Plastic containers in microwave

The second myth is regarding the plastic containers used in the microwaves.

Is that ok to use plastic containers in microwave

Now in this modern world most of the houses are equipped with microwaves. People are not aware of the effects of plastics used in the microwaves. The plastic used in the microwaves has labeled as safe for use in the microwave but it may not be.” The claim on the boxes doesn’t mean the plastic wont crack or melt or leak,” says Wendy Gordon of the Natural Resources Defense Council. A substance used to make polycarbonate plastic-bisphenol A known as BPA could leach in to your food and it may disrupt the hormonal system.
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901819

Plastic container manufacturers insist their products meet government safety standards. Regardless the NRDC’s Gordon recommends that you don’t microwave leftovers in plastic dishes. A ceramic one can help out better than plastics.

Nowadays in most of the houses both the parents are working.Childrens are staying at home sometimes and when they handle glasses or ceramics at home they tend to drop it. so most of the people are using microwave plastics for storing food in the fridge. They might find it difficult to use ceramics but they have to think about their health.

Health is Wealth

Is tap water better than bottled water

I read an article relating “The truth about green” in Fortune. The fortune clears up 25 common misconceptions about the food we eat, products we buy, the way we travel and the energy we use. one of the myth is,

Is tap water safer than bottled water?

In U.S the tap water is subjected to stricter government standards than bottled water. The EPA requires large municipalities to test water for bacteria in an independent lab a number of times a day. But the FDA mandates that water used in bottles is analyzed only once in a week for bacteria.

But this case is not the same for all the countries. Recently I visited India and noticed bottled water is better than tap water. Nowadays in India people are buying drinking water in cans. Sometimes I find this too is unhygienic. People are affected by throat infections even after drinking the can waters. But the people didn’t stop buying the can water, instead of that they are buying and heating it.

Effect of plastic ingredients

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well studied chemical that is known to leach out of plastic bottles. A recent study from a Japanese group has identified a fluorinated form of BPA known as Bisphenol AF (BPAF) which might be a largely ignored contaminant.

Findings in Japan indicate that this chemical (BPAF) is more potent in altering the effects of hormones such as estrogen. This toxic compound which is an ingredient in many plastics, electronic devices and optical fibres, is now identified as a potential endocrine disruptor. Estrogen hormones turn on genes that control activities such as ovulation in young woman. BPAF is found to show strong affinity to estrogen receptors alpha and beta. The research paper from Matsushima is published in open access journal and can be found here:
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901819


It should also be noted that BPAF is in news for sometime. In 2008, US National Institute of Environmental Sciences nominated BPAF for a comprehensive toxicological characterization. National Toxicology program has previously noted ‘some concern’ for the BPAF’s potential effect on brain, behaviour and reproduction. The recent finding raises more concern and shows the need for more detailed study in these environmental contaminants.

India releases world's cheapest laptop @ $35

India unveiled the world’s cheapest laptop for just $35. It is a touchscreen device and it will become available to students in higher education. The Minister of human resources, Mr. Kapil Sibal said that the mother board, its chip, processing, memory, displays and connectivity will cost around $ 35.

This tablet computer, developed by researchers at IIT in Delhi and Indian institute of science in Bengalooru (previously known Banglore) will be made available in production by 2011.

It will run on open source Linux operating system with open office software and can be powered by solar panel or batteries.

It will use 2GB of memory and a video conferencing facility and internet browsing.

More than 100m PCs are expected to be sold by 2013 in India.

Indian Rupee gets a new symbol

The Indian government announced a contest to create a symbol for the rupee on march , 2009.There were a total of 3331 designs received by the Indian government and out of which five designs were shortlisted.

The design by Mr Udaya Kumar ,a student of Industrial Design centre at IIT Bombay has been selected for the symbol and it has been announced on July 5th 2010. He will get an award of rupees 2.5 lakh from Finance Ministry.

The design is based on tri colour of Indian Flag with 2 lines at the top and white space in between. It is a blend of Devanagri and roman ‘R’ without the stem.

According to Indian government this symbol will be adopted within 6 months in India and within 18 to 24 month it will have the feature on computer keyboards and software as well as in print and electronics media.

The Indian currency symbol will not be printed or embossed on paper notes or coins. It would be included in the ‘Unicode Standard’ and major scripts of world.

200 years old ship under world trade center site

Photo source : NYTimes14 July,2010

Finding a ship hidden for 200 years may remind you the plot of the movie “National Tresure” and “Sahara”. But that’s what has happened at the World trade center site. Workers carrying out the excavation for the future world trade center site were surprised to find the remnants of a 200 year old ship buried deep under the site.

David W. Dunlap writes in the NYTimes “On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy, upright wood timbers, regularly spaced, sticking out of a briny gray muck flecked with oyster shells.

By Wednesday, the outlines made it plain: a 30-foot length of a wood-hulled vessel had been discovered about 20 to 30 feet below street level on the World Trade Center site, the first such large-scale archaeological find since 1982, when an 18th-century cargo ship came to light at 175 Water Street. “They were so perfectly contoured that they were clearly part of a ship,” said A. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist with the firm AKRF, which is working for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to document historical material uncovered during construction. The vessel, presumably dating from the mid- to late 1700s, was evidently undisturbed more than 200 years.”

This area which is located between Liberty and Cedar Street was somehow not touched at the time of previous world trade center construction. Quick search of maps makes us wonder how this ship came to this site. In olden days the docks and wooden cribbing seems to extend along the stretch of that side of shoreline. The bird’s eye view of NY in 1874 is shown below:

Photo source : http://www.learn.columbia.edu/newyork/html/nyseminar_resource.html

The NYTimes article also say that the hull was deliberately truncated and could be used as land fill. Not only that, it notes further that “A 1797 map shows that the excavation site is close to where Lindsey’s Wharf and Lake’s Wharf once projected into the Hudson.”

For the NYTimes article check here .

key words: archealogy, new archealogical finding in new york, discovery of ancient ship in new york world trade center site, archealogiologists excited

Plastics can be made from corn

Recently I read an article from Fortune which is quite interesting. There is a big trash of plastic garbage floating on the coast of California.Only 7% of the plastic the Americans consume are recycled and the remaining plastics are thrown into rivers ,lakes and oceans where the fishes consume the toxin present in plastic and produce dangerous effects to humans.

Mr Richard Eno,the CEO of Metabolix which is a small public company has brought a solution to this problem.His idea of making plastic out of plants is appreciable.Till now no one has made a 100% bioplastic that is durable and biodegradable.

Metabolix has genetically engineered a microbe that eats sugar from corn and generates a plastic like molecule called PHA.This plastic is decomposable in water or soil.

As Bioplastics grow in popularity, there would be natural demand for corn and the price of corn rises naturally.So it seems Metabolix are also working on next generation plastics made from non food materials such as switch grass which grows on the prairie.

If everything goes out well the great Pacific Garbage patch will start vanishing.