NOIDA/DELHI

02 EducationPlus

THE HINDU | MONDAY | MARCH 7, 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNAPSHOTS

C.V. Vishveshwara: the

black hole man of India

Diagnostic test kit for

Zika virus created
R. PRASAD

SHUBASHREE DESIKAN

WHY DO CHIMPS
THROW STONES
AT TREES?

Newly
discovered stone
tool-use behaviour
and accumulation
sites in wild chimps
are like human
cairns, report
researchers.

SHALLOW AND
DEEP-WATER
CORALS

Shallow-reef

corals are more

closely related to
their shallow-water
counterparts far
away than to deepwater ones on the
same reef.

UNIVERSE SOON
AFTER BIG BANG

Pushing the

Hubble Space
Telescope to the
limit, astronomers
have spotted the
most remote
galaxy ever seen,
born soon after the
Big Bang.

he discovery of gravitational waves has

shaken the world
literally, when the
wave was detected,
on September 14, 2015 and guratively, when it was announced in February. One of
the people at the heart of this
discovery is a 77-year-old
Bangaluru-based Professor
Vishweshwara who is not only
among the rst in India to
study black holes, but who has
also made a very important
calculation that was used in
this discovery.
To recap briey, about 1.3
billion years back, two black
holes, of masses 36 and 29
times that of the sun, merged
to form a unit. This cataclysmic event shook the fabric of
space-time and emanated a
characteristic disturbance,
which our scientists have detected using the advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer
Gravitational Wave Observatory) detectors. The black
holes rst came close to each
other, then locked in circular
orbits and then abruptly
merged. The corresponding
signal would also have three
parts, the inspiral, merger and
ringdown. The beauty is that
this waveform was recorded
and the last part is akin to a
bell, ringing and fading away.
It is for this portion of the
calculation that we have to
thank Professor Vishveshwara. The ringdown signal,
arising out of a black hole
merger, originally called the
quasinormal modes was
rst predicted by him in a paper that he published in Nature in 1970. Not just that,
earlier he had worked out two
important papers on the theory of black holes, with famous
general theory of relativity
specialist, Charles Misner, as
his thesis adviser. At the time,
the term black holes had not
been coined and the event horizon went by the name
Schwarzchild surface.
It was a natural question
then to ask: how does one see
a black hole? So, using a computer, I scattered packets of
gravitational waves from a
black hole and the quasinormal modes emerged carrying
the signatures of the black
hole this was theoretical. I
had never dreamed that this
would take on an aspect of reality some day, says Prof.

Prof. Vishweshwara is not only among the first in India to study black holes, but one who has
also made a very important calculation that was used in this discovery.
PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Vishveshwara, who is now the

Emeritus Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium
which he founded.
As described earlier, the
initial signal, the chirp, the
steadily increasing frequency
and amplitude of the gravitational waves indicates the inspiralling of two black holes
and the ring down ( or the
quasi-normal mode, QNM)
indicates the newly created
black hole after the merger.
When I saw at IUCAA [Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics]
the QNM recorded by LIGO, I
felt the same kind of euphoria
that I had experienced 45
years earlier when they
emerged out of a computer
it was like time travel back

into the past, he says.

Prof. Vishveshwara is far
from being a bookish nerd.
Among other things, he is interested in cartooning too. He
says: I dreamt of becoming
an artist while working on
the QNM in New York, I studied painting at the Art Students League, which was
reputed to be a favourite
haunt of many artists including Salvador Dali Only after
returning to India did I start
cartooning for conference
proceedings, my own books
etc. He laughingly adds that
in 2005, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, a German science
magazine had published his
Einstein cartoons and paid
for it too!
Scientists are many times

A humorous take on the No-hair theorem where Occam's razor

chops the hair off a black hole

given to whimsy and there is

one cartoon of his which combines the philosophical law
of parsimony, the Occams
Razor with black hole physics.
Occams Razor prescribes
simplicity and the shearing of
all redundant complexity,
made popular in The Name of
The Rose, by Umberto Eco; it
states that among competing
theses, the one with the fewest assumptions must be selected.
When the discussion of
whether there were hairy
elds coming out of a black
hole (which resulted in the famous no-hair theorem) came
up, Prof. Vishveshwara presented an appropriate Occam
cartoon (shown here).
With his father, Padmashri
C.K. Venkata Ramayya, being
a celebrated man of letters,
Prof. Vishveshwaras childhood, lled with music, literature and banter, has endowed
him with a ready wit. His
books Einsteins Enigma or
Black Holes in My Bubble
Bath, and Universe Unveiled or the Cosmos in my
Bubble Bath, are hugely popular.
The most unexpected nding I have seen is that the universe is accelerating. We now
have dark matter, dark energy, all mysteriousis this the
dark age of cosmology? he
quips. Winding up with a few
words about the latest LIGO
discovery, he says,
Gravitational waves had
been predicted by Einstein a
hundred years ago and LIGOs
nding is a major event expected for nearly thirty years.
The wait is over and the future
is bright.

f all goes well and as expected, the validation process

of the rst diagnostic test kit
capable of diagnosing Zika,
dengue and chikungunya simultaneously will be completed by the end of this month.
The test kit has already been
created. If the nal validation
process also goes off well,
about 500,000 test kits could
be available in Brazil by the
end of the year, Dr. Ana Bispo,
Head of the Flavivirus Laboratory at the Oswaldo Cruz
Foundation (Fiocruz), in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil told theWHO Bulletin.
The test has great potential for improving epidemiological vigilance because it
shows which virus is circulating at a specic time in a given
area. The test could also be
particularly useful in the rst
days of infection, when the
symptoms of Zika, chikungunya and dengue are so similar
that it is difficult for doctors to
distinguish between dengue
and Zika, she was quoted as
saying.
The diagnostic test is a simple, ready to use PCR test
Nucleic Acid Test for Dengue,
Chikungunya and Zika viruses. All that has to be done is for
a technician to extract the
RNA of the virus and add it to
the three different reagents
meant for Zika, dengue and
chikungunya.
The latest evidence suggests that Zika virus infection
during pregnancy may be linked to microcephaly in newborn babies. No scientic
evidence to date conrms a
link between Zika virus and
microcephaly, a February 12
WHO Zika situation report
notes.
In November 2015, Dr. Bispos team was the rst to detect Zika virus genome in the
amniotic uid of two pregnant
women (from Paraba state)
who had a medical condition
consistent with Zika virus
infection.

The cause
Dr. Bispo is doubtful if anything other than Zika virus
could be causing the increasing number of microcephaly
cases seen in Brazil. The majority of women who have delivered
babies
with
microcephaly, report that
they have had a medical condition consistent with Zika, es-

The diagnostic test kit is capable of diagnosing Zika, dengue

and chikungunya simultaneously. PHOTO: AP

There is evidence
that Zikavirus
might be causing
Guillain-Barr
syndrome
pecially during the rst
trimester, she said. It is hard
to establish a causal link between Zika and microcephaly,
because it is difficult to detect
the virus when the baby is
born.

Detecting the virus

Detecting the virus antibodies in the baby with microcephaly
or
Guillain-Barr
syndrome becomes almost
impossible as things stand
now due to the non-availability of a specic serological test
for Zika virus antibodies. The
problem is compounded in the
case of Guillain-Barr syndrome when the symptoms
appear (usually 12 to 15 days
after Zika virus infection) patients are no longer in the
acute phase of Zika disease,
she said.
Currently, diagnosis of Zika
virus relies on the molecular
detection of viral RNA. But
the problem is that the viral
RNA is present during a brief
period of viraemia. Because
the clinical symptoms are almost the same in the case of
dengue and other infections,
most cases remain undiagnosed, making it even more
difficult to nd the link between microcephaly and Zika
virus infection. According to
the WHO Bulletin, two casecontrol studies are under
way.

Zika virus causes GBS

Meanwhile, the rst evidence thatZikavirus might be

Sleep deprivation and its health consequences

SPEAKING OF SCIENCE
SAVING
MONKEYS FROM
EBOLA

Rhesus monkeys
were protected
from Ebola when
treated three days
after infection with
a compound that
blocks the virus's
ability to replicate.

