The Volcano Next Door.

Scientists descend to a fiery lava lake to protect a Congolese city in its path.
By Michael Finkel
Photograph by Carsten Peter

"excerpt comes from the April issue of National Geographic magazine" (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/nyiragongo-volcano/finkel-text)

When? This is the question that has brought two of the world's leading volcano scientists to the center of Africa; it's the question that haunts a team of Congolese seismologists; it's the question that may determine the fate of close to one million people. When will Nyiragongo erupt?
Nyiragongo is a two-mile-high volcano towering over the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—one of the most active volcanoes on the planet and also one of the least studied. The chief reason for the lack of research is that for the past 20 years the eastern DRC has seen nearly constant warfare, including a spillover of the massacres in neighboring Rwanda. One of the largest United Nations forces in the world, some 20,000 troops, currently maintains a fragile, and often broken, peace.
At the base of the volcano sprawls the city of Goma, growing by the day as villagers from the countryside seek refuge from rebel and government forces. An estimated million people are now crammed into Goma.

Fig.1The lava at Nyiragongo is made of an alkali-rich volcanic rock; its unusual composition may be a factor in the lava's fluidity.Photo by Carsten Peter/National Geographic

Fig.2 Photographer Carsten Peter tests the thermal suit that Sims used to get close to the lava lake. "It can protect you from the radiant heat, but if you get hit with a lava splatter, the force will likely kill you," he says. For 30 years Peter has explored volcanoes around the world. "Seeing at close range the primal forces that shaped the planet can be hypnotic. You cannot allow yourself to fall under a volcano's spell, especially one as unpredictable as Nyiragongo. That can be a fatal mistake."Photo by Carsten Peter/National Geographic
Fig. 3 With temperatures around 1800 degree F., the lava is wildly erratic. As molten rock meets the air , it cools and forms plates on the lake's surface.Photo by Carsten Peter/National Geographic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/nyiragongo-volcano/peter-photography

The above photos are "in the April 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine, on newsstands March 29."

History of Global Killer- Malaria.

Malaria is also spreading in new areas in Jharkhand.

Blame it on climate change.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

A female Anopheles mosquito acts as a deadly hypodermic, injecting the malaria parasite when she feeds on human blood. Nearly half billion people get malaria each year. More than a million die. After decades of neglect, the world is renewing its fight against the disease.

In truth, malaria now affects more people than ever before. It’s endemic to 106 nations, threatening half the world’s population. In recent years, the parasite has grown so entrenched and has developed resistance to so many drugs that the most potent strains can scarcely be controlled. In coming years malaria will strike up to a half billion people.

According to National Geographic Magazine( July,2007), at least a million will die, most of them under age five, the vast majority living in Africa. Death may also occur in Asia including India, where malaria is spreading to new areas. Blame on climate change.

Changes in temperature can affect the development and survival of malaria parasites and the mosquitoes that carry them, according to a joint 2004 study by the State University of New York, Buffalo, and the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

Rainfall also influences the availability of mosquito habitats and the size of mosquito populations, the research found.
Jharkhand State of India is on the front line of climate change and is witnessing a rise in tropical diseases such as malaria.
Jharkhand was nearly free of malaria in 1970, but it is making a comeback. We are now finding malaria in places that we did not expect to find it. It is spreading to the new areas. Every year thousands are being affected and hundred’s being killed.
Spreading of malaria is worrying because people have not built up immunity to the malaria parasite. Epidemics are now more deadly, particularly for humans who do not have immunity and are taken by surprise when they're bitten.
Patients can get cerebral complications and lung and kidney failures if they do not get immediate treatment."

Malaria is a changed disease in recent times. Benign, through chronic disease of yesterdays, has undergone a malignant transformation. Often, it results in multiorgan (system) failure, which need immediate multi specially attention for survival. Suddenly, malaria may behave as an epidemic and end in high mortality.

Malaria past to present:

The disease has been with humans since before we were human. Our hominin ancestors almost certainly suffered from malaria. The parasite and the mosquito are both ancient creatures- the dinosaurs might have had malaria-and this longevity has allowed the disease ample time to exploit the vulnerabilities of an immune system.

