How is India-US Relations boosting our economy?

It’s very transparent that India-US relation has been phenomenal ever since in multiple strategic areas with its ups and downs at times. In today’s article, I will discuss explicitly how this bilateral tie can strengthen the landscape of science, technology, and innovation (STI) in our country.

So let’s get started.

As we know science and technology are being the key driver for innovation and job creation in the recent time so this aspect needs to take center stage among all the shared values and interests of both the countries. Over the years, knowledge and technology have become significant to most of the bilateral agreements and dialogues between the two countries.

Image credits: ndtv.com

How can India take the advantage?

Projects such as PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE CLEAN ENERGY and joint participation in the areas of fundamental science such as HIGH-INTENSITY SUPERCONDUCTING PROTON ACCELERATOR, THE THIRD METER TELESCOPE, and NASA ISRO SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR MISSION will have a far-reaching impact.

Moving forward we can make this developmental mission worthwhile by focusing on sector agnostic technologies like IT, NANOTECHNOLOGY and GENE EDITING TECHNOLOGY. We need to learn the best practices on science administration from key American federal agencies and that can be a good starting point for India’s science departments and research institutions. This will have a positive impact on all the spheres like education and economy primarily. Then we can extend this impact to trade, defense, security, energy, health, climate, and space.

Will genetic engineering be the sunrise or sunset of human race?

DISCLAIMER- SKIP THIS BLOG AT YOUR OWN PERIL BECAUSE IT’S NOT JUST ANOTHER SCIENCE BLOG BUT IT CONCERNS OUR FUTURE. SO GO AHEAD AND EXPLORE…

Hi, my fellow netizens. Hope you are doing good. You must be wondering what on earth am I up to? Am I alright? What is wrong with me? Why would a guy pursuing MECHANICAL engineering, write a blog on such an unwonted topic, so very divergent from his course of study? Well, firstly guys pardon me for my unconditional love for BIOLOGY and secondly, I have always been of the opinion that an extra helping of KNOWLEDGE never goes amiss.

Particularly when the topic under discussion is going to play a major role in shaping our life and the things revolving around it. In few years to come it will have huge potential both in a good and evil sense so it’s better if we armor ourselves up with some good and sound information regarding this soon to be next “BIG THING”.

Well, we all know what BIOGENETICS is all about and its wide range of application including Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Medicine, and Surgery. But for those who are still ignorant about what’s going on, please allow me to enlighten you- “BIOGENETICS is the science and art of changing the genetic makeup of some of the living organism to drive intended benefits to the human kind and human society as a whole. ”

With its help, various species of crops have grown to many lethal diseases. Hybridization has helped to increase crop yield, nutrition value, quicker, higher productivity and thus brought about a new era of Agricultural revolution, which can hopefully eradicate starvation and malnutrition.

It has been effective for tackling and defeating deadly and difficult diseases in the world. Eg-cystic fibrosis. And with the advancement made in modern medical science, one could easily lay their hands on a person’s whole genome sequence and thus predict what are the diseases and infection that one has the risk of catching in future. Timely action and necessary precautionary measures can then help negate the chances of being contagious with those diseases.In a nutshell, BIOGENETICS can shoot a person’s lifespan up by a few good years.

But what about the hazards and ill effects involved in it because I as well as you would agree that Genetic engineering could be a serious threat if put to nefarious ends. With the power of the market and the open information published in journals, I am sure that humans will want to enhance their children and will be prepared to pay large sums to do so.

More Laws and Regulation cannot prevent this from happening. There are a number of disadvantages in allowing a scientist to break down barriers that perhaps are better left untouched.A rogue scientist might alter particular genes to create so called “Designer babies”, with tailored features that range from height and eye color to disease immunity and thus make huge profits by selling such nauseous ideas and models.

I think Bioterrorism is a reality and a risk factor we need to take into consideration. It can be used as a murder weapon too as a greedy and inhuman scientist may not hesitate to carry out any action that they may deem fit for their purpose and interest. Eg-Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on a large number of prisoners, including children by Nazi Germany in its concentration camp in early to mid-1940’s (i.e; during World war 2 and holocaust).

Nazi physicians and their assistants forced prisoners into participating with an aim to design “Homo sapiens” that will help German military personnel in combat situations, develop a new weapon, aid in the recovery of military personnel who have been injured and to advance the Nazi racial ideology. Besides, there are a number of ethnic objections. Diseases, after all, exist for a reason and have persisted throughout history for a reason. Whilst we should be fighting against them, we do need at least a few illnesses, otherwise, we would soon become overpopulated.

These might be the Factual reasons behind the Blind Beliefs

India is known for its diverse culture and rich historical significance. There is a part of Indian beliefs and actions that create a bad impression, it’s none other than the blind beliefs and superstitions.
Superstition in India is a major social problem. Superstitions have no logical significance and are contradictory to modern science. But there are certain logic and scientific reasons which were structured by great men in ancient times. Intelligent people in those times had to build certain restrictions for the benefit of people. These were difficult to implement and pass the messages to all the people, so they planned to implement these restrictions by creating fear among them so that people could easily remember and popularise them. These beliefs were structured in ancient India and the reasons behind them hold in those time.

Some common beliefs and the scientific reasons behind them are:

1.  CAT CROSSING YOUR PATH
This is the most popular blind belief that is followed in almost every part of India. In ancient times people had no motorized vehicles rather they had animal driven carts and they used to carry food during their journey.

There are 3 Possible reasons behind this restriction:-

(i) a kitten always follows its mother unlike other babies, so if a traveler meets a cat while crossing a road there is a probability that there might be kittens following their parent and may come under the cart

(ii) a traveler carrying food with him should be aware of cats as they may follow them and chase for food for the certain distance

(iii) night travelers are warned of the black cats because animals sense cats as the presence of tigers so they may get afraid and possibly could freak out.

Cats originated from the middle eastern Arabic regions and they traveled a long way to India before dogs reached. And now cat’s population have significantly reduced and there is a huge growth of dogs in our country. Thus if we follow this belief of dogs instead of cats and stop our vehicles as soon as we see a dog around, this would reduce the number of road accidents….  (author’s personal point of view)

2. hanging lemon and chilies in front of shops
Alakshmi like misfortuned men, widows, lower caste etc. are considered god of misfortune brings bad luck to the shop owners or business. In order not to allow her entering the shops they hang these 7 chilies and 4 lemons. It is believed that Alakshmi after consuming lemon and green chilies, loses her urge to enter the house or shop. She will
turn around without casting her vicious eye.

truth: this was formed for the vegetable and food vendors. The cotton thread which is used to pierce the chilies and lemon absorbs the acid from the fruit whilst it is fresh. This smell keeps the pests and insects away from the shops. This is a simple pesticide which came into practice from ancient times, which is misleading now superstitiously and is being used all other shops too.

3. sweeping after sunset
If you sweep your house after sunset Lakshmi leaves your house and hence inviting poverty.

But the real reason behind this is back in the days when there was no electricity. light of lamp was not enough to spot any small valuable ornament while sweeping and hence chances of sweeping them away with the dust is high. Hence it was not advised to sweep after dark.

4. Walking or placing something under the stairs
it is practiced in every home not to keep any household thing or even walk under the staircase.

in old times people had no solid staircase, they had wooden ladders. So it was advised not to walk under them as they may fall upon you or someone on the roof may drop something on you.

5. Eating non-veg in the month of Shrawan, Kartik and other weekdays
it is scientifically found that in months of Shrawan, Kartik which falls in the rainy season in India. Fish, birds, animals get infected due to the water-borne diseases like jaundice, cholera etc. consuming the flesh would indirectly transfer the germs into us making us fall ill.
Some weekdays other than Sunday and sometimes Sundays are debarred from eating non-veg. This was made into practice so that people don’t overeat non-veg every week.

The reason why women aren’t allowed at funerals

Ever Wondered Why Women Are Not Allowed To Attend Funerals In India?

India is a place where rules have been set differently for the male and female gender. People have been following certain traditions for years together, only because some of their ancestors started it and no one questioned them about it back then.

