Category Science

HOW ANTARCTIC FIN WHALE CAME BACK FROM EXTINCTION?

Often, within the pages of wildlife conservation stories lies that one spark, idea, or action that spawns dramatic positive changes. Here’s one such story on how one decision has resulted in a huge impact, practically bringing back a key species from the brink of extinction.

The recent filming of southern fin whales in Antarctic waters thrilled scientists, researchers, and conservationsists  no end.  And, why not? It’s a deeply encouraging sign that not only have these marine mammals returned to their historic feeding grounds but their numbers have increased too, albeit gradually. The species was earlier reduced to less than 2% of its original population, thanks to the usual suspect-unsustainable hunting for decades. And then came the whaling ban towards the last quarter of the 20th Century, positively impacting the course of the animal’s fate over decades. Slowly but surely fin whales have rebounded; slowly because fin whales give birth to only one calf at a time.

Over the last few years, researchers have recorded a hundred groups of these whales, including large ones comprising up to 150 animals. “Using data from their surveys, the authors estimate that there could be almost 8,000 fin whales in the Antarctic area.” Listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, fin whales have a tremendous impact on the environment. In fact, they are called “ecosystem engineers” because after consuming iron-rich krill, they excrete nutrients that help the “growth of tiny phytoplankton, the foundation of the marine food web”. In addition, the increasing number of this marine mammal – the world’s second largest animal-is also an indicator of the ocean’s good health.

While other threats cannot be ruled out for these ocean giants, the “increasing numbers of southern fin whales is an encouraging sign that conservation measures can work”.

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HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH CLIMATE ANXIETY?

Flash floods, storms, heatwaves, and drought… Extreme weather events are rocking the world, and are likely to leave you feeling anxious. Recent studies have shown that climate anxiety is for real. Here’s what you can do.

Madhuvanti S. Krishnan.

Climate change and eco-crisis are well known. But what is climate anxiety? No, it isn’t a figment of your imagination, and yes, it does exist. finds recent research. In September 2021, a survey was conducted across 10 countries, led by the University of Bath, in collaboration with five universities, and funded by Avaaz, a campaign and research group. It involved 10,000 people between the ages of 16 and 25 years, and discovered that more than half of them experienced climate anxiety. and thought that humanity was doomed, courtesy, climate change

So, what is climate anxiety? Brit Wray, a Stanford researcher and author, Generation Dread says. “Climate anxiety is an assortment of feelings that a person can experience when they wake up to the full extent of the climate and wider ecological crisis.”

She further explains that as the term implies, anxiety is one aspect of it, but there are other emotions that occur alongside. For instance, she elaborates, grief, fury, helplessness, hopelessness, and difficult feelings along similar lines, that point out people’s concern for the world. Succinctly put, it is a feeling of guilt or desperation, a sense of doom, about the state of the environment.

It has been attracting progressively more attention among climate and social scientists, especially due to its impact on people’s mental health.

Drivers

Constant media exposure, the tendency to incessantly access and consume content on social media, multiple studies that show species being threatened or becoming extinct, relentless news on coral reefs dying, melting glaciers, and more, heightens anxiety.

Then, there’s Nature, which plays an instrumental role in simultaneously exacerbating and keeping at bay climate anxiety. Events such as natural disasters, resource depletion among others, drive anxiety as people who are aware of the value of nature will be more sensitised to the risk of loss relates to climate change. However, the flip side to this is that it is only when they are exposed to Nature. will they be healed of such anxiety -research details how engaging with the great outdoors and actively involving oneself in environment-related activities will reduce the rising feeling of alarm one experiences.

Maximum impact

In 2020, Friends of the Earth, an environmental non-profit organisation, estimated that over two-thirds of people, between 18 to 24 years, experience climate anxiety. Indeed, as youngsters who will bear witness to the worsening after-effects of climate chaos, it is unsurprising that it is primarily they who are most anxious and concerned. In fact, Gen Z has been nicknamed the Climate Generation.

Does this mean others are unaffected?

Not really. While the older generations are undoubtedly disquieted about the crisis, they are more perturbed by the short-term impact of climate change. In other words, their consternation will not take a toll on their mental health and overwhelm them as much as it does Gen Z

There are digital tools that help combat eco-anxiety, and an interactive website, Hold This Space, does precisely this. Designed in collaboration with psychologists and environmental scientists, it conducts activities that target people experiencing anxiety. especially youngsters, and encourages them to channelise their feelings into effective climate action, which by extension, helps them develop resilience and coping mechanisms.

SOME TIPS

*It is normal to experience climate anxiety because you are constantly exposed to climate-related news.

*You are not alone. Do not let anxiety overwhelm you. *Talk about your feelings, make yourself heard.

