Category Environtal Studies

How to become an air quality specialist?

We often come across news articles describing the air quality in certain parts of the world as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The quality of air refers to the amount of pollutants present in the atmosphere. And it is the job of the air quality specialists to monitor air pollution and report it. Air quality specialists work for government and private agencies. They analyse the air we breathe to check if the air is safe and free of pollutants. Vigorous monitoring helps in altering people and initiating actions in case of extreme pollution. So if you want to help build sustainable, livable cities and contribute towards a low-carbon economy, then air quality assessment could be the right career option for you.

How it works

Air quality specialists test air samples from various environments and determine whether it meets the set standards. Monitoring air quality is also significant as policy makers can frame policies to curb air pollution and for the environment experts to understand the impact of policy changes. Real-time monitoring plays a key role in calculating air quality index (AQI) to issue health advisories as well as from action plans to meet standards.

Required skills

  • Analytical skills
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Good communication skills to simplify technical documents
  • Awareness of occupational safety and health issues
  • Interest in preserving the environment

Scope

In India, air quality specialists work with the Central Pollution Control Board, State pollution control boards, pollution control committees, and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in cities. Air quality specialists are also needed by non-government agencies and action groups working to reduce air pollution.

What to study?

If you are interested in pursuing a career as an air quality specialist, a degree in environmental engineering – Bachelors of Technology (B.Tech) is a must. A Bachelors (B.Sc) and a Masters (M.Sc) in Environmental Science will also be helpful.

Where:

  • Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. B.Tech in Environmental Engineering.
  • Ch BP Government Engineering College, New Delhi: B.Tech in Environmental Engineering.
  • Banaras Hindu University: M.Sc in Environmental Science (Environmental Technology)
  • Garware Institute of Development University of Mumbai: M.Sc in Sustainable Development and Environment Management.
  • Savitribai Phule University, Pune: M.Sc in Environmental Sciences.
  • Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi: M.Sc in Environmental Sciences.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Who built a prototype renewable energy-gathering HARVEST device?

A step towards clean energy

You know the future is in good hands when children are raising their voices against issues and inventing things that are beneficial to society.

One of them many things invented by children that can prove to be helpful to society is HARVEST, a bio-inspired energy device that captures energy from sun, rain and wind, and converts it to power.

Maanasa, and the inspiration

Maanasa Mendu is a 16-year old high school student from Ohio, the U.S. She has been interested in science since the beginning of her schooling.

Participating actively in the science fair project in her school, her first project was testing Vitamin C content of different fruits. She was surprised when she discovered that strawberries had more vitamin C content than oranges.

During one of her vacations to her grandparents place in rural India. Maanasa encountered frequent power cuts. She realised that the power would be cut off every day at the same time in an attempt to distribute power to other places. This would leave people in the darkness.

Maanasa was affected by this and decided to use her knowledge in science to help out with such situations.

It’s HARVEST time!

Once she returned, Maanasa built a prototype renewable energy-gathering device called HARVEST. HARVEST mimics the shape of a tree (though much smaller) and uses piezoelectric materials to capture power from wind and rain. Piezoelectric materials capture mechanical energy and convert them into electrical energy.

Maanasa worked with piezoelectric materials for a long while. She even entered her Class VII and VIII science fairs with piezoelectric projects.

Maanasa’s HARVEST was inspired by the movement of leaves. So, she built a small structure with piezoelectric stems and Styrofoam leaves – which looks like a tree, and made an entry video for the 2016 Young Scientist Challenge when she was in Class VIII.

Mannasa’s entry was selected and she spent the next few months working on her prototype and learning about renewables, electrical engineering, prototyping and more.

After discussion with her mentor about the practical requirements of a renewable energy source, Mannasa integrated flexible solar cells into the device. This meant the device could now harvest energy from the sun as well.

HARVEST now had a plastic bottle as the main structure, with three wings that mimic the leaves on a tree, These wings were fitted with solar cells. And her entire device cost just US $ 5! She has even managed to charge a mobile phone and power a 15-watt LED bulb using the device.

