THIRD PART - 94th INDIAN SCIWENCE CONGRESS, Jan 3-7, 2007

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THIRD PART - 94 Indian Science Congress, Jan 3-7, 2007 **************************************************************************** 15. Interview with Nobel Laureate HARTMUT MICHEL - 'Let's tap the Sun to solve the global energy deficit' 16. Peeping deep into space - As the search for life outside our solar system intensifies, Indian astronomers seek to play an important role in the world's biggest telescope project called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), says Ashok B Sharma 17. Sea horses on a trot, experts want ban off ---------------- Q & A: Nobel Laureate HARTMUT MICHEL 'Let's

tap the Sun to solve the global energy deficit' Posted online: Monday, January 29, 2007 at 0129 hours IST Environmentalists and energy experts all over the world are concerned about the fast depleting levels of fossil oil and coal. Global demand for primary energy is expected to grow by more than half over the next quarter of a century and coal use is expected to rise the most in absolute terms. Demand for energy is expected to go up further as developing countries step up pace of industrialisation. Weather pundits are already predicting 2007 to be the warmest year. And these aberrations in weather conditions could impact agriculture and food security. Search for efficient technologies to harness energy from renewable sources goes on. Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Hartmut Michel is selective about his choice for renewable sources of energy. Speaking to Ashok B Sharma on his

recent visit to India (at 94th Indian Science Congress), he feels that the primary concern should be to select effective technologies for harnessing energy in a cost-effective manner from those perennial sources available in abundance. Excerpts: What are the other eco-friendly sources for tapping energy? The main alternative sources of energy are direct conversion of the sunlight energy, geothermal energy, tidal power, wind energy hydropower, biomass energy. We have to be selective which alternative sources of energy is most easily available, cost-effective in generation and is eco-friendly and does not encroach upon food security. What are the biggest challenges in search for alternate energy sources? All our basic needs¡ªclean water, food, energy and fresh air ¡ªare in crisis. Air and

water are polluted. Food security is at the mercy of aberrant weather condition due to the ongoing global climate change. There is no sufficient energy available to meet the needs of the growing population. Unfortunately only 2.5% of the available sources of water is fresh water. Even major sources of fresh water are polluted and about 1.2 billion people across the globe lack access to safe drinking water. Worldwide water use has increased by a factor of four from 1940-1990 and is slated to rise by another factor of four in the next 30 years. This may lead to a crisis as two-third of the world's population may have to live in water stressed conditions within the next 25 years. How can the problem be solved? If we have enough energy, we can purify water and also provide safe drinking water by desalination of seawater. But the use of fossil fuel

energy in desalination of seawater is not cost effective. Burning of fossil fuel has caused environmental problems and the sources of fossil fuel are fast depleting. We burn as much fossil energy per day as nature had created in 500,000 years. This is not sustainable. We need to find a way out. What about power? How much can we rely on biomass and bio-fuels? Existing technologies allow for extraction of ethanol from sugarcane or bio-fuels from rapeseeds and other oil-bearing sources of both edible and non-edible crops. Future technologies are aiming at using the whole plant by gasifying or converting it enzymatically for production of bio-fuels. But extensive use of cultivation of crops for bio-fuels production may shrink the area under food crops. Extracts of sugarcane and rapeseeds which are used in food preparation and there are chances that

these crops would be used solely for bio-fuels production. Similarly the use of biomass in energy generation would ultimately deny the soil of its use as organic manure. Is wind energy the solution? The usable wind power potential appears to be five fold the global energy consumption or 40 times the electricity demand. A single 5 MW wind turbine generates as much electric energy as a 400 x 400 sq m (16 ha) solar power station. In Germany, 4.3% of electric power generated is from wind energy. How can we fill the energy gap? Split into oxygen and hydrogen by electrolysis and use the generated power. Otherwise transport the hydrogen to where energy is needed. It can be used to generate electricity again and again by use of fuel cells. Methane or methanol can be produced at wind

turbine parks and transported to consumers. Producing energy costly materials like aluminium at the wind turbine parks could be attractive. If superconducting cables would be available, electricity could be transported to consumers directly. Synthetic fuel can be made from coal or natural gas by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. This is an option for India, but not sustainable in long-term. Fuel production from renewable energy sources wind, sunlight and hydroelectricity has to go via electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen which then can be stored in fuel cells directly or used in synthetic process to generate liquid fuel. What is the ideal alternate source for power generation? The best possible way is photovoltaic power generation. It costs only 50 Euro cents or $0.60 per kilowatt hour (kWh) of power generation in the middle of Europe. It costs 25