Malaria is probably one of the oldest diseases known to mankind that has had profound impact on our history. But for malaria, the outcomes of many a wars and destinies of many a kings would have been different. It has been responsible for the decline of nations and crushing military defeats, often having caused more casualties than the weapons themselves. For centuries it prevented any economic development in vast regions of the earth. It continues to be a huge social, economical and health problem, particularly in the tropical countries. History of malaria and its terrible effects is as ancient as the history of civilization, therefore history of mankind itself.

Malaria was linked with poisonous vapours of swamps or stagnant water on the ground since time immemorial. This probable relationship was so firmly established that it gave the two most frequently used names to the disease mal’aria, later shortened to one word malaria, and paludisme. The term malaria (from the Italian mala “bad” and aria “air”) was used by the Italians to describe the cause of intermittent fevers associated with exposure to marsh air or miasma. The word was introduced to English by Horace Walpole, who wrote in 1740 about a “horrid thing called mal’aria, that comes to Rome every summer and kills one.” The term malaria, without the apostrophe, evolved into the name of the disease only in the 20th century. Up to that point the various intermittent fevers had been called jungle fever, marsh fever, paludal fever, or swamp fever.

Mentions of malaria can be found in the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian and Egyptian manuscripts and later in numerous Shakespearean plays. The belief that mosquitoes transmit disease also is an ancient one.

One of the oldest scripts, written several thousand years ago in cuneiform script on clay tablets, attributes malaria to Nergal, the Babylonian god of destruction and pestilence, pictured as a double-winged, mosquito-like insect. A few centuries later, the natives told Philistines settling in Canaan, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, of the god Beelzebub, lord of the insects. The evil reputation of this deity increased through the ages until the early Jews named him "Prince of the Devils."

The connection between malaria and swamps was known even in antiquity and the evil spirits or malaria gods were believed to live within the marshes. This belief is likely the origin of the Greek fable of Hercules and Hydra.

Sumerian and Egyptian texts dating from 3,500 to 4,000 years ago refer to fevers and splenomegaly, suggestive of malaria. The Sumerian records apparently make frequent reference to deadly epidemic fevers, probably due to P. falciparum.

The Vedic (3,500 to 2,800 years ago) and Brahmanic (2,800 to 1,900 years ago) scriptures of Northern India (Indus valley) contain many references to fevers akin to malaria. They are also said to make reference to autumnal fevers as the "King of diseases". The Atharva Veda specifically details the fact that fevers were particularly common after excessive rains (mahavarsha) or when there was a great deal of grass cover (mujavanta). The ancient Hindus were also aware of the mosquito's harmful potential. In 800 B.C. the sage Dhanvantari wrote, "Their bite is as painful as that of the serpents, and causes diseases... [The wound] as if burnt with caustic or fire, is red, yellow, white, and pink color, accompanied by fever, pain of limbs, hair standing on end, pains, vomiting, diarrhea, thirst, heat, giddiness, yawning, shivering, hiccups, burning sensation, intense cold..." Charaka Samhita, one of the ancient Indian texts on Ayurvedic medicine which was written in approximately 300 BC, and the Susruta Samhita, written about 100 BC, refer to diseases where fever is the main symptom. The Charaka Samhita classifies the fevers into five different categories, namely continuous fevers (samatah), remittent fevers (satatah), quotidian fevers (anyedyuskah), tertian fevers (trtiyakah) and quartan fevers (caturthakah) and Susruta Samhita even associated fevers with the bites of the insects.

Malaria appeared in the writings of the Greeks from around 500 BC. Hippocrates, "The Father of Medicine" and probably the first malariologist, described the various malaria fevers of man by 400BC. Hippocratic corpus distinguished the intermittent malarial fever from the continuous fever of other infectious diseases, and also noted the daily, every-other-day, and every-third-day temperature rise. The Hippocratic corpus was the first document to mention about splenic change in malaria and also it attributed malaria to ingestion of stagnant water: "Those who drink [stagnant water] have always large, stiff spleens and hard, thin, hot stomachs, while their shoulders, collarbones, and faces are emaciated; the fact is that their flesh dissolves to feed the spleen..." Hippocrates also related the fever to the time of the year and to where the patients lived.

