Category: Bottomline

Bottom-line

Plastic Sugar and Salt…

The most essential ingredients in our daily food are Salt and Sugar and without these ingredients our food is incomplete. Recent study shows an alarming investigation that Micro-plastics are found in Sugar and Salt in India. It is like eating plastic every day.. The situation is alarming which will lead to major medical catastrophe.

Micro-plastics are very tiny plastic fragments found in environment as a result of major plastic pollution all over the world. A recent study conducted by a research organization reveals that these tiny particles are contaminating the essential food ingredients like Salt and Sugar. Micro-plastics impose various health risks. Medical experts highlight the potential health damages of micro-plastics in Sugar and Salt.

The micro-plastic pollution is causing threat to biodiversity. These tiny particles enter the living organisms causing serious diseases. In human beings, the micro-plastic particles get stuck in the vital organs causing inflation, metabolic disorders like indigestion. These particles are toxic in nature and lead to the loss of gut flora of microorganisms like bacteria, causing serious damage which may lead to deadly Cancer. Micro-plastics also cause serious Cardiac, Respiratory and Metabolic problems. The long term exposure leads to serious problems to the vital organs.

The situation is alarming; it is like eating plastic. The only remedy is detox from micro-plastics by resorting to natural healing…

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital  

Use glass containers for storage.

Dr Nancy Nagpal, Consultant Gynaecologist at Salubritas Medcentre suggests avoiding using plastic at all costs. “Storing food items in glass or metal containers instead of plastic ones is a great way to reduce exposure to microplastics. Avoid using plastic water bottles and plastic bags while buying fresh fruits and vegetables. Keeping a regular check on cleanliness is also as important when cooking,” she adds.

Use herbs and spices to add flavour.

Alternatives to these salt and sugar brands can be to use different herbs and spices such as basil, oregano, onion powder, cumin powder, cilantro, parsley etc. to add flavour to your dishes. “Mineral salts like rock salt come from ancient deposits and may have less risk of microplastic contamination compared to sea salt. For sugar, organic sugar may have a lower risk of microplastic contamination compared to conventionally processed sugars. Opting for raw or minimally processed sugars, such as raw cane sugar or turbinado sugar, which may be less likely to contain microplastics than highly processed white sugars,” suggests Dr Vibhu Kawatra.

Reducing exposure to microplastics as much as possible can be beneficial to overall health and development.

Bottom-line

AXIS TILT

Scientific American Magazine has recently reported that the earth axis has significantly tilted and the cause is stated to be the excessive pumping of Groundwater

The net water lost from underground reservoirs between 1993 and 2010 is estimated to be more than 2 trillion tons. That has caused the geographic North Pole to shift at a speed of 4.36 centimetres per year

The tilt of the axis on which any celestial object spins tends to be stable. But small changes can occur when large masses shift location inside a planet and on its surface.

Gravitational surveys have measured the depletion of underground reservoirs, which is caused in large part by irrigation, especially in north-western India and North western America.

The Earth has lost enough groundwater to thirsty humans to measurably tilt the planet’s axis of rotation.

This effect causes the Earth’s geographic poles to wobble by up to several metres every year The tilting of the axis has major effect on climate too…

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

Bottomline

Scotching Heat…

The summer heat has arrived early with the unprecedented scorching hot temperatures… and the experts are predicting more worse situation in the coming months…

Scientists warn of impacts in some of the world’s most densely populated regions, especially South and South East Asian countries…and e urging governments to take immediate action to mitigate human-caused global warming.

Several parts of India recorded maximum temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit last month. IMD issuing alerts in several states of India… The IMD warned that the heat wave was set to get worse before it gets better.

The unprecedented heat wave is sweeping through India when the General Elections are under way… similar extreme conditions are reported in Bangladesh and Myanmar too… In Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Thailand and Vietnam the condition are severe. 

The heat wave conditions are due to the impact of the ongoing El Niño weather phenomenon, however some believe that it is due to  warming of the central Pacific, which has altered weather patterns worldwide and has made things much worse this summer in South and Southeast Asia.

