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www.ptinews.com Vol 36 No. 07 (24 pages including cover)

CONTENTS NATIONAL SCIENCE BRIEFS:

*MANU’S FLOOD A REALITY, SAYS ARCHAEOLOGIST AT ICHR MEET *AINDIA TO TWEAK DEFINITION OF BLINDNESS TO MEET WHO STIPULATION*TULSI PLANT GIVES OUT OXYGEN DURING DAY, NIGHT: V K SINGH* RESEARCH LEADS TO REVIVAL OF RARE RICE VARIETY IN J&K* TEENAGE GIRL’S ADJUSTABLE WALKER BOON FOR ELDERLY, DISABLED * INDIA CAN LEAD IN GLOBAL LIFE SCIENCES SPACE: US-INDIA BIZ BODY*WHO LAUNCHES ETHICS GUIDANCE TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF TB PATIENTS*2ND REPORT ON INDIA’S GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS OUT SOON *MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT TB ON THE RISE IN INDIA* 25 PC OF GLOBAL TB CASES IN INDIA: STUDY*SMOKING POPULATION DOWN BY OVER 2 PC POST GLOBAL TREATY* NEED TO IMPROVE RESEARCH, CAPACITY BUILDING IN EDU SYSTEM* INDIA TO LAUNCH GSLV MARK-III IN ANOTHER TWO MONTHS: MURTHY*TATA TO OPEN CANCER RESEARCH CENTRE & HOSPITAL IN JHARKHAND* CAN’T ONLY BLAME GLOBAL WARMING FOR HIMALAYAN GLACIERS’ FASTER RETREAT: GOVT *25 NOBEL LAUREATES EXPECTED AT SCIENCE CONGRESS IN HYDERABAD* GOVT LOOKING INTO GENOMIC SCIENCE BASED DNA MAPPING: MINISTER*

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE BRIEFS:

*CATS LIKE HUMAN INTERACTION MORE THAN FOOD: STUDY*CHEWING LIKE COWS HELPED EARLY MAMMALS SURVIVE MASS EXTINCTION* NUT ALLERGY TESTS MAY BE INACCURATE: STUDY* OVER 100 GENES LINKED TO MEMORY IN HUMANS IDENTIFIED*COOKING AT HOME, SKIPPING TV DUR*NEW TECH LETS HUMANS CONTROL TURTLES WITH THOUGHT*WORLD’S FIRST NANOCAR RACE TO TAKE PLACE NEXT MONTH* NEW TECH LETS HUMANS CONTROL TURTLES WITH THOUGHT*WORLD’S FIRST NANOCAR RACE TO TAKE PLACE NEXT MONTH*WORLD’S MOST DIVERSE SET OF DINOSAUR TRACKS DISCOVERED IN AUS*USING ‘YOU’ HELPS COPE WITH NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES: STUDY*CUTTING SALT INTAKE MAY LOWER NIGHT-TIME TOILET TRIPS: STUDY* ‘SLEEPLESS NIGHT MAY IMPAIR ABILITY TO RECOGNISE EXPRESSIONS’*IMPACT CRATER LINKED TO ANCIENT MARTIAN TSUNAMIS IDENTIFIED* BRAIN SCANS MAY HELP CHOOSE RIGHT TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION*HUMANS, SMARTPHONES OFTEN FAIL TO DETECT FACE MORPH PHOTOS*

GLOBE SCAN:

* ATHEISTS, HIGHLY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE LEAST AFRAID OF DEATH: STUDY* STASH OF LIQUOR BOTTLES FROM WORLD WAR I DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL* NASA TO LAUNCH NEW PROBE TO *FOUR-LEGGED ROBOT CAN CHANGE GAIT WITH SPEED*SPIRITUAL RETREATS BOOST BRAIN’S ‘FEEL GOOD’ CHEMICALS*CHILDREN WITH AUTISM MAY BENEFIT FROM FAECAL TRANSPLANT*NEW ALGORITHM CAN TELL WHEN YOU’LL GET BORED OF MOBILE GAME*STEM CELL THERAPY MAY HELP REPAIR LUNG DAMAGE: STUDY*CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER SURVIVORS AT HIGHER HEART DISEASE RISK*’10 MINS OF VIGOROUS EXERCISE MAY CUT DIABETES RISK IN KIDS’* PTI Science Service1 April 1-15, 2017 Material reproduced should be credited to the PTI Science Service Registration No.39337/81 FOR SUBSCRIPTION

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connection. MANU’S FLOOD A REALITY, SAYS Twenty-six research papers would be presented ARCHAEOLOGIST AT ICHR MEET during the seminar, which marks the 45th anniversary of ICHR which was founded on March 27, 1972. Controversial archaeologist BB Lal, known for his David Frawley, the Director of the American Institute works on Ayodhya, has come up with a research paper of Vedic Studies in the US, is taking part in the seminar, which claims that Manu’s flood, widely believed to be a along with other noted scholars. mythological phenomenon, was a real event. The research paper of the former director general INDIA TO TWEAK DEFINITION OF of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the findings of BLINDNESS TO MEET WHO STIPULATION which were arrived at by linking Manu’s flood to the disappearance of the Saraswati river through The government is set to change a four-decade- archaeological evidence, was presented today at a seminar old definition of blindness to bring it in line with the organised by the Indian Council of Historical Research WHO criteria and ensure the Indian data on blindness (ICHR). meets the global estimates. “Archaeologically, the deluge of the Saraswati took As defined under the National Programme for place around 2000-1,900 Before Common Era (BCE) Control of Blindness (NPCB), a person unable to count or broadly, in the first quarter of the second millennium fingers from a distance of six metres is categorised as BCE. This was exactly the time of Manu’s flood, which “blind” in India, against the WHO’s stipulation of three occurred after the Rigveda, but before the beginning of metres. the second millennium BCE. Should we still call Manu’s “We will bring the definition of blindness at par with Flood a myth,” the paper read. the WHO’s criteria. Because of the current definition, we Lal, a Padma Bhushan awardee, is also working on a project a higher figure of blind people from India at any book on the same subject. His book ‘Rama, His Historicity, international forum. Thus India gets presented in a poor Mandir and Setu: Evidence of Literature, Archaeology light compared to other countries,” said Promila Gupta, and Other Sciences’ had created an uproar as it talked NPCB Deputy Director General. about the possible presence of a Hindu temple structure Also, she said, the data “we generate under the beneath the Babri Masjid. programme cannot be compared with the global estimates ICHR is a flagship research-based institution as other countries are following the WHO criteria”. functioning under the Ministry of Human Resource Uniformity in the definition across various regions Development. of the world is a pre-requisite for facilitating collection The three-day seminar on ‘Antiquity, Continuity and of population-based data on prevalence of blindness Development of Civilisation and Culture in Bharat (In and estimating its global burden, Gupta said. dia) up to 1st Millennium BC’ was slated to be inaugurated Further, India has to achieve the goal set by WHO today by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. He, which recommends reducing the blindness prevalence of however, could not make it to the event. the country to 0.3 per cent of the total population by ICHR Chairman Sudarshan Rao said the seminar 2020. aimed to find a connection among the various civilisations “The Vision 2020 recommends reducing the that spanned between 4th millennium BC and 1st prevalence of blindness to 0.3 per cent by the year 2020 millennium BC. to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness. The 1st millennium BC, spanning from 1,000 BC to “It will be extremely difficult to achieve the WHO 1 BC and encompassing the Iron Age, saw the rise of goal using the NPCB definition since we will be addressing various empires. an extra 4 million individuals, blind due to refractive errors. Rao claimed that the ancient civilisations between 4th By adopting the blindness criteria of WHO, India can millennium BC and 1st millennium BC were correlated achieve the goal,” said Praveen Vashist, in-charge, and added that the seminar will seek to delve into this Community Ophthalmology at Dr R P Centre for

