The Human Genome Project  The Human Genome Project launched in 1990 is biology’s first large science project and is planned with an outlay of three billion dollars and an international collaboration involving 18 countries and 250 laboratories. The main aim of the project is to create a map of the entire set of genes (genome) in the human cell by decoding three billion units or base pairs (bp) of the human...

Science in the Service of Man Essay No. 01 Facsimile (Fax)—Facsimile transfer of messages i.e. is used for transmission of weather charts, engineering drawing and even hand written notes. It transfers copies of any types of document written in any language and in any script with a great speed. The Fax employs a photo-scanning process to obtain its electrical signals which are then transmitted through the communication channels at the receiver...

Our Energy Resources Social and economic development of any country is directly proportional to the development of energy resources of that country. Industrial development is impossible without energy. Science and technology is at the root of all power development projects. However, the present stock of energy resources of the world is limited and the world can be benefited from this stock only for few decades. On the other hand, the consumption...

Modern Medical Techniques    Genes—The term Genes was coined by the Danish biologist William Johannsen. However Gregor Johann Mandel was the first to show hereditary factors in all the biological species. These genes were responsible not only for transmitting hereditary traits, but also for influencing the entire process of life. For long these genes remained an enigma, but with the discovery of the DNA (Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid) by Watson and Crick...

Modern Techniques for Crime Detection   Narco Analysis, Brain Mapping and Lie Detector Test—The term narco analysis was coined in 1936 for the use of narcotics to induce a state where the subject talk freely and is deprived of his self-control and will power to manipulate his answers. In a narco analysis test the subjects imagination is naturalised and reasoning faculty affected by making him semi-concious. In this state it becomes...

Major Diseases : Their Nature and Causes   Malaria—To combat this communicable disease, the Government started the National Malaria Eradication Programme. It is a centrally sponsored programme where the concerned states have to bear half the cost. The success of this programme can be gauged from the fact that from 7.5 lakh victims of Malaria in 1958 the incidents of Malaria were completely eliminated. However due to development of resistance by...

India’s Space Programme India can be really proud of the elite band of India’s space scientists who refuse to give up hope whatever be the daunting challenges or setbacks they face. When their own experiments fail, it only spurs them on for trial after trial till they wrest victory from adversity. When countries like US refused to transfer technology or prevent even our friendly countries from transferring their technology to this...

Volcanoes and Earthquakes   Earthquake—The sudden trembling of earth caused by sudden slippage of rocks along the faults in the crust. The faults are fractures in the rock body along which there has been an observable amount of displacement. These faults sometimes reach the ground surface displacing the objects on the ground. The Earthquake wave which are produced due to sudden or abrupt deplacement or slippage of rocks travel outward in...