Scientists hold a meet to commemorate National Science Day.

Human activities bring about a profound change in the environment. A dramatic change has been has been seen due to alterations made in the earth’s biosphere. So human activities and nature need to be complimentary,” said Dr A.P. Mitra, Honourary Scientist of Eminence, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, in a conference held at the Indian Science Congress Association, Calcutta, on February 28 to celebrate National Science Day.

The focal theme of the conference was ‘Nurture nature for the future’. It was followed by a symposium on ‘Integrated rural development: Science and Technology’. The participants discussed a wide range of topics, right from conservation of nature to involving science and technology for the development of rural India.

In his inaugural speech, Prof. Dipak Kumar Bagchi stressed upon the need to make people realise the need of preserving natural resources for the future. Prof. R.L. Brahmachari spoke about the chemical communication among tigers, which enables them to find suitable mates. Tigers ejaculate pheromone-containing fluids on tree trunks or other high surfaces. The characteristic smell of the fluid enables them to choose a mate.

“Nurturing overwhelms nature,” said Prof. J.J. Ghosh. “Control over lifestyle can reduce the chances of cardiac stroke or colon cancer by 70 per cent and type II diabetes by 90 per cent,” he said.

The next speaker, Dr A. Sujatha, senior scientist (Entomology) and winner of Dr B.C. Deb Memorial award, moved on to the subject of the latest development made in the field of pest control, where bio-pesticides are supplied to the farmers in order to get rid of pests.

Prof. Deepankar Choudhury of IIT Kharagpur spoke about the dire need for basic science to design quake-resistant foundations in areas with high seismic activities. This is specially important for rural areas, where buildings and structures have low bearing capacity and shallow foundations. These designs should also keep in mind the varied category of soil profiles.

The next spokesman, Dr Kruti N. Shah from the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute spoke about promoting health education and creating an infrastructure for cancer management in rural areas.