Spectrum Technology That Has Great Damage Power Grids on and Deliver Such Complex Congratulated the AEW&C Potential for Life-Saving Earth

News Briefs India’s First Indigenous AEW&C A team led by a gases into quiescent coronal system Developed by DRDO- physician-scientist and a loops have been identified CABS chemist – from the fields by scientists. The discovery “The world is watching by Centre for Airborne of dermatology and is one more step towards this programme with bated System (CABS), the DRDO nanotechnology – is the understanding the origins breath. Its success will put laboratory spearheading the first to demonstrate the use of extreme space storms, our country into the elite AEW&C programme. of commercial moisturizers which can destroy satellite group that can develop Dr Saraswat to deliver gene regulation communications and

Spectrum technology that has great damage power grids on and deliver such complex congratulated the AEW&C potential for life-saving Earth. The observation will state-of-the-art systems,” team from DRDO, IAF, therapies for skin cancers. help to understand how said Dr Vijay Kumar CEMILAC, DGAQA, and the Applied directly to the skin, solar structures are heated Saraswat, Scientific EMBRAER team for this the drug penetrates all of the and maintained in the Adviser to the Raksha significant achievement. skin’s layers and can upper solar atmosphere. Mantri, Secretary Defence “The programme involves selectively target disease- Extreme solar activity can R&D and DG DRDO. He installation of systems on causing genes while lead to severe space storms was speaking at a function the aircraft, integration of sparing normal genes. that interfere with satellite organised to commemorate these systems and make Once in cells, the drug communications and the formal receipt of the the system perform to their simply flips the switch of damage electric power Airborne Early Warning & fullest capability,” said Dr the troublesome genes to transmission grids on “off.” Earth. Control (AEW&C) aircraft Saraswat. Latest research has Scientists foresee a time found that people who when medical monitoring Ozone levels around Delhi consume fast food even devices would be integrated prompt new collaborative once a week increase their seamlessly into the human research project with India risk of dying from coronary body to track a patient’s vital heart disease by 20% in signs and transmit them to Researchers from the University of Birmingham and TERI comparison to people who his doctors. With current University are working together to identify which avoid fast food. For people technology, electronics are emissions might best be controlled in order to reduce eating fast food two-three able to stretch a small harmful ozone production in New Delhi. times each week, the risk amount, but many potential Ozone is a major air pollution problem in the Delhi increases by 50% and the applications require a area, where levels exceed World Health Organisation risk climbs to nearly 80% device to stretch like a guidelines for around 50 days per year. It leads to for people who consume rubber band. Researchers at significant reductions in regional crop yields and fast food items four or more the McCormick School of consequently has direct economic impact. Ozone is also times each week. A diet Engineering have recently heavy in fast food increases developed a design that harmful to health, but as it is a secondary pollutant the the risk of developing Type- allows electronics to bend control of ozone levels is not straightforward. 2 diabetes and coronary and stretch to more than Understanding the factors controlling ozone, and heart disease. 200% their original size, therefore identifying the optimum emissions reductions Signals from natural four times greater than is to reduce ozone exposure, remains a key environmental intestinal bacteria are possible with today’s challenge. necessary for an effective technology. The key is a The Birmingham and TERI University researchers immune response to various combination of a will deploy a newly developed instrument to directly viral or bacterial germs. porous polymer and liquid measure the local atmospheric ozone production rate in Trillions of bacteria metal. Delhi. This will enable better understanding of the ozone residing in the intestines Most people are of healthy humans fascinated by the colourful Photosystem III contribute to digestion and and exotic coral reefs but for metabolism of vitamins and human civilization is the are of critical importance for top danger to these fragile Efficient Photosynthesis the host organism. Research ecosystems through climate To develop biomass-based has shown that the change, oxygen depletion commonly known as intestinal flora also plays and ocean acidification. renewable and sustainable Photosystem I (PSI) and an important role in the Now scientists have energy sources, Photosystem II (PSII). formation of the immune investigated how and why photosynthetic organisms However, these system in the intestines the corals die when need to be further photosystems have certain and that changes to it can exposed to sedimentation. researched vis-à-vis levels of limitation in increase the risk of food According to their findings, increasing their trapping light energy allergies or chronic oxygen depletion, together photosynthesis efficiency. because of specificity in inflammatory intestinal with an acidification of the Photosynthetic organisms colour sensitivity, which is diseases. environment, creates a like plant and algae have a responsible for low The first images of an chain reaction that leads to well-developed solar energy photosynthetic efficiency of upward surge of the Sun’s coral death. harvesting system these organisms.

SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2012 16 Spectrum

The indigenous Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) System programme got a boost when a major milestone was achieved – when the first aircraft fully modified by M/ s EMBRAER with more than 300 mission system items supplied by Centre for Airborne System (CABS), landed in Bangalore at the HAL Airport on 22 August 2012. The indigenous AEW&C System is a multi- sensor system providing for all aspects of Airborne Early Warning & Control in today’s defence scenario. production rate and control regime. It will also begin to determine the extent to which local ozone arises from local emissions at all – compared with, for example, ozone being blown into the area from elsewhere. Both factors are critical for development of local and regional policy measures to improve air quality. Dr William Bloss, Reader in Atmospheric Science at the University of Birmingham, said: “As Delhi grapples with air pollution, we feel this joint research project with TERI University will provide critical insight into one aspect of the problem, regional ozone production. While this project is limited to initially exploring the potential to provide guidance for policy makers, it will provide the proof-of-concept data necessary to justify future, larger- scale measurements, which would have significant evidential weight for policy.” Dr Nandini Kumar, Associate Professor at TERI University, added: “Ozone exposure leads to significant reductions in crop yields across northern India, so improved understanding of air pollution and the factors factors are emissions potentially within our control, to controlling ozone formation in this region is really improve future air quality.” important. This project will help identify which of these

Different Purple bacteria) that have techniques to come up with colours of light the capability to utilize biosolar cells with have different regions such as the infra increased photosynthesis levels of energy. red region of light for efficiency. Although, the These organisms, photosynthesis. They idea is in its initial phase, however, utilize therefore hold out hope for its success would only a part of the increasing the unquestionably be a big visible region of photosynthesis efficiency development. light energy. in plant and algae by There are some incorporating their system Contributed by Amit Kumar Singh, bacteria (e.g. as Photosystem III (PSIII). S/o Mr. Gulab Singh, Research Plant and algae have a well- Scientists from the Fellow, Synthetic Biology and Biofuel developed solar energy Centre for Photosynthesis Group, International Centre for Genetic harvesting system commonly Research (CPR) based at Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna known as Photosystem I and Netherlands have used Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067; Photosystem II. genetic engineering Email: [email protected] 17 SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2012 Spectrum Global Dimming: Contrasting Global Warming? The Indian subcontinent witnessed about a month’s delayed arrival of monsoon in 2012. During the first decade of this twenty first century all the species of this globe are suffering from extreme climatic impacts (heat wave, coldest winter, drought, flood, water scarcity etc.). Scientists are explaining these effects as a result of Global Warming caused due uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels. But all the environmental phenomena cannot be The dimmed Visva-Bharati campus during winter explained only by Global Warming. Some of these events (Photograph by Dipankar Roy) can be accounted for by Global Dimming too. In 1985, an English scientist Gerald Stanhill working in the Agricultural Research Organisation, Israel had noticed about 22% drop in sunlight in Israel compared to that in 1950. This made Stanhill coin the term ‘Global Dimming’, which contrasts interestingly with the term ‘Global Warming’. The amount of average solar energy reaching the earth’s surface has been observed to have dropped by more than 10% in the last six decades due to blockage by suspended air particulate materials. The effect of Global Formation of fog/smog reduces the strength of solar energy Dimming varies from place to place; for example, 9% in (Photograph by Dipankar Roy) Antarctica, 10% in the USA, 16% in parts of British Isles, 30% in Russia (formerly Soviet Union) and 37% in Hong Kong from 1950 to 1990. Solar radiation is measured in different weather stations throughout the globe using units watt per square metre. Calculations by different groups of scientists showed 7-14 watts per square metre (4-8%) drop in solar power from 1961 to 1990. The reasons for Global Dimming are air pollution, particle-seeded water vapour present in the cloud, contrails (vapour produced by aeroplanes), smog formation, volcanic eruption, meteorite hitting etc. Clouds and suspended nanoparticles in the air block a portion Particle seeded water vapour present in the clouds are of solar energy before reaching the earth’s surface. responsible to some extent (Photograph by Dipankar Roy) Scientists observed no heat reflection during the aftermath of the U.S. 9/11 attacks, when all the aeroplanes were grounded for three days. This suggests that contrails are responsible for Global Dimming. Temperature rose by about one degree Celsius during those three days. It is to be noted that the visible and infrared radiations seem to be more affected than ultraviolet radiation. Presence of excess air particulate materials due to pollution causes formation of smaller number of water droplets resulting in reflecting back more sunlight into space (since same amount of water is spread over more drops) and simultaneously less rainfall (due to reduced coalescence of smaller droplets). A 3% reduction of solar energy every year might cause complete darkness in about 330 years. Global Dimming is now being considered responsible for the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. Darkness due to meteorite impact on earth even caused the extinction of dinosaurs. Ripening of crops may be affected in the cloudy areas and an equal percentage of drop in productivity may take place with the percentage drop of solar radiation. Oceans get shielded from getting full energy from sun and that might affect on the global rainfall pattern. Global Dimming is a surface and near surface phenomena while Global Warming is an entirely atmospheric phenomenon. Investigations reveal that the effect of Global Dimming is half as large as that of Global Warming. In the year 2005, it was reported by the Department of Applied Physics and Mathematics of Columbia University, New York that the apparently opposing effects of Global Warming and Global Dimming can occur simultaneously. One form of air pollution due to Green House gases is responsible for Global Warming while another form of air pollution due to air borne particles causes Global Dimming. Thus, Global Dimming may be the effect of Global Warming and vice versa. Contributed by Dr. Sabdar Aman Chowdhury who is with the Department of Chemistry, Bolpur College, Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal; Address: “Senjuti”, Digantapally, P.O.-Santiniketan, Dt.-Birbhum, West Bengal-731235; E-mail: [email protected], SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2012 18