Elastocaloric effect

When rubbers bands are twisted and untwisted, it produces a cooling effect. This is called the “elastocaloric” effect, and researchers have suggested that it can be used in a very relevant context today.

Researchers from multiple universities, including Nankai University in China, have found that the elastocaloric effect, if harnessed, may be able to do away with the need of fluid refrigerants used in fridges and air-conditioners. These fluids are susceptible to leakages, and can contribute to global warming.

In the elastocaloric effect, the transfer of heat works much the same way as when fluid refrigerants are compressed and expanded. When a rubber band is stretched, it absorbs heat from its environment, and when it is released, it gradually cools down. In order to figure out how the twisting mechanism might be able to enable a fridge, the researchers compared the cooling power of rubber fibres, nylon and polyethylene fishing lines and nickel-titanium wires. They observed high cooling from twist changes in twisted, coiled and supercoiled fibres.

They reported that the level of efficiency of the heat exchange in rubber bands “is comparable to that of standard refrigerants and twice as high as stretching the same materials without twisting”.

To demonstrate this setup, the researchers developed a fridge the size of a ballpoint pen cartridge that was able to bring down the temperature of a small volume of water by 8°C in a few seconds. They suggested that their findings may lead to the development of greener, higher-efficiency and low-cost cooling technology.

Nobel Peace prize for 2019 – Abyi Ahmed Ali

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize on 11^th October, 2019 for “his important work to promote reconciliation, solidarity and social justice”.

When Abiy became Prime Minister in 2018, Ethiopia had been locked in conflict with Eritrea for 20 years. In July that year, the former Army officer-turned-PM, then 41, stepped across the border, held Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in a warm embrace and signalled the beginning of a peace effort, announcing to the world that war was no longer an option.

Eritrea, once an Italian colony, was merged with Ethiopia in 1936 during Benito Mussolini’s regime, then taken over by the British during the Second World War. After the War, a United Nations declaration in 1950 made Eritrea part of a federation with Ethiopia. When Eritrean groups launched a struggle for independence in 1961, Ethiopia dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea in 1962. After a war that lasted 30 years, Eritrea gained international recognition as an independent country in 1993.

Just five years later, however, war broke out over the control of Badme, a border town both countries coveted. The violence, which went on until an agreement to cease hostilities in 2000, claimed 80,000 lives and separated countless families. Since then, the two countries were in a state the Nobel Committee described as “no peace, no war”.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second largest country by population, but landlocked, while tiny Eritrea is connecting by sea to the Middle East. Through the years of conflict, Ethiopia had depended heavily on Djibouti for access to the Gulf of Aden and onward to the Arabian Sea. The peace deal opened up Eritrean ports for Ethiopian use. Ethiopia is landlocked, and through the years of the war with Eritrea, had been dependent heavily on Djibouti, which sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, for access to the Gulf of Aden and onward to the Arabian Sea. The peace deal with Eritrea opened up Eritrean ports for Ethiopian use, most prominently the port of Assab, located at the tip of the country’s ‘tail’, to balance its reliance on Djibouti.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Afwerki announced the resumption of trade, diplomatic, and travel ties between their two countries, and “a new era of peace and friendship” in the war-bloodied Horn of Africa. A second agreement was signed between the two countries in September 2018 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Anthropology Introduction

Anthropology was first coined by Aristotle. It is a combination of two Greek words, Anthropos and Logos. Anthropos means man and Logos means scientific study.

So, anthropology is a scientific study of mankind in all aspects at all times and in all dimensions. It is also known as holistic science. It is so called because this studies man not only from biological perspective, but also from social, cultural, linguistic, archaeological, psychological aspect.

Clyde Kluckhohn in his book ‘Mirror of Man’ defined anthropology as a discipline that projects the entire situation of man in its completeness like a mirror knowing the even minute details about himself.

Branches of Anthropology: