Where are we heading to ?

The Moon Impact Probe on the Chandrayaan did certainly make an impact in the minds of all Indians. That's evident from the Editorials in various newspapers appeared yesterday.
















But I am stuck at a point .
Till last day, we all were looking at the moon. Yesterday we could throw a stone (mip) at it.
Today, we all look at the stars. When are going to throw a stone at them ?
While appreciating the herculian efforts (of every kind of resource) from ISRO, I am thrilled at what the NASA is doing.
NASA has been looking at (not alone the moon and the stars !) the Universe, and they were throwing stones on many planets and stars ( and danced on the Moon). Now they are looking further ahead. They are searching for newer stars, beyond the solar system, to throw at . I wish them ALL SUCCESS.




















.

Chandrayaan, MIP, and Moon

Today, all the media celebrates the BIG NEWS. The news about Chandrayaan, MIP and the Moon. Yesterday ( Children's day ! Diabetes day ! ! ) at 8.31 PM, the MIP was dropped on to the Moon, from the Chandrayaan. According to ISRO, everything is successful... , justifying the popular ISRO terminology - "text book flight".
But, what interests me most today, is the media coverage of this historic moment. I had a quick look into some of the newspapers. All of them (except Business Line, from the Hindu Group) had the lead title about Chandrayan and MIP.
Let me just reproduce some of the newspapers, just to show how they put the historical moment and great achievement for India.

I have reproductions from The Hindu, Indian Express, Malayala Manorama, and Mathrubhoomi. Please have a look.






Indian Express : Tri-Color on Moon














Malayala Manorama : "Grahapravesham'
[ entry to planet }














Mathrubhoomi : Tri-colour on Moon














The Hindu : India leaves its footprint on Moon.











As I hinted above, 'Business Line' (a business news paper, from Hindu group ) did not even make a mention of this great achievement. ( I spent a lot of time, searching for atleast a one-line mention in the remotest corner of the paper. I am disappointed. May be that BusineesLine could not see any business in Chandrayaan, MIP or the Moon !! ).


I shall put my researched glimpses of the initial Moon missions, with reference to ST(2001), in a couple of days , here.

Chandrayaan

Right now, we are on our journey to the Moon. Moon is just going to be a stopover for our journey. Our destination is far ahead away. Chandrayaan is but the beginning.




















Indian Chandrayaan is just above the Moon, circling him (her?). It's about to drop a packet (MIP) on to the moon. For us, this is certainly a proud milestone.
When we are with the Chandrayaan and MIP, the Americans are further ahead with their journey to the Mars, Sun, and further ahead. Today's news is that NASA has just ended the current mission to the Mars, with its Mars lander losing contacts with the ground.

"Science Today" magazine, right from its inception, have been giving extensive coverage of the Space Missions. Many articles, covering the science and technologies of Moon expedition have been published . These articles are really great, and are quite useful to all strata of people, the young and the old.
Tomorrow, the Moon Impact Probe would be dropped on to the Moon, from Chandrayaan. Let's wish ISRO all success ... for the coming Projects too.

... more on the Moon missions , wrt ST will follow.

Satellite launching : Private operators

And now private companies launching Rockets and Launch Vehicles !

Space Exploration Technologies, USA (SpaceX ) is now the first private company in the world to attempt launching rockets and satellite launch vehicles. They are successful in (their fourth attempt) launching a vehicle (Falcon 1 ) placing satellites in the orbit.
SpaceX is planning larger vehicles, capable of providing cargo services to the International Space Station ( I S S ), for NASA.

.

NASA is 50 years

NASA is 50 years.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the American agency involved in Space research and activities, and the pioneer in the field of Aeronautics, is 50 years now. NASA was established in 1958, by the then US President Eisenhower. Later President John F Kennedy gave a thrust to NASA activities. It was in his time that NASA achieved the unique and first moon mission. US Astronauts walked on the moon – “a giant leap for the mankind” – on 20 July, 1969.

On this October 1, USA and NASA are celebrating its 50 th birthday . Let us wish NASA “ a happy birth day”, and congratulate NASA on this “50 years of innovation, inspiration, and discovery”.

NASA excels in their missions and visions.

.

Duo, Quad, Hexa. Octa ?

Duo, Quad, and now Hexa. Not Octa ?

Computers are a game of 2. After DUO and QUAD, I thought the OCTA would come ! Then, how come HEXA ?

I had this doubt last day, when I read the news that Intel just designed their six-in-one processor. The report says, the world’s first 6-in-1 processor has been completely designed and developed in India. Intel’s Bangalore centre had designed the latest in their Xeon series. Xeon 7400 has 1.9 billion transistors in it, and drives SIX separate cores. This would be used in high-end, server type computers.

Intel, can I expect Octa shortly ? Or is it HexDesi ? What’s next in your journey to TERA cores ?

