Essential Oils

Fragrances have been part of life since ancient times. Fragrances and flavours play important role in religious observations.Cosmetics and confectionaries,we use for personal care and hygiene are all added with perfume or flavours. These generally come from plant an like mint (Pudina), coriander and Tulsi (Ocimum) etc. and animals like Kasturi. if we pick-up the leaves of these plants and rub and smell,we feel a special smell or aroma which come from certain odoriferous substances called essential oils. Essential oil are present in plants in specialised cells/glands which may be anywhere in the plant, may be on leaves, flowers, stems, roots, bark or wood . When these glands rupture by pressing, rubbing or heat the smell /aroma come out. Essential oil are composed of aromatic compounds, volatile and hydrophobic in nature. In the Vedic literature of India, one can find references of essential oils. Flavor and fragrances are widely used in Indian life and there uses have been mentioned in Ayurveda “Gandhshastra”- the science of odor which deals with the cosmetics and fragrances. The ancient Egyptians were the first to recognize the therapeutic potential of essential oils. Traditional Indian perfumery industry inherited it secrets from earlier generations. Due to high cost of traditional natural perfumes the market shifted to modern synthetic perfumes. After independence during the last fifty years, the essential oil and other natural product industry has made excellent progress and India has been successful in making export of a large number of natural products like essential oils, extracts, absolutes of jasmine and tuberose, spices oil and oleoresins. Common medicinal properties of essential oils include: analgesic, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, astringent, sedative, antispasmodic, expectorant, diuretic, and sedative. Many aromatic herbs, essential oils and aroma chemicals are mentioned as official drugs in the various pharmacopoeias and formularies of different countries

Newton plays Hide n Seek

Once all the scientists die and go to heaven. They decide to play hide-n-seek

Unfortunately Einstein is the one who has the den......... ..He is supposed to count upto 100...and then start searching... ..

Everyone starts hiding except Newton...... ...

Newton just draws a square of 1 meter and stands in it right in front of Einstein.

Einstein's counting 1,2,3......97, 98,99.... .100..... ... He opens his eyes and finds Newton standing in front....... .

Einstein says "newton's out..newton' s out....."

Newton denies and says "I am not out........I am not Newton...... "

All the scientists come out to see how he proves that he is not Newton.

Newton says "I am standing in a square of area 1m squared.....

That makes me Newton per meter squared..... .

Since one Newton per meter squared is one Pascal, I'm Pascal, Therefore Pascal is OUT.......!

Newton's laws of LOVE (Humor in Science)

First law:



A boy in love with a girl continues to be in love with her and a girl in love with a boy continues to be in love with him, until and unless any external agent(brother or father of the girl) comes into play and breaks the legs of the boy.





Second law:



The rate of change of intensity of love of a girl towards a boy is directly proportional to his bank balance.





Third law:



The force applied while proposing a girl by a boy is equal and opposite to the force applied by the girl while using her sandals.



Universal law:



Love can neither be created nor be destroyed; it can only be transferred from one girl/Boy friend to another girl/Boy friend.

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology means designing and manufacturing biological components that do not exist in the natural world. It also refers to re-designing and fabrication of existing biological systems. The term “synthetic biology” was first used on genetically engineered bacteria that were created with recombinant DNA technology which was synonymous with bioengineering. Later the term “synthetic biology” was used as a mean to redesign life which is an extension of biomimetic chemistry, where organic synthesis is used to generate artificial molecules that mimic natural molecules such as enzymes.

So far, synthetic biology has produced diagnostic tools for diseases such as HIV and hepatitis viruses as well as devices from biomolecular parts with interesting functions. Synthetic biologists are trying to assemble unnatural components to support Darwinian evolution. Recently, the engineering community is seeking to extract components from the biological systems to test and confirm them as building units to be reassembled in a way that can mimic the living nature. In the engineering aspect of synthetic biology, the suitable parts are the ones that can contribute independently to the whole system so that the behavior of an assembly can be predicted.