ACOUSTICS INTERFERENCE TO CHECK MOSQUITO GROWTH

    ACOUSTICS INTERFERENCE TO CHECK MOSQUITO GROWTH

WAQAR HUSSAIN

          A MOSQUITO WHINNY BUZZ IS ONE OF THE MOST IRRITATING NOISE TO HUMAN EARS BUT FOR MOSQUITO,IT IS A MELODIOUS LOVE SONG.A NEW RESEARCH CONDUCTED ON AEDES EGYPTI, A GENUS OF MOSQUITO RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY INFECTIOUS DISEASES  DENGUE,YELLOW FEVER,CHIKUNGUNYA,ETC,DISCLOSED THAT WHEN MALE AND FEMALE MOSQUITOES MATE,THEY FIRST SYNCHRONIZE THE FREQUENCIES OF THEIR BEATING WINGS TO PRODUCE A HARMONIOUS TONE.THE MALE MOSQUITO BUZZ OR FLIGHT TONE IS ABOUT 600 HERTZ(Hz) WHEREAS FEMALE'S TONE IS NEAR 400 Hz .WHEN MALE WANTS TO COPULATE,IT BRINGS ITS TONE INTO PHASE WITH FEMALE'S TO CREATE A NEAR PERFECT DUET.THE TWO TONES INTERFERE CONSTRUCTIVELY TO PRODUCE WHAT MUSICIANS CALL AN "OVERTONE" ,A THIRD, FAINTER TONE OF 1200Hz.THIS SYNCHRONY OF BUZZES IS PREREQUISITE FOR COITUS.

         THIS RESEARCH SMASHED UP THE PREVIOUS BELIEF OF SCIENTISTS THAT AEDES MALE MOSQUITO COULD NOT HEAR FREQUENCY OF ABOUT 800 Hz WHILE FEMALE WERE THOUGHT TO BE COMPLETELY DEAF.THE RESEARCHERS WERE ASTONISHED TO FIND BOTH GENDERS OF MOSQUITOES ,CAPABLE OF HEARING EVEN LOW PITCHED OVERTONES. MOSQUITOES HAVE A PAIR OF LONG ,MANY SEGMENTED ANTENNAE.IN ALL MOSQUITO SPECIES,THE ANTENNA OF THE MALE IN COMPARISON TO FEMALES ARE NOTICEABLY BUSHIER AND PROVIDED WITH AUDITORY RECEPTORS TO DETECT THE CHARACTERISTIC WHINE OF THE FEMALE.

        FINDING MOSQUITOES’ SONIC MATCHING HABIT PRIOR TO COUPLING,SCIENTISTS STARTED PONDERING TO USE IT TO CONTROL THEIR GROWTH.NOW, THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO BREED  TRANSGENIC MALE THAT ARE "BETTER SINGERS"THESE MELLIFLUOUS MALE WOULD NEIGH ON,IRRESISTIBLE FOR FEMALE TO DENY AND WOULD MATE IN TRANCE OF EUPHONIOUS SONG."EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS"THE COITION WOULD YIELD OFFSPRING WHICH ARE EITHER IN VIABLE OR UNABLE TO TRANSMIT DENGUE VIRUS.

         IN AN OTHER ATTEMPT, SCIENTISTS ARE INVESTIGATING TO USE ACOUSTICS INTERFERENCE, WHICH THEY SAY WOULD INVOLVE”PLAYING AUDIO FREQUENCIES NEAR 1200 Hz, WOULD CONFUSE THEM, THUS, MATING WOULD BE AVERTED OR REDUCED.

         PROFESSOR HARRINGTON WHO IS WORKING ON SONIC MEDDLING TECHNIQUES, IS VERY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE OUT COME OF THESE RESEARCHES AND SAYS:”IF WE CAN INTERRUPT MATING AND REPRODUCTION, WE HAVE A VERY STRONG TOOL FOR MOSQUITO CONTROL”.

         YET IN AN OTHER EFFORT, SCIENTISTS ARE FOCUSED TO PRODUCE STERILE MALE MOSQUITO BY GENETIC ENGINEERING, FOLLOWED BY THEIR RELEASE IN ATMOSPHERE TO PLAY A LOVE SONG AND MATE FRUITLESSLY WITH FEMALE.

      AT PRESENT, ACOUSTICS BAFFLING TECHNIQUES ARE IN EMBRYONIC STAGE BUT SCIENTISTS ARE SANGUINE TO MEET SUCCESS IN NEAR FUTURE.WE ALL KNOW:"ONE, WHO STRUGGLES, SUCCEEDS.

