May, 2015

Science Gala 2015

The much awaited Annual Science Gala for the academic year 2014-15 organized by Science International
Forum (SIF), Kuwait was conducted on 28th March, 2015, at American International School, Hawally. The
majestic ceremony got inaugurated by Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, H.E. Sri. Sunil Jain. Padmabhooshan
Dr.Vijay Bhatkar, Chairman of the Governing Council,
IIT Delhi, and India's leading IT expert graced the
function as chief guest for the evening. Special guest
from India, National Award winning educational expert
and science books author with more than 50 years of
experience, Prof: S Shivadas, presented the keynote
speech on Mastering Science & Technology for Mastering the Human Brain & Unravel the Immense
Potential.

The exclusive live chat show with

Dr.Vijay Bhatkar conducted by
Dr.Sreekumar (Scientific Consultant, KFAS) proved the first of its
kind presented in Kuwait, serving
a memorable experience for the
students and parents community.
The grand evening was studded
with the presence of other eminent
academic and scientific personalities from India and Kuwait along
with the SIF coordinators from
other

Middle

East

countries.

Vijnana Bharathi Secretary General Sri.A.Jayakumar inaugurated the online newsletter DISCOVER, published by SIF Kuwait, by releasing
the hard copy. The winners of the Sastra Prathibha Contest 2014-15 and the outstanding performers were honored with trophies and certificate jointly by Dr.Vijay
Bhatkar and Prof.Shivdas.
Principal, Sri. Premkumar,
and the students of Indian
Educational School (BVB,
Kuwait) received the prestigious Acharya J. C. Bose
Sastra Puraskar for the
best

performing

school.

The grand evening was

studded with the presence
of other eminent academic
and scientific personalities from India and Kuwait along with the SIF coordinators from other Middle East
countries. Sri. Prasanth Nair (President, SIF Kuwait) extended a warm welcome to the gathering.
Sri.Arunkumar (Secretary, SIF Kuwait) delivered the word of gratitude.

Water man of India Rajendra Singh bags

Top Prize !
An award known as "the Nobel Prize for water" has been given to an Indian campaigner
who has brought water to 1,000 villages.The
judges of the Stockholm Water Prize say his
methods have also prevented floods, restored
soil and rivers, and brought back wildlife.
The prize-winner, Rajendra Singh, is dubbed
"the Water Man of India".The judges say his
technique is cheap, simple, and that his ideas
should be followed worldwide.Mr Singh uses a mod- "Rajendra Singh's life work has been in building soern version of the ancient Indian technique of rain- cial capacity to solve local water problems through
water harvesting.It involves building low-level participatory action, empowerment of women, linkbanks of earth to hold back the flow of water in the ing indigenous know-how with modern scientific
wet season and allow water to seep into the ground and technical approaches and upending traditional
for future use. He first trained as a medic, but when patterns of development and resource use."
he took up a post in a rural village in arid Rajasthan
he was told the greatest need was not health care but The award was applauded by Katherine Pygott, a
drinking water.Groundwater had been sucked dry by leading UK water engineer who has drawn on Mr
farmers, and as water disappeared, crops failed, riv- Singh's work to help prevent flooding in the UK.
ers, forests and wildlife disappeared and people left
for the towns. Its director, Torgny Holmgren, said:
"In a world where demand for freshwater is booming, we will face a severe water crisis within decades
if we do not learn how to better take care of our water. Mr Singh is a beacon of hope."
In its citation, the judges say: "Today's water problems cannot be solved by science or technology
alone. They are human problems of governance, policy, leadership, and social resilience.

Source:BBC

Amazing Science!!!
Does it look like black dots appear and disappear
at the intersections of this grid? If you focus on
any one intersection, youll see there are only
white dots. This illusion, called the scintillating
grid, The scintillating grid illusion is an optical
illusion, discovered by E. Lingelbach in 1994,
that is usually considered a variation of the Hermann grid illusion. It is constructed by superimposing white discs on the intersections of orthogonal gray bars on a black background. Dark dots
seem to appear and disappear rapidly at random intersections, hence the label "scintillating". When a
person keeps his or her eyes directly on a single intersection, the dark dot does not appear. The dark
dots disappear if one is too close to or too far from the image,is caused when your brain tries to make
up for the 0.1 second pause it takes to translate light hitting your retina into an image. In effect, your
brain is trying to predict the future - but getting it slightly wrong.

Nano-tech is the Science of Future : Experts

A world congress on green nano-technology and its role in sustainable agriculture was held at Jacob School
of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences
(SHIATS). During the celebrations, the experts claimed that nano-technology was the science of the future
and elaborated upon its many uses, including in modern farming. The event was organised in collaboration
with the University of Missouri, Columbia, US.
The technical session of the congress was chaired by Prof Newman Fernandes wherein Prof Florian F Bauer
of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa, delivered a
lecture on nano-technology in the wine industry. Stating that it was the science of the future, he highlighted
the numerous potential applications of nanotechnology in diverse wine industry, and suggested various ways
in which fields such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology, or combinations thereof, may revolutionize
the making of wine. Prof Christofora Hanny Wijaya, Head of food chemistry division, Faculty of agriculture
technology, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia, talked on implementation of nano-technology in
herbal-based functional drink and carotenoid rich functional ingredient.
In the second technical session, founder director of IIT-Kanpur Dr Sandip Patil talked about use of nanofibre technology in agriculture application and elaborated upon electro-spinning nano-fibre technology for
agricultural applications. Associate professor, faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Seuf University, Egypt,
Dr Saber Mohamed Abd-Allah, expressed his views on applications of nano-particles on animal reproductive cells. He gave a historic prospective of nano-material application to animal reproductive biology and
the most recent developments in this field. He also focused on effect of nano-particles on antioxidant activity and spermatogenesis process in testicular tissues and emphasized on the potential benefits, threats, and
challenges of nano-particles in animal reproductive organs.
Professor of pharmaceutical technology at the department of pharmacy and pharmaceutical technology,
School of Pharmacy, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, Prof Juan M Irache, delivered a lecture on
food protein-based nano-particles for oral delivery of bioactives. He showed some of the capabilities of
nano-particles, based on either casein or zein, as carriers for BACs (Biologically active compounds) and
their potential use for food (functional), nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical purposes.

Source:Times of India

Newly Discovered Spider Named After Indian State Telangana

A new species of crab spiders, Telangana
crab spider (Thomisus telanganensis), has
been named after the Telangana state in
India. Two taxonomy and wildlife scientists from the Zoology Division at Osmania University stumbled upon female crab
spiders during a scientific expedition at
Nagnur, located in the district of Karimnagar.
In the newly published copy of an international journal on taxonomy and conservation known as the Journal of Threatened
Taxa (JoTT), junior researcher G.B.
Pravalikha, together with Assistant Professor C. Srinivasulu, described how the
Telangana crab spider is biologically different from other crab spiders by illustrating its female genital structure along with other distinguishing
characters.
This type of spiders from the Thomisidae family, resemble crabs morphologically, and thus, they are commonly known as crab spiders. This Telangana species has an affinity to move sideways, similarly to crabs,
but they had been also called flower crab spiders because these creatures hunt their prey on mostly flowering
plants. The species are closely related to Thomisus labefactus, crab spiders originating from Japan. Both scientists are dedicating this new line of species to honor all the students and people who had given up their
own lives for Telangana's cause.
Unlike Telangana crab spiders, most traditional spiders weave webs to trap other insects. Although they fabricate silk for drop-lines and sundry reproductive purposes, Telangana crab spiders are more aggressive in
attacking, using their powerful front legs to grab and hold onto their prey while paralyzing it with venomous
bites, Dr. Srinivasulu noted. "They are important to the ecosystem as they act as bio-controlling agents to
keep the insect population under control. They are between 3 mm and 23 mm in size with their colour varying from bright and colourful to dull.
They are usually found in plants, shrubs, grasses, flowering plants, leaf litter and sometimes under stones,"
Dr. Srinivasulu added. he spiders of Thomisidae family are not known to be harmful to humans at least
the known ones. Both scientists prove that it is still a big, big world out there, and there are more species yet
to be discovered, and hopefully, more governments and agencies will support their endeavor and research.
The researchers also noted that these crab spiders, as of the moment, had been found locally at Nagnur only.The study was funded by grants from the Government of India, the Science and Engineering Research
Board (SERB), University Grants Commission, New Delhi and the Department of Science and Technology.

