The saying Golden Parachute is made up of two words - one is Golden and the other is Parachute. In order to understand what "Golden Parachute" truly means we must first know what does Gold mean. In simple terms Gold is a metal which is expensive and exclusive. So anything Golden ought to be precious and expensive.

And the other word is "Parachute". Parachute is something which helps us come down and land safely. So "Golden Parachute" is a parachute which is extremely expensive and helps one Land safe and secured. This term "Golden Parachute" finds mention in companies.

It finds mention in the contract signed by the company and the prospective CEO at the time of hiring the CEO.

We all know that today the businesses are extremely dynamic. Every now and then mergers and acquisitions are taking place. We often hear this company has merged with this company and this company has been taken over by some other company... Now in such a situation what happens is one of the CEO of either company has to step down and lay down his or her office before the expiry of his term or contract appointment.

Or in some cases the CEO is forced to step down before the expiry of the contract as in the case of Mistry the CEO of Tata Sons.

The question now is ... what happens to them?

Overnight they are out of their job with no financial security. A CEO of any company cannot be left high and dry overnight to mend for himself. Hence, there is a provision in the contract that in the event of his exit before the expiry of the contract he shall be paid handsomely for his departure. Mind it the amount to be paid in the event of his/her exit is mentioned in contract at the time of hiring the CEO.

Now ... this amount, paid as financial security to the CEO is what is called "Golden Parachute". This helps CEO land safely and financially secured.

On the other hand ...

While the term "Golden Parachute" is used for safe and secured landing for the executive ... the same arrangement of paying money is termed as "Poison Pill" for the companies as they have to pay heavy some to the outgoing CEO. Naturally then, it also deters companies to whimsically get rid of their CEO.

"Golden Parachute" and "Poison Pill" therefore, are the two sides of the same coin.

Dry Ice is the common trade name for solid carbon dioxide. It is a dense white snow like substance with a slightly pungent smell and caustic biting taste. It is an efficient refrigerant used as an alternative to conventional ice. The refrigeration capacity of Dry Ice is three times that of conventional Ice.

When we crush a leaf or berry it releases its color and stains on our fingers. This is due to the pigment molecules or Biochromes .

But in nature not all colours are pigments. You have seen Brilliant iridescent colors of the Butterfly wings. They have both form of colour - pigment colors such as brown, black and dark red which are due to melanin and the other brilliant iridescent colors which are due to structural design of the wings and hence are called structural Colours.

Butterflies and Moths belong to the Class: Insecta and the Order: Lepidoptera, which really means scaly wings.
The wings of butterflies and moths consist of a colorless translucent membrane covered by a nanostructure of overlapping layers of chitinous scales. Each scale is about 100 μm long and 50 μm wide and is in fact a flattened outgrowth of a single cell which further has ridges that act as diffraction gratings. These nanostructures cause light that hits the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere. The Sun rays with full range of wavelength of light, when falls on the scales, one part of it get reflected from the top surface of the scale and some part of waves travel through the gap between scales and are reflected from the second surface. When these two diffracted waves are in-phase and overlap, it leads to constructive interference that results in amplified, intense, brilliant colors.
Iridescence is common in nature and is encountered in Mother of pearl sea-shells, fish and peacock feathers.
As for the bottom side of the insect, when the butterfly is resting it t folds up their wings to expose the dull underside as a camouflage to resemble foliage and dead leaves of their surroundings.
So if we touch a butterfly wing we might not get its colours but only powdery scales on our fingers.

An onion is a very important and delicious part of our food item, But often cutting onion makes people cry. An onion is a member of Lily family. When we cut an onion we break open thousands of plant cells. These cells have two sections - one with enzymes called Allinases and the other with sulfides called Amino Acid Sulfoxides. These enzymes break down the sulfides and generate sulphenic acid. The Sulphenic Acid is unstable and rearranges itself into a volatile gas called Syn-Propanethial-S-Oxide. This gas drifts into the air and reaches into the eyes, where it reacts with water and forms a mild solution of sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid irritates Lachrymal Glands in the eyes, and makes them sting. The tear glands then produce tears in response to this irritation. These tears dilute the irritant and flush them out from the eyes. This means onion does not make us cry, but the gas released when cutting an onion makes us cry. Its very important not to rub our eyes with our hands when we are cutting an onion. It may harm the eyes.

