In which our favourite shapeshifting elemental - Bhoo!

takes the form of world-famous science sleuth, Gaia Goel, to find a missing chemist, battle dangerous terrorists and solve

[For those who came in late: Bhoo is an elemental whose powers include shapeshifting, the ability to pop in and out of human form, the ability to travel incredibly quickly to incredibly remote locations and solve the toughest of science crimes. She works with the other Smarties at Brainwave Labs: Arby, Alby, Dr. Dodo and Skreeee!!]*

Story and script by Rajita Gadagkar, Dr. Kumar Vanka (NCL) and Vinayak Varma Art and layouts by Prabha Mallya | Infographics by Somesh Kumar Special thanks to The National Chemical Laboratory, Pune Bhoo, The Smarties and Brainwave Labs created by Vinayak Varma
*See older issues of Brainwave for more exciting adventures featuring the Smarties!
August 2011

07

In the office of Dr. Ben Zeenring, Director of the National Laboratory of Chemical Sciences (NLCS)
Go shoe ince 198 ia Gabal GumSterieS Stson! a y
W el 2

Glo ntal m dear e , my dam tal un en gF lem vin Sol Its e

Yup!

Are you as good as they say you are?

Why do you think Dr. Al-Pha has gone missing? Maybe hes just misplaced his satellite phone or something.

Hm. At least you seem confident. Well, heres the trouble: we have reason to believe that one of our lead researchers, Dr. Aziz Ahmad Al-Pha, has been kidnapped. You must help us find him. Al-Phas been away researching rare plants in the islands of the Bay of Bengal. The last we heard from him was over a week ago. He was setting out for his expedition in a ferry from the coastal town of Tranquebar.

Thats what we thought as well. Al-Phas very absent-minded, and hes very bad at keeping in touch. We thought he was just being himself. Until what happened last night, that is. Al-Phas lab here at NLCS was raided by a gang of masked bandits a couple of hours after we closed for the day. They disabled our security systems, knocked out the guards and entered our most secure facility. These were obviously professionals.

08

Hmm. Did they take anything?

Okay. So I have a time limit to work with. What was Dr. Al-Pha researching?

They stole several important files containing Al-Phas research. And left a ransom note which says theyre prepared to kill Al-Pha, unless our global network of researchers destroys all their core research within the next three days. Hes been working on creating a cheap and sustainable form of artificial photosynthesis. He was on the verge of solving the global energy crisis. His research is hugely important for the future of our planet.

Hmm. Does he have any enemies?

Several, Im sure. If Al-Pha

Do you suspect anyone in particular? Can you give me any leads? succeeds in his research, many people selling the older polluting forms of energy will go out of business. A recent intelligence report says that some of these old energy businesses have combined forces and hired a dangerous to sabotage all new clean energy research. They could be responsible.

terrorist organisation

Which terrorist organisation is this?

AVAST!

AVAST! Assorted Villains And Science Terrorists!

Assorted Villains And Science Terrorists?

How silly! They sound like a can of nuts.

Eh?

Eh?
August 2011

09

gaia arrives at Dr. Al-phas laboratory to look for clues to his whereabouts. While gaia has many superpowers, she does not, unfortunately, have any special defenses against malodorous smells! Eww! Whats with the stink? Notebooks with missing pages, files stolen from the filing cabinets. But no clues on possible whereabouts of Dr. Al-Pha.

BlErg! A power failure!

A fortunate accident! gaia trips the UV mode on her flashlight, and sees this! Bay of Bengal

Flying Poppadams, its a secret map! These two glimmering points are actually islands in the Bay of Bengal. Dr. Al-Pha mustve visited them on his expedition. AVAST is probably holding him captive somewhere in this region. But which of these islands did he go to first?
To read more, buy a copy of this months issue!

ON CrITICAL MISSION TO UNNAMeD ISLAND IN BAY Of BeNgAL. OVer AND OUT.

So! The NLCS has hired a Smartie to find Dr. Al-Pha! Innnnnnteresting!

gaia briefs Skree!!, the bearded Toda lady who runs Brainwave Labs (Definition by Dr. BLV Prasad)
UV rays

prof Pi, chief sinister officer of AVASTs sinister operations

Nanoparticles

The map glimmered because Dr. Al-Pha used the unusual properties of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of an element are as small as 80,000th the width of a human hair! For example, gold has a yellowish colour. But as a nanoparticle, it displays a

pink colour. Nanoparticles of certain elements like silicon emit specific colours when hit by UV rays. Dr. Al-Pha must have embedded such particles in the map. When UV light from Gaias torch accidentally fell on the map, two points glowed.

Silicon

Silicon Nanoparticles

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