The impact will be on the crops and affecting millions of lives. The availability of water will be leading to worse conditions. It will also lead to extreme weather events such as floods, major storms The poor populations world over will bear the brunt of the impact

The urgent action to reverse it is needed…

-Team ScienceNow Digital

Pratham’s Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2023 has now been published.

This is an annual survey published by the education non-profit Pratham which aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India.

It is the annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India.

The 2023 ASER report explores the educational status of 14-18-year-olds in India. The report reveals that 85.6% of the cohort are enrolled in school or college. However, a significant number of youth lack foundational literacy and numeracy skills. The report emphasizes the need to improve these skills in higher grades. Additionally, the report highlights the importance of critical thinking and problem-solving skills in education. It suggests a reorientation of teaching methods to enable students ..

The results of the survey are eye opener in relation to the educational level of the kids

The ASER Report indicate at one thing… and that is the situation needs to be improved at the war footing… will the ASER report show effect…

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

What If?

Ocean Currents Stand Still?

Ocean currents play a significant role in controlling climate around the globe. These currents act like a giant conveyor belt, warming and cooling parts of the Earth as water circulates. Melting ice caps, which can happen due to global warming, can cause ocean waters to circulate and have a drastic effect on climate…

What are Ocean Currents?

Around the world, there are a number of ocean currents which have a serious impact on climate. For instance: The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic transports warm water with a high level of salinity and low density from equatorial regions further north on the ocean’s surface, warming countries such as the United Kingdom. The further north the water travels, the cooler it gets. Cold water becomes denser, falls further towards the bottom of the ocean and is carried back further south. This causes a continual ocean current in the North Atlantic.

Global Warming

Polar ice caps are beginning to melt due to global warming. Since ice caps are composed of freshwater, and if they continue to melt, it would bring down the level of salinity in the surrounding ocean waters. Changes in salinity levels could affect thermohaline currents by preventing water from achieving enough density to sink to the bottom of the ocean. More seriously, ocean currents could stop completely.

Effects of Ocean Currents

If ocean currents were to stop, climate could change drastically, especially in Europe and countries in the North Atlantic. In these countries, temperatures would drop, affecting humans as well as plants and animals. In turn, economies could also be affected, particularly those that involve agriculture. If these effects were to continue, Europe, North Atlantic countries and parts of North America could experience long periods of freezing conditions. Also, if ocean currents stopped because of climate change it will have many other affects associated with the global-warming phenomenon.

Earlier Phenomena

Earlier evidence of rocks and ice have shown that ocean currents have indeed stopped for periods of time in history. One example can be found around 13,000 years ago when the warmth experienced at end of an ice age caused large masses of ice to melt into the sea. The resulting changes in water density stopped ocean currents from flowing and caused freezing conditions in some parts of the world for over 1,000 years.

Noel Fernandes

-Team ScienceNow Digital

The UN’s education, Science, and Culture agency, UNESCO, has said that smartphones should be banned from schools. The UN body’s statement hints to tackle classroom disruption and change the growing acceptance of digital education as a replacement for face to face teaching-learning process

The 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report has just released a call for technology only to be used in class when it supports learning outcomes, and this includes the use of smartphones.

The digital revolution holds immense potential but, just as the warnings is voiced for how it should be regulated in society, more attention must be paid to the way it is used in education.

The report shows that some technology can support some learning in some contexts, but not when it is over-used or inappropriately used. In particular, the use of smartphones can disrupt learning in classrooms. One study conducted at pre-primary through to higher education in 14 countries found that it distracted students from learning. A mobile phone nearby with notifications coming through is enough to result in losing attention from the task.  The study found that it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus again. 

Almost one in four countries introducing bans on smartphones use in schools. In countries like Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom was found to improve learning outcomes. Bangladesh and Singapore have also banned smartphone use in class.

The new 2023 GEM Report, entitled ‘Technology in education: A tool on whose terms?’, calls for decisions about technology in education to prioritize the needs of the learner, making sure that any uses of technology are appropriate, equitable, scalable and sustainable.

