Mitochondria are small floating free organelles found throughout a cell. They are called the powerhouse of the cell as they the energy-generating center’s of living cells. It was believed that...

Mitochondria are small floating free organelles found throughout a cell. They are called the powerhouse of the cell as they the energy-generating center’s of living cells. It was believed that Mitochondria function much single batteries. A new research lead by Dr. Orian Shirihai at the UCLA has shown that mitochondria are instead made up of many individual bioelectric units that generate energy in a grid. The research will help in understanding the role of mitochondria in aging, disease and medical complications.

More than 500 years ago Sultan Bayezid II wanted a design for a bridge to connect Istanbul with its neighbour city Galata.Leonardo da Vinci, already a well-known artist and inventor,...

More than 500 years ago Sultan Bayezid II wanted a design for a bridge to connect Istanbul with its neighbour city Galata.Leonardo da Vinci, already a well-known artist and inventor, came up with a amazing novel bridge design. In those days most masonry bridges were made in the form of conventional semi-circular arches, and would need 10 or more piers to support such a long bridge. Leonardo's bridge concept, a flattened arch that would be tall enough to allow a sailboat to pass underneath with its mast in place, but that would cross the wide span with a single enormous...

Tarun is a grade 6 curious kid ever smiling. He lives with his mother and paternal uncle and studies in a Gujarati medium school in community in Ahmedabad of cattle...

Tarun is a grade 6 curious kid ever smiling. He lives with his mother and paternal uncle and studies in a Gujarati medium school in community in Ahmedabad of cattle rearers mostly.  Sadly, the system of education focuses mostly on rote learning of facts, failing to quench the thirst Tarun has for learning.  of Tarun. He ends up tired with the monotonous schedule of each day at school where every teachers walk in, asks him and his peers to open the books, read a paragraph, explain the paragraph even when he has understood it and dictates the answers to the...

A team of astronomers from the Carnegie Institute for Science have announced the discovery of 20 news moons orbiting the Saturn. With this the number of moons around Saturn is...

A team of astronomers from the Carnegie Institute for Science have announced the discovery of 20 news moons orbiting the Saturn. With this the number of moons around Saturn is now 82 overtaking the 79 that have been observed around Jupiter. The moons were spotted using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii by a team lead by Scott Sheppard. These moons are very small in size around 5 kilometres across. 3 of these moons are prograde meaning they move in the directions of Saturn’s spin and others are retrograde. They don’t have names yet and you might pitch in.

A magnetar (magnetic neutron star) has one of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe (1000 trillion gauss). Earth has a magnetic field of less than 1 gauss. It has...

A magnetar (magnetic neutron star) has one of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe (1000 trillion gauss). Earth has a magnetic field of less than 1 gauss. It has been a matter of curiosity how these are formed. Recent search shows that the collision of two large stars can result in a large star of high magnetic intensity. When these massive magnetic stars explode at the supernova stage, magnetars could be the end result, the scientists suggest.

Northwestern's has proposed a mini detector that could measure gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are disturbances in space time that are caused by processes like collision of black holes, combining of...

Northwestern's has proposed a mini detector that could measure gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are disturbances in space time that are caused by processes like collision of black holes, combining of neutron stars etc, the kind seen when earth was formed. Einstein predicted in 1916 that such waves existed in his general theory of relativity, whose first evidence was found in 1974 .In one of great achievements of science massive(KM long)gravitational wave detectors were set in the US(LIGO) and Europe(VIRGO). Northwestern's mini detector would use lasers to suspend a glass bead inside a vacuum chamber, creating an extremely force-sensitive sensor with...

A study publised in the Science magazine suggests the delay in the migration of the white crowned sparrows called the songbird may be due to the use of certain pesticides...

A study publised in the Science magazine suggests the delay in the migration of the white crowned sparrows called the songbird may be due to the use of certain pesticides in the their original locations.  These pesticides cause weightloss and disorientation in these birds. The pesticides were meant for...

Questions like 8÷2(2+2) boil down to whether you compute the answer left to right or do the multiplication on the right side of the obelus (division symbol) first. I used...

Questions like 8÷2(2+2) boil down to whether you compute the answer left to right or do the multiplication on the right side of the obelus (division symbol) first. I used to explain that when people sent me messages about some viral order of operations questions, but for the past few cycles (they seem to bubble up every several months like an algal bloom in a lake) I have adopted a strict policy of refusing to answer. The real answer, the one I believe any mathematician, physicist, engineer, other number-cruncher would tell you is to make sure your expressions aren’t ambiguous....

“I don’t usually have time to talk, but I’m always happy to give them some tips.” That affable approach is not uncommon in the quantum-computing community, says Aspuru-Guzik, who is...

