Toasted bread will be tempting with its aroma and flavors, isn’t it? These aroma and flavors are released by the heat of the toaster as the bread browns. There is an underlying chemical reaction for this: an aminoacid and a reducing sugar present in the bread react with each other wonderfully here. This reaction is called ‘Maillard Reaction’. This wonder reaction contributes to our tasting a variety of delicious food items!
Energy is the need of the hour. Electric energy has to be obtained from thermal, nuclear, hydro and wind energies. There is always a demand for it. Actually its demand itself is increasing day by day. Imagine that we have periodically one billion volts of electric energy. What could it be? It is nothing but the wonderful ‘Lightning electric energy.’ It is not yet tapped for our increasing needs. But we fear about it that we may lose our life when it strikes, and so, we hesitate to tap its energy.
Lightning Injuries:
The lightning inflicts injuries on the victim’s body at the sites of its entry and exit. Ulcers are formed there. The major injuries are by its mechanical energy that is produced by the rapidly expanding heated air.
Ball Lightning Wonder:
Another wonder in Nature associated with the thunderstorm is reported. In May 2003, when a thunderstorm was here, I and my family members noticed a bright ball. It was about the size of a small orange. It arrived with a cracking sound that alerted us to note it. It cruised smoothly along the inner walls of the house. We all followed it from room to room till it exited out near a window! We are not sure whether it went out through the window or disappeared near the window wall itself! All these happened within a minute. Later on we came to know about it in one of TV channel programs that it is a ‘Ball Lightning’!
Winter and the spring are enchanting to both animals and plants. Birds sing their songs. Plants grow in luxuriance. They are green all over, and their flowers bloom in beautiful colors. These all the exhibits of the seasons enchant all of us. Here are some of their images:
Migration of birds for feeding and breeding are well known. These birds return back to their living places with their off- springs. The butterflies also do such migration; but there is a difference. In the migrated place they breed and bring up their generation; but they do not return back –they die there itself. Their next generation only returns to their original living place – without any guidance either from them or from anybody else! How is this possible? Do their generation have the replica of their brain to guide or do the generation have the ‘instinct’ (formed out of their parents’ past memory and experience) passed down to them genetically? Can any Zoologist or Genetics Scientist explain this wonder behavior of butterflies?
This week I found a freshly formed nest of Mud wasp in the corner of a window. It was made of red soil. On breaking open it from the corner I found inside the cells three big wriggling larvae of the wasp brown, and yellow in colors and also --- 61 smaller larvae of some other insect! The smaller larvae were bright greenish in color, and lay paralyzed! They have been put inside the nest by the female of ‘Mud dauber’ (Black and yellow Mud wasp), after stinging them. I had seen before only paralyzed spiders in such nests. Now with this nest I find larvae of other insects too. Probably availability factor makes difference in the type of such live foods, it seems.
There is news about the ability of the human nose in the media: human nose could sniff out or distinguish between two closely similar scents – only when one of them was accompanied by a mild electric shock! It implies that we respond only at times of danger, that too only after having an experience before (that is, our childishness is converted into adulthood by our experience – for safeguarding our further survival).
It reminds me of canning by teachers (corporal punishment) that could help student to distinguish between ‘distractions’ and ‘study’ at school, when it is given mildly.
I was wondering how crows, mynahs and dogs give out alert calls on seeing a snake. Here it is different from the explanation given above for the nose: only their ancestor-parents’ experience (instinct) makes them to give an alert call, which aspect is passed down the generations! They may not have seen a death of their kin by a snake, which their ancestor-parents must have experienced. But yet they are able to sniff out the danger!
I have my own personal experience regarding this: I gave out a loud cry when the bike’s side stand was just pressing on my toe accidentally. But I there was no injury! I had a similar experience of being wounded by the bike’s stand sometime back. That painful experience has alerted me to take out the toe instantly and give out a cry.
‘Wonder experiences’ save our lives and preserve our health indeed!
When ponds dry up, the fish and every living thing in it die. But the ‘Lung fish’ does not die at such a condition. It burrows into the mud and forms a capsule around it and sleeps in it – aestivation! Its metabolism slows down drastically and it can remain in this state for up to two years. When it rains and the pond gets water it releases itself from the capsule and comes out to swim in the water! It is said that it is a primitive fish and that it breathes with its lungs taking in air by swimming up to the pond’s surface. Its lungs are the modified forms of swim bladders found in other fish (that keep their buoyancy in the water). It also has a longer life span than other fish! It is really a wonder fish.
At a winter morning a ’black line’ was seen climbing up a distant leafless tree. The line was about ten feet length. On seeing through binoculars the black line turned out to be a snake! Yes, it was a Black Rat snake that was climbing up the tree to catch and devour the little birds that were perching on its branches! This Black Rat snake is an excellent climber. A climbing wonder!
‘The Glory Lily’ flower is enchanting with its beautiful colors and curled arrangement of petals. Its botanical name itself tells about it: Gloriosa superba. I find it in the wild on the roadside bushes – only at a certain period of time of the year. Yes, it is seen here in the North East monsoon season only – that too for a few days only! I usually search for its first bloom in the monsoon and pat myself for having found it out first in the season. I am doing this search for this wonder lily each year for the past fifteen years. But peculiarly I could not spot it in the previous year. The reason is that the rainfall was inadequate!
