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Aditya
to study solar corona Prof Yash
Pal This
Universe Trends Home genetic
engineering Sharks have wimpy
bites |
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Aditya to study solar corona On another front, Chandrayaan-1 mission has given a big boost to the plan of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to go in for exploring Mars, Venus and asteroid belt in the years ahead. Even as the scientific instruments onboard onboard Chanadrayaan-1 are busy mapping the lunar topography to identify mineral resources, including Helium-3 and water ice, ISRO has unveiled a plan to launch a solar research probe named Aditya. Aditya would be designed to study the outermost region of the sun called corona from where the solar winds originate. The behavioral dynamics of solar corona, whose temperature at times reaches up to 2 million degrees Centigrade, continue to pose a puzzle to researchers. According to G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, Aditya is a mini satellite whose design is just getting completed. In particular, Aditya will be used to study the effect of solar maximum due in 2012. The maximum is a period when the average sunspot number over 12 years reach their highest. The last solar maximum took place in 1989. Aditya is the first ever attempt by the Indian scientific community to unravel the mysteries associated with coronal mass ejection and the associated weather space processes. Moreover, the study of the solar wind set in motion by the massive heating up of gases in the coronal region provide an important information on the solar activity conditions. The solar winds made up of electrons and protons give rise to violent storms that have the potential to knock down power grids on earth. As such the solar coronal activities have a direct bearing on the life of the earthlings. An analysis of the data made available by Ulysses satellite probe reveals that right at the moment the solar wind is unusually weak. As it is, the charged particles in the solar wind also carry with them the sun’s magnetic field and this has protective role
in limiting the quantity of high energy cosmic rays that can enter the
solar system. In fact, these rays can damage the satellite electronics and the satellites launched during the hyperactive solar wind conditions need to be hardened against possible damage. Similarly, during the period, astronauts too are at risk from high doses of radiation. The American solar research satellite IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer Satellite) which was launched in October 2008 is designed to detect atoms that are heated up and thrown from the edge of heliosphere, a massive bubble formed by solar wind that shields the solar system from the dangerous cosmic rays. IBEX has been described as the first spacecraft meant to map the dynamics of the outer
solar system. “No one has seen an image of interaction at the edge of the solar system where the solar wind coalesces with interstellar space, ” says a researcher associated with IBEX project. The American solar research probe SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) launched in 1995 has helped unravel the nature of the process that heats up the outer atmosphere of the sun to millions of degrees of centigrade and propels the solar wind towards
the earth.
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This Universe Is it possible to use electromagnetic energy to send various solid objects from one place to another? If yes, then how? It is theoretically possible to send all the information about the object, including its structural details, using electromagnetic signals. Then the object could be reconstructed by the recipient, using local materials and some fantastic engineering. Transporting the material of the objects would be problematic. It certainly cannot travel at the velocity of the signal — speed of light. That can happen only in mythological television serials. Give me the reason why the images of earth, the moon, the sun and planets all seem to be in round shape. Are these all actually round or they only appear to be round in shape and not square or rectangular ? The simple answer to your question is that they are actually round. Not only that but they cannot be any other shape if they are big. I hope you agree with me that our earth is almost round. The highest mountain we have is only 10 km high while the earth diameter is nearly 13,000 km. You cannot make a mountain on earth rise to 50 km. It would sink into the ground. Roundness is a property that comes with size. This comes from the fact that gravity increases with mass. It can become so high that even rocks in the interior melt. Every particle on a large body wants to get as close to its centre as it can. The result is a sphere. If the heavenly body is small, say only a few km then it could have any shape. This is true of a large number of asteroids. In badminton game how does shuttle change its direction while going to the opponent. Please elucidate it with diagram (if possible) and also tell the component forces that act to change it’s direction. A shuttle is a heavy piece of cork wearing a skirt of feathers. When you hit the cork it starts travelling in the direction in which it is hit. The cork side stays ahead because the skirt is offered a strong resistance by the air. This is because the skirt is wide and has large area. The speed of the shuttle is not proportional to the force with which the cork is hit because the air resistance increases with speed and approaches a terminal value. There might be finer analysis based on change of air resistance with speed that make the game of badminton so interesting, but I am not equipped to explain this in detail. Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at palyash.pal@gmail.com
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Trends Carbon dioxide has been seen on a hot planet outside our solar system — another piece of evidence supporting the possibility that life could develop elsewhere, astronomers said on Tuesday. NASA said its Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of “hot Jupiter” planet HD 189733b, which orbits a nearby star 63 light-years from earth. The planet is itself too hot to support life — its surface is about 1,800 degrees F (1,000 degrees C).
— Reuters Home genetic engineering The Apple computer was invented in a garage. Same with the Google search engine. Now, tinkerers are working at home with the basic building blocks of life itself. Using homemade lab equipment and the wealth of scientific knowledge available online, these hobbyists are trying to create new life forms through genetic engineering — a field long dominated by Ph.D.s toiling in university and corporate laboratories. In her San Francisco dining room lab, for example, 31-year-old computer programmer Meredith L. Patterson is trying to develop genetically altered yogurt bacteria that will glow green to signal the presence of melamine, the chemical that turned Chinese-made baby formula and pet food deadly.
— AP
Sharks have wimpy bites “Pound for pound, sharks don’t bite all that hard,” Daniel Huber of the University of Tampa in Florida, who led the study, said in a telephone interview. Huber and colleagues had trouble collecting data for their study, “due to the experimental intractability of these animals,” they wrote dryly in their report, published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. “The vast majority of the data that went into this study was biomechanical models,” Huber said. They also measured the bites of small sharks such as sand sharks, and tested larger sharks by knocking them out and using electricity to stimulate the jaw muscles. Their conclusions? Sharks can do a lot of damage simply because their teeth are so sharp and their jaws are so wide.
— Reuters
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Their studies of shark jaws show that lions or tigers win hands down when it comes to jaw strength — but sharks prevail in the water because of their wide jaw size.