SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Krishna: The end is already here. The numbers are decreasing - for both deaths and infections.

But if we are not careful, we might encounter the third wave soon.

We are sure about 'other waves'. They will definitely come. How many waves do we have to face? No one knows.

When? How? Why?

When: Very soon, we can't give a definite date or time.

How and Why?

That mostly depends on people's behaviour. And on the virus to some extent.

We have been asking people to do all the things mentioned in this post from day one. Very few people listened. So we had first and second waves. People still are not listening.

They keep asking us hundreds of strange questions about vaccines. Some people are still reluctant to get vaccinated.

Some people are reluctant to follow covid 'appropriate behaviour'.

Appropriate behaviour isn't just wearing masks in the right way and keeping a safe distance.

It also includes these things:

Maintain physical distance [at least 2 Gaj ki Doori (6 feet) ]

Wear reusable hand-made face-cover or mask, at all times

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth

Wash hands frequently and thoroughly

Maintain respiratory hygiene

Avoid unnecessary travel

Do not discriminate against anyone

Do not circulate social media posts which carry unverified or negative information

Discourage crowd - encourage Safety

Avoid attending functions, ceremonies, etc. where crowds gather. In case you attend them in unavoidable circumstances, make the stay very brief - less than five minutes - and don't talk or eat or drink anything there by removing your mask. Also don't take pictures by removing your mask.

Greet without physical contact

Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces

Do not spit in the open

Seek psychosocial support for any stress or anxiety

Seek information on COVID-19 from credible sources only

Call National Toll-free helpline 1075 or State helpline numbers for any queries

Stay outdoors as much as possible while shopping. Avoid closed spaces.

How many do you follow? We are sure, not all. If you think vaccination is a passport to freedom, you are wrong. Do you know you can still spread covid infection even if you get vaccinated?

And you can still get infected even if you are vaccinated?

And you can get re-infected even if you are infected once?

You can catch Delta passing someone in a hallway for just a few seconds. It is in the air you breathe.

The highly contagious Delta variant needs a booster dose. And who knows how many variants we still have to face?

When a virus is widely circulating in a population and causing many infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. The more opportunities a virus has to spread, the more it replicates – and the more opportunities it has to undergo changes.

It is so frustrating to see people behaving inappropriately and contributing to these waves.

It is a crime against humanity - giving opportunities to the virus to mutate easily, making people suffer, maiming and killing some of them, and damaging the economy.

Before disobeying scientists' suggestions, don't think about only yourself, think about the whole world.

Please follow all the guidelines mentioned above and co-operate with us.

Stop the waves from coming again and again.

If you don't, get prepared to face the consequences over and over again.

Ignore science and scientists at your own peril.

Q: Why does volcanic lightening occur?

Krishna: Volcanic lightening can form by silicate charging, which happens both when rocks break apart during an eruption and when rocks and other material flung from the volcano jostle each other in the turbulent plume . Tiny ash particles rub together, gaining and losing electrons, which creates positive and negative charges that tend to clump together in pockets of like charge. To neutralize this unstable electrical field, lightning zigzags between the charged clusters.

Experiments have shown that you can’t get lightning without some amount of ash in the system. So if you’re seeing volcanic lightning, you can be pretty confident in saying that the eruption has ash.

Vent discharges, on the other hand, are relatively newly detected bursts of electrical activity, which produce a continuous, high-frequency signal for seconds — an eternity compared with lightning. These discharges can be measured using specialized equipment.

An analysis of 97 explosions at Sakurajima from June 2015 is helping to show when eruptions produce visible lightning strokes versus when they produce the mysterious, unseen surges of electrical activity, researchers report in the June 16 Geophysical Research Letters.

These invisible bursts, called vent discharges, happen early in eruptions, which could allow scientists to figure out ways to use them to warn of impending explosions.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL092323

Q: I feel negative energy in my home.. how can I remove it?

Krishna: There is no negative energy.