Now there are many modern medicines that are the derivatives of crude drugs obtained from the parts of plants. Many such derivatives have also been now synthesized without accessing to plant sources. But the ultimate credit goes to our ancestors who had keen observations. They had watched and studied animals taking unusual plants peculiarly, at certain times (of illnesses), and reported about that and about the advantages the animals gained after such intake. Recently the African apes (chimpanzees) are in the news:
They swallow leaves to expel out worms.
They take soil to make the plant leaves already ingested have anti-malarial properties.
They take the pith of a tree for constipation to get purgation.
It is also said that the native people living next to the forests inhabited by these apes, have similar medical habits as that of the apes! This indicates that the benefits of wonderful keen observations of ancestors are being still availed by these people!
Medicines are panacea to people who are suffering both physically and mentally. In older times a cure was not near for a particular illness. Many medical scientists tried in various ways to find it out. It took a long time to discover it – only a few of them succeeded in it. The cure-offering medicines were first subjected to trials in animals and then tried on humans. If they were found not compatible or efficient, their newer derivatives were found out, and these were tested again. When these trials turned out to be successful, the formulation of the medicine was shaped out to get it in a convenient form - a tablet, syrup, an ointment or an injection. Then the medicine was produced in large quantities, and that too was later made affordable to all the classes of people. Now a cure for the illness is available. The illness has to be now found out (diagnosed) and confirmed first by a doctor and then the medicine shall be selected and prescribed by the doctor. The pharmacist shall dispense it as advised by the doctor. So, whenever or wherever one finds a medicine, it should be given its due respect. Behind it lie the hard work of the Scientist who discovered it and the effort of the Company that produced it. A patient sees it as a God-sent helping hand. If such a wonder medicine lies unused with you donate it to others who need a cure with it – before it crosses its expiry date.
One of the today's news that I read is exciting to me: the site where the Stone Henge of Salisbury, Wiltshire, stands is getting excavated by the Archaeologists! It is done to unravel the secrets about their erection and function. In my older blog post dated July 16, 2007 displayed down here, I have invited Archaeologists to study the Stone Henge site. Now I am glad that they are doing it now. I eagerly wait to get the wonders excavated out of the Stone Henge site.
As the moon goes on revolving around the Earth, at one of its positions the Earth lies in between the Sun and the Moon. At night, in this position we see from earth our moon fully – a round Full moon. Similarly, the planet Saturn revolving around the Sun was seen as a round and bright - ‘Full Saturn’ on 24th February 2008 (Earth was in between the Sun and the Saturn). It is said that this full and the brightest Saturn can be seen next only in 2015. But we can still now identify the planet easily but with lesser brightness. It is seen at night in the constellation of Virgo in the eastern skies or just above your head. It makes a triangle with two bright stars of the constellation each one of them positioning in the corners of that triangle – which can be imagined by connecting these corner points (objects) with imaginary lines. This triangle has its apex in the North and the base towards the South. Of the base-forming celestial objects, that one on the eastern corner is our Saturn! The planet will be visible so up to July this year in the night skies.
One fine morning after a shower of rain the rain water was flowing down the storm water drain. I saw a dark bird of a chicken size swimming against its flow. Now two tiny softies glided down the slope of the bund and hopped on to the water one after the other, and swam after the bird! They were the chicks of that bird! I wondered about the abilities of these softies to swim soon after hatching out. The bird is a ‘White-breasted Waterhen’. Both the male and female of this species of bird accompany each other in catching flies under the cover of bushes, along the sides of waterways. Their calls can be heard both in the mornings and evenings as rumbling sounds. The calls are like this: 'kooodoorrrrdoo.kuraaughkkuraaughk' - this is repeated rhythmically. When they are unaware, one can watch them walk along wagging the tails from side to side and turning their heads this and that side often. On giving a slight sound or movement, they run and fly away into the bushes just like pea-fowls do. They withstand urbanization and are specially adapted when provided with bush cover and waterways to thrive on. It is a wonder bird to look out in our neighborhood.
I persevered with transplanting: another sapling was transplanted (with the tap root intact) on the same spot again. The leaves of this sapling also dried down as happened before and fell off leaving a stick-like stem. But I didn't lose hope. I watered it on and on though I didn't see any change in it. Later I came to a conclusion that this too has become a failure. But I still watered it. On one day I saw the 'stick' to bear tiny greenish buds of tender leaves - after a month! I wondered about the Nature's in-built avidity to survive in this tree.
is called 'Mariamman Panguni 
Pongal.' 
During this festival the Goddess, Sri Muthumariamman (of Aruppukottai) is worshipped with much devotion and fervor. Children too exhibit their devotion towards the Goddess: they smear their body and face in black and white spots of soot and lime. Then they go in groups to all the houses in their town reciting a song that overwhelms the occupants with devotion to the Goddess. They end the song with a request to give coins to buy materials and propitiate the Goddess at Her temple. If they are not 'treated' with the coins, they go on repeating the song refusing to move away - the 'trick' to get their 'treat'! Yes, it is akin to the 'Trick- or- Treat' played by th
e
children in USA during the fun festival, Halloween Day!
