Sci Ripples

50 Amazing Facts about the Moon

SpaceX has recently announced that in the year 2018 it plans to send a couple (identity kept secret for now) for a casual trip around the ...

Whatever you may call it - Cup-A- Joe, Kaapi (the pipping hot filtered brew that is the key to a south Indian's heart) or simply - Coffee, you have got to admit there are a few things in the world that are as universal as coffee. Whether you are up in the mountains sipping a hot cup or down in the rain forests in the Amazon, coffee is every where and every one is drinking it.

The origins of coffee is still a huge debate among enthusiasts, while documented consumption of coffee did not arrive till the 17^th century- the Oromo People of Ethiopia are sort of credited for the discovery of the coffee berry, which is claimed to be in use since the 9^th century.

An Oromo Tribesman relishing his cup- of coffee (Love the cup though)

The coffee bean was a closely guarded secret of the Middle East. So whatever coffee left the region was roasted or boiled and sterilized to avoid cultivation, but it was a Sufi Baba Budan who first smuggled it outside the region which led to the spread of the bean throughout the world. It is believed that he smuggled 7 beans, by strapping them to his chest. These beans were then planted in Mysore.

Baba Budan the man who brought coffee to india

Archaic poster of what I can only presume is Baba Budan (mostly because it says so on the poster)

Not surprisingly then, caffeine is the number one psychoactive drug used today in the world. Consumed via, coffee, tea, cola drinks, chocolate and even pills, every body it seems is in a constant need to stay up and about.

Coffee

Like any other drug, caffeine is lethal at a stupendously high dose, about 100 cups of coffee in a day, which can be lethal to the human body. But at its lower dose, caffeine like any other drug has its benefits.

Methylexanthine has a similar structure to adenosine, which basically signals your brain that it has to shut down for a bit, making you feel more and more sleepy. if you are at work, or at class, you reach out to your nearest caffeine dispenser. When coffee enter your system the methylxanthine molecule goes and binds to adenosine receptors giving you a feeling of alertness.

Bees too seem to respond to caffeine in a positive manner too. In fact plants seem to be using caffeine to their benefit. Although the drug is meant for the plants defences, recently a study showed that caffeine did more than just that. A study published in the journal of Science (G.A. Wright, 2013), showed that caffeine in the plant’s nectar enhanced the memory of bees. It was observed that bees that were rewarded with caffeine remembered the floral scent more keenly, even after a period of 72 hours, which is quite remarkable.

DISCLAIMER this is NOT an exact representation

In fact caffeine is also being studied as a combined drug therapy to treat Parkinson’s disease. Regular intake of caffeine, in men is also theorised to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. However the interesting point is that in women however there seems to be a reversal, while in men regular caffeine consumption keeps Parkinson’s at bay, women who have more than 6 cups daily are at a 4 fold risk of acquiring the disease, while women who have less than a cup of coffee daily, seem to be protected from the disease. While a regular caffeine boast during a life time seems to do well to keep Parkinson’s at bay, while you get the disease however, caffeine seems to have no effect.

Interesting Reads plus my resources !

Coffee Kills

Bees Nectar and caffeine

caffeine - 20.2.17

Coffee Good for us, may be!

Whatever you may call it - Cup-A- Joe, Kaapi (the pipping hot filtered brew that is the key to a south Indian's heart) or simply - Cof...

Earth - 5.10.16

Who calculated the Circumference of the Earth?

We know that our Earth is massive and has a circumference of just over 40,000 kilometers. But spare a thought to how we actually foun...

Do you miss those days of the lab, where you spent hours waiting for your gel to run or your protein to precipitate, the long talks by guest faculties and agony of waiting for your lecturer to respond to your email. You may no longer be a part of the academia but being in the lab has become easy once again.

Welcome to Lab Wars, a simple card game that takes you through the thrills (the rarity of the lab) and the chills of being in the lab and lets you live the pressures faced by Principal Investigators and the Post Docs. The game is all about building your reputation and specializing in your subject area but beware of other players who are trying to build theirs and might go to any levels to damage your reputation.