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Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS. progenies of Emperor Ashoka and it remained dominant The Health Ministry is also planning to change for centuries. However, the revival of the “sanatan the nomenclature of NPCB to the National Programme dharma” was started by the Shankarcharya of the Kanchi for Control of Visual Impairment and Blindness. peeth. “The idea is to further strengthen the programme by Referring to the activities of ICCR, Singh said India focusing not only on the blind persons but also those with wa not an educational hub at one point of time in the some kind of visual impairment. history, but today it is progressing. “It urges the member states to strengthen national “We need to tell people that there is much more efforts to prevent avoidable visual impairment through happeningin India whether it is our Information better integration of eye health into national eye health Technology, our space programme, or various chairs of plans and service delivery,” Gupta added. philosophy,” he said. She said India currently has around 12 million blind people against 39 million globally— which makes India RESEARCH LEADS TO REVIVAL home to one-third of the world’s blind population. OF RARE RICE VARIETY IN J&K The current definition of blindness was adopted at the time of the inception of the NPCB in 1976. Ten years of hard work by the scientists in Kashmir’s “The probable reason for keeping 6 meters as cut- Agricultural University has resulted in the revival of off for defining blindness in India was to include Mushkbudji, an aromatic variety of rice grown only in economic blindness cases which referred to a level of the Valley. blindness which prevents an individual to earn his or her The Jammu and Kashmir government is hand-holding wages. the farmers to cultivate the rare variety on a large scale. “In contrast, the WHO definition adopts a criteria “The research of scientists led to the production of for blindness that is which hampers the routine social the pure line of Mushkbudji rice and the cooperation of interaction of a person (social blindness),” Gupta said. over 400 farmers resulted in a relatively large scale production last year,” an official of Jammu and Kashmir’s TULSI PLANT GIVES OUT OXYGEN Agro Industries Development Corporation (AIDC), DURING DAY, NIGHT: V K SINGH which is providing marketing support to the farmers cultivating Mushkbudji, said. Tulsi, a medicinal plant revered by Hindus, gives He added that an area of 125 hectares was brought out oxygen during the day as well in the night, Union under cultivation of the rare variety of rice over the years minister V S Singh said. and the yield last year was 900 tonnes. The Minister of State for External Affairs said that The state Agriculture department provided seeds and Hinduism is a philosophy and not a religion, and that is a fertilisers to the farmers for free as part of the scheme to reason it remains relevant. revive the Mushkbudji variety. “It is a philosophy of way of living and it is based on To encourage the farmers to cultivate Mushkbudji, science. Whether it is Sanskrit, the mother language, or all the state government felicitated some of them with the rituals that we follow are also based on science. It was certificates for the preservation of the near extinct variety. difficult to explain in a particular time frame at that time The farmers were also given cash prizes. so these became rituals. The Mushkbudji revival programme was undertaken “We have tulsi in households because it is a medicinal by the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences plant and gives out oxygen throughout day and night,” and Technology (SKUAST) through its Mountain Research Singh said. Centre for Field Crops, at Khudwani in south Kashmir in He was speaking at an event organised by the Indian 2007. Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) where its five The main objective was to conserve the local alumnus from different countries were awarded. biodiversity through utilisation for the socio-economic The minister said Buddhism was propagated by development of rice growers which proved to be a huge

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success, the official said. The modified walker, which costs nearly Rs 3,000, He said the scientists developed the purified version has an innovative self-locking mechanism through which of Mushkbudji after exercising the pure line selection for front legs of walker can be raised while climbing up stairs true to type plant architecture, grain and cooking quality. and lowered while climbing down, Shalini said. Since Mushkbudji, the short bold aromatic rice, is “It is very stable, light weight, adjustable to all sizes grown in the higher ridges of Kashmir, the government of stairs and can also be used while walking on inclined has focused on roping in farmers from south Kashmir’s surface. This walker is useful for children, elderly people Sagam Soaf Shali and Panzgam areas for its cultivation. and specially abled persons,” Shalini said. An ergonomically designed product, the walker TEENAGE GIRL’S ADJUSTABLE WALKER weighs four kg. It can be used regardless of a person’s BOON FOR ELDERLY, DISABLED height and weight. She hoped the product would soon be available in A 19-year-old has invented a special modified the markets as a number of companies are showing interest walker with adjustable legs to help the elderly and in her innovation. differently-abled persons climb up and down the stairs The participants of the In-Residence Programme said with ease. they were deeply thankful to the President as they got an Shalini Kumari, a resident of Patna, is one of the 14 opportunity to interact with prominent people, including persons including innovators, writers and artists who are ministers. currently living as guests of the President in the Rashtrapati “It has been an amazing experience living here at the Bhavan as part of a two-week In-Residence Programme. Rashtrapati Bhavan. I met President Pranab Mukherjee Shalini said the idea came to her mind when she saw on Wednesday with the group. I feel encouraged and her grandfather struggle while climbing stairs as traditional motivated after meeting him,” she said. walkers were not apt for walking on an uneven surface. The group includes artists Dheeraj Yadav and Rahul “It is really difficult and sometimes impossible for Shailendra Kokate, writers Dr Ashokkumar P Chavda and the elderly, differently-abled persons or those recuperating Prabal Kumar Basu, and innovators Surjeet Singh, Moa from lower limb problems to climb up or down the Subong, Girish Badragond, Mansukhabhai Prajapati, stairs using conventional four-leg walkers,” she said. Subhash Ola, Paresh Panchal, Santosh Pachar, Ajay Kumar Shalini observed that the four-leg walkers were not Sharma, Shalini Kumari and Akash Manoj. flexible enough to provide support for climbing stairs, They said that they were infused with fresh energy and providing flexibility to them was the key. and enthusiasm after meeting the President and were “My grandfather enjoyed walking on the terrace, but determined to contribute to the welfare of the society in found it difficult to walk up the stairs. It was then I decided their own way. to prepare a modified walker with adjustable legs,” Shalini said. INDIA CAN LEAD IN GLOBAL LIFE Shalini sent her proposal to make modified adjustable SCIENCES SPACE: US-INDIA BIZ BODY walkers to the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body of the Department of Science and India has the potential to rank higher in areas like Technology set up to provide institutional support to disease prevention and medical device manufacturing if innovators, and her idea was appreciated by officials who barriers in research and innovation are removed, an official assured her all possible help in making her dream project of a US-India business body has said. a reality. “India has proven to be a leader in global life sciences The walker with spring-loaded, self-locking front legs space,” president of US-India Business Council (USIBC), was finally prepared with the help of NIF, she said. Mukesh Aghi, said. She has won a number of awards for her innovtion “If the barriers to research and development and including IGNITE award of the National Innovation innovation are removed, India has the potential to rank Foundation (NIF). even higher in areas of IPR, disease prevention, and drug

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and medical device manufacturing,” he said. Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO Global TB In partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs Programme said. and Invest India, USIBC brought together policymakers, It emphasises on five key ethical obligations for global experts, industry leaders among others during the governments and caregivers, to provide patients with the second annual conference on ‘Innovation Driven social support they need to fulfil their responsibilities, Expansion of Healthcare Access in India’ held recently. refrain from isolating TB patients before exhausting all It was aimed at providing a substantive framework options to enable treatment adherence. for a candid and constructive interaction between It also emphasises on enabling key population access policymakers, global experts and industry leaders. sa e standard of care offered to other citizens, ensuring Experts, including Frank Lichtenberg from Columbia that all health workers operate in a safe environment and University and Ramanan Laxminarayan from Princeton rapidly share evidence from researches to inform University, presented their findings at the conference. governments about TB policy updates. “Access begins with the awareness of need, ability to “TB strikes poor people the hardest. The WHO obtain medical advice, a prescription and finally medicines is determined to overcome the stigma, discrimination, and required for treatment. other barriers that prevent so many of these people from “Therefore, innovation to enhance access is not just obtaining the services they need so badly,” Margaret Chan, about innovative products or pricing but also innovative WHO Director-General said. ways to strengthen each step of this access chain,” S Sridhar, Tuberculosis, the world’s top infectious killer disease, Country Manager of Pfizer India, said. claims 5,000 lives each day. Other participants, including Amitabh Kant, CEO of In 2015, there were an estimated 4.8 lakh cases of Niti Aayog and Union health secretary C K Mishra, spoke multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) globally, with about the importance of India’s potential and status as a approximately half of these cases being in India, China, major healthcare power, a statement by USIBC said. and Russia. The conference examined various facets of India’s In 2015, TB was estimated to have killed 1.8 million healthcare system including areas ranging from intellectual people and six countries –- India, Indonesia, China, property to using public–private partnership to reduce Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa — account for 60 per cost and expand access, challenges with immunisation and cent of the total number of cases of tuberculosis promoting innovation in healthcare. worldwide, the study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine has said. WHO LAUNCHES ETHICS GUIDANCE TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF TB PATIENTS 2ND REPORT ON INDIA’S GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS OUT SOON The WHO launched an ethics guidance to help nations like India in implementing the ‘End TB Strategy’ The second biennial report on India’s green house and adhere to ethical standards in protecting the rights of gas emissions will be released soon, a top Environment those suffering from tuberculosis. Ministry official said. India is also among the six countries that account for India had submitted its first Biennial Update Report 60 per cent of the total TB cases globally, a recent study (BUR) in January last year to the United Nations has said. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The new WHO ethics guidance addresses contentious “The Ministry (Environment) would soon release the issues such as isolation of contagious patients, rights of second Biennial Update Report (BUR) in 2017,” a FICCI TB patients in prisons, discriminatory policies against statement quoting Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, special secretary migrants affected by tuberculosis, among others. of Environment Ministry said. “The guidance we have released today aims to identify He was speaking at the 10th edition of the India the ethical predicaments faced in TB care delivery and Climate Policy and Business Conclave organised by FICCI highlights key actions that can be taken to address those,” in partnership with the Environment Ministry, World Bank

