"Although the image if a baul singing with his ektara appears intriguing, when it comes to listening to baul music, most urbanites prefer the integration of modern musical instruments in the songs. Even Lalon's music with its intense mystical elements has not been able to escape this fate. So is it more important to preserve the purity of Lalon's music or to spread his philosophy to the new generation?"
"The most amazing thing about Lalon is how a common person like him, after going through so much struggle, can rise to a transcendental stage," says Hossain, a forty-year-old corporate official and an avid fan of Lalon's music. "The tune of Lalon's songs attracted me as a teenager. However, at that time I never understood the meaning of th worlds. When I went to India for my studies, I once attended a Sufi conference in Delhi, where Farida Parveen delivered Lalon's songs. There, for the first time in my life, I felt the divine aspect of his songs. The appeal of the songs broke all language barriers and brought tears to the hundreds of foreigners in the audience there," hossain adds.
So even 120 years after his death, Lalon's music and message have retained the power to inspire and enchant.
"The baul philosophy has reached its entirety at Lalon," explains Dr Abul Ahsan Chowdhury, an eminent Lalon researcher and professor of Bengali, Kushtia Islamic University. He says that ot bauls, the teachings of the guru are like verses of holy books. which are presented sometimes through discussion and sometimes through lyrics as found in one of Lalon's songs" bhobe manush guru nistha jar, shorbo shadhon siddhya hoy tar". However, bauls are secretive about their praying techniques and the words of the songs are often covered in riddles that only the members of the baul community understand as in Lalon's famous song Achin Pakhi which describes the human body "Act kuthuri noi dorja ata moddhe moddhe jhalka kata tar opore sodor kotha aiyna mohol tar (The cage has eight rooms and mine closed doors; from time to time fire flares out; above there is the main room--the mirror chamber)".
What makes Lalon's songs special is the variation in tunes, beautiful rhythm and richness of language that at the same time is simple yet implies deeper meaning like the well-liked song "Milan hobay kotodiney amar moner manusher shone (When shall I meet my true love)". Although, superficially it may sound like a romantic song but the search for one's moner manush here implies the spiritual thirst for one's Creator. During Lalon's time, baul songs were mainly popular among the poor and oppressed as all the traditional religions had failed to recognise them. The baul philosophy offered simplicity based on the mysteries of creation and the creator and integrated the truth of religions like - Charyapada Vuddhism, Vaishnavism and Sufism. It defies man-made division, as notable in Lalon's "Jaat gelo jaat gelo bole eki ajob karkhana, shotto kaje keu noi raji shob dekhi tananana (I will be excommunicated, I will lose my caste cries everybody; what a strange affair is this, but no one wants to follow the path of truth; I see that everybody dillydallies).
Lalon himself never talked about his religious beliefs or identified himself to any caste or religion. However he voiced strongly against the practices of institutional religion. which earned him the enmity of both Muslim and Hindu priests and thinkers of his time. In fact, in his songs, he pointed out how places of worship created a barrier between man and the supreme, "tomar poth dhakeche mondir mosjidey; o tor dak shune hain, cholte na pai, amai rukhe darai murshide (Temple and mosque have covered your road, so O Lord! i cannot move even after hearing your call; my guru murdhid has stopped me)". Women have a special place in baul philosophy and in Lalon's songs women are given their due rights, respect and equality to an extent unthinkable even today "pap-punner kotha ami kare ba shudhai, e deshe ja pap gonno onno deshe punno tai, Tibbor niyom onusare, ek nari bahu poti kore, ei deshete hole porey babhichaare dondo hoy (Who should I ask about sin or morality, what is sin in one country is morality in another, in Tibet one woman can have many husbands, if it happens here she will be prosecuted for adultery).
According to Dr Choudhury, Lalon's songs are still very relevant in the present socio-economic and political context of the society where communalism and fundamentalism have risen to extreme levels. The secular and universal message of Lalon's songs provides inspiration and power to fight against the evils of society. However, Dr Choudhury is very much agingst the distortion and commercialization of the Lalon's songs and philosophy. He particularly criticises the way Lalon's death anniversary is celebrated through a Lalon Mela that is often sponsored by corporate houses. "You can hear Hindi songs playing from the microphones and shops selling plastic goods. The phone companies are more interested to extend their business Under the guise, Lalon gets lost," he says.
Although Lalon himself attached little value to his social identity and endorsement, vested groups whether politicians, singers, reformers or corporate bodies have been using his name and fame for their own interest. The true spirit of Lalon's work often gets lost among the commercial and profit-seeking attitude of modern society.
Farida parveen, the venerated Lalon singer also agrees with this, "It is okay that they are sponsoring the programme, but why would they put up their logo every where. This demeans Shainji," she protests. She complains that fakirs-bauls are not allowed to present their songs in the programme, even though they should have been the main focus of it. She balmes the administration of the Lalon Academy for such commercialization. "We expect that Lalon Academy should have the highest quality of instruments, the best instrumentalist and the finest singers, but this year those who sang were just jarring to the ear, lacking in rhythm and melody."
