Get along with Nerd

Nipah virus claims many mysterious deaths for the past few days in Kerala, a state on India's tropical Malabar Coast. This viral infection has taken its toll over many people recently. Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes diseases in animals and humans. The main host is said to be fruit bats belonging to the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus. This infection was first seen during the outbreak of disease in Kampung Sangai Nipah, Malaysia around mid-1998. Later, this incident coincides with a place in Singapore. On this occasion, pigs were seen as the intermediate hosts. Subsequest NiV outbreaks were similar to one another. The NiV infection found in affected pigs got transmitted to humans. Later, in the year of 2004, many people were affected with NiV and it is said that the consumption of date palm sap contaminated by the infected bats was the cause for the NiV transmission. Gradually, this infection spread like wildfire in and aro...

It's almost spring now, The crops are ready to bow.  The scent of flowers wafts in the zephyr with a bloom,  Here comes the sunshine, to fade the gloom.  On the way, bees come buzzing around, annoying your jovial mood, But have you ever known their importance or at least their part in producing food? I have been working like a busy bee all day to research the reason behind celebrating the World Bee Day, which lies on the 20th of May. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted a resolution declaring 20 May as the World Bee Day. Why did they choose this date? 20 May coincides with Anton Janša's birthday, who is well-known for his modernised bee-keeping tactics in his native, Slovenia in the 18th century. Beekeeping is an important farm activity with an ancestral tradition of Anton Janša. In 1766, he joined in the first beekeeping school in Europe and since 1769, he worked as a full-time beekeeper. What happens to...

"Without leaves, without buds, without flowers, yet they form fruit. As a food, as a tonic and as a medicine, mushroom is the wonderful of nature." -  S.T.Chang  in  Chang and Miles ( 1990). Hippocrates, a well-known Greek physician of the Age of Pericles and known as the ' Father of Western Medicine ', first mentioned the medicinal value of mushrooms around 400 B.C. The Aztecs considered mushrooms as ' God's flesh ' and the Romans regarded them as ' Food of God ', which was served occasionally during the celebration of festive spirit.  The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt believed that mushrooms had magical powers, while the Chinese treasured mushrooms as healthy food, the 'elixir of life' and used them to cure several diseases. During the reign of Alexander the Great in Ancient Greece, he provided the warriors with mushrooms, which were exported from different parts of the world. The people of Greece believed that mushr...