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Who invented artificial sweetener saccharin?

Did you know Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg accidentally invented the first artificial sweetener saccharin while working on coal tar derivatives?

The first artificial sweetener to be invented was saccharin. Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg is credited with this invention, which was actually pretty accidental. In the late 1870s,

 Fahlberg was working with another chemist, Ira Remsen. Together, they were studying substances derived from coal tar. One evening, Fahlberg returned home and sat down for dinner. As he bit into a roll, he found it sweet. He asked his wife about this, but she claimed that her rolls were perfectly normal. Fahlberg then tasted his fingers. They were sweet. He rushed back to his lab and began checking up all that he had done that day. He found that he had accidentally invented a substance that was as sweet as sugar, but had no fattening effects like sugar. He named this substance ‘saccharin’

Fahlberg shared the news of the invention with Remsen, but he filed a patent claiming that he was the sole inventor of saccharin. Saccharin caught on commercially and Fahlberg grew rich. This upset Remsen who was a part of the discovery.

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Who invented adhesive tape?

It was American Richard Gurley Drew who came up with the world’s first transparent cellophane adhesive tape in 1930.

The first instance of an adhesive tape was seen in 1845 when Dr Horace Day, an American surgeon, applied rubber glue to strips of cloth to invent surgical tape. Then Johnson & Johnson invented the Band-Aid in 1920.

However, it was a college dropout who came up with a tape that could be used for non-medical purposes. Richard Gurley Drew was a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student when he joined a small sandpaper company called the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later called 3M Company) as a lab technician.

In the 1920s, two-tone paint jobs were very popular with car owners. Once, Drew was at an auto shop, testing his company’s sandpaper samples when he overheard the auto painters complaining about the difficulty in making a clean border between the two colours. The incident gave him the idea of developing a masking tape, which when laid on the car, would prevent paint from seeping through and also come off clean without spoiling the paint finish and leaving no sticky residue.

It took Drew two years of experimentation to produce the world’s first paper-based adhesive masking tape. During the trials, there was too little adhesive on the tape and it kept falling off. The frustrated auto painter snapped and said, “Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!” (‘Scotch’ meant ‘stingy’.) That is how the tape came to be branded as Scotch Tape in 1925.

Scotch Tape was a huge success and Drew followed it up with the world’s first transparent cellophane adhesive tape in 1930. In the U.K., it was called Sellotape.

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What’s a binary star system?

When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other. It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

Did you know that the light that we observe coming from a star in the sky may not be produced by a single star? That the light emanating from the single point may actually be light coming out from two or even more stars that are orbiting together? These are called multiple-star systems.

The most common star system that you come across will be a binary star system that comprises two stars. When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other.

Did you know that most stars are in binary systems? It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

While the brighter star is called the primary star, the dimmer one is called the secondary. If the stars are of equal brightness, then the discoverer gets to decide on the designation.

Binary stars are very important from an astronomic point of view as they help in understanding stellar evolution. They help determine the masses and luminosities of stars.

But how are these binary stars formed? The most common way of formation of a binary star system is by a process called fragmentation.

According to this, the gas and dust cloud which collapses to form a star splits into two or more stars due to their instability or cooling/heating effects.

These fragments or stars then evolve separately and form the binary star system. But there are rare incidents when a massive star captures a passing one, as the star travels through the galaxy and thereby creates a new binary pair.

Binary pairs can be classified based on a number of factors. One such classification is on how they are observed viz. visual binaries.

They are called visual binaries when the two stars have a wide separation when viewed through a telescope.

The first binary stars to be ever spotted were visual binaries. In 1617, at the behest of a scientist, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei used his telescope to focus on a star at the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, a constellation.

It was discovered that this wasn’t a single star, but two stars which later turned out to be six. Sir William Herschel, who is known for cataloguing 700 pairs of stars, used the term binary for the first time in 1802 to refer to the double stars.

