SCIENCE REPORTER

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ISSN: 0036-8512

VOLUME 47 NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER 2010

CONTENTS

COVER STORY
The Unseen Sun M.S.S. MURTHY	8
FEATURE ARTICLES
FUSION A Limitless Source of Energy POORAN KOLI, K.M. GANGOTRI, URVASHI SHARMA, MUKESH BHIMWAL, AMIT MAHAWAR & MAHESH BHIMWAL	13
Dangerous Face of the Sun K. SUNDARA RAMAN	19
What Makes the Sun Shine? B.N. DWIVEDI	23
SAGAR NIDHI: BRAVING THE ANTARCTICA WATERS Rajasekhar D, Nallathambi T, Ravi N, Shashikumar K, Pandurangan V, Kartik T, Charles S, Sibaprasad B, Nagarajan G, & Muthukumar C	30
GAUR: WILD CATTLE IN PERIL M. ASHOKKUMAR, R. NAGARAJAN & AJAY A. DESAI	34
MALES ON DISPLAY! SHIVANI JADEJA	46
SHORT FEATURES
Pan (acea) for Diseases? GEETIKA	28
D.M. Bose: The Indian Who Missed the Nobel MANAS PRATIM DAS	42
MACADAMIA: NUTRITIOUS NUT FOOD KEDARESHWAR PRADHAN	44
DEPARTMENTS
REACTIONS	6
EDITORIAL	7
SPECTRUM	16
POINT-COUNTERPOINT	37
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE	40
PUZZLE CORNER	50
BOOK REVIEW	52
ANECDOTES	53
LIVINGFOSSILS	55
NATURAL HAZARDS	56
FUN QUIZ	58
WHAT’S NEW	60
CROSSWORD	62

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 8-12

THE UNSEEN SUN

M.S.S. MURTHY

The Sun is often described as a turbulent ball of fire although to us on the earth it looks like a white disk. Astronomers have employed innumerable instruments to view the unseen Sun with details not discernible to the naked eye.

Far afar, the Sun appears to be a calm, serene and unchanging beacon of light in the sky. But is it really so? No, say the astronomers. The flat bright disk hides another Sun—active, ever changing with violent eruptions that blaze forth in all directions and some reaching the earth too. What then is the real nature of the Sun that we see every day?

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 13-15

FUSION: A LIMITLESS SOURCE OF ENERGY

Pooran Koli, K.M. Gangotri, Urvashi Sharma, Mukesh Bhimwal,

Amit Mahawar & Mahesh Bhimwal

Fusion technology holds the promise of being able to meet the future energy needs of the planet. But a lot still needs to be done before the technology is perfected. There are two types of fusion—uncontrolled and controlled. In uncontrolled nuclear fusion, vast energy in uncontrolled manner is released causing destruction only—the hydrogen bomb is an example. Thus uncontrolled nuclear fusion is not of use for constructive purpose. In controlled nuclear fusion, the vast energy is released steadily so it can be used for peaceful purposes, say, the nuclear fusion reactors.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 19-22

DANGEROUS FACE OF THE SUN

K. SUNDARA RAMAN

Are we going to be roasted alive by killer solar storms that may arrive during the next solar maximum in 2012? Why and how do these solar flares occur and how do they affect the earth? Read on to find out.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 23-26

What Makes the Sun Shine?

B.N. DWIVEDI

How does the Sun shine? How does it produce the vast amount of energy that makes life possible on Earth? These questions have posed a challenge to scientists since the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century, physicists believed that gravitation could fuel the Sun. In 1854, Hermann von Helmholtz proposed that the gravitational contraction could cause the Sun’s energy. Lord Kelvin estimated the age of the Sun from its gravitational contraction, and by implication the Earth, to be about 30 million years. In 1859, Charles Darwin estimated the age of the Earth to be about 300 million years from geological activity on the Earth, based on the erosion of the Weald in south England, cf.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 28-29

Pan (acea) for Diseases?

GEETIKA

CHEWING pan or betel leaves is an all too prevalent addiction throughout the country, albeit more so in the northern part. The tell tale signs are very often visible on roadsides, on public transport, in residential and commercial buildings, and often in most unlikely places like flower pots and even inside lifts.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 30-32

Sagar Nidhi: Braving the Antarctica Waters

Rajasekhar D, Nallathambi T, Ravi N, Shashikumar K, Pandurangan V, Kartik T, Charles S, Sibaprasad B, Nagarajan G, & Muthukumar C

Sagar Nidhi, India’s pride and most sophisticated ice class multi-disciplinary vessel of the sub-continent, is also the first Indian flagged research vessel that reached the 66⁰ S latitude, facing 11 storms and 73 nm/hr wind speed, witnessing nature’s harshest conditions and awesome breathtaking sceneries.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 33-36

GAUR: WILD CATTLE IN GRAVE PERIL

M. ASHOKKUMAR, R. NAGARAJAN, & AJAY A. DESAI

The shy gaur is under grave threat. The largest gregarious wild cattle found in Asia, with the largest population left in India, demands long-term conservation strategy. India has already lost one large bovid, the Banteng (Bos banteng), which was once known to occur in North East India. Gaur is yet another rapidly declining species. It plays an important role by modifying its habitat by way of resetting succession of a forest habitat to grassland and spreading the propagules of numerous plants. They are also important prey species for the endangered flagship species tiger.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 42-43

D.M. BOSE: THE INDIAN WHO MISSED THE NOBEL

MANAS PRATIM DAS

THIS year we celebrate the 125^th birth anniversary of a great genius who made the country proud with his path breaking scientific work. Debendra Mohan Bose, a silent worker and a strikingly handsome figure, was honoured in India and recognized abroad for pioneering researches in the field of cosmic rays, artificial radioactivity and neutron physics. He is also remembered as the scientist who more than once came close to making major breakthroughs that later won the Nobel Prize.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 44-45

MACADAMIA: NUTRITIOUS NUT FOOD

KEDARESHWAR PRADHAN

POPULARLY known as Queensland nut, Macadamia integrifolia is a native of Australia. It grows naturally in the coastal district of South Queensland and Northern New-South Wales. There are seven Australian species of Macadamia and only two of them namely Macadamia integrifolia and Macadamia tetraphylla are considered edible and commercial species.

Science Reporter

Vol. 47, November 2010, pp 46-48

Males on Display!

SHIVANI JADEJA

Lekking is a unique and immensely interesting behaviour exhibited by male blackbucks. Here’s an account of this rare activity sighted at the Velavadar Blackbuck National Park in Gujarat.