It just is your imagination originated from a conditioned mind. Or it is a fear created by some vested interests.

Read this article to gain rationality: Science and the paranormal

Q: Why is covid causing death in vaccinated people?

Krishna: This is very rare but can happen.

No vaccine offers full protection to everyone who receives it.

There are several possible explanations for breakthrough infections. The human immune response is encoded in our DNA and varies from person to person. This variability helps us to respond to an array of germs. But the effectiveness of these responses is also variable. This could also be due to several things, including poor health, poor nutrition, medication or age.

The ageing immune system does not respond to new antigens (foreign substance that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against it) and vaccines as well as younger immune systems. For one COVID vaccine, there was a measurable difference in the concentration of neutralising antibodies in the elderly (those above 65years ) compared with younger adults. It was found some of the elderly people don’t develop neutralising antibodies at all after both doses of the vaccines.

Another reason for breakthrough infections is due to viral variants that escape immune detection and flourish even in vaccinated people. A virus, especially an “RNA virus” such as SARS-CoV-2, is expected to mutate and give rise to variants, some of which may be more easily transmitted ( like the Delta variant). These variants may also be more or less effectively neutralised by the immune system since the mutations could alter the parts of the virus that are recognised by antibodies and T cells.

If one (or both) of  doses  have been incorrectly stored, handled, or administered, compromises protection—all the more reason to keep wearing a mask. Some people are  particularly susceptible, either on account of health or genetics, in which case they likely would have died instead of having a severe case, had they not been vaccinated. Given a large enough pool of people, there will always be some who beat the odds, whether for good or ill.

Immunosuppressant drugs too suppress immunity and make vaccines redundant. 

If vaccines are not stored properly, they don’t work in the way they should.

And sometimes in some places fake vaccines are being given. Why would these fake vaccines work?

‘I’m terrified’: Victims describe horror of fake Indian vaccine sca...

Q: Why do we find fossils in amber? What is the speciality of amber?

Krishna: Amber is actually tree resin – certain trees exude sticky, antiseptic resin to protect their bark from bacteria and fungi. As it leaks out of the tree, the resin can also trap any  creature in its path, preventing decay with its antiseptic nature and a lack of water.

The resin hardens when some of its organic molecules bond together to create bigger ones. This hardened resin, what we call amber, can survive intact for hundreds of millions of years. And anything trapped in it also will be preserved for so many years.

image.png

Image source: google images

Fossilized Insects inside amber

Q: Who would we give to aliens if they demanded to see our finest human?

Krishna: A good scientist: because any alien who can come to Earth will have very good scientific knowledge and the alien would appreciate anyone who would have a similar mindset. Scientific knowledge is universal and doesn’t differ from star to star or planet to planet or galaxy to galaxy.

We should select somebody who the alien can feel comfortable to deal with.

Definitely not these people, because ….

A religious person: the alien might have a different religion or thinking and he might clash with our religious people if it cannot understand their unsubstantiated stories.

A politician: the alien might not feel comfortable about control freaks.

Actors: the alien might think the person is acting and not telling the truth.

Q: Good science requires not just a college degree but also the integrity and courage to resist inducements and withstand pressure. Explain?

Krishna: Right. We have a thing called pseudo-science. This thing is being developed and promoted by some people to authenticate their beliefs, values, culture and ideals.

Those that are in power in some countries are providing money to do research and certify their interests as genuine. Several pseudo-scientists are falling for this. These people in power are supressing genuine science. All the other areas which do genuine science and clash with their values are being neglected to a great extent.

As a result progress is taking backseat and backward thinking is taking the lead.

Several scientists are opposing this very openly and we have movements like

March for Science to promote only genuine science and to raise support for evidence-based policymaking, as well as support for government funding for scientific research, government transparency, and government acceptance of the scientific consensus on climate change and evolution.

