BBC knowledge - April 2014

BBC knowledge - April 2014

A Times of India publication Volume Issue April 2014 `125 SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND PREPARING FOR Your guide to survive on the Red Planet p26 R.N.I.MAHENG/2010/35422 contents Cover story 26 Preparing For Mars We look at what you need to pack in your bag for a journey to Mars features 32 Portfolio: Nocturnal Animals corbis x2, OEWF/KATJA Zanella-kux, hdwallpapers.in, science photo library, wiki, 123rf.com x2, sameer pawar The animals all come out to play at night; Eric Médard captures the nocturnal wildlife in an array of photographs 40 10 Things You Didn't Know About Sleep Ever wonder what your body does while you are sleeping 42 The Shadow Universe Making sense of the Universe and what lies within it 50 NASA’s Craziest Ideas NASA is synonymous with space technology Take a look at 10 projects that border on the bizzare 58 Origins Of Islam Historian Meenakshi Jain talks about the genesis and the formation of Islam as a religion 62 How Smart Are Dolphins? Find out whether the large brain size of the dolphins equates to them having higher intelligence 68 India's Border Wars The cloak and dagger circumstances that led India to defend its borders post independence 70 How Do We Know: The Structure Of The Periodic Table The periodic table is a familiar classroom affair Find out what led to the discovery of the elements 76 Ye Olde Travel Guide: Madrid, 1621 Pretend you are taking a trip through Madrid in the year 1621 78 Killed By Their Own Inventions The stories behind the ironic demise of scientists killed by their own inventions April 2014 regulars Q&A Our panel of experts answer the questions you’ve always wanted to ask 14 Snapshot Outstanding photographs to inform and engage 20 Update The latest intelligence - A nano drug delivery breakthrough and how scientists can now detect water vapour on exo-planets 82 Inside The Pages An excerpt from The Great Speeches of Modern India, edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee, which recounts former PM Indira Gandhi's speech declaring a state of emergency on 12 June 1975 84 Resorce Our picks offer the best of science, history and nature on the web 42 68 62 50 86 Edu Talk Interview with Kiran Bir Sethi, Director of Riverside School, Ahmedabad 90 87 Games Review We review the latest video games released in the market 88 Gadgets Lowdown on gadgets riding the new green technological wave 90 Puzzle Pit A veritable buffet of brain teasers guaranteed to test your mind 94 In Focus Elon Musk, billionaire visionary, engineer, and entrepreneur who is transforming the way we travel 58 82 78 from the editor The great Jocelyn Bell-Burnell was in the country recently and BBC Knowledge got the rare opportunity to speak with her For those unacquainted with Burnell, she was the one who discovered radio pulsars in the late 60s Hers’ is a very intriguing story There was an outrage in the scientific circles as Burnell was left out when the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974 was given to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish and Martin Ryle for the discovery Of the episode, she said, “I believe it would demean the Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I not believe this is one of them.” Read Burnell’s interview on page 24 The discovery of radio pulsars has affected fascinating areas of research in astronomy, such as black holes and dark matter Another feature inside, The Shadow Universe, (pg 42) is about the enigma of dark matter – a phenomenon suggested to explain some wonky behaviour of the Universe, such as the whizzing stars (faster than usual) circling on the outskirts of spiral galaxies like ours What is keeping them in check from flinging themselves into far off space? But questionable behaviour is not only some stars’ prerogative NASA has laid claim to some of that too Audacious and insane, these ideas are set to change how we will explore space (pg 50) Exploring Mars on the other hand is on the cards sometime very soon A TV show plans to send manned-missions from 2024 every two years And over 200,000 people globally have applied to travel one way Read the cover story on page 26 Mrigank sharma (India Sutra) This issue is not only about space and astronomy Find out about scientists who died while testing their own inventions And the real story about dolphins’ intelligence And the Origins of Islam, along with the 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sleep Starting with this edition, we introduce Ye Olde Travel Guide – a witty informative walk around a city of the world from a time that is not the present We start with Madrid of the 1620s On page 76 Enjoy experts this issue Jocelyn Bell-Burnell discovered radio pulsars She is an astrophysicist who has worked in areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, and observing new sources from radio frequencies to high energy gamma rays See page 24 Sean Blair is a freelance writer, a space expert, science journalist and currently is the web editor for the European Space Agency website In this issue, he talks about how to make the journey to Mars and how to live the Martian way of life See page 26 Meenakshi Jain is a former Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library She is currently the associate professor of History at Delhi University In this issue, she takes us through the conception and formation of Islam as a religion See page 58 Justin Gregg is a science writer and the author of the book Are Dolphins Really Smart? A background interest in linguistics and the evolution of language, his research focuses on the dolphin's social cognition In this issue, he talks about what is intelligence and how animals use their grey matter See page 62  Send us your letters Has something you’ve read in BBC Knowledge Magazine intrigued or excited you? Write in and share it with us We’d love to hear from you and we’ll publish a selection of your comments in the forthcoming issues Email us at : edit.bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in We welcome your letters, while reserving the right to edit them for length and clarity By sending us your letter you permit us to publish it in the magazine We regret that we cannot always reply personally to letters Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagind edit.bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in www.knowledgemagazine.in April 2014 Download this current issue from www.zinio.com • www.magzter.com • www.rockasap.com • www.readwhere.com Here’s how to get in touch Team India Chief Executive Officer Tarun Rai Editor Preeti Singh Features Editor Kamna Malik Senior Features Writer Moshita Prajapati Features Writer Amanda Peters Art Director Suneela Phatak Senior Graphic Designer Navin Mohit Digital Imaging Editor Shailesh Salvi Senior Editorial Coordinator Harshal Wesavkar Brand Publisher Soela Joshi Senior Brand Executive Dipti Satwani Chief Financial Officer Subramaniam S Publisher, Print & Production Controller Joji Varghese UK Team Editor Graham Southorn Deputy Editor Andy Ridgway Art Editor Joe Eden Publisher Andrew Davies Managing Director Andy Marshall Phone T Immediate MediaCo Chairman Stephen Alexander Deputy Chairman Peter Phippen CEO Tom Bureau International Partners Manager Anna