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Group and the German Federal Ministry for Environment, place from November 6-17 at Bonn in Germany. Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety Prodipto Ghosh, Chairman, FICCI Climate Change (BMUB). Task Force and former secretary, Environment Ministry He said according to the government’s internal said that private sector needs to scale up efforts and assessment, India is well on track to achieve its ambitious investments in research and development particularly in climate and green house gas mitigation goals and actions respect of mass transportation, power generation, energy by 2020. storage, electric vehicles and sustainable habitat. Rashmi emphasised that “motivation which guide industry for environmental actions should not only include MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT TB ON THE efficiency and cost but should also factor in matter of RISE IN INDIA survival and long term competitiveness. He added that efficiency should be accompanied with Rise of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis threatens to sufficiency and should involve action from the private derail the progress made by nations, including India which sector. was among the three countries that accounted for half of India’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in 2010 was over 4 lakh such cases globally in 2015. more than 2,000 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent with India is also among the six countries that account for the energy sector being the prime contributor, according 60 per cent of the total TB cases globally, a study to its first BUR. published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine said. The first BUR contained national GHG inventory of In 2015, there were an estimated 4.8 lakh cases of India for the year 2010, prepared in accordance with the multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) globally, with guidelines of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change approximately half of these cases being in India, China, (IPCC). and Russia, the study said. According to the BUR report, “a reduction of “But, migration and travel mean that drug-resistant emission intensity of GDP by about 12 per cent between TB strains have emerged in almost every parts of the 2005 and 2010 has been achieved against our voluntary world,” it said, adding, “New antibiotics are becoming pledge to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by available for the first time. But without accurate diagnostics, 20–25 per cent by 2020, compared with the 2005 level.” clear treatment guidelines and improved control efforts, As per the UNFCCC rules, BURs are subjected to their effectiveness could be rapidly lost.” an international process known as International “The rise of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug- Consultation and resistant (XDR) tuberculosis threatens to derail decades Analysis (ICA), a process that includes international of progress in controlling the disease,” the new study said. scrutiny of BUR in a manner that is “non-intrusive, non- The study comes ahead of World TB day on March punitive and respectful of national sovereignty”. 24. India had submitted the first report to fulfill its Tuberculosis kills more people each year than any other reporting obligation under the UNFCCC, which says, infectious disease, including HIV/AIDS. countries need to periodically provide information in the In 2015, TB was estimated to have killed 1.8 million form of their national communication. people and six countries –- India, Indonesia, China, Wolfgang Lahr from the Embassy of the Federal Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa — account for 60 per Republic of Germany said that the 22nd Conference of cent of the total number of cases of tuberculosis the Parties to the UNFCCC in Marrakesh built on the worldwide, the study said. momentum of the Paris climate change agreement by “Approximately 1 in 5 cases of TB are now resistant preparing states towards the implementation phase. to at least one major anti-TB drug and approximately 5 “In this light, countries now have to operationalize per cent of all cases of TB are classed as MDR (resistant their communicated strategies through ground level to two essential first-line TB drugs, isoniazid and actions,” he said. rifampicin) or XDR (also resistant to fluoroquinolones The 2017 UN climate change conference will take and second-line injectable drugs),” the study said.

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It said a small number of repurposed and new An urban TB case will infect an average of 12 people medicines have recently become available to treat drug- per year and remains infectious for about one year, while resistant TB including bedaquiline, delamanid, and a rural case will infect an average of 4 people per year, linezolid. but remains infectious for more than two years. However, the study warned that without accurate “We urgently need improved estimations of the diagnosis, clear prescription on appropriate use and burden of tuberculosis. To implement appropriate policies improved control efforts to prevent transmission and well- and interventions, it is important to understand the current functioning healthcare systems, the effectiveness of the extent of the disease, as well as transmission dynamics,” new drugs could be “rapidly lost”. said study co-author and CDDEP Director Ramanan “Tuberculosis exists on an epic scale in India and cases Laxminarayan. of multidrug-resistant TB are an increasing concern. The study has been released just before the World Access to drugs to treat tuberculosis, including drug resistant Tuberculosis Day on March 24. TB is a major concern,” co-author of the study, Zarir This is the second year of the two-year theme, ‘Unite Udwadia from Hinduja Hospital and Research Center in to End TB,’ with a focus on addressing stigma, Mumbai, said. discrimination, marginalization, and overcoming barriers “Despite some small scale programmes for to access care. compassionate use of new life-saving drugs, such as According to reports, the disease is estimated to kill bedaquiline and delamanid, there is no widespread access 4,80,000 Indians every year although it is now believed of drugs to fight MDR-TB in India, meaning these drugs that these numbers are under-represented and the mortality remain unavailable to patients who need them most,” could be 5,00,000 a year. Udwadia said. SMOKING POPULATION DOWN BY 25 PC OF GLOBAL TB CASES IN INDIA: OVER 2 PC POST GLOBAL TREATY STUDY A global tobacco control treaty, which India is a An urban tuberculosis case infects more party to, has increased the adoption of tobacco reduction individuals per year while a similar case in rural area remains measures around the world and led to an over 2 per cent infectious for longer period, a new research has found. reduction in global smoking rates, a study has said. India bears the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) The study published in The Lancet Public Health said globally, about 25 percent of all cases. that despite worldwide progress since the WHO The new study from the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO- Economics and Policy (CDDEP) researchers have FCTC) came into effect in 2005, not all key demand- developed an approach to estimate the extent of TB in reduction measures have been fully implemented and doing India using previous estimates from nearby countries and so could reduce tobacco use even further. a current understanding of the TB transmission. The treaty obligates the 180 countries committed to The results of their study are published in The it to implement strong evidence-based policies, including International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. five key measures — high tobacco taxes, smoke-free “Results show differences in urban and rural TB. While public spaces, warning labels, comprehensive advertising an urban TB case infects more individuals per year, a rural bans, and support for stop smoking services. TB case remains infectious for appreciably longer, “On average, smoking rates across the 126 countries suggesting the need for interventions tailored to these went down from 24.7 per cent in 2005 to 22.2 per cent in different settings. 2015 -– a reduction of 2.5 per cent,” it said. “Simple models of TB transmission, in conjunction India signed the treaty in September 2003 and ratified with necessary data, can offer approaches to burden in February 2004, according to the UN website. estimation that complement those currently being used,” The study was conducted by a team of researchers the study said. from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation

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Project, based at the University of Waterloo in Canada international conference at the O P Jindal Global and the World Health Organization in Geneva. University, here, Mukherjee said that unless we have strong It noted that although progress in combating the global foundations of basic research, our futuristic University tobacco epidemic has been substantial, this progress has plans will be seriously jeopardised. fallen short of the pace of global tobacco control action “Knowledge mobilization through quality higher called for by the treaty. education is pivotal to the socio-economic development India is third among the countries with the largest of a nation. Innovation and futuristic universities are the pictorial warning on tobacco products, according to driving force behind this. Cigarette Package Health Warnings International Status “There is an urgent need to improve education system Report released earlier. in terms of the quality of instruction, faculty, research India has successfully implemented, from April 2016, and capacity building,” Mukherjee said. the large pictorial health warnings occupying 85 per cent The President said that no Indian university figures in of the principal display area of tobacco packs and on all the top 200 universities of the world and transforming forms of tobacco. our varsities into centres of excellence is the key challenge According to the WHO, tobacco use causes nearly policy-maker and academic leaders face. six million deaths a year globally. It also poses a huge Educational institutions have to gear up to face the burden on the global economy through healthcare and socio-economic challenge the country is facing in terms lost productivity costs of more than USD 1 trillion each of job creation, Mukherjee said. year. “Quality, affordability and accessibility are the three The Seventh Session of Conference of Parties (COP7) cornerstones of higher education which need to be to WHO FCTC was hosted by India for the first time understood in the Indian context,” he said while advocating and the eighth edition will be held in Switzerland’s Geneva linkages with the best universities in the world to ensure under the presidency of India. student mobility, research and joint projects. The report said by 2014, support for stop smoking Mukherjee also emphasised on the linkages between services had been adopted by 16 per cent of countries education and industry. “Innovation should be linked to (20 of 126) and a quarter (25.4 per cent, 32 of 126) had the market. Through collaborative work and international implemented health warnings on cigarette packaging. knowledge exchange, educational institutes can build a A fifth of countries (22.2 per cent, 28 of 126) had larger influence in the international education arena,” he implemented high taxation on tobacco –- the most said. effective measure for reducing smoking, especially in low- He added that India’s education system will have to and middle-income countries where smokers are more take on the challenge of tapping its ‘demographic price sensitive, it said. dividend’. “We will also have to provide a competent skilled workforce,” he said. NEED TO IMPROVE RESEARCH, The President said that interface between education CAPACITY BUILDING IN EDU SYSTEM and industry should be established. “The requirement of today’s educational system is to focus on innovation and There is an urgent need to improve the country’s research,” he said. education system in terms of quality of instruction, faculty, research and capacity building, President Pranab Mukherjee INDIA TO LAUNCH GSLV MARK-III IN said today as he observed that no Indian varsity figures ANOTHER TWO MONTHS: MURTHY among the world’s top 200. Mukherjee also emphasised that the education system India is going to launch GSLV Mark-III, the should take on the challenge of tapping the ‘demographic country’s most powerful launch vehicle, in another two dividend’ while also pitching for a stronger industry- months, senior space scientist and ex-Programme Director academia partnership. of ISRO Prof T G K Murthy said. Delivering his address after inaugurating a 3-day “In another two months we are going to launch GSLV