The scientific community of India too is a part of this movement and it continues to press for the following demands (1):

  • Stop propagation of unscientific ideas, and develop scientific temper, human values and spirit of inquiry in conformity with Article 51A of the Constitution.
  • Allocate at least 10% of the Central Budget and 30% of the State budgets to Education
  • Ensure that at least 3% of the country’s GDP is used to support scientific and technological research.
  • Ensure that the education system does not impart ideas that are not based on or contradict scientific evidence.
  • Ensure that public policies are enacted based on scientific evidence.

Scientific method is the only way that can guarantee genuine science.

It is very important for any scientist to stand by the genuine scientific method and withstand the pressure from all quarters. Otherwise, what s/he would be following is pseudo-science and substandard stuff and not real science.

Footnotes:

  1. INDIA MARCH FOR SCIENCE

Q: Which country has best scientists?

Krishna: All scientists are good. You cannot grade scientists like that. Scientists are scientists everywhere.

However, funds give scientists equipment that can be used to do good work. So scientists in rich countries seem like much better ones. But that doesn’t mean scientists in less developed areas are not good.

This question doesn’t make sense to me or any other person of science.

Q: What are some of the most disturbing discoveries of the universe?

Krishna: That it really is not in the way it was described in holy books.

That it was based on strict scientific principles you cannot overlook.

That the principles it was based on don’t have place for artificially created boundaries or divisional lines.

That you cannot bend the universal scientific rules with magical mantras.

Donald Propp ( commented on this answer):

For me, one of the saddest things we have discovered is also one of the most awe inspiring: That the beautiful stars we see in the night sky are so far away that they will never be visited. There is so much beauty out there, so much to see and to know, that are forever out of our reach… And yet, for that reason, the beauty of the stars and galaxies we see will never be polluted or destroyed by humans.

My reply (Krishna) :Stars are really not what they look like. You can never go near any star. You cannot live on majority of exo-planets. They might look beautiful, but they are not so beautiful actually! :) So don’t worry.

Donald Propp: : -)

Q: A medico named Dr. E.... A.... has been presenting strong arguments against alternative medicine. What is your take on this?

Krishna:Leave names. They don’t matter. What are the names mentioned here?

Dr. E..... A......

‘Alternative’ medicine.

What matters is scientific method. And whether these names are sticking to it to project genuine science.

If they are, well, we should appreciate it. If they don’t, just dump them into thrash cans.

Use your critical thinking skills to find out whether what somebody is saying is an evidence based fact or not. Keep emotions away from science. Emotions never help you in analysing something correctly.

I know a person who studied Astrology but dumped his profession after reading my article ‘why astrology is pseudo-science’ . He is a critical thinking person who chose the right path based on evidence and facts. This position should be supported.

How many ‘alternative medicine practitioners’ can do that? Hardly any. Because, they choose earning money, hoodwinking people using science-sounding words, emotions, silencing their conscience instead of genuine science.

These positions don’t deserve our support.

Support right positions, not people or names.

Q: What is responsible for Earth's magnetic shield?

Krishna: Earth's magnetic shield originates deep within the planet's core. There, swirling liquid iron generates electric currents, driving a phenomenon called the geodynamo, which produces the shield. The magnetic shield is invisible, but researchers have long recognized that it is vital for life on Earth's surface because it protects our planet from solar wind—streams of radiation from the sun.

Q: Is it true that Swami Vivekananda read books through meditation? How is it possible scientifically?

Krishna : It is not possible, scientifically, if you have never read the books even once before.

But, I can tell you one thing from my experience. If you read a book with full concentration, you can see the content before your eyes whenever you try to recall it.

I used to read my text books with full concentration for the exams. In the examination hall, all that is there in the books appeared before my eyes as it 's and I could write everything like it appeared before my eyes. It's like copying from a textbook, with one or two differences. That is how I got all the top ranks in the university.

You have to read the book at least once for this to happen. It is impossible to read an unread book through meditation, concentration or whatever it is.

But believers like to tell stories that enhance the mystery and power of their gurus.

Views: 86

Replies to This Discussion

74

RSS

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service