Recycling has been taken to a whole new level thanks to a special type of seeded paper that grows into flowers. The ‘Plant-It’ cards are impregnated with flower seeds that act like a mulch to retain moisture. Once the green-fingered receiver has read the card they follow simple planting instructions and watch it sprout wild flowers a few weeks later.

The cards were designed by the Oakthrift Corporation in partnership with an American company. The Plant-It seeded paper is made from 100 per cent re-cycled paper, soy-based inks, and organic pigments which grow into flowers when planted. The cards germinate quickly if planted inside. If recipients wish to sow them outside Mr Woolf recommends planting them in autumn as cool winter weather helps the seeds to germinate for the following year.

Now maybe it sounds too extreme to do a business up there but this is something that you should not miss. Japan’s £1billion space lab named The Kibo module is now open for business after astronauts completed a six-hour spacewalk!

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station floated into the lab module after power was activated, kick-starting Japan’s permanent place in space. Kibo meaning Hope was delivered by the shuttle Discovery, which blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday for a two-week mission that includes a plumbing call to fix the sole toilet aboard the orbital outpost.
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Our view of the cosmos is veiled by dust and the universe actually shines twice as bright as astronomers had thought, a discovery that will lead to a massive reevaluation of space images. The Hubble space telescope is perhaps the best known source of the many majestic views of the heavens provided by modern astronomy.

But it turns out that many images will have to be reassessed, after the discovery that a tiny amount of the matter in the universe - about 0.01 per cent of normal matter - causes a haze of dust that obscures our view like a pair cosmic sunglasses. The implications for understanding how the very first galaxies - huge masses of stars - evolved after the big bang 13.7 billion years ago are “scary”, said Dr Simon Driver from the University of St Andrews, one of the international team.

In effect, the find means that people have underestimated the size and brightness of distant galaxies and this realisation will have a profound impact on understanding how they winked into being (source)

If passion can be guiding force to pursue anything although it is not profitable, then Oriya scientist, late Dr Dhirendra Narayan Nanda’s life story holds good for this notion. He invented Quantum theory but his work went unnoticed in his own soil.

DR DHIRENDRA Narayan Nanda, the inventor of Quantum theory is one of the nominees for the Science Award this year to be given by the Orissa Vigyan Akademi. Although Nanda’s scientific achievements have been appreciated worldwide, he is still an unknown figure in the state, even nine years after his death.

Born and brought up in Bhadrak, Nanda was determined and sincere in studies since his childhood. He evinced interest in homeopathy during his college days and did research work in the same field. The discovery in homeopathy helped him to know the reason for the slow but sure actions of the homeopathic medicines. Later, he left a flourishing career in chemistry to take up the cause of research work. His initial efforts were to develop the Quantum theory.

Nanda joined Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur as a research scholar and received a scholarship award by the American Chemical Society as the best graduate. In 1974, he did his Ph D there, and three years later, joined Hanover University as a post-doctoral researcher. Famous scientist Prof Karl Jug hailed his theory of SINDO1, who was impressed with Nanda’s work, as at least five scientists had worked in this field before him but failed to come up with what the Oriya scientist achieved.

Man… how come this kind of thing can be happened?
I really don’t understand.

Read here for more info.

This is a great book about Einstein and how science gets done, or sometimes doesn’t get done. As for Big Al’s eccentricities and quirks, I would sum them up as being a combination of self-indulgence and a great work ethic. That is not so rare, but the way Einstein carried it off created a peculiar stereotype for scientists that often hits the mark.

No doubt it was very well researched, and includes new details uncovered from Einstein’s letters recently made available for the public. Very well written, and Isaacson ability to explain complex science is outstanding, although my guess is that more than a bit of basic knowledge of physics is required to fully grasp the scientific discussions of relativity, quantum mechanics and the like.

While there are parts of the discussion of Einstein’s theories that would a tough read for anyone not already grounded in the subject, for the most part, Isaacson makes the science that Einstein helped developed understandable. Most importantly, though, the book isn’t just a history of science, but a history of a very fascinating man.