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Mark-III. We are going to launch four satellites from set up a hospital in Jharkhand, the Tata Trust Chairman the Indian soil in the near future,” Murthy told PTI on the Ratan Tata approved it and a delegation today met sidelines of a three-day international conference on Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Medical Education & ‘Advances in Science and Technology’ here. Family Welfare department, Sudhir Tripathi. ISRO has been successful in testing the high thrust Tripathi has been appointed as the nodal officer, the cryogenic technology for use in the launch vehicle, GSLV release said. Mark-III, the space scientist said. The CM’s Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that The ISRO will also launch the SAARC satellite this the Chief Minister’s pledge is to develop Ranchi as eastern month, to give member countries all the benefits as India’s medical hub and Tata Trust’s Cancer Research envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said. Centre and Hospital would be an important part in that Besides, India will launch a satellite to study the sun direction. and global climate change, Murthy said, adding it will be It can be recalled that Das and Ratan Tata had named Aditya-L1 and weigh 400 kg, carrying one payload. discussed on it during the Global Investors’ Summit last Pointing out that the Indian space mission has “wide month. ranging applications and wide-ranging facilities”, he said, The Chief Minister wrote a letter to Ratan Tata on adding 90 per cent of the technology application materials March 9. In the letter, Das had written that a large number being used by ISRO have been made indigenously. of tribals and primitive tribals are living in Jharkhand with He said the space department in combination with most of them living below poverty line. academics and industry start-ups was working to meet Therefore it was necessary for better health facilities the growing demand in several areas including weather. in Jharkhand, Das had written. The CM in the letter had “India is going to take 10-15 per cent share of the also mentioned that Tata has been doing a lot of social global space market”, and ISRO is having global work and the company should increase health services in customers as our research occupy pre-eminence in the Jharkhand as well. world, he said. The Tata Trust gave its consent letter on March 10 Murthy also referred to India’s first private mission and today the delegation visited Ranchi, the release said. to the moon. “We will have private rocket for the first time in the CAN’T ONLY BLAME GLOBAL WARMING moon. Our scientists are working on challenges like capsule FOR HIMALAYAN GLACIERS’ FASTER re-entry, safety conditions and it promises to be one for RETREAT: GOVT the history books,” he said at the conference that was hosted by a private engineering institute. The Himalayan glaciers are receding at an increased Addressing young scientists and researchers, Director rate over the last few decades but it is “inconclusive” that General of National Council of Science Museum (NCSM) global warming is the causative factor behind it, the A S Manekar said in his speech that role of teachers was government said. to impart knowledge to students, who must work for Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, in a written development of the society. reply in the Lok Sabha, said the glaciers in the Himalayas He underscored the need for sustained research to have been by and large shrinking in volume and showing facilitate science and technology work for betterment of a retreating front. future for mankind. “Research has shown that Himalayan glaciers have been receding since the end of the Little Ice Age but the TATA TO OPEN CANCER RESEARCH recession has increased its rate during the past few CENTRE & HOSPITAL IN JHARKHAND decades,” he said. Pointing out that receding of glaciers are rather Tata Group will open a Cancer Research Centre and “irregular” in rate, amount and time of occurrence, Dave Hospital in Jharkhand, an official release said. said, Accepting Chief Minister Raghubar Das’s request to “There could be several reasons for enhanced rate of

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glacier melting. One of them is decreasing trend of winter The Indian Science Congress, the country’s oldest and precipitation. However, there is no conclusive evidence biggest science meet, is traditionally inaugurated by Prime for an abnormal annual retreat.” Minister. “Evidence for global warming being the causative factor for retreat of glaciers is inconclusive,” he said. GOVT LOOKING INTO GENOMIC The Environment Ministry in collaboration with SCIENCE BASED DNA MAPPING: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has carried MINISTER out mapping of Himalayan glaciers using Indian satellite data during 2004-07, the Union minister said. Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda “The study shows that there are 34,919 glaciers spread today said the state government is looking into Genomic over 75,779 square kilometres in Indus, Ganga and science based DNA mapping to increase drought Brahmaputra basins covering the Himalaya and Trans- resistance in certain crops. Himalaya including Karakoram region,” Dave said. “Genomic science is bringing revolutionary changes.We ISRO has monitored the advance and retreat of 2,018 are now beginning to assess genomic science based DNA glaciers across the Himalayan region using satellite data mapping to increase drought resistivity in crops,” Gowda from 2000-01 to 2010-11, he said. said. The study shows that 87 per cent of glaciers showed “The technique is genome based marker assisted no change, 12 per cent glaciers retreated and one per cent breeding technique,” he said, intervening during the glaciers have advanced,” he said. discussion on the budget in the assembly. His response came as Basavaraj Bommai (BJP) said 25 NOBEL LAUREATES EXPECTED AT the government, institutes of agriculture research and agri SCIENCE CONGRESS IN HYDERABAD universities have not been able to provide alternative to farmers during the years of drought. Around 25 Nobel laureates are expected to fly “Don’t indulge in fund oriented R&D, but have down to Hyderabad to speak at the 105th Indian Science growth oriented R&D,” Bommai said. Congress hosted by Osmania University (OU) from Karnataka is continuously facing drought for the last January three to seven, officials said. five years. OU, celebrating its centenary this year, is hosting the Gowda said five crops— Tur, Gram, Jowar, Ragi Congress for the sixth time, after the ones in 1937, 1954, and Groundnut- have been chosen, to increase their 1967, 1979 and 1998, noted its Vice-Chancellor, Prof S drought tolerance, as also disease resistivity. Ramachandram. He said field trials of the varieties will be done during General President of Indian Science Congress the year and based on its success they may be distributed Association (ISCA) Prof Achyuta Samanta said around to farmers from next year. 25,000 people are expected to attend the event. “State government is bearing the scientific experiment “It is likely that around 25 Nobel laureates will speak related cost of this,” he added. on the occasion”, Prof. Ramachandram told reporters. Prof Samanta said the theme of the Congress is proposed to be “reaching the unreached”.

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structures and musculature that allow for both pitch and CATS LIKE HUMAN INTERACTION MORE yaw movements. THAN FOOD: STUDY This allows mammals to have especially diverse diets today, from cutting pieces of meat to grinding tough Cat lovers, rejoice! Your pet may enjoy your company plants and vegetables. For early mammals, these more than you thought, as scientists have found that our characteristics meant they could be more resourceful feline friends prefer interacting with humans over eating during tough times. food. “If you have a very specialised diet you’re more likely Researchers from Oregon State University in the US to perish during a mass extinction because you’re only took 50 cats from people’s homes and a cat shelter and eating one thing,” said David Grossnickle, graduate student left them without food, toys and people for a few hours. at the University of Chicago in the US. They then presented them with different stimuli “But if you can eat just about anything and 90 per associated with each of those things. cent of your food goes away, you can still live on scraps,” While there was little difference between the cats that he said. came from homes and the shelter cats, scientists found Using 2D images of early mammal fossils from that almost all of them preferred human socialisation to previous publications and 3D data collected from modern any of the other stimuli on offer. specimens at the Field Museum, Grossnickle analysed the Only 37 per cent preferred food to human interaction, structure of teeth, jaw bones, and how the muscles that the ‘Metro’ reported. control them were attached to the skull. “While it has been suggested that cat sociality exists He saw that as species began to develop a projection on a continuum, perhaps skewed toward independency, on the upper molars that fit into a corresponding cup or we have found that 50 per cent of cats tested preferred basin on their lower counterparts, the musculature of the interaction with the social stimulus even though they had jaw also changed to provide greater torque for side-to- a direct choice between social interaction with a human side yaw movements. and their other most preferred stimuli from the three other This way the animal could grind its food between the stimulus categories,” researchers said. molars like a mortar and pestle, as opposed to cutting it The study was published in the journal Behavioural with simple up and down pitch movements. Processes. NUT ALLERGY TESTS MAY BE CHEWING LIKE COWS HELPED EARLY INACCURATE: STUDY MAMMALS SURVIVE MASS EXTINCTION Being allergic to one type of nut may not mean that Mammal teeth, jaw bones and muscles evolved to you need to stop eating all other nuts, according to scientists produce cow-like chewing motions, allowing our earliest who claim that certain diagnostic tests may be unreliable. ancestors eat a more diversified diet, which helped them Researchers from American College of Allergy, survive the mass extinction nearly 66 million years ago, a Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in the US examined new study has found. records of about 109 people with a known tree nut allergy The terms “pitch” and “yaw” usually describe to an individual nut. movements of airplanes, but biologists also use them to They were then tested for other tree nuts they had describe basic movements of body parts such as the jaw. never eaten before using blood or skin prick tests. Pitch rotation results in basic up and down movement, Researchers found that among people allergic to one and yaw rotation results in side-to-side, crosswise motion nut who have a positive test to other tree nuts, more than like a a cow munching away on grass. half passed an oral food challenge to other tree nuts Almost all modern mammals, including placental without a reaction. mammals, like humans and deer, and marsupials, like “Too often, people are told they’re allergic to tree kangaroos and opossums, share similarities in their jaw nuts based on a blood or skin prick test,” said Christopher

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Couch of ACAAI. kinds of memory issues,” she said. “They take the results at face value and stop eating all The study is part of the nascent but growing field of tree nuts when they might not actually be allergic. Despite “imaging genetics,” which aims to relate genetic variation showing a sensitivity to the additional tree nuts, more to variation in brain anatomy and function. than 50 per cent of those tested had no reaction in an oral “We have identified a window into the molecular food challenge,” Couch said. pathways important for normal memory function that An oral food challenge is considered the most are at risk from a genetic perspective in autism,” Konopka accurate way to diagnose food allergy. During an oral said. food challenge, the patient eats tiny amounts of the food “Genes shape the anatomy and functional organisation in increasing doses over a period of time, followed by a of the brain, and these structural and functional few hours of observation to see if they have a reaction. characteristics of the brain give rise to the observable “An oral food challenge should only be conducted behaviours,” said Evelina Fedorenko of Harvard under the care of a trained, board-certified allergist. You University in the US. should never do one on your own since if you are allergic, you could have a severe, life-threatening reaction,” COOKING AT HOME, SKIPPING TV DUR researchers said. Tree nuts include almonds, cashews, walnuts and People who cook meals at home and do not watch hazelnuts, but not peanuts. The study noted that nearly TV or videos while eating are less likely to be obese, a none of the people allergic to peanut, but sensitised to new study has found. tree nut, were clinically allergic to tree nut. Researchers from Ohio State University in the US The study was published in the journal Annals of studied about 12,842 survey participants who said that Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. they ate at least one family meal in the week prior to their interview. OVER 100 GENES LINKED TO MEMORY IN Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) at HUMANS IDENTIFIED or above 30, calculated from self-reported height and weight measures collected in the survey. Scientists have identified more than 100 genes linked Researchers found that adults who reported never to human memory, an advance that may lead to new watching TV or videos during family meals had cognitive therapies. significantly lower odds of obesity compared with peers Researchers used two sets of data: RNA in post- who always watched something during mealtimes. mortem brain tissue and intracranial EEG (iEEG) data Those whose family meals were all home-cooked from epilepsy patients. They then measure RNA as a proxy also had lower odds of obesity than other adults who ate for gene expression in the brain. some or no home-cooked meals. “Quantifying RNA in the brain requires extracting “How often you are eating family meals may not be RNA from the brain tissue itself. Thus, we are limited to the most important thing. It could be that what you are accessing brain tissue post-mortem, or in rare occasions doing during these meals matters more,” said Rachel can obtain tissue from surgical resections of the brain,” Tumin of Ohio State University. researchers said. “This highlights the importance of thinking critically “This is very exciting because the identification of these about what is going on during those meals, and whether gene-to-behaviour relationships opens up new research there might be opportunities to turn the TV off or do avenues for testing the role of these genes in specific aspects more of your own food preparation,” Tumin said. of memory function and dysfunction,” said Genevieve Researchers found the lowest odds of obesity for Konopka of University of Texas Southwestern in the US. those adults who engaged in both healthy practises - eating “It means we are closer to understanding the molecular home-cooked food and doing it without a TV or video mechanisms supporting human memory and thus will be on - every time they ate a family meal. able to use this information someday to assist with all Obesity was as common in adults who ate family

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meals one or two days a week as it was in those who ate Also included on the turtle’s shell is a black semi- family meals every day, researchers said. cylinder with a slit, which forms the ‘stimulation device’. “Regardless of family meal frequency, obesity was This can be turned 36 degrees via the BCI. less common when meals were eaten with the television The human operator receives images from the camera off and when meals were cooked at home,” said Sarah mounted on the turtle. These real-time video images allow Anderson of Ohio State University. the human operator to decide where the turtle should The study was published in the Journal of the Academy move. of Nutrition and Dietetics. The human provides thought commands that are recognised by the wearable BCI system as NEW TECH LETS HUMANS CONTROL electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The BCI can TURTLES WITH THOUGHT distinguish between three mental states: left, right and idle. The left and right commands activate the turtle’s Scientists have developed a new Avatar-style stimulation device via Wi-Fi, turning it so that it obstructs technology that allows a human controller to remotely the turtle’s view. manoeuvre a turtle’s path just using their thoughts. This invokes its natural instinct to move toward light In the 2009 blockbuster “Avatar,” a human remotely and change its direction. Finally, the human acquires updated controls the body of an alien. It does so by injecting human visual feedback from the camera mounted on the shell intelligence into a remotely located, biological body. and in this way continues to remotely navigate the turtle’s Researchers are developing ‘brain-computer route. interfaces’ (BCIs) following recent advances in electronics and computing. WORLD’S FIRST NANOCAR RACE TO These technologies can ‘read’ and use human thought TAKE PLACE NEXT MONTH to control machines, for example, humanoid robots. New research has demonstrated the possibility of Scientists are organising the world’s first nanocar race combining a BCI with a device that transmits information next month in France, where tiny molecular machines will from a computer to a brain, or a ‘computer-to-brain compete against each other over a minuscule racecourse interface’ (CBI). made of gold atoms. The combination of these devices may be used to The international molecule-car race is being organised establish a functional link between the brains of different by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in species. France. Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of The vehicles, which consist of a few hundred atoms, Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea have willbe powered by minute electrical pulses during the 36 developed a human-turtle interaction system in which a hours of the race, in which they must navigate a racecourse signal originating from a human brain can affect where a made of gold atoms, measuring a maximum of a 100 turtle moves. nanometres in length. Unlike previous research that has tried to control They will square off beneath the four tips of a unique animal movement by applying invasive methods, KAIST microscope located at CNRS’s CEMES research centre researchers proposed a conceptual system that can guide in Toulouse. an animal’s moving path by controlling its instinctive escape The race is first and foremost a scientific and behaviour. technological challenge, and will be broadcast live on the The entire human-turtle setup includes a head-mounted YouTube Nanocar Race channel. display (HMD) combined with a BCI to immerse the Beyond the competition, the overarching objective is human user in the turtle’s environment. to advance research in the observation and control of The human operator wears the BCI-HMD system, molecule-machines, researchers said. while the turtle has a ‘cyborg system’ - consisting of a More than just a competition, the Nanocar Race is an camera, a Wi-Fi transceiver, a computer control module international scientific experiment that will be conducted and a battery - all mounted on the turtle’s upper shell.

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in real time, with the aim of testing the performance of Three-fourths were women, and more than half of molecule-machines and the scientific instruments used to the subjects were of Asian heritage, followed by white, control them. Latino, and other ethnicities. The years ahead will probably see the use of such Using six, three-minute games, the study found in most molecular machinery in the manufacture of common cases that playing the specifically designed game helped machines: atom-by-atom construction of electronic subjects feel they had some control over their depression. circuits, atom-by-atom deconstruction of industrial waste, Each game was an adaptation of neurophysiological capture of energy etc. training tasks that have been shown to improve cognitive The Nanocar Race is therefore a unique opportunity control among people experiencing depression. for researchers to implement cutting-edge techniques for Portraying depression as something caused internally the simultaneous observation and independent because of biological factors and providing a video game- manoeuvring of such nano-machines. based app for brain training made participants feel that There were numerous challenges in organising this they could do something to control their depression, race, from selecting the racecourse, which must researchers said. accommodate all types of molecule-cars, to adapting the This supports other research that shows that brain- scanning tunnelling microscope, researchers said. training games have the potential to induce cognitive The participating teams also had to overcome a series changes. Those users also gave high ratings for the usability of difficult tasks (depositing and visualising the molecules of the app. beneath the microscope), as well as meet numerous criteria Researchers, including Subuhi Khan, found that (the molecules’ structure and form of propulsion) in order portraying depression as a condition caused by external to participate in this race. factors led users to spend more time playing the game - Four teams will take their place at the 4-tip again, perhaps giving them a feeling of control over their microscope’s starting line on April 28 for the 36-hour situation. race in Toulouse. However this result was likely due to immediate The challenges facing researchers in the race will be engagement and was unlikely to have long-term benefits, so many steps forward in novel fields in chemistry and researchers said. physics. “Through the use of carefully designed persuasive The CEMES-CNRS microscope is the only one in message prompts, mental health video games can be the world allowing four different experimenters to work perceived and used as a more viable and less attrition- on the same surface. ridden treatment option,” researchers said. The development of such multi-tip microscopes will The study appears in the journal Computers in Human enable synchronising a great number of molecule-machines Behaviour. in order to increase capacity, for instance for storing energy or capturing it from a hot metallic surface. NOW, YOU MAY HELP HUNT FOR ‘PLANET NINE’ VIDEO GAMES MAY BE VIABLE TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION Amateur astronomers, take note! You can now help researchers discover ‘Planet 9’ - an Playing a specifically designed video game may help elusive cosmic body believed to exist in our solar system, people cope with depression, especially if they receive scientists say. text reminders to play, scientists including one of Indian The project to find “Planet 9” will allow citizen origin have found. scientists to use a website to search hundreds of thousands Researchers from University of California in the US of images taken by the Australian National University looked at results from about 160 student volunteers who (ANU) SkyMapper telescope at Siding Spring. said they suffered from mild depression with an average SkyMapper will take 36 images of each part of the age of 21. southern sky, which is relatively unexplored, and identify