Brown Subscriptions National Subscriptions Marketing Manager Assistant General Manager (RMD Magazines) BBC Worldwide Magazines Unit Managing Director Nicholas Brett Publishing Director Chris Kerwin Editorial Director Jenny Potter Unit Coordinator Eva Abramik Priyadarshi Banerjee Suparna Sheth subscriptions.wwm@wwm.co.in suparna.sheth@timesgroup.com Subscription Centres: North 011 – 39898090 East 033 – 39898090 West 022 – 39898090 South 080 – 39898090 To subscribe online, visit: mags.timesgroup.com/bbc-knowledge.html • SMS: KNOWSUB to 58888 Sales Director Ad Sales and Business Development Jyoti Verma jyoti.verma@wwm.co.in MUMBAI Associate Vice President Gautam Chopra gautam.chopra@wwm.co.in West Neelam Menon neelam.menon@wwm.co.in Sohan Singh sohan.singh@wwm.co.in Sameer Chhabra sameer.chhabra@wwm.co.in Niraj Dubey niraj.dubey@wwm.co.in Vikram Singh vikram.singh@wwm.co.in Sen Thomas sen.thomas@wwm.co.in Chennai ON Rajesh on.rajesh@wwm.co.in Rajeshkumar Jagdish rajeshkumar.jagdish@wwm.co.in @ DELHI/NOIDA Business Head North General Manager BENGALURU Business Head South EMAIL Rashmi Pradeep rashmi.pradeep1@wwm.co.in KOCHI East Post  WEBSITE General Manager Alka Kakar alka.kakar@wwm.co.in Editorial, advertising and subscription enquiries BBC Knowledge Magazine, Worldwide Media, The Times of India Building, 4th floor, Dr D N Road, Mumbai 400001 www.knowledgemagazine.in Printed and published by Joji Varghese for and on behalf of Worldwide Media Pvt Ltd., The Times of India Building, 4th floor, Dr D N Road, Mumbai 400001 and printed at Rajhans Enterprises, No 134, 4th Main Road, Industrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore 560044, India Editor- Preeti Singh The publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are correct However, we accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions Unsolicited material, including photographs and transparencies, is submitted entirely at the owner’s risk and the publisher accepts no responsibility for its loss or damage All material published in BBC Knowledge is protected by copyright and unauthorized reproduction in part or full is prohibited BBC Knowledge is published by Worldwide Media Pvt Ltd under licence from Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited Copyright © Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited All rights reserved Reproduction in whole or part prohibited without permission The BBC logo is a trade mark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence © British Broadcasting Corporation 1996 & Your Questions Answered What is the maximum number of names a person can remember? p8 Why cold drinks give me 'brain freeze' and how I avoid it? p9 How did the goldilocks zone move from Mars? p11 What makes Google so much more successful than other search engines? p12 Expert PANEL Stuart Blackman A zoologist-turned-science writer, Stuart is a contributor to BBC Wildlife Magazine Susan Blackmore (SB) Molecules of lactic acid will be the bane of everyone trying to shed the festive season pounds in the New Year A visiting professor at the University of Plymouth, UK, Susan is an expert on psychology and evolution Alastair Gunn Alastair is a radio astronomer at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, UK Robert Matthews Robert is a writer and researcher He is a Visiting Reader in Science at Aston University, UK Gareth Mitchell As well as lecturing at Imperial College London, Gareth is a presenter of Click on the BBC World Service Luis Villazon Luis has a BSc in computing and an MSc in zoology from Oxford His works include How Cows Reach The Ground Ask the Experts? Email our panel at bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in We’re sorry, but we cannot reply to questions individually STATS VITAL 348 the fuel is n er gallo ’s first miles p at the world g my th ar built usin econo ady c , will road-re g, the Urbee tin 3D prin efully achieve hop April 2014 Why does lactic acid build up in our muscles? During aerobic exercise our muscles ‘burn’ glucose with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water and energy But when we are exercising hard, the lungs can’t keep up with the muscles’ demand for oxygen Rather than just giving up, our muscles switch to an anaerobic chemical reaction that doesn’t need oxygen This is less efficient because it doesn’t produce as much energy per molecule of glucose burned, but it’s better than nothing Unfortunately, instead of water and carbon dioxide, anaerobic respiration produces lactic acid as one of its waste products If you exercise hard, this will be produced faster than your bloodstream can transport it away to your liver where it is processed and broken down As the level of acid builds up in your muscles, you feel a burning sensation that acts as a warning that your muscles are almost out of energy Like other sorts of pain, the ‘purpose’ is to signal that your body needs to rest So, next time you go for a run bear your overworked body a thought and maybe catch your breath LV Why can’t we trace the sender of an email? Each email has an invisible header containing information like time stamps and routing information It does not contain personal details like the sender’s street name or phone number However, the header does contain the originating IP address That can narrow the origin down to a city or district, but seldom anything more specific and certainly not to an individual Online webmail services like Gmail are even more anonymous A Gmail message, for instance, can only be traced back to a Google IP address GM What is the function of the human appendix? The appendix was classically regarded as unnecessary – even its name implies that it is a leftover bit It’s a thin tube, about the size of half a pencil, that sticks out of the cecum, which is a pouch at the start of the large intestine Charles Darwin thought that our ancestors ate a lot more plant roughage than us and needed a larger cecum to digest it, so the appendix was originally a useful compartment of the intestine that had dwindled through millions of years of disuse Koalas, which eat very indigestible leaves have a two-metre-long cecum that is essentially a giant appendix Certainly it’s true that you can amputate the appendix without any obvious longterm consequences for the patient But that same argument applies to a toe Being able to get along without something doesn’t mean it’s entirely useless Recent research that compared the intestines of 361 mammals found that 50 different, quite unrelated, species have an appendix This means that the appendix must have evolved independently at least 32 times, which suggests it must be doing something useful It’s now thought that the appendix acts as an emergency bunker for your gut bacteria to shelter in Its narrow opening and out-ofthe-way position mean that bacterial infections don’t normally get inside it So after diarrhoea has flushed the last of any bad bacteria out of your intestines, the good guys can emerge from the appendix and re-colonise your colon LV Does your body’s level of hydration affect your blood’s viscosity? Keep your blood running smoothly by staying hydrated Blood viscosity, or how thick your blood is, is partly determined by the number and size of your red blood cells These make up 41-53 per cent of the blood volume in men and 