காலம் செய்யும் உதவியைக் கடவுள் செய்ய மட்டான். கவியரசர்

செந்தாமரையில் நான் எழுதிய பாடல் ஒன்று
சரியாக அமையவில்லை என்று உடுமலை நாராயணக்கவியை 
அழைத்துத் திருத்தச் சொன்னார்கள். 
அவர் இரண்டு நாள் முயற்சி செய்து விட்டு 
இதற்கு மேல் இதில் எதுவும் செய்ய முடியாது என்று கூறிவிட்டார். 

அந்தப்பாடல் நன்றாகவே இருந்தது. ஆனால்
புகழ் பெறாத ஒருவன் எழுதியதால்,
மற்றவர்கள் கண்ணுக்கு குறைவாகவே பட்டது.
ஆனால் புகழ் பெற்று விட்ட ஒருவன் ஒருகாகிதத்தில்
ஏதாவது கிறுக்கி வைத்தால் அதுவும் ஒருகவிதைப் போல தோன்றும்.
புகழ் இல்லாத ஒருவன் எவ்வளவுதான் உயர்ந்த கவிதை எழுதினாலும்
அதன் தரம் குறைவாகவே தெரியும். பொதுவாகவே மனிதர்களின்
கண்ணோட்டம் இதுதான். இதற்கு யாரும் விதிவிலக்கல்ல.
இன்று நான் தவறாகவே ஒன்றை எழுதிவிட்டாலும் அதை தவறு என்று
ஒப்புக்கொள்ளாமல் புது அர்த்தம் கண்டுபிடிக்கிறார்கள் ரசிகர்கள்.
ஆனால் அன்று நான் சரியாக எழுதியது கூடத் தவறாகத் தெரிந்தது.
அதை சிந்தித்துப் பார்க்கக் கூடி சக்தியும் எனக்கிருந்தது.
காலம் செய்யும் உதவியைக் கடவுள் செய்ய மட்டான்.
என எண்ணி நான் காத்திருந்தேன்."
-கவியரசர் (வனவாசம்)

Fibre's cancer-fighting role found

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Share on print By safely transporting up to 80% of the antioxidant nutrients from fruit and vegetables to the colon, fibre helps to provide protection against cancers such as colon cancer. Image: Kathy Grube/University of Queensland Fibre not only works as a 'bowel scourer', but may also help to protect the colon from cancer by transporting antioxidants to the large bowel, new Queensland research has found. The world-first study discovered that fibre binds up to 80% of cancer-inhibiting antioxidant polyphenols in fruit and vegetables, thereby protecting the antioxidants from early digestion in the stomach and small intestine. Dr Anneline Padayachee, who undertook the study through The University of Queensland (UQ) and CSIRO, found that fibre acts as an antioxidant trafficker by safely transporting antioxidant nutrients to the colon where they can provide protection against cancers such as colon cancer. "Cells in fruits and vegetables are 'opened' allowing nutrients to be released when they are juiced, pureed or chewed," Dr Padayachee said. "In an unexpected twist, I found that after being released from the cell 80% of available antioxidant polyphenols bind to plant fibre with minimal release during the stomach and small intestinal phases of digestion. "Fibre is able to safely and effectively transport polyphenols to the colon where these compounds may have a protective effect on colon health as they are released during plant fibre fermentation by gut bacteria." This finding also has implications for fresh juice lovers who are throwing out antioxidants along with the fibre-rich pulp they discard. "In juicing, the fibrous pulp is usually discarded, which means you miss out on the health benefits of these antioxidants as well as the fibre," Dr Padayachee said. "As long as you consume everything - the raw or cooked whole vegetable or fruit, drink mainly cloudy juices and eat the fibrous pulp - you will not only have a clean gut, but also a healthy gut full of protective polyphenols." Dr Padayachee used black carrots, which are rich in two antioxidant polyphenols - anthocyanins and phenolic acids - as a model system in her research to assess why plant-based diets generally result in better gut health. Black carrots are the original carrot from which the now more common orange carrot was bred. Still cultivated in southern Europe and Asia, black carrots are having a bit of a resurgence as a source of natural food colouring and also as a fresh vegetable in grocery stores, where they are often mislabelled as purple carrots. Black carrots are one of the highest sources of anthocyanins - the antioxidant polyphenol that creates the purple-red pigment in blueberries and raspberries - and have been found to display potent antioxidant behaviour. Dr Padayachee completed her PhD through UQ's School of Agriculture and Foods Sciences and undertook her research at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls and the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at UQ's Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Science and CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences. Further research to assess the mechanisms involved with fibre binding polyphenol antioxidants is currently being conducted at the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences. Dr Padayachee is one of 12 early-career scientists from across Australia chosen to present their research to the public for the first time as part of Fresh Science, a national program sponsored by the Australian Government. See here for more details on this program.  Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Nano-data storage a step closer

AGENCY FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH

Share on print The research found that an ultra-smooth surface is the key factor for 'self assembly' - a cheap, high-volume, high-density patterning technique. Image: Henrik5000/iStockphoto Imagine being able to store thousands of songs and high-resolution images on data devices no bigger than a fingernail. Researchers from A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered that an ultra-smooth surface is the key factor for 'self-assembly' - a cheap, high-volume, high-density patterning technique. This allows manufacturers to use the method on a variety of different surfaces. This discovery paves the way for the development of next generation data storage devices, with capacities of up to 10 Terabits per square inch, which could lead to significantly greater storage on much smaller data devices. The 'self-assembly' technique is one of the simplest and cheapest high-volume methods for creating uniform, densely-packed nanostructures that could potentially help store data. Self-assembly is one of the leading candidates for large scale nanofabrication at very high pattern densities. One of its most obvious applications will be in the field of bit patterned media, or the hard disk industry.  It is widely used in research and is gaining acceptance in industry as a practical lithographic tool for sub-100 nm, low-cost, large area patterning. However, attempts to employ self-assembly on different surface types, such as magnetic media used for data storage, have shown varying and erratic results to date. This phenomenon has continued to puzzle industry researchers and scientists globally. Researchers from A*STAR's IMRE and NUS have now solved this mystery and identified that the smoother the surface, the more efficient the self-assembly of nanostructures will be. This breakthrough allows the method to be used on more surfaces and reduce the number of defects in an industrial setting. The more densely packed the structures are in a given area, the higher the amount of data that can be stored.           "A height close to 10 atoms, or 10 angstroms in technical terms, is all it takes to make or break self-assembly," explained Dr MSM Saifullah, one of the key researchers from A*STARís IMRE who made the discovery. This is based on a root mean squared surface roughness of 5 angstrom.  The team discovered that this was the limit of surface roughness allowed for the successful self-assembly of dots, which could eventually be used in making high-density data storage. ìIf we want large scale, large area nanopatterning using very affordable self-assembly, the surface needs to be extremely smooth so that we can achieve efficient, successful self-assembly and with lower incidences of defects." The discovery was recently published in Scientific Reports, an open access journal fromNature.  Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.