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changes occurring within the Universe, researchers said. Salisbury said. “We have the potential to find a new planet in our “It’s such a magical place - Australia’s own Jurassic Solar System that no human has ever seen in our two- Park, in a spectacular wilderness setting,” he said. million-year history,” said Brad Tucker from ANU. In 2008, the Western Australian Government had “Planet 9 is predicted to be a super Earth, about 10 selected Walmadany as the preferred site for a liquid natural times the mass and up to four times the size of our planet. gas processing precinct. It’s going to be cold and far away, and about 800 times The area’s Traditional Custodians, the Goolarabooloo the distance between Earth and the Sun. It’s pretty people, contacted Salisbury’s team, who dedicated more mysterious,” Tucker said. than 400 hours, investigating and documenting the dinosaur Volunteers would be required to scan through the Sk tracks. Mapper images online to look for difference and are Salisbury said the surrounding political issues made expected to also find and identify other mystery objects the project “particularly intense”, and he was relieved when in space, including asteroids, comets and dwarf planets National Heritage listing was granted to the area in 2011 like Pluto, researchers said. and the gas project collapsed in 2013. “It’s actually not that complicated to find Planet 9. It “There are thousands of tracks around Walmadany. really is spot the difference. Then you just click on the Of these, 150 can confidently be assigned to 21 specific image, mark what is different and we’ll take care of the track types, representing four main groups of dinosaurs,” rest,” Tucker said. Salisbury said. Volunteers will also get a chance to name the “There were five different types of predatory asteroid or object found although not after themselves. dinosaur tracks, at least six types of tracks from long- “Modern computers could not match the passion of necked herbivorous sauropods, four types of tracks from millions of people.It will be through all our dedication two-legged herbivorous ornithopods, and six types of that we can find Planet 9 and other things that move in tracks from armoured dinosaurs,” he said. space,” Tucker said. “Among the tracks is the only confirmed evidence for stegosaurs in Australia. There are also some of the WORLD’S MOST DIVERSE SET OF largest dinosaur tracks ever recorded. Some of the DINOSAUR TRACKS DISCOVERED IN AUS sauropod tracks are around 1.7 metres long,” Salisbury said. The world’s most diverse set of dinosaur tracks “Most of Australia’s dinosaur fossils come from the - an unprecedented 21 different types - have been eastern side of the continent, and are between 115 and 90 discovered in rocks dating back about 127 to 140 million million years old. The tracks in Broome are considerably years, located on a remote coastline dubbed as “Australia’s older,” he said. Jurassic Park”, scientists said today. Palaeontologists from The University of Queensland USING ‘YOU’ HELPS COPE WITH and James Cook University in Australia braved sharks, NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES: STUDY crocodiles, massive tides and the threat of development to unveil the most diverse assemblage of dinosaur tracks People use the word “you” more often than “I” to in the world in the remote Kimberley region of Western cope with negative experiences or while sharing an insight, Australia. a new study has found. Lead author Steve Salisbury said the diversity of the It may seem contradictory that a means of generalising tracks was globally unparalleled and made the area the to people at large is used when reflecting on one’s most “Cretaceous equivalent of the Serengeti”. personal and idiosyncratic experiences, researchers said. “It is extremely significant, forming the primary record Researchers from University of Michigan in the US of non-avian dinosaurs in the western half the continent said it may seem contradictory that a means of generalising and providing the only glimpse of Australia’s dinosaur to people at large is used when reflecting on one’s most fauna during the first half of the Early Cretaceous Period,” personal and idiosyncratic experiences.

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They conducted nine experiments with about 2,489 night also caused a marked improvement in the quality of people to understand why people curiously use “you” life of the participants, ‘The Telegraph’ reported. not only to refer to specific others, but also to reflect on Salt can only be disposed from the body when it is their own experiences. dissolved, so the more people eat the more urine needs In one experiment, researchers asked participants to to be expelled to get rid of it, researchers said. write about a personal experience: 201 were asked to make Salty foods also make people more thirsty, so the meaning from a negative event, 198 were asked to relive double impact of salt and more liquid increases the need a negative event, and 203 were simply asked to write about to urinate, particularly at night. a neutral experience. Those in the meaning-making group used generic- ‘SLEEPLESS NIGHT MAY IMPAIR ABILITY you more in their essays (46 per cent used the word at TO RECOGNISE EXPRESSIONS’ least once) than those in the relive group (10 per cent used the word at least once) and the neutral group (three per Didn’t sleep well last night? cent used the word at least once). Your may have a hard time identifying whether people The researchers also found that using generic-you led around you are happy or sad, scientists say. people to view the event as more distant. Researchers from University of Arizona in the US “It is something we all do as a way to explain how found people have a harder time identifying facial things work and to find meaning in our lives,” said Ariana expressions of happiness or sadness when they were sleep Orvell, a doctoral student in the University of Michigan. deprived versus well-rested. “When people use “you” to make meaning from About 54 participants, who were shown photographs negative experiences, it allows them to ‘normalise’ the of the same male face expressing varying degrees of fear, experience and reflect on it from a distance,” said Orvell. happiness, sadness, anger, surprise and disgust were The study was published in the journal Science. studied. Participants were asked to indicate which of those CUTTING SALT INTAKE MAY LOWER six emotions they thought was being expressed the most NIGHT-TIME TOILET TRIPS: STUDY by each face. In order to assess participants’ ability to interpret more Lowering salt intake can significantly reduce excessive subtle emotional expressions, the images presented were night time toilet trips, a condition which is also known as composite photos of commonly confused facial nocturia, a new study has found. expressions morphed together by a computer program. For the study, 223 volunteers were asked to cut their For example, a face might show 70 per cent sadness salt by 25 per cent, from 10.7 grammes to 8 grammes and 30 per cent disgust or vice versa. per day, their average night time toilet expeditions fell from Participants saw a total of 180 blended facial an average of 2.3 trips to 1.4 times. expressions at each testing session. In contrast, when 98 subjects increased their intake Their baseline responses to the images were compared from 9.9 to 11g they found that their need to urinate to their responses after they were deprived of sleep for increased from 2.3 times to 2.7 times every night. one night. “This is the first study to measure how salt intake Researchers found that blatant facial expressions - such affects the frequency of going to the bathroom,” said as an obvious grin or frown (90 per cent happy or 90 per Matsuo Tomohiro, of Nagasaki University in Japan. cent sad) - were easily identifiable regardless of how much “Night time urination is a real problem for many sleep a participant got. people, especially as they get older,” said Tomohiro. Sleep deprived participants had a harder time, “This work holds out the possibility that a simply however, correctly identifying more subtle expressions of dietary modification might significantly improve the quality happiness and sadness, although their performance on the of life for many people,” he said. other emotions was unchanged. This reduction in the need to go to the bathroom at When participants were tested again after one night

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of recovery sleep, their performance on happiness and Mediterranean region, by analysing 10,000-year-old bones sadness improved, returning to its baseline level, with scratch and bite marks on them. researchers said. The bones, discovered in the Santa Maria Caves in “While the difference in performance was not Spain, belong to the Mesolithic period, researchers said. overwhelming, it’s enough that it could have a significant The Mesolithic period lasts from about 10,200 to 8,000 impact in critical social interactions, said William DS years ago. Killgore of University of Arizona. The human bones were an accidental find, said study The study was published in the journal Neurobiology lead researcher Juan Morales-Perez, a researcher at the of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms. University of Valencia in Spain. “I was studying the remains of Mesolithic animals IMPACT CRATER LINKED TO ANCIENT from the Santa Maria site, and suddenly I identified a MARTIAN TSUNAMIS IDENTIFIED human distal humerus - an elbow - and it was full of cuts,” Morales-Perez said. Scientists have identified a crater on Mars, possibly Researchers eventually discovered 30 bones belonging created by an asteroid that triggered 150 metre-high to three individuals: a robust adult, a gracile adult and an tsunami waves when it plunged into an ocean on the red infant, ‘Live Science’ reported. planet three billion years ago. However, the infant had only one complete bone (a The researchers have identified what they think is the shoulder blade) that did not show signs of cannibalism, best candidate for the impact crater, a 120km-wide bowl the researchers said. called Lomonosov. The feature is extremely degraded The bones date to between 10,200 and 9,000 years today, with a collapsed crater rim. ago, Morales-Perez said. Some scientists think an ocean might once have filled The last of the hunter-gatherer communities lived the vast lowland region that occupies the red planet’s during this time, and evidence suggests that their culture northerly latitudes. was more organized and complex than it was during the Growing evidence that tsunami waves washed over Paleolithic period. the boundary between the southern highlands and northern “A good example of this complexity is the appearance lowlands help strengthen the hypothesis. of the first cemeteries. There are also these strange The proposed Martian tsunami travelled 150km inland, examples of cannibalism,” Morales-Perez said. climbing to elevations of about 100 metres. The study was published the Journal of “If we do have this evidence of a tsunami having Anthropological Archaeology. occurred back three billion years ago, there must have been an ocean present in the northern plains,” Steve BRAIN SCANS MAY HELP CHOOSE RIGHT Clifford, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in the US TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION told ‘BBC News’. “That’s the key point here, it indicates that there was a Brain scans may help identify whether psychotherapy substantial amount of water in residence on the Martian or antidepressant medication would be a better treatment surface at this time and that has likely implications for the option for a patient of depression, a new study suggests. total inventory of water on Mars,” Clifford said. Researchers from Emory University in the US The research has been published in the Journal of randomly assigned about 344 patients to 12 weeks of Geophysical Research - Planets. treatment with one of two antidepressant medications or with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). PREHISTORIC EVIDENCE OF HUMAN At the start of the study, patients underwent a CANNIBALISM DISCOVERED functional MRI brain scan, which was then analysed to see whether the outcome from CBT or medication Scientists have discovered the oldest evidence of depended on the state of the brain prior to starting human cannibalism in the western European treatment.