BUDDHA’S TOOTH RELIC IN DIR MUSEUM, PAKISTAN

BUDDHA’S TOOTH RELIC IN DIR MUSEUM, PAKISTAN

PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

                    Buddha’s tooth relic is very unique, valuable and sacred commodity for the Buddhists. Luckily, Pakistan has that precious worthy tooth in Dir Museum Chakdara that can attract a massive Buddhist pilgrimage and tourists. Though some countries claim to have such relics but also have many controversies of their claims.

             In China, there is 1200 years old Lingguang Temple (Temple of divine light) at the foot of Beijing’s Western Hills. It houses Buddha’s precious tooth relic in stupa. Hence the temple has become one of the busiest centre of Buddhist pilgrimage in the world.

          In Singapore, there is Buddha Tooth temple which is a living cultural monument in Chinatown. It claims to accommodate sacred Buddha Tooth relic in a stupa composed of 320kg of gold.

             In Sri Lanka, there is a legend that a single tooth remained after Buddha’s cremation. There is myth that whoever had the tooth, had the divine right to rule. So, it is analogous to Shade of Huma (It is a mythical bird having reputation that whoever comes under its shadow becomes a king). There is long tradition behind Buddha tooth currently present in Sri Lanka. It is said that when Buddha died in 543BC, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kushinagara in India. His left canine tooth was recovered from the funeral pyre and was given to King Brahmadatte, who kept it in the city of Dantapuri (now Puri, Orissa). Here originated a legend whoever possess the tooth, had the divine right to rule. So, many wars were fought to get the sacred tooth. In 4^th century AD, tooth came into the custody of king Guhaseeva of Kalinga who adopted Buddhism and started worshipping sacred tooth.

             One day the son of King Ksheeradara raised a huge army to snatch the tooth and destroy it. When the forces entered the city, King Guhaseeva secretly sent away his son in law (Prince) Danth and his daughter Hemamala with tooth. She hid the tooth in her hair and royal couple disguised themselves as Brahmin and sailed in Ganga and reached Lankapattana, a Sri Lankan port. Sri Lanka was chosen as new abode for tooth as once Buddha said his religion will be safe in Sri Lanka for 5000 years. King of Sri Lanka Kirthi Sri Meghavarna became overjoyed to heard the news of arrival of sacred tooth and warmly welcomed couple and built a palace for tooth relic and ordered annual festival perhera in honour of sacred tooth. Later, when Sri Lanka was threatened from foreign invaders, capital was shifted from one city to another. Upon each shift, new palace was built to enshrine tooth relic. Finally, it was brought to Kandy where it is now present in Temple of Tooth which attracts a large number of visitors.

                   Luckily, Pakistan has Buddha tooth relic in Dir Museum. Archeologists found the casket in 2003 during excavation of a stupa at Shalkandi area of tehsil Munda in Lower Dir. The relic casket which can invite global attention is lying in the store of the Dir Museum for security reasons.

                  Archaeologists are still grappling with the assumption that a casket relic carrying a small bone may be Buddha’s tooth, which is said to have gone missing in Gandhara.           

                 “The casket had a small piece of tooth-like bone. We assume it in Buddha’s tooth which had gone missing in Gandhara” said Dr. Wahab. The casket cover is made of stone and has a bone like material in it. The cover doesn’t fix the box. We can assume that the casket, more than 2000 year old, was brought here from somewhere else”, experts say.          

             Experts believe that the casket may be the one among those relics which comprised either ash or bone of Buddha which were doled out among 84,000 stupas by Asoka in 261 BC, most probably after the War of Kalinga. Buddhists worship ashes or bones of Buddha kept in such casket and further enclave in dome-shaped stony stupa         

              “Archaeologists and historians from all around the globe are agreed that this the missing relic casket in Gandhara which contains the tooth of Buddha”, Dr Zainul Wahab said. He further added: “This box was taken to international exhibition at Germany and almost all the scholars gathered there said the same story”.

               “There is need to bring such relic in the limelight for further research and recognition but unfortunately security situation and lack of government attention to this historical wealth has often over shadowed such success”, said Dost Muhammad founder of Museum defense Council (MDC).

                 If confirmed through apposite research that the relic casket contains the tooth of Buddha; it could bring worldwide attention, Buddhist pilgrimage and foreign tourists. Consequently our tourist industry will boom, economic prosperity will get fillip and it will also ameliorate our bilateral relationship especially with Buddhist nations.