Physicist Tests the Science of James Bond

The Quartermaster of MI6
would love Dr Metin Tolan. For
him, the most interesting part
about James Bond is that Ian
Fleming wrote him to weigh 76
kilograms (mass) and be 1.83
metres tall (height). An experimental physicist from the Technical University of Dortmund,
Germany, Tolan has picked
some of the more improbable
stunts and gadgets from James Bond movies and explained the physics behind themor, at least, exactly where they fall short of being plausible.
For instance, he's found, that Bond has to be 20 times more "streamlined"
than the airplane and capable of solving "coupled non-linear system of differential equations" in his head in three seconds while riding a motorcycle
toward an aircraft falling off a precipice to catch that planemid-airas
he does in Golden Eye (1995).
"But it's the British Secret Service. They can't tell us how they do it," he
tells the crowd at The German House in Delhi where he delivered a lecture
on the physics behind the Bond stunts, organized by the German Research
Foundation, on Wednesday. Q would've been flattered. Tolan has a book
on the subject; he also has tendency to look at entertainmentfootball,
Star Trekthrough the lens of physics and make it all look incredibly
easy. While most viewers would simply regard the magnetic watch in Live
and Let Die (Roger Moore, 1973) as cool (or lame, depending on the generation), Tolan was just excited to find that the spoon zings across to Roger
Moore in exactly three seconds, thereby, satisfying Lenz's Law. "I'm sure it
was obeyed by accident but physicists got excited." Tolan's derived the
title of his lecture"Shaken, Not Stirred"from Bond's fastidious instructions on the preparation of his vodka martini. Tolan looked at it "on the
molecular level". Shaking causes the large molecules responsible for taste
rise to the topto be taken in a single mouthful, pretty much the most
Bond has time forand the smaller ones for their effect sink to the bottom.
Another stuntthis one from The Man with the Golden Gun (Moore,
1974)depicting Bond making his car jump over a river and spinning
once mid-air, is, apparently, easily achieved "if you prepare your car a little bit". The "little bit" of preparation involves slicing the car in half, rearranging the rigging inside to ensure all mass is evenly distributed around
an axis and then strapping the driver in the centre with the steering wheel.
For those who were dying to know, the speed at which the car has to take
off from the ramp to reach the other bank is 64.4kmph. Seeing the reflection of the attacker in the eye of the Bond Girl in Goldfinger (1964) is impossible unless she's blind; she's patently not.
Source: Times of India
.

Ranbaxy Research Awards in the field

of pharmaceutical sciences was
bagged by Santanu Bhattacharya
Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF), a
non-profit organisation set-up by
Ranbaxy Laboratories awarded the
Ranbaxy Research Awards in the field of
pharmaceutical sciences to Santanu
Bhattacharya, of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his work promoting
gene therapy.
The Science Scholar Awards, given to
upcoming new generation of scientists in
the Biomedical Sciences category went
to Anuj Kumar, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for his research work in
understanding hepatitis C virus replication.
The award in medical category was
bagged by Dr Amit Sharma, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, New Delhi for excellence
in original research work in Medical and
Pharmaceutical Sciences on Monday.
The foundation also announced the Science Scholar Awards to the young and
brilliant new generation of scientists.
Dr Sharma got the award for his pioneering work in understanding function of
malaria parasite proteins. The award was
also given to Dr Balram Bhargava, All
India Institute of Medical Sciences, New
Delhi for his work on developing the
indigenous low cost platinum iridium
coronary stent, to Dr Gagandeep Kang,
Christian Medical College, Vellore for his
comprehensive research on diarrhoeal
disease that led to important advances in
Indian public health and Dr V Mohan,
Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai for his research work on
pancreatic diabetes that led to development of "Mohan's criteria".
The awards were presented by internationally acclaimed scientist, Prof Rudi
Balling Director, Luxembourg Centre for
Systems Biomedicine (LCSB),University
of Luxembourg in presence of Dr. Tsutomu Une, Chairman, Ranbaxy, Dr Nitya
Anand, Chairman of RSF, Arun Sawhney,
Chief Executive Officer and Managing
Director, Ranbaxy and Dr Rajinder K.
Jalali, Member, Governing Council, RSF.