PTI Science Service18 April 1-15, 2017

The MRI scans identified that the degree of functional asked to decide if a pair of faces matched. Sometimes, connectivity between an important emotion processing one of the pair was a morph photo and the other was centre (the subcallosal cingulate cortex) and three other one of the contributing faces. areas of the brain was associated with the treatment Results showed that both humans and smartphone outcomes. software are frequently unable to distinguish face morph Specifically, patients with positive connectivity photos from the two faces contributing to the morph. between the brain regions were significantly more likely Initially, human viewers were unable to distinguish a to achieve remission with CBT, whereas patients with 50/50 morph photo from its contributing photos 68 per negative or absent connectivity were more likely to remit cent of the time. with antidepressant medication, researchers said. However, after simply briefing the viewers to look “All depressions are not equal and like different types out for manipulated, ‘fraudulent’ images, the error rate of cancer, different types of depression will require dropped greatly to 21 per cent. specific treatments. Researchers also looked at smartphone software, “Using these scans, we may be able to match a patient which achieved similar results to briefed human viewers, to the treatment that is most likely to help them, while with an error rate of 27 per cent. avoiding treatments unlikely to provide benefit,” said Helen These rates, however, are still significantly higher than Mayberg of Emory University. error rates when comparing two photos of entirely The study was published in the American Journal of different people, researchers said. Psychiatry. Although, the participants in this study are unlikely to be as motivated or as skilled as a professional at spotting HUMANS, SMARTPHONES OFTEN FAIL TO fraudulent photos, this study indicates that humans and DETECT FACE MORPH PHOTOS smartphones may not naturally identify face morphs, a weakness that could be exploited by fraudsters, researchers Both humans and smartphones are unable to said. accurately differentiate between ‘real’ faces and photos “It is encouraging, however, that armed with the that are morphed on fraudulent identity cards, say scientists. knowledge of morphed photo IDs, the risk of fraudulent Researchers from University of York in the UK activity being missed is significantly reduced,” said Mike examined the ability of both human viewers and Burton from the University of York. smartphone face recognition software to identify a face “Raising awareness of this type of fraud and including morph as distinct from the two faces contributing to the it in training schemes for frontline staff can help overcome morph. these issues, and with new technologies coming on line, it They took two ‘real’ face photos and digitally blending should be a challenge that can be tackled with some them to make a new, but similar, face that both success,” Burton added. contributing faces can use as false ID. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE. Human participants and smartphone software were

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not compelled to seek religion,” said Jonathan Jong of ATHEISTS, HIGHLY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE Coventry University in the UK. LEAST AFRAID OF DEATH: STUDY STASH OF LIQUOR BOTTLES FROM Does religion make you less afraid of death? People WORLD WAR I DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL on two far ends of the spectrum - atheists as well as those who are very religious are least fearful of dying, scientists Archaeologists have discovered a stash of hundreds say. of liquor bottles, along with other items dating back to Researchers, including those from Oxford University World War I at buried British barracks in Israel. in the UK, studied the relationship between death anxiety The unexpected discovery was made in an and religious belief. archaeological excavation of the Israel Antiquities They found about 100 relevant articles, published Authority being conducted in Israel. between 1961 and 2014, containing information about The researchers also found flint tools that are 250,000 26,000 people worldwide. years old from the Middle Palaeolithic period. Combining this data, they found that higher levels of The excavation is being carried out as part of the religiosity were weakly linked with lower levels of death construction of a highway. anxiety. “The written historical evidence regarding the soldiers’ The effects were similar whether they looked at activities in the British army in Israel usually consists of religious beliefs such as belief in God, and an afterlife, or “dry” details, such as the number of soldiers, direction religious behaviour like going to church, and praying, of attack, and the results of the battle,” said Ron Toueg, researchers said. excavation director of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The meta-analysis showed that while people who were “The discovery of this site and the finds in it provide intrinsically religious enjoyed lower levels of death anxiety, us with an opportunity for a glimpse of the unwritten those who were extrinsically religious revealed higher levels part of history, and reconstruct for the first time the of death anxiety. everyday life and leisure of the soldiers,” said Toueg. Extrinsic religiosity is when religious behaviour is “We exposed a building whose upper part was not motivated by pragmatic considerations such as the social preserved, which was apparently the foundations of a or emotional benefits of following a religion, whereas barracks,” he said. intrinsic religiosity refers to religious behaviour driven by The structure was used for agricultural purposes in true belief. the Ottoman period, and during World War I the British The findings were mixed across the studies, with only converted it for military use, researchers said. 30 per cent of the effects showing this finding. “Inside the building we discovered dozens of uniform About 18 per cent of the studies found that religious buttons, belt buckles, parts of riding equipment, and other people were more afraid of death than non-religious artifacts that were the property of the British soldiers,” people and over half the research showed no link at all Toueg said. between the fear of death and religiosity. The building caught fire and collapsed for a reason This mixed picture shows that the relationship between which is unclear. The place where the soldiers discarded religiosity and death anxiety may not be fixed, but may debris was revealed just a few meters from the building. differ from context to context, researchers said. “We were surprised to discover that, along with br Researchers also checked for curvilinear patterns in ken crockery and cutlery, there was an enormous number the data. Out of the 100 studies, the team only found 11 of soft drink and liquor bottles,” Toueg said. studies that were robust enough to test this idea, however, “In fact, about 70 per cent of the waste that was of these, almost all (10) formed this pattern. discarded in the refuse pit were liquor bottles. It seems “This definitely complicates the old view, that religious that the soldiers took advantage of the respite given them people are less afraid of death than nonreligious people. to release the tension by frequently drinking alcohol,” he It may well be that atheism also provides comfort from added. death, or that people who are just not afraid of death are

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“Interestingly, the glass bottles, which contained mainly Mission Directorate in Washington. wine, beer, soda and alcoholic beverages such as gin, liqueur The mission is targeted for launch in 2021 from and whiskey, came from Europe to supply soldiers and McMurdo, Antarctica, and is expected to stay in the air officers in the camp. It is a fascinating testimony of the between 100 to 170 days, depending on weather everyday life of the British military camp a century ago,” conditions. said Brigitte Ouahnouna, a researcher in the glass It will cost about USD 40 million, including the department of the Israel Antiquities Authority. balloon launch funding and the cost of post-launch An interesting item that was found in the excavation operations and data analysis. is the tip of a swagger stick that belonged to a Royal Flying Corps officer. FOUR-LEGGED ROBOT CAN CHANGE Swagger sticks were usually carried by senior officers GAIT WITH SPEED as a symbol of authority. Its tip is made of silver and it is stamped with the symbol of the corps and the initials Scientists have, for the first time, successfully RFC. developed a four-legged robot that can spontaneously “To the best of my knowledge, this is the first item change its gait when speed is varied. of its kind ever found in Israel,” said Assaf Peretz, a The advance may lead to a wide range of applications researcher of the period at the Israel Antiquities Authority. such as adaptive legged robots working in disaster areas, user-friendly legged entertainment robots and automatic NASA TO LAUNCH NEW PROBE TO motion-creation algorithms for computer graphics animation. NASA is planning to launch a balloon-based Until now, the manner in which changing speeds cause observatory that will measure emissions from the quadrupeds to change their gaits - walking, trotting and interstellar medium - the cosmic material found between galloping - was poorly understood. stars. Researchers from the Tohoku University in Japan The data from the mission will help scientists successfully demonstrated the reproduction of the determine the life cycle of interstellar gas in our Milky quadruped gait transition phenomena. Way galaxy, witness the formation and destruction of star- They achieved this via a decentralised control scheme, forming clouds, and understand the dynamics and gas using a simple local rule in which a leg continues to support flow in the vicinity of the centre of our galaxy. the body while sensing weight on the corresponding leg. The Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Moreover, they confirmed that the energy-efficiency Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) mission, led by principal profile of the robot’s gait patterns matched those investigator Christopher Walker of the University of measured in horses. Arizona, will fly an Ultralong-Duration Balloon (ULDB) The research is expected to lead to better carrying a telescope with carbon, oxygen and nitrogen understanding of the mechanism of how quadrupeds can emission line detectors. flexibly and efficiently adjust their gait when their speed is This unique combination of data will provide the changed, researchers said. spectral and spatial resolution information needed for The result may constitute the basis of an researchers to untangle the complexities of the interstellar unconventional approach to coordinating the many degrees medium, and map out large sections of the plane of our of freedoms requiredfor adaptive robot locomotion. Milky Way galaxy and the nearby galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. SPIRITUAL RETREATS BOOST BRAIN’S “GUSTO will provide the first complete study of all ‘FEEL GOOD’ CHEMICALS phases of the stellar life cycle, from the formation of molecular clouds, through star birth and evolution, to the Visiting a spiritual retreat may help lift your mood formation of gas clouds and the re-initiation of the cycle,” by triggering neurotransmitters such as dopamine and said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director in the Science serotonin that are linked to love, enjoyment and memory,

