Why diseases should be named carefully

Disease names can have consequences. Yes this is true.

Government agencies generally do not pay attention whenever disease is named. This is not only in India but is prevalent in other countries also.

Swine flu has nothing to do with pigs but pigs were slaughtered in some countries at the time of spread of Swine Flu. In 2009 Egypt ordered killing of 300,000 pigs to stop its spread.

Spanish flu did not originate from Spain. Many organizations working on Spanish flu brought Spain to limelight claiming it to be the source of this disease and hence Spain could not censor reports and figures on this disease though some of the countries censored this.

HIV was first called “gay related immune deficiency” or GRID leading heterosexuals to underestimate the risk of unprotected sex.

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What happens inside quietest place on Earth

Do you know which the quietiest place on Earth is?

It is Microsoft office in Redmond headquarters in USA. To be precise Anechoic chamber is the exact place at -20.6 dB.

There are six concrete rooms within rooms that enclose the chamber and can reduce the noise of a jet taking off to a whisper.

Literal meaning of Anechoic is echo free.

Year 2015 saw the world record of -9.4dB in Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis.

 

Let’s walk through sounds heard at different decibels (dB) which is a measurement unit of sound.

10 dB is the sound of normal breathing.

0 dB is the lowest limit of sound that a human ear can hear.

Negative dB is the sound that a human ear cannot hear.

-24 dB is the noise produced by colliding air molecules and this quietness is outside vacuum.

-20.6 dB is the sound limit inside the Anechoic chamber. The room is so quiet that you can hear your blood flow.

 

 

Sudden change in colour of Bosphorus strait connnecting Europe & Asia

Have you heard of Bosphorus Strait?

This strait connects continents of Asia and Europe in Istanbul, capital of Turkey.

People noticed this change as the colour of strait was bluish earlier and changed to milky turquoise this week.

This sudden change has been attributed by scientists to increasing level of pollution in the sea and surge in a species of plankton across the Black Sea.

Other reasons cited are earthquake in the region on 12^th Jun 2017 afternoon and surge in micro organism Emiliania huxleyi popularly known as Ehux.

If this continues, it may endanger species of fish and other animals living in the sea in this area and may result in decline in tourism and protests by environmentalists.

 

China plans to catch an asteriod and living on it

China plans to do mining and start living on an asteroid.

But before that China plans to find, catch and land on an asteroid. It has plans to catch first asteroid latest by 2020 and make it livable.

This was confirmed by Chinese chief commander of lunar exploration program Ye Pijian

China wants to build space station on the asteroid so that it can command over the world through satellites and check what is happening around the globe.

Ye also said to a Chinese state-run science and technology newspaper that the asteroids located near the Earth have “precious metals,” according to the South China Morning Post, and that the mining could offset the expensive cost of space exploration.

Bermuda Triangle-Mystery in deep Ocean

Bermuda Triangle.

There are many things associated with this. But one thing never escapes our mind which is vanishing of ships and aircrafts once it enters Bermuda Triangle.

This lies in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists believe that this happens due to very strong electromagnetic waves that forces ships and aircraft beneath the sea and pulls it down very deep onto the surface of the ocean. Even signals are lost in this process and hence no strong evidence has come till now even though scientists across globe are doing research on this.

One more thing- Believe it or not. The Bermuda Triangle had been described earlier in Rig Veda & Atharva Veda also.

Now Planes can Land on Circular Runways

Planes have to wait for long time before landing at airports in case the runway is not free or another flight has to land. The flight is in queue wasting lot of energy, fuel and time and making noise pollution.

Now the concept of circular runways is underway where planes can land at any point reducing wastage of time, efforts and fuel and will also reduce noise pollution and frustration.

This will be done keeping in mind the wind direction.

This concept will become reality only Dutch scientist Henk Hesselink and his team at the Netherland Aerospace Centre succeeds in their experiment.

This will be a 360 Degrees airport and will have greener environment.

 

 

Team Indus plans Beer on Moon

Bangalore based Team Indus is working on cracking recipe for growing beer on Moon.

Earlier this week a question was asked in Parliament if Government has any plans of growing beer on Moon.

The government has refused any such plan in parliament. However Team Indus is experimenting on brewing beer on Moon using Yeast.

The purpose is to brew a small batch of beer to test the survivability of yeast in space and see how it performs in Moon’s gravity.

Team Indus is competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE of building a robot capable of soft landing on Moon.

 

Big 5-Arthur Anderson is Alive-after 16 yrs

Arthur Anderson- you must have heard this name especially if you are in Accounting and Finance Domain.

The firm was one of the Big 5 accounting and audit firms along with PWC, EY, KPMG & Deloitte but filed for bankruptcy after Enron scandal in 2001.

The firm is coming back after about 16 years and will have offices in 16 countries across 5 continents including India. The firm has plans for opening offices in Canada & China soon.

Newspapers in US and across the globe had headlines ” Arthur Andersen’s Fall From Grace Is a Sad Tale of Greed and Miscues”  after Arthur Anderson was found of financial fraud on Energy giant Enron.

On Mar 01, 2017 headline in Mumbai read Back to Business-Arthur Anderson (AA). The headline was posted on LinkedIn by Stephane Laffont-Reveilhac, who is the Paris-based global managing partner of the reconstituted professional services entity, Arthur Andersen.

The firm is already in talks with 2 Indian firms and is expected to be operational by May2017. It will pose a challenge to Big 4 firms who had absorbed its business. Currently combined revenue of Big 4 is pegged at 10000 Crores. There are around 1,200 partners in Big 4 and earn approx 1 Crore each annually.

Once it is operational, ex Arthur Anderson employees from Big 4 are expected to Join AA.

 

Lipstick Under My Burkha-Bold film on feminism

Lipstick Under My Burkha.

This is the name of a new Bollywood film which is lady oriented and has lots of abusive words.

The film has again come under controversy from Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

According to Pahlaj Nihalani, chief of CBFC the board is not against title of the film or the theme of the film but the content of the film is not good for society as board also strives to maintain culture of the society.

Let’s see what lies ahead for this film!

Live Volcano in Andaman Islands-Only one active in India

Do you remember last volcano erupted in Andaman & Nicobar Islands in India?

It last happened about 150 years ago and since then it has been lying dormant. However eruption started again in 1991 and has been showing some activity since then.

Now again it has started spewing smoke and lava.

If it happens it will be detrimental to tourism business in the islands which has one of the most scenic and clean beaches in India.

Barren Island in Andaman is the epicenter of this volcano. This island is uninhabited and visitors can see this island by travelling through chartered boats after obtaining permission from Department of forest, Port Blair.

Researchers from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Goa based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) confirmed this after obtaining samples of coal like black material.