*Connect with like-minded people who will understand where you come from, without brushing off your anxiety as

*Get involved in activities to do with nature that will not only lessen your anxiety by virtue of being actively involved, but will also help you develop skills and build resilience.

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WHAT IS MEAN BY BIG DATA?

It is exactly what it says it is-BIG. Enormous amount of information or data is constantly created by many people through various methods. For example, when you play a video game post on Instagram or Facebook, or just surf the Intemet, data is generated.

This data may come from the communication with people you know, your laptop, smartphone or any other such device. All the data adds up and keeps growing progressively bigger.

It is so voluminous that the usual data processing systems or software tools cannot handle it. It needs to be analysed properly to gain the right insights into it. It is thus broken down by three characteristics, also known as the three Vs of Big Data- -volume, which is the amount of data that gets generated, velocity, or the speed at which it is processed, and variety, the differenttypes of data that gets generated.

While Big Data offers multiple ways to analyse data and use it to our advantage, it is vital to exercise caution while doing so.

Data is information that can be processed and put to use. Now, it is Big Data that has gained importance and is dominating the way companies work world over.

Importance

Have you noticed how, sometimes, Google may suggest new things which you may be interested in or like? How does it do that? This is because, all the data about you has been collected and processed and then used by the search engine to know your likes and dislikes.

Big data enables organisations to store, manage, and manipulate vast amounts of information. It helps companies improve the way they work, offer better customer services, and provide more personal offers or campaigns, among other things. In short, it is for the company’s benefit and to earn more profit. Its importance lies in not the amount of data a company has, but how it is able to use the gathered data.

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TREES NOT A CURE-ALL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

It’s inevitable that often its climate change that makes global headlines. For years, experts have been cautioning us about the impending doom of our planet if we do not mend our ways. Among the suggestions to save Earth is the expansion of green cover. But studies point to the fact that simply expanding green cover alone may not really rescue us from the dire situation we find ourselves in. Here’s why. It is an established fact that forests take in large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So it would make sense to increase such areas to tackle the growing carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. But it is important to note that due to global warming, there are increasing instances of wildfires and drought globally, killing off several trees. Such trees, dying in large numbers, are adding to the carbon in the atmosphere.

Further, it is assumed that more carbon dioxide for a tree translates to greater growth due to photosynthesis. However, a study has shown that rather than photosynthesis it’s the cell division that drives the growth of trees. And this process is severely affected by climate change impact such as drought.

Such studies appear to point to the fact that rather than only trying to increase forest areas for carbon offset, it is perhaps more urgent, pertinent, and wiser to protect what exists already. This calls for cutting down on emissions. thus bringing down instances of forests being lost to wildfires, drought, and tree-attacking insects that thrive in a warmer world.

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WHEN WAS HELIUM FIRST LIQUEFIED?

On July 10, 1908, helium was liquefied for the first time ever. It was achieved by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913 for his low temperature work that led to the production of liquid helium.

Helium is a chemical element that has the lowest boiling and melting points among all the elements. The first in the noble gas group in the periodic table, helium is a colourless, odourless, non-toxic, inert gas in nature. Liquid helium was produced for the first time only in 1908, thanks to the work done by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes,

Born in Groningen, The Netherlands in 1853, Kamerlingh Onnes father was the owner of a  brickworks and his mother was the daughter of an architect. He received additional teaching in Greek and Latin after spending his time in a secondary school without classical languages in his native town.

Displays his talents early

From 1871-73, Kamerlingh Onnes went to Heidelberg University as a student of German physicists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff. At the age of 18, his talents in the scientific field were apparent as he was awarded a Gold Medal for a competition sponsored by the Natural Sciences Faculty at the University of Utrecht and followed it up with a Silver Medal in a similar event at the University of Groningen the next year.

He was awarded his doctorate by the University of Groningen in 1879 with a remarkable thesis ‘Nieuwe bewijzen voor de aswenteling der aarde’ (New proofs of the rotation of the Earth). After teaching at the Polytechnic School in Delft until 1882, he was appointed to the Physics Chair at the University of Leiden, where he served as a professor until 1923.

Coldest spot on Earth

Inspired by the theories and works of his compatriots Johannes van der Waals and Hendrik Lorentz Kamerlingh Onnes reorganised the Physical Laboratory at Leiden and built up the Cryogenic Laboratory that now bears his name in order to suit his own programme. This meant that Leiden soon established itself as the low-temperature research centre of the world, with some going to the extent of saying that the coldest spot on Earth was situated at Leiden

He spent over a decade perfecting cryogenic experimental techniques, while also studying metals and fluids at low temperatures, Having succeeded in building an improved hydrogen liquefaction machine by 1906, his efforts adminated in the production of liquid helium on July 10, 1908.