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a new study has found. faecal transplant and subsequent treatment. Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University in the Researchers, including those from University of US observed about 14 participants ranging in age from Arizona in the US, studied about 18 children with autism 24 to 76. and moderate to severe gastrointestinal problems. They attended an retreat based on the spiritual Children without autism were included for exercises developed by St Ignatius Loyola who founded comparison of bacterial and viral gut composition prior the Jesuits. to the study. Following a morning mass, participants spent most Researchers collected this information from parents of the day in silent contemplation, prayer and reflection through established, standardised questionnaires to assess and attended a daily meeting with a spiritual director for social skills, irritability, hyperactivity, communication and guidance and insights. other measures. One of those tools showed the average After returning, study subjects also completed a developmental age increased by 1.4 years after treatment. number of surveys which showed marked improvements The average score on a scale for ranking in their perceived physical health, tension and fatigue. gastrointestinal symptoms dropped 82 per cent from the They also reported increased feelings of self- beginning to the end of treatment. transcendence which correlated to the change in dopamine An overall improvement that was sustained two binding. months after the final treatment was seen when the The post-retreat scans revealed decreases in dopamine researchers asked parents to give feedback on 17 autism- transporter (5-8 per cent) and serotonin transporter (6.5 related symptoms. per cent) binding, which could make more of the A diagnostic evaluation before the experimental neurotransmitters available to the brain. treatment, at the end of treatment and eight weeks after This is associated with positive emotions and spiritual that was also conducted. feelings. In particular, dopamine is responsible for Doctor-reported symptoms (from the Childhood mediating cognition, emotion and movement, while Autism Rating Scale) decreased by 22 per cent at the end serotonin is involved in emotional regulation and mood, of treatment and 24 per cent eight weeks after treatment researchers said. ended compared with ratings at the start of the study, “Since serotonin and dopamine are part of the reward researchers said. and emotional systems of the brain, it helps us understand “Transplants are working for people with other why these practices result in powerful, positive emotional gastrointestinal problems. And with autism, gastrointestinal experiences,” said Andrew Newberg of Thomas Jefferson symptoms are often severe, so we thought this could be University. potentially valuable,” said Ann Gregory of Ohio State “Our study showed significant changes in dopamine University in the US. and serotonin transporters after the seven-day retreat, Previous research had established that children with which could help prime participants for the spiritual autism typically have fewer types of some important experiences that they reported,” Newberg added. bacteria in their guts and less bacterial diversity overall – a difference that held true in this study. CHILDREN WITH AUTISM MAY BENEFIT That could be because many of them are prescribed FROM FAECAL TRANSPLANT a lot of antibiotics in the first three years of life, researchers said. Faecal transplants – a method of introducing donated healthy microbes into people with gastrointestinal NEW ALGORITHM CAN TELL WHEN disease to rebalance the gut - may benefit children suffering YOU’LL GET BORED OF MOBILE GAME from autism, a new study has suggested. Behavioural symptoms of autism and gastrointestinal Scientists have developed a new mathematical distress often go hand-in-hand, and both improved when model that can predict how soon a user will get bored of a small group of children with the disorder underwent a smartphone game, an advance that may help developers

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create more engaging apps. Applied to videogames, the model called survival STEM CELL THERAPY MAY HELP REPAIR ensemble can predict what day and at what stage of the LUNG DAMAGE: STUDY game a user will stop playing, and why they will do so. “Already from their first days playing the game, we Stem cell therapy may potentially reduce lung know with a good degree of certainty what level a user inflammation in patients suffering from chronic will reach and how many days it will take them,” said obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis, Africa Perianez, Head of Game Data Science at the video a new study conducted on mice suggests. game company Silicon Studio in Japan. Researchers from Queens University Belfast in the “The main and most pressing priority is to try to UK investigated the effectiveness of Mesenchymal stem extend the player’s ‘life’ and get them to buy as much as cell (MSC) therapy in a mouse model of chronic possible. Also important is to understand users’ needs and inflammatory lung disease, which reflects some of the design a more entertaining and stimulating game,” she said. essential features of diseases such as COPD and cystic The industry has undergone a paradigm shift since fibrosis. the appearance of games for smartphones. They delivered stem cells intravenously to mice at four “Companies store a lot of information on users: their and six weeks of age, before collecting sample tissue and actions, connections, purchases, etc. And they are beginning cells from the lungs at about eight weeks. to realise that they need to move towards a data-based These findings were compared to a control group development model, which allows them to know who that did not receive the MSC therapy. The results showed their players are and what they like, and also to predict that inflammation was significantly reduced in the group their reactions,” said Perianez. receiving MSC therapy. The Silicon Studio platform adapts automatically to Cell count for both monocytic cells and neutrophils - different games and data. signs of inflammation - were significantly reduced after According to the researcher, the system can predict MSC therapy, researchers said. who will leave the game very accurately. Analysis of lung tissue revealed a reduction in the mean The algorithm uses the so-called ‘ensemble’ method, linear intercept and other measures of lung destruction in “a model that is based on many learning algorithms instead MSC treated mice. of a single one, thereby improving the prediction accuracy Researchers found that along with reducing by examining many more correlations and alternative inflammation in the lung, MSC therapy also resulted in models,” Perianez said. significant improvements in lung structure, suggesting that “Every time we run the model, we are actually using this form of treatment has the potential to repair the 1,000 distinct submodels, each of which focuses on damaged lung. different variables and has different initial conditions,” she “These preliminary findings demonstrate the potential said. effectiveness of MSC treatment as a means of repairing The team also used a survival analysis algorithm within the damage caused by chronic lung diseases such as each submodel. These models “are used in medical COPD,” said Declan Doherty of Queens University research, for example, to predict when a patient will Belfast. experience an event of interest, and in biology, to know “The ability to counteract inflammation in the lungs how particular cells are going to behave in the body,” by utilising the combined anti-inflammatory and reparative Perianez said. properties of MSCs could potentially reduce the The researchers have now, for the first time, combined inflammatory response in individuals with chronic lung the power of survival algorithms and ‘ensemble’ models disease whilst also restoring lung function in these patients,” in the field of video games. Doherty added. “This has enabled us to achieve a high level of Lung damage caused by chronic inflammation in prediction accuracy, as the algorithm automatically adapts conditions such as COPD and cystic fibrosis leads to to the data of the game we want to analyse,” said Perianez. reduced lung function and eventually respiratory failure.

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MSC therapy is currently being investigated as a developing heart problems and metabolic diseases such promising therapeutic approach for a number of as diabetes, a new study claims. incurable, degenerative lung diseases. Researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in the US found that replacing light-intensity physical CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER activity with brief periods of vigorous exercise may SURVIVORS AT HIGHER HEART DISEASE provide significant cardiometabolic benefits in young RISK people with relatively large waist measurements and elevated levels of insulin in their blood. Survivors of childhood brain tumours are at an Researchers analysed data from about 11,588 young increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and early people aged between 4 and 18 in the US, Brazil and death because of higher overall fat tissue, a new study has European countries. warned. Records that included the child’s age, gender, level of Researchers, including those from McMaster physical activity and at least one biomarker - a measurable University in Canada, found that survivors of childhood indicator of a medical state or condition - of a brain tumours have a similar Body Mass Index (BMI) to cardiometabolic risk were focused on. healthy children with no cancer but have more fat tissue These included weight circumference, systolic and overall, and especially around the abdomen. diastolic blood pressure and bloodstream levels of high- “These findings suggest that one of the most density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density important risk factors for heart disease and Type 2 lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and diabetes, which is excess total and central fat in the body, insulin. is present relatively early in survivors of childhood brain Researchers found only 32 significant associations out tumours,” said Constantine Samaan, an associate professor of a possible 360 while evaluating the relationships at McMaster University. between the biomarkers and vigorous physical activity “This indicates that these children need further when controlling for various factors including age, gender, monitoring for the factors that increase their risk of duration and level of exercise and sedentary time. cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, and that All 32 were related to reduced waist circumference targeted therapies and prevention strategies are needed to and insulin levels. The relationships between high-intensity deal with the early risk factors to improve survival and exercise and the other biomarkers were inconsistent. the quality of life of survivors,” Samaan added. “The results suggest that substituting modest amounts Brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer- of vigorous physical activity for longer-duration light related deaths in children, and are the second most exercise may have cardiometabolic benefits above and common type of cancers in children, researchers said. beyond those conveyed by moderate activity and the Over the past few years, advances in cancer therapy avoidance of sedentary behaviour,” said Justin B Moore, have resulted in an increasing number of children who associate professor at Wake Forest Baptist. survive their diagnosis of brain tumours. “But as vigorous activity was independently associated with only two of the markers examined, it may be that its ’10 MINS OF VIGOROUS EXERCISE MAY truly meaningful benefits may be limited, relative to less- CUT DIABETES RISK IN KIDS’ intense exercise,” Moore added. The study was published in the journal Medicine and Ten minutes of high-intensity physical activity every Science in Sports and Exercise. day may help some children reduce their risk of

PTI Science Service24 April 1-15, 2017 Edited, printed and published by M. R. MISHRA on behalf of the PRESS TRUST OF INDIA, at 4, Parliament Street, New Delhi -110001, Printed at AVION Printer, Aram Nagar, New Delh-110 005 Phone No.23619350 .