti chromosomes" and killing the cell.
However, in this latest study, Crick researchers have found that when the TRF2 protein is removed from mouse embryonic stem cells, t-loops continue to form, chromosome ends remain protected and the cells are largely unaffected.
As embryonic stem cells differentiate into somatic cells, this unique mechanism of end protection is lost and both t-loops and chromosome end protection become reliant on TRF2. This suggests that somatic and stem cells protect their chromosome ends in fundamentally different ways.
Phil Ruis et al. TRF2-independent chromosome end protection during pluripotency, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2960-y
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-uncover-unique-stem-cells-chromosome....
The infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
Researchers have known for some time that the bacteria that causes TB (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) uses our body's cholesterol—a steroid—as a food source. Other relatives of the bacteria that do not cause disease share its ability to break down steroids. In this study scientists identified the structure of an enzyme (acyl CoA dehydrogenase) involved in steroid degradation in another member of the same bacteria family, called Thermomonospora curvata.
Determining the structure of enzymes that metabolize steroids moves scientists and pharmaceutical companies one step closer to creating drugs that can inhibit a similar enzyme found in M. tuberculosis, which would effectively starve TB of its food source.
Alexander J. Stirling et al. A Key Glycine in Bacterial Steroid-Degrading Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenases Allows Flavin-Ring Repositioning and Modulates Substrate Side Chain Specificity, Biochemistry (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.0c00568
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-potential-method-starve-ba...
Waste fishing gear in the River Ganges poses a threat to wildlife including otters, turtles and dolphins, new research shows.
The study says entanglement in fishing gear could harm species including the critically endangered three-striped roofed turtle and the endangered Ganges river dolphin.
Surveys along the length of the river, from the mouth in Bangladesh to the Himalayas in India, show levels of waste fishing gear are highest near to the sea.
Fishing nets—all made of plastic—were the most common type of gear found. local fishers revealed high rates of fishing equipment being discarded in the river—driven by short gear lifespans and lack of appropriate disposal systems.
"Ingesting plastic can harm wildlife, but our threat assessment focussed on entanglement, which is known to injure and kill a wide range of marine species."
The researchers used a list of 21 river species of "conservation concern" identified by the Wildlife Institute for India.
Sarah E. Nelms et al, Riverine plastic pollution from fisheries: Insights from the Ganges River system, Science of The Total Environment (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143305
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fishing-gear-threatens-ganges-wildlif...
Nanoparticles are promising drug delivery tools, offering the ability to administer drugs directly to a specific part of the body and avoid the awful side effects so often seen with chemotherapeutics.
But there's a problem. Nanoparticles struggle to get past the immune system's first line of defense: proteins in the blood serum that tag potential invaders. Because of this, only about 1 percent of nanoparticles reach their intended target.
A team of researchers have now developed an ionic forcefield that prevents proteins from binding to and tagging nanoparticles.
In mouse experiments, nanoparticles coated with the ionic liquid survived significantly longer in the body than uncoated particles and, surprisingly, 50 percent of the nanoparticles made it to the lungs. It's the first time that ionic liquids have been used to protect nanoparticles in the blood stream.
"The fact that this coating allows the nanoparticles to slip past serum proteins and hitch a ride on red blood cells is really quite amazing because once you are able to fight the immune system effectively, lots of opportunities open up.
"Protein-avoidant ionic liquid (PAIL)–coated nanoparticles to increase bloodstream circulation and drive biodistribution" Science Advances (2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abd7563
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-tunable-coating-hitch-hiking-nanopart...
Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly compact and flexible devices. This includes wearable or portable technology.
Researchers have recently devised a strategy that could enable the fabrication of portable, compact and flexible electrocaloric cooling devices. This strategy, outlined in a paper published in Nature Energy, is based on a four-layer cascade mechanism that enables a significant temperature lift in a user's surroundings.
This pocket cooling device designed is made of an electrocaloric polymer film. When voltage is applied to the polymer, the device heats up due to a significant entropy reduction. Conversely, when the voltage is removed, the device's temperature drops.