One of those traditions is ‘not allowing women at the shamshan ghat.‘ A shamshan ghat that is the cremation ground is an area where cremation of bodies takes place. Such sites are usually built near rivers or fresh streams so that so that the ashes can be disposed of after cremation as per Hindu tradition. According to Hindu rituals, the son of the deceased is supposed to light pyre fights at the cremation. Also, as per traditions, women are not allowed to attend the funeral or even go beyond the street they live in. But have you ever wondered why? Have you ever asked your parents if there is a science to this logic or is it just a traditional myth? Whether you have attained answers to all your questions or not, we’re going to bust a myth today. Read on.

The fact is that women are NOT BANNED from attending funerals. A woman can visit the cremation and has the right to light the fire if she is the only daughter or if she and her family has no problem with it.

However, our ancestors had their own reasons to not let women attend funerals and they aren’t really illogical. Here are five reasons why women are now allowed to go to shamshan ghat.

1. To Take Care Of The House

While the men of the house go to the cremation ground, the women being the caretakers of the house, are expected to clean the house and look after it. Traditionally, women were also expected to keep the food ready for the men returning from the cremation ground.

2. It’s A Disturbed Sight

This is the reason behind different types of Train No.

.

So yesterday I was coming from my DRDO labs to my home and there was 3 hours long wait for my train at the station and as it was midnight I was having nothing to do so was surfing the internet while also viewing the surrounding. A question suddenly struck in my mind after a train just passed through the station. Why are there different types of train no. in every train? Some start with 0, Some start with 1 Why is it so?

Yeah I am an engineer and like every other engineering guy out there, I trust Google more then my College professors(Sorry If you got Offended). So I just got my laptop quickly and started surfing. Yeah soon I found the answer and of course, it was interesting. So I thought I should share the knowledge with My readers too so that they too can have some knowledge in the railways.

So Please Leave your Facebook for a minute and Just look Here so that you too can explain later to your friends and families. The rule for the five-digit train no was started On December 20, 2010

Also, Do check Out guys The real reason why You are asked to use airplane modes in Flight

So The first digit of the train no. can be any no. between 0 to 9 which resembles

• 0 is for special trains (e.g., summer specials, holiday specials, etc.)
• 1 is for all long-distance trains, including the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Sadharan, Sampark Kranti, Garib Rath, Duronto, and other classes.
• 2 is also for long-distance trains; it is to be used when train numbers starting with 1 are exhausted in any series.
• 3 is for Kolkata suburban trains.
• 4 is for suburban trains in Chennai, New Delhi, Secunderabad, and other metropolitan areas.
• 5 is for passenger trains with conventional coaches
• 6 is for MEMU trains
• 7 is for DMU (DEMU) and railcar services.
• 8 is currently reserved
• 9 is for Mumbai area suburban trains

The Second digit of the train followed by the first digit resembles

The significance of the second and later digits depends on what the first digit is. Below, the different number series are explained, based on the first digit.

0, 1, 2: In the case of special trains, and long-distance express trains, i.e., trains starting with digits ‘0’, ‘1’, or ‘2’, the remaining 4 digits signify the railway zone and division exactly as in the pre-2011 4-digit scheme. In fact, most 5-digit numbers for long-distance trains as of this writing [4/11] are created simply by prefixing ‘1’ to the former 4-digit codes. See below for an explanation of the 4-digit system. The zonal codes (second digit) are shown below:

• 0 is for Konkan Railway
• 1 is for CR, WCR, and NCR(?)
• 2 is for superfast, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, and some other classes of trains regardless of zones. For these, the next digit is usually the zoning code.
• 3 is shared by ER and ECR
• 4 is for NR, NCR, and NWR
• 5 is shared by NER and NFR
• 6 is for SR and SWR
• 7 is shared by SCR and SWR
• 8 is for SER and ECoR
• 9 is for WR, NWR, and WCR

Let’s Take an example of the train

    18477(Puri-Haridwar Utkal Exp.)

• The First digit is 1 So it will be a long distance train (1773 km is Distance between Haridwar and puri)
• The second digit is 8 so it denotes this train is of SER or ECoR (this train is from East Coast Railway)
• The later digits denotes the home shed or station from where rakes of the train are been used

Now there are some other train no. for metropolitan cities. they have some other fixed train no. which denotes the place they are from Such as

• Trains starting from 30 to 39 belong to the Kolkata suburban.
• Trains starting from 90 to 99 belong to the Mumbai suburban.
• From 40 to 49 belongs to other cities such as Delhi and Kolkata.

So here It is guys That were some serious stuff in the Indian Railways. Now the next time you see a train with a train no. you can exactly tell which types of train it is and also the place where the train belongs to Right?

Please Do Comment Below If you have any concerns regarding our page and Please directly Contact Us and If you wanna join our community and blog with us You can Join Us and we will be happy to make you a part of the Team.

You can also check all the train no. in our Indian railways that are currently in service here.

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The Mystery behind the birthday cakes solved

Birthdays are fascinating, aren’t they? They make us feel special. They are much more than just a day on the calendar. And why are they so? It’s because they bring along lots of gifts and good wishes from our near and dear ones. And what is the best way to celebrate them? Birthday cakes and candles.

So friends, join me on an exciting journey to know more about how the age-old tradition of blowing out candles on the birthday cakes began.

Evolution of ‘Birthday’ Cakes

The idea of serving cakes on the occasion of someone’s birthday comes from a German tradition in the 15th Century.

German bakers began marketing a special type of cake for birthdays that were people used more traditionally in wedding celebrations. The cakes though were not actually cakes as we know them today (they were more like a sweet form of bread) and were called “Geburtstagorten”.

The recipe for Geburtstagorten developed as time passed, with further sweet ingredients and additional layers added. By the time the 17th century arrived, the Geburtstagorten had become a much fancier affair with icing and decoration. However, Geburtstagorten from day one was an expensive treat that was only really accessible to the wealthy. It wasn’t until industrial processes permitting mass-production developed, that Geburtstagorten became more affordable, and the tradition of birthday cakes really took off.

Today we have so many varieties of cakes to relish: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, butterscotch, pineapple, black forest, truffle cakes, mousse cakes, cheese cakes, fruit cake, cupcakes and the list is endless. We also have ice cream cakes, a very ‘cool as well as sweet’ kind of combination which makes us delightful.

Also read: Everything about customized bikes in India

Apart from that, in India, we have our home-baked cakes, generally baked in a traditional electric-heated oven by our grandmothers, or nowadays even in a microwave oven (the recipe of which even many of us know, but end up making it a bit messy!), which tastes wonderful with some coffee and tea. The moment one pours the batter into the oven and baking starts, the sweet aroma wafts through our nostrils and slowly the creamy batter changes into a golden brown, soft spongy cake. Irresistible. Hot Cakes. Absolute bliss.

(Warning: Please do not get carried away by the pictures of these delicious cakes. According to scientific experts, even watering of mouth by seeing your favorite food can lead to weight gain.)

Why put candles on cakes?

Putting candles on birthday cakes is a tradition that has been around for a long, long time.The Ancient Greeks, often burned candles as offerings to their many gods and goddesses.

According to some historians, for the Ancient Greeks, putting candles on a cake was a special way to pay tribute to the Greek moon goddess, Artemis.

They baked round cakes to symbolize the moon. They added candles to represent the reflected moonlight. The light from the candles made the cake “glow”, giving it the appearance of a mini-moon!

Blowing out candles

In the mid 19th century, the practice of blowing out candles on birthday cakes began to gain popularity.

Some people believed that the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to gods who lived in the skies. Others probably believed that the smoke helped to ward off evil spirits.

In Switzerland, it was considered bad luck to eat birthday cake before blowing the candles.

See more: Can a car really run on Compressed Air?

In old pagan beliefs, candles were regarded as having a magical ability to grant wishes. Many people believe that the birthday boy or girl must make a silent wish before blowing out the candles. If all the candles are blown out in one breath, the wish will come true, and the person will have good luck throughout the year. On the other hand, if it takes more than one breath to blow out all the candles or if the person tells someone what the wish was, it will supposedly not come true.

What do you think? Have you ever made a birthday wish? Did it come true? Share your experience with us.

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