JUNIOR COLLEGEB A N G A L O R E - 29

Published By: Department of Biology

Editorial BoardEditor: Mr. Benjemen Bosco J.Lecturer, Department of Biology

Co-editors:Priyanka Prakash II-BIndra Priyadarsini II-BMonisha Ramesh II-BTarooqh Ahmed I-B

BIOSCOPEScience News Letter

Volume : 7; Issue :1November 2011

International Year of Forests – 2011Forests are one of the precious natural resources on the earth. They are an integral part of global sustainable development. They provide us with various natural services and play an important role in economy of the nation too. Forests are vital to the survival and well being of people.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as The International Year of Forests – the theme being “Forest: Nature At Your Service” - to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. The forest resources of the world are under grave threat due to overexploitation, deforestation, urbanization, shifting cultivation practices, natural disasters etc.

Considering the importance of forests, there is need to Protect and Conserve the Forest ecosystem. The International Year of the Forests provides an excellent platform to increase awareness of the connections between healthy forests, ecosystems, people and economies. Let us all be a part of it and help enhance forest Biodiversity.

Frog skin to treat cancer

Scientists have accidentally discovered

some key proteins from the skins of a little

known frog which they say could be a

potential treatment for up to 70 diseases

including cancer, diabetes etc. Researchers

at Queen's university in Belfast stumbled

upon some unusual properties in its skin's

secretions while doing research on the

waxy monkey f rog f rom Sou th

America."The properties were found to

either stimulate or inhibit the growth of

blood vessels, an ability which can be used

in a controlled and targeted way to treat a

number of diseases" the researchers said.

Professor Chrish Shaw, who led the

research, said:"The aim of their research is

to unlock the potential of the natural world

to reduce human suffering. "We are

absolutely convinced that the natural world

holds the solutions to many of our

problems. We just need to pose the right

questions to find them." Professor Shaw

was quoted saying by the Daily Mail.

The researchers were testing a range of

proteins taken from secretions from frogs

and toads. They realised that the proteins

in the secretions-which the frogs and toads

use for protection from predators-also

control the growth of blood vessels, a

process known as angiogenesis.

Tejaswini. M (I PCMB - A)

Trekking @ RamnagarThe long-awaited event – “Trekking” organized by the eco-club was

finally held on the 31st of October 2011. It was a one day trek that

rose up all our enthusiasm. We visited the Indo-American Hybrid

Seeds Pvt. Ltd., after which we were off on our way to the Ramnagar

Hills for trekking. We assembled in college at 8:30am, had our

breakfast and set off for an exciting day that was ahead! We had a

splendid time.

Our first stop was at the Indo-American Hybrid Seeds Pvt. Ltd.. The 25

acre beautifully maintained land was completely attributed to a wide

variety of plants. We were given a lot of information on plant tissue

culture too. We also got to have a look at the poly-house green houses

and the climate control green houses where the plants are cultured in

an invitro and aseptic conditions. This visit enlightened us on the

importance of biotechnology and its influence on our lives.

After a good educational field trip at the Indo-American Hybrid Seeds

Pvt. Ltd., we were all set to go for the actual trek! The scenic beauty of

the hills enthralled us. We were all so excited. We started climbing the

hills. Oh! It was more tiresome than we thought it would be. Yet we had

loads of fun and we didn't have the heart to end our journey uphill! We

climbed as high as we could and had a couple of photo sessions too. It

was an amazing experience.

It was the most wonderful and exciting day for all of us. It was definitely

one of the most memorable days in our lives that we will always

cherish.

Indra Priyadarsini (II PCMB-B)

First Hand TransplantIn 1998, a multinational team of surgeons performed the first successful hand

transplant in France .The transplant recipient had lost his hand in a circular saw

accident nine years ago. Arteries and veins in the arm and hand were connected to

supply vital nutrients. Regeneration of nerve tissue, even after reconstruction, was

more gradual and three months after the operation he started to regain sensation

in his fingertips.

Naveen Kumar S

(I PCMB E)

Kidney Donors Live Just As Long As Non Donors?

Every thirty minutes all the blood in our body is filtered through two kidneys. But diabetes can cause these organs to fail,

leading to a buildup of chemicals in the blood that would be fatal without dialysis or a kidney transplant.

At least six thousand healthy people every year in the United States

donate a kidney to someone they know and about hundred more

come forward to anonymously give the gift of Glomeruli (the basic

filtration units of the kidney). It's true that you only need one kidney

to live, but the operation required to remove its twin and the risk of

disease developing in the remaining one later on make donation a

serious decision.

Transplant surgeon Dorry Segev of the Johns Hopkins University

School of Medicine studied mortality among eighty thousand

kidney donors during the past fifteen years, comparing them with

healthy people who have both kidneys; it was found that there was

increase or decrease in mortality among donors once they recover

from the operation.

Although donors are carefully screened before the procedure, there are risks: “it's still a major operation. You are still

living with one kidney. People still need to think about it and be aware of the risks in taking on this heroic act”.

