SPECTRUM Indian science and technology globally. Simplifying complex science for the lay people is his forte.” Noted Science In 2010, Pallava Bagla was awarded the ‘David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism’ given by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Washington DC, for Communicator his landmark writings which exposed the Himalayan glacier blunder by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Pallava Bagla His work on India’s first mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and to Mars-Mangalyaan in 2013 has bags INSA been greatly applauded. He is also author of several books including Reaching for the Stars: India’s Journey to Mars and Beyond. His latest Prize book is titled Bridging the Communication Gap in Science and Technology: Lessons from India published by Springer.

Pallava Bagla receiving the award. Left to right: Prof Anurag Sharma of INSA, A well-known face on television, Science Editor, New Delhi Pallava Bagla science writer (in blue shirt and shawl) and Prof Ajay Sood, President, Indian National Science Academy Television, Pallava Bagla has been awarded the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularisation of Science for the year 2017. The prize is given by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi – an apex body of Indian scientists. This coveted award comes to him in the birth centenary Awareness Alone year of former Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi famous in scienti c circles for having mandated the 1974 nuclear not Enough to explosion at Pokhran. More than a thousand fellows of INSA collectively choose Address Lifestyle once every three years the best populariser of science in the country. Bagla is also concurrently the Correspondent of the Diseases journal Science, a columnist for the Press Trust of India (PTI) and a photographer for Getty Images. Bagla has won three INDIAN kids have reasonable knowledge about lifestyle National Awards for his writings on science and technology. diseases and their risk factors, but this knowledge does not The Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularisation of Science translate into preventive action, a new study has revealed. was established by the Indian National Science Academy in For instance, adolescent children know that unhealthy food 1986 to encourage and recognise public awareness of science is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) yet they and was named after the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. indulge in eating junk food and unhealthy snacks. Beginning 2008, the Prize is being awarded once in every three In spite of better awareness, there is a huge knowledge- years for outstanding work done on popularisation of science practice gap among teenagers, the study done among school in any Indian language, including English. children in has found. Most of these teenagers (who The citation reads: “Shri Bagla is a highly committed voice are aware) showed poor and unhealthy eating lifestyles like for communicating Indian science and technology to the lay more than three major meals a day, frequent snacking (more people and is a leading science journalist and has showcased than four times in a day) and consumption of street food. The

10 SCIENCE REPORTER September 2017 Indian Astronomers Discoverove supermega river of galaxies,es, name it Saraswati A team of Indian astronomers has identi ed a cosmic behemoth Universe predicts that small structures like galaxies form fi rst, – a of galaxies – about 4 billion light-years away which congregate into larger structures. The existence of large from us. The new discovery has been named Saraswati – structures such as the “Saraswati Supercluster” that evolved as which in Sanskrit literally means ‘ever-fl owing stream with early as 10 billion years since the Big Bang is a challenge to many pools’. this model. “The discovery of these extremely large structures The supercluster spans over 650 million light years in its thus forces astronomers into re-thinking popular theories of how expanse, containing over 10,000 galaxies in 42 clusters. Its total the Universe got its current form, starting from a more-or-less mass equals 20 million billion suns. The team of astronomers uniform distribution of energy after the Big Bang,” says Prof was led by Joydeep Bagchi of Inter-University Center for Raychaudhury. Astronomy and (IUCAA), Pune, which used data “Our work will help to shed light on the perplexing from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. question how such extreme large scale, prominent matter- The discovery is forcing astronomers to rethink about early density enhancements had formed billions of years in the past stages of the evolution of the universe and provides vital clues when the mysterious Dark Energy had just started to dominate about the mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The results structure formation,’’ said Bagchi. of the study were published in The Astrophysical Journal. “There are hundreds of in the size range of Contributed by Dr. T.V. Venkateswaran, India Science Wire, Vigyan Prasar less than100 million light years. The Saraswati supercluster clearly stands out in the sky as an especially rare, and possibly among the mega superclusters exceeding 500 million light years in size,” said Somak Raychaudhury, one of the co-authors and the Director of IUCAA, Pune. “A large-scale structure this massive evolves very slowly, and therefore it may refl ect the whole history of galaxy formation and the primordial initial conditions that have seeded it,” said Joydeep Bagchi. The long-popular “Cold dark matter” model of evolution of

trend of poor eating habits was visible more in older students researchers said. “Promotion of school-based cardiovascular and those belonging to af uent families as compared to students health programmes might be crucial in dispelling myths and from low or middle-class socio-economic status. misconceptions with eventual prevention of early onset athero- The study, published in the journal BMC Public Health sclerotic changes in arterial walls,” the study has suggested. recently, was conducted jointly by hospitals in Kolkata along “Compared to the West, in India, the transition from pre- with Mission Arogya Health and Information Technology Re- dominantly infectious disease to non-communicable diseases has search Foundation and the University of California. It was led happened over a rather brief period of time. Solutions require by Dr. Tanmay Mahapatra. It included over 1600 ninth grade strategies such as emphasis on prevention, early detection, students in urban Kolkata. treatment using both conventional and innovative techniques Researchers collected data on knowledge about lifestyle along with effective implementation of evidence-based policy,” diseases, physical activity, and eating patterns from these suggested Amjad Husain, professor of life sciences at Glocal adolescents. They found that about 20% of the participants University. He is not connected with the study. reported a family history of CVDs while a majority had little “Healthy eating habits and lifestyle behaviour inculcated information about heart disorders. Boys tended more to be at adolescent age can prevent a lot of diseases like obesity, involved in physical activity (adequate physical activity as one hypertension, early onset of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hour every day) along with those who had better knowledge metabolic syndrome, diseases of spine and joints, etc.” says about risk factors. Dr. Vijay Malhotra, President, Delhi Medical Association. About 82% of the adolescents did not perceive themselves He suggests that relevant information and knowledge about to be at risk for future CVDs and even those who perceived lifestyle diseases should be made a part of the curriculum in the risk showed poor dietary practices. One of the probable secondary classes. explanations might be that adolescents considered CVDs to be problem of the aged, and underestimated their own future risks, Contributed by Dr. Shikha T. Malik, India Science Wire, Vigyan Prasar

11 SCIENCE REPORTER September 2017