New Delhi: A US-based woman has returned to the state museum in Kohima an antique tribal necklace that she bought in 2012 from a small shop in Nagaland. The woman, Colleen Choi, believed the “spirits” in the necklace “wanted to return to their land”.
The beaded necklace arrived from California last month, reports The Morung Express, and is presumed to belong to the Konyak Naga tribe. C. Rongsen Pongener, Assistant Director of the Department of Art & Culture, has said the ‘animal bone’ with a human face carving stringed to the necklace presumed to be around 60-70 years old is “authentic”.
Choi had also written a small note with the parcel that read: “When I returned to the US and looked at this necklace, I felt the spirits in the necklace wanted to return to their land. I had promised these spirits I would return them…I hope whoever opens this knows the best place to keep the necklace and honour the spirits and ancestors.”
Trekkers spot rare parasitic flower in Meghalaya
Sapria himalayana, a rare holo-parasitic flowering plant, was recently spotted in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district. Related to the Rafflesia genus, it has only been documented in parts of Arunachal Pradesh before this.
The flower was sighted in the state’s Nokrek Biosphere Reserve by Bhuto Marak, an employee at the taxation department in Williamnagar, and his friend, during a trek.
There are three varieties of the flower — griffith, poilanei and ram. The one spotted in Nokrek belonged to the griffith variety. It has, until now, been found only in Thailand, apart from Arunachal, with sightings being extremely rare.
The flowers are about 20 cm across and unisexual. They require canopies and can be damaged by sunlight. Sapria himalayana depends on its host plant for water, nutrients and products of photosynthesis which it sucks through a root system called haustoria. “This is a rare find, both for botany enthusiasts and environmental experts,” Marak said.
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IIT-Guwahati researchers develop method to harvest drinking water from air
Researchers from IIT-Guwahati have turned to nature to devise a unique technique of harvesting water. They have developed a method by which water can be harvested from humid air using the concept of hydrophobicity or water-repelling nature of materials.
The researchers have mimicked the pitcher plant, an ‘insect-eating’ species that has a slippery surface which causes its prey to fall into its tube-shaped structure to be digested, for developing their method.
According to their study, published in The Royal Society of Chemistry, the research team has used the concept of chemically-patterned SLIPS (Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surface/s) inspired by the pitcher-plant to effectively harvest water from moist air.
The technique can harvest water from foggy/water vapour laden air without the need for any cooling arrangement. “We have produced a highly efficient water harvesting interface where the fog collecting rate is high,” said Uttam Manna, associate professor, chemistry department and Centre of Nanotechnology, IIT-Guwahati.
Ngangom Bala Devi becomes first Indian woman footballer to score in European league
Manipur’s Ngangom Bala Devi has become the first Indian woman footballer to score in a European professional league game. She won her first competitive goal for the Rangers Women FC at the 85th minute to win against the Motherwell Women FC in the Scottish Women’s Premier League Sunday.
Devi, 30, is also the first Indian woman to play professional football for a European club. She had joined the Rangers in January for an 18-month-long contract.
Devi had earlier won South Asian Football Federation Championship trophies in 2010, 2014, and 2016. She had also received the All India Football Federation’s woman player of the year award in 2014 and 2015.
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