Archives October 2013

"One of the marvels of the age is the new quick freeze process... time ceases to exist for foods" Better Homes and Gardens, September 1930 In 1912 Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956) was working as a field biologist in northern Canada when he was taught by Inuit people how to preserve fish by freezing under very thick ice at around -40°F (-4Q°C). Frozen almost instantly, it tasted fresh when thawed days or weeks later. Birdseye realized that this fish was fresher than that sold in the fish markets in New York, which had also been frozen but slowly and at higher temperatures. He also saw that when food was frozen quickly, only small ice crystals formed in the cells, causing less damage to the texture. Frozen food will keep for several months, so long as it is stored at a constant temperature no higher than -0.4°F (-18°C). Birdseye joined the Clothel Refrigerating more...

There was a great joy on the birth of a child in the royal family of Kapilvastu. From the very beginning of his childhood he showed no interest in toys and other plays. Neither he was interested in living in palaces nor in enjoying the usual pleasures of life. He was known as Prince Siddhartha. One day he was passing through the streets of the city. He saw an old man, a sick man and a dead man. The sight had an adverse effect on him; he thought that he was living in a world, which was full of miseries and sorrows. All the three sights remained before his eyes all the time even while sitting, sleeping and walking. He decided to find a way to cure all these ills. One night he left the palaces leaving behind his wife Yashodhara and son Rahul and went in search of truth. more...

Modern medicine has come a long way. We can treat pneumonia, hypertension, diabetes, and even heart failure—but certain genetic diseases have proved more difficult to deal with. That may change in the near future with the application of techniques pioneered by Paul Zamecnik (b. 1912). The use of genetic manipulation has had a place in medicine for quite some time in the form of recombinant DNA. This technique has been the source of many medicines, but is not really manipulation of genetic material in an individual. Zamecnik, though, may have revolutionized gene therapy, not by inserting new genes into an individual, but by blocking the genes that were already there. While studying a virus prone to causing certain cancers in chickens, Zamecnik realized that rather than adding a gene, he could manipulate the viral RNA so that it would not be able to reproduce. He figured he could take advantage more...

Democracy is a form of Government. It has been described in different ways by different thinkers. Abraham Lincoln, the President of U.S.A., called democracy, the government of people, by the people, for the people. According to Mahatma Gandhi that form of Government is democracy in which the weakest has the same Opportunity as the strongest.  Since India's new Constitution came into operation, we have had twelve general elections. These elections are held on the basis of universal adult franchise. They show our people's faith in democracy. Democracy in India is quite young. Indian democracy still suffers from many ills. They are likely to continue for some time before they are completely removed. The greatest ill of our democracy is that a large number of people in India are illiterate. They do not understand the functioning of democratic institutions. They are not aware of the great value vote. These illiterate people more...

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that is as unique as a fingerprint." Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine (September 2002) When two boys were brutally murdered near Buenos Aires in 1892, the police quickly named their mother's suitor, a man called Velasquez, as the only suspect. However, only a few days later police officer Juan Vucetich (1858-1925) proved beyond doubt that the murderer was, in fact, Francisca Rojas, the mother. Working at the La Plata Police Office of Identification and Statistics, Vucetich's task was to identify criminals using anthropometry. Less than a decade previously, Frenchman Alphonse Bertillon had established that the measurements of certain parts of the human body never alter, therefore giving each individual—in addition to their personality traits and peculiar markings such as tattoos and scars—a distinctive anthropometric identity. His approach, named "Bertillonage," was widely adopted by police forces as a more reliable more...

Neoprene—trade name for polychloroprene—is a synthetic rubber produced from chloroprene by polymerization (changing short chains of molecules to longer chains). Chloroprene is a liquid that when polymerized forms a solid, rubbery substance. When compared with natural rubber, it is lighter, does not perish, is a better thermal insulator, and is chemically inert. Neoprene was invented in 1930 by Wallace Carothers (1896-1937), and by 1931 it had become the first mass-produced synthetic rubber compound. It is commonly used in wetsuits, car fan belts, gaskets, hoses, and corrosion-resistant coatings. When used for wet suits, the air spaces in the neoprene are filled with nitrogen to increase its insulation properties. This also makes the material more buoyant. More recently, it has become a- fashionable material for lifestyle accessories, including laptop covers, iPod holders, pouches for remote controls, and even jewelry. The development of synthetic rubber began at DuPont, the U.S. chemical company. It more...

'Let us have wine and women,  mirth and laughter/Sermons- and soda-water the day after." Lord Byron, Don Juan Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) grew up near a brewery in Yorkshire, England, and as a teenager saw carbon dioxide gas "floating" above deposits of fermenting grain. In 1771 this clergyman, philosopher, and chemist began to inject carbon dioxide, what he called "fixed air," into small containers of water uncontaminated by the surrounding air. By agitating the mixture for thirty minutes he was able to cause the water to absorb its own volume of carbon dioxide, and so he created the world's first drinkable glass of carbonated water. In 1772 Priestley wrote a book detailing in part how he thought carbonated water could be used to retard food spoilage and reduce the incidence of scurvy on long ocean voyages. He also wrote a paper entitled Directions for Impregnating Water with Fixed Air. Priestley's considerable more...

When the life was very simple the needs of people were limited. The cost of living was not very much high. The things were available in the markets at the cheap rates, and they were in the limits of common people. The guests and visitors were welcomed in the past. As ours is a country where it was taught from the very beginning that a visitor is like a God. But as the life today has become very costly, any type of guest is not welcomed now. But some uninvited and unexpected guest drops in and make. The life of host miserable. Last year in the pooja holidays a distant uncle visited us. Throughout my life I had not seen him before; it was quite late at night when he knocked at the door of our house we all were sleeping. Firstly I tried to ignore the call but he more...

"Peter Henlein... makes from a little iron a pocket clock with a lot of wheels." Johannes Cocleus, historian The world's first portable timepiece, which came to be known as a "pocket-clocke," was made in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1504 and 1508 by the former apprentice locksmith and clockmaker Peter Henlein (c. 1479-1542). The miniaturization of timepieces began with the invention of the coiled spring in Italy in the late 1450s along with the development of various escapement mechanisms. However, the real breakthrough proved to be Henlein's invention of the balance spring, which greatly improved the precision of a watch's spring-driven interior. Henlein's new pocket watch measured only a few inches in diameter, chimed on the hour, and could run for up to forty hours before it required rewinding. It was driven by scaled-down steel wheels and hand- forged springs that, despite representing a huge technological leap forward, were nonetheless persistently inaccurate. more...

10th Physics lectures: For Secondary students science is a combined subject. But still science paper is divided into 3 and the marks allotted are also categorized into 3 subjects. If the basics of physics are clear to you from initial level itself it would not be a problem to the students as they grow. This video lectures are an effort laid down in an attempt to make students capable enough to understand the basics of physics. The videos are combined form of the theoretical topics and the practical ones. Practical videos help students to understand density, boiling point, meting point, Archimedes Principle etc. Physics covers a wide range of phenomena, from the smallest sub-atomic particles, to the largest galaxies. Included in this are the very most basic objects from which all other things are composed, and therefore physics is sometimes said to be the "fundamental science. Please mention your comments below: more...