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Cassia senna and Cassia occidentalis have important medicinal properties

Cassia senna and Cassia occidentalis have important medicinal properties

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

Though Cassia consists of large number of plants but during present investigation Cassia senna and Cassia occidentalis were examined.

Plants in folk medicines in India

Plants in folk medicines in India

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

Plants in folk medicines :- Herbs have been used in India since the time immemorial for curing diseases of man and his cattle . During the Vedic period ( 2000 B.C. – 800 B.C. ) ‘ Vrikshayurveda’ written by Parasar was a text-book for pre-medical students. In Europe, According to Arber (1938), the use of plants for curing diseases was advocated during the age of herbals which lasted from 1470 – 1670 A.D.
Medicinal plants used in traditional medicinal system

Medicinal plants used in traditional medicinal system

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

Medicinal plants used in traditional medicinal system India due to its unique variety of geographical and climatic factors had a rich and varied flora of medicinal plants. No wonder that out of a total number of over 15,000 plant species in India, about 2000 are known to have medicinal properties and some of them are used even as home remedies in the rural and remotest parts of our country (Arora, 1985). Ethnobotany
Last-Minute Costume Ideas, Anyone?

Last-Minute Costume Ideas, Anyone?

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

In honor of the impending holiday, the LA Times offers up a selection of thirteen "Nightmares from the animal kingdom".
No costumed ghouls, ghosts or goblins that may ring your doorbell this Oct. 31 can compare with the all-too-real, creepy-crawly, slimy and all-around bizarre critters conjured up by
Mother Nature. They're weird, they're wild and they're ready to invade your nightmares.

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

That's my shining and brilliant wife (my pride), the day she got her 'International Commerce' Degree, a year ago. Now she's working hard on her Master's Degree studies.

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

Near 'La Fortuna' town, there is the Arenal Volcano (Stratovolcano). It is a very active one and if you are lucky and get rewarded by a cleared night you'll surely watch the continuous explosive activity and the incandescent red/orange stones rolling downhill as they break leaving their luminescent trails seemed like liquid lava flows. Once a while there are some magnitude pyroclastic flows that force to evacuate the nearer hotels.
Secular Segue? Praying And Spirituality Up But Religion Down

Secular Segue? Praying And Spirituality Up But Religion Down

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

How to explain modern belief?    A rising number of people report having no formal religious affiliation but the number of Americans who say they pray has increased, according to a new survey from the University of Chicago.

'Spiritual but not religious' as a growing category seems to mean very little, since it seeks to straddle two different worlds, but the results are telling;  in addition to an increased number of people who pray, a growing number believe in the afterlife. When asked how they view God, the most common responses were the traditional images of father and judge.

So it seems to be formal religion that is on the wane, not an increase in secular or atheist sentiment.

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

45min opposite direction from home, there's the 'Irazú Volcano', it has three craters from recent and distance times. One is called the beach because is a great esplanade filled with sand from wich you can watch down the 2 others craters. Recently, the water level in the photo shown, has drop down near 12 meters and scientists concern about it's leaking through the lateral wall and surely will produce a big down hill collapse, fortunately it's a national park down there and no body lives there (I think and hope so).

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

The same Poas Volcano near my home, some months later, after some boiling activity. Note the color change to silver gray.

Oct 31 2009 | comment(s)

This is a picture of Poas Volcano, 45min from my home in Costa RIca. The color of the waters changes from light emerald blue/green to silver gray, depending on the volcano activity and it's actually (they say) the biggest (in diameter) active volcano crater in the world. Poas Volcano is a beautiful and impressive place to visit.
Virtual Cement Cements Cement

Virtual Cement Cements Cement

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

Who on Earth would not like a concrete subject? The Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) at MIT studies fundamentals to improve on concrete use. CSH also stands for calcium silicate hydrate, the binder phase of concrete. The Great Dome at MIT, shown below in an architectural draft, contains a "cement liner" on sandstone overlay. This image shows, at the top right corner, the CSH model that was proposed by A realistic molecular model of cement hydrates in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September 22. Submitted by Roland Pellenq et al. the paper is free online through the PNAS open access option.

Science and Politics, the Boundary

Science and Politics, the Boundary

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

Where does one draw the boundary between science and politics? Here in Dear Old Blighty, our Home Secretary has just sacked his chief drugs adviser over this very issue. If you care to read the article, Cannabis row drugs adviser sacked, please let me know what you think.
Are scientists getting dumber?

Are scientists getting dumber?

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

From a news story in today's issue of Science:
A new study finds little evidence for leaks in the U.S. pipeline for producing native-born scientists except for a steep drop in the percentage of the highest performing students taking science and engineering jobs. The findings suggest that the United States risks losing its economic competitiveness not because of a work force inadequately trained in science, as conventional wisdom holds, but because of a lack of social and economic incentives to pursue careers in science and technology.
Escaping The Black Hole Of The PhD Program

Escaping The Black Hole Of The PhD Program

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)


Harvard Magazine excerpts Louis Menand on "Professionalization in the academy. If you're thinking of going to graduate school, you need to read this.

This is the premise behind academic scholarship:
Gimme an

Gimme an "F"!...

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

Many of you have probably heard about the Governator’s playing with steganography — specifically, an acrostic:Governor Schwarzenegger’s veto letter

Cosmic Voyage & Powers of 10

Cosmic Voyage & Powers of 10

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

Way back when, there was an excellent film loop called "Powers of 10".  Created by Charles and Ray Eames, it can now be found at the conveniently-named powersof10.com website.  The video is elegant, starting with a couple having a picnic and then simply pulling back the camera one order of magnitude-- one power of 10-- to reveal the entire country, world, solar system, galaxy, the finally universe.
The winners of the evolution contest

The winners of the evolution contest

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

 Has evolution selected the best possible features for the species existing nowadays, or has it  done a second-hand job with whatever was available?
Tatankacephalus Cooneyorum - New Ankylosaur Dinosaur Species Discovery

Tatankacephalus Cooneyorum - New Ankylosaur Dinosaur Species Discovery

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

A new species of dinosaur, an ankylosaur, that lived 112 million years ago during the early Cretaceous of central Montana has been described by paleontologists writing in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences and the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.

Ankylosaurs are the biological version of an army tank; they were protected by a plate-like armor with two sets of sharp spikes on each side of the head, and a skull so thick that even 'raptors' such as Deinonychus could leave barely more than a scratch.
An Ancient Burst At Record Distance

An Ancient Burst At Record Distance

Oct 30 2009 | comment(s)

Two letters to Nature today burst into data about a gamma-ray burst, GRB 090423. The first is A big gamma-ray burst at a redshift of z approximately 8.2 by N. R. Tanvir et al.