Science & Technology

When we think about moons – natural satellites that orbit planets, dwarf planets and asteroids – the picture that we generally conceive is one of a spherical astronomical body that goes around another. This, perhaps, is due to our close association with Earth’s moon, as we see it wane and wax on a continuous basis. Moons, however, come in all shapes and sizes. Hyperion – one of Saturn’s satellites – is the largest such non-spherical moon among more than 200 moons that are in the solar system.

Hyperion was discovered in September 1848, both by English astronomer William Lassell and American astronomers, father-son duo William Cranch Bond and George Phillips Bond, independently of the other. While some accounts suggest that both the Englishman and the Americans made the discovery on September 19, others mention that they made the discovery days within each other around that time. What is certain, however, is that all three men are credited as the discoverers of Hyperion.

God of watchfulness

Hyperion’s discovery came at a time when English astronomer John Herschel had suggested that Saturn’s satellites be named after Titans from Greek Mythology. Hyperion, the name chosen for this moon of Saturn, corresponded to the Greek god of watchfulness and observation.

As a potato-shaped satellite, Hyperion differs from most others in that it isn’t spherical. This means that its shape is better described in terms of its diameter along its three axes and it works out to be 410 x 260 x 220 km. Scientists believe that its odd shape could be the result of a major impact on a large, spherical moon, and that Hyperion could be the remnant of that strike.

In resonance with Titan

Orbiting Saturn at a mean distance of 1.5 million km, it is one of Saturn’s few major moons that doesn’t have one face perpetually turned towards the planet, as it rotates chaotically. While it takes a little over 21 Earth days to orbit Saturn, it tumbles and spins unpredictably roughly every 13 Earth days.

The rotation is also influenced by Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Titan, which orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 1.22 million km, goes around Saturn four times for every three of Hyperion. This puts their orbits in a dynamic 4:3 resonance, making the two moons zip faster and slower as they move past each other. As Titan is a much more massive body, its gravitational tugs considerably alter Hyperion’s orbit and rotation, adding to its eccentricity.

Heavily cratered

Even though Hyperion’s exact composition is still a mystery, it is known that it is slightly more than half as dense as water. Water ice with gaps, or porosity, as well as frozen methane or carbon dioxide could make up Hyperion. Such a make-up would make Hyperion akin to a large rubble pile, consistent with the idea of the satellite not having enough gravity to compact the smaller ice and rock bodies drawn together.

Hyperion’s sponge-like appearance stems from its heavily cratered surface. While these craters are deep, they do not show significant signs of rays of ejecta, resulting in its rather unique look. There are theories that the moon’s low density, coupled with high porosity, would crater more by compression, as opposed to the usual excavation.

The Cassini-Huygens mission saw the Cassini spacecraft make a number of flybys of Hyperion for over a decade, starting in 2004. The mission helped scientists realise that the satellite does build up static charge like the Earth’s moon, as Cassini passed through a beam of electrons coming from the moon’s surface. While the mission enabled us to see the satellite in more stunning detail than ever before, there is still plenty to know and learn about this tumbling, sponge-like moon.

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What do you do when you want to quench your thirst or satiate your craving to have something cold? You will probably order in some ice cream or cold drinks, or walk up to the nearest store that offers the same. Better still, you might just mix something up at home with your parents and top it up with some fresh ice cubes from your refrigerator.

But before there were refrigerators and freezers, how exactly did people access ice? Agreed, the cold climes bestowed certain places with ice naturally. But what about countries like India, that have predominantly hot weather? It might be hard to imagine now, but ice was considered a luxury product even about two hundred years ago.

The melting problem

The man who thought about this and made ice a more accessible item was American entrepreneur Frederic Tudor. Born in 1783, Tudor went on to show that ice could be marketed and sold, despite the obvious challenges that had to be surmounted.

The idea came to him as a 22-year-old when his brother William remarked that they should harvest ice from their pond in New England and sell it in the Caribbean ports. The thought was so simple, yet remarkable, that Frederic immediately fell in love with it and began working on it.

Hay and sawdust

The problem of tackling melting ice was a big one. Even though Tudor was mocked at for pursuing this idea, he ploughed on, relentlessly. When he couldn’t find any takers to ship his ice, he bought his own brig and went about the task. The ice was packed in hay and even though they survived the voyage, Tudor’s first few journeys were a net loss as the places he shipped them to lacked ice-houses.

Learning from his experience, Tudor ensured that ice-houses were built at locations where the ice was harvested at and also at the ports where they were shipped to. There were also technical learnings along the way as he realised that the use of sawdust instead of hay minimised melting.

Wyeth’s cutter

Tudor started enjoying success, but the true turning point came when he teamed up with one of his suppliers, American inventor Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. Wyeth contributed greatly to the ice industry and made it possible for Boston to harvest and sell its ice internationally.

The device that enabled this was a two-bladed horse-drawn ice cutter. Using this, they could convert ice sheets into a grid of blocks (think of a chess board) and these blocks could then be easily pried out with the help of iron bars.