.

Wire-free Power Transmission

A great technology, indeed ! Wire-free or Cord-less power transmission !
Intel, the microprocessor giant, is now working on a new technology for wire-free power transmission. The technology, called "Wireless Resonant Energy Link (WREL)" would enable transmission of power without cords (wires). The devices ( Mobiles, Laptops, Players, Robots, ...) using the power can be in the vicinity of the power transmitter.
Intel could achieve 75% efficiency in transmitting the power over a range of 2 metres. The system has varied applications and hence have utmost futuristic value.

Think of powerful robotic soldiers .. with no batteries inside.. yeah, that's a reality now. May be.. Intel would call the technology "No batteries inside' , like "Intel inside".

.

In search of GOD

In search of God

I have here, excerpts of the highlights of a Press Report on CERN’s Particle Collider Tests.

“

The biggest Physics experiment in the history.

World’s largest particle collider (Large Haldron Collider) ; Tests with two beams of Proton fired in opposite directions at close to the speed of light.

Proton beams fired through a 27 Km long underground ring.

Aims to recreate conditions a split second after the Big bang ( the massive explosion that created the universe).

The purpose of all these tests is to understand the makeup of the Universe.

Could reveal more about “dark matter”, anti-matter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time.

Could find evidence of the hypothetical particle – the Higgs boson – called “God particle”.

The God particle gives mass to all other particles , and thus to matter that makes up the universe.

AND

It is feared that the collision of protons could eventually imperil the earth by creating micro-black holes, sub atomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.

“

Feels 'dark' about the whole thing ? Yes, it might, if you are not a physicist !

Microchips and Bluetooth

Bluetooth is 10 and Microchip is 50.

Tenth birthday of Bluetooth is being celebrated. Bluetooth, as you may know, is the short range wireless system used with Mobile phones, music players (iPod and clones) , PC peripherals like printers, and so on. Other competing technologies are WiMax and WiFi are more in demand now, for their speeds. However, the original short range technology is becoming more popular.
The Swedish firm Ericsson developed this technology in 1998, in collaboration with five other technology companies. The name of the technology was borrowed from the Danish King “Herald Bluetooth” ( who united Scandinavia in the 10th Century.).
Bluetooth, will certainly grow more in the days to come. Presence of other technologies are not a deterrent.

Microchips OR Integrated Circuits is the most revolutionary invention and development, after the invention of Transistors in the late 1950s. The first microchip was created by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, on Sept 12, 1958. It had a germanium transistor and some other components, glued on to a piece of glass, as a single unit. This ‘silly’ device revolutionalised the whole electronics technology and business.
Today, the chips integrate millions of transistors and components into a thin piece of silicon. This technology find its place in almost all our modern gadgets. Be it personal life, industry, or anything, ICs have a major role in it.

Sports Medicine

Science Today had dealt Sports Medicine, in detail, at many occassions.  The above picture is the cover of an issue of Science Today. I find it  very interesting, and so decided to share with you. Please see.

Fractals in Nature

Hi all,

After a long break ... 

Now I have a bit about Fractals in nature. The 'ScienceToday' magazine had published articles on this subject.  Last day, when I saw the leaves of a Papaya tree, I was thrilled to note the fractal design. Here are those photographs, supplemented with a few more from the Web.

A quote from Wikipaedia : "Approximate fractals are easily found in nature. These objects display self-similar structure over an extended, but finite, scale range. Examples include clouds, snow flakes, crystals, mountain ranges, lightning, river networks, cauliflower or broccoli, and systems of blood vessels and pulmonary vessels. Coastlines may be loosely considered fractal in nature.
 Trees and ferns are fractal in nature. A branch from a tree or a frond from a fern is a miniature replica of the whole: not identical, but similar in nature."

See two pages (first two pics) of an article by K N Malathi, appeared in ST.

What is Logic ?

What's logic ?  Here is the answer. Please see the picture.

India in Space, SLV-3

India zooms into space.
This is an extremely important news for all of us. That’s why Dr. V R Gowariker, Director, VSSC wrote in Science Today ( 1980 August ).

From almost toy rocketry (1969) to Satellite launching (July 18, 1980 ) took just about 10 years.
With reference to the SLV-3 launching ( on 18 July, 1980), he wrote :

“ Experience gained from SLV-3 has given us confidence that we will be able to build launch vehicles of 300 to 400 ton class , using both solid and liquid systems. We have probably all the rudiments to build such vehicles in this decade itself. “

Fourth Pay Commission

Fourth Pay Commission.

DRDO’s woes; Brain going down the drain !

Here is a quote from a letter from Sri. SK Sharma, President, Defence Scientists Association , New Delhi, published in the feedback columns of Science Today, December 1986.

