Category Science

Why is the use of renewable energy important?

           There are many reasons why renewable energy is important for the world and its future.

            The main advantage of these energies is that they are free of pollution. Renewable resources are way cleaner than fossil fuels because they don’t produce toxic wastes.

             Next, the reserves of these energies are never ending unlike coal, gas, oil or nuclear sources. Hence, they’re named renewables!

             Power production from fuels and other non-renewables demand a large-scale import of these resources at high prices. Also, their cost depends on the international market. In the case of renewable resources, it’s not needed as most of the energies depend on the Sun.

              There are many countries that depend largely on renewable resources. For instance, Denmark, UK, Scotland and Ireland make great use of wind energy.

              Denmark, which has been a pioneer in the field, gets around 42 per cent of its power from wind plants.

              And there are countries like China, and India that use of hydro power for electricity, which is equally safe.

 

Ashok Das

 
 
Ashok Das (born March 23, 1953) is an Indian American theoretical physicist, an author and award winning teacher of Physics. He is professor of physics at University of  Rochester  and  Ajunct professor of Physics at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and India and Institute of Physics, Bhabaneswar, India.
 
 Das was born in  Puri, Odisha. He received his BS (honours) in 1972 and MS in 1974 in physics from University of Delhi. He did his graduate studies in supersymmetry and supergravity at State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his PhD (Spin 3/2 Fields and Supergravity Theories) in 1977.
 
He was a research associate at the City College of New York, the University of Maryland and at Rutgers University before joining the University of Rochester in 1982. He was promoted to professor in 1993 and is still there. He is also the adjunct professor of physics at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in India.
 
Das’ research is in the area of theoretical high energy physics. He works on supersymmetry and supergravity. In recent years, he has worked extensively on non-linear integrable systems, which are systems which in spite of their complicated appearance can be exactly solved. He has also been working on finite temperature field theories, generalization of the Standard Model to incorporate CP violation, and problems in quantum field theory and string theory.
 
Institutions:
  • University of Rochester
  • Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata
Fields
  • Theoretical Physics
Awards
  • William H.Riker University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2006)
  • Fulbright Fellowship (1997, 2006)
  • Rockefeller Foundation Award (2004)
  • Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator (1983-1989)
  • Edward Peck Curtis Award (1991)

To know more about Ashok Das Click  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashok_Das 

Patcha Ramachandra Rao

Patcha Ramachandra Rao (21 March 1942 – 10 January 2010) was a metallurgist and administrator. He has the unique distinction of being the only Vice-Chancellor (2002–05) of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) who was also a student (1963–68) and faculty (1964–92) at that institution. From 1992 to 2002, Rao was the Director of the National Metallurgical Laboratory Jamshedpur. After his tenure as Vice-Chancellor of B.H.U., in 2005, he took the reins of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) as its first Vice-Chancellor. He was to serve DIAT until his superannuation in 2007. From 2007 till the end, Rao was a Raja Ramanna Fellow at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

Institutions

  • Indian Institute of Technology (BHU)
  • National Metallurgical Laboratory
  • Defence Institute of Advanced Technology
  • Indian Institute of Science, Osmania University?

Fields

  • Metallurgy
  • Material science
  • Engineering

Awards

  • Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1985)
  • National Metallurgist Award (2004)
  • Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Gold Medal. INSA (2005)?

Honorary positions

·        President, The Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials (APAM), India Chapter

·        President, Indian Institute of Metals

·        Vice-President, Materials Research Society of India

·        Vice-President, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.

·        Sectional President, Materials Science Section, Indian Science Congress

 

To know more about Patcha Ramachandra Rao Click  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patcha_Ramachandra_Rao

Why is it said that Orkut was a milestone invention?

          As we know, Orkut was perhaps the first social networking website developed on a grand scale at a time when the world did not have enough advanced tools for communication.

          The service greatly helped people connect with others, with lost friends, with kith and kin staying far away, not just by chatting, but by sharing photos too.

          It was also a platform that enabled setting up of online ‘profiles’ that are very common today. In 2009, when the site was redesigned, it came out as faster, simpler, and more customizable. It also included video chat, promotions and easy navigation.

           Orkut was very popular in Asian countries as well as in others including Brazil. By 2014, Orkut met with strong competition from its successor sites including Facebook, YouTube, and Google+. On September 30th of the same year, it was officially shut down.

           However, Orkut remains a milestone in the history of IT for its contributions, and for being the idea behind the later social media services. 

What is WikiLeaks?

       WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization founded by journalist Julian Assange on October 4th, 2006. It is known for publishing secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources across the world.

       Founder Assange is the director and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. In his words, the site is a giant library of the world’s most persecuted documents. Initiated in Iceland, the site claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. It is funded largely by volunteers, and is dependent on public donations too.

       In April 2010, WikiLeaks published the Collateral Murder video which showed the killings of many Iraqis. The following year, it released secret files about prisoners detained in the US military’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

       Julian Assange has received threats, as well as support from all over the world. 

What are known as woodland butterflies?

Because of the variety of food sources, more species of butterfly are found in woodlands than in any other habitat.

      Some species of butterfly can be found flying at a low level in shady woodland clearings, while others live high among the treetops. Other species of butterfly live along woodland edges, and in areas where people have cleared forests.

    Some of the examples are The Acadian Hairstreak, the Purple hairstreak, the speckled wood and the comma etc. other examples are the White Admiral, large Tortoiseshell, and the silver-washed Fritillary.