December 2008 - Posts - Lab Rats

December 2008 - Posts

No dearth of speakers in the GM food debate

Posted by Seema Singh at 
We are a nation of debates, and delays. And when it comes to GM crops, we are also a nation of botched regulation, bad monitoring, slipshod field trials, partial/non-availability of data... I am not even counting the illegal manner in which Bt cotton (fake in many instances) entered the Indian market. To complicate the issue further, Union health minister...

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Climate movement: with road shows, solar band, video contests

Posted by Seema Singh at 
This is romancing the climate issue. But what's the harm, we need all sorts of arrows in the quiver to tame the monster of climate change. A group from the Indian Youth Climate Network is hitting the road on January 3 for a 3500-km journey across India in solar-powered vehicles to create a climate movement of sorts. Traveling from Chennai to New...

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Sleep disorders: warning sign for dementia, Parkinson's

Posted by Seema Singh at 
People who kick or cry out in sleep may be at a greater risk of developing dementia or Parksinson's disease, says a new study in this week's Neurology. The normal lack of muscle tone during dream stage sleep, or REM sleep, is replaced by excessive muscle activity like kicking, crying out or punching in such people. Studying people with REM sleep...

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Cell phones for health monitoring?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Probably, we’ll never run out of ideas for cell phones. And a whole lot revolves around imaging and how much of it can be miniaturized and packed in this little device. A UCLA electrical engineering professor has developed a cell phone that can monitor conditions of patients of HIV AIDS and malaria as well as test water quality. Aydogan Ozcan has developed...

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Media, myths and biotech courses

Posted by Seema Singh at 
A letter in the latest issue of Current Science , the journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences, says: "In India, the media decides how the society should think and act. This has both positive and negative effects. One of the negative impacts, which the media has created in the academic circles, is the sensationalization of biotechnology (BT) courses...

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Cool science, cooler images

Posted by Seema Singh at 
It's recall time. My favourite of the year, of course, is the image of extrasolar planets, reported earlier in this blog , but below are some really cool bits of science: Purple tomatoes: Scientists, led by Cathie Martin of John Innes centre in Norwich, UK, showed how a dash of snapdragon genes to the ho-hum tomato, the king of Indian kitchen (as...

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NSG commandos for CNR Rao?

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Assuming our politicians are a national treasure (from the number of security men they gather) how important are Nobel laureates? An ongoing conclave of Nobel laureates at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad , had originally confirmed participation by 10 Nobel laureates, but six of them backed out, according to the organisers,...

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Foreign sci-tech titles on Indian newsstands

Posted by Seema Singh at 
In recent months, some well-known sci-tech magazines have started their Indian editions, including Scientific American and GEO . Come March, one more magazine will be added to the newsstands. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology publication -- Technology Review , world's oldest technology publication, started in 1899, -- will start its Indian...

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God and the scientists

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Allahabad, land of Amitabh Bachhan, now hosts 4 Nobel laureates. They are attending a Science Conclave that has busloads of children from Kerala to Kanpur, college goers from Delhi to Osmania university