Brain strain

This week’s set of six is more difficult. May I suggest you refer to the Internet for help... but first try these out on your own

1. What popular term describes a handheld, portable, two-way radio transceiver whose development during World War Two has been variously credited to Donald L Hings, radio engineer Alfred J Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola?

2. Spanning 150 million base-pairs, this important component of our genome is present in all humans. It was named for its unique properties by early researchers, which resulted in the naming of its counterpart (found only in approximately half the human population) with the next in the series, when that was discovered later. Together these form an important determination system in humans. What are these?

3. Which controversial company has sponsored the ‘wrap’ around the outer surface of the main stadium of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Its name will not appear on the wrap because of a rule forbidding advertising?

4. While starting out on his debut film in 1913, what did Dada Saheb Phalke advise his cast members to tell others if questioned about their place of work and who their employer was?

5. Meru (or Sumeru) is larger and not one of the 108. It acts as a guide marking the beginning and ending of the sequence. The object should properly be covered when in use and is kept in a cotton bag called the gomukhi. What is this?

6. What botanical term is used to describe the strategy by drug companies to prolong the patent life of their blockbuster drugs by making minor and insignificant  variations to the original molecule?

1. Walkie-talkie

2. X and Y chromosomes

3. Dow (the parent company of the former Union Carbide that caused the Bhopal gas disaster).

4. That they worked in a factory of one ‘Harishchandra’, as making films was considered taboo back then; hence the title of India’s 2008 official entry to the Oscars Harishchandrachi Factory

5. Rudraksha mala. Japa, the counting of beads, should be done after covering the mala.

6. Evergreening