Lab Wars Card Game. Image credit: Lab Wars

The game can be played with up to 5 players, who are part of the research team but each with unique set of skills that can enhance his/her reputation. With 80 Lab items up for grabs, you can try and get them to boost your reputation while staying guarded against the action cards that can bring you down or boost your reputation further with bonuses. The best part is that all the cards are based on real events that happen in the lab so that you can live the Lab Life again in a less than an hour. The player who ends up with the highest reputation at the end, wins the game!

But there is a small hurdle to cross. Lab Wars Card Game is still a concept. The team of Kuly Heer and Caezar Al-Jassar has put in all its efforts to design the cards, the gameplay, the beautiful box and needs your support to produce them on a large scale. Labs Wars is now Live on KickStarter and aims to raise £ 5000 to bring their dreams into reality.

Show your support to this wonderful idea by donating or simply spreading the word to as many people as you can. You can follow Lab Wars on Facebook or on Twitter to know more about their campaign.

The game developers were inspired by Michael Brooks book, The Secret Anarchy of Science. To know what inspired them, follow the Amazon Link below.

Card game - 7.6.16

Lab Wars - Living the Lab Life!

Do you miss those days of the lab, where you spent hours waiting for your gel to run or your protein to precipitate, the long talks by g...

info graphic - 21.3.16

What does 'Organic' really mean??

- 15.3.16

Underwater wonder

If you are in love with the Marine world, then this one is just for you. Diving duo - Euseblo and Christina are free divers (meaning divin...

male and female stress differently - 11.3.16

Its finally proven- Stress is Sex Biased

Here is a great article on how both sexes respond differently to stress. Women are more susceptible to depression, anxiety disorders and P...

NPR - 10.3.16

What does sound look like?

If you thought sound looks like this, they you are wrong. Well, this is not sound by representation of sound being received or broadcas...

Brick - 1.3.16

The Sun, The Earth and the Moon as your desktop toy

Of course, not literally. But you can now have the three most spoken about elements of our solar system, right on your desktop, just for...

3D printing - 18.2.16

The modern Sundial

We have all heard about the Sun Dial and how our ancestors used it in the past to know time. Here, is the Sun Dial again, but with a mod...

fish sleep - 11.2.16

Do Fish Sleep??

There are times, when you find yourself stumped, and have a feeling that you may be the only one asking these weird (totally), but never th...

animal intelligence - 13.1.16

Why do you think the phone rang when it actually didn't?

Most of us carry cell phones , everywhere we go. To work, to the library, to movie screens and even the bathroom (whether you accept it or ...

death - 28.12.15

Worst ways to die

One of things that binds everything in the universe, living and non living is death. Whether you have a slight philosophical orientation, o...

Fleye your personal drone Image credit: www.gofleye.com

When we speak of drones, the first image that comes to our mind are wide winged unmanned aircrafts that are mostly on military duty or probably the quad copters, which are shooting videos of volcanoes for us. Either ways, you neither would these drones fly in your house nor would you risk them in attempts to do so. But Belgium based Fleye could be the personal drone that we have all been waiting for.

To begin with, Fleye looks nothing like a fiery drone. Rather, it follows a WALL-E approach to drones and looks more docile than a lamb. But do not let this soft exterior dismiss the strengths of this drone.

Under the basket like exterior, lies a powerful single propeller that provides flight to the device and a SONAR system at the bottom to help it gauge its distance from the ground. A 5 MP HD camera on the head allows the drone to take photos or videos at 1080p resolution and a 512MB RAM powered dual core on board computer lets the drone fly autonomously to its missions and back.

Users can control this drone using their smartphone and a simple app that lets them chose different shooting modes for the drone. Ask the drone to take a selfie for you or a panoramic shot of the place you are in, it can hover above and keep an eye for you or simply pair a Wi-Fi gaming controller to the device and take matters in your own hands.

Assembling a Fleye. credit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gofleye/fleye-your-personal-flying-robot

Fleye is currently raising funding on KickStarter so that they can make this drone a reality in the coming one year and start shipping them to users like you and me. Well, the production won't be as crude as in this GIF, but if you participate now, you can get a significant discount on the retail price when the product is ready to ship around September of 2016, If you would like to know more about the campaign simply visit the link here.

If you have doubts about this, do watch this video below and let's see if that changes your view.

Let us know what you think of this drone and what improvements/ personalizations would you like to see in it.

Fleye - 12.12.15