Reaching a Consensus on the Definition of Genetic Literacy that Is Required from a Twenty-First-Century Citizen

To determine what knowledge of genetics is needed for decision-making on genetic-related issues, a consensus-reaching approach was used. An international group of 57 experts, involved in teaching, studying, or developing genetic education and communication or working with genetic applications in medicine, agriculture, or forensics, answered the questions: “What knowledge of genetics is relevant to those individuals not professionally involved in science?” and “Why is this knowledge relevant?” The answers were classified in different knowledge components following the PISA 2015 science framework. During a workshop with the participants, the results were discussed and applied to seven cases in which genetic knowledge is relevant for decision-making. The analysis of these discussions resulted in a revised framework consisting of nine conceptual knowledge components, three sociocultural components, and four epistemic components. The framework can be used in curricular decisions; its open character allows for including new technologies and applications and facilitates comparisons of different cases.     

Starlight in darkness

This article will briefly review the theory of star formation (SF) and its development using observations. This is very relevant in the present context since planet formation appears to be a by-product of SF, and the whole question of life in the universe and its origin can be viewed with a new perspective.     

Snow leopard

Snow leopard, an elusive mammal species of the cat family, is the top-predator of the Central and South Asian, high-altitude ecosystem. Snow leopards occur at low densities across the Central Asian mountains and the Indian Himalayan region. Owing to their secretive nature and inaccessible habitat, little is known about its ecology and distribution. Due to its endangered status and high aesthetic value, the snow leopard is considered as an ‘umbrella species’ for wildlife conservation in the Indian Himalayas. This article summarizes the current knowledge on snow leopard ecology and conservation issues in the Indian context.     

Phthalate puzzle

The most common plasticizer, phthalates, are facing stricter regulations due to their omnipresence and possible effects on human health, and environment. But high cost, lack of application range, and unknown long-term effects of non-phthalate alternatives make the scenario puzzling.     

A tryst with density

WalterKohn transformed theoretical chemistry and solid state physics with his development of density functional theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. This article tries to explain, in simple terms, why this was an important advance in the field, and to describe precisely what it was that he (together with his collaborators Pierre Hohenberg and Lu Jeu Sham) achieved.     

2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the year 2016 was awarded to three illustrious chemists, Professors Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir Fraser Stoddart, and Ben Feringa. Pioneering works of these chemists on designing molecules, chemically synthesizing them, and extracting a work out of such designed molecules open-up a new area of chemistry in a paradigm shifting manner. Beginning with controlling the molecular motions, particularly involving interlocked macrocycles in late 1980s, the advancement progressed to envelop energy storage and retrieval, and varieties of examples around the concept. Molecular motion alone can also be a rich source for such a work output has also been established. These developments possess the required momentum to uncover a new area of chemistry, wherein energy input-output can be used beneficially to conduct a useful work, in a close analogy to machines such as an electric motor.     

The brachistochrone

The brachistochrone problem posed by Bernoulli and its solution highlights one of the most famous experiments in physics which illustrates the variational principle. This pedagogical study is designed to ignite a classroom discussion on the variational problem. We overview the Euler–Lagrange formalism of the variational principle and obtain the solution to the brachistochrone problem. We demonstrate the success of the variational method using brachistochrone models which were fabricated specially for this purpose.