www.unep.org/Tunza/children United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) web section for children provides a range of information on environment related issues. Be it activities, competitions, stories or plain information – one can find everything here. UNEP also organises the International Childrens' Conference every year. This is your entry point into a host of events organised by UNEP. www.nehruplanetarium.org We talked about astronomy in the previous issue. This one is for those who liked it. For enthusiasts in Delhi, this website gives updates on celestial events which can be viewed from Delhi. You can also join the Amateur Astronomers Association, which meets regularly on Sundays to do some sky gazing. If you are outside Delhi, check out the details for subscribing to Krittika, the planetarium’s monthly magazine. There are two more Nehru Planetariums in India. Check out their websites Bombay: www.nehrucentremumbai.com/planetarium.htm Bangalore: www.taralaya.org These planetariums regularly screen films on space science, the solar system and astronomy etc.

BOOK
Discovered Questions
Yash Pal and Rahul Pal

It often happens that we have a question related to our everyday life, or may be an issue that has teased our minds for a long time—but we just do not know where to find an answer. Professor Yashpal, eminent academician and educationist, along with his son Rahul, has finally presented us with a solution. In collaboration with the NCERT, he has come up with a compilation of such teasers—complete with answers—in a publication aptly titled ‘Discovered Questions’.
The work is a complete contrast to a typical text book. For instance, the questions are not arranged according to the subjects that they might be related to. Rather, they are allowed to merge with each other effortlessly, just as they pop up in our minds in real life. As a result, a reader is infused with a sense of freedom to ask questions.
The book tackles seemingly basic queries like ‘does a sunscreen ointment really protect skin’, and relates it to pure science with the ease of an expert. The tone of the answers is also very accessible -- just like chatting with a friend. The book succeeds in making readers feel at home with the sciences.
"This illustrates how everyday curiosity (of the children)… can be our guide for teaching them,” says Professor Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, in his introduction to the book. We can only hope that NCERT will continue to provide us (and the students of course) with such publications.