""
The fourth pay commission has surprisingly made practically every category of employees unhappy as evident from the Press reports. The worse affected and discriminated are Scientists working in the Government sector. ……………….. …………………………… The Scientists might come to a sad conclusion that hey have little future in this country. The Government is worried about “brain drain” while Scientists working in India are also worried about “brain going down the drain”.

""


Have the situation changed now ? Will some Scientist answer to this ??

Articles on SEX

Science Today : Articles on SEX.
As promised, I had a quick survey on articles published in ST on SEX.
Here is a summary report .

May 1969 Chromosomes and Sex
Sept 1970 Sex control – use of a chemical
March 1971 Sex drugs and ethics (UNESCO Reprint)
June 1971 Boy or Girl – Sex determination
August 1972 Sex tests – Olympics
October 1972 Sex chromosome disorders
Nov 1972 The shadow people – The problems of not-so-normal sex. Intersexuality, Homosexuality, Hijras, etc..
Nov 1972 Changing sexes (in fishes)
May 1973 How sex hormones activate target cells

August 1973 Role of male hormones in females

March 1974 Choice of offsprings- male babies when you want them
Jan 1974 Crimes- Sex offences – The case of the rapist
Jan 1974 Effects of stress- Maternal stress increases girl population.


Dec 1974 Settle and be “sexist”
Dec 1974 A two-in-one male pill, hormone free.
Feb 1975 Brain develops in male infants
June 1975 Select your baby’s sex, the Chinese way
Nov 1975 Genetics – What makes a male ?
May 1977 Baby’s sex choosing kit
Nov 1977 Choosing the sex of the foetus

Jan 1980 Sexual differences in the brain
July 1980 Sex attractants
August 1980 Genes and heredity

Nov 1981 Sexually Transmitted Diseases – High in the gays
May 1982 Sexual behaviour =- mmen as sexual animals
August 1982 The gender changers – Sex changing

April 1984 Probing the womb- Sex determination
March 1985 Sex hormones- Sex chromosomes
Feb 1986 Students seek sex education in curriculum

Medvedev

In yesterday's post, on Prof.R Narasimhan's contributions, I had referred to his book review (The Medvedev papers) in the Oct 1971 issue of ST. The name "Medvedev" was new to me. But suddenly, today, this name is a hit !!
The main news of the day is :
"Medvedev heads for huge win in Russia" !
Dr. Zhores A Medvedev was a Soviet scienitist, whose articles were under mention.
This Medvedev - Dmirthy Medvedev - is the next President of Russia. He is winning, that's the main report of the day.
Must be a coincidence ! !

Prof. R Narasimhan

Prof. R Narasimhan

Prof. R Narasimhan

Prof. R Narasimhan

Recently, I was going through the December 2007 issue of the monthly publication from Computer Society of India { CSI Communications }.
[ CSI site : www.csi-india.org ]
This issue presents a “ Special Tribute to Prof. R Narasimhan, Founder President of CSI”
While my mind pointer was over Dr.S Ramani’s article (and compilation ) on Prof. R N, I got a link to “Science Today”. I just clicked, and did a quick research in ST. As a member of CSI, and as a lover of ST, I think, this is the best way I can pay my homage to this great soul.

Prof. R Narasimhan, the great personality and doyen of Indian Computer Science, did contribute to “Science Today”. To put it in a different way, ST and its readers were fortunate to have him in ST, with his interesting and thought provoking articles.
Here is a brief account of what I found in ST, about Prof RN and his contributions in ST.

Science Today, January 1971
In this issue of ST, “FOCUS”, was introduced. This is a new column intended to pose the problems of the Scientific Policy that affect our present and future national development. The first in this series, was from Dr. RN. The introduction says “ … the first contributor to these columns is Prof. R Narasimhan of the Computer Group at TIFR, who is also a keen student of the science policy”. The topic was :
“On Indian Science and Technology”
The article starts with the ‘Science Policy Resolution ( SPR ) adopted by Government of India in 1958; and later review by Committee on Science and Technology (COST) during 1970.
He concludes the article thus :
“ The 64,000 Dollar question
Who should now work out the objectives for Science and Technology for India along the lines discussed above ? Should COST do it , or the Planning Commission ? Or, should, perhaps, the Indian National Academy of Science ? Or, should the Scientists at large ? Or, should we, perhaps, give this as a contract to some American consultancy agency ?”

Science Today, October 1971

“Science and Bumbledom”
This is a book review by Prof. R N.
The book “ The Medvedev papers” by Dr. Zhores A Medvedev, translated from Russian by Vera Rich.
The review gives a treatise on two articles by the Russian (Soviet) researcher Dr. Zhores Medvedev. The focus is on ‘fruitful meetings between scientists of the world’ and ‘secrecy of correspondence as guaranteed by law’.

Prof.RN emphasizes that Medvedev’s discussions in these articles are of utmost value to scientists of other countries.