Efflorescence is mesmerizing as it is complex with lot of genetic processes and bio-mechanical physics behind its aesthetic facade

To become a flowers from the shoot It takes a single master gene named Apetala1 that expresses the set of proteins which regulates about 1,000 genes involved in the reproductive development of the plant. When the Apetala1 gene is active, it causes the plant's meristems, to stop forming leaves and are guided instead in making the parts of a flower- the sepals , petals, stamens and carpels . also this Apa 1 gene orchestrates the flower blossoming or anthesis. Which in greek anthos is flower, and anthēsis means bloom

Scientist look beyond the beauty of flowers and wish to know the mysterious ways of nature. The magic from closed bud to flower to open some times with a burst or at times slowly over days and many times opening and closing with stimulus. It is all in the biomechanical stress and strain.
These mechanical instabilities often result when some areas of the flower has higher cell division and growth usually the outer margins of petal becomes curly and ruffled while inner surfaces stay smooth. Too much growth on the edges causes strain, which bends thin tissues of petals outwardly, curving out the bud. This differential cell proliferation causes anthesis in flowers that bloom just once, like the Asiatic lily.
These biomechanical instabilities can also be generated by osmotic osicallition. just before blooming the Cells in flowers accumulate osmotically active sugars and amino acids that cause the plant cells to elongate and become turgid without having to actually undergo cell division. Many flowers which show repeated opening and closing mechanism are moderated by the influx and efflux of water by the way of membrane protein water channels called aquaporins.

This is applicable in Flowers that show punctuality by their circadian rhythms. The diurnal flowers like tupils, field marigold ( Calendula arvensis ) and daises like Gazania and dandelion close during the night, while nocturnal flowers close during the day and open at night for example the beautiful scented queen of the night Selenicereus grandiflorus and night gladiolus.

Do you know that Some flowers like Arachis (peanut) never open and as they are cleistogamous and undergo automatic self-pollination.

Microwave oven is safe, efficient and fast. In conventional cooking the heat for creaking is applied from outside whereas in a Microwave Oven heat for cooking is generated by the food itself. In a Microwave oven there is a generator producing microwaves. Microwaves are a portion of electromagnetic spectrum lying between infra red and radio waves. When microwave impinge on the food, water molecules in the food start vibrating at almost two billion vibrations per second thus creating heat. Water molecule can vibrate in various ways. Due to these vibrations the heat gets generated and food is cooked. In a Microwave the inner layers are cooked first.

Most of us have this curiosity that why is the programming language C named after a single alphabet. And even if it had to be a single alphabet then why only C and why not any other alphabet.

The origin of C is closely tied to the development of the Unix operating system.

Famous American programmer Denis Ritchie alongwith Ken Thompson while working on a project to re-write Unix operating system had a programming language called "B" at their disposal which had originated from BCPL(Basic Combined Programming Language).

The B language lacked many features that were necessary to re-write the operating system.

That is when Denis Ritchie set himself to re-write B. He added new features to B language which were needed to enhance UNIX and the project was a success. He called the successor language as 'C'. He named it C simply because it is lexicographically the next alphabet after 'B'. Since then, Denis Ritchie is known as Father of 'C' language and Unix.

Milk contains casein, a milk protein rich in calcium that is white. The casein is soluble either in the water or the fat of the milk emulsion, and would be colourless and transparent in either case. Calcium and Calcium-carbonate of course, are not white. The whiteness is due to the scattering of light by the colloidal particles of the milk emulsions. Just the fact that we get white shows that their is no absorbtion. So, whatever is there is transparent. This is true of most whites. The excellent white pigment titanium-di-oxide is actually made of clear crystals, dispersed as colloidal particles. Nearly all whites are the results of scattering from colloidal sized particles. Colours, like green, may be produced in transmission by absorbtion of other colours; no such process can produce white, which infact is a subjective colour, existing completely in the visual sense. White is a very special colour.

Some of us Use these Verbs Say and Tell indiscriminately but there is a difference in Usage between the two
SAY is used in Direct Speech without Personal Object. See in this example
Mary said, "What a nice idea!"
Some people Say Mary told, "What a nice idea!" That is wrong.
"Tell" is used in reported speech always with an object.
For example: Mary told Joseph that it's a nice idea.
There are some occasions when "tell" is used without an object. Infact in these occasions there is an Indirect Object. Like
(i) to tell a lie – You tell (somebody) a lie.
(ii) to tell the truth – tell the truth.
(iii) to tell the time.
(iv) to tell a story – You tell somebody a story.
"Say" cannot be substituted by "tell" in these cases.

Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in several cultures, Recently green tea has gained wide acceptance across countries. As the new research findings emerge they suggest that this ancient beverage is a healthy choice.
Basically all teas be it white, olong, green and black are derived from the plant Camellia sinensis, the difference in their taste, colour and properties emerges from the method of processing.
The green tea leaves undergo minimal oxidation and no fermentation, thus retaining their medicinal components, imparting unique health benefits.
Scientists investigating the chemical profile of Green tea to understand the mechanism of its antioxidant, anti cancer, anti obesity and anti diabetic properties have found flavonoids namely the catechins attributed with antioxidant properties. These catechins are water soluble and impart astringency to the green tea. They are of 4 major types- epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC),
epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is the most promising component. As it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and has shown effectivity in inhibiting the growth of cancerous cells, lowering LDL cholesterol levels and in managing cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging in animal models.
The other components of Green tea are- Theanine( an amino acid ) caffeine, various vitamins- such as A B2, C, folic acid, Saponins, fluorine, gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and minerals such as Potassium, calcium, phosphorus and manganese).
The evidence of benefits of green tea are still emerging, however there must be caution in excessive consumption of any tea due to effects of caffeine, iron depleting chemicals and excessive metals such as aluminium that may be found in the tea.

Friends You might be wondering at times as to What is the difference between "can" and "may" in their usage?
The Words "Can" and "May" both are used to give the meaning of future possibility.
"May" or "Might" indicate that there is a chance that something will happen. For example: His wife may accompany him. It might rain today.
"Can" is not used in this sense. It is used for "theoretical possibility". (i.e.) Theoretically events are possible without talking about the chances of them actually happening. For example: The results can be announced in a day or two. This means (Marks are ready, Tabulation is going on)
It is possible to release the results in a day or two but you never know whether it will happen. The Results can be announced in a Day or Two.

Please note that "Might" is not just the past tense of May, it indicates a smaller probability than "May". For example: Abhinav might phone.
My mother May ring me up this evening.
My Mother is more likely to ring me up than in the case of Abhinav's phone call.
Abhinav might Phone but we are not sure.

Do you know that there are Genes which have the unique capacity to jump from their position of occurance from one locus. This mobilization is termed transposition and such genes are called "jumping genes" also known as Transposoons, Transposing or mobile elements.

Discovered by a geneticist Barbara Mc Clintock while she was studying variegation in kernel pigmentation in maize plant for which she was awarded the noble prize in 1983.
While many scientist dismissed these mobile elements to be junk DNA, McClintock, however, believed that these mysterious jumping genes which she called "controlling elements" could have regulatory role. Later, however it was discovered that these transposons in fact do play various roles in genomic processes, say gene expression regulation, genetic instability, genome evolution and even cancer manifestation. This Transposition is widespread phenomena across prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and is well documented in Maize plant, fruit fly and humans. The jumping genes have a characteristic structure with segments of terminal inverted repeats flanking a region encoding for their multifunctional enzyme Transposases or DNA scissors and few other allied proteins that help in jumping and reinsertion action. Which also occurs two different mechanisms.
The jumping genes in its original copy moves out from its position and gets inserted in a different gene location in case of Non-Replicative transposition mechanism, whereas in the replicative type of transposition the jumping gene produces a DNA copy that pastes into a new locus With the help of enzymes named transposases. While transposing the gene may land up near or in middle of very important gene, Where it can positively or negatively impact its gene expression. Any Jumping gene whose insertions caused death or illness, are less likely to be pass on to next generation, while favorable mutations over trillions of years and gradually get integrated throughout genomes. Approximately 45% of the human genome is comprised of transposable elements, however 99% of them have lost the capacity to transpose and are now Molecular fossils. Yet, we still have some active transposable elements within us: which can mutate either to give us new evolutionary power or wreak havoc and cause disease, this makes them an interesting arena of research and these Gene are not going out of fashion.

Friends We all use the Verbs Look, Watch and See, Which are Similar in Meaning.

So, what are the differences in their usage?

The verb "See" is used to indicate visual impression. You just happen to see things without thinking - you come across things.

For example: There, I see a spider in that corner.

Whereas "Look" is used when we see things with attention. For example:

I looked for you in the crowd, but couldn't see you.

The verb "Watch" is similar in meaning to "look". But suggests that something is happening or going to happen.

We watch things that change, move or develop.