Euro cents or $0.30 per kWh further south. This is not very costly compared to worldwide electricity pricing between $0.04 and $0.50 per kWh. The cost of bio-fuel production is around one Euro per litre and new technology is trying to reduce the cost to 0.60 Euro per litre. New technologies should be developed for further reducing the cost of solar photovoltaic power generation. The energy of the sunlight hitting the Earth is 10,000 times the energy consumption of mankind. We are yet to tap this potential! Three or four photovoltaic fields are necessary in the world¡ªone in North Africa (Sahara), one in China (Gobi, Taklamakan), one in Autralia and one in Mexico. Power generated from these fields can easily be transported through superconducting cables across the world. --- Peeping deep into space As the

search for life outside our solar system intensifies, Indian astronomers seek to play an important role in the world's biggest telescope project called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), says Ashok B Sharma http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=152444 Posted online: Monday, January 22, 2007 at 0145 hours IST Scientists are in search of life outside our solar system¡ªanywhere in the universe¡ªat distances exceeding 30,000 light years. A series of missions have been recently initiated for eavesdropping in the universe. Astronomers at Nitya Kallivayalil and Charles Alcock of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Roland van der Marel of Space Telescope Institute recently discovered two giant neighbours of our Milky Way galaxy¡ªLarge Magellanic

Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud¡ªvisible only in the southern hemisphere. The 200-odd known planets that orbit other stars exhibit incredible variety¡ªa handful of them weigh between 5 and 15 times of the Earth's mass. Astronomers believe these 'super-Earths' are rocky ice balls. New research suggests that some super-Earths build up rapidly when local temperatures drop and ice condenses out of surrounding gas. Recently, astronomers discovered a new super-Earth orbiting a red dwarf star about 9,000 light years away. It is probably a mixture of rock and ice. With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered and imaged a small brown dwarf star, 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting with a planet around a Sun-like star. Using a network of small-automated telescope known as HAT, Harvard-Smithsonian Center's astronomers discovered a planet unlike any other

known world. This new planet, HAT-P-1, orbits one member of a pair of distant stars 450 light years away in the constellation, Lacerta. An international team of astronomers detected a planet larger than Jupiter called TrES-2 that orbits a star 500 light years from Earth in the constellation, Draco. Last December, Russia launched a French satellite, COROT in search of planets that cannot be detected by current exploration systems. Then, European Space Agency (ESA) has intensified its search for water on Mars through the principal investigator Mars Express MARSIS radar, while NASA plans a $750,000 fund for its future project on Mars missions and studies. According to MP Singh of the department of geology in the University of Lucknow, studies on the evolution of life on Earth can give a clue to astronomers in their search for life in the extra terrestrial spheres. According to earth science studies, the Earth's

primitive atmosphere consists of methane, ammonia, water and hydrogen. Another view suggests that Earth's primitive atmosphere consisted of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water. Both these models suggest the possibility of synthesising many kinds of simple organic molecules abiotically from any of these gaseous mixtures. The energy required for the formation of such organic molecules came from electrical discharges, ultra violet light, hot springs, larva outpourings and solar heat. The formation of amino acids as well as other nucleotide bases and carbohydrates, produced experimentally under conditions, simulating primitive atmosphere supporting the above hypothesis. However, a major hurdle is faced in understanding the next step of evolution of life¡ªorigin of the DNA protein-based last common ancestor of all living beings. Then, astronomers and engineers are out to build the world's biggest telescope, called

the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), capable of peeping deep into space. The project will create a huge radio telescope¡ªin fact, hundreds of small collection stations forming one 'big picture'¡ªcovering the agreed frequencies of between 0.1 and 25 GHz. It will house 8,000 antenna and discs occupying a surface area of 50,000 square metres. This SKA would be 100 times more powerful than any existing radio telescope, including the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) commissioned near Pune. This ambitious project would be set up with the support of 17 countries, including India at an investment of around $2 billion. It is slated to take off after the selection of the site in 2008. The entire project will be completed by 2020. Says Govind Swarup, former director of the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, "The 8,000 antenna would constitute an array of 3,000 km. This will help us to tap