36-46 per cent in women This value is higher if you are obese, which can increase blood viscosity by as much as 15 per cent and can cause a heart attack But being dehydrated can also have an impact One study found that just sitting in a warm room for four hours without drinking was enough to increase blood viscosity by 10 per cent LV science photo library, getty, thinkstock X2 The appendix (pictured on the left in this X-ray image) could be a safe-haven for friendly bacteria in emergency situations Q&A What is the maximum number of names a person can remember? There’s no known limit! If you ask a mnemonist or memory savant to learn a list of names they may remember thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands with no trouble, just as they can learn lists of thousands of digits Some people, who have a neurological condition called ‘hyperthymesia’, remember everything that happens to them every day, including the name of every person they have ever met The rest of us evolved to cope with no more than about 150 social relationships This is known as Dunbar’s number after the anthropologist Robin Dunbar He discovered that groups of hunter-gatherers, units in armies, divisions in businesses and many other groups tend towards a limit of 150 And it seems that social media not change our basic nature Even people who have thousands of ‘friends’ on Facebook rarely maintain more than 150 meaningful relationships SB thinkstock x3, getty, alamy, thinkstock Some people don’t need name tags and can put a name to thousands KNOW SPOT The air around a lightning strike is the hottest place on Earth For a split second temperatures hit 30,000°C; hotter than the surface of the Sun April 2014 Why goats have such good balance? Goats are adapted to living and feeding on steep, rugged slopes Their slim bodies help them creep along next to near-vertical walls and their cloven hooves have two toes which can spread out wide, improving their balance and allowing them to grip onto rocks or even the branches of trees The soles of their feet are The ultimate rock climber: the humble goat soft and the rough pads under each toe provide extra grip They also have two vestigial toes higher up their legs, called dewclaws These are found on other species, including cats and dogs, but goats’ dewclaws are much stronger and stubbier and help them clamber up branches, or scramble down sheer cliff faces SB Can dogs laugh? They make a sort of breathy, panting sound when they are playing If you record this and play it back to other dogs, it appears to reduce their stress behaviours, such as barking and pacing, and increase their social behaviours, such as lip licking Is that the same thing as laughter? Or is it just the dog equivalent of a broad smile? It’s hard to say Humans mostly laugh at verbal jokes and seeing other people fall over, neither of which have much effect on dogs SB Dogs don’t laugh? Tell that to Scooby-Doo Q&A Why cold drinks give me ‘brain freeze’ and how I avoid it? Anything cold against the roof of your mouth cools the brain, which is right above it To maintain temperature, the anterior cerebral artery dilates to bring more warm blood to the brain If the cooling is very sudden, the artery dilates too quickly and the pressure in the brain jumps up, which gives you a headache Drinking more slowly, with pauses to warm your mouth back up, is normally all you need to to avoid it, but brain freeze is worse in people who are prone to migraines LV What gives substances their scent? Substances generate a smell when their molecules land on so-called olfactory neurones in our noses (which, for some things, is a pretty unpleasant thought) But the exact nature of the interaction is somewhat controversial Until recently, it was believed it took the form of molecules physically docking with protein receptor molecules in the walls of the olfactory neurones, like keys fitting into locks This in turn implied that molecular shape is what determines a specific smell But this fails to explain why some molecules with similar shapes can smell completely different, while others with quite different shapes can have a similar scent These conundrums have led Dr Luca Turin of the Alexander Fleming Research Centre, Athens, to suggest that molecular vibrations are critical He’s recently published intriguing evidence that molecular shape is not everything by showing that two molecules with identical shape but different vibrational properties can have a different smell RM Next time you smell something interesting, think about the substance’s molecules jiggling around inside your nose Walt Disney was delighted to be offered the chance to appear in Focus Magazine Plants use carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis to make glucose It takes six molecules of CO2 to make every molecule of glucose, and this basic building block is then used for energy and to make the structure of the plant itself This biochemical reaction is the same for all plants, but the faster a plant grows, the more carbon dioxide it will use up per second By that measure, bamboo might be the best at sucking up CO2 However, fast-growing plants tend not to live long and when a plant dies, all the carbon in the plant is broken down by insects, fungi and microbes and released as CO2 again So the plants that are considered the most adept at locking away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are the longest-living ones, with the most mass – hardwood trees It’s all temporary though Eventually every plant returns all the carbon dioxide it uses back to the atmosphere LV Hardwood trees will happily feast on your exhaust fumes, but you probably don’t need to go to these lengths getty, alamy, thinkstock Are some plants better than others at sucking up carbon dioxide? Q&A How long can a structure last in a desert before being swamped by sand? Buildings don’t actually sink into the sand, they are covered as it’s blown sideways by the wind Without any plants to hold the sand in place, it is blown into horseshoe-shaped dunes, called barchans Each grain gets blown from the bottom of the dune up to the crest and then tumbles down the steeper slope on the leeward side This means that the barchan as a whole gradually creeps downwind at about 15m per year In Tunisia, the set of Anakin Skywalker’s home, used for Star Wars Episode I, is currently being engulfed In another five or six years it will be completely covered LV alamy, thinkstock, nasa x10, science photo library The home of Anakin Skywalker is slowly being consumed by the desert What’s better: one big bet, or lots of small ones? For many people, the best advice is probably not to have a bet at all, as gambling is notorious for messing with people’s minds But if you insist on doing so, it’s vital to use probability theory This shows that how you bet depends on the odds, and in a casino they’re stacked against you The best advice is surprising: the biggest hope of, say, doubling your money lies in putting all your money on a single spin of the roulette wheel The reason is partly because the payout on a simple red or black bet in roulette is twice your stake The odds of achieving this outcome are, however, slightly less than 50 per cent, the difference being the casino’s profit margin And that’s why you should make just one big bet If