MAPS CUT
THREATS TO
CETACEANS

Maps of the

movements and
population
densities of 35
species of
cetaceans serve to
protect them.
CM
YK

s John Milton in Paradise Lost asks: What

hath night to do with sleep?
We humans have, over millennia, been dawn to dusk
animals. We rise as the Sun
rises and fold up as the night
becomes dark. We are programmed to do this by evolution, just like several other
mammals on earth. The typical duration of sleep has
been anywhere between 6 to
8 hours, and mostly at night
time, though short siestas in
the post-lunch afternoons
have been practiced too,
mostly by senior citizens,
who are no longer employed
to work through the day.
It has only been in recent
decades that this daily routine has been compromised
with night shifts, round
the clock security duties, defence jawans, and the so
called 24/7 call centre employees. These have let the
sleep pattern get modied
and compromised health.
Considerable research has
been done on sleep deprivation and its health consequences. The current issue
of the popular science
monthly The Scientist has a
series of articles on sleep, its
functions, and the consequences of inadequate or
compromised sleep.
For humans, the current
consensus is 6-8 hours per
day, usually during the night
time (though night-shifters

can enjoy a similar duration

appears desirable during
daytime). The author Wilson Mezener has quipped:
the amount of sleep that an
average person needs is ve
more minutes. [On an aside,
many quote Shakespeares
Hamlet, who exclaimed: to
sleep, perchance to dream,
using it with a hint of approval and desirability.
However, for Hamlet, it was
the exact opposite; for him,
to sleep meant death and
to dream meant a better
chance to end the sufferings
in his life].
Indeed, lack of sleep can
lead to extreme consequences, since sleep is the time of
rest and recuperation for the
body engine which has been
involved in energy-draining
activities while awake. Thus
inadequate sleep and rest affects metabolism, heart
function, cognition and
neurological activity. As a
sleep researcher from Chicago points out, we are not
wired for sleep deprivation.
Every time we deprive ourselves, things go wrong. Abnormal activities in the
cortex (part of the brain associated with thought and
action), hippocampus (with
memory and emotions), and
the forebrain (which processes cognition, vision, hearing and sensory perception)
have been found upon sleep
deprivation.

The sleep-wake cycle needs to be tuned to 6-8 hours sleep per

24-hour day, in order to maintain overall metabolic and
cognitive health. PHOTO : BIJOY GHOSH
Biochemical research suggests the key role of the molecule adenosine (a key
component of the energy
currency molecule ATP, and
also of DNA and RNA) in the
activity of the forebrain. Dr
Robert McCarley of Harvard, working with cats,
found that administering
adenosine in their forebrains puts them to sleep.
What adenosine does is still
an open question. But Dr
Kerry Grens (writing about
this in The Scientist) points
out that drinking coffee disturbs your sleep because the
caffeine in it blocks adenosine action. Further experiments have suggested that
prolonged sleep deprivation
has metabolic disorders
making the person tend to
become obese, become diabetes-prone, and even have
memory problems.

Fortunately, it appears so
far that the effects of sleep
deprivation or sufficient
sleep are temporary and
(though Vitamin D deciency could arise due to lack of
sunlight exposure, which
should be taken care of).
This is of interest to nightshifters, airline staff, and
24/7-ers. But the sleep-wake
cycle still needs to be tuned
to the 6-8 hours sleep per 24
hour day, in order to maintain overall metabolic and
cognitive health.
We humans came on
earth way after many other
mammals. What then about
cats, dogs, elephants, lions
and others? They too maintain their sleep-wake regularity,
though
not
necessarily in 6-8 hour sleep
schedule in one shot. But we
still do not know enough
about their pattern. Many

animals engage in two types

of sleep patterns, one where
there is rapid eye movement
(REM) while asleep, while in
the other the eye movements are slower. During
REM sleep, animals actually
display a waking-like pattern involving high cortical
activity. Watch a dog which
is sleeping. It naps intermittently throughout the
day. It is seen to be resting
for long stretches, yet is
aware of, and responds to
minor disturbances.
There is a theory that the
type and amount of food an
animal takes appears to be
related to its sleep time. A
paper in the journal Nature
in 2005 has it that vegetarians such as elephants and
giraffes (herbivores) spend a
lot of time chewing and eating often, because the food
they eat is low in calories.
This leads to their spending
lower sleep time per day. Lions, on the other hand (carnivores), sleep longer 14
hours a day, after consuming
prey.
This theory leads to an interesting question for us humans. Do vegetarians sleep
less than meat eaters? It
would be interesting to compare the sleep patterns of,
say Jains or Brahmin Priests
on one hand, and habitual
(daily) meat eaters on the
other. Here is a college student project. We would then
know if the Nature paper is
right or not.
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN
dbala@lvpei.org

causing Guillain-Barr syndrome (GBS), a severe neurological disorder, has emerged

from a retrospective study of
42 patients diagnosed with
GBS during theZikavirus outbreak in French Polynesia
(between October 2013 and
April 2014).
According to results published on March 1 in the journalThe Lancet, based on the
analysis of data from French
Polynesia, the incidence of
GBS was estimated to be 24 in
100,000 people infected with
the virus.
Till now, the link between
Zika virus and GBS was less
clear. But that has changed,
with this study showing for
the rst time an epidemiological link between Zika virus
and GBS. But a clear pathophysiological mechanism for
GBS has not been established.
For the study, all the 42
people who were infected with
Zika virus and developed GBS
were included. Two more control groups of patients were
also included in the study.
The rst of the two control
groups consisted of 98 patients who attended the same
hospital but who did not have
Zika virus infection. The second group consisted of 70 patients who were infected with
Zika virus but did not develop
any of the symptoms associated with GBS.
Just as symptoms developed rapidly, patients also recovered faster than is usually
expected with GBS. For instance, three months after discharge, 24 (57 per cent)
patients were able to walk
without assistance. No patient
with GBS died. But deaths
have been reported from the
current outbreaks in the
Americas.
The authors note that a previously unknown mechanism
might have caused GBS.

QUESTION CORNER
ELECTRIC EEL
How is electricity generated in an electric eels body and
how does it deliver a shock to deter predators?
K. Srinivasan, Chennai

The cells of all living beings generate electrical charges. This is

done primarily by moving various positive ions of metals such as
sodium, potassium, and calcium out side of the body cells, which
makes the outside of the cell positive compared to the inside of the
cell.
Voltage difference is very small just of the order of 0.15 volt,
which is absolutely harmless. In an ordinary animal these cells
remain in random position. The electric eels electrocyte cells are
different. All the electrocytes in a stack are oriented in the same
direction, with the smooth side towards the tail and the convoluted side towards the head. Though each cell generates only about
0.15 volts, in a large electric eel, thousands of cells may be stacked
to make one giant battery that can generate as much as 600 volts
for a short pulse. It works on the principle of a torch having 3 or 4
cells adding up the voltage to 3 or 4 times of that of an individual
cell. In technical term, all cells are connected in series. Despite
their name, electric eels arent actually eels (Anguilliformes).
Native to South America, the eel-like sh are actually knife sh.
A very common question asked is Why dont electric eels shock
themselves? Part of the answer to that question is that they
probably do, in fact, shock themselves but it doesnt bother them
as much as it might bother their predator or prey.
It could also be that the eel is insulated from its own shocks.
Compared to other sh, in the electric eel, organs like the heart
and liver are located very close to its head. Its possible that the eel
is electrically constructed so that its head and internal organs are
mostly insulated and the current ows out from and back into the
rest of the body. This combined with a tolerance to the effect of
shocks might provide the answer.
S.P.S. Jain, Greater Noida

THIS WEEKS QUESTIONS

Is there any connection between the food we eat and our
nervous system?
K. Ananthanarayanan, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Why cant humans hear sounds greater than 20,000 hz?

Geethu Raj, Kochi, Kerala

Why do we shed tears when we chop onions?

Sujith Martin

What is the evolutionary significance or purpose of

dreaming?
P.S. Nandini, Chennai

Readers may send their questions/answers to questioncorner@thehindu.co.in

ND-X

NOIDA/DELHI

02 EducationPlus

THE HINDU | MONDAY | MARCH 14, 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNAPSHOTS

Hubble tracks most remote

galaxy, pushes its limit
SHUBASHREE DESIKAN

PESTICIDEPOISONED
HONEYBEES

European
honeybees are
being poisoned
with up to fifty
seven different
kinds of pesticides,
a new method to
detect a whole
range of pesticides
reveals.

MARS' MAGNETIC
FIELD IN CHAOS

A unique
opportunity in
October 2014 gave
scientists a clear
view of the havoc
wreaked on Mars
magnetic field just
weeks before the
close flyby of the
comet Siding
Spring.

n what has pushed the

NASA/ESA Hubble Telescope to its limits, an international team of
astronomers has measured the distance to the most
remote galaxy observed, ever.
This new galaxy, named GNz11, is one of the earliest galaxies to form and existed as early
as just 400 million years after
the Big Bang. Although the signal is extremely faint, the galaxy is unusually bright
considering the distance and
time of its existence. This distance measurement has reiterated that some of the unusually
bright galaxies that have been
identied earlier may actually
be much further away than was
believed earlier and also that
humans may be learning about
the rst galaxies that formed.
Earlier, astronomers had estimated the distance of galaxies such as GN-z11 by analyzing
their colour in images taken by
the Hubble telescope and the
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope.
This time, however, they used
Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3
to measure the distance by
splitting the light from the galaxy into its components, spectroscopically.
To measure the distance of
distant astronomical objects
such as the galaxy GN-z11, astronomers measure its redshift. As a result of the
expansion of the universe, distant objects appear to recede

NASA now has

demonstrated the
advanced
technology to
make precise
measurements
of Earth's
orientation,
rotation and shape.

To measure the distance of distant astronomical objects such as

the galaxy GN-z11, astronomers measure its redshift.
PHOTO: REUTERS

from us. This causes the light

coming from these to be
stretched towards lower wavelengths, namely, towards the
red end of the light spectrum.
The galaxy, at just 400 million years after the Big Bang, is
not only the furthest whose
distance has been measured,
but has also stretched the capacity of the Hubble telescope
to its limits, according to Gabriel Brammer who led the
analysis of the Hubble spectroscopic data and is at the Space
Telescope Science Institute at
Baltimore.
The limit arises from the
fact that Hubble can only see so
far into infrared wavelengths, a
limit of about 1.7 microns. At
longer wavelengths the warm
telescope itself emits bright

thermal radiation that makes

observing faint astronomical
targets impractical and therefore the current suite of instruments are designed to be
sensitive only up to that limit,
explains Dr Brammer in an
email to this correspondent.
The light we see from increasingly distant galaxies is
shifted to ever redder wavelengths as a result of the expansion of the universe, and above
a redshift of about 12 or so, all
of the light from distant galaxies is redshifted beyond what
Hubble can observe, he adds.
This limit to Hubbles capacity will be transcended by the
James Webb Space Telescope,
which is due to be launched
into space in October 2018,
from Kourou, Near French

Guiana, as a collaboration between NASA, ESA and Canadian Space Agency.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will improve on
the Hubble in several ways.
First, JWST will be able to
make observations at much
longer infrared wavelengths
and therefore will be able to
detect galaxies at redshifts
greater than 12 that would otherwise be invisible to Hubble.
Second, JWST is a much
larger telescope than Hubble.
It will, therefore, be able to detect much fainter galaxies than
the Hubble, given the same
amount of observing time. Also, JWST is 2.7 times larger in
diameter and about 7 times
larger in area than Hubble.
The scope of JWST is also
enhanced because of the number of fainter galaxies it can
detect. Galaxies as bright as
GN-z11 at such high redshifts
are very rare and we had to
survey a very large area of the
sky to nd such a rare object
for which we could reliably
measure its distance. Fainter
galaxies that can be detected
and characterized by JWST are
much more numerous within a
given area of the sky, says Dr
Brammer.

Mitigating Arctic warming

K.S. RAJGOPAL

BETTER DATA ON
EARTH
ORIENTATION

The James
Webb Space
Telescope will
improve on
the Hubble

n these days of global warming and climate change

leading to melting icebergs and
glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, here comes
some cheer in the form of a
study that nds that warming
in the Arctic region can be reduced by 0.2 degrees C by 2050
by cutting down emissions of
short-lived climate forcers
black carbon, sulphur dioxide,
nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile
organic compounds, organic
carbon and tropospheric ozone
The study was published recently in Nature Climate
Change.
Short-lived climate forcers
are particulate matter of various kinds emitted into the atmosphere by natural and
anthropogenic sources and
which stay in the atmosphere
for at most a period of one
month. Cutting down their
emissions can bring in results
quickly. They are unlike carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which stay in the

atmosphere for years.

Black carbon and ozone precursors lead to warming, while
sulphur-rich and organic carbon-rich emissions form sunlight-scattering aerosols that
have a cooling effect, or negative radiative forcing. Ozone
precursors (CO, NOx and
VOCs) affect climate through
the formation of ozone, a potent greenhouse gas and cause
warming.
The effect of emission of
each of these agents on Arctic
temperature and contribution
to warming or cooling is the
focus of the study. Six different
SLCPs across seven emission
regions and six emission sectors were studied and each
ones contribution to arctic
surface temperature was quantied. The emission sectors
studied were domestic activities, energy/industry/waste,
transport, agricultural res,
forest res and gas aring. And
the seven emission regions
were U.S., Canada, Russia,
Nordic countries, Asia and
south Asia, Rest of Europe and

Rest of the world.

The amount of temperature
rise or fall caused by a single
unit of each SLCF from each
region was determined. This
was done using ve different
chemistry transport models
and allows quantication of
contributions that happen
within and outside of the Arctic region. For instance, high
black carbon emissions at lower latitudes can warm the local
atmosphere, thus creating a
larger temperature gradient
towards higher latitudes, resulting in increased northward
heat ux. Inside the Arctic,
warming contributions are

more direct black carbon

pollution just above the ground
will trap heat and warm the
surrounding air immediately.
The study found that the
largest absolute contributor
(including both warming and
cooling emissions) was the
Asian region with domestic activities emitting large amounts
of black carbon. However, the
highest per unit warming was
from aring emissions from
Russia followed by forest res
and aring from Nordic countries. These BC emissions have
a stronger impact than those
from Asia due to the doubling
effect they warm the atmosphere while also reducing
snow and ice reectivity.
A small number of cooperating nations within the Arctic
region itself could have a large
impact on the problem of
warming. While practical efforts can start with a few Arctic
nations and a few sectors, they
must expand if Arctic warming
is to be avoided more fully, notably, to include the large but
diffuse emissions from Asia.

Desensitisation has led to more

kidney transplants in India
D

ue to a procedure that
allows kidney transplants even from HLA mismatched donors, life can
indeed become easier for
people suffering from kidney ailments and needing
transplants.
A study of more than
1,000 transplants involving
incompatible kidneys published on March 10 in the
New England Journal of
Medicine across 22 transplant centres in America
shows that transplantation
across certain antibodies
may be a signicantly better long-term option than
waiting for years for a compatible donor.
The question is whether
patients in India needing
kidney transplants benet
from unmatched donors,
too? In Bengaluru, Sushila
has just donated a kidney
to her older brother, Rajan
while Rima Srivastava has
received a kidney from her
husband (names changed).
Both patients are doing
quite well. Dr. Partha Pradeep Shetty, Consultant
Nephrologist at Vikram
Hospital in Bengaluru says,
India has a law that allows
kidney transplants only between people who are related. This has been the
case for the last 9-10 years.
However, kidney transplants across HLA mismatched donors are being
done in India for the last
couple of years and are very successful. The patient
can live happily for at least
another fteen years without too much hassle.
Shetty has done a fellow-

hen the Fukushima accident occurred on

March 11, 2011, Japan had
50+ nuclear power reactors
which provided about 30 per
cent of the countrys electricity. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) noted that
this was expected to increase
to at least 40 per cent by
2017. The devastating accident changed all that. Japan
shut down all its reactors.
As on December 2015, Japan has 43 operable reactors
with potential to restart;
twenty-three of them have
started the process to restart
approvals. The rst two restarted in August 2015 (Sandai
1)
and
October
2015(Sandai 2).
While Japan observes the
fth anniversary of the nuclear accident, there is slow
and steady progress in examining whether some more of
the nuclear power plants
which are presently shut
down comply with the new
nuclear safety standards.
The Nuclear Regulatory
Authority effectively approved on February 24, Takahama-1 and two other
CM
YK

nuclear power plants both

of which have already been
operated for more than 40
years as compatible with
the
new
regulatory
standards.
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum reports that
these are the rst such determinations for so-called aging
reactors. They have to clear
examinations and to get approvals for extensions of
their operating lifetimes, for
which the mandatory deadlines are in July.
On February 26, this year
the Kansai Electric Power Co
restarted its Takahama 4
(870MWe) nuclear power
plant and Takahama 3
(870MWe) which they restarted on January 29 was returned
to
commercial
service.
Industry and the ruling
political class favour restart
as they consider nuclear
power as reliable, affordable
and essential to ensure Japan's energy security.
Japan now constructs four
reactors and decommissions
or is set to decommission 15.
It has planned (9) and pro-

As on December 2015, Japan has 43 operable reactors with

potential to restart. PHOTO: REUTERS
posed (4) new reactors with a
total capacity of 17,092 MWe
In June 2014, three major
lobbies of hard-nosed business men the Japan Business
Federation
(Keidanren), the Japan
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, and the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai)
sought an early restart of all
nuclear reactors.
The stark reality is that
over 90 per cent of Japans
primary energy needs are
now met by import.
In 2010, Japans per capita

annual power consumption

stood at 7870 kWh dropping
to 7480 kWh/capita in 2013.
Though all nuclear power
plants were shut down, the
Japanese continued to lead
an energy intensive life!
On May 11, 2015, four years
after the Fukushima nuclear
accident,The Japan Timesreported that a panel of nuclear
experts
largely
approved a government report saying that atomic power remains the cheapest
source of electricity despite
the rising safety costs triggered by the 2011 Fukushima

core meltdowns. Though the

Government expects a glut in
solar power, it wants to make
nuclear power account for 20
to 22 per cent of Japans electricity supply by 2030.
The daily reported that the
Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(METI), estimates that
atomic power would cost at
least 10.3 per kilowatt-hour
in 2030.
The daily quoted METI as
saying that additional safety
measures required to run a
nuclear reactor would cost
an average of 60.1 billion.
The report estimates that the
cost of coal-red power is
12.9 per kWh; liqueed natural gas 13.4 per kWh; Wind
power 34.7; solar power up
to 16.4, geothermal power
16.8, and hydropower up to
27.1 per kWh, all of them
much higher than nuclear.
The cost of electricity estimated by the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan in
2011 included compensation
of up to 10 trillion ($130
billion) for loss or damage
from a nuclear accident
(WNA, Dec 2015), 0.2 for

The study
involved
more than
1,000
transplants
rackets. Dr Vincent Lloyd,
consultant nephrologist at
NH group of Hospitals,
Bengaluru said, Blood
group incompatibility and
presence of antibodies
against the donor are the
main challenges in kidney
transplants.
Antibodies to donors
are generally found in
women who have had multiple pregnancies, people
who have had multi organ
or multiple transplants,
multiple blood transfusions and in some cases
from certain spouses or infections, he said. Kidney
transplants from HLA-incompatible live donors are
a challenge as patients develop antibodies against
the Human Leukocyte An-

tigens which are an important part of the immune

system.
These antibodies attack
the donor organ and the
body rejects the transplant. Sensitized patients
wait for years in the hope of
a matching donor, and are
on dialysis. In a process
called desensitization, the
antibodies are ltered out
and removed or suppressed by drugs. Dr Lloyd
says, This process called
desensitization has been in
India for a while. The above
study has conrmed that
waiting is not good for kidney patients who need a
transplant and an early
transplant across mismatched donors may actually be a better option.
Dr. Shetty said. Unmatched transplants are
being done in India with
kidneys and livers. The
lungs are a complicated
case, though, he felt.
Dr Shetty says, an average kidney transplant in
India
costs
about
Rs.4,50,000 ($6,800). The
desensitization in case of
HLA incompatible donors,
costs about Rs.2,00,000Rs.3,00,000, leading to a
total
of
Rs.6,00,000Rs.8,00,000
($12,000).
Costs of a kidney transplant in USA run to around
$1,00,000 while desensitization will of course cost
extra. Desensitivity, or
HLA treatment, can be expensive. However, Segev
notes, dialysis is more
expensive.
PAPIYA BHATTACHARYA
Bengaluru

Tricking a wasp into suicide

to ensure pollination
MOHIT M. RAO

t last, the baffling question of how a female g

ower tricks a wasp nearly
into suicide to ensure pollination, that has withstood
nearly 80 million years of
evolution, has been answered in a recent study published in the journal Nature
Scientic Reports, by a team
of international researchers,
including those from the Begaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The
con game, it seems, starts by
mimicking smells, and takes
advantage of the symbiotic
relation between the tiny gwasp and gs.
The wasp lays its eggs in
gs, which act like a protective bassinet (after the egg
hatches, the blind, wingless
male wasp burrows a hole,
while a female wasp ies
out); for the g, wasps help

Nuclear power in Japan post Fukushima

W

ship in Transplantation in
Canada in 2014 and has
met lead author of the
study Dorry L. Segev, associate professor of surgery
at the Hopkins School of
Medicine. People waiting
on the list in U.S. are more
sensitized (they have had
earlier transplants) many
are on the list for the second or third time. In India,
majority are rst time recipients, Shetty said.
One of the reasons we
have the law is to bring
down kidney transplant

spread pollen, allowing for

seed production.
Edible gs are unisexual,
meaning male and female
owers are on different trees.
The male g is perfect for
wasps. However, the female
g has long ower stalks and
is unsuitable for laying eggs
a female wasp that enters
the ower usually dies without burrowing its eggs.
How then is the female g
ower able to attract the
wasp and ensure seed
production?
Using gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry
to analyse the scents of the
g owers, Renee Borges of
the Centre for Ecological Sciences at IISc and her collaborators from China and
France have found that the
female gs have evolved the
strategy of chemical mimicry, which attracts the wasps
who assume it is the scent of
the more conducive male g

ower. The symbiotic evolution of the wasp and g has

seen owers develop unique
scents which are comprised of over 150 volatile organic compounds to allow
the insects to recognise the
hosts.
In g species, where the
male and female trees ower
at the same time, the researchers found that the female g closely mimics the
scent of the male g, in an
attempt to trick wasps into
pollination. However, in g
species where male and female trees ower at different
times, the scents were variant an indication that the
female is not pressured into
mimicking as desperate
wasps are likely to choose
any available g.
With the female wasp able
to enter only once, entering a
female g ower through
clever deceit will end in its
purposeless demise.

QUESTION CORNER
TEARS
additional post-Fukushima
safety measures and 0.5 for
dealing with future nuclear
risks. The 0.5 for future nuclear risks is a minimum, increasing by 0.1 for each
additional 1 trillion ($13 billion) of damage.
The public perception in
Japan may be against nuclear
power. But in December
2012, the pronuclear Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) got
294 out of 480 seats with the
anti nuclear group trailing
behind with 57 seats in the
lower house of Diet. The LDP
and its pronuclear partner
secured 144 seats in 242 in
the upper house in the July
2013 election.
The Japanese Government pledged to reduce reliance on nuclear power and
promote renewable energy
as much as possible, while
standing by nuclear as a key
power source, citing the importance of a stable electricity supply to economic
growth. Because of its economic importance, decision
makers will benignly look at
nuclear power.
K.S. PARTHASARATHY

Why do we shed tears when we chop onions?

SUJITH MARTIN

Onion is one of the most routinely used spicy vegetables in

curries all over the world. There are hundreds of species of
onions cultivated under the genus, allium. In India, many
consume onion even in raw state. Onions become very pungent when rotten.
Each layer of onion contains thousands of cells and in each
cell there are certain aminoacids linked with sulfoxide (S=O)
terminals. Aminoacid-sulfoxide can be represented as (AA)
RS=O where (AA) is the aminoacid and R is certain other
organic chemical moiety. In the same onion cells, there are
enzymes, called, alliinases, but positionally maintained away
from the aminoacid-sulfoxides.
When we chop the onions, the cells are damaged and the
aminoacid-sulfoxides and the allinases get mixed. The action
of alliinases on the aminoacid-sulfoxides produces, through a
series of biochemical reactions, some volatile compounds,
known as, Alkyl sulfenic Acids. This in turn is immediately,
acted upon by another enzyme, called, Lachrymatory Factor
Synthase (LFS), leading to the formation of very volatile propanethiol S-oxide. Being lighter and volatile, this propanethioS-oxide spreads like a mist in the aerial currents and reaches
our eyes. In the eyes, it reacts with the water molecules leading
to the formation of small doses of sulfuric acid which causes
the burning sensation in our eyes. This burning sensation, in
turn, activates the lachrymatory (tear) glands of the eyes,
secreting tears.
PROF. A. RAMACHANDRAIAH, NIT, Warangal

THIS WEEKS QUESTION

How is nuclear waste disposed of?
Sharath Chandra Kommu, Hyderabad

Readers may send their questions/answers to questioncorner@thehindu.co.in

ND-X

NOIDA/DELHI

02 EducationPlus

THE HINDU | MONDAY | MARCH 21, 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNAPSHOTS

Now, solar energy can power

air conditioner, refrigerator
R. PRASAD

NOT JUST GOOD FOR THE

BONES

A study, published in
Neuron, has found that intake
of calcium, causing its activity
within neurons, can help in
getting a good nights sleep.

A CLOSER LOOK AT PLUTO

NASAs New Horizon

spacecraft reveals details of
mountains, glacial flows,
plains and other landscapes
on Plutos surface, according
to a release.

aking a marked departure from the

conventional system, a Chennaibased
company
provides a comprehensive system that ensures that a 2 kW
solar panel can power a 1.5
tonne air conditioner, one 300
litre refrigerator, five fans, five
LED tube lights (4 feet in
length and 16 watts each) and
eight LED bulbs (6 watts each)
during the day.
There are many innovative
systems that make this possible. In lieu of silicon crystalline
panels that are routinely used,
Basil Energetics Pvt Ltd uses
thin film solar panels. Though
efficiency of thin film panel is
the same as silicon panel at 25
degree C, the energy yield of
thin film is higher than silicon
panel.
This is because power rating
is done at 25 degree C. In India,
the outside temperature far exceeds 25 degree C, especially
during summer. And for every 1
degree C increase in temperature, the loss in power rating is
0.5 per cent in the case of silicon panels; it is only 0.25 per
cent with thin films. So 5 per
cent more energy output is
achieved by thin film panels,
said Dr. R. Ramarathnam,
Chairman of Basil Energetics.
Solar panels need light not
heat. Thats why they are more

New shark and ray

species found
branch fishery, only a few detailed studies have been
rom the Indian waters, a undertaken on the taxonomy
unique and pleasant and diversity of this group in Inchallenge has suddenly dia, pointed out the paper.
surfaced 13 new speThe Kochi unit of the Penincies of sharks and rays. sular and Marine Fish Genetic
Researchers were bar coding Resources Centre and the Nasharks and rays found in the In- tional Research Collections Ausdian waters when they came tralia, Hobart, Tasmania and
across these new species.
Australia partnered in the reThe researchers are busy search project.
naming them before adding to
During the analysis, 528 specithe list of sharks and rays found mens of 111 chondrichthyan spein the Indian waters. The results cies and 34 families, collected
of 111 species of sharks and rays from the Indian Exclusive Ecothat were bar coded were pub- nomic Zone were bar coded, said
lished last month in the journal K.K. Bineesh, the lead author of
Mitochondrial DNA.
the paper.
The DNA bar coding was sucWith the bar coding, it has
cessfully used for accurate iden- now become easy for the identitification of chondrichthyans fication of the species from its
which included the chimaeras, tissues, be it salted or even dried
sharks, rays, and skates in the samples.
Indian waters, according to A.
Recently, the government had
Gopalakrishnan, director, Cen- imposed a ban on the export of
tral Marine Fisheries Research shark fins. Five species of sharks
Institute, Kochi, one of the lead- and two manta ray species found
ing partners in the project. The in Indian waters have been inchondrichthyans are exploited cluded in Appendix II of the
in commercial, artisanal, and Convention on International
recreational fishing activities Trade in Endangered Species of
but the major catch occurs in- Wild Fauna and Flora for moncommercial fishery. They are itoring its international trade.
highly vulnerable to over exploi- The protected species have to be
tation and habitat degradation accurately identified in the field
due to their life history.
or at the export/trade levels to
With an estimated landing of ensure their effective protection
46,471 tonnes, India is one of the and prevention of illegal trade.
leading chondrichthyan fishing The documentation would help
nations for the past several in strictly enforcing the conseryears. Despite the rich diversity vation drive of the species, Dr.
and long history of the elasmo- Bineesh said.
K. S. SUDHI

The smart grid (iGrid) is the brain

Photo: R. Prasad
efficient in higher latitudes.
Another advantage with the
thin film panel is that unlike
silicon panels where power
production gets completely cut
off even if a small part of the
panel is covered by shade, only
that part of the thin film panel
that is not exposed to sunlight
stops producing power.
Basil Energetics also manufactures electrical appliances
that run on both direct current
(D/C) and alternating current
(A/C). The driver circuitry designed by Basil and more efficient motors manufactured by
the company are used in the air
conditioner, refrigerator and
fan. Also, the refrigerator and
air conditioner use a motor that
runs on a variable speed com-

power when there is adequate

power, but when the demand is
higher than the power produced, the iGrid runs as many
appliances as possible using solar power and the remaining
from the grid. During the night,
the iGrid draws power from the
grid while excess power produced during the day (when all
appliances are not used) is fed
to the grid. This management
is done automatically, Dr
Ramarathnam said. A battery
can also be connected to the
iGrid to run the appliances in
the night.
Since the appliances use less
power than conventional ones,
of the whole system.
the area of the thin film panel
required is less. A thin film panpressor. Our fans consume on- el of 160 sq. feet area can proly 20 watts [normal fans need vide 2 kW power when
75 watts] and a 1.5 tonne air appliances manufactured by
conditioner requires only 1,200 Basil are used, a 400 sq. feet
watts initially and then run at area silicon panel is required n
250-260 watts. The average the case of conventional apconsumption is only 333 watts, pliances, he said.
while normal air conditioners
In the case of 2 kW capacity
always need 1,650 watts, he the investment would work out
said. Our refrigerators con- to Rs.4,20,000 for the panel,
sume only 40 watts, while con- iGrid, and appliances and inventional ones consume 150 stallation. The payback period
watts.
will be 5-5.5 years depending
But the brain of the whole on usage and tariff, he said. It
system is a smart grid (iGrid) works out to Rs.1,10,000 in the
that manages the load by mon- case of 330 watts that can powitoring the power availability in er a 180 litre refrigerator, three
the panel on one hand and load fans, two tube lights and two
demand on the other to ensure bulbs.
smooth functioning in four difThe company has so far comferent scenarios. All appliances pleted 24 projects in a short
are run on panel-produced span of 13 months.

IIT-M: turning metal waste into resource

al using the machining approach.
Shavings produced when a bulk maesearchers at IIT Madras terial is machined under controlled
have successfully turned laboratory are extensively strain
Ti6Al4V alloy waste deformed. As a result, the coarse
shavings that are produced grain structure of the bulk material
when a metal is machined becomes ultrafine grained in the
into resource using low-cost shavings. It is already known that
means. Shavings produced in aero- nanostructured materials comspace machining operations are posed of sub-micrometer scale
usually disposed as low-volume grains have properties that are
scrap. But researchers at IIT Ma- much different from conventional
dras have tuned the shaving into materials.
foils (3 mm width and 1 mm thickIn this case, the fine grain strucness) that are 1.5 times harder than ture of the shavings endows them
the parent material.
with increased hardness and greaResearchers in the past have pro- ter strength; malleability and ducduced shavings with hardness up to tility get reduced but not
three times that of the bulk materi- significantly, said H.S.N. Murthy,
R. PRASAD

Professor at the Aerospace Engineering Department.

To take advantage of the enhanced physical properties of the
shavings, we attached a die extrusion to the cutting tool so that the
shaving gets extruded in the form of
foils, said Prof. Balkrishna C. Rao
from the Department of Engineering Design.
We have produced and characterised the material. We are looking
at 2-3 applications. One would be to
use smaller particles as reinforcement in composite, said Prof. Murthy. Using the foils as wear padding
is another possible application.

Photo: John Cairns

Abel prize for

stunning proof
SHUBASHREE DESIKAN

ndrew Wiles, British

mathematician, has won
the 2016 Abel prize for
his stunning proof of
Fermats last theorem
by way of the modularity conjecture for semistable elliptic curves,
opening a new era of mathematics, (to quote from the citation).
Awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the
Abel prize is an international
award given for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics, including mathematical
aspects of computer science,
mathematical physics, probability, numerical analysis, scientific
computing, statistics and also
mathematical applications in the
sciences.
Fermats last theorem, which
looks deceptively simple, is the
statement that the equation xn + yn
= zn, where x, y and z are positive
whole numbers, has no solution
for n larger than 2. In what can
only be described as tenacious,
Professor Wiles worked on this
single problem for nearly a decade
before making a breakthrough, in
the process having to develop a lot
of mathematics. Efforts to solve
the problem go back 350 years:
Pierre de Fermat first formulated
the theorem in the 17th century,
and he himself proved the claim
for n = 4; Leonhard Euler proved
the case of n = 3 and Sophie Germain generalised it to infinitely
many prime exponents. While Ernest Kummers attempts led to
major revelations, the bounty of a
full proof eluded all concerned
until Professor Wiles proved it in
1994. R. Balasubramanian, a wellknown number theorist and former director of Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai,
declares his happiness at the
award to professor Wiles: He
more than deserves the award,
and I cant think of anyone else
who is better qualified [for the

Nine monster stars detected by Hubble

SHUBASHREE DESIKAN

stronomers working with

data from the NASA/
Hubble space telescope
have identified nine massive monster stars, each
of which is more than 100 times the
mass of the sun. These massive
stars are located in the Tarantula
Nebula, within the Large Magellanic Cloud. This structure is 1,70,000
light years away; one light year measuring a distance of approximately
9 trillion kilometres.
R136, the star cluster within the
Tarantula Nebula is just a few light
years wide and is known to host
some of the most massive, luminous
stars in the universe. The energy of
these stars is mostly radiated in the
ultraviolet range. So, the scientists
had to take the images given by the
Wide Field Camera 3 of the space

The star cluster lR136 Photo:

NASA, ESA, P. Crowther.
telescope and use the high ultraviolet spatial resolution of the Space
Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to
analyse light from the R136 cluster,
in an unprecedented manner.
While there were dozens of stars
exceeding 50 solar masses, there
were only nine stars that were over
100 times the mass of the Sun. Together, light from these nine stars

alone outshines the Sun by a factor

of 30 million.
Extensively studied by Paul
Crowther of University of Sheffield,
U.K., R136, was thought of as one
star, the brightest object in the Magellanic Cloud, as noted by the Radcliffe Observatory of South Africa.
Later it was recognised to be made
up of separate units by the European Southern Observatory, which
classified it into three components
R136a, b and c. Of these, R136a was
identified as consisting of eight
stars, which the NASA/ESA denoted as a star cluster, in 1993. In 2010,
Dr. Crowther and collaborators understood that R136 contained four
massive stars. Thenew finding tells
us that there are, in fact, nine massive stars in this cluster.How do
these monsters originate? That is a
question for astronomers to ponder
over.

award]. It is a herculean task and

he worked on this problem alone
for the last ten years!... he proved
the Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture to the extent needed and
for this he had to develop a lot of
mathematics which has applications to the Diophantine equations, he says.
A story of Wiles' pursuit of thesolution, well known among
mathematicians, can be narrated:
While at Princeton, Andrew Wiles
started his work on this problem
and for seven years worked alone,
in his attic, without telling anyone
and after seven years, announced
that he had solved it, in a conference in Cambridge, U.K., only to
have a serious mistake pointed
out by a colleague a few months
later. He was not to be outdone
and with help from his former student Richard Taylor, he patched
up the gap and proved it successfully a year later. Many people
believe that if only he had been
less than 40 years , he would have
surely won the Fields Medal. This
is a fantastic proof, says Prof. Balasubramanian. According to an
article in Nature, the two papers
he published on this work in 1995
took up the entire issue of Annals
of Mathematics.
His work has made it easier to
study elliptic curves and modular
forms. It is a step ahead towards
the Langlands programme, says
Prof. Balasubramanian, naming
some sought-after areas of mathematics. Professor Wiles now aims
to work on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture a problem
which has a million dollar prize
attached. It is one of the seven
millennium problems, only one of
which, the Poincare conjecture,
has been solved by Grigori Perelman, so far.
One cannot help but recall John
Nash here who won the prize last
year, and also that once the prize
has gone to an Indian-origin
mathematician
Srinivasa
Varadhan.

QUESTION CORNER
BOILING POINTS
Why there is a fall in boiling points of water and other
liquids at hills where there is fall in atmospheric pressure?
Suryapalsingh Jain

Any liquid boils at that temperature at which its vapour pressure

equals that of the atmospheric pressure. At the ground level, water
boils at 100 degrees C at normal atmospheric pressure. At very high
altitudes, the atmosphere thins and the pressure will be less, so that
.water boils at a temperature below 100 degrees C. This makes it
difficult to cook in open pans in hilly regions, and we have to use a
pressure cooker. In the pressure cooker the pressure inside the
container will be 2-3 times higher than at ground level. Hence water
will boil at around 120 degrees C, and the materials get cooked
completely. Thus one can observe a fall in boiling points of water and
other liquids at hills due to the fall in the atmospheric pressure.
Dr. T. Bhavani, Bengaluru
THIS WEEKS QUESTION
Why do we tan after being exposed to sunlight?
Janani kilahari, Chennai
Readers may send their questions/answers to questioncorner@thehindu.co.in

The era of plastic-degrading bacteria has begun

SPEAKING
OF SCIENCE

t is hardly a hundred years

since chemists learnt to make
long molecules called polymers and plastics in the lab. Polymers have since been hailed
on one hand as the greatest boon to
mankind for their manifold uses,
and the greatest bane - thanks to the
way that they have cluttered the environment. The most common synthetic polymer or plastic used in
everyday life is polyethylene terephthalate or PET (also known as Terylene or Dacron). An estimated 311
million tonnes of plastics are produced every year (and 50 million
tons of PET alone). Unfortunately
many of them, such as PET, are not
degraded, digested or broken down
like naturally occurring polymers
(such as proteins, carbohydrates and
CM
YK

fats). We use plastic in everyday life,

use and discard them, hardly recycling them (to the extent we actually
can), and as a result plastics have
cluttered the earth and its oceans.
J.R. Jambeck and others have estimated that as much as 5 trillion pieces of plastic have reached and are
found in ocean beds across the globe
(Science, 13 February 2015). That is
anywhere between 5 to 13 million
tonnes of them, lying and affecting
the health of ocean life (and an area
of about 1.4 million square kilometers, or the area of Northern India).
There is no clear estimate of how
much plastic is fouling the land mass
of the earth, surely it has to be an
equal amount.
If only we can find ways to degrade
such huge amounts of accumulated
plastics! And the best agents to do so
would be biological life forms such as
bacteria which multiply by the millions in days and are themselves

Plastic waste such as foodgrade PET bottles can be broken down easily.
completely biodegradable! (Indeed,
recall how, way back in 1980, Dr
Anand Chakraborty of GE R&D Center at Schenectady, NY, isolated one
such microbe that would eat off oil
spills). It is towards this challenge
that research has been going on, and
the latest effort which shows some
success has been published in the

March 11, 2016 issue of Science by a

Japanese group, led by Dr Kanji Miyamoto of Keio University, Kanagawa. The group concentrated on
looking for and identifying bacteria
from the PET bottle recycling sites,
and found one such microbe that
they have named Ideonella sakaiensis (the first name identifies the fam-

ily and the second honours the

geographic location where they
found the bacterium).
I. sakaiensis sticks to the surface
of the PET bottle, secretes one molecule named which they named PETase (the suffix ase denotes an
enzyme molecule), which breaks
down PET into a smaller building
block abbreviated as MHET. MHET
is now taken up and broken down by
another enzyme in the microbes cell
(called MHET hydrolase) and hydrolysed to produce ethylene glycol
and terephthalic acid - the two small
molecules (called monomers) using
which the polymer PET is made in
the first place! We should admire I
sakaiensis for its efficiency as a safe
biodegradable agent. Biologists will
now wonder about how this microbe, which all these centuries and
millennia had never known PET
(until 70 years ago) has suddenly
found (or generated) enzymes to de-

grade this new man-made polymer.