Malaria likely originated in Africa and has coevolved along with its hosts. The first evidence of malaria (also called paludisme) parasites had been found in mosquitoes preserved in amber from the Paleogene period that are approximately 30 million years old. Malaria may have been a human pathogen for the entire history of the species. Indeed, close relatives of the human malaria parasites remain common in chimpanzees, the closest evolutionary relative of modern humans.About 10,000 years ago malaria started having a major impact on human survival which coincides with start of agriculture (Neolithic revolution).

Interesting historical facts about Malaria:

1. By one estimate, malaria has killed half the people who have ever lived on this planet
2. Fossils of mosquitoes 30 million years old show signs of malaria, suggesting even prehistoric man could have suffered
3. Researchers studying bodies of ancient Egyptians have found evidence of malaria in people who lived over 3,000 years ago
4. Malaria is thought to have directly contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire
5. In 1574 the Vatican was moved from its original location to where it stands today by Pope Gregory XIII because of the high incidence of malaria that had led to its unhealthy reputation
6. William Shakespeare (1564–1616), mentioned ague (malaria) in eight of his plays. For example, in The Tempest (Act II, Scene II), the slave Caliban curses Prosper, his master: "All the infections that the sun sucks up / from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him / By inch-meal a disease!"
7. Lancisi (1717) linked the disease with poisonous vapours of swamps and thus originated the name malaria, meaning bad air
8. In 1809 Napoleon used malaria as a biological warfare agent, flooding the Dutch countryside. Over 4,000 British Army troops are reported to have died of the disease with another 10,000 unable to continue with military service
9. In 1640, Huan del Vego first employed the tincture of the cinchona bark for treating malaria, although aborigines of Peru and Ecuador had been using it even earlier for treating fevers.
10. Morton (1696) presented the first detailed clinical picture of malaria and its treatment with cinchona.
11. Lancisi (1717) linked malaria with poisonous vapours of swamps and thus originated the name malaria, meaning bad air
12. Gize (1816) studied extraction of quinine from the cinchona bark
13. Pelletier and Caventou (1820) extracted pure quinine alkaloids
14. Laveran (1880) a French physician working in Algeria, first identified the causative agent for human malaria while viewing blood slides under a microscope.
15. P.vivax and P.malariae were identified in 1885 by Golgi
16. Sakharov (1889) and Marchiafava and Celli (1890) identified P.falciparum
17. Sir Ronald Ross (1897) while working as a military physician in India, demonstrated the malarial oocysts in the gut tissue of female Anopheles mosquito. This was reported in the British Medical Journal
18. Paul Muller (1939) discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT
19. Curd, Davey and Rose (1944) synthesised proguanil for treating falciparum malaria

Sources:
Poinar G (May 2005). "Plasmodium dominicana n. sp. (Plasmodiidae: Haemospororida) from Tertiary Dominican amber". Syst. Parasitol. 61 (1): 47–52.

Joy DA, Feng X, Mu J, Furuya T, Chotivanich K, Krettli AU, Ho M, Wang A, White NJ, Suh E, Beerli P, Su XZ. (2003). "Early origin and recent expansion of Plasmodium falciparum.". Science 300 (5617): 318–321

Hayakawa T, Culleton R, Otani H, Horii T, Tanabe K (2008). "Big bang in the evolution of extant malaria parasites.". Mol Biol Evol. 25 (10): 2233–2239.

Martin MJ, Rayner JC, Gagneux P, Barnwell JW, Varki A (2005). "Evolution of human-chimpanzee differences in malaria susceptibility: relationship to human genetic loss of N-glycolylneuraminic acid.". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 102 (36): 12819–12824.

Sinha, A.K., 2005. Malaria. A.P.H. publishing corporation, New Delhi.

http://www.malariasite.com/MALARIA/History.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_malaria
http://www.malariahotspots.co.uk/kidsHistory.asp
http://www.malaria-ipca.com/mw_history.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080109-malaria-warming.html

Termite Mounds are the best indicators for gold deposits.