      

BURST OF BOMBORDIER BEETLE

BURST OF BOMBORDIER BEETLE

PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

  

          One day my son Zawar Hussain was typing an article for me on the computer. Suddenly he felt burning under his left foot along with a popping sound and he quickly lifted his foot and found a beetle crawling on the carpet. He started feeling pain and irritation in foot. He screamed in agony and we all rushed towards him. At that moment, he was holding his foot in his hand and was murmuring in pain. We saw a “five-day moon” shaped dark brown spot 

on his foot and the attacker was lying half dead on the carpet. He reported that this beetle has bombarded a missile of fire when he incidentally placed foot on it. I washed the stain of burnt area with ethanol and the stain slightly fainted and burning stopped. There was also a “five-day moon” 

shaped mark of dark brown colour on the carpet at the place of incidence. I tried to wash it with alcohol but in vain.

         Finding him well! We all started examining the beetle by placing it on the white paper. When molested with straw, the beetle squirted about a drop 

of liquid which stained paper yellow, indicating the toxin is of yellow colour. The beetle had a dark brown stiff coating having patches of yellow colour. After 30 minutes the beetle died. In the meanwhile, my children(Amsar Hussain, Zawar Hussain, Nisar Hussain and Sadaf Fatima) started questioning about the beetle’s habitat, food, reason of attack, mechanism of attack, 

chemistry of fire and toxin, effect of spurt, cause of beetle’s illness and later on death, etc. All my answers are stated below for benefit of the readers.

            

              It is called bombardier beetle, inhabitant of all continents except Antarctica. It is carnivorous and hunts for other insects at night. It has more than 500 species with unique defense mechanism. When disturbed, the beetle ejects a noxious chemical with  

popping sound in rapid burst from a gland present in abdomen. Beetle first produces and then stores two chemical; hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide in separate pouches present in rear tip of its abdomen. When threatened, the bombardier beetle contracts muscles that force two compounds to flow through valve tube into a thick walled “combustion chamber” lined with cells that secret catalases and 

peroxidase enzymes. When two compounds combine, a violent exothermic reaction takes place as enzymes decompose H₂O₂ into H₂O and atomic oxygen and also oxidise hydroquinone into para-quinone and atomic hydrogen. Keep in mind atomic oxygen or atomic hydrogen is extremely reactive. The popping sound generates due to rapid 

formation of gases that expand and rush towards area of low pressure as the pressure of gases increase 1000 times so its principle is similar to that of other explosives. The reactions also generate heat which escalate temperature to 100⁰C (boiling point of water) and vaporize 20% of mixture (some water converts to steam) which gushes out of the body due to escalated pressure. The vaporized gases and steam exert pressure which closes the entry valve of combustion chamber, thus protecting the internal organ of the beetle from venom produced. The boiling, foul smelling liquid cum gaseous mixture is expelled through outlet nozzle into the atmosphere with a loud popping sound. These hot gases burn its enemy and the poison kills them. Astonishingly, the entire process of pumping of compounds into combustion chamber, enzyme catalyzed reactions and ejection of product takes place in 500^th part of a second. It shoots boiling liquid and gases 70 times in quick succession that can travel as far as 20 cm. Its attack is fatal for insects and painful to human skin. The ejection barrel of beetle can swivel through 270^o and can hit missile on the face of insects. So, beetle can fire in multiple directions that too with immense accuracy.

          Hydroquinone is an organic compound containing benzene ring and two hydroxyl groups at para position. It undergoes oxidation to p-Quinone (poison for insects and toxic for man) which is then ejected. Para-Quinone is bright yellow crystalline solid with pungent smell. It stains skin dark brown and causes erythema (inflammation of skin in patches) and leads to local tissue necrosis (death of tissues). It is also carcinogenic. It can easily pass into the blood stream and depresses the bone marrow production and can inhabit protease enzyme in cellular apoptosis (death of cells). It is slightly soluble in water and soluble in acetone (nail polish remover) and very soluble in ethanol (available in the West as alcohol and in Pakistan as methylated spirit).

             So, whenever someone is hit by chemically loaded incendiary missile of bombardier beetle, one should clean the stain with ethanol that will surely antidote the toxin of beetle and will also pacify the burns.

  Now the question arises, why attacker beetle became ill and half dead after attack and latter on died? The answer is that when it squirted, my son lifted his foot and in this struggle some pressure was exerted on beetle and all its toxic material did not come out. And due to pressure rear valve of combustion chamber slightly opened, thus some toxin entered into its own body. Due to effect of toxin, it became half dead and finally died proving the maxim, “The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone- it will come back on him.” 

DANGEROUS BEETLE THAT EJECTS FIRE AND POISON

DANGEROUS BEETLE THAT EJECTS FIRE AND POISON

 PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

  

                  One day my son Zawar Hussain was typing an article for me on the computer. Suddenly he felt burning under his left foot along with a popping sound and he quickly lifted his foot and found a beetle crawling on the carpet. He started feeling pain and irritation in foot. He screamed in agony and we all rushed towards him. At that                 moment, he was holding his foot in his hand and was murmuring

 in pain. We saw a “five-day moon” shaped dark brown spot on his foot and the attacker was lying half dead on the carpet. He reported that this beetle has bombarded a missile of fire when he incidentally placed foot on it. I washed the stain of burnt area with ethanol and the stain slightly fainted and burning stopped. There was also a “five-day moon”    shaped mark of dark 

brown colour on the carpet at the place of incidence. I tried to wash it with alcohol but in vain.

         Finding him well! We all started examining the beetle by placing it on the white paper. When molested with 

straw, the beetle squirted about a drop of liquid which stained paper yellow, indicating the toxin is of yellow colour. The beetle had a dark brown stiff coating having patches of yellow colour. After 30 minutes the beetle died. In the meanwhile, my 

children(Amsar Hussain, Zawar Hussain, Nisar Hussain and Sadaf Fatima) started questioning about the beetle’s habitat, food, reason of attack, mechanism of attack, chemistry of fire and toxin, effect of spurt, cause of beetle’s illness and later on death, etc. All my answers are stated below for benefit of the readers.

             It is called bombardier beetle, inhabitant of all continents except Antarctica.It is present in almost every house in Pakistan in good numbers. It is carnivorous and hunts for other insects at night. It has more than 500 species with unique defense mechanism. When disturbed, the beetle ejects a noxious chemical with popping sound in rapid burst from a gland present in abdomen. Beetle first produces and then stores two chemical; hydroquinone and 

hydrogen peroxide in separate pouches present in rear tip of its abdomen. When threatened, the bombardier beetle contracts muscles that force two compounds to flow through valve tube into a thick walled “combustion chamber” lined with cells that secret catalases and peroxidase enzymes. When two compounds combine, a violent 

exothermic reaction takes place as enzymes decompose H₂O₂ into H₂O and atomic oxygen and also oxidise hydroquinone into para-quinone and atomic hydrogen. Keep in mind atomic oxygen or atomic hydrogen is extremely reactive. The popping sound generates due to rapid formation of gases that expand and rush towards area of low pressure as the pressure of gases increase 1000 times so its 

principle is similar to that of other explosives. The reactions also generate heat which escalate temperature to 100⁰C (boiling point of water) and vaporize 20% of mixture (some water converts to steam) which gushes out of the body due to escalated pressure. The vaporized gases and steam exert pressure which closes the entry valve of combustion chamber, thus protecting the internal organ of the beetle from venom produced. The boiling, foul smelling liquid cum gaseous mixture is expelled through outlet nozzle into the atmosphere with a loud popping sound. These hot gases burn its enemy and the poison kills them. Astonishingly, the entire process of pumping of compounds into combustion chamber, enzyme catalyzed reactions and ejection of product takes place in 500^th part of a second. It shoots boiling liquid and gases 70 times in quick succession that can travel as far as 20 cm. Its attack is fatal for insects and painful to human skin. The ejection barrel of beetle can swivel through 270^o and can hit missile on the face of insects. So, beetle can fire in multiple directions that too with immense accuracy.

          Hydroquinone is an organic compound containing benzene ring and two hydroxyl groups at para position. It undergoes oxidation to p-Quinone (poison for insects and toxic for man) which is then ejected. Para-Quinone is bright yellow crystalline solid with pungent smell. It stains skin dark brown and causes erythema (inflammation of skin in patches) and leads to local tissue necrosis (death of tissues). It is also carcinogenic. It can easily pass into the blood stream and depresses the bone marrow production and can inhabit protease enzyme in cellular apoptosis (death of cells). It is slightly soluble in water and soluble in acetone (nail polish remover) and very soluble in ethanol (available in the West as alcohol and in Pakistan as methylated spirit).

                So, whenever someone is hit by chemically loaded incendiary missile of bombardier beetle, one should clean the stain with ethanol that will surely antidote the toxin of beetle and will also pacify the burns.

           Now the question arises, why attacker beetle became ill and half dead after attack and latter on died? The answer is that when it squirted, my son lifted his foot and in this struggle some pressure was exerted on beetle and all its toxic material did not come out. And due to pressure rear valve of combustion chamber slightly opened, thus some toxin entered into its own body. Due to effect of toxin, it became half dead and finally died proving the maxim, “The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone- it will come back on him.”