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Sci-fi novels that shaped reality

Science fiction (sci-fi) and scientific innovation have been intertwined since the creation of this genre. Here are five marvellous inventions that were inspired by sci-fi.

The Taser

The Taser stun gun is a hand-held electrical non-lethal weapon used by police and law enforcement officers around the world. Invented by Jack Cover, an American aerospace scientist in the 1960s-70s, this device takes inspiration from English writer Victor Appleton’s young adult sci-fi novel ‘Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911)’. The purpose of creating this device was to provide an alternative to the firearms that the air marshals were supposed to carry and use in case of a hijack. This invention was a solution to the concern that firing a gun on a plane could damage important and sophisticated machinery or pierce the fuselage.

Cover’s invention pays homage to Appleton’s book, and its name TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. The scientist is said to have added the ‘A’ to make the word easier to pronounce.

Liquid-fuelled rockets

The idea of rockets, space travel, and exploration might not sound exceptionally futuristic today, but for 16-year-old Robert H. Goddard coming across this idea for the first time in English novelist H.G. Wells’s ‘The War of the Worlds’ (1898) was something right out of a dream. The famed father of rocketry invented and launched the world’s first liquid-fuelled rocket in 1926, making space travel a reality. A few years after this momentous event, the NASA physicist penned a letter to Wells elaborating on the “deep impression” his novel made on the American inventor and motivated him to take this journey “aiming at the stars” both literally and figuratively.

World Wide Web

Millions of people across the globe use the World Wide Web every day. They access it through computers, phones and other digital devices. From ordering food to sharing one’s location or some news and pictures with others, we use the Web all the time.

The first proposal for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Talking about the motivation behind this invention, the English computer scientist said, “I believe If you connect people up and you take away the national boundaries and you just leave humanity connected, it will naturally become better.” He also credited Arthur C. Clarke’s short story ‘Dial F’ for Frankenstein as the inspiration behind the World Wide Web. Acknowledging the impact of his story on Berners-Lee, the English sci-fi writer declared, “I guess I am the godfather of the World Wide Web.”

Humanoid robots ASTRO BOY

Japan’s Tomotaka Takahashi is one of the world’s leading new-generation robot scientists. In 2013, his humanoid robot named Kirobo became the world’s first talking robot sent into space to keep astronauts company. Talking about his passion for robotics in an interview, Takahashi said “When I was about six, I started reading the manga comic ‘Astro Boy’ after finding it lying around at home. My dream, from that moment on, was to become a robot scientist. I made my first robot around the same time, from a soapbox and duct tape complete with a robot face.” Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Astro Boy’ is a manga series that ran from 1952 to 1968. It chronicles the adventures of the titular humanoid. The Japanese scientist also admitted that his 13-inch-tall robot Kirobo’s design and colour palette are heavily inspired by the friendly manga character.

Helicopter

Since the beginning of time, the idea of flying from one place to another in little time has been a fascinating topic. The helicopter is one of the many inventions that aimed to accomplish this. Russian-American aviator Igor Sikorsky is credited with inventing the modern helicopter. As a child, his parents exposed him to the technical drawings of da Vinci and encouraged him to pursue science. As a curious kid growing up in Russia, he was fascinated by Jules Verne’s 1886 novel ‘Robur the Conqueror (which is also known as The Chipper of the Clouds)’. This book’s description of a flying machine called the ‘Albatross’ inspired Sikorsky’s design of the helicopter. Starting test flights in 1939, Sikorsky’s aircraft was ready for larger production by 1942.

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What is the importance of elephants in the natural ecosystem?

Elephants are the largest land mammals, and also a keystone species, meaning they play a crucial role in keeping the natural ecosystem balanced. Despite such a significant function, the numbers of Aafrican elephants dwindled over the last few centuries due to European colonisation, poaching, and habitat loss. Now the species faces an additional challenge – drought. This climate change-induced drought in Africa can also affect more than one generation of these gentle giants. How? Come, let’s find out.

