The Aufbau Principle states that in the ground state of an atom, an electron enters the orbital with lowest energy first and subsequent electrons are fed in the order of increasing energies. The word ‘aufbau’ in German means ‘building up’. Here, it refers to the filling up of orbitals with electrons.

The name of the element is ‘Einsteinium’, its symbol is Es and the atomic number is 99. Named in honour of Albert Einstein, it is the seventh transuranic element and does not occur naturally in any measurable quantities. Einsteinium was first identified in December 1952 by Albert Ghiorso, with co-workers at the University of California, Berkeley, when he was examining …

The term anti-sense comes from the fact that messenger RNA is synthesized from one of the two strands of the DNA double helix – that strand is called the template, or sense strand. The complementary strand of DNA is called the anti-sense strand. The two DNA strands – sense and anti sense – are complementary to each other and form …

The greenhouse effect occurs when the atmosphere lets sunlight in and blocks infrared radiation from escaping. If it is not so, then the temperature on Earth which is 15 degrees Celsius would be -15 degrees Celsius. Imagine a layer that stops light from getting in and lets infrared out. An anti-greenhouse effect does the same thing to heat — it …

The alphabet of genetics consists of four letters ATC and G each representing the corresponding nitrogenous base, e.g., A for adenine, T for thiamine, C for cytosine and G for guanine (in case of RNA, T is replaced by U which stands for uracil). These are constituents of a nucleotide monomer along with pentose sugar and phosphoric acid. In the …

It is a technique developed by F M Alexander, who utilised the self-observation and reasoning methods to enhance the physical performance of human body like sitting, standing, walking and speaking. It is utilised to overcome unwanted physical habits developed over the years through refined strategies borne out of empirical reasoning. It is a helpful tool for traditional methods of medication.

This model was proposed by JJ Thomson, who had also discovered the electron. It was put forth before the discovery of the nucleus. In this model, the atom is a sphere of positive charge, and negatively charged electrons are embedded in it to balance the positive charge. The electrons are like plums in a pudding. This model was rejected when …

It is the medical name for lockjaw, and is caused by the tetanus bacillus that can get into a simple wound, such as a cut, and which produces a poison that makes the muscles move in spasms. Tetanus can be treated, and it is usually dealt with by having an anti-tetanus injection.

The terminator gene is a specific genetic sequence inserted by scientists into a seed’s DNA that renders the seed and the crop it produces sterile. The seed company initiates the terminator process before selling the seeds by adding an inducer. Farmers plant seeds, grow plants and the harvest matures but the seeds are sterile. Patented by the USDA and Delta …

Taste is one of the five senses, the others being sight, smell, touch and hearing. Our chief organ of taste is the tongue, which is covered with tiny cells or taste buds. These react to different tastes and send messages to the brain. You may be surprised to learn the there are in fact only four kinds of taste: sweet, …