Yuan Meng et al. A cascade electrocaloric cooling device for large temperature lift, Nature Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00715-3
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-pocket-cooling-device-based-cas...
scientists have just detected a new extreme in hotspots of lightning activity called 'superbolts': intense lightning strikes that shine up to 1,000 times brighter than typical lightning strikes.
The observations come from researchers at the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, who used satellites to measure the extreme lightning events. The results force a rethink on what constitutes a superbolt, and shed new light on how and where superbolts originate. Unlike ground-based monitoring systems, which detect radio waves, the GLM measures the total brightness (optical energy) of lightning bolts within clouds, between clouds, plus lightning that strikes the ground.
There's also the question of whether superbolts are supercharged by some unique phenomenon, or if they're just bigger, brighter strikes of the usual lightening variety.
Understanding these extreme events is important because it tells us what lightning is capable of.
The researchers combed two years of data for lightning strikes that shone 100 times brighter than a typical bolt detected from space, and found about 2 million events intense enough to be called a superbolt – roughly one in every 300 lightning events. When the researchers raised the bar to lightning events at least 1,000 times brighter than an ordinary lightning strike, they identified key hotspots of energetic superbolt activity.
Scientists found one lightning stroke that exceeded 3 terawatts of power – thousands of times stronger than ordinary lightning detected from space.
The most powerful superbolts (producing more than 350 gigawatts of power) resulted from rare positively charged cloud-to-ground events, rather than negatively charged cloud-to-ground events, which characterises most lightning strikes.
The results also showed that superbolts often occur over the ocean and tend to spark from megaflashes, which stretch hundreds of miles horizontally from tip to tail.
Oceanic storm systems, particularly during the winter, and especially those located around Japan are shown to produce these intense superbolts.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JD033378
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JD033377
https://www.sciencealert.com/study-finds-superbolts-shine-1000-time...
Ten years' vaccine work achieved in about 10 months. Yet no corners cut in designing, testing and manufacturing.
In its bulk liquid form, whether in a bathtub or an ocean, water is a relatively benign substance with little chemical activity. But down at the scale of tiny droplets, water can turn surprisingly reactive, researchers have discovered.
In microdroplets of water, just millionths of a meter wide, a portion of the H2O molecules present can convert into a close chemical cousin, hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, a harsh chemical commonly used as a disinfectant and hair bleaching agent.
Stanford scientists first reported this unexpected behavior in forcibly sprayed microdroplets of water last year. Now in a new study, the research team has shown the same Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation happens when microdroplets simply condense from the air onto cold surfaces. The new results suggest that water's hydrogen peroxidetransformation is a general phenomenon, occurring in fogs, mists, raindrops and wherever else microdroplets form naturally.
The surprising discovery could lead to greener methods for disinfecting surfaces or promoting chemical reactions.
Jae Kyoo Lee et al. Condensing water vapor to droplets generates hydrogen peroxide, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020158117
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-microdroplets-hydrogen-per...
COVID-19: Air quality influences the pandemic
The correlation between the high concentration of fine particles and the severity of influenza waves is well known to epidemiologists. An interdisciplinary team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the ETH Zürich spin-off Meteodat investigated possible interactions between acutely elevated levels of fine particulate matter and the virulence of the coronavirus disease. Their results, published in the journal Earth Systems and Environment, suggest that high concentrations of particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size may modulate, or even amplify, the waves of SARS-CoV-2 contamination and explain in part the particular profile of the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in fine particles is generally favored by air temperature inversions, characterized by fog situations, or by Saharan dust intrusions. The study provides preventive measures related to air pollution to limit future outbreaks of morbidity and mortality due to the coronavirus.
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India's love affair with coal cools as pressure grows on sector
Funding for coal projects in India has plunged for the second straight year, new figures showed Tuesday, as the world's second biggest coal importer weans itself off the dirty fuel.
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