you split up your funds into lots of small bets, you’re effectively giving the casino more opportunities to nibble away at your funds That said, it’s a brave person who can follow this mathematical advice But one person who did is British gambler Ashley Revell, who in 2004 put all his personal wealth – then around £100,000 – on a single roulette spin He won RM top ten biggest moons in our solar system 10 Oberon 10 Rhea Titania Triton Europa Moon Radius: 761km Location: Uranus Radius: 764km Location: Saturn Radius: 788km Location: Uranus Radius: 1,353km Location: Neptune Radius: 1,561km Location: Jupiter Radius: 1,737km Location: Earth April 2014 inside the pages An excerpt from a book you should read Thought Summar prov y: facts, The oking and full of s urprising Great Spe India, exe eches test of tim mplies that word of Modern s e Jinnah's The selection of stand the opening speech parliame nt, nathu speech for Pakis es; ram Gods tani in court e e's s xplaining why he s tatement to Manm h Finance M ohan Singh's first ot Gandhi speech a inister in s '91, wh India global ec 's economy to be ich allowed o passiona nomic reforms, a in tune with ll capture te effusio n the grow th and sh of orators that le the aping of modern In d to dia Ramchandra Guha, historian and author says, “This is an absorbing and richly educative book Ranging from Nehru to Vajpayee and from Tagore to Vikram Seth, the speechmakers represented here cover all shades of social and political opinion Guided by a sure editorial hand, they take us evocatively through the highs and lows of our modern history.” 82 April 2014 History Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her speech explains that to safeguard the security of India from internal disturbance an emergency is imposed INDIRA GANDHI (1917-1984) June 12, 1975, as the historian Ramchandra Guha has noted, was a bad day for Indira Gandhi Early in the morning, she was informed that her old associate D P Dhar had died Later in the morning came news that Congress was taking a beating in the polls in Gujarat And then came the judgement from the Allahabad High Court declaring her 1971 election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli null and void for misuse of government machinery for election purpose Many senior Congressmen felt that she should step down as prime minister INDIRA GANDHI (1917 – 1984) The President has proclaimed the emergency This is nothing to panic about I am sure you are all conscious of the deep and widespread conspiracy, which has been brewing ever since I began to introduce certain progressive measures of benefit to the common man and woman of India In the name of democracy, it has been sought to negate the very functioning of democracy Duly elected governments have not been allowed to function and in some cases, force has been used to compel members to resign in order to dissolve lawfully elected assemblies Agitations have surcharged the atmosphere, leading to violent incidents The whole country was shocked at the brutal murder of my Cabinet colleague, Shri L N Mishra We also deeply deplore the dastardly attack on the Chief Justice of India Certain persons have gone to the length of inciting our armed forces to mutiny and our police to rebel The fact that our defence forces and the police are disciplined and deeply patriotic and, therefore, will not be taken in, does not mitigate the seriousness of the provocation The forces of disintegration are in full play and communal passions are being aroused, threatening our unity All manners of false allegations have been hurled at me The Indian people have known me since my childhood All my life has been in the service of our people This is not a personal matter It is not important whether I remain Prime Minister or not However, the institution of the Prime Minister is important and the deliberate political attempts to denigrate it is not in the interest of democracy or of the nation We have watched these developments with utmost patience for long Now we learn of a new programme challenging law and order throughout the country with a view to disrupting normal functioning How can any Government worth the name stand by and allow the country’s stability to be imperilled? The actions of a following the verdict But she chose to heed the advice of her youngest son, Sanjay Gandhi and the chief minister of West Bengal, Siddhartha Sankar Ray On June 25, Ray helped her draft an ordinance declaring a state of internal emergency The President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed it without any protest Armed with the ordinance, Indira Gandhi switched off the power supply to all Delhi’s newspaper offices so that there would be no issue the next day At o’clock in the morning of June 26, a meeting of the union cabinet was summoned, the members informed of the emergency and their formal consent obtained Indira Gandhi proceeded to the studio of the All India Radio to announce the state of emergency to the nation few are endangering the rights of the vast majority Any situation, which weakens the capacity of the national Government to act decisively inside the country, is bound to encourage dangers from outside It is our paramount duty to safeguard unity and stability The nation’s integrity demands firm action The threat to internal stability also affects production and prospects of economic improvement In the last few months the determined action we have taken has succeeded in largely checking the price rise We have been actively considering further measures to strengthen the economy and to relieve the hardship of various sections, particularly the poor and vulnerable and those with fixed incomes I shall announce them soon I should like to assure you that the new emergency proclamation will in no way affect the rights of law-abiding citizens I am sure that internal conditions will speedily improve to enable us to dispense with this proclamation as soon as possible I have been overwhelmed by the messages of goodwill from all parts of India and all sections of the people May I appeal for your continued co-operation and trust in the days ahead? The President has proclaimed the emergency This is nothing to panic about The Great Speeches of Modern India published by Random House India, `299 123rf.com X3, random house india Proclamation of emergency (New Delhi, June 1975) resource the latest science books reviewed Our Mathematical Universe The Last Alchemist In Paris The Long And The Short Of It My Quest For The Ultimate Nature Of Reality And Other Curious Tales From Chemistry The Science Of Life Span & Aging Max Tegmark Allen Lane `2,547 Lars Ưhrstrưm Oxford University Press `695 J Silvertown The University of Chicago Press `1,625 K Max Tegmark is a professor of physics at MIT and a leading expert on theories of the Universe But he’s also arguably the nearest we have to a successor to Richard Feynman, the bongo-playing, wise-cracking physicist who proved it is possible to be smart, savvy and subversive at the same time Tegmark has carved out a career as a physicist willing to ponder mind-boggling issues like the existence of multiple universes, yet without being dismissed as a crackpot by his peers As he admits in this engrossing account of his career and thinking, this has enabled him to stay under the radar of the