Mannasa’s invention went on to win the 2016 Young Scientist Challenge and the title of American’s Top Young Scientist.

She is currently working to commercialize the device.

 

Picture Credit : Google

When do glow worms glow?

The glow worm is not really a worm at all. It is a firefly in an early stage of development called the larval stage. Most adult fireflies never eat because they did all their eating when they were larvae. They hide during the daytime among the vegetation. After dark, the female climbs up plant stems and the top of her abdomen glows. The light from a larva’s glowing body attracts tiny flies and mosquitoes for the larva to eat.

The Waitomo Caves in New Zealand house a memorable type of glow worm. Tourists entering the Glowworm Grotto in small boats see thousands of lights on the cave ceiling. The glow worms look like stars in a night sky. If you cough or use a camera flash, the lights instantly go off. But wait quietly for a few minutes and they flicker back on, until the cave-ceiling ‘sky’ is again filled with ‘stars’.

Fact File:

Woodworm, the larvae of the furniture beetle, cause lots of damage to timber both in buildings and in the wild. The damage is evident from the holes they leave behind.

 

Picture Credit : Google

When do bees make honey?

Bees constantly make honey because it serves them as food. So the whole process of making honey is a way of storing up food for the bee colony. The first thing a bee does is visit flowers and drinks the nectar. Then it carries the nectar home in the honey sac. This is a bag like enlargement of the digestive tract just in front of the bee’s stomach. There is a valve that separates this section from the stomach.

The first step in the making of the honey takes place while the nectar is in the bee’s honey sac. The sugars found in the nectar undergo a chemical change. The next step is to remove a large part of the water from the nectar. This is done by evaporation, which takes place because of the heat of the hive, and by ventilation. Honey stored in the honeycombs by honeybees has so much water removed from the original nectar that it will keep almost forever! The honey is put into honeycombs to ripen, and to serve as the future food supply for the colony. Honeys differ in taste and appearance, depending on the source of the nectar.

Fact File:

Honey is removed from the hive by various methods. It may be squeezed from the comb by presses, or it may be sold in the combs cut from the hive. Most honey, however, is removed from the combs by a machine known as ‘a honey extractor’.

 

Picture Credit : Google

When do dragonflies eat?

Dragonflies are impressive insects with two pairs of powerful clear wings which enable them to catch insects on the wing. They have large eyes for spotting their prey. Dragonfly nymphs live in water and so the adults are usually seen near ponds, rivers and lakes. Some species have a feeding territory which they guard from other dragonflies – their clattering wings can sometimes be heard as they battle. When they mate, most species fly around in tandem before they lay their eggs in the water or among the waterside vegetation. Dragonfly nymphs are active carnivores. They feed on other insects, but can catch tadpoles or even small fish. On the underside of the head is a flap called the mask. This is armed with sharp jaws and fangs. At rest it is folded, but it can shoot out to catch its prey.

Fact File:

A dragonfly’s eyes are large and five it almost all-around vision. They are sensitive to the slightest movement around them. If you look closely you will be able to see the individual facets of the eye. Each one contains its own lens; together they help form the image seen.

 

Picture Credit : Google

When do caterpillars turn into butterflies?

Young insects develop in two main ways. Butterflies, bees and beetles, go through a process called metamorphosis. This means that their eggs hatch into larvae or caterpillars. Later these become a pupa or chrysalis, within an imago, or an adult insect, develops. The larvae may live in a different habitat from the adult and require different foods.

In species such as grasshoppers and locusts, the young that hatch from eggs look rather like small adults, and are called nymphs. As they grow, the nymphs shed their skins, looking more and more like adults each time.

Fact file:

The wings of a bee or wasp can beat as many as 250 times per second during flight. The wings of midges can beat as many as 1,000 times per second – which accounts for the high-pitched whine that these tiny insects make.

 

Picture Credit : Google