Although Lalon songs were basically confined to the baul sects. after Independence, it reached the urban mass thrugh established singers. who used instruments other than the ektara (one string instrument) and baya (a small drum played using the left hand). They even used classical bases for a polished presentation to appeal to the senses of the urban masses. Farida Parveen admits that the pronunciation is also refined to make the worlds and their meanings clearer, whereas the baul fakirs' pronunciations are likely to have local influence.
However, she thinks that the use of electrical instruments removes the human elements of the music. "Music has been caged within the keyboard. The essence of the bamboo flute is no longer found. When the flutist plays the flute, he tries to bring out the tune from the pain deep inside his heart. Can you find the same feel in the tune of an electrical instrument?" asks Farida.
Nonetheless, the younger generation appreciates electrical instruments and its use in songs and thus many current artists present Lalon's songs using fusion. Sumi, the lead singer of the popular band Lalon, defends the group's use of modern instruments, She says, "My request to those who criticize us will be that instead of criticizing they should try to do something positive in spreading the message of Lalon to the younger generation."
Unfortunately, the role of the Lalon Academy in protecting and promoting Laln's songs, initiating Lalon research and developing trained Lalon- geeti singers has been zero according to Farida Parveen's opinion. however at individual levels, researchers like Dr Choudhury are trying to collect authentic lyrics and music by Lalon while many others like Farida Parveen are trying to document the notations to protect the original tunes.
About fusion, music enthusiasts like Hossain says, "You will see this (fusion) is not likely to last long. It is a fad and will disappear with time. Rather it is the raw form of the songs that will remain through ages." Lalon's message and philosophy, rising above all our narrow mindedness and the need for constant gratification through the material and commercial, will continue to thrive among the common people of Bengal, who had originally embraced Lalon in the face of oppression and social deprivation.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Glass Capturing the dance of Light.
Glass, in one form or another, has long been in noble service to humans. As one of the most widely used of manufactured materials, and certainly the most versatile, it can be as imposing as a telescope mirror the width of a tennis court or as small and simple as a marble rolling across dirt. The uses of this adaptable material have been broadened dramatically by new technologies: glass fiber optics - more than eight million miles - carrying telephone and television signals across nations; glass ceramics serving as the nose cones of missiles and as crowns for teeth' tiny glass beads taking radiation doses inside the body to specific organs; even a new type of glass fashioned of nuclear waste in order to dispose to that unwanted material.
On the horizon are optical computers. These could store programs and process information by means of light - pulses from tiny lasers - rather than electrons. And the pulses would travel over glass fibers, not copper wire. These machines could function hundreds of times faster than today's electronic computers and hold vastly more information. Today fiber optics are used to obtain a clearer image of smaller and smaller objects than ere before - even bacterial viruses. A new generation of optical instruments is emerging that can provide detailed imaging of the inner workings of cells. It is the surge in fiber optic use and in liquid crystal displays that has set the U.S. glass industry (a 16 billion dollar business employing some 150 000 workers) to building new plants to meet demand.
But it is not only in technology and commerce that glass has widened its horizons. The use of glass has widened its horizons> The use of glass as art, a tradition going back at least to Roman times, is also booming. Nearly everywhere, it seems, men and women are blowing glass and creating works of art. 'I didn't see apiece of glass until 1975,' Dale Chihuly said, smiling, for in the 18 years since the end of the dry spell, he has become one of the most financially successful artists of the 29th century . He now has a new commission - a glass sculpture for the headquarters building of a pizza company - for which his fee is half a million dollars.
But not all the glass technology that touches our lives is ultra-modern. Consider the simple light bulb; at the turn of the century most light bulbs were hand blown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average worker. In effect, the invention of the ribbon machine by Corning in the 1920l lighted a nation. The price of bulb plunged. Small wonder that the machine has been called one of the treat mechanical achievements of all time. Yet it is very simple: a narrow ribbon of molten glass travels over a moving belt of steel in which there are holes. The glass sags through the holes and into waiting moulds. Puffs of compressed air then shape the glass. In this way, the envelope of alight bulb is made by a single machine at the rate of 66, 000 an hour, as compared with 1,200 a day produced by team of four glassblower.
Today, scientists continue to experiment with new glass mixtures and building applications of special types of glass. A London architect, Mike Davies, sees even more dramatic buildings using molecular chemistry. 'Glass is the great building skin",' he said. 'Think of glass that has been treated to react to electric currents going through it, glass that will change form clear to opaque at he push of button, that gives you instant curtains. Think of how the tall buildings in New York could perform a symphony of colors as the glass in them is made to change colors instantly.' Glass as instant curtains is available now, but he cost is exorbitant. As for the glass changing colors instantly, that may come true. Mike Divide's vision may indeed be on the way to fulfillment.
On the horizon are optical computers. These could store programs and process information by means of light - pulses from tiny lasers - rather than electrons. And the pulses would travel over glass fibers, not copper wire. These machines could function hundreds of times faster than today's electronic computers and hold vastly more information. Today fiber optics are used to obtain a clearer image of smaller and smaller objects than ere before - even bacterial viruses. A new generation of optical instruments is emerging that can provide detailed imaging of the inner workings of cells. It is the surge in fiber optic use and in liquid crystal displays that has set the U.S. glass industry (a 16 billion dollar business employing some 150 000 workers) to building new plants to meet demand.