scientific establishment But now ‘Mad Max’ has been given the freedom of an entire book And he hasn’t wasted it Around half of it is a lucid tour d’horizon of what we know about the Universe The rest is an exhilarating expedition far beyond conventional thinking, in search of the true meaning of reality Don’t be fooled: Tegmark is a very smart physicist, not a hand-waving philosopher, so the going gets tough in parts But his insights and conclusions are staggering – and perhaps even crazy enough to be true K My four-year chemistry degree course made little reference to history We learnt nothing of acetone’s vital contribution as a solvent of nitroglycerine to the production of cordite in the First World War, or of the 19th Century discovery that iodine deficiency in the thyroid gland caused goitre Nor did anyone inform us how to tell a diamond from a zirconia: hold it to your upper lip Diamond, as a good conductor of heat, will cool your skin, whereas zirconia, as an insulator, will make no difference Such stories form Lars Ưhrstrưm’s beguiling book He’s a Swedish chemical engineer with a talent for dramatising the unfamiliar role of chemistry in historical events In his finest chapter, ‘Bonaparte’s Bursting Buttons’, he deconstructs a famous anecdote that Napoleon’s soldiers, retreating from Moscow in 1812, suffered dreadfully because the tin buttons on their clothing disintegrated The white tin had changed into less dense, non-metallic grey tin under sub-zero conditions Not every chapter is as focused, however, and astonishingly chemist Primo Levi’s 1980s classic, The Periodic Table, goes unmentioned Robert Matthews is a Visiting Reader in Science at Aston University Andrew Robinson is the editor of The Scientist: An Epic Of Discovery Alien Universe Extraterrestrial Life In Our Minds And In The Cosmos Don Lincoln Johns Hopkins University Press `1,498 84 April 2014 Whether or not intelligent alien life exists, Don Lincoln argues, one of the biggest questions of all time Looking for an answer he delves into the rich history of the alien phenomenon from the 1835 ‘Moon Hoax’, through the reported sightings of ‘Foo Fighters’ by World War II pilots, to more recent claims of abductions Popular films and TV shows, such as Star Trek and The X-Files, are also discussed, and Lincoln points out that our changing concept of the ‘alien’ often mirrors the hopes and fears of society at the time For example, the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still reflects the anxiety in coming to terms with our species’ K Here’s an extraordinary statistic: over the last two centuries, human life expectancy has roughly doubled Since 1840, the average lifespan of our species has been increasing by around three months every year Or, to put it another way, by 15 minutes per hour What is to stop us living longer and longer, perhaps even forever? It’s a question that has occupied plenty of human minds and it’s one that now takes centre stage in this provocative book Ecologist Jonathan Silvertown tackles the subject of lifespan and ageing as ‘a series of linked puzzles’ Why is it, for instance, that bacteria only live for a matter of hours when the ocean quahog (a kind of clam) can reach 400 years? How come conifers can live more than 10 times that long? Why some species breed year in year out their entire adult lives while others throw everything they’ve got into one monumental reproductive effort? As Silvertown resolves these conundrums, he throws in plenty of fascinating facts, refers to dozens of plants and animals, and boasts an eclectic cast of human actors from Darwin to Bob Dylan and Dr Seuss Henry Nicholls is a journalist and the author of The Way Of The Panda newfound capability for self annihilation in a nuclear holocaust The book is a level-headed fusion of pop culture and the latest scientific advances in the field of astrobiology, discussing the requirements for life on Earth But while the efforts of SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) to detect radio signals from advanced civilisations are praised, Lincoln professes that he believes the likelihood of an alien visitation is extremely unlikely Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiologist and the author of Life In The Universe get your clicks Our pick of internet highlights to explore H WEBSITE H WEBSITE H WEBSITE All eyes on paris Project euler Real scientists www.alleyesonparis.com www.projecteuler.net See what your cat sees as it wanders around Paris Okay, so your cat probably doesn’t wander around Paris But the familiar landmarks will provide a useful backdrop to compare a human’s world with a cats – or a bee’s, or even a falcon’s Sadly the site is not yet up and running for OSX users, but the creators promise they’re working on it Ever fancied learning how to code? Project Euler will give you something to aim towards The site contains a series of problems to attempt, starting off relatively easy and getting harder If you’re not sure whether you want to make the commitment, you can preview the problems first before your grey matter is fried www.realscientists.wordpress com H WEBSITE H WEBSITE H WEBSITE Digitised diseases Chromoscope Nobel prize inspiration initiative www.digitiseddiseases.org www.chromoscope.net www.nobelprizeii.org Here you’ll find images and details of 1600 human bone specimens, including the deformed skull of a young woman who died of syphilis hundreds of years ago They’ve been made available for doctors and curious members of the public to study for free on this newly launched site It’s pretty gruesome stuff, but fascinating Explore our Galaxy and the distant Universe across the electromagnetic spectrum From high-energy gamma rays all the way down to radio waves, eight different telescopes provided the images for Chromoscope Use your cursor to grab and zoom in and get to know the all-sky images that make up this open-source project in full Whether you’re a scientist or not, these videos will let you get inside the head of some Nobel prize winners, and hopefully give you a bit of inspiration If things are not going your way, the ‘Surprises and Setbacks’ section shows that even failed experiments have value and Nobel prize winners are mistake-making humans too This is for anyone who’s ever wondered what ‘real’ scientists all day Each week a different scientist or science communicator takes the reigns of the Twitter handle @ realscientists and tweets about their life They’re a diverse lot, including field biologists tweeting from the forest If you have a favourite website, blog or podcast that you’d like to share with other readers, email bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in edu talk Kiran Bir Sethi, Director of Riverside School, Ahmedabad, talks to Moshita Prajapati about the need for a student-centred learning You set up Riverside because you were not happy with the education your son was receiving in his previous school What does Riverside offer that is different? I think the single point of reference is that Riverside is user-centred, which makes all the difference to the whole system Now the user here is the student rather than the parent.The focal point of the school is not the needs of the parent We have shifted the focus back to students, which basically means that everything we design and create is to ensure that the student has a ‘The pleasurable learning experience I think this elementary shift is what such sets Riverside apart Could you elaborate? We really understand who the user is The Riverside model is based on the three stages of development – the younger years are about awareness, the middle years are for enablement and the older years are to empower the child, and students unfailingly go through these three phases The world is complex and you have to make this simpler for the younger user to get it right So all the opportunities are designed to ensure that the young users get the right experience at the right time as they navigate through curriculum is designed that the students get to see the value in what they are learning’ How is this learning inculcated in the classrooms? It is not difficult to It is to with what you’re learning towards, and what is the value of that learning That is the primary template So the curriculum is designed such that the students get to see value in what they are learning, even if it is about, say, the circulatory system Why should a student learn about the circulatory system? Students need to know why it adds value So students take a blood test and then we get to core of this experience when each student is reading his/her blood report, which helps them understand their system The report gives them clues on who they are, and how healthy they are This is adding value to their learning 86 April 2014 You believe children to be catalysts of change How you empower children on a daily basis in school? No child is born fearful It is their 15 years spent in school that often makes them this way So what’s really important is to recognise what children really believe That they can make anything better, and they have the solution You can’t tell children, “No you can’t, you’re too young, you’re too alone, it’s too dangerous.” That makes them believe that is right This was my basis to evolve the belief in them that they can, by creating a design model where they can see the world and have the ability to engage It is in that engagement that they get a sense that they can make something better And that became a very important programme when we started Riverside What does a school programme look like, which tries to achieve this? From Grade to Grade 7, every year, each grade engages with a cause for five years as part of the course, which is real and a social concern It could be about hunger for instance, and they will associate themselves with a particular NGO They will learn how to conduct a research, understand about physical height, weight, check the survey of under-weight children, and raise money They also look at daily nutrition intake and all of this learning is a part of their research This is a part and parcel of the school learning, and not done as an after school activity Design for Change is an initiative, which is now a global movement What led to its conception? We have people visiting our school who said, “We want to what you are doing here.” We realised it is the practice of teaching and learning at Riverside, which was creating an impact So we started documenting everything we undertook, and started giving it an online presence We embraced the idea of sharing the practice because we realised that teachers and schools are inspired not by what you say but by what you How did your design background from National Institute of Design (NID) help? Design means you take something from the current scenario to make it better I’ll give you a small example You see the garbage thrown outside your house and you say, “Oh my God! It’s full of garbage.” You’ve never been in this situation before, and you clean up the garbage But the next day, it is there back again This has happened because you have not been able to look at the human centre of this situation Humans place the garbage there Garbage is not the problem, the people putting the garbage out there is the problem So you study how far the garbage dump is Is it too far from the society? Do poeple find it more convenient to put garbage in this particular place? Design thinking asks you to understand and empathise with human behaviour and their patterns That will tell you what needs to be solved This is the very basis of how design influenced in creating learning and teaching methods in Riverside games review Take On Mars also out FIFA 14 PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, EA Sports, `3,999 The undisputed king of football games is back, and this year it’s making a surprisingly strong claim to genuine innovation The new Player Chemistry feature lets you fiddle with the playing styles of individual team members, tailoring their approach to each match You might give your striker added defensive capabilities, perhaps, or make your defender more aggressive so he’s more useful when pushing forward It’s probably best to avoid any settings that encourage biting other players Scratching your new motor won’t just mean a polish job in Take On Mars; it means billions of wasted dollars and funding pulled from future missions at the cost of thousands of jobs PC, Bohemia Interactive, ` 3,200 Have you heard of the Mars Curse? No, sadly it has nothing to with people choking to death on chocolate bars It’s a term that was coined to describe the awkward history of our attempts to explore the mysterious Red Planet Almost 60 per cent of our missions to Mars have resulted in failure: the batteries went flat on the satellite Mariner 3; Phobos was lost in space; and, of course, there are British physicists who still weep into their tea at the mere mention of the word ‘Beagle’ Stupid craters Now, thanks to Take On Mars, you can try to succeed where others have failed Assuming the role of a sweatypalmed operator back on Earth, you’ll assume control of your own Rover as you explore the Martian surface Players can jump straight into a series of missions or otherwise elect to manage an entire space programme from scratch, researching new tech as the funding trickles in Provided that you don’t prang your billion-dollar craft on a rock, that is Czech developer Bohemia Interactive is best known for its terrifyingly realistic military simulations - back in 2011, footage from ARMA was mistakenly used in a TV documentary While its efforts here are certainly less violent than usual, there’s still something quite eerie about your slow progress across the amber dunes, especially when viewed through the warped perspective of a Rover’s fish-eye lens The vehicles are constructed from up to 50 separately modelled components, any of which might fail on you at a crucial moment: if a wheel gets jammed, for example, you’ll have to find a way to compensate for your wonky steering This kind of problem-solving gameplay might not appeal to everyone, but hey - you can’t have a Rover sim without the Mars Curse Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection PlayStation 3, Konami, `4,299 Blimey, how does one summarise the importance of Hideo Kojima’s epic series in just 80 words? It’s not possible, but suffice to say that this compendium houses some of the best video games ever made Imagine James Bond meets Bear Grylls in a self-aware soap opera, filled with robots, ninjas and edible snakes Oh, and Metal Gear Solid has an incredible bit where