SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY

You are visiting Bangalore and want to spend a few hours outside with your family or friends, preferably in a clean and green environment. Or are an 'old' Bangalorean who wants to relive her/his childhood. Where do you go? Cubbon Park, a lovely lung space in the heart of the city is a great option. And the Jawahar Bal Bhavan, a place for children inside the one hundred and forty year old park is a lot of fun too. Spread over 12.5 acres, it has a toy train, swings, slides, boating and a lot of trees and grassy patches for…

  Though the bird count at the Bannerghatta Zoo area was on the low side today (this seemed to be more of an "audio" than a "visual" day, with many more birds being heard than seen!)...we did see a lot of interesting stuff as usual. Here's one: Isn't that really beautiful...and doesn't it look like the prismatic effect of an oil slick on the puddle? Well...it does, and though it IS an oil slick in a way, it's far more complex than that.Diatoms( here is the Wiki link about them)are a type of phytoplankton, which originated during the Jurassic period. Now, they…

Mobile phones are handy and small. While this makes them very easy to carry around, they are also susceptible to thefts or misplacement. With the help of technology and better law enforcement, it is becoming easier track lost or stolen mobile phones. However, recovering a mobile phone is still a matter of luck. Handy and easy to lose. Can technology help track down a lost phone? Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi Software to the rescue Suman H M, a nineteen-year-old undergraduate student of Mount Carmel College lost her cell phone while shopping, which had cost her almost 10 thousand rupees. While she…

Bangalore kids were at their creative best at the First Lego League Tournament 2010, a robot designing competition held at tech-major SAP Labs on Saturday 29th January. Bangalore's ‘Robo Pundits' from National Public School (NPS), Koramangala, scored 265 points beating Mumbai's score of 225. The next regional will be held at New Delhi. The competition is now between Bangalore and Delhi for the coveted opportunity to represent India at the finals in Atlanta, USA. Robo Pundits with their trophy. Pic courtesy: Robo Pundits The competition open to anyone in the age group of 9-16 and teams can have a maximum of…

Ghosts trapped in jars, straw flutes, tornado in a bottle; the complexities of science can be simplified for children in a fun way and this is exactly what Agastya Foundation does. A Bangalore based foundation dedicated to hand on science education, their aim is to foster creative thinking among underprivileged children who do not have access to books and laboratory facilities. Agastya Foundation's Science Fair. Pic: Usha Hariprasad. Chairman Ramji Raghavan left an illustrious corporate career in 1998 to set up the Foundation, which has such eminent scientists like P K Iyengar (Former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy commission) and…

A new option to get your auto woes addressed is holding out promise for Bengaluru, thanks to the Transport Department's initial enthusiasm to respond. Auto Watch, an initiative by the technology platform Kiirti, is co-ordinating with the Transport Department to address the grievances of auto commuters. The complaints that the public reported have been forwarded to the concerned RTOs for action. Transport Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has instructed officials to ensure that each RTO should seize five autos against which there are complaints. The action taken by the RTOs will be updated in the site soon. Kiirti is an initiative by…

A Children's Magazine, HAM Radio, General Science, Traffic... Yes! A unique quiz that involved all of these - Quiz on Air. Hoopla Club, a monthly children's magazine, in association with Indian Institute of HAMs organised the second annual 'Quiz on Air' on Friday September 3rd, 2010 in Bangalore. After earlier preliminary rounds, ten Hoopla Club member school teams made it to the finals that was conducted and aired ‘live' on HAM Radio. HAM Quiz on air, was conducted on September 3rd. Pic courtesy: Hoopla Club. Why a quiz conducted on the HAM Radio network? Hoopla Club's Reena Mirpuri and Balchander…

In recent months, a large number of mobile phone towers have sprouted atop high-rise buildings in Bengaluru. Building owners or societies agree to the installation of these towers because a handsome rental can be had from the service provider. But how safe are these towers? With constant exposure to the low radiation that these transmitters emit, what are the long-term health effects of this? Does it matter which side the tower is facing (towards a neighbouring apartment complex or building, for instance)? Do the installers conform to international safety standards? Who monitors? This was one of the issues raised at…

When you live in an apartment block with over 1000 flats, managing maintenance costs, corresponding with neighbours and making decisions for the entire complex, may prove strenuous, especially if you are on the management committee (MC). This was what drove S Parthasarathy to start Onesolution, an apartment management software tool. Parthasarathy founded OneSolution to ease the process of managing apartment complexes. Pic courtesy: OneSolution. S Parthasarathy, a resident of Brigade Gardenia in JP Nagar 7th phase, discovered the difficulty first-hand in his voluntary stint as the founder-treasurer of his complex. "Six months down the line there were several issues. The…

Dr Shyamala Mani, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neurosciences (CNS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), was conferred the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) by the French Government on June 14th, 2010. The award, given to individuals for their contribution to academia and education, was awarded to Dr Shyamala for her research on neonatal lesions and the effects of malnutrition on the fetal brain. Dr Shyamala Mani. Pic credit: cns.iisc.ernet.in. Originally hailing from Vellore, Dr Shyamala completed her graduation in Psychology from Delhi University and then went on to complete her Master…