bio-signatures existing in the Universe, outside our planet." According to him, bio-signatures are water, carbon dioxide, ozone and oxygen that reveal existence of life. As per the Big Bang Model, hydrogen is the building block of the Universe. Two astronomers, Cocconi and Morrison, suggested in 1959 that a preferred frequency for extra terrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be the 1421 MHz (wavelength of 21 cm)¡ªa natural line frequency emission of neutral hydrogen. The proposed SKA will enable scientists to tap SETI. There are technical reasons for searches to be carried out in the frequency range of about 1,000 to 10,000 MHz¡ªthe so called water hole¡ªthe frequency range of line emission in the universe from hydrogen and water. Among the 17 countries collaborating in the project are India, US, UK, China, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Holland, Canada, Brazil, Chile and

Argentina. Swarup, who is actively associated with the project, suggests that each 8,000 antenna should be of a diameter of 12 metres. "India can effectively make its contribution by developing software and antenna for the project, which would cover 15% of the total cost, running into few lakhs of rupees," he adds. Swarup informs that South Africa and Australia have been shortlisted for the site of the SKA project. "The decision on the site is likely to be taken next year and thereafter, the issue of fund raising will be finalised by 2010," he adds. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Persistent Vision have evinced interest in the project, says Swarup. "I am working to form a core group for software specialists based from Pune to work on the project,'' he adds. ------------ Sea horses on a trot, experts want ban off http://www.indianexpress.com/story/21201.html ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Friday, January 19, 2007 at 0000 hrs Chidambaram: Once at a point of extinction, valuable marine species - sea horses and pipefishes - have now bounced back with sizeable populations. Experts who have salvaged the species and achieved healthy breeding have asked the government to lift the export ban on these marine species. Both sea horses and pipe fishes has enormous medicinal value. Before the export ban was imposed two years ago, these marine species were exported to China. The Chinese traditional system of medicines uses extracts from these species to cure a range

of chronic ailments. "This technology of medicine preparation is, however, not available in India. We, therefore, export these valuable marine species to China," said Dr S Rajagopal of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology of the Annamalai University located in Tamil Nadu's Parangipettai village. The centre breeds about 10,000 species of sea horses and pipefishes and has already transferred them to the safe sanctuary biosphere of the Gulf of Mannar. Better still, the centre has roped in fisherfolk affected by the tsunami to breed the species. Two years back, the government banned the export of two species of sea horses - Hippocampus kuda and Hippocampus trimaculatus and also pipefishes as they were considered 'endangered'. The situation now, however, is far from that, experts said. "These marine species sell at a premium price of Rs 2,400

per kg. We have trained 40 tsunami-affected women fisherfolk in two batches in breeding these species. They are ready to take up further breeding process. If the export ban is lifted, these tsunami victims would be largely benefited," said Dr SM Rafi. Rajagopal said the breeding programme has been a success ¡ª the centre has, in fact, been invited to partner in the international project on Sea Horse Breeding, based in the Philippines. In keeping with the secular diversity of the country, the centre has housed in its museum three marine species - the Allah Fish (symbolising Muslim religion), Charybdis feriaus or cross crab (symbolising Christianity) and Porttucus sangvinolentus or blood spotted crab (symbolising Hinduism). Apart from pollution and intensive industrial aquaculture, there are other factors like introduction of exotic species that threaten our marine ecosystem, said

Dr AK Singh of the Lucknow-based National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources. First alien fish introduced by Bristihers in India was trout for angling purpose. Thereafter, Tinca tinca was introduced in 1870. According to Dr Singh many other exotic species were introduced like tilapia, Chinese craps, Thai magur (Clarias gariepinus x C macrocephalus), bighead (aristichthys nobilis), red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Pangasius sutchi, Litopenaeus vannamei and some ornamental fishes like red piranhas. Many of these species were introduced illegally, he said. According to reports there are threats to inland fisheries also. On global scale about 20% of freshwater fish have become extinct due to water pollution and other factors. India ranks sixth in global fish production, contributing about 4% of the global catch. Fisheries contribute 1.19% to the GDP and 5.8% to the agricultural GDP.

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