Termite Mounds are common in Jharkhand.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

From my childhood termite mounds fascinated me a lot. My city of Ranchi in Jharkhand State of India such mounds are very common. I used to imagine it as small mountain. Many scared me also saying that it is the house of poisonous snakes. Lots of imaginative stories I used to hear about this termite mounds. These increased my inquisitiveness.
At present, while on my way to college which is nearly 20 kms from my residence, I encounter several small to medium termite mounds in isolated places. Even in my college backyard there are few termite mounds.

Few years ago I came to know an interesting fact about these mounds that the soil of it is used for cosmetic purposes. But what attracted me a lot that such mounds are used as the pathfinder for prospecting precious metals like gold. The termite mounds serve as early indication as to what may be found in the soil below.

Termites are one of the most abundant animals on earth. They inhabit 2/3 of the lands surface, mostly in the tropical regions. They live on cellulose, which is why they eat homes. However, termites do not produce cellulases, the enzymes that break down cellulose. These enzymes are produced by protozoa in the termite gut that take in the ingested cellulose chips, digest them and produce acetate and other products that the termites can use for energy and carbon. The termite gut also contains a host of bacteria that use the protozoan products which are converted to methane. The methane contributes to global warming. Termites thrive in the deforested areas produced by man as he moves into the forests.

They are considered the largest animal constructions related to the size of the constructors (as a termite has less than 2 cm, this is like people building something as high as Himalaya).

The mounds can be up to 6 m (20 feet) tall above the earth, having different forms (mushroom, dome, conical and so on), but most of the colony is bellow the soil. Inside the mounds, temperature and humidity are constant, as the termites depend on fungi cultivated on dead matter they collect, and their culture requires constant conditions. So, the industrious termites need to dig for water, and sometimes they search for water till depths of 75 m (225 feet) or hundreds of meters away; at the same time, their mound go higher, because everything they dig is brought up to surface, including the hardest particles. Thus, an analysis of the termite mounds can give a quick answer to the contents of deeper laying levels of soil and even rock. To me in Jharkhand termites cannot go more than 30 to 40 feet because after that hard rock is present below.

That's why termites are fantastic gold prospectors; in fact, ancient African civilizations used the termite mounds to locate gold deposits.

In the ancient text of India Brihat Samhita (Sanskrit) written by Varahamihira (A.D. 505-587), pointed out that termite mound is an important bio-indicator of groundwater and economically important mineral deposits in the tropical lands generally covered by thick soil mantle. On the basis of the observations in the ancient and modern scientific literature, recent biogeochemical studies described these mounds in the tropics as an important tool in the exploration for chromium and copper and lead in India; and for gold in Zimbabwe, and copper and nickel in Mozambique in the African continent.

Jharkhand plateaus are said to be rich in gold deposits. Though the mechanized mining is not economical but still today the villagers are found panning for gold in the river basin of Swarnarekha river (Swarna means gold and rekha means line) and other rivers in Jharkhand State. Termite mounds are also very common in such areas.
As compared to other countries where termite mounds are being used as pathfinder for gold and diamond, people or mining companies of Jharkhand State still don’t know about this biogeochemical aspect of the mounds.

According to different reports, some termite mounds can be so rich in gold that dissolving them and panning the slurry provides a significant side income for poorer residents of tropical regions. The unconventional "termite" technique is increasingly used by western companies looking for gold in Africa. Its advantages are obvious; there is less need for manpower and equipment, which has to be transported to remote areas, often without infrastructure, when the work is left to the termites.

The technique is of old age in West Africa, where generations of gold diggers in pre-colonial times used the termites' labour to investigate the deeper layers of the soil for gold and other precious metals and minerals. The modern mining industry rediscovered the method in the 1960s, taking samples from termite mounds in the tropics and from anthills in other regions. Reinventing this ancient and cheap method, the Vila Manica copper deposit in Mozambique were discovered in 1973. Later, the biggest kimberlite (diamond) mine in the world - Jaweng in Botswana - was found by termite mound sampling. Several gold prospects in Southern Africa have since been discovered through the termite method, and a new science, termed "geo-zoology" has even been established to further develop the technique.