Kirthana

II PCMB 'F'

Pine way to make moneyThe pine trees in North India soak up moisture in the soil so much like

the eucalyptus and prevent other trees from growing, but then pine

needles are processed and converted into coal which can then be

used as fuel by the local members. This processed coal is known as

pirul coal. The actual process of making coal is surprisingly

uncomplicated .The pine needles are burnt to a cinder and

transformed into ash. Interestingly even at this early stage it begins to

resemble charcoal. This is then mixed with low dung mixture .The

two are then mixed together in the proportion of 1:10 .It is then put in

a specially made molding machine to make the new coal. Then it is

allowed to settle and cool and it doesn't have the hardness but yet is

not soft enough to crumble. This is virtually smokeless and produces

very little ash. It can be used as fuel for specialized stove since it is

economically beneficial.

Ranjitha (II PCMB F)

Amazing Fact: Secret of chameleon's tongue

When the weather cools, cold blooded animals slowdown, which should be good news for their potential prey. But the colorful chameleon which can unfurl a tongue twice its body length in 0.07secs does not lose much speed in unleashing its weapons. To find out why, Christopher Anderson and Stephen Debin tested chameleons under different conditions, discovering that if temperature dropped by 10 degrees, tongue snaps slowed only by about 10 to 19 percent. The secret lies in the collagen tissue of the tongue which uncurls based on momentum, not muscle activity. In contrast, under the same chilly condition, the tongue movements of ectotherms which rely on a muscle based system, slowed by 42%. The lizards, however, were not quite as quick to reel in their prey, the recoiling action, which depends on muscle contraction fell by 42 to 63 percent.

Sushmita Shekar I PCMB B

Vegetable IvorySAVING ELEPHANTS AND THE RAINFORESTS

What do African Elephants and South American rain forests

have in common? They both are being eliminated from the

face of the earth at an alarming rate. During past three

decades, poachers in search of ivory tusks have decimated

large populations of African elephants. Across the Atlantic

Ocean, another kind of massacre is happening to the rain

forests each year. The destruction amounts to be fifty acres

per minute, an area roughly the size of West Virginia.

However, a lovely Amazonian palm might help to save its

rain forests relatives and the African elephants.

Several tropical American palms are known to produce

'Vegetable ivory', but the most important one among them is

“Phytelephas aequatorialis”, also called as the ivory nut palm

(Phytelephas—elephant plant: equatorials—equatorial

region which this palm is a native) These palms are also

called P.macrocarpa by some authors, which refer to the

large fruits bearing ivory like nuts. They are most abundant in

the Amazon Basin of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The ivory nut

palm grows in large rain forests along the streams and on

wet hillsides. Large pinnate leaves up to 20ft tall arise from a

woody trunk above the moist soil. Ivory nut palms are

dioecious. Female palms bear cluster of large, brown fruits

that are studded with numerous woody, pointed horns and

contains four or more large seeds which are called “Tagua

nuts” The seeds have an outer shell (seed coat) and an inner

large white endosperm.

The white, dried endosperm inside the seeds contains a

substance called hemicellulose that becomes so hard and

dense that it can be carved and polished like Elephant's tusks.

Called vegetable ivory, the endosperm of ivory nut palm is

used in the manufacture of buttons, chess pieces, dice,

umbrella handles, billiard balls etc. It is also used in the art of

scrimshaw for intricate carvings without endangering species

like Elephants, Whales and Walruses. The endosperm of

immature seed is pulpy and hence used as a sweet food for

people and animals of that region. Vegetable ivory has

hardness similar to Elephant's ivory because like that of wood

vegetable ivory is essentially composed of thick walled dead

cells. In fact, vegetable ivory is remarkably dense with a

rating of roughly 2.5 on the scale of mineral hardness. But

what about the demand for elephant ivory? No artificial

plastic can take its place however; Vegetable ivory is a

desirable substitute for Elephant ivory. Like Elephant ivory,

vegetable ivory is natural. Unlike Elephants, which must die

for their precious ivory, vegetable ivory is a renewable

resource. A single female ivory nut palm may produce up to

50 pounds of nuts in a year, that's roughly the amount of ivory

in an average African Elephant tusk. The Elephants however

yields its ivory only once, while the palm produces nuts

year after year. The only drawback of ivory nuts is their

size as average seeds are about two inches (5 cm) long

and this would limit the size of the articles made from

them. However, milled nuts can be fused into a larger,

solid mass with modern bonding cements under heat

and pressure. Another ecological incentive for using

vegetable ivory is that, renewed trade of ivory nuts

could help in protecting endangered rain forests of

Ecuador, Columbia and Peru. Natural rain forest

products such as vegetable ivory can generate up to

five times the income of banana plantations and cattle

ranches.

Meanwhile the tropical

f o r e s t s and t he i r

inhabitants are rapidly

being destroyed. Who

knows what biological

secrets may reside in

the genes of these vanishing species. The devastation

of the earth's tropical rain forests is analogous to a

worldwide burning of libraries without reading any of

its books. May be the vegetable ivory palms can help to

save at least a part of these beautiful rain forests before

it's too late and at the same time help to preserve one of

the most magnificent mammals that ever roamed the

earth.

EVANGELINE PRISCILLA

II PCMB E

For Private Circulation Only