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NEWSNOTES
SCIENCE
 Spore
Pour: Many thought it was a sign of divine wrath. But the red rains
that splashed Kerala this summer had an earthy ex planation-algae. Red-coloured
spores of a lichen-forming algae were found in samples of the rainwater
by a team from the state's Centre for Earth Science Studies and the Tropical
Botanical Garden and Research Institute. Kerala's humid climate is ideal
for multiplication of these spores, generally found on rocks, trees and
lamp posts. How they got into the clouds, however, remains a meteorological
whodunit.
HEALTH
 Sweat
it Out: Sweating could keep your body germ-free. A German study reported
in Nature Immunology shows that sweat contains an antibiotic protein called
dermicidin. It is the first antimicrobial compound to be discovered in
sweat. Dermicidin has proved potent against four common species of bacteria,
including the potentially lethal bugs Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus
aureus. Dermicidin also has an unusual structure. If it proves effective
against antibiotic-resistant bugs, it could have tremendous commercial
potential.
 Indian
Anti-dote: A new Indian anthrax vaccine may be on the way. The existing
vaccines are expensive and have severe side-effects. The new one, developed
by Rakesh Bhatnagar of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Yogender
Singh of the Centre for Biochemical Technology, Delhi, is expected to
be cheap and non-toxic. The vaccine has proved reasonably effective on
animals, but is yet to be tested on human beings. So it may be a while
before we can seriously celebrate its success.
 Left
Ahead: Left-handed people are unique in more ways than previously
thought. The two brain hemispheres of left handers are more strongly connected
than right handers. This implies, among other things, that lefties are
better at remembering specific events, says a report in the online edition
of Science. Sixty-two volunteers in the US were told to watch a series
of 55 words flashed on a computer screen and asked to write down the words
some minutes later. Lefties outscored right handers, getting more than
double the number correct. Further experiments indicated that this was
linked to communication between the brain hemispheres.
 Fusion
Fallout: The means can be as significant as the end. Cold fusion,
the process of producing energy by the coming together of two nuclei at
manageable temperatures, was expected to solve the world's energy problems.
So far experiments to this end have not been successful-but there have
been useful spinoffs. Technology developed while experimenting with nuclear
fusion is being used at Cornell University, US, to create high resolution
X-ray images of minute objects, such as the filaments that keep dandelions
afloat in the air. Living beings, such as wiggling ants, can also be filmed
in this manner allowing researchers insights into the processes involved
in movement.
ASTRONOMY
THE SCIENCE OF DIWALI
Divine Stargazing
 For
the devout Hindu, the period from Navratri to Diwali is the most important.
Does it have an astronomical significance? Rajesh Kochhar, astrophysicist
and director of the Delhi-based National Institute of Science, Technology
and Development Studies, argues so. The two Navratris in a year, Kochhar
said in a recent lecture, correspond with the equinoxes.
The Siddhantic calendar, the basis of all Hindu
rituals, uses a lunar month. So does the Islamic Hejira calendar. A Hejira
year, however, ends after 12 lunations-the time between two successive
new moons, roughly corresponding to four weeks. The Siddhantic year occasionally-seven
times out of 19, to be precise-allows for 13 months, "so that the
year remains as close as possible to the 365-day solar year". Each
Siddhantic month has 30 tithis, "days" of unequal duration.
The last full moon of a Siddhantic year is celebrated
as Holi. The new year is ushered in with a nine-tithi Navratri I, ending
in Ram Navami. Six months later comes Navratri II, heralding the month
of Ashvina, which contains the vernal equinox. The eighth and ninth tithis
of Navratri II are dedicated to Durga. The next tithi is Dussehra. The
new moon following Dussehra is Diwali. The next full moon is Nanak Jayanti.
The Siddhantic cycle repeats itself after 19
years. So the calendar for 2001 will recur in 2020. "The Siddhantic
calendar," Kochhar concludes, "is a fascinating living document
because its elements have been calculated orally for 1,500 years. It deserves
a close look from a civilisational and intellectual point of view, not
merely for the sake of festivals and gazetted holidays." Amen.
—compiled by Supriya Bezbaruah
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