Short Articles

Polity and Governance

This winter turning out to be sweet for moa makers

The Joynagar ‘moa’, the popular Bengal sweetmeat is witnessing a massive rise and its Geographical Indication tag getting a 10-year extension. 

What is Moa?

• The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery, extracted from the beginning of December till the end of February.
• It is available only during the colder months of the year.
• Said it dates back to 1904 and is made of aromatic  ‘khoi ‘— (popped rice) that is mixed with jaggery, sugar, cashew nuts and raisins.

GI Tag for Moa:

• It is manufactured in Joynagar, a settlement on the outskirts of Kolkata.
• It earned the Geographical Indication tag of Joynagar Moa in 2015. 

Environment

Scientists discover the secret power that makes glass frogs transparent

Scientists have discovered about the glass frog which makes itself transparent.

About:

• The glass frog - which is about the size of a marshmallow - spends its days sleeping on bright green leaves in the Tropics.
• In order to escape the attention of predators, the creature turns itself up to 61% transparent, disguising itself on the leaf.
• They are native to Central and South America.
• They have ability to selectively pool and clot blood is the creature's "superpower".
• In most animals, pooling blood together leads to clotting which can be life-threatening, for example leading to heart attacks in humans.

Science and Technology

Physicists Solve a Lightning Mystery

There hasn’t been a definitive explanation until now regarding reasons behind lightning zigzags. But now plasma physicist in Australia has solved the mystery.

The solved mystery

• The answer? Singlet-delta metastable oxygen molecules.
• Lightning happens when electrons hit oxygen molecules with enough energy to create high-energy singlet delta oxygen molecules.
• After colliding with the molecules, the “detached” electrons form a highly conducting step – initially luminous – that redistribute the electric field, causing successive steps.
• The conducting column connecting the step to the cloud remains dark when electrons attach to neutral oxygen molecules, followed by an immediate detachment of the electrons by singlet delta molecules.