Termite mounds have been an inspiration for humans who want to mimic the fantastic ventilation system used in the termite structures. Hot air rises through tubes in the above ground mounds while winds from outside send air currents down into the subterranean chambers so temperature is regulated no matter the weather outside. This efficiency might be able to be put to use in the homes of people.

Termite mounds have been studied for use in road construction in Africa. The secretion used by termites to make the soil of their mounds hard is so effective that roads are being built using these same chemicals. The roads are cheaper and more durable than asphalt roads.

If a mound is damaged, it is immediately fixed to protect the colony, and the mounds are constantly remodeled, a process that also requires water. The termites clamp bits of clay or wet rock in their jaws, then climb back home to build the mound, grain by damp grain. The mound goes higher, because everything they dig is brought up to surface, including the hardest particles. In doing this they bring up samples from that depth.

If the mining companies concentrate on soil analysis of termite mounds in gold deposits areas like Tamar in Ranchi district and Singhbhum in Jharkhand state they are sure to get some encouraging results.
Thus, an analysis of the termite mounds can give a quick answer to the contents of deeper laying levels of soil and even rock.

Reference:

Prasad, E.A.V., Gupta, M.J. and Dunn, C.E. 1987. Significance of termite mounds in gold exploration. Current Science, Vol.56, No.23, pp.1219.

http://www.afrol.com/articles/10447

http://www.asktheexterminator.com/termites/African_Termite_Mounds.shtml

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Hunt-Treasures-Using-Termites-58711.shtml

Baobab (Kalptaru) tree is under threat in Jharkhand state of India.

Baobab (Kalptaru) tree is under threat in Jharkhand state of India.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Fig: Baobab tree beside the road in Ranchi city.

Fig: Remaining Kalptaru tree under threat due to vehicles movement.

Fig: Uprooted Baobab tree.

A rare tree, which is over 250 years old, was uprooted due to heavy rainfall in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi. Baobab, also known as Kalpataru, is a rare medicinal tree. According to unofficial report, there are only nine such trees in India. Of the nine, four are found in Ranchi city.
In British rule, a writer of Jharkhand had described its importance and uniqueness.
Muslim traders are credited with their introduction in Jharkhand State from tropical Africa, where the tree is indigenous. All the three trees are found in the Muslim dominated area in Ranchi city.
In Hindu - the tree is considered tree of life, eternity and environment harmony. It is also known as the mythical tree that fulfill desires. The tree is the symbol of our identity and its potential.
Now only three are left. All these remaining trees are also under threat. As they are beside the busy road they are always under the threat due to the movement of heavy vehicles. Movement of such vehicles creates tremors which gradually affects the roots as the roots of baobab( Adansonia digitata) are not deeply rooted in the ground and due to great size of the trunk. Also recently Jharkhand Govt. had decided to cut down these trees to widen the roads.
It has the importance not only in Hindu religion but also in the country like Indonesia. Just like Garuda, Kalpataru tree is also used for various purposes in Indonesia. In Indonesia, Kalpataru is used as the logo of Indonesian Environment Institution.
The baobab is a traditional food plant in Africa, but is little-known elsewhere. It has been suggested that the vegetable has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care.
This is a strange looking tree; formerly it was cultivated near houses, temples etc. The great size attained by the trunk makes it unsuitable for planting along modern streets. In the past it was cultivated perhaps on account of its strange looks and of its medicinal value of most of its part.
The various parts of the baobab are used to treat a large number of ailments. Nearly every part of the tree has some medicinal value. A few include: powered bark mixed with porridge for malaria; the pulp of the fruit is mixed with honey and is used for coughing; the leaves are used for diarrhoea, fever, inflammation, kidney and bladder diseases, blood clearing, and asthma; the leaves also serve as emollients and are used to help extract guinea worm; the fruits and seeds are used for dysentery, fever, haemoptysis and diarrhoea; dry powered roots are prepared as a mash for malaria; and gum from the bark is used for cleaning sores.
It can grow up to 25 meters tall and can live for several thousand years. The baobab is leafless for nine months of the year.
It is sad how ignorant we are that these trees stand so neglected. Even if they are not the mythological ‘kalpatarus’, they are definitely very old, historical trees, which must have seen generations of Ranchi. Indeed, they need attention.