The Indian pharmaceutical sector would soon be

showcasing new drugs for malaria, osteoporosis
and diabetes: Harsh Vardhan
The candidate drugs are currently undergoing clinical trials, he said.The pharmaceutical sector would
soon be showcasing new drugs for malaria, osteoporosis and diabetes, Vardhan said. He announced
that simultaneously Central Drug Research Institute
(CDRI) is carrying out Investigational New Drug
(IND) studies on lead molecules for fracture-healing,
cancers, thrombosis, malaria and hyperglycemia. I
am confident that the drug laboratories under CSIR
are capable of backing up the Swasth Bharat Mission. Our scientists are focusing on both infectious
and life-style diseases. We are developing nextgeneration drugs, biologics, biosimilars, gene therapeutics, stem cell therapeutics, personalised medicine and multi functional nano medicine, the minister said. It would strive to build a new generation of
enterprises in the healthcare sector, he said.He also
announced that government would soon set up the
Biopharma Industry Incubator (BII) under the umbrella of CDRI Lucknow.Talking to reporters after a
visit to the CDRI, he said that Indian research and
development efforts in government laboratories under the wing of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have a track record in making
drugs for kalaazar, filaria, leprosy and tuberculosis
available at affordable rates to the common man. He
said that recently IMTECH Chandigarh has developed a clot specific streptokinase, IIIM, Jammu has
discovered natural product-based potential medicine
for rheumatoid arthritis, IICB Kolkata has developed
an herbal extract for the treatment of benign prostate
hyperplasia. I am certain that India has the potential
of becoming a global pharmaceutical powerhouse
and am in the process of putting some key enablers
in place. These include giving the right incentives
for R&D, forging alliances with the private sector
and keeping an open mind on suggestions for fiscal
relief to the private sector so that its role in R&D is
enhanced, Vardhan said.Strengthening of the R&D
ecosystem is the priority, he said.

duce therapeutic and preventive measures for reemerged infectious diseases like dengue, chikunguniya, encephalitis, swine flu as well as conditions
like cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, depression and ulcers.
Today India ranks third in terms of volume of production with 10 percent share of the global market
by volume and 14th largest by value. India is often
dubbed the pharmacy of developing world, he
said. He, however, pointed out that India still has a
long way to go in pharmaceutical research and development and needs to move from a phase of manufacturing to innovation. He expressed concern over
the fact that currently new drug research and development in India was mostly an affair of government
organisations.
I request industry representatives to collaborate
with CSIR laboratories in new drug R&D. The PM
has given a call for Make in India. We need to generate millions of jobs in a couple of years because
this country has a youth bulge. Seamless partnership
will help develop products and technologies for the
benefit of the common man, he said.He said that
this ministry was also considering setting up Government Laboratory Practices (GLP) certified labs in
CDRI for complete range of Investigational New
Drug (IND) studies.

He said the step would foster new drug development

as well as shore up the financial bottom line of the
laboratory.The minister also announced the formation of a National Centre for Laboratory Animals
in the CDRI new campus conforming to national and
Vardhan also emphasised that the people were ex- international guidelines.
pecting that CSIR laboratories would be able to pro-

Ninth Annual EPPICon to Feature Synergy in Tech, Life Sciences

The life sciences sector is undergoing a huge transformation fueled largely by collaborations with the
information technology industry, Ravi Mistry, president of EPPIC, a 17-year-old organization that aims
to provide mentorship, collaborations and entrepreneurship to Indian Americans working in the life sciences industry, told India-West this week. The organization is hosting the Ninth Annual EPPICon
Mar. 28 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in
Northern California with the theme: Digital Disruption in Life Sciences.

Technology has completely impacted life sciences,

said Mistry, noting that big data analytics tools have
made genome sequencing much faster. Large storage
capacities and better processing power have also dramatically impacted the efficiency with which drug
companies can develop new pharmaceuticals and
diagnostic tools, he said.
David Persing, chief technology officer at the
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cepheid, will showcase the
companys newest innovation, RemoteXpert, a cloud
-based software that allows health agencies around
the world to collect data on emerging infections with
the aim of predicting and preventing epidemics. The
company has also developed GeneXpert, a cartridgebased system that can predict tuberculosis. Ten million GeneXpert cartridges have been distributed
throughout the developing world.

Speakers and panelists at the conference will explore

how innovations in technology are helping life sciences companies to more rapidly bring new products
to the marketplace. Keynote speakers include Stanford Universitys Vivek Wadhwa, who will discuss
how technologies are transforming health care; and
Kim Bush of the Gates Foundation, who will talk
about the importance of innovative science and tech- Jared Heyman, CEO of CrowdMed, will introduce
nology in addressing health crises throughout the the new platform which allows patients from around
the world to upload their medical tests and sympdeveloping world.
toms, and receive a diagnosis from volunteer experts
The day-long event will also feature an investor pan- from around the globe.
el and a speed pitch session which allows entrepreneurs to showcase their emerging companies to Scientist Raji Pillai, co-chair of this years EPPICon,
potential investors. Mistry, a veteran of both tech told India-West: Increasingly, there is a huge
and life sciences sectors, told India-West that he de- amount of interdisciplinary work going on. The Huveloped an interest in the Human Genome Project, man Genome Project, for example, has released
the largest, multi-country DNA sequencing initiative enormous amounts of useful data, said Pillai. How
in the world. The project started up in 1990, and was do you actually analyze all this information? quecompleted in 2003, presenting scientists with mas- ried Pillai, noting that there must be collaborations
sive amounts of information that could lead to the between physicists, scientists and IT professionals to
development of new pharmaceuticals and treatments. make best use of the data.
I thought then: if I have to make a choice between
Previously, scientists used in-vivo and in-vitro testmy smart phone and a drug I had to have, I would
ing in animals. But a new technology-based apchoose the drug. Life science always wins, said
proach allows data to become available even before
Mistry. It is a passion for people, improving so that
scientists hit the lab, she said. Ancillary patient data,
people can lead better lives.
wearable data and call-center medical data all beMistry was mentored by Bay Area Indian American
life sciences pioneer Nagesh Mhatre, who cofounded EPPIC in 1998. At last years EPPICon,
Mhatre received the Best Mentor award, which
recognized his role in mentoring young scientists for
more than 50 years. The serial entrepreneur died later that year.

come available in real time, explained Pillai.

The new institution would serve as a referral centre
for lab animal breeding and experimentation for new
drug development.

10

Modern science unrecognizable without contribution of Indians, Prof.Alok Kumar, Professor of

physics at the State University of New York at
Oswego
Asserting that modern science would be unrecognizable without the contributions of ancient Indian
scientists like Aryabhata and Sushruta, noted Indian
- American scientist has rued that there is a concerted effort to ignore these figures, whose contributions
to science is at par, if not more than those of Pythagoras and Aristotle. "Just imagine erasing the name of
Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato from the current philosophy texts because it is an old past. Will it be just
and fair? The answer is no.?However, this is exactly
the case when we ignore our own heroes, Aryabhata,
Kanada, Varahmihir, Brahmgupta, Charaka, and
Sushruta, in India unjustly,"
A professor of physics at the State University of
New York at Oswego, Kumar, who was born and
educated in India, is author of two books that documents the contribution of ancient Indian scientist to
the modern day science including 'Sciences of the
Ancient Hindus' which was released last year.
His third book 'A History of Science in World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge' is due this year.
"Modern science and medicine would be unrecognizable, and far more primitive, without the immense
contribution of the ancient Indians. They invented
everyday essentials such as our base-ten number system and zero as a numeral," he said. "The ancient
Indians also developed a sophisticated system of
medicine with its mind-body approach known as
Ayurveda; detailed anatomical and surgical
knowledge of the human body, including cataract
surgery and the so-called plastic surgery; metallurgical methods of extraction and purification of metals,
knowledge of various constellations and planetary
motions that was good enough to assign motion to
the Earth; and the science yoga," Kumar said.
In his book, Kumar said he has provided a powerful
and comprehensive insight into the extraordinary
intellectual contributions of the ancient Indians, the
full story of which had hitherto remained largely unknown and unappreciated throughout millennia of
neglect. Kumar said when he compiled scientific

achievements from the accounts of Aristotle, Arrian,

Megasthenes, Clement of
Alexandria, and Apollonius
of Tyana among the Greeks;
Al-Biruni, Al-Khwarizmi,
Ibn Labban, al-Fazari, alMasudi, and Al-Uqlidisi
among the Islamic scholars;
Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, and I-tsing among the Chinese; Leonardo Fibbonacci, Pope Sylvester II, Roger
Bacon, Voltaire and Copernicus from Europe, a
much different picture emerged as against the general impression about India. "With further research, I
found that, in the modern era,thinkers and scientists
as diverse as Goethe, Emerson, Jung, Thoreau, Oppenheimer, Herder and Schrodinger, to name a few,
have acknowledged their debt to ancient Hindu
achievements in science, technology and philosophy," Kumar said. "The first nation (to have cultivated science) is India. This is a powerful nation having
a large population, and a rich kingdom
(possessions)?India is known for the wisdom of its
people. Over many centuries, all the kings of the past
have recognised the ability of the Indians in all
branches of knowledge," he said, citing a book written by Said al-Andalusi (1029-1070 A.D.), a natural
philosopher from Muslim Spain.
Responding to questions about the recent controversy surrounding Pythagoras theorem, Kumar said in
the absence of existing documents, it is difficult to
conclude that the theorem was discovered in one culture and passed on to others or independently discovered in different cultures. "Such are the challenges in the history of science where evidence based on
a document is crucial in making such assertions.
Nonetheless, the connection of Pythagoras to India is
an intriguing corollary to this theorem," he said.
"We do not have even a single manuscript that was
written by Pythagoras. All we know about Pythagoras is based on the following writers who wrote
about him? This is where the story becomes interesting.? For two millennia, scholars have connected
Pythagoras and his teachings to India, including the
Pythagorean Theorem.?This was ignored by experts," he said.

Worlds Trusted
Money Transferrer
Our Services:
Instant Bank Transfers
Instant Money Transfers
Online Money Transfers
Foreign Currency
Exchange

Hot Line: 180 88 00

Customer Care: +965 224 55653
customer.care@uaeexchange.com.kw
www.uaeexchangekuwait.com

11

My scientific studies have afforded me great gratification; and I

Do You Know!!!
1. What planet is famous for its red spot on it?
2. When do we celebrate Earth Day?
3. An anemometer is used to measure what?
4. What is the sweet substance made by bees?
5. How many points are there on a pentagram?

am convinced that it will not be

long before the whole world
acknowledges the results of my
work
Gregor Mendel

You have time till next edition

Events
Sastra Prathibha Contest, 2016
Science International Forum (SIF) Kuwait announced January 14,
2016, Thursday, as the exam date for the prestigious Sastra Prathibha
Contest for the academic year 2015-2016.

Discover
ISSUE 01 MAY, 2015

Compiled & Edited

by

Prasanth Nair
Reshmy Krishnakumar

Corporate Partner :

Science International Forum, Kuwait

facebook.com/sifkuwait