Articles

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all living organisms. All living organisms are made up of cells. The cell represents the basic level at which life exists.

When India and Pakistan joined the club of nuclear powers, this region suddenly became the focus of global attention. The focus was, of course, on the various kinds of conflict in this region: there are pending border and water sharing disputes between the states of the region.

The Berlin Wall, which had been built at the height of the Cold War and was its greatest symbol, was toppled by the people in 1989. This dramatic event was followed by an equally dramatic and historic chain of events that led to the collapse of the ‘second world’ and the end of the Cold War.

Natural Hazards are elements of circumstances in the Natural environment that have the potential to cause harm to people or property or both. These may be swift or permanent aspects of the respective environmental settings like currents in the oceans, steep slope and unstable structural features in the Himalayas or extreme climatic conditions in deserts or glaciated areas.

Natural vegetation refers to a plant community that has been left undisturbed over a long time, so as to allow its individual species to adjust themselves to climate and soil conditions as fully as possible.

Monsoon connotes the climate associated with seasonal reversal in the direction of winds. India has hot monsoonal climate which is the prevalent climate in south and southeast Asia.

Based on the variations in its geological structure and formations, India can be divided into three geological divisions.

The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west. India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea up to 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.

The ocean water is dynamic. Its physical characteristics like temperature, salinity, density and the external forces like of the sun, moon and the winds influence the movement of ocean water.

Air expands when heated and gets compressed when cooled. This results in variations in the atmospheric pressure. The result is that it causes the movement of air from high pressure to low pressure, setting the air in motion.

Air is essential to the survival of all organisms. Some organisms like humans may survive for some time without food and water but can’t survive even a few minutes without breathing air.

After weathering processes have had their actions on the earth materials making up the surface of the earth, the geomorphic agents like running water, ground water, wind, glaciers, waves perform erosion.

Continents cover 29 per cent of the surface of the earth and the remainder is under oceanic waters. The positions of the continents and the ocean bodies have not been the same in the past.

The interior of the earth can be understood only by indirect evidences as neither any one has nor any one can reach the interior of the earth.

The people are very important component of a country. India is the second most populous country after China in the world. India’s population is larger than the total population of North America, South America and Australia put together.

International Trade is mutually beneficial as no country is self-sufficient. India’s international trade has undergone a sea change in recent years in terms of volume, composition as well as direction.

Human Settlement means cluster of dwellings of any type or size where human beings live. For this purpose, people may erect houses and other structures and command some area or territory as their economic support-base.

Since life originated on earth nearly 3.8 billion years ago, there had been enormous diversification of life forms on earth. Biodiversity refers to the sum total of diversity that exists at all levels of biological organisation. Of particular importance is the diversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels and conservation efforts are aimed at protecting diversity at all these levels.

An ecosystem is a structural and functional unit of nature and it comprises abiotic and biotic components. Abiotic components are inorganic materials- air, water and soil, whereas biotic components are producers, consumers and decomposers.

As a branch of biology, Ecology is the study of the relationships of living organisms with the abiotic (physico-chemical factors) and biotic components (other species) of their environment. It is concerned with four levels of biological organisation-organisms, populations, communities and biomes.

Biotechnology has given to humans several useful products by using microbes, plant, animals and their metabolic machinery. Recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to engineer microbes, plants and animals such that they have novel capabilities.

Biotechnology deals with large scale production and marketing of products and processes using live organisms, cells or enzymes.

Microbes are a very important component of life on earth. Not all microbes are pathogenic. Many microbes are very useful to human beings. We use microbes and microbially derived products almost every day.

Health is not just the absence of disease. It is a state of complete physical, mental, social and psychological well-being. Diseases like typhoid, cholera, pneumonia, fungal infections of skin, malaria and many others are a major cause of distress to human beings.

The origin of life on earth can be understood only against the background of origin of universe especially earth. Most scientists believe chemical evolution, i.e., formation of biomolecules preceded the appearance of the first cellular forms of life.

Nucleic acids are long polymers of nucleotides. While DNA stores genetic information, RNA mostly helps in transfer and expression of information. Though DNA and RNA both function as genetic material, but DNA being chemically and structurally more stable is a better genetic material. However, RNA is the first to evolve and DNA was derived from RNA.

Genetics is a branch of biology which deals with principles of inheritance and its practices. Progeny resembling the parents in morphological and physiological features has attracted the attention of many biologists.

She was one of those pretty, young ladies, born as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished; and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. She was simple, but she was unhappy.

At the age of twenty-two, a former ‘scout of the year’ excited the scientific world with a new theory on how cells work. Richard H. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

THE two boys started in surprise at the fresh muddy imprints of a pair of bare feet. What was a barefooted man doing on the steps of a house, in the middle of London? And where was the man?

Everyone thought that Horace Danby was a good, honest citizen. He was about fifty years old and unmarried, and he lived with a housekeeper who worried over his health. In fact, he was usually very well and happy except for attacks of hay fever in summer. He made locks and was successful enough at his business to have two helpers. Yes, Horace Danby was good and respectable — but not completely honest.

Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read. Following him down the musty corridor of the gloomy French hotel where Ausable had a room, Fowler felt let down. It was a small room, on the sixth and top floor, and scarcely a setting for a romantic adventure.

I WAS still a thief when I met Anil. And though only 15, I was an experienced and fairly successful hand.

I was really worried about Tricki this time. I had pulled up my car when I saw him in the street with his mistress and I was shocked at his appearance. He had become hugely fat, like a bloated sausage with a leg at each corner. His eyes, bloodshot and rheumy, stared straight ahead and his tongue lolled from his jaws.

In a world where women’s potential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is being recognised beyond doubt, India has seen its share of trailblazers who paved the way.

With this round glass
I can make Magic talk —
A myriad shells show
In a scrap of chalk;

To the best of my knowledge, there’s never been a regulation that forbids one to keep pets in a space station. No one ever thought it was necessary — and even had such a rule existed, I am quite certain that Sven Olsen would have ignored it.

“I hope it rains at least today,” Velu thought, as he opened his eyes.

Men’s Voices:

Towards the end of the rainy season new leaves appeared on the tree. Then a woman cutting grass scrambled down the hillside, her scythe swishing through the heavy monsoon foliage. She did not try to avoid the tree: one sweep, and the cherry tree was cut in two.

One day, when Rakesh was six, he walked home from the Mussoorie bazaar eating cherries. They were a little sweet, a little sour; small, bright red cherries, which had come all the way from the Kashmir Valley.

India is home to some of the most mystifying natural phenomena that surprise and spark our imagination.

“Go and gather wild beans, Gopi,
Go and fetch some rice.
Go and pluck the mangoes
And bring home something nice.”

Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy who lives in Idaville, USA. His father is the Chief of Police. In spite of being so young he often helps his father solve mysteries that even the police find difficult to solve.

The woman was old and ragged and grey
And bent with the chill of the Winter’s day.

This is a tribute to the valiant Major Somnath Sharma, India’s first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, whose name is etched in the annals of history. His bravery and sacrifice stand as a beacon of inspiration for generations.

Until the middle of the twentieth century, production was largely organised within countries. What crossed the boundaries of these countries were raw material, food stuff and finished products.

On one side are the depositors who keep their money in the banks and on the other side are the borrowers who take loans from these banks.