Syllabus: General science Context: government tries to screen seven-crore tribal people for sickle-cell disease (SCD) and attempts to create a data bank of tribal people’s health. Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that affect hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the body. It …
Read More »Echolocation
Science behind it Source emits sound waves, and listens for their reflections by objects in their surroundings. Based on what the reflected waves, or echoes, sound like, the animal or device understands its environment. Animals that use echolocation emit high-frequency sound pulses beyond the range of human hearing. Bats – …
Read More »Somatic mutations: a genomic revolution hiding inside our cells
The human genome has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one inherited from each of our parents. The genome is the blueprint of our genetic makeup. As the cells divide, the DNA is copied with extremely high accuracy due to proteins that proofread and correct errors in the DNA. But despite this …
Read More »Beauty firms cash in on Thailand’s giant snails
Its mucus has anti-ageing qualities Giant snails, once loathed by Nayok’s rice farmers for eating the buds of new crops, are now more valuable than gold to some cosmetic firms. As a part of a new “organic” diet, the snails inch across a plate of pumpkin and cucumber in central …
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