Droughts in most African regions have become longer and more acute. Some have lasted for over two decades. And this can affect elephant populations in more ways than one. “Heat accumulates through an elephant’s natural metabolism and physical activity, as well as being absorbed from the environment.” But they cannot sweat it off the way humans do because they lack sweat glands. Further, their thick skin slows loss of heat. This is where water comes in; it helps regulate the animal’s body temperature and keep it cool. Not just drinking, even swimming and spraying their skin with mud and water cools them down.

Without water, elephants can experience high internal temperatures, which “can disrupt the function of cells, tissues and organs such as the liver and cause them to become sick and die”.

Importantly, drought “can also reduce the availability of food, causing elephants to starve. It can also mean young elephants die or don’t develop properly, because their parched mothers produce less milk”. This is to say, longer-lasting droughts can affect the next generation or even prevent the very existence of that generation.

The creation of artificial water sources for elephants could lead to denial of water to humans and also ecosystem damage due to animal congregation at a specific spot. So, the answer to saving the elephants could be in creating or restoring wildlife corridors.

Traditionally, these animals moved to other places in search of water during droughts. But this has been affected due to fences, fragmented habitats, etc.

Conservationists stress the need for finding such solutions. Because, if we don’t find solutions, and quickly, at that, we risk losing not just this majestic beast but also so many other species that depend on it for their survival.

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What happens to the black box when a plane crashes?

When a plane crashes, the investigators search for the black boxes to determine the cause for the accident.

Recently, a plane crashed just before landing in Nepal’s tourist city of Pokhara. To investigate the reason for the crash, the authorities soon rushed to the spot to search for black boxes. Do you know what they are?

Black boxes

Black boxes are large metallic boxes containing recorders kept on most aircraft, one in the front and the other in the back. They help in establishing legal liability and identifying causes of the accident and, hence, help prevent adverse incidents in the future.

Features

Black boxes are usually referred to by aviation experts as electronic flight data recorders. Though these boxes are known as black boxes, they are painted in highly visible vermilion colour known as “international orange”. The colour helps the crew at the crash site search for the black boxes.

Flight recorders consist of two functional devices the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Sometimes these devices are packaged in one combined unit. Digital recorders have enough storage for 25 hours of flight data but only two hours of cockpit voice recording, which is recorded over itself in a loop.

 FDRs are usually double-wrapped in titanium or stainless steel, and, hence, can withstand harsh conditions. Besides, the flight recorders have crash survivable memory unit (CSMU) wherein a memory chip stores data to allow recovery of data from wreckage.

Every flight data recorder has a tool called an underwater location beacon (ULB), which makes it possible for  investigators to find it if a plane crashes into a body of water.

While black boxes are virtually indestructable, planes are not made of the same material.

Building the entire plane out of the black box would make it too heavy to fly.

FDR

The FDR records more than 80 different types of information such as altitude, airspeed, flight heading, vertical acceleration, pitch, roll, autopilot status, etc. They are commonly carried in the tail of the aircraft, which is usually the part that is least affected in the event of a crash.

CVR

The CVR, kept in the front, records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, such as conversations between the pilots, and engine noises.

Besides, aircraft sounds audible in the cockpit are also caught on the recorder.

History

In 1939, French engineers François Hussenot and Paul Beaudouin invented a flight recorder, which could record altitude and speed information on a piece of photographic film.

During World War II, analysing crashes of military aircraft became important. As civil aviation developed in the years after World War II, “crash-survivable” flight recorders began to be developed.

An Australian scientist, David Warren designed the first combined FDR and CVR. During the 1960s, crash-protected FDRS and CVRS became mandatory on aircraft around the world. Australia was the first country to make black boxes mandatory.

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The Sunni Dam and the promise of green energy

The hydro electric project in Himachal Pradesh is expected to generate 1,382 million units of green energy annually and help reduce CO2 emissions significantly.