Wyeth’s invention had two-fold advantages mainly. The cumbersome process of harvesting ice using chisels and saws was no longer needed, thus enabling mass production. Secondly, the resulting ice blocks, akin to the giant ice cubes we see even today, allowed for tighter packing during transportation, minimising melting further.

India, the biggest market

One of the greatest tests to Tudor and Wyeth came when the Tudor Ice Company decided to make a shipment to Calcutta in 1833. The insulated hold of the sailing ship Tuscany took in nearly 180 tonnes of freshwater ice in Boston and started its four-month journey in May that year. On September 13, 1833, the consignment reached Calcutta, and even though there were losses, the voyage was largely a success. The crystal-clear ice created ripples across the country and within no time India became one of the biggest markets for Tudor.

Tudor made it abundantly clear that there was a market for his product and by mass-producing it he was able to sell it across the world. He earned the nickname Ice King and his company dominated the industry in the decades that followed.

By the time Tudor died aged 80 in 1864, he was a millionaire and the natural ice industry was at its peak. The advent of refrigerators and freezers, coupled with the manufacture of synthetic or artificial ice, meant that the need to ship natural ice eventually diminished by the end of the 19th Century. The Ice King, however, transformed frozen water from a luxury good to a necessity – one that could not only cool drinks and dishes, but also preserve food and help out in medications.

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Do you know what the meaning of pre-term birth is? A human child birth that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy is referred to this way. While a full-term pregnancy normally lasts 40 weeks, not all children are born that way. Premature babies – babies born pre-term – often need longer and more intense nursery care. While this is the norm now with Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), it wasn’t always the case. We have Martin Couney, a pioneer of early neonatal technology, to thank for that.

A little history before we take a look at what Couney did. By the end of the 19th Century, it was pretty clear to doctors that babies born pre-term needed extra care and often had complications. Incubators had been built and the first one to care for an infant was operational in 1888. On September 7 that year, Edith Eleanor McLean became one of the first babies to be placed in an incubator in a hospital in New York. These incubators, however, were seen more as medical curiosities and not much was done in terms of adoption.

First encounter

In that same year, French physician Pierre Budin, who had been wondering why more hospitals weren’t investing in incubators, began experimenting with the technology. Facing financial difficulties in terms of funding, Budin decided to display his incubators at the Berlin’s World Fair in 1896.

It was at this fair that Couney, Budin's protege, was drawn towards what was to become a lifetime’s obsession. Budin’s display included premature babies acquired on loan from a hospital and Couney immediately realised that it would work. He was certain that the public would pay to see babies in incubators and that he would in turn be able to save the babies’ lives.

Couney travelled with his ideas to the U.S. and put it into practice. He picked the right place to serve as America was severely lagging behind European nations, which had France at the forefront, in neonatal care. He married Annabelle Segner, one of his nurses, in 1903 and his commitment to the cause was furthered when they had a pre-term daughter in 1907. Hildegarde, who was six week premature and weighed just 1.36 kg at birth, later joined her father’s business after training as a nurse.

Couney’s magic at Coney

If we had visited Coney Islands during the turn of the 20th Century, we would have been spoilt for choice. We could have tried out a roller-coaster, witnessed the re-enactment of the Boer War or simply waded in the water while eating an ice cream. Yet, one of the most popular permanent exhibits was Couney's facility.

With signs so large they could be seen from the other end of the island, Couney's facility played host to a life-and-death exercise. People, however, were willing to witness this freak show as they paid the 25-cent entrance fee to see the display of premature babies placed in incubators. A guard rail prevented over-enthusiastic visitors from getting too close.

The entrance fee allowed Couney to cover all his costs as he went about his task admirably. At a time when hospitals across the country were turning away from their responsibility of caring for premature babies, Couney welcomed them with open arms.

The incubator doctor

He not only hired the best doctors and nurses to take care of the babies, but he also accepted babies from all backgrounds. He never once saw their colour or class, nor did he ever accept payments from parents. Distressed, desperate parents were soon flocking to “the incubator doctor”, who then worked his magic.

Despite the fact that Couney wasn’t a trained medical practitioner, his methods started gaining traction. His facility in Coney Islands ran from 1903-1943 and he was able to replicate his success in other facilities he established as well.

Even though doctors were sceptical about Couney’s ways and even tried to discredit him, there was no denying that it was working. While there is no way to authenticate the numbers, there is reason to believe that Couney took in around 8,000 babies during the course of his career and was able to save about 6,500 of them. By the 1940s, neonatal care started becoming mainstream.

Incubators have come a long way since the time Couney had to showcase babies in them in carnivals. NICUs are now state-of-the-art in many hospitals, providing exclusive care for babies. Incubators these days protect preterm babies from infections, excessive noise or light. They also provide automatic adjustments based on the baby’s temperature and photo-therapy using special lights to treat neonatal jaundice, which is becoming increasingly common. And it all started with one man who believed he could make a difference.

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