you simply climb a ladder for two minutes It’s brilliant, honestly Disney Infinity PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, Disney, `1,299 If you’re familiar with Activision’s wildly lucrative Skylanders brand, you’ll understand the gist of Disney Infinity It’s a platform game where players can scan real-world toys to import them into their virtual worlds There are also franchise-specific playsets that unlock famous Disney locales like Monsters University or the tropics of Pirates Of The Caribbean, while Toy Box mode lets you blend characters and settings to create your own mash-ups - like The Incredibles battling Davy Jones in Radiator Springs Gadgets charge on the go Power Trekk The Power Trekk is made up of three components; a water reservoir, a puck, which is an internal battery, and a green plastic fuel cell top Based on a Swedish Fuel Cell technology, the Power Trekk just needs to be filled with water and salt and the technology then converts the hydrogen, which produces electricity, to provide instant power anywhere Price: `10,146 • www.amazon.com Ecoxpower EcoXPower is a compact handler, which can be strapped to your cycle, and with every pedal you can charge your phone The attached dynamo engages the wheels moving spokes and converts kinetic energy into electricity The energy produced also powers the bikes head and tail light The lithium-ion battery also stores power to light up the headlights without pedalling for two hours Price: `12,276 • www.amazon.com Window socket The Window Socket is a renewable energy generator in shape of a round button, which can stick onto any surface It sticks to a window with a suction plate that encircles the solar panel, and a basic outlet feeds the converted solar power to a device placed for charge It can provide 10 continuous hours of power on a full charge; it presently takes about five-eight hours to fully charge Price: TBA • www.yankodesign.com Spin The 'SPIN' eco media player allows you to play music without the need to charge One minute of winding the rotator by hand provides 45 mins of playtime A fully charged device can last up to 55 hours It also enables you to charge your mobile through the device The media player is powered by the neodymium magnets, which is twice more effective than charging with electricity Price: `9,058 • www.amazon.co.uk riding the wave of green technology Re-Feed |  You should feel bad about throwing away leftovers from last night’s dinner Be a proactive environmentalist and invest in this Re-feeder - your personal compost and waste processor The canister-like device comes with a blade, which shreds and converts organic waste into instant fertilising liquid for your plants An attached tube feeds and nourishes your plant from the roots up Price: T.B.A • www.yankodesign.com Rukus Xtreme This eco-powered, Bluetooth-enabled music machine has five speakers and solar panels, which can fully charge the speakers in five hours flat It also reserves the energy in an inbuilt 6600mAh battery, which enables you to charge any mobile phones or tablets Price:`4,698 • www.amazon.com  | WakaWaka Light WakaWaka light is a solar powered LED lamp that is twice as efficient as the other solar lamps in the market The size of a tablet, it’s backed with solar panels on the back, which provides 16 hrs of safe light on a single day of solar charge Weighing up to 200g, it’s also incredibly light Price: `1,566 • www.waka-waka.com LifeStraw |  LifeStraw is a personal water filter, which allows you to drink water safely from any water source you come across while travelling This light-weight gadget is capable of purifying up to 1000 litres of water, without the use of chemicals and wipes out 99.9 % of harmful bacteria Price: `1,253 • www.amazon.com Eolic The Eolic is a portable windmill, beneficial when no power is available It converts wind energy into electric energy and stores it, which can be used to power your gadgets when needed This sleek and portable wind turbine made of carbon fibres and aluminium makes it a lightweight gadget, but also tough enough to not get blown away by the wind Price: TBA • www.inhabitat com - Compiled by Sanaa Nalawalla  | Soccket ball How does a 17 ounce, airless, deflation proof, and water-resistant ball harness clean green energy? By being kicked This action allows for the pendulum inside the socket ball to swing when the ball moves, generating energy for a rechargeable battery stored inside Thirty minutes of play translates into three hours of light from its companion LED lamp Price: `6,200 • www.unchartedplay.com Have suggestions for any gadget/application? email bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in in exciting Solve & W e hampers chocolat 550 from worth ` puzzle pit Questions and challenges guaranteed to give your brain a workout Crossword NO.20 Across Relating to milk (6) 5 Crave, want or wish (6) 10 Blueprint, plan or sketch (7) 11 The English _ : it separates Dover from Calais (7) 12 Discovers, tracks down (6) 15 Mounts, ascends (6) 16 Proclaim, attest or announce (7) 17 A kind of ceremony (4) 18 Scandinavian books (4) 19 Succeed, well (7) 20 Snatch or seize (4) 22 Egyptian goddess (4) 25 Participated or enrolled in (7) 27 one's views: expressing oneself openly? (6) 28 Area or locality? (6) 31 Thoughtful (7) 32 Condense, curtail, or lessen (7) 33 Overcome in a contest (6) 34 Core of a nut (6) Down 2 Captivate or charm (7) Worked hard, struggled (6) Masticate (4) Pal of Harry and Tom? (4) Horse's accommodation (6) 7 Changed the title (7) Medical practitioner (6) 9 Clear part of the blood (6) 13 Burning or inflamed (7) 14 Spectacles (7) 15 A climbing plant (7) 20 Understands or realises the significance or meaning of (6) 21 Put in order (7) 23 Tool used in spinning (7) 24 Burnt slightly (6) 25 Complete or whole (6) 26 More costly or more beloved? (6) 29 Abandoned (4) 30 Giant killer from the fairy tales (4) How to enter for the crossword: Post your entries to BBC Knowledge Editorial, Crossword No.20 Worldwide Media, The Times of India Bldg, 4th floor, Dr Dadabhai Navroji Road, Mumbai 400001 or email bbcknowledge@ wwm.co.in by 10 April 2014 Entrants must supply their name, address and phone number How it’s done: The puzzle will be familiar to crossword enthusiasts already, although the British style may be unusual as crossword grids vary in appearance from Your Details Name: Age: Address: PinCode: Tel: School/Institution/Occupation: Email: country to country Novices should note that the idea is to fill the white squares with letters to make words determined by the sometimes cryptic clues to the right The numbers after each clue tell you how many letters are in the answer All spellings are UK Good luck! Terms and conditions: Only residents of India are eligible to participate Employees of Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd are not eligible to participate The winners will be selected in a lucky draw The decision of the judges will be final ✂ Announcing the winners of Crossword No 19 Swaraj Kasar, Maharashtra • Rizza A N., Chennai • Jayanth Gunda, Andhra Pradesh • Amogha Lakshmi HS, Bangalore Solution of crossword NO 19 e Puzzl Mensa Q2 ues er contin hich numb ? W ence this sequ d le l re ar nt e B ed in fro in bl form ou plac D o n be wn t d ca ds sho rd? r t wo wo wor Wha e five nother h a M of t case h A R eac Q1 N U R B D A R B O K I C K R B A Q3 D educ You a tion re giv en a up this -le them word into tter word Y on the s dashe eparate le our job is t word, tters o brea s to s a 5-le and pell k You c tter word, a 7-lette place an us r and a e eac 3-le h lett er only tter word LON G I T U once DE C N A D Q4 Chain words F orm a continuous path of words from START to FINISH by connecting the word parts given in the boxes There are two parts to each word and the second part of one word is the first part of the next You won’t necessarily need to visit every box to achieve your aim il and Ta orm r in the f Head Q he answe f the next lve t clue to so part o Start MORT AL TER ST OCK DER LAR IGN PER ANTE RIAL DER ITE ST the e second Look at answer word Th he next ompound of a c part of t the first answer is MED ROOM mate MAL MAt RATE AND TO Get Become ill Ward Finish ABLE ON T O pensation Type of com overy Useful disc r ette one l s e ove word bl nd m am cr nagrams aur ordinary s ith fo Q6 ed w form e fou mark wer ve th quare to rs Sol s lette ch s e an to ea e the o form th missing ang *) t he arr Now terisk ( to fill in t r s an a riddle o ted e a to th as indic * * ds wor * DVEII * * EFULT AL NUCH * We in y Vacation b car ger Type of trig Gauge s thickness It measure * * * V EILNK reet Unpaved st ut we ,b alities gener live ,4) _ (5, in _ April 2014 91 Puzzle Pit t Find your way ou of the maze Q7 Hidato Q8 PICTURE SEARCH In the jumble below, the words represented by each of the 16 pictures are hidden either horizontally, vertically or diagonally forward or backwards but always in a straight line See how many of them you can find? Look out for descriptive names Q9 Enigma Code Each colour in our code represents a letter When you have cracked the code you will be able to make up seven words The clue to the first word is given to help you get started The Clue: Exploit, control se Choo Q 11 Pick and mbination of oosing the right co e six clues by ch h of the letter set can be used Solve th below Eac at the end letter sets given given The number e used in only in the order only once and ts of letters ar ifies how many se of the clues spec the solution re Q10 Go Figu third, fifth, rs in the first, the four numbe whatever operators Place xes and h and seventh bo the second, fourth, and sixt use in er you care to get the answ rrect order to boxes in the co only once rs Use the numbe The operators: ÷ – + X Rajasthan (3) Bird sanctuary in ) Open Champion (3 2014 Australian =2 Easy 2 =7 Medium 3 enir (2) Keepsake or souv arded (4) Stockpiled or ho Ancestors (4) ) and Herzegovina (2 Capital of Bosnia = 47 PUR Q12 Today's Teaser 1) An elderly man is going for a walk Two youn g men in excellent physical condition are directly behin d him, sprinting toward him No matter how fast they run, they not catch up with the man Why canít the men catch up with the elderly man and where are all three people? SARA FO RIN JEVO KA LAT RE MEM BHA HERS RAT FAT ENTO UMU Hard ACC ED WAW Q13 O ne le Use th e pictu tter res du cro e to fi ll in th ss word e pizz les 2) Oscar sold glasses of milk for every soda s he sold If he sold 10 glasses of milk, how many soda s did he sell? 3) How many flowers I have if all of them are roses except two, all of them are tulips except two, and all of them are daisies except two? Q7 Hidato: Q6 Scramble: Words: Ivied, Flute, Launch, Kelvin - We think in generalities, but we live in detail Q5 Head & Tail: Get-Sick-Pay-Dirt-Road-Trip-Wire-Gauge Q4 Chain Words: Mortal, Alter, Termed, Medlar, Larder, Dermal, Malign, Ignite, Iterate, Rateable, Ablest, Stand, Andante, Anteroom, Roommate, Material, Rialto, Toward Q3 Deduction: Contend, Audit, Log Q2 Mensa Puzzle: 35 Numbers advance in steps of 7, 8, and 10 Q1 Double Barrelled: Side Solu tions: Q12 Today's Teaser: 1) The three people are on treadmills in a gym 2) 25 sodas 3) Three flowers: rose, tulip, daisy 4) Hook, line and sinker 5) The words are: SILLY (Absurd); BILLY (Billy goat); CHILLY (cold) Q11 Pick and Choose: Bharatpur, Wawrinka, Memento, Accumulated, Forefathers, Sarajevo Q10 Go Figure: Easy: x + - = Medium: + / + = Hard: + x - = 47 Q9 Enigma Code: Harness, Hastens, Trashes, Panther, Sharpen, Another, Shorten Q8 Picture Search: Bottle, Burglar, Cat, Chair, Fish, France, Gear, Hammer, Hourglass, Magnet, Mask, Rose, Rupee, Speaker, Swan, Tuba 5) What three rhyming words can be associate d with the following three words: ABSURD GOAT COLD Q13 One Letter Crossword: H, K, A , C 4) What's the rebus, here: J, & Titanic in focus “You will be able to travel for free, forever, on pure sunlight” - Musk, during the announcement of opening Tesla Supercharger stations, where owners of Tesla’s Model S cars will be able to charge their cars using solar energy at stations spread across US and Europe This is part of Tesla’s move towards recognising a more sustainable future for automotive transit Elon Musk Legacy business insider, spacenews.com, washigton post, motortrend.com Elon Musk is not your average self-made billionaire; he is an engineer, inventor and an entrepreneur He is part of the new-age breed of intellectuals who want to map out the future of transport and energy usage of the world He is CEO and Chief product Architect of Tesla Motors; the company manufactures fully electric vehicles for mainstream consumers, the latest being the award-winning Tesla Model S, a full-sized electric five-door hatchback His current project Hyperloop, is a rapid transport plan, which would allow travellers to cover the trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under 30 minutes as opposed to the 10 hour drive by road, the 13-hour drive by train or the one hour flight, while travelling at a speed of 700 miles per hour But his ambition extends far beyond Tesla As the CEO and CTO of Space X, he earmarked a significant landmark in reducing the cost of space travel to develop new technologies for orbital launches with a reusable quality of that of a commercial aircraft Testing for the same has begun in February 2014 94 April 2014 Did you know • Musk was the inspiration for Robert Downey’s interpretation of Tony Stark’s character for the Iron Man movies Musk did a cameo in Iron Man and the Tesla Motors Palo Alto factory was used for much of the filming • Musk taught himself to programme code at age ten He made his first sale, a video game he had written called Blastar, to a magazine at 12 for $500 • Space X’s Falcon rocket In an interview Musk stated that he never takes a vacation The future of our transport: The Tesla Model S (left) and a computer generated image of the Hyperloop SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND ... cannot always reply personally to letters Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagind edit.bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in www.knowledgemagazine.in April 2014 Download this current issue from www.zinio.com... West: 02 2-3 989 8090, East: 03 3-3 989 8090 North: 01 1-3 989 8090, South: 08 0-3 989 8090 (10 am to pm - Monday to Saturday) OR SMS: KNOWSUB to 58888 POST: Send the completed form to BBC Knowledge. .. find their perch, you just position the camera and hope for the best April 2014 35 Nature | Portfolio 36 April 2014 tiny NOise-makers  I visited this forest in Slovenia several times, mostly to