The `Question Corner' column published in the Science and Technology pages of The Hindu since 1995 is one of the widely read features of the paper. It appeals to the general public interested in science and students alike and this can be gauged by the keen interest readers take in both raising questions and answering them. The feature is by design aimed at addressing phenomena that one encounters everyday. While it encourages the enquiring mind of the general reader, it promotes a scientific temper in the young.

An overwhelming response from our readers to the earlier book "The Hindu Speaks on Scientific Facts", a compilation of questions and answers that appeared in `Question Corner' column has reconfirmed the place such a book will have in the public mind. We are sure that this second volume, like the earlier one, will serve as a ready reference for all.

Apart from being a compilation of questions that cover many areas in science, this book contains a select number of articles written by Dr. D. Balasubramanian, a well known molecular biologist with the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, and a popular science writer for the `Speaking of Science' column published in the Science and Technology pages. He was also a former Director of the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. These articles address some of the fundamental issues in life sciences and will always be relevant. We hope the list of Nobel Prize winners during the century will serve as a reference material.

This book, Volume II on Scientific Facts, is broadly divided under the following heads:

1. Earth Sciences:		Atmosphere, Geology, Hydrology
2. Life Sciences`:		Botany, Zoology, Health & Medicine
3. Physical Sciences:		Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry
4. General:		Applied Science & Technology

We hope this new addition to "The Hindu Speaks" series will be of immense value to the students and the public.

DECEMBER, 2004	N. RAM
CHENNAI	Editor-in-Chief