Monday, October 20, 2014

River system in North Chhattisgarh of India linked to Indo-Gangetic plain

The major river (drainage) systems of India are:
1. Himalayan drainage system: Himalayan rivers originate in the Himalayas and flow through the Northern Plains.
2. Peninsular drainage system: The Peninsular Rivers originate in the Western Ghats. They have a large seasonal fluc­tuation in volume as they are solely fed from rain­fall.
Image Courtesy : gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/122/3-4/336/F1.large.jpg

*Major Indian rivers origin in Himalayan mountain and they flow either to Bay of Bengal or Arabian sea to drain their water flow into the sea.

*Big rivers of peninsular plateau origin in Western Ghats and they empty their water to the Bay of Bengal.

*Narmada and Tapi are two exceptions to this as they empty their water in Arabian sea.


*Interestingly Chambal, Betwa, Son are older to Himalayan rivers in origin and age.

The Himalayan Drainage system:
*In Miocene geological epoch (24,000,000 -500,000 years), a giant river Shiwalik or Indo-Brahma flowed parallel to Himalaya, from Assam to Punjab, discharging water in Sindh basin near Punjab.
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/drainage-river-basins.html

*Later this Indo-Brahma divided into three drainage systems;
1. Sindh and it's five tributaries in west
2. Ganga and it's tributaries in central
3. Brahmaputra and it's tributaries in east.

*This division of Indo-Brahma giant river was perhaps due to uplifting of western parts of Himalaya and Potwar plateau (Delhi ridge), in Pleistocene epoch.

*In similar way during Pleistocene epoch, in between Raj Mahal hills and Meghalaya plateau, change in Malda gap, diverted the Ganga and Brhamputra river systems which flowed to Bay of Bengal.
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Major rivers of Chhattisgarh:
The main rivers flowing through the state of Chhattisgarh are Mahanadi, Indravati, Godavari, Narmada and many others.
These rivers, with many other tributaries, local rivers, and streams drain the state.

Major river basin of Chhattisgarh:
1.The northern part of Chhattisgarh shares a part of the Indo-Gangetic plain.

2.The Satpura Range and the Chhota Nagpur Plateau divide the Mahanadi River basin from the Indo-Gangetic plain. This Mahanadi river basin basically forms the central part of the state.

3.The southern zone of Chhattisgarh includes a part of the Deccan plateau and is served by the Godavari river and its tributaries.
pic credit:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
Ganga river drainage basin:
The Rihand River (also referred to as Rend, Rer or Rehar) is a tributary of the Son River and flows through the Indian states of Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Rihand rises from Matiranga hills, in the region south west of the Mainpat plateau, which is about 2,100 meters above mean sea level. The river flows north roughly through the central part of Surguja district for 160 kilometres (99 mi).  
#Rihand river has a fall named Rakashgand fall in its journey in Surguja district of Chhatishgarh.This fall is important for tourist point of view.

The Rihand and its tributaries form a fertile plain in the central part of the district stretching from around Ambikapur to Lakhanpur and Pratappur. Thereafter, it flows north into Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh via Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, where it is called Rhed and finally joins the Son.

It's principal tributaries in Surguja district are the Mahan, the Morana (Morni), the Geur, the Gagar, the Gobri, the Piparkachar, the Ramdia and the Galphulla. Many seasonal and perennial rivers join the Rihand reservoir such as the Kanchan, the Mayar and the Azir of Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.
text source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihand_River 
*author extends thanks to Ms Padmavati Pandey for her valuable input and meaningful discussions during the preparation of this post. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Super-resolved fluorescence microscopy

The optical microscope became a nanoscope
http://www.nobelprize.org/ site as the countdown begins for the announcement
 
photo source: Reuters

8 October 2014
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2014 to
Eric Betzig
Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA, Stefan W. HellMax Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany and
William E. Moerner
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA “for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aghy_pQYc2w#t=42

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 was awarded jointly to
Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner  
"for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy".
Surpassing the limitations of the light microscope
For a long time optical microscopy was held back by a presumed limitation: that it would never obtain a better resolution than half the wavelength of light. Helped by fluorescent molecules the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2014 ingeniously circumvented this limitation. Their ground-breaking work has brought optical microscopy into the nanodimension.
They brought optical microscopy into the nanodimension
Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 for having bypassed a presumed scientific limitation stipulating that an optical microscope can never yield a resolution better than 0.2 micrometres.
source:http://www.nobelprize.org/

The new microscopy in chemistry
“Because we can see individual macromolecules moving about in a living cell, we can study chemistry at a single-molecule level and in real life. And this is very, very important to chemistry because chemistry has traditionally been about studying a large number of molecules and the effect that they have. Here we can look at a single molecule as it is active in a chemical system. That means that rare events can be studied in a very different way. Reactions can be studied as they happen, not as the end result but actually as they take place. It opens entirely new possibilities for chemistry and for biochemistry.”

(Sven Lidin, chair of the Nobel chemistry committee)

Eric Betzig
Born: 1960, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Jannelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA
Prize motivation: "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2014/betzig-or.html

"Chemistry was always my weakest subject" New Chemistry Laureate Eric Betzig was in Germany preparing for a keynote when he got the call from Stockholm.





Stefan W. Hell
Born: 1962, Arad, Romania
Affiliation at the time of the award: Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
Prize motivation: "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2014/hell-or.html

Stefan W. Hell: "I love to be a scientist." New Chemistry Laureate Stefan W. Hell was going through the details of a paper when he got the news that he had been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner. He then finished reading the paragraph - and then called his wife.




