Do forest and ocean ecosystems have the capacity to recover what they lose due to deforestation and over fishing?

Whether on land or in oceans, living resources such as trees and fishes are being harvested by man excessively for timber and food respectively. Deforestation (loss of forests) causes loss of animals and plants at a rate 3 or 4 times higher than their natural death rate while over fishing causes the depletion of nearly 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks (fish-able populations). For instance, about 60,000 tons of the Atlantic Blue fin tuna are now being harvested whereas

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Can we eat our fish and keep them in the sea as well?

In a recent Sunday Times newspaper there was a news item stating about 200 International Scientists will meet in Sri Lanka in September 2019 to discuss saving living forms in the tropics” (the tropics is said to host about 80% of all species found on planet earth). What does this news mean to us, the people of tropical Sri Lanka and the people of Batticaloa district in particular? It means every time we enjoy a fish, crab or prawn curry

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Understanding elephants is essential to their conservation.

Every other day we read in the news papers about elephants being killed for destroying the homes, property and crop lands of villagers in the Batticaloa district. Some times elephant attacks on humans turn fatal. Do we ever pause to think why a gentle giant like the elephant turns so violent? Though Bull elephants are solitary, adult females and calves move about together as groups. Elephants form affectionate ties with their family members and they are even known to mourn

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Guide to Predict Seasonal Rainfall of Batticaloa

INTRODUCTION Batticaloa is one of the district suffers the most due to natural disasters. At the same time main economy of this district is Agriculture, primarily in the form of paddy. Due to the annual variation of the seasonal rainfall paddy cultivation failed to give the maximum yield. Unexpected heavy rainfall causes floods and less rainfall results drought. This affect the cultivation as well as living standard of people in these areas. We science navigators were able to review the

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வியப்பூட்டும் துகள்கள் (Amazing Particles)

சொட்டு பௌதிகம் (quantum physics)  கடந்த நூற்றாண்டின் மிக முக்கிய கண்டுபிடிப்புகளில் ஒன்றாக விளங்குவது துகள்கள் பற்றிய பௌதீகமாகும். சரியாக கூறுவதானால் இது விஞ்ஞானத்தின் மிகபெரிய திருப்பு முனையாகும். எனினும் இது எம்மக்களிடையே மிகவும் அறியபடாத உண்மையாகும். துகள்கள் பற்றிய பௌதீகம் என்பது ஆங்கிலத்தில் Particle Physics என அழைக்கப்படும். இதில் முக்கிய அங்கமாக விளங்குவது குவாண்டம் அதாவது சொட்டுக்கள் என தமிழில் அழைக்கப்படும் பகுதியாகும். சொட்டுகள் அல்லது குவாண்டம் பற்றிய விதியானது மிகவும் விசித்திரமானது. அதை விளங்கிக்கொள்ள முயலும் பொழுது நாம் விஞ்ஞான பூர்வமான பகுத்தறிவிலிருந்து முற்றாக விடுபடவேண்டி நேரும். அதுமட்டுமல்லாமல் நாம் காரண காரிய நிதர்சனமான மற்றும் நிச்சயமான உலகிலிருந்து வேறு ஒரு உலகிற்குச் செல்லவேண்டி நேரும். இவ்வுலகமானது தனக்கே உரித்தான

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Batticaloa Lagoon and Its Estuarine Flow

Batticaloa District is part of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka and Batticaloa Town is the seat of the District Administration. The District Secretariat and the District Heads of other Departments are located in the Batticaloa town. BATTICALOA LAGOON Batticaloa Lagoon is a very large estuarine lagoon in Batticaloa District, of Eastern Sri Lanka. The city of Batticaloa is located on a narrow stretch of land between the lagoon and the Indian Ocean. Batticaloa District is flourished with three lagoons,

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Science Navigators Conduct Science Week for Kids

Science Navigators conducted Science Week for kids. The event held on 8th November 2014 at Science Navigator’s Natural History Museum. It was 3 hours event and multiple seminars for kids were completed. One important part of the event was the question and answers session with kids and S+T representative Tom Dieffenbach in U.S.A We were able to do some little experiments with household items to illustrate some physical and science facts for kids. The next event will be in January

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Singing Fish of Batticaloa – The Long Forgotten History is Renewing

Batticaloa, eastern part of Sri lanka is famous for many things, and one of them is almost forgotten by the current generation even though the emblems and statues reminds us why Batticaloa was once called “Town of Singing Fish”. Singing Fish is not mystery or legend, but rather true phenomena that linger to this date in the lagoons of Batticaloa. Yes this is about kind of fishes which can make musical notes in the dark nights. It is said in

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Science Visualization Challenge 2013

National Science Foundation and ‘Science’ journal teams up every year to sponsor the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. The challenge is all about bringing meaningful scientific data to beautiful art, that is easily understandable visuals. Last Thursday, 18 winning entries were announced out of 277 submissions for 2013 competition. Here is the list of winners and their work. Photography – First Place Invisible Coral Flows reveal the hidden flow generated by small hairs (cilia) covering the surface of the

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Oldest Foot Print Outside Africa Found in Britain

Last summer in a village of Happisburgh, Norfolk, rough sea season washed away some portion of the seashore and revealed about 50 foot prints. The researchers then manage to estimate the age of those prints and amazingly they are 800000 to 1 million years old and now the oldest evidence of humans ever found in northern Europe. The previous record of the footprint in Britain is just 7500 years old, therefore this discovery is significant to understand how humans originated

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