Myriad and wonderful are the ways
of mutations and natural selection!
Two interesting points emerge
from the Japanese work. One is: can
we now isolate the ethylene glycol
and terephthalic acid, the two monomers, and reuse them to make PET?
This offers a nice self-contained set
up where the PET bottles and plastics discarded after use are biodegraded back to the starting materials
in a bio-reactor, and then taken to
the polymer synthesising unit which
remakes the PET.
The other point is more challenging and surely there are molecular
biologists already working on it.
That is: why not clone the genes that
express the enzyme PET-ase and
MHET hydrolase into some other
properly chosen microbe (other
than I.sakaiensis), using genetic engineering methods and thus attempt
to biodegrade the vast mountains of

PET fouling the earth? If one can do

this for PET, surely it can be done for
other polymers and plastics. To
write these sentences is easy, but to
work on it and succeed takes effort
and single minded devotion, but
worthy of a Nobel.
Even more changeling is the issue
of how to clear the millions of tons of
plastics fouling the oceans beds.
Even if bugs are founds that can biodegrade them, will they be safe for
the oceans and their life forms? But
this needs to be done and as they say
nothing ventured nothing gained.
It can perhaps first be done in silico
using the methods of computational
and system biology, to look for optimal ways to do so and then try on a
lab scale. Clearly the Kanagawa
group has kindled an exciting chapter in environment sciences with
their work.
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN
dbala@lvpei.org
ND-X

NOIDA/DELHI

02 EducationPlus

THE HINDU | MONDAY | MARCH 28, 2016

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNAPSHOTS

A simple blood test can reduce

global burden of TB
R. PRASAD

Prolonged daily sitting

increases mortality risk

A new study found that sitting for

more than three hours per day is

responsible for 3.8 percent of all-cause
mortality deaths. Reducing sitting time
would would increase life expectancy.

King Tuts tomb re-examined

The famous tomb of King

Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922, may

still hold unexplored treasures, perhaps
even the tomb of legendary queen
Nefertiti, as high-resolution radar scans
revealed.

Plastic that's half renewable

Now a set of
16 genes can
be used as
biomarkers to
tease out the
information.

early 2 billion or onethird of the global

population is infected
with TB, and in India
alone, about 40 per
cent of the population is infected with TB. Though less than 10
per cent of people infected with
TB will develop the disease as
they grow old, become infected
with HIV or have diabetes,
there is no way of knowing in
advance which infected individuals will develop TB disease. Not any more.
Now, a set of 16 genes can be
used as biomarkers to tease out
this information. The genes become more active in those who
will develop TB disease in the
next one or two years than in
people who will continue to
stay healthy. The results were
published a few days ago in The
Lancet.
Since the infected population
acts as a huge reservoir and as
all infected people across the
world cannot be given preventive TB treatment for at least six
months, picking out only those
who are very likely to develop
the disease and providing them
preventive treatment will go a
long way in reducing the TB
burden in the world.
Because people only become infectious after they have
fallen ill, the research may provide a way to detect and treat
TB before it can be spread from
one person to another, Helen
Fletcher, Director of the TB

Blood test: a sure indicator. Photo used for representational purposes only. PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Center at the London School of

Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
told the journal Science.
Daniel E. Zak, the first author
from the Center for Infectious
Disease Research, Seattle, U.S.,
and others compared the blood
samples of 37 adolescents who
developed TB disease and 77
adolescents who continued to
stay healthy even at the end of
two years of followup. Based
on RNA isolated from the blood
samples, the researchers were
able to identify 16 genes whose
expression increased as patients were close to developing
TB disease.
The robustness of the 16

genes to act as biomarkers was

validated in another set of nine
adolescents who developed TB
disease and 30 who remained
healthy despite being infected
with TB. The researchers were
unaware if the samples being
tested came from healthy people or those with TB disease.
The test was revalidated in
two more patient group samples from South Africa and
Gambia. The samples were
from adults who were household contacts of those with TB
disease and who either developed the disease themselves or
remained healthy despite being
exposed to people with TB

disease.
The accuracy of the biomarkers was maximum when the diagnosis was made close to the
time when people became diseased. For instance, the sensitivity was 71.2 per cent when
the diagnosis was made six
months prior to people developing TB disease compared
with nearly 63 per cent when
the diagnosis was made 6-12
months before they developed
TB disease; it was about 48 per
cent during 12-18 months prior
to TB disease diagnosis.
According to the researchers,
the TB risk signature predicted
disease progression despite

marked diversity between the

diferent groups studied, age of
the population studied (adolescents and adults), diferent
ways in which they were infected, ethnic and genetic diferences, and diferent TB strains
seen in South Africa and Gambia. Also, the genes were excellent in diferentiating TB disease from latent infection and
from other disease states. Its
ability to diagnose TB disease
was unafected by the HIV status; it was also able to diagnose
childhood TB cases when the
samples were culture positive.
The authors suggest that the
risk signature might represent
the bacterial load in the lungs.
The ability of the bloodbased signatures to predict progression to active tuberculosis
disease in healthy individuals
can pave the way for the establishment of diagnostic methods
that are scalable and inexpensive.
The newly described signature holds potential for highly
targeted preventive therapy,
and therefore for interrupting
the worldwide epidemic, they
note.

Road rage
linked to brain
parasite
New York: People infected
with a common brain parasite
transmitted through the
faeces of infected cats,
undercooked meat or
contaminated water may be
at increased risk of getting
involved in road rage, new
research published in the
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
suggests.
Studying 358 adults, the
researchers found that
toxoplasmosis, a relatively
harmless parasitic infection
carried by an estimated 30
per cent of all humans, is
associated with intermittent
explosive disorder and
increased aggression.
Our work suggests that
latent infection with the
toxoplasma gondii parasite
may change brain chemistry
in a fashion that increases the
risk of aggressive behaviour,
said senior study author Emil
Coccaro, professor at
University of Chicago.
However, we do not know if
this relationship is causal, and
not everyone that tests
positive for toxoplasmosis
will have aggression issues,
Coccaro added.
We dont yet understand
the mechanisms involved. It
could be an increased
inflammatory response,
direct brain modulation by
the parasite, or even reverse
causation where aggressive
individuals tend to have more
cats or eat more undercooked
meat, Royce Lee, associate
professor of psychiatry and
behavioural neuroscience,
University of Chicago, noted.
IANS

Researchers have made a better

thermoplastic by replacing styrene with

lignin, which, with cellulose, forms the
woody cell walls of plants. The resulting
thermoplastic is recyclable, and may
bring cleaner, cheaper raw materials.

New fuel-eicient fishing vessel to set sail

K.S. SUDHI

o-founder of Microsoft, Paul G.

Allen is planning to fund bioscience research in a big way. He
will invest $100 million over the
next decade in such research initiatives. The first few people selected to receive $1.5 million each
to conduct their research includes
Jennifer Doudna of University of
California, Berkeley; Ethan Bier of
University of California, San Diego; James Collins of MIT and Bassem Hassan of the Brain and Spine

Birds that recognise humans

Crows, magpies,and mockingbirds do

recognise people. Scientists in South
Korea found that brown skuas living in
Antarctica , too , recognised people who
had previously accessed their nests to
measure their eggs and nestlings.