“I don’t usually have time to talk, but I’m always happy to give them some tips.” That affable approach is not uncommon in the quantum-computing community, says Aspuru-Guzik, who is a computer scientist at the University of Toronto, Canada, and co-founder of quantum-computing company Zapata Computing in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Today’s quantum machines have at best a few dozen quantum bits, or qubits, and they are often beset by computation-destroying noise. Researchers are still decades—and many thousands of qubits—away from general-purpose quantum computers, ones that could do long-heralded calculations such as factoring large numbers. Some researchers have raised the possibility that,...

Popularized by employers, and those concerned with the future of work seem to have identified a set of broad competencies that are necessary to fully engage in future jobs and...

Popularized by employers, and those concerned with the future of work seem to have identified a set of broad competencies that are necessary to fully engage in future jobs and remain relevant, known as 21st Century Skills.  21st century skills are abilities and learning attitudes that have been identified as essential education for 21st century children. These skills have been categorized, known as the 4 Cs:. Critical thinking is essential as students are expected to both identify and confront problems that are local, national, and global in scale with neither a single nor a prescribed solution.The ability to relate well...

There is a growing focus on the need to better prepare our children with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to be successful innovators in a 21st century...

There is a growing focus on the need to better prepare our children with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to be successful innovators in a 21st century workforce. This is how STEAM education has gained popularity among educators, parents, corporations and institutions, and even governments. In our recent dialogue in Bangalore with a group of elder student, parents, school teachers and educators we realized that although adults are keen on understanding the significance of STEAM and seek to be active participants in local community centers or schools what hold them back is a lack of confidence. Most...

Here is our list of coding games for fostering pre-coding skills in early learners Kodable Kodable screen Kodable is a fun way for young kids to understand the concept of...

Here is our list of coding games for fostering pre-coding skills in early learners Kodable Kodable screen Kodable is a fun way for young kids to understand the concept of coding. It also contains impressive supports for teachers. 2. ScratchJr Scratch interface This program is easy to use. The drag-and-drop programming is an effective way to introduce young kids to things such as sequencing - a key ability needed for programmers to achieve a task. The colourful screen and the cute illustration animation adds to the tactility and makes it fun for the kids. 3. Robot Turtles Robot Turtles is...

Makers Education, is part of the maker movement. This movement gained steam on 2006 and was termed by Dale Dougherty. However, making is not new nor is the 'learning by doing'...

Makers Education, is part of the maker movement. This movement gained steam on 2006 and was termed by Dale Dougherty. However, making is not new nor is the 'learning by doing' concept. Maker education is part of a lineage of progressive education theorist pioneers such as: Friedrich Froebel , Reggio Emilia , John Dewey  and Seymour Papert . But in the 21st century the makers movement has progressed to incorporate not just artistry and craftsmanship but also circuitry, coding, rapid prototyping tools such as CAD or 3D printers etc. These values of artistry, circuitry and craftsmanship are becoming the core principles of of 21st-century skills. Using artistry or creative...

Now is the most opportune time, to prepare students for hyper tech embedded future. Robotics, basic coding, "smart" toys are ways of getting students to be better prepared for the...

Now is the most opportune time, to prepare students for hyper tech embedded future. Robotics, basic coding, "smart" toys are ways of getting students to be better prepared for the tech heavy future, we foresee. There are many creative pedagogues evolving in pockets worldwide that are trying to involve robots, robotics, coding etc. into the school curricula. What forms the basis of these pedagogy is STEM (or even STEAM) ed. Within education pedagogy there can be five types - constructivist, inquiry- based, reflective, collaborative, and integrative. Tech based or Robotic based education allows for parts of all 5 pedagogical approaches...

Parents are very specific when it comes to choosing toys for their kids. The choice of toys and the playful opportunities can impact the way your little one grow, learn,...

Parents are very specific when it comes to choosing toys for their kids. The choice of toys and the playful opportunities can impact the way your little one grow, learn, and explore the world around them. In a report titled  All Things Toys, this report explores the attitudes and behaviors of the American toy shopper and is based on surveys with hundreds of parents and their children. We have learnt about one important insight from this report. 85%, of the child’s own wants and wishes topped parents' preferences. Followed by price promotions/sales (72%). This is a demonstration on how parents today...

Back in 2014, when I was working in the skills development/vocational training sector as a service designer in our office we often had a debate if second languages need to...

Back in 2014, when I was working in the skills development/vocational training sector as a service designer in our office we often had a debate if second languages need to be scraped from schools curriculum and instead by replaced by computation and programming as a language. From 2014 till date, the debate has been much the same. There are always two ends of a pole that parents, teachers etc. and general public seem to gravitate towards. One end of pole is for those who believe we must protect children from technology because there are potential dangers of exposing children to...