The government has approved Rs 2,614.51 crore for the Sunni Dam Hydro Electric Project in Himachal Pradesh. Where is the dam coming up and what is its significance? Let’s find out…

Over River Sutlej

The 382 MW Sunni Dam Hydro Electric Project will come up over the river Sutlej, covering both Shimla and Mandi districts. It is constructed by state-owned SJVN Limited at an estimated cost of Rs. 2614.51 crore. The project is expected to be completed in five years.

The proposal to build the dam is expected to provide various benefits to local suppliers/enterprises/ MSMEs and encourage entrepreneurship opportunities within the country besides contributing to socio-economic development of the region. The implementation of the project is also expected to generate employment for about 4,000 persons during its peak construction.

Run-of-the-river project

According to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), a public sector undertaking involved in hydroelectric power generation and transmission, the run-of-the-river project will have a 71-metre-high gravity dam (one constructed from concrete), and six generating units in its surface powerhouse. Typically, a run-of-the-river hydroelectric generation plant will have no water storage or a limited storage. In other words, it’s a facility that channels flowing water from a river through a canal to spin a turbine to enable power generation.

Green energy

The Sunni dam project will generate 1,382 million units of green energy annually and help reduce CO2 emissions equal to 1.1 million tonnes per year. Why is hydropower considered eco-friendly? Amidst intensification of human-induced climate warming, the fact that no fuels are burnt to generate hydropower and no emissions are released into the atmosphere in the process makes it a clean form of energy. The Sunni dam project is scheduled to be commissioned within 63 months of the commencement of construction.

Free power to HP government

On commissioning, 13% of the power generated will be provided free of cost to the Himachal Pradesh government, including 1% for the local area development fund. Usually, large dam constructions involve displacement of people in the respective regions. According to SJVN MD Nand Lal Sharma, each family affected by the project will get 100 units of free electricity per month for 10 years.

The aim of the hydroelectric power project is to fulfil a steady rise in electricity demand in the Northern Region by producing as much energy as possible, with minimum cost and fewer negative impacts on the environment. It is said that this hydro project will play a crucial role in balancing the grid over the intermittent nature of solar and wind power, and will significantly contribute towards the Government’s vision of providing uninterrupted electricity supply to people.

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What is the secret behind Roman concrete?

Researchers have solved a long-standing riddle to explain why Roman concrete is so durable.

There’s no denying that the ancient Romans were masters of engineering. They constructed vast networks of roads, ducts, ports, and buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Rome’s famous Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, has stood the test of time for nearly 2,000 years and remains intact.

All this is in stark contrast to modern concrete structures that have crumbled after just a few decades. While researchers have spent decades trying to figure out the secrets behind this ultra-durable ancient construction material, a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and labs in Italy and Switzerland has made some progress. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances in January 2023.

Role of lime clasts

Close examination of these ancient samples revealed that they contain small, distinctive, bright white mineral features, recognised as a ubiquitous component of Roman concretes. Referred to as “lime clasts”, these white chunks originate from lime, another key component of the ancient concrete mix.

While these lime clasts have previously been disregarded as evidence of sloppy mixing practices or even poor-quality raw materials, this study suggests that it was these lime clasts that gave the concrete self-healing capabilities that were unrecognised so far.

Quicklime’s effect

Researchers wondered if the Romans directly used lime in its more reactive form, quicklime, rather than slaked lime (calcium oxide mixed with water). Studying the samples showed certain inclusions and clues that these would have formed at extreme temperatures. This bode well for their hypothesis as extreme temperatures are expected from exothermic reactions produced by using quicklime, as opposed to, or in addition to, the slaked lime in the mixture. The team concluded that hot-mixing played a pivotal role in the super-durable nature of the concrete.

