Children Science Congress begins with interactive dialogue of Prof. Yashpal

It was a real feast of knowledge for students as well as the audience at the inaugural ceremony of the Children Science Congress when Prof. Yashpal invited school students to the dais and explained the mystery of the sound of clapping

Science Congress is an Important Platform for Bringing

The Indian Science Congress is an annual session generally held from 3rd to 7th January among the scientists of different disciplines, science managers, policy makers and the general public to give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to the scientific inquiry, to promote the interaction of societies and individuals interested in science in different parts of the country and to obtain a more general attention to the objects of pure and applied sciences.

CHILDREN SCIENCE CONGRESS AT GUJARAT SCIENCE CITY

About 250 students from all over the country will participate in children science congress at the science city starting from January 3. The congress, a part of the Indian science congress, will be a unique event for children of Gujarat, to interact with the selected students from different parts of the country. The Children Science Congress is a part of the 92nd Indian Science Congress which is being held this year in Ahmedabad.

Tsunami: A new name in earthquake disaster !

For thousands of fisher folk, who had gone like every morning into the sea, it was again the same story - suddenly being caught in a phenomenon, tsunami, which struck India for the first time in recorded history.

New Tender Announced

TENDER DOCUMENT FOR
LIGHTING AND SOUND SYSTEMS FOR CULTURAL PERFORMANCES AT GLOBAL INVESTORS'
SUMMIT 2005
AT GUJARAT SCIENCE CITY, AHMEDABAD.

Winning the war against genetic diseases

ONE OF the potential benefits of Human Genome Project is in the field of gene therapy. Each of us carries about half a dozen defective genes. We remain blissfully unaware of this fact unless we, or one of our close relatives, are amongst the many millions who suffer from a genetic disease. About one in ten people has or will develop at some later stage, an inherited genetic disorder, and approximately 2,800 specific conditions are known to be caused by defects (mutations) in just one of the patient's genes. Some single gene disorders are quite common-cystic fibrosis is found in one out of every 2500 babies born in the Western World and in total, diseases that can be traced to single gene defects account for about 5 percent of all admissions to children's hospitals.
Most of us do not suffer any harmful effects from our defective genes be cause we carry two copies of nearly all genes, one derived from our mother and the other from our father. The only exceptions to this rule are the genes found on the male sex chromosomes. Males have one X and one Y chromosomes, the former from the mother and the latter from the father, so each cell has only one copy of the genes on these chromosomes. In the majority of cases, one normal gene is sufficient to avoid all the symptoms of diseases. If the potentially harmful gene is recessive, then its normal counterpart will carry out all the tasks assigned to both. Only if we inherit from our parents two copies of the same recessive gene will a disease develop.

Toxic wastes as fertilisers Poisoning or nourishing ?

Wastelands: The threat of toxic fertilisers," released recently by the national and state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) of the United States, reveals that a total of 22 toxic metals, including arsenic and lead , were found in the common fertilisers in the US. Fertiliser products become contaminated when manufacturers buy toxic wastes from industrial facilities to obtain low cost plant nutrients such as zinc or iron.


Human Genome Project A special Report

The complete set of instructions for making an organism is called its genome. It contains the master blueprint for all cellular structures and activities for the lifetime of the cell or organism. Found in every nucleus of a person's many trillions of cells, the human genome consists of tightly coiled threads of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and associated protein molecules, organized into structures called chromosomes.
Some DNA details : If unwound and tied together, the strands of DNA would stretch more than 5 feet but would be only 50 trillionths of an inch wide. For each organism, the components of these slender threads encode all the information necessary for building and maintaining life, from simple bacteria to remarkably complex human beings. Understanding how DNA performs this function requires some knowledge of its structure and organization.


Drink water, keep heart healthy

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California found that people who drank at least five glasses of water each day were less likely to die from a heart attack than those who drank two or fewer glasses per day. In contrast, people who drank a lot of other fluids were more likely to die from heart attack than those who drank less, with high levels of non water drinking in women associated with a more than twofold increased risk of death

How sound becomes electric

SCIENTISTS FROM THE Centre for Hearing and Balance at Johns Hopkins have discovered how tiny cells in the inner ear change sound into an electrical signal the brain can understand.

Their finding, published in a recent issue of Nature Neuroscience, cound improve the design and programming of hearing aids and cochlear implants by filling in a 'black hole' in scientists understanding of how we hear, say the researchers.

"Sound itself is mechanical, a wave that moves, just like the ripples fanning out from a pebble dropped in a lake," says Paul Fuchs, professor of otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "When the inner ear detects this wave, a burst a nerve sends an electrical signal to the brain that carries information about the original sound. But the nature of the chemical burst has been a mystery until now."


Vascular surgeon with a vision

Many of the serious illnesses, be it heart attack, stroke or problems, have their origin in blood vessels. But the surgeon who deals with the blood vessels, the lifeline of the human body, is the least known.
Dr. S.A. Hussain is not angry with this public ignorance or the unfavourable treatment the surgeons of vessels, called vascular surgeons, receive. Instead, he is on a campaign to sensitise people and to improve public health.


New asthma treatment

Three potent proteins of the immune system, evolved to purge us of intestinal parasites, now often launch misguided attacks in our airways, triggering the congestion of asthma that leaves millions gasping for air.
By studying the genetic machinery that controls production of these immune soldiers called cytokines, a team of scientists has demonstrated a potential strategy to silence their misfiring and quell the asthma response.

Mechanical heart moves ahead

A daring experiment testing a self- contained mechanical heart offers new hope for thousands with failing heart, many of whom may die while waiting for transplants.

First genetically altered babies born

The world's first genetically modified babies have been born after women unable to conceive naturally underwent a revolutionary new fertility treatment used by scientists at a New Jersey medical facility, a researcher said this week.


Low Cost Cholera Vaccine

Trials of a cholera vaccine manufactured in Vietnam at a cost of about only 20 US cents a dose have produced encouraging results, especially for children, an international team of researchers reports in the World Health Organisation's latest issue of The Bulletin. A team headed by Professor Dang Duc Trach at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi concluded that the vaccine was "safe and immunogenic" and "could elicit robust immune responses".