Science Today, November 1973

“What is Science really about ?”
This article is based on the work done by him during his Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship, during 1971-73. The article, added with a few cartoons, is very interesting. He talks about Science and Commonsense, scientific theories, their analysis, and experimentation. “ If someone wants to know what are scientific theories theories of, the answer is : they are theories of experiments” !

Science Today, December 1973.

“What is Science really about ?- Part II
Science begins with the question why something happens and exploratory experiments are carried out to construct a theory. Again, further sets of experiments are required to verify the theory. Prof. RN links the physical sciences, behavioural sciences and social relevance to explain how Science and Technology had developed and grown.

Science Today, August 1977

“Academic Science and Technological Culture – Some lessons from history”

Starting with a question, “Does excellence in science lead to a technological culture ?”, Prof RN analyses ‘how did the west overtake the eastern nations from which it had borrowed the technologies in the first place? History has a few answers.’

Science Today, November 1977

“Memory and Language Behaviour”
Prof RN talks on the brain, listening, speech, language disorders (Aphasia), remembering, and about the human mechanism of understanding and behaviour.
( This article is followed by another interesting article by Dr. S. Ramani, on “Models of Memory”. )

Science Toady, January 1981

Under the column “Viewpoints”, Prof. RN wrote on “ A new world Information and Communication order ?”

In this article, he refers to the MacBride Commission Report ( an International Commission for the study of Communication problems, headed by Sean MacBride of Ireland, with 16 members ). He presents the problem of inbalance and dominance of the North over the South in all aspects relating to Information and Communication. He stresses on the “Information-starved societies”.

Look at the following interesting data appended to the article.
Average telecommunications investment per annum, as a percentage of total GDP (during 1965-75).

UK                    1.23
Switzerland     1.13
Japan               1.05
U S                   0.83
Malaysia          0.34
Pakistan          0.32
Kenya              0.30
India                0.17


Science Today, September 1982

The Information Economy
“ a penetrating analysis of the role of IT in industrialized economies and its relevance to India “
“ Information has become an economic commodity and is beginning to play a dominant role in shaping the economic profiles of advanced countries. How it is relevant to India.”
‘ … Digital communication technology is to the service sector, what electrical technology was to the manufacturing sector.”

The article analyses the impact of IT on employment, business and industry; and its relevance to India.
“ ….. the technologies, thus, instead of causing job retrenchment, are likely to remove manpower bottlenecks and facilitate growth of output. “

Science Today, February 1989.

Interview : R Narasimhan
By R. Chandrasekhar, NCST and Prabhakar Nair, Asst Editor, ScienceToday (2001)

Focus : On the Scope and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence systems.

Prof. RN, to the questions on this field, puts very clear and concise answers. He starts with defining AI, and puts his views on the present state of AI, and the future prospects.

“Q : Can machines replace the human beings someday ?
A: To me, this is a non-question, because we simply don’t know what the human being is …… to ask whether it can be replaced …. Since we know so little about the brain and the mind, talking about replacing it by an artifact doesn’t make sense to me at present “

+++ ----- ***** /////

Please see the snippets of articles, cartoons, and a caricature of Prof. RN.

Simple to Complex

ST has not been focusing on any specific area. It covered many many areas of Science and Technology.
From poor man's "daily science" to the researcher's "hot, sophisticated and complex" subjects. 
Please see the clips.
The article on electric lighter explains how and what of it very well.
Energy has always been a hot topic in ST. Hydel power has been very well addressed.
The photograph of an antenna erection at TIFR ! Remember, those things were not advanced as they are today !
Who won't be interested in a sweet and tasty article like "All about Mangoes".

Fibres, Optical illusion, ..

Hai all,
Last day, I started seraching for ( that's what research is , isn't it ? ) the topic "sex" and "pornography".  I shall present you what I am finding.
But now, let me tell you that I have come across many interesting subjects. To mention a few, topics like : FRP, Optical illusion, .... , Einstein, .... Powder metallurgy, .... what not !!
Please see some of the snaps .

Advertisements

Hai all,
Did you see my posts quoting some advertisemnts in ST ?
Here are a few more advertisements. They are from some of the prestigious PSUs.
IIT, HAL, etc..
And a few other interesting ones too..

Sex

Oh,  Did you expect something of this kind here ?
To be frank, I've not searched for anything on SEX in ST. Ok, let me try what ST did say about sex.
I hope that would be interesting and thought provoking !! What else ?
Please await my reasearch.
Prasanna

Energy- thoughts on

Energy is a topic of serious concern for the humankind. When are we drying up the energy sources?  ST says the sources are plenty and endless. Its upto the Scientists and Technologists to identify and find ways of tapping them for use.
Please see two snippets from ST.
 

Cartoons

Hi all,
Here are two cartoons appeared in St during 1967
Please look, think, and enjoy !!
Prasanna