William E. Moerner
Born: 1953
Affiliation at the time of the award: Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Prize motivation: "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2014/moerner-or.html

William E. Moerner: "Your heart races. Can this be?" William E. Moerner was in Brazil to take part in a conference when the call came from Stockholm.  


Facts on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 
105 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded between 1901 and 2013. 63 Chemistry Prizes have been given to one Laureate only. 4 women have been awarded the Chemistry Prize so far. 1 person, Frederick Sanger, has been awarded the Chemistry Prize twice, in 1958 and in 1980. 35 years was the age of the youngest Chemistry Laureate ever, Frédéric Joliot, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935. 85 years was the age of the oldest Chemistry Laureate, John B. Fenn, when he was awarded the Chemistry Prize in 2002. 58 is the average age of the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry the year they were awarded the prize.

New light to illuminate the world


Press Release
7 October 2014
has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 
to
Isamu Akasaki
Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan and Nagoya University, Japan
Hiroshi Amano
Nagoya University, Japan
and
Shuji Nakamura
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

“for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources”
source:nobelprize.org
Blue LEDs - Filling the world with new light
This year’s Nobel Laureates are rewarded for having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source – the blue light-emitting diode (LED). In the spirit of Alfred Nobel the Prize rewards an invention of greatest benefit to mankind; using blue LEDs, white light can be created in a new way. With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/press.html  
source:nobelprize.org
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yul4igVhrMo
source:nobelprize.org

Announcement of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics by Professor Staffan Normark, Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on 7 October 2014. 
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/announcement.html




Isamu Akasaki
Born: 1929, Chiran, Japan
Affiliation at the time of the award: Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Prize motivation: "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources:http://en.nagoya-u.ac.jp/people/distinguished_award_recipients/nagoya_university_distinguished_professor_isamu_akasaki.html

Ill. N. Elmehed. © Nobel Media 2014


Hiroshi Amano
Born: 1960, Hamamatsu, Japan
Affiliation at the time of the award: Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Prize motivation: "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources:http://profs.provost.nagoya-u.ac.jp/view/html/100001778_en.html

Ill. N. Elmehed. © Nobel Media 2014



Shuji Nakamura
Born: 1954, Ikata, Japan
Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Prize motivation: "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"
Prize share: 1/3
Other resources:http://ssleec.ucsb.edu/

Interview transcript

"I was so happy. And I was so surprised!

"Shuji Nakamura was asleep in California when he got the call that he had been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano. But now there's "No time for sleep. No time for rest.". Hear how he reacted when he got the call from Stockholm. 

"Always there is a problem and I have to solve the problem." http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/nakamura-telephone.html




Facts on the Nobel Prize in Physics
 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Grid cell system in hippocampus as brain's navigational place (inner GPS)

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014
for
Grid cell system in hippocampus as brain's navigational place (inner GPS)

How do we know where we are? 
How can we find the way from one place to another? 
And how can we store this information in such a way 
that we can immediately find the way the next time we trace the same path? 
This year´s Nobel Laureates have discovered a positioning system, 
an “inner GPS” in the brain that makes it possible to orient ourselves in space, 
demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function.
source:nobelprize.org/
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 was divided, one half awarded to John O'Keefe, the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser  
"for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain".


Announcement of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by Professor Göran K. Hansson, Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, on 6 October 2014.
See a Video of the Announcement
29 sec.
Credits: Ladda Productions AB (production)Copyright @ Nobel Media AB 2014

 

 

"I’m over the moon actually"


John O'Keefe

Born: 1939, New York, NY, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University College, London, United Kingdom

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain"

Field: physiology, spatial behavior

Prize share: 1/2
Transcript of the interview with John O'Keefe 
"I thought 'Oh this couldn't possibly be, this couldn't possibly be what I think it is.' But of course it was."
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/okeefe-telephone.html
Photo: David Bishop, UCL



"This is so great"
May-Britt Moser
Born: 1963, Fosnavåg, Norway
Affiliation at the time of the award: Centre for Neural Computation, Trondheim, Norway
Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain"
Field: physiology, spatial behavior
Prize share: 1/4 
Transcript of the interview withMay-Britt Moser 
"It's easy for us because we can have breakfast meetings almost every day”
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/may-britt-moser-telephone.html
Photo: G. Mogen/NTNU




"I didn't understand anything"

Edvard I. Moser
Born: 1962, Ålesund, Norway
Affiliation at the time of the award: Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Trondheim, Norway
Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain"
Field: physiology, spatial behavior
Prize share: 1/4
Transcript of the interview with Edward Moser
"I came out of the plane ... and then there was a representative of the airport who came with flowers and picked me up in a car."
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/edvard-moser-telephone.html
Photo: G. Mogen/NTNU
Edward I. Moser - photo Gallery:



The discoveries of John O´Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries – how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?


A place for maps in the human brain
Recent investigations with brain imaging techniques, as well as studies of patients undergoing neurosurgery, have provided evidence that place and grid cells exist also in humans. In patients with Alzheimer´s disease, the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are frequently affected at an early stage, and these individuals often lose their way and cannot recognize the environment. Knowledge about the brain´s positioning system may, therefore, help us understand the mechanism underpinning the devastating spatial memory loss that affects people with this disease.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/press.html 

Facts on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine