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EYE
SPY NEWS |
This is a juicy bit of news. It seems every fruit in the market is under the microscope. Scientists are looking for a variety that can be turned into bio-fuel. After sugarcane, now it is the watermelon that is being tested, to see if it can be used in ethanol bio-fuel production. Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture have claimed that watermelon juice can help in diluting bio-fuel, that will smoothen transportation and increase nitrogen content for faster fermentation by yeast.
However, the juice can be used when it is concentrated at least three times. According to experts watermelons are ripe for experimentation. Why? Because it contains 7-10 percent (weight/ volume) ready-to-ferment sugars like glucose, fructose and sucrose, 15-35 µmol/mL free amino acids which serve nitrogen to the yeast and its rich water content helps dilute molasses in bio fuels by 25 per cent. So are you ready for this renewable replacement-watermelon juice? Sip it in the bar and then zip in your car!
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MOBILE BEEPS KILL THE BEES |
Keep just one mobile near a bee hive for 10 days and it will trigger the collapse of the colony. The worker bee, which goes out to collect its nectar, will not able to find its way back home, leaving those staying inside, the queen bee, eggs, and others, starving.
This happens because the bees use electromagnetic radiations to navigate, same as those emitted by a mobile and by the towers of the mobile companies. Dr. Sainudeen Pattazhy, a renowned scientist who has an asteroid named after him, did the study in
Kerala. He said the state can lose all its bees within a decade if mobile tower powers remain unchecked.
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In July 2009, oceans across the world grew hottest in 130 years, with average temperature touching 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This is 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit more than the coolest ever-recorded temperature of 59.3 degrees Fahrenheit in December 1909. Also it exceeds the mean temperature of the 20th century by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
This warming comes with a warning of more hurricanes, an El Nino effect to alter weather, and monsoon cycle, and speedier melting of the Arctic ice. The Mediterranean region recorded 3 degrees Fahrenheit above average and the Arctic region 10 degrees Fahrenheit. As we know, water takes more time to heat and also to cool than land. So the heat will remain turned on for a while.
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What do you want to become when you grow up? A scientist, a doctor, an engineer, a journalist or a similar white-collar job holder. What you will certainly not think of is a coconut tree climber cum plucker. In Kerala, with its literacy rate of 100 per cent, there are no takers for this laborious and unglamorous profession seriously affecting the coconut industry of the state, which is also India’s largest producer of coconut.
Hence, the Minister for Industry and Co-operatives, Elamaram Kareem, has announced a competition for designing a machine which performs the job. A machine that can climb up a tree, pluck the coconuts at a height of 30 metre, and clear the bushy head of the tree, while the operator remains on the ground. The ministry will give a prize money of Rs 1 lakh and also help set up a factory. Presently, there are machines only to help plucking when someone has climbed up the tree.
A shortage of manpower might even raise the salaries of the present labourers. So are you ready to reconsider?
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Illustrations: Arundyuti |
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