Saturday, November 24, 2012

And you thought technology is making you smarter: Think again


THEY ARE MAKING YOU DUMBER

A study claims that evolution’s making us dumber, and internet, smartphones, reality shows and junk food are to blame


REALITY TV SHOWS 
SCIENCE SPEAK: “The entertainment we consume can influence our emotions and behaviour” – according to the study, A Story About a Stupid Person Can Make You Act Stupid (or Smart), by Markus Appel. 
WHAT IT MEANS: You are what you watch and watching dumb people do dumb stuff can make you dumb too. Researchers conducted a study wherein they made people watch a video called “foolish soccer hooligan” – a man who wakes up, gets drunk, goes to a soccer match and picks a fight. Another group of people watched the story’s longer version where the guy does nothing stupid. The latter beat the former at a general knowledge test. 


SMARTPHONES 
SCIENCE SPEAK: “Scientists say people who constantly multitask are more easily distracted. Such task-switching, aka multi-tasking, has been shown in several studies to increase stress, which can interfere with short-term memory, leading to more mistakes,” according to a magazine. 
WHAT THAT MEANS: How many us deserve a degree in Angry Birds rather than whatever course we were pursuing in college, considering how many hours in every lecture were dedicated to slaying those pigs? Do you feel the sudden desperation to type “whatsupp dude” to anyone on your contact list the minute your boss starts a meeting? Blame the smartphone. Thanks to it, we just don’t have any attention span left. It also makes us think we’re superhumans who can text, drive and sing all the lyrics to the new Justin Bieber song – all at the same time. Isn’t that evidence enough of our stupidity? What good have smartphones done till now anyway? How is “gr8 prty c u l8r” better than the grunting of our prehistoric ancestors? Although there still isn’t any neurological study to substantiate the fact that smartphones make us dumb, there are “distraction studies” aplenty.

JUNK FOOD 
SCIENCE SPEAK: Children who eat junk food grow up with a lower IQ. The brain grows at its fastest during the first three years and good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth. – Briston University study WHAT IT MEANS: You mean junk food makes us fat and stupid? If you hadn’t yet lost your will to live, here’s another piece of bad news – sugar makes you dumb too. Researchers at UCLA found that rats had a harder time navigating a maze after eating a fructose-only diet.So,umm,if you find yourself a bit dumber post-Diwali and all the kaaju ki barfis you ate at the time, this probably explains it.

THE INTERNET 
SCIENCE SPEAK: Google is replacing our brains. Earlier we had fewer resources (ie books) to gain information and knowing we didn’t have 24/7 access to those meant our brains stored the information. With the advent of Google, our brains no longer know how to retain the info, according to Forensic Psychology. 
WHAT IT MEANS: Us
ing Google is marginally better than flushing your brain down the toilet. Think that was a little too harsh? Well, that was nothing compared to the website’s melodramatic ending to the study: ‘if Google were to explode, so would our memory’. All this sounds like a plot of one of those Will Smith vs the Robots movies, we know, but this is real life! Kritika Kapoor

source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2012/11/25&PageLabel=63&EntityId=Ar06304&ViewMode=HTML

Thursday, November 22, 2012

classes till 30th

This is to inform you that the classes shall be conducted till 30th Nov, 2012 and as per the ETE schedule, the examination starts form 3rd Dec, 2012. The attendance shall also be counted till 30th Nov, 2012.

ETE schedule

Monday, November 19, 2012

unit-4 geo-science

unit-4 geo-science

rock and their formation
rock and their formation

gems and gemstones
gems and gemstones

hydro-carbon and minerals
minerals

coal
coal

deformation of rock
deformation of rock

mining
mining

rock and their deformation
rock and their deformation

minerals and geological exploration
minerals and geological exploration

tunneling
tunneling


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Mera Gaon Mera Base


UltraTech launches the pioneering competition – “ Innovate for India “. The competition is the first of its kind in the country and is instituted for india’s budding Engineers and Architects hailing over 500 Engineering and 100 Architectural institutes.

This year’s theme “ Mera Gaon Mera Base “ Challenge pays tribute to India’s rural landscape by empowering these students with an opportunity to trace back their roots and give back to their villages a design idea & solution that is an architectural or engineering need of the region. The Competition requires the student to spend a few days in a village, observing analyzing and resolving an architectural or engineering necessity.
“Mera Gaon Mera Base” Challenge is backed by an eminent jury comprising renowed names such as Er. CHEWANG NORPHEL  (member of the Leh Nutrition Project) and Ar. NIMESH PATEL & Ar. PARUL ZAVER   (specializing in designing the built environment using passive means for human comfort systems ) among others.

AWARDS



           ENGINEERING
              ARCHITECTURE
           WINNER
    Rs 75,000/-
       Rs 75,000/-
1st  Runner up
    Rs 50,000/-
       Rs 50,000/-
2nd Runner up
    Rs 25,000/-
       Rs 25,000/-


ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL GET A CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATITION

Top 10 entries will get featured on MGMB website.
Top 10 colleges with highest submissions will get a congratulatory plaque.

This competition closes on 22nd November 2012

For more information on the same, do visit       www.meragaonmerabase.com

Friday, November 2, 2012

ETE examination forms


For those who have not filled their end-term examination form may fill the same on 6th Nov, 2012 after paying the requisite fine. The process is as,

Fine: Rs. 1500/-
Process: Go to Narendra with an application and the receipt of fine on 5th Nov, 2012. Narendra would inform you about the time, date and venue for registration.