On that wet and windy day, Kamerlingh Onnes woke before dawn and headed to his laboratory in the centre of the town, where technicians were already hard at work. Having already increased the stock of liquid air to 75 litres the previous day, they went about the first task of liquefying hydrogen. By 1.30pm, they had produced the 20 litres of liquid hydrogen necessary to launch the attack on helium and stored it in Dewar flasks.

Based on theory, Kamerlingh Onnes knew how much hydrogen they needed and the amount of time the helium experiment would take. It was time to start cooling the helium at 2.30pm, and in just another half an hour, the temperature had already fallen to 93 Kelvin (-180 degree Celsius).

Iterative technique

Kamerlingh Onnes employed the same iterative technique that had allowed their laboratory to produce liquid hydrogen at the increased rate of 4 litres per hour in 1906. This meant that the helium gas that was pre-cooled by liquid hydrogen and liquid air was allowed to expand through a porous plug, thereby cooling to even lower temperatures. This is then recirculated back to the other side of the plug where the expanded helium is further cooled by expanding through the plug again.

By 6.30pm, the temperatures were lower than that of liquid hydrogen and eventually reached 6 Kelvin (-267 degree Celsius). Down to the last flask of liquid hydrogen, Kamerlingh Onnes attached it to the apparatus and the team was wondering if they were destined for failure as the helium had already circulated 20 times with nothing to show for it.

Small teacup of helium

The temperature stabilised at 4 Kelvin (-269 degree Celsius) by 7.30pm when a colleague who came to see how the experiment was going remarked that the thermometer appeared to be standing in a bath of liquid. On closer inspection, Kamerlingh Onnes was able to make out the liquid surface of liquid helium! The experiment had produced just a small teacup of liquid helium, about 60ml to be precise.

Kamerlingh Onnes also discovered and coined the term superconductivity in 1911, demonstrating that the resistance of certain electrical conductors totally disappeared suddenly at a temperature near absolute zero (-273 degree Celsius). The low-temperature studies that resulted in the liquefaction of helium in 1908 helped him win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913, 13 years before his death at Leiden in 1926.

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WHAT IS MEANT BY WORD TSUNAMI?

Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English translation, “harbor wave.” Represented by two characters, the top character, “tsu,” means harbor, while the bottom character, “nami,” means “wave.” In the past, tsunamis were sometimes referred to as “tidal waves” by the general public, and as “seismic sea waves” by the scientific community. The term “tidal wave” is a misnomer; although a tsunami’s impact upon a coastline is dependent upon the tidal level at the time a tsunami strikes, tsunamis are unrelated to the tides. Tides result from the imbalanced, extraterrestrial, gravitational influences of the moon, sun, and planets. The term “seismic sea wave” is also misleading. “Seismic” implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a nonseismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact.

Tsunamis are formed from earthquakes. Earthquakes can occur when two plates in the earth’s crust collide. The earthquake causes the seabed to move quickly and water is displaced causing waves. The half meter waves are out at sea. They travel at extraordinary speeds of 800 km/h. the waves, at this stage are hardly noticeable on the surface of the ocean. The waves slow down to about 300 km/h as the water becomes shallower. The waves then become closer together and only seconds between them. The waves become really tall as they reach the shore and pile onto one another. They can reach amazing heights of up to 35 meters. As they hit the land they engulf everything then suck the debris back into the ocean.

On the 27th of August, 1883 Krakatoo a volcanic island in Indonesia erupted producing a tsunami 35 meters high it traveled at 550 km/h destroying coastal communities in Java and Sumatra and killing more than 30, 000 people about 90% of tsunamis occur in the Pacific ocean. Tsunamis are quiet rare in the Atlantic ocean. The most active tsunamis are along the coast of Peru and Chile. Tsunamis are said to occur there once every two years * on the 17th of July, 1998. Three tsunami waves hit the west east coast of Papua New Guinea, near the town of Aitape and wiped out entire communities along a 30 km stretch of land. It was caused by two under sea earthquakes, measuring 7. 0 on the Richter scale. By the time the waves hit the shore line they reached a height of 10 meters. The communities had no warning and nowhere to go. Over 2, 000 people were killed many of them children. The few villagers who survived had lost everything * on the 21st and 22nd of May, 1960 almost 50 earthquakes produced a series of tsunamis. Which killed 2, 500 people and caused damage in Japan, New Zealand Hawaii. The first three waves killed 1, 700 people in Chili. When the waves hit Hilo, Hawaii 61 people were killed.

It is very difficult to predict tsunamis because the earthquake that causes them may occur underwater far away and the shock waves may not be felt on the land. if you are at a beach there is a way of telling a tsunami is coming. You might not have much time but when you see the water slowly draining away into the ocean I advise you to run. The water being drained away contributes to the giant wave that’s just about to hit.

Credit : Slidetodoc

Picture Credit : Google