To prove that this is the case, the team then created samples of hot-mixed concrete that incorporated both modern and ancient formulations. These were then deliberately cracked and water was made to run through the cracks.

The self-healing nature of concrete thus created meant that the cracks completely healed within two weeks due to the reaction with water and water could no longer flow. In the case of an identical slab of concrete made without quicklime, it never healed and the water kept flowing.

The success of these tests have prompted the team to try and commercialise their modified cement material. The extended lifespan of these concrete forms can help reduce the environmental impact of cement production, which currently accounts for nearly 8% of global greenhouse emissions.

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Who was Olga Owens Huckins?

A journalist and nature lover, Olga Owens Huckins wrote two letters – one of which was published in ‘The Boston Herald’ on January 29, 1958 – in quick succession expressing her dismay regarding the usage of DDT as a pesticide. One of these letters prompted American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist Rachel Carson to write Silent Spring, now considered a classic in the environmental sciences.

There is no doubting the fact that we, human beings, have been responsible for more’ environmental degradation than any other living species. As we continue our search for longer lifespans and more comfortable living, we seem to be indiscriminately damaging the world around us.b

Despite the knowledge we possess and the awareness of the damage we are causing, there seems to be little collective will to lead to resolute actions on a consistent basis. That said, there have been a number of individuals through the course of history who’ve made change possible with their doggedness. Olga Owens Huckins and Rachel Carson were two such American women.

Birds drop dead

A journalist and nature lover, Huckins and her husband had created a little bird sanctuary on their property. When the Massachusetts’ programme to control mosquitoes sprayed dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, in their area, Huckins noticed birds and insects too dropping dead in her garden.

As there was little she could do herself about it, Huckins conveyed her anger through a letter that she sent to ‘The Boston Herald.’ This letter, titled ‘Evidence of Havoc by DDT’, was published in the newspaper on January 29, 1958.

Seeking to reach out to people in power at Washington who might be able to stop the aerial spraying, Huckins shot off another powerful letter to her old friend Carson. A marine biologist, writer, and conservationist, Carson had spent much of her life studying, observing, and writing about nature. Having already heard about DDT since it was developed in the 1940s as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides, Carson decided to delve deeper into the subject.

Not a miracle substance

DDT was perceived as a miracle substance that could work wonders. It was used with great effect to combat insect-borne diseases such as malaria in many populations. It was sought after by farmers as they saw it as a boon in their fight against pests to save crops.

The more she read about DDT and other insecticides, however, the more convinced she was that the ongoing indiscriminate spraying was untenable. Unable to gain the interest of any magazine to write on the subject with what were then seen as controversial views, Carson decided to go ahead with a book with the wealth of research she possessed. “Knowing what I do, there would be no future peace for me if I kept silent,” she said, and decided on the title for her book – Silent Spring.

In her book, which took her four years to complete and was first published in June 1962, Carson spoke about how DDT enters the food chain and gets accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans, causing cancer and even genetic damage. The success of the book meant that for the first time there was public concern surrounding the improper use of pesticides and the need for better controls around their usage.

Faces personal attack

Just as she had anticipated, there was a barrage of questions that followed, as she was targeted by the chemical industry and by some in the government, with many even attacking her personally. Her meticulous preparation and copious notes put her in good stead, and when she testified before Congress in 1963, she called for new governing policies that protected the health of both humans and the environment.

Even though Carson didn’t live to see it (she died in 1964), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the usage of DDT in 1972, based on its adverse environmental impact and potential risk to humans. Even though the dangers of its usage are by now well-established, DDT is still used in some countries, including India, to control mosquitoes that spread malaria. India, in fact, is one of the last countries that still manufactures DDT.

Carson once said that “The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth.” Carson and Huckins definitely did that and also took it to the masses. If there is a lasting legacy of ‘Silent Spring’, it would be the fact that the vulnerability of nature to human intervention was laid bare. And yet, 60 years on, there are many out there who continue to disagree.

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