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Category Archives: Science
Raising crops without nitrogen fertilizers
Fertilization of crops using nitrogen fertilizers has dramatically improved the yield of food per acre around the world. However, the law of unintended consequences also results in pollution like oxides of nitrogen in the air and soil. Scientists have known that certain varieties of crops such as legumes have the natural capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen for use. The cause has been recently discovered to be bacteria that live on the plants. It raised the interesting prospect that if the same capacity can be built into other plants then the need for the artificial nitrogen fertilizers and its associated problems can be done away with. The research team in Cambridge has found that nitrogen fixing bacteria can be made to reside in other food plants. It is a finding that can have a profound impact and truly greener food production.
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/03/crops-nitrogen-fixing-from-air/
Islamic fundamentalism, Post-modernism and science
Islamic fundamentalism, Post-modernism and science
by Awais Masood
The killing of Yemeni-American Imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, in a drone attack has brought to front the significance of Islamist propaganda in cyberspace and its effects on terror recruitment. Hundreds of sermons by Awlaki were available on the internet. He operated a Facebook page, ran a blog and was described as ‘Osama bin Laden of the internet’. His online influence has been linked with more than a dozen terror investigations including the Fort Hood shooting by Major Nidal Hasan and the Times Square bombing attempt by Faisal Shahzad.
The relationship between religious fundamentalism and technology has remained complicated. Religious fundamentalist movements have been widely described as reaction to modernity though the movements are themselves modern in nature. Hence there exists an inherent conflict where these movements reject the underlying notions of rationality, secular and scientific constituting modernity. On the other hand, these movements continue to appropriate modern symbols and technology to further their cause. Historically, fundamentalist movements vehemently opposed natural sciences and technology but that does not hold true anymore. As stated in a paper titled ‘Postmodern Conservatism and Religious Fundamentalism’ by Geoff Boucher, the fundamentalist movements of today harbor a selective, instead of a wholesome, hostility towards natural sciences and try to engage in an understanding of the world that remains compatible with the commercialized science of today encompassing applied sciences and technology. Hence, these movements hold a significant appeal among technical professionals such as engineers, doctor and lawyers. Carrying forward this correlation between technical education and fundamentalism, a 2009 study published in The European Journal of Sociology showed that engineers constitute 20 percent of all Islamist militant organizations, a value remarkably greater than the expected 3.5 percent figure.
To read the full article, please click at the hyper-link below:
http://secularpakistan.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/islamic-fundamentalism-post-modernism-and-science/
Posted by Noor Salik Saturday, 08/24/2013
INVENTED BY WOMEN
When someone says the word “inventor,” prolific and history-making men like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver and Benjamin Franklin spring to mind. But what about all the women who invented amazing things, women we don’t hear about very often?
We’ve rounded up eight awesome things — many of which we all use frequently — that you probably didn’t know were invented by ladies. Here’s to entrepreneurial girl power:
Windshield Wipers
Mary Anderson thought up the windshield wiper out of necessity in 1903. During a road trip from Alabama to New York City, Anderson noticed drivers stopping to clear snow and ice off their windshields. Soon after, she came up with the windshield wiper — an arm with a rubber blade that could be activated without getting out of your car. She applied for a patent in 1904, and it was issued in 1905. Although the device did not gain popularity until nearly a decade later, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to drive without windshield wipers today.