National Science Day – Monday, February 28th, 2022
Why do flowers have colours? Do varying hues alter their properties?
Such questions prompted Nobel Prize-winning physicist C.V. Raman to focus his efforts on studying floral colours and their roles in attracting pollinators and shielding flowers from predators during his final years.
As the nation celebrated yet another National Science Day on Monday to commemorate the discovery of Raman effect, an eponymous laboratory in Kerala has been making strides in creating a comprehensive spectral library of flora in the country.
The research by Athira K., an assistant professor at the C.V. Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics in the Digital University Kerala, is spurred by a broad understanding of the importance of the colour of angiosperms (or flowering plants) in attracting pollinators. With the characteristic found to be extremely crucial in stabilising the declining population of wild pollinators, the study held immense relevance for policy makers in promoting crops.