But it is not only in technology and commerce that glass has widened its horizons. The use of glass has widened its horizons> The use of glass as art, a tradition going back at least to Roman times, is also booming. Nearly everywhere, it seems, men and women are blowing glass and creating works of art. 'I didn't see apiece of glass until 1975,' Dale Chihuly said, smiling, for in the 18 years since the end of the dry spell, he has become one of the most financially successful artists of the 29th century . He now has a new commission - a glass sculpture for the headquarters building of a pizza company - for which his fee is half a million dollars.
But not all the glass technology that touches our lives is ultra-modern. Consider the simple light bulb; at the turn of the century most light bulbs were hand blown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average worker. In effect, the invention of the ribbon machine by Corning in the 1920l lighted a nation. The price of bulb plunged. Small wonder that the machine has been called one of the treat mechanical achievements of all time. Yet it is very simple: a narrow ribbon of molten glass travels over a moving belt of steel in which there are holes. The glass sags through the holes and into waiting moulds. Puffs of compressed air then shape the glass. In this way, the envelope of alight bulb is made by a single machine at the rate of 66, 000 an hour, as compared with 1,200 a day produced by team of four glassblower.
Today, scientists continue to experiment with new glass mixtures and building applications of special types of glass. A London architect, Mike Davies, sees even more dramatic buildings using molecular chemistry. 'Glass is the great building skin",' he said. 'Think of glass that has been treated to react to electric currents going through it, glass that will change form clear to opaque at he push of button, that gives you instant curtains. Think of how the tall buildings in New York could perform a symphony of colors as the glass in them is made to change colors instantly.' Glass as instant curtains is available now, but he cost is exorbitant. As for the glass changing colors instantly, that may come true. Mike Divide's vision may indeed be on the way to fulfillment.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Mystery of the mummies.
In 1992, a German scientist made a discovery which was to upset whole areas of scientific study from history and archeology to chemistry and botany. Dr. Svetlana Balabanova, a forensic specialist, was performing tissue tests on an Egyptian mummy, part of a German museum collection, The mummified remains were of a woman named Henu-Taui who had died over 3000 years ago. Amazingly, the tests revealed that her body contained large quantities of cocaine and nicotine. Dr. Balabanova had regularly used the same testing methods to convict people of drug consumption but she had not expected to find nicotine e and coca in an Ancient Egyptian mummy. It is generally accepted that these two plants, native to the Americas did not exist on other continent prior to European exploration.
Dr. Balabanova repeated the tests then sent out fresh samples to three other labs. When the results came back positive she published a Parr with two other scientists. If Balabanova was shocked by the results of her tests she was even more shocked at the hostile response to her publication. He received may insulting letters, accusing her of fraud.
There were tow explanations that came immediately to mind. One was that something in the test s could have given a false result. The second was that the mummies tested were not truly Ancient Egyptian. Perhaps they were relatively modern bodies, containing traces of cocaine. Dr. Balabanova then examined tissue from 134 naturally preserved bodies over a thousand years old discovered in an excavated cemetery in the Sudan. About a third of them tested positive for nicotine or cocaine.
But something had happened even earlier which should have initiated serious discussion. In 1976 the mummified remains of Ramses ll arrived in Paris for repaint work. Dr. Michelle Lescot of the Natural History Museum was looking at sections of bandages and within the fibers found a was tobacco. Fearing that she had made some mistake she repeated her tests again and again with the same result every time: a New World plant had been found on an Old World mummy. The results caused a sensation in Europe. East it possible that piece of tobacco had been dropped by chance from the pipe of some forgotten archaeologist? Dr. Lescot responded to this charge of contamination by carefully extracting new samples from the abdomen, with the entire process recorded on film. These samples. which could no be 'droppings', were then tested. Once again they were shown to be tobacco. The discovery of tobacco fragments in the mummified body of Ramses ll should have had a profound influence upon our whole understanding of the relationship between Ancient Egypt and America but this piece of evidence was simply ignored. It raised too many questions and was too far outside of commonly accepted scientific views.
So now the question had returned. Could Ancient Egyptian trade have stretched all the way across the Atlantic Ocean? This was an idea so unbelievable it could only be considered after all the other possibilities had been eliminated. Could Egyptians have obtained imports from a place thousands of miles away, from a continent supposedly hot discovered until thousands of years later? Was it possible that coca - a plant fro South America had found its way to Egypt 3,000 years ago? If the cocaine found in mummies could not be explained by contamination, or fake mummies or by Egyptian plants containing it , there appeared to be another interesting possibility: a trade route with links all the way to the Americas.
The Egyptians did make great efforts to obtain incense and other valuable plants used in religious ceremonies and herbal medicines, but to the majority of archeologists, the idea is hardly worth talking about. Professor John Baines, an Egyptologist from Oxford University states: 'I don't think it is at all likely that there was an ancient trade network that included America. The essential problem with any such idea is that there are no artefacts ...found either in Europe or in America.' But other experts aren't so sure. Professor Martin Bernal, an historian, from Cornell University says, 'We're getting more and more evidence of world trade at an earlier stage. You have the Chinese silk definitely arriving in Egypt by 1000 BC.' IN his opinion, it is arrogance on the part of modern people to believe that a transoceanic trading network could only have been set up in recent times.
The discoveries in the mummies from Egypt and Sudan have challenged conventional beliefs. It is no longer possible to exclude the hypothesis of transoceanic trade in ancients items. The tale of Henu Taui and the story of Ramses ll show that, in science, facts can be rejected if they don't fit with our beliefs, while what is believed to be proven, may actually be uncertain. It is understandable then, how a story of a scientist, a few mummies and some routine tests, could upset whole areas of knowledge we thought we could take fro granted.
Dr. Balabanova repeated the tests then sent out fresh samples to three other labs. When the results came back positive she published a Parr with two other scientists. If Balabanova was shocked by the results of her tests she was even more shocked at the hostile response to her publication. He received may insulting letters, accusing her of fraud.
There were tow explanations that came immediately to mind. One was that something in the test s could have given a false result. The second was that the mummies tested were not truly Ancient Egyptian. Perhaps they were relatively modern bodies, containing traces of cocaine. Dr. Balabanova then examined tissue from 134 naturally preserved bodies over a thousand years old discovered in an excavated cemetery in the Sudan. About a third of them tested positive for nicotine or cocaine.
But something had happened even earlier which should have initiated serious discussion. In 1976 the mummified remains of Ramses ll arrived in Paris for repaint work. Dr. Michelle Lescot of the Natural History Museum was looking at sections of bandages and within the fibers found a was tobacco. Fearing that she had made some mistake she repeated her tests again and again with the same result every time: a New World plant had been found on an Old World mummy. The results caused a sensation in Europe. East it possible that piece of tobacco had been dropped by chance from the pipe of some forgotten archaeologist? Dr. Lescot responded to this charge of contamination by carefully extracting new samples from the abdomen, with the entire process recorded on film. These samples. which could no be 'droppings', were then tested. Once again they were shown to be tobacco. The discovery of tobacco fragments in the mummified body of Ramses ll should have had a profound influence upon our whole understanding of the relationship between Ancient Egypt and America but this piece of evidence was simply ignored. It raised too many questions and was too far outside of commonly accepted scientific views.
So now the question had returned. Could Ancient Egyptian trade have stretched all the way across the Atlantic Ocean? This was an idea so unbelievable it could only be considered after all the other possibilities had been eliminated. Could Egyptians have obtained imports from a place thousands of miles away, from a continent supposedly hot discovered until thousands of years later? Was it possible that coca - a plant fro South America had found its way to Egypt 3,000 years ago? If the cocaine found in mummies could not be explained by contamination, or fake mummies or by Egyptian plants containing it , there appeared to be another interesting possibility: a trade route with links all the way to the Americas.
The Egyptians did make great efforts to obtain incense and other valuable plants used in religious ceremonies and herbal medicines, but to the majority of archeologists, the idea is hardly worth talking about. Professor John Baines, an Egyptologist from Oxford University states: 'I don't think it is at all likely that there was an ancient trade network that included America. The essential problem with any such idea is that there are no artefacts ...found either in Europe or in America.' But other experts aren't so sure. Professor Martin Bernal, an historian, from Cornell University says, 'We're getting more and more evidence of world trade at an earlier stage. You have the Chinese silk definitely arriving in Egypt by 1000 BC.' IN his opinion, it is arrogance on the part of modern people to believe that a transoceanic trading network could only have been set up in recent times.
The discoveries in the mummies from Egypt and Sudan have challenged conventional beliefs. It is no longer possible to exclude the hypothesis of transoceanic trade in ancients items. The tale of Henu Taui and the story of Ramses ll show that, in science, facts can be rejected if they don't fit with our beliefs, while what is believed to be proven, may actually be uncertain. It is understandable then, how a story of a scientist, a few mummies and some routine tests, could upset whole areas of knowledge we thought we could take fro granted.
The cells from hell.
Recently, an international team of biologists met to discuss what they believe is a global crisis in the sudden appearance of strange marine micro-organisms capable of poisoning not just fish but people too.
In the mid-1980s, fishermen in North Carolina, on the eastern coast of the United States, began complaining about mysterious fish kills. They were convinced that pollution was responsible but nobody would listen, That changed in 1988 after an accident at a research center, Tank after tank of fish suddenly died. Researchers spotted an unknown micro-organism in the water. Its was later named pfiesteria.
Pfiesteria belongs to a prehistoric group of algae, that ate part plant, part animal. They are called dinoflagellates after the tiny whips or flagella that propel them through the water. Magnified a thousand times they are some of the strangest and most beautiful creatures in the sea. They are at the bottom of the food chain but, to deter fish from swallowing them, some have evolved powerful toxins.
As the researchers were to discover, pfiesteria doesn't just discourage fish. It actively hunts them, then eats them, Fish are one of its preferred foods but one of the intriguing things about pfiesteria is that it will eat everything from bacteria to dead plant and animal remains all the way up to mammalian tissues. So its food spans the entire food web of an estuary. Gradually the researchers realized that nothing win the water was safe from pfiesteria. It could harm humans too. A mis-directed air-conditioning duct from a room containing the toxins nearly killed one of the researchers. HE suffered a host of symptoms ranging from profuse sweating, tingling hands ad feet, to liver and kidney problems, as well as memory loss.
As the research intensified, some startling discoveries were made. In tanks, pfiesteria was quite content to behave like a plant and photosynthesize. However when fish were added a dramatic transformation occurred. Pfiesteria switched to attack mode. In a matter of minutes it changed shape and secreted a toxin. The fish quickly became disorientated and within five minutes all were dead. Pfiestera changed shape again and devoured them. When it had had its fill it vanished. No one had ever seen an organism do this.
Initially scientists believed this was part of a natural cycle, but on closer examination, it seemed pollution was to blame. When the water containing the biggest fish kills was analyzed, scientist found high levels of pollution But this is just one of the factors that can boost the transformation in pfiesteria. Others include large numbers of fish traveling together which feed in poorly flushed places with a lot of algae to eat and other rich food sources. that is the perfect habitat for pfiesteria.
But pfiesteria is not the only concern. In the oceans all around the world similar kinds of algae are now materialising and turning toxic. In the last decade these algal blooms' have poisoned sea-lions in California, caused catastrophic fish kills in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the North Sea, and devastated the shellfish industry in New Zea land. Researchers form forty seven nations met recently to share the latest information about harmful algal blooms. They heard about new kinds of toxins and discussed possible links between algae and whale stranding. But what dominated the proceedings was news that toxic algae are spreading to new shores in ballast water carried by ships. That may have already happened in Australian waters. A tuna kill in 1996 cost fish farmers an estimates $45 million. The official explanation was that a storm was to blame. But there were also reports of orange-brown streaks in the water. When a water sample was examined. it was found to be teeming with an alga never before seen in Australia, called Chatterton. The same Chatterton killed half a billion dollars' worth of fish in Japan in 1972. This toxin was also present in the livers of the dead tuna. Despite this powerful evidence, the official explanation remains that a storm was the killer. However, in Japan this was a prime example of an algal bloom induced by the waste products of the aquaculture industry itself, and of course that is not something that the tuna industry wants to hear.
It is clear that chattonella is present in Australian water. But there is little Knowledge of what else may surface or where it may have come from. That is of greater concern is that, in Australia and around the world, there is reluctance to acknowledge that it is human activity which is triggering the transformation of normally benign organisms into increasingly dangerous forms. If we continue to mismanage the way nutrients and pollutants are released into the environment we will have to confront new versions of the cells from hell.
In the mid-1980s, fishermen in North Carolina, on the eastern coast of the United States, began complaining about mysterious fish kills. They were convinced that pollution was responsible but nobody would listen, That changed in 1988 after an accident at a research center, Tank after tank of fish suddenly died. Researchers spotted an unknown micro-organism in the water. Its was later named pfiesteria.
Pfiesteria belongs to a prehistoric group of algae, that ate part plant, part animal. They are called dinoflagellates after the tiny whips or flagella that propel them through the water. Magnified a thousand times they are some of the strangest and most beautiful creatures in the sea. They are at the bottom of the food chain but, to deter fish from swallowing them, some have evolved powerful toxins.
As the researchers were to discover, pfiesteria doesn't just discourage fish. It actively hunts them, then eats them, Fish are one of its preferred foods but one of the intriguing things about pfiesteria is that it will eat everything from bacteria to dead plant and animal remains all the way up to mammalian tissues. So its food spans the entire food web of an estuary. Gradually the researchers realized that nothing win the water was safe from pfiesteria. It could harm humans too. A mis-directed air-conditioning duct from a room containing the toxins nearly killed one of the researchers. HE suffered a host of symptoms ranging from profuse sweating, tingling hands ad feet, to liver and kidney problems, as well as memory loss.
As the research intensified, some startling discoveries were made. In tanks, pfiesteria was quite content to behave like a plant and photosynthesize. However when fish were added a dramatic transformation occurred. Pfiesteria switched to attack mode. In a matter of minutes it changed shape and secreted a toxin. The fish quickly became disorientated and within five minutes all were dead. Pfiestera changed shape again and devoured them. When it had had its fill it vanished. No one had ever seen an organism do this.
Initially scientists believed this was part of a natural cycle, but on closer examination, it seemed pollution was to blame. When the water containing the biggest fish kills was analyzed, scientist found high levels of pollution But this is just one of the factors that can boost the transformation in pfiesteria. Others include large numbers of fish traveling together which feed in poorly flushed places with a lot of algae to eat and other rich food sources. that is the perfect habitat for pfiesteria.
But pfiesteria is not the only concern. In the oceans all around the world similar kinds of algae are now materialising and turning toxic. In the last decade these algal blooms' have poisoned sea-lions in California, caused catastrophic fish kills in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the North Sea, and devastated the shellfish industry in New Zea land. Researchers form forty seven nations met recently to share the latest information about harmful algal blooms. They heard about new kinds of toxins and discussed possible links between algae and whale stranding. But what dominated the proceedings was news that toxic algae are spreading to new shores in ballast water carried by ships. That may have already happened in Australian waters. A tuna kill in 1996 cost fish farmers an estimates $45 million. The official explanation was that a storm was to blame. But there were also reports of orange-brown streaks in the water. When a water sample was examined. it was found to be teeming with an alga never before seen in Australia, called Chatterton. The same Chatterton killed half a billion dollars' worth of fish in Japan in 1972. This toxin was also present in the livers of the dead tuna. Despite this powerful evidence, the official explanation remains that a storm was the killer. However, in Japan this was a prime example of an algal bloom induced by the waste products of the aquaculture industry itself, and of course that is not something that the tuna industry wants to hear.
It is clear that chattonella is present in Australian water. But there is little Knowledge of what else may surface or where it may have come from. That is of greater concern is that, in Australia and around the world, there is reluctance to acknowledge that it is human activity which is triggering the transformation of normally benign organisms into increasingly dangerous forms. If we continue to mismanage the way nutrients and pollutants are released into the environment we will have to confront new versions of the cells from hell.
The history of Lake Vostokl Discovery of the lake Vostok.
Beneath the white blanket of Antarctica lies half a continent of virtually ncharted territiry - an area so completely hidden that scientists have little clue what riches await discovery. Recently, Russian and Vritish glaciologists identified an immense lake -- one of Earth's largest and deepest - buried beneath 4,000 meters of ice immediately below Russia's Vostok Station.
As details have emerged, a growing number of scientists are showing interest, with dozens of investigators keen to explore the feature, known as Lake Vostok. A thick layer of sediment at the bottom of the lake could hold novel clues to the planet's climate going back tens of millions of years. By looking at the ratio of different oxygen isotopes, scientists should be able to trace how Earth's temperature changed over the millennia. NASA has expressed interest in Lake Vostok because of its similarity to Europa This moon of Jupiter appears to have a water ocean covered by a thick ice sheet, measuring perhaps tens of kilometers in depth. If hydrothermal vents exist beneath the ice, chemical reactions on Europa could have created the molecular building blocks for life, if not life itself. Vostok would be an ideal testing ground for technology that would eventually fly to Europa or places even more distant, say many scientists. Though cheap compared with a European mission, any expedition to Vostok would represent a significant investment.
Vostok Station holds the uncomfortable distinction of having recorded the coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers distinction of having recorded the coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers here measured -89.6 degree in July 1983, and the average temperature hovers around -55 degree celcious. It's the thick ice, strangely, that enables a lake to survive in such a frozen environment. the 4 kilometers of ice acts effectively as an insulation blanket protecting the bedrock underneath the ice from the cold temperatures above. Geothermal heat coming from the planet's interior keeps the leak from freezing and warms the lowest layers of ice. The tremendous weight of the ice sheet also plays a role in maintaining the lake. Beneath 4 km of glacier, the pressure is intense enough to melt ice at a temperature of -4 degree C. These factors have helped lakes develop across much of the thickly blanketed east Antarctica. To date more than 70 hidden lakes have been detected in the small portion of the continent. Lake Vostok is the largest of these, stretching 280 km from south to north and some 60 km from east to west. At Vostok station, which sits at the southern end of the lake, the water depth appears to be 500 m according to seismic experiments carried out by Russian researchers.
The first clues to Lake Vostok's existence came in the 1970s, when British, U.S., and Danish researchers collected radar observations by flying over this region, the radar penetrates the ice and bounces off whatever sits below. When researchers found a surface as flat as a mirror, they surmised that a lake must exist underneath the ice. An airborne survey of the lake is being undertaken, the first step toward eventually drilling into the water. Along with the potential rewards come a host of challenges. Researchers must find a way to penetrate the icy covering without introducing any microorganisms or pollutants into the sealed-off water.
What about life in the depths? If tiny microbes do populate the lake, they may be some of the hungriest organisms ever discovered. Lake Vostok has the potential to be s=one of the most energy-limited, or oligotropic, environments on the planet. For the lake's residents, the only nutrients would come from below. Russian investigators have speculated that the lake floor may have hot springs spewing out hydrothermal fluids stocked with reduced metals and other sorts of chemical nutrients. Scant geological evidence available for this region, however, indicates that the crust is old and dead. Without a stream of nutrients seeping up from the deep Earth, the only potential source of energy lies above the lake. The ice sheet above the water is creeping from west to east at a rate of roughly four meters per year. The lowermost layers of ice melt when they come in contact with the lake, liberating trapped gases and bits of crushed-up rock. If the glacier recently passed over rock before reaching the lake, it could be supplying organic compounds useful to microorganisms. It also could be seeding the lake with a continuous source of new residents. Bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae, and even pollen grains have been found in the Vostok ice core samples taken down to depths of 2,750m--three quarters of the way to the bottom. At least some of these organisms are alive and capable of growing, according to recent reports. The results of this analysis may indirectly indicate whether anything survives in the lightness body of water.
As details have emerged, a growing number of scientists are showing interest, with dozens of investigators keen to explore the feature, known as Lake Vostok. A thick layer of sediment at the bottom of the lake could hold novel clues to the planet's climate going back tens of millions of years. By looking at the ratio of different oxygen isotopes, scientists should be able to trace how Earth's temperature changed over the millennia. NASA has expressed interest in Lake Vostok because of its similarity to Europa This moon of Jupiter appears to have a water ocean covered by a thick ice sheet, measuring perhaps tens of kilometers in depth. If hydrothermal vents exist beneath the ice, chemical reactions on Europa could have created the molecular building blocks for life, if not life itself. Vostok would be an ideal testing ground for technology that would eventually fly to Europa or places even more distant, say many scientists. Though cheap compared with a European mission, any expedition to Vostok would represent a significant investment.
Vostok Station holds the uncomfortable distinction of having recorded the coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers distinction of having recorded the coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers here measured -89.6 degree in July 1983, and the average temperature hovers around -55 degree celcious. It's the thick ice, strangely, that enables a lake to survive in such a frozen environment. the 4 kilometers of ice acts effectively as an insulation blanket protecting the bedrock underneath the ice from the cold temperatures above. Geothermal heat coming from the planet's interior keeps the leak from freezing and warms the lowest layers of ice. The tremendous weight of the ice sheet also plays a role in maintaining the lake. Beneath 4 km of glacier, the pressure is intense enough to melt ice at a temperature of -4 degree C. These factors have helped lakes develop across much of the thickly blanketed east Antarctica. To date more than 70 hidden lakes have been detected in the small portion of the continent. Lake Vostok is the largest of these, stretching 280 km from south to north and some 60 km from east to west. At Vostok station, which sits at the southern end of the lake, the water depth appears to be 500 m according to seismic experiments carried out by Russian researchers.
The first clues to Lake Vostok's existence came in the 1970s, when British, U.S., and Danish researchers collected radar observations by flying over this region, the radar penetrates the ice and bounces off whatever sits below. When researchers found a surface as flat as a mirror, they surmised that a lake must exist underneath the ice. An airborne survey of the lake is being undertaken, the first step toward eventually drilling into the water. Along with the potential rewards come a host of challenges. Researchers must find a way to penetrate the icy covering without introducing any microorganisms or pollutants into the sealed-off water.
What about life in the depths? If tiny microbes do populate the lake, they may be some of the hungriest organisms ever discovered. Lake Vostok has the potential to be s=one of the most energy-limited, or oligotropic, environments on the planet. For the lake's residents, the only nutrients would come from below. Russian investigators have speculated that the lake floor may have hot springs spewing out hydrothermal fluids stocked with reduced metals and other sorts of chemical nutrients. Scant geological evidence available for this region, however, indicates that the crust is old and dead. Without a stream of nutrients seeping up from the deep Earth, the only potential source of energy lies above the lake. The ice sheet above the water is creeping from west to east at a rate of roughly four meters per year. The lowermost layers of ice melt when they come in contact with the lake, liberating trapped gases and bits of crushed-up rock. If the glacier recently passed over rock before reaching the lake, it could be supplying organic compounds useful to microorganisms. It also could be seeding the lake with a continuous source of new residents. Bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae, and even pollen grains have been found in the Vostok ice core samples taken down to depths of 2,750m--three quarters of the way to the bottom. At least some of these organisms are alive and capable of growing, according to recent reports. The results of this analysis may indirectly indicate whether anything survives in the lightness body of water.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Memories of 7/7 l bombings in Lindon.
The fourth anniversary of the bombings will be the "longest day" of the year, says Aldgate survivor Michael Henning. Police said the 40-year-old was 6ft from SHehzad Tanweer when the bomber blew himself up on the Circle Line train that morning.
He considers himself extremely lucky to have survived the attack, which left him with multiple glass cuts to his face and head, and with an injured ankle. A chance meeting with journalists when leaving the Royal London hospital later that day put Mr Henning in the media spotlight, and his image appeared all over the newspapers and TV channels.
Although pieces of glass and metal are still embedded under his skin, hes has pretty much healed. But the harrowing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder leave him physically and mentally exhausted much of the time. The most alarming episodes involve not only exact flashbacks of the events of 7 July, but can cause him to imagine whole new horrific scenarios of explosions, injury and death.
" My memory of the day is like a movie, it is very clear. But it's even more real than that, it's so real it sparks off all the stress responses, it's like I am seeing, felling, and smelling if as if it's happening now. " But the problem is that I also see other explosions. For example if I'm near glass, in bar or some thing, I can see explosions and lots of people injured. When I walked out of Victoria Station the other week, the first thing I did was pick out all the glass buildings and I could see, them exploding.
"it's very surreal, it is in slow motion and you can see it coming toward you. " You have to stop the panic attack by breathing deeply. The good times are when it happens but there is no distress, it's almost becoming normal."
This can happen three or four times a day. With treatment from a clinical psychologist, the flashbacks are dimini9shing and Mr Henning is learning to cope with the other images. But the psychologist says that in hi case, the vivid memories will probably stay with him always.
At his lowest points, suicide has crossed his mind, but thoughts of his "stoic" 14-year-old daughter Rebekah have kept him from taking it further, he says. | I couldn't do that to her."
Although the coming anniversary has left him feeling low, in the last six weeks he has begun to feel like he is on the road to recovery. The road has so far been long and painful. It began, as it so often does, with denial and avoidance, He got back on the Tube as soon as possible and tried to ignore his feelings.
After the failed bomb attacks of 21 July- the drama of which was being played out within earshot of the flat he was staying at - he felt like he was " going over the cliff of despair", he says. A nervous breakdown followed after the returned full- time to his busy job as a LIoyd's broker in September.
He later moved to working part-time and spends half his time in Sussex and half at his home in Kensington. Although Mr Henning was getting counseling from a trauma specialist- which he sought through his girlfriend Steph's GP - it wasn't until January that he was diagonsed with PTSD and began treatment.
He was among those walking wounded who were not assigned family liaison officers after 7 July, and to some extent drifted out of the system. : There was help around but you had to go and get it - that's hard because part of PTSD is that you feel alienated and go into yourself."
He adds. " It was good to be diagnosed, because before that I thought I was going mad or had a brain tumor or something." Other survivors have also been a vital source of support, says Mr Henning. The horrors they witnessed, which they can find difficult to share with others, have given them a "strong bond, he adds.
"When you hear the screams of the badly injured and dying, it connects to a very deep place within you. Part of it is that you can feel other people's pain, it's like a very heightened sense of empathy."
Mr Henning says he was previously a "classic bloke" who bottled his feelings up. But all that changed last summer.
"I've cried more in this last year than in my whole life. It seems to release a bit more of the pain each time They've got used to me in mu local pub, I'm often seen in there with my pint and my paper and ters rolling down my face. " While he does feel guilty for taking anything positive from the bombings, Mr Henning says he believes becoming a more emotionally open person will make the second half of this life more fulfilling.
The journey he has taken over the last year is not unlike the game snakes and ladders, he adds.
He considers himself extremely lucky to have survived the attack, which left him with multiple glass cuts to his face and head, and with an injured ankle. A chance meeting with journalists when leaving the Royal London hospital later that day put Mr Henning in the media spotlight, and his image appeared all over the newspapers and TV channels.
Although pieces of glass and metal are still embedded under his skin, hes has pretty much healed. But the harrowing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder leave him physically and mentally exhausted much of the time. The most alarming episodes involve not only exact flashbacks of the events of 7 July, but can cause him to imagine whole new horrific scenarios of explosions, injury and death.
" My memory of the day is like a movie, it is very clear. But it's even more real than that, it's so real it sparks off all the stress responses, it's like I am seeing, felling, and smelling if as if it's happening now. " But the problem is that I also see other explosions. For example if I'm near glass, in bar or some thing, I can see explosions and lots of people injured. When I walked out of Victoria Station the other week, the first thing I did was pick out all the glass buildings and I could see, them exploding.
"it's very surreal, it is in slow motion and you can see it coming toward you. " You have to stop the panic attack by breathing deeply. The good times are when it happens but there is no distress, it's almost becoming normal."
This can happen three or four times a day. With treatment from a clinical psychologist, the flashbacks are dimini9shing and Mr Henning is learning to cope with the other images. But the psychologist says that in hi case, the vivid memories will probably stay with him always.
At his lowest points, suicide has crossed his mind, but thoughts of his "stoic" 14-year-old daughter Rebekah have kept him from taking it further, he says. | I couldn't do that to her."
Although the coming anniversary has left him feeling low, in the last six weeks he has begun to feel like he is on the road to recovery. The road has so far been long and painful. It began, as it so often does, with denial and avoidance, He got back on the Tube as soon as possible and tried to ignore his feelings.
After the failed bomb attacks of 21 July- the drama of which was being played out within earshot of the flat he was staying at - he felt like he was " going over the cliff of despair", he says. A nervous breakdown followed after the returned full- time to his busy job as a LIoyd's broker in September.
He later moved to working part-time and spends half his time in Sussex and half at his home in Kensington. Although Mr Henning was getting counseling from a trauma specialist- which he sought through his girlfriend Steph's GP - it wasn't until January that he was diagonsed with PTSD and began treatment.
He was among those walking wounded who were not assigned family liaison officers after 7 July, and to some extent drifted out of the system. : There was help around but you had to go and get it - that's hard because part of PTSD is that you feel alienated and go into yourself."
He adds. " It was good to be diagnosed, because before that I thought I was going mad or had a brain tumor or something." Other survivors have also been a vital source of support, says Mr Henning. The horrors they witnessed, which they can find difficult to share with others, have given them a "strong bond, he adds.
"When you hear the screams of the badly injured and dying, it connects to a very deep place within you. Part of it is that you can feel other people's pain, it's like a very heightened sense of empathy."
Mr Henning says he was previously a "classic bloke" who bottled his feelings up. But all that changed last summer.
"I've cried more in this last year than in my whole life. It seems to release a bit more of the pain each time They've got used to me in mu local pub, I'm often seen in there with my pint and my paper and ters rolling down my face. " While he does feel guilty for taking anything positive from the bombings, Mr Henning says he believes becoming a more emotionally open person will make the second half of this life more fulfilling.
The journey he has taken over the last year is not unlike the game snakes and ladders, he adds.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
John Lenno's 70th birthdayl John Winston Ono Lennon was an English singer-songwriter.
John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles and, with Paul McCartney, formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in 1980 with a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered three weeks after its release.
Lennon's solo album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units,[1] and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart.a In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership is acknowledged as one of the most influential and successful of the 20th century. As performer, writer or co-writer Lennon is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. His album sales in the US alone stand at 14 million units. Double Fantasy, released shortly before his death, and his best-selling studio album at three million shipments in the US, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The following year, the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music went to Lennon. Participants in a 2002 BBC poll voted him eighth of "100 Greatest Britons". Between 2003 and 2008, Rolling Stone recognized Lennon in several reviews of artists and music, ranking him fifth of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and 38th of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time", and his albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, 22nd and 76th respectively of "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) with the other Beatles in 1965. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
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