Category: Art & Culture

• This news card is an excerpt from the original TH article.
• A superconductor is a substance that offers no resistance to electric current when it cools below a critical temperature.
• Aluminum, magnesium diboride, niobium, copper oxide, yttrium barium, and iron pnictides are some well-known superconductors.

What causes mercury to become a superconductor?

• Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, a Dutch physicist, discovered superconductivity in mercury in 1911.
• He discovered that solid mercury offers no resistance to the flow of electric current at a very low temperature, known as the threshold temperature.

What makes mercury capable of superconductivity?

• The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory provides an answer.
• Mercury was classified as a conventional superconductor by scientists because its superconductivity could be explained by Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory concepts.
• While the BCS theory has been used to explain superconductivity in a variety of materials, scientists have never fully understood how it works in mercury, the oldest superconductor.
• The researchers used cutting-edge theoretical and computational approaches to discover that all physical properties relevant to conventional superconductivity in mercury are anomalous in some way.

How does BCS explain it?

• The vibrational energy released by the grid of atoms in BCS superconductors encourages electrons to pair up, forming so-called Cooper pairs.
• Below a certain temperature, these copper pairs can move like water in a stream, with no resistance to their flow.
• The group’s calculations provided a clearer picture of how superconductivity emerges in mercury by including previously overlooked factors.
• For example, by accounting for the relationship between an electron’s spin and momentum, the researchers were able to explain why mercury has such a low threshold temperature (around -270°C).

Coulomb repulsion and Mercury

• Similarly, the researchers discovered that one electron in each pair of mercury electrons occupied a higher energy level than the other.
• This detail is said to have reduced the Coulomb repulsion (like charges repel) between them, fostering superconductivity.
• As a result, the researchers have explained how mercury becomes a superconductor below its critical temperature.
• Their methods and findings imply that we may have overlooked similar anomalous effects in other materials, resulting in previously unknown ones that can be exploited for new and improved real-world applications.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/a-clear-picture-of-how-mercury-becomes-a-superconductor/article66346400.ece

• The modern-day Polo game, Sagol Kangjei, is thought to have originated in Manipur.
• Sagol Kangjei Modern polo is said to have evolved from Sagol Kangjei, a Manipur-based sport.
• Players in this game ride horses, specifically Manipur Ponies, which have been mentioned in records dating back to the 14th century.

Manipur Pony Breed Preservation

• The Manipur Pony is one of India’s five recognized equine breeds, and it holds significant cultural significance for Manipuri society.
• For centuries, the pony has been essential to Manipuri society for its socio-cultural association.
• Its ancestors are unknown, with one source claiming Tibetan ponies as ancestors and another claiming a cross between a Mongolian wild horse and an Arabian.
• The number of Manipur Ponies was 1,898 in the 17th Quinquennial Livestock Census in 2003, but it fell to 1,101 in the 19th Quinquennial Livestock Census in 2012.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/sagol-kangjei-ancient-polo-of-manipur-played-manipur-pony-8365959/

Bose, who was born on January 1, 1894, worked with Einstein to develop what is now known as the Bose-Einstein statistics. We look at the illustrious legacy and stellar achievements of the Indian physicist.

Satyendra Nath Bose

• Born on January 1, 1894, Bose grew up and studied in Kolkata, where he established himself as a model academician.
• Every day before going to work, his father, an accountant in the Executive Engineering Department of the East Indian Railways, gave him an arithmetic problem to solve, which sparked Bose’s interest in mathematics.
• He began studying for a Bachelor of Science degree at the Presidency College at the age of 15, and later completed his MSc in Mixed Mathematics in 1915.

Career as researchers

• It was a difficult time for Indian researchers because World War I had broken out, and European scientific journals visited India only infrequently.
• Furthermore, because most research papers were not available in English, Bose and Saha had to learn scientific terms in German and French in order to read published works.
• However, the new skill proved useful when they published English translations of Albert Einstein’s special and general relativity papers in 1919.
• Bose was appointed as a Reader in Physics at the University of Dhaka two years later. He made his most significant contributions to physics here.

Association with Einstein

• In 1924, Bose wrote to Albert Einstein about his quantum mechanics breakthrough.
• He claimed to have derived Planck’s law for black body radiation (the spectrum of light emitted by any hot object) without using classical electrodynamics.
• Impressed by Bose’s discoveries, Einstein not only arranged for the paper’s publication but also translated it into German.
• This acclaim propelled Bose to fame and glory.

Breakthrough in the invention of the Boson

• He later collaborated with Einstein to develop what is now known as the Bose-Einstein statistics.
• In his honor, any particle that obeys the Bose-Einstein statistics is now referred to as a boson.
• On the occasion of his 129th birthday, we look back at the Indian physicist’s illustrious legacy and stellar achievements. 

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/birth-anniversary-satyendra-nath-bose-indian-scientist-achievements-8355163/

While speaking at the World Ayurveda Congress 2022 (WAC) earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the recent growth of traditional medicine (TM), particularly Ayurveda. Noting the lag in evidence despite considerable research, he gave a clarion call “to bring together medical data, research, and journals and verify claims (benefit) using modern science parameters”.

About World Ayurveda Congress (WAC)

• The World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) is a platform established by the World Ayurveda Foundation to spread Ayurveda in its true sense around the world.
• Platform for bringing together various stakeholders in medicine: The World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) is a forum for Ayurvedic practitioners, medicine manufacturers, enthusiasts, and academics to network.
• What is the mandate? The World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) & Arogya Expo tracks progress, initiates missions, and collects feedback.

World Ayurveda Congress (WAC), 2022

• 9th edition of WAC held at Panjim, Goa: The 9th edition of World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) & Arogya Expo was organized at PANJIM, GOA.
• Organized by the Ministry of AYSUSH on the basis of the whole-government approach (WGA): The WAC on the ‘Whole Government Approach’ (WGA) organised by the Ministry of AYUSH to foster and strengthen the research ecosystem for AYUSH systems.
• WSA: The WGA concept is consistent with the “Whole System Approach” (WSA). WSA entails the integrated and network participation of multiple stakeholders (including patients and the community) in order to achieve better solutions (treatment outcomes) in a difficult and complex situation. In the current context, IM is an important component of WSA.Participation: More than 40 countries and all Indian states actively participated in the event.
• PM’s vision: To transform the country’s healthcare system and create a healthy society, it is necessary to think holistically and integrate Traditional Medicine (TM) and modern medicine systems (MM).

World Ayurveda Foundation (WAF)

• WAF’s mission: WAF is a 2011 initiative founded by Vijnana Bharati aimed at global Ayurvedic propagation.
• Objective and fundamental principle: The core principles of WAF’s objectives are global scope, propagation, and encouragement of all scientific and Ayurvedic activities.
• Areas of Concentration: The broad latitudes of focus at WAF are research support, health-care programmes through camps, clinics, and sanatoriums, documentation, organisation of study groups, seminars, exhibitions, and knowledge initiatives to popularise Ayurveda in the far corners of the world.

Traditional Medicine

• According to WHO: The WHO describes traditional medicine as the total sum of the “knowledge, skills and practises indigenous and different cultures have used over time to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness”.
• The culmination of several ancient practises: Its scope includes both ancient and modern practises such as acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, and herbal mixtures.
• Traditional medicine is used by the following percentage of people: According to WHO estimates, traditional medicine is used by 80% of the world’s population.

Traditional medicine in India

• It is frequently defined as including practises and therapies such as Yoga, Ayurveda, and Siddha that have historically been part of Indian tradition, as well as others such as homoeopathy that have become part of Indian tradition over time.
• Ayurveda and yoga are widely practised throughout the country.
• The Siddha system is primarily practised in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• The Sowa-Rigpa System is primarily practised in Leh-Ladakh and other Himalayan regions such as Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling, Lahaul, and Spiti.

How can TM modalities (such as Ayurveda or homoeopathy) scientifically align with MM to produce better results?

• A newly established Department of IM in NIMHANS has continued to show remarkable success in treating difficult neurological diseases with a team of Ayurvedic and MM physicians and a carefully planned and monitored IM strategy.
• CRD initiatives: The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases (CRD) model of modern rheumatology includes critical elements of TM and Ayurveda, which have shown unequivocal evidence in CRD research projects.
• Based on other protocols, evaluate: Several controlled protocols-based evaluations of standardised Ayurvedic drugs and other TM modalities (such as diet, exercise, yoga, and counselling) in arthritis patients were completed, often in conjunction with MM.
• Long-term clinical improvement in patients with active Rheumatoid arthritis (RA): RA is a crippling lifelong autoimmune condition that is mostly seen in women and is widely acknowledged as difficult to treat. Over several years, supervised and monitored IM intervention (including Ayurvedic drugs) demonstrated consistently superior and sustained clinical improvement in patients with active RA.

Relationship between AYUSH and Modern medicines

• Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani, Siddha, and other TM are examples of AYUSH systems.
• AYUSH systems and MM appear to differ dramatically in several ways.
• Modern scientific research in Ayurveda frequently contradicts classical Ayurveda.
• Unlike MM, TM is based on a personalised approach. MM is primarily a reductionist.
• AYUSH’s ambitious futuristic TM and IM programme is well-intended and headed in the right direction.

@the end

TM and Ayurveda must adapt to the new world order, which has recently changed dramatically. It is reasonable to expect that MM and TM will continue to be used to treat a variety of medical disorders and altered health states in their current form. However, evidence-based medicine will be the new mantra. Furthermore, informed and empowered patients and people will continue to make sound decisions.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/nmc-bats-for-integration-of-modern-medicine-with-ayush/article65918077.ece

From leaf tissue samples, scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal discovered that the entire genome sequencing of banyan and peepal had been completed.

Multiple Signs of Adaptive-evolution (MSA)

• Researchers found 23,929 coding gene sequences in peepal and 25,016 in banyan.
• Around 0.8 million years ago, both trees experienced a population decline, which resulted in the emergence of genes showing several evidence of adaptive evolution (MSA).
• The MSA genes have a major role in the development of the banyan’s roots, pollen tubes, seeds, leaves, cell wall synthesis, metabolism, and other developmental activities.

How MSA prolongs the life?

• The gene families for disease resistance and other stress tolerance showed strong expression and expansion, which helped explain the long longevity of the plants.
• The peepal’s MSA genes are involved in governing blooming time, metabolism, intracellular transport, seed and pollen tube growth, lateral organ development, and root cell elongation.
• The study focused on 19 MSA genes in peepal and 17 MSA genes in banyan, which are mostly connected to well-developed morphology and tolerance to infections, oxidative stress, and drought.
• Auxin signalling genes that control plant senescence and auxin signalling genes that control plant growth both exhibited evolutionary fingerprints.
• Additionally, in banyan and peepal trees, respectively, 88% and 89% of the MSA genes are linked to resistance to biotic and abiotic stress responses.
• As a result, these plants are better able to resist environmental obstacles.