For example: I love watching a football match. The police is on the watch, in the camp.
But We "watch" the T.V. and "See" plays or films or public performances.

For example: Did you watch the new serial yesterday?

I saw Pride and Prejudice twice.

We saw a good production of Hamlet last year.

Similar Differences can be noticed in the Use of Verbs like Listen and Hear.

We use "among" when somebody is in a group, a crowd or a mass of people or things, which we do not see separately.

Whereas we use "between" to refer somebody or something which is present with two or more clearly separately people or things.

For example : I'm trying to decide between the green shirt, the blue shirt, and the black shirt.
or
I'm trying to decide among these shirts.

So you see when I specify the color of shirts I use the preposition between, whereas when I'm not specifying the color I'm using the preposition among.

let see another example:

-Rahul is standing "between" Rajesh and Ravi.
-Rahul is standing "among" the boys.

-Our office is "between" the road and the tall building.

-The dog was hiding "among" the trees.

So, I hope now the difference in the usage of the prepositions between and among is clear to you.

I will delve you into the key concepts of the modern Science of Toxicology and explain you what we mean by the phrase- The dose determines the poison? Now, pay attention to this statement - "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison: the dose alone makes a thing not poison," this was a radical pronouncement made by a Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus in the sixteenth century. So, what does it exactly mean?
It simply means that substances that are generally considered as toxins in the body, if taken in low doses can be non-toxic or can be beneficial.
Let me clarify it further by an example-
Take for instance- Wine. Moderate wine drinking reduces the risk of heart disease and is packed with antioxidants- a chemical which we all know reduces the chance of having cancer but heavy drinking can cause liver damage. Similarly, let's take for example-multivitamins. Many vitamins and essential trace minerals like selenium and chromium are beneficial at low doses but harmful at high doses. So, this range where the substance is beneficial at low doses helps the scientist define the safe dosage or the therapeutic dose where its maximum effectiveness can be harnessed. This concept can be further explained by the dose-response curve- Here is the graph of dosage and its respective response. The graph also shows the control which indicates the safe level. In graph (a), as the dose of the chemical under testing increases, we see that the response shifts further away from the control level indicating it to be surely a toxin. In graph (b) the lowering of the dose leads to what is known as the, no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL), which is the maximum dose to show no effect, after which the response shoots up beyond the control. Futher toning down the dose as shown in graph (c), there can be achieved a dose level that is several hundred times less than NOAEL. This is the working dose or the approved dose that corresponds to the acceptable level. This basic concept has led to ground breaking contributions to public health, risk assessment and chemical safety testing. As in medicine, the influence of Paracelsus ideas on toxicology was enormous. He is considered as the founder of medicinal chemistry and modern toxicology. This declaration of his given in the sixteenth century distilled into the phrase that became foundational dogma for the modern science of toxicology: "the dose defines the poison".

What would you do if you knew there is a speed detection camera ahead on the road? You will slowly leave the accelerator and mildly start applying brakes for the fear of not getting a ticket or paying the fine.

That is the power of traffic violation regulation through high tech surveillance and enforcement. Intelligent transportation systems are becoming increasing reliable for reducing casualties and saving lives. The modern surveillance and enforcement system can detect speed, red light and lane violation, blacklisted vehicle and can read the number plates all at once.

There are various instruments for monitoring speed of the vehicles. Some are hand held radar based speed guns; others are Infrared laser based, or high resolution high speed cameras.

Ever wondered how do they work?

The Radar speed Detectors are based on Doppler's effect in which continuous radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) beam at a microwave frequency is impinged on the target vehicle and simultaneously the echo of microwave is measured.

The vehicle's speed is calculated by measuring the Doppler shift. Which is an apparent change in frequency due to the relative motion of two objects? It's quite evident when an approaching car sounds shriller due to apparent increase in frequency. This change in frequency is called the Beat frequency which is used to calculate the speed of the car.

The other hi tech widely speed detector is now Infrared Laser based radar detectors "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Here the laser beam pulses are impinged on the vehicle and the time delay between individual infrared pulses from the transmitter to the vehicle and back to the receiver is measured much like a ping pong ball game at as many as sixty pulses in single measurement duration of only 0.3 to 0.7 seconds. With this technology 3D image forming and tracking of several vehicles in multi lane is possible.

These lasers are retina safe, as radiated light power of lasers is on the order of 50 microwatts only, one twentieth than IR radiation from your TV remote.