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

Scientific American Magazine has recently reported that the earth axis has significantly tilted and the cause is stated to be the excessive pumping of Groundwater

The net water lost from underground reservoirs between 1993 and 2010 is estimated to be more than 2 trillion tons. That has caused the geographic North Pole to shift at a speed of 4.36 centimetres per year

The tilt of the axis on which any celestial object spins tends to be stable. But small changes can occur when large masses shift location inside a planet and on its surface.

Gravitational surveys have measured the depletion of underground reservoirs, which is caused in large part by irrigation, especially in north-western India and North western America.

The Earth has lost enough groundwater to thirsty humans to measurably tilt the planet’s axis of rotation.

This effect causes the Earth’s geographic poles to wobble by up to several metres every year The tilting of the axis has major effect on climate too…

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Centre for Near-Earth Objects (NEO) maintains a list of objects that may come close to Earth to understand the potential risk…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) telescopes have found two 120-feet asteroids coming closer to the Earth…

Asteroids are celestial bodies that came into existence during the early formation of the solar system. They are primarily found in the asteroid belt

They can come very close to Earth and in case of a strike, asteroids can be very dangerous.

Two such asteroids, 2023JK, 2023 JD4 around 120 feet in size travelling at a speed of over 30000 Km per hour are approaching Earth

At their closest distance they will pass from a distance of around a million and two miles from the Earth.

Asteroids approaching Earth always make headlines because a collision with one could result in a massive disaster for human life. 

Such a dash by asteroids have led to the extinction of Dinosaurs

NASA’s dashboard tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth. The dashboard displays the date of the closest approach, approximate object diameter, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter. It tracks asteroids that are within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth…

Last month such threat was there as Earth has escaped being hit by an asteroid of sizable size… All such objects are tracked by NASA… and projected that there is no immediate threat to Planet Earth…

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

The Temperatures in India have recorded the highest ever mercury Levels. This season since midFeb till the date strange phenomenon are seen. On one hand it is hot in some regions on the other it is raining hailstorms in other places

It is a heat wave like situation and the mercury rising high to the level that few Indian cities are recording highest temperatures in the world. An extreme summer is forecasted on the cards for India as 36 weather stations in cities across the country recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. Several cities are recording very high temperatures like Gandhinagar in Gujrat, Thane in Maharashtra, Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The temperatures are predicted to climb still further. The extreme weather is attributed to the El Nino situations in the weather pattern.

A new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge has included a “heat index” to measure the recurring impacts of Indian heatwaves on the country’s population. Heatwaves fuelled by climate change leads to public health issues, food shortages and increased risks of death.

Study has shown that India’s global ranking according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Group has gone down in the last 20 years because it hasn’t met the goals for 11 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.The research findings further indicate that every one-degree rise in the temperature would lower the GDP by two percent

The urgent action is needed to combat the Hot situation,,,

–Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow Digital

India has been witnessing a gradual increase in coronavirus infections in recent days. A new variant could be driving the rise but there’s no need to panic.

India is registering a sharp increase in the number of daily new COVID-19 cases over the past few days. New variant XBB.1.16 is the reason behind the surge.  According to Health Ministry data the fresh infections are rising and the number of active cases have crossed over 10 thousand…

The number is up from the less than 100 new cases India reported on some days in January this year — which was the lowest rate since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. New Viral variants will keep coming as the virus keeps on mutating and the XBB 1.16 is the latest new strain. The Virus is from the Omicron family which has higher infectivity.  

The symptoms and their relative mildness suggest that COVID-19 will likely stay with us for the foreseeable future, causing mild disease in a seasonal manner, much like the other human coronaviruses that cause common colds

Prompt action is taken to undertake mock drills at health facilities in April to ensure operational readiness of medical infrastructure. India with a population of 1.4 billion people, has administered more than 2.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses. Despite the rising cases the experts are assuring that there is no need to panic as the rise in infections has not resulted in a rise in serious cases..

The increase in cases is expected to subsidme and there is no need to panic however to counter the increase in cases of the Covid…  We must follow Tracking.. Testing… and Treatment…

Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, Science Now