Bacterium flourishes on ISS

Researchers grew microbes and sent

them to the International Space Station

(ISS) for growth in space. While most of
the microbes looked similar on Earth and
in space, one type of bacteria actually
grew 60 per cent better in space.

Microsoft co-founder creates

fund for bioscience research

agar Haritha, an IRS class vessel,

designed and developed by the
Central Institute of Fisheries
Technology, is all set to conquer new
seas. The Central Institute of
Fisheries Technology (CIFT), the lead
partner in developing the fueleicient multi-fishing mode vessel,
will take her to waters shortly. The
vessel blends research as well as
occupational fishing activities. The
new model vessel was developed after
detailed surveys across the fishing
centres of the country and obtaining
feedback from the stakeholders, said
C.N. Ravishankar, the Director of the
Institute. The vessel was built at Goa
Shipyard at a cost of around Rs. 7
crore under the project "Green
Fishing System for Tropical Seas"
funded by National Agricultural
Science Fund of the Indian Council
for Agriculture Research. Garware
Wall Ropes Private Limited, Pune and
DSM India Limited, Mumbai are the
other partners of the project. This was
the first basic and strategic fisheries
research project undertaken in PPP
mode, explained Dr. Leela Edwin, the
Principal Investigator of the project
and Head Fishing Technology
Division. This combination fishing
vessel brings together deep sea
fishing methods like long-lining, gill
netting and trawling. F. V. Sagar
Haritha is equipped with autopilot,
echo sounder, High Frequency Radio,

Institute, Paris, according to a report in ScienceInsider.

Jennifer Doudna has been in the
news for her pioneering work on
Crispr Cas 9, the latest tool for genome editing.
The researchers will study new
techniques in genome editing,
evolution and synthetic biology.
Allen will also fund two research centres, in Stanford, California, and in Tufts University,
Boston.

QUESTION CORNER
MOLES
IRS class vessel Sagar Haritha PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

Fuel Monitoring System, Global

Positioning System, Automatic
Identification System, Very High
Frequency Transceiver and NavTexsatellite based warning system. The
Trawl Telemetry System would give
inputs on how the trawl nets behave
during fishing operations, said M.V.
Baiju, the Naval Architect of the
project. The vessel operating
specialized energy eicient fishing
gear made of new generation
materials like Ultra High Molecular
Weight Polyethylene will be taken for
sea trials for the next one year. The
commercial version of the same
design is expected to cost around Rs.
One crore, the scientists said. The
stability, resistance, and sea-keeping

characteristics of the hull model were

optimized using Computational Fluid
Dynamic simulation software and
model testing. This modified hull can
reduce wave resistance, thereby
making the vessel fuel eicient,
according to the scientists. The vessel
has refrigerated sea water cooling
system for high quality fish
preservation. The wheel house made
of FRP ensures low heat conductivity,
light weight, increased stability and
low maintenance. Solar power for
navigational lighting, bulbous bow,
nozzle propeller are its other features
of the vessel, they said. P. Pravin, Saly
N Thomas, M. P. Remesan and Madhu
V. R, are the other scientists
associated with the project.

What are moles? How do they appear on an individual's body?

- Pranjali Yadav, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
A mole is a pigmented skin growth formed primarily by a cluster of melanocytes
(mature melanin forming cells) and surrounding supportive tissue. The scientific name
for a mole is a melanocytic nevus. They are rarely found on the breast, buttock, and
scalp. Moles are commonly 5 mm wide with brown, pink, or tan coloration and have a
smooth surface. On an average, an adult will have 10 to 40 moles. Moles are observed in
all races and skin colours. Moles can fade away over time, change in appearance and
number.
The primary factor for the development of moles is genetic makeup and the inheritance
of these genes from the parent to the offspring as seen in identical twins. In addition to
genetics and sun exposure, skin type also contributes to the mole formation. Moles may
show at birth, mostly they appear later in childhood and can also develop in late ages
up to 40. Very rarely, melanomas arise from the normal common moles. In most cases,
moles do not pose any health risk.
Azhwar Raghunath, Tamil Nadu
This week's question
How is the tail of a lizard able to move even after being cut of?
- Ashwin Nair, Sreekrishnapuram, Kerala.
Readers may send their questions/answers to questioncorner@thehindu.co.in

High-energy blip or herald of new physics?

SHUBASHREE DESIKAN

article physicists
are on a high-energy boost two
major
experiments in CERN
are looking like they are
on the verge of a massive
discovery. Both experiments have independently observed what seems
like signs of a new particle at energy of 750 giga
electronvolts. The experiments in question are the
Compact Muon Solenoid
experiment and the ATLAS experiment, of
CERN, both of which
smash together high energy proton beams and,
by studying what comes
out of these collisions,
probe the deep secrets of
particle physics. The experiments still have not
CM
YK

announced the detection

as a discovery, because
the statistical significance of these events is a
mite below the threshold
level of 5 sigma, which is
the minimum needed to
constitute a discovery.
Yet, conferences of particle physicists are vibrant with talk of the 750
GeV di-photon excess, as
it is known. Theorists are
rolling up their sleeves to
get to work, and experimentalists are expressing
a cautious optimism. If it
is true, it has got to imply
new physics, says Rohini
Godbole of Centre for
High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science.
A peek into this phenomenon is revealing. It is also interesting to wonder
what makes this potential
discovery so exciting for

At the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experience control room Photo: REUTERS

physicists.
Though at present it is
only accorded the status
of a statistical blip, the observed structure has been
detected independently
by the two experiments
which are totally diferent

in what they are geared to

detect. And what is more,
the signal has been
picked up at the same energy
of
750
giga
electrovolts.
Since two diferent experiments have detected

a blip at the same energy,

given the wide range of
energies scanned, it
would be too much of a
coincidence for it to be attributed to a systemic error. However, Prof. Godbole adds, The two

experiments would like

the width of the resonance to be very diferent
[in one experiment the
significance is higher for
a smaller width whereas
in the other the significance is high for a larger
width]. That is, the best
value of the width for
which they get the highest significance is diferent for the two experiments. That is the real
stumbling block. This is
not to say an overlap optimizing the significance
cannot be found.
To be sure, experimentalists are waiting for
more data to verify this
and obtain a result of
higher sigma value.
It is interesting that
with the 2012 discovery of
the Higgs Boson at 125
GeV, all the particles pre-

dicted by the Standard

Model of physics have
been discovered. So this
massive would-be particle would mean that there
is some physics beyond
the known. Physicists
have hypothesized on
this and theories are already flying around.
Some 235 papers have already been written, expounding on possible explanations
of
this
particle.
If this resonance (or
blip) would gather statistical significance, with
further analysis and data,
and if it is established as a
new particle, it could perhaps give evidence of supersymmetry (susy).
In particle physics, susy is a space-time symmetry relating particles having integer spin, known as

bosons (e.g., the Higgs

particle or photons), and
those having half-integer
spins, known as fermions
(e.g. electrons, protons).
This property has not
been discovered in nature
so far. But if it exists, and
evidence for this property is found, it could open
out a whole new world of
particles and their physics. Susy is also used in
String theories; hence,
evidence of susy would
add support to string theories, which aim to unify
all the forces in the world.
It does not fit straight
into any known model
perhaps supersymmetry
or a two-Higgs doublet
model but the values of
the parameters needed
for a supersymmetric
model seem to present a
challenge. With the given

values, we should have

seen supersymmetry earlier itself. [To explain]
why we havent would be
a challenge, says Prof.
Godbole.
So while things are still
not quite clear, there is a
nascent
excitement
brewing - of important
discoveries to come. One
thing, however, seems
true: If this resonance
were to be established as
a particle, it would not
come alone.
It would only herald
the discovery of a host of
other particles, not even
hypothesized until now
via the Standard Model.
Also, as Prof. Godbole
puts it, It [the discovery]
will help us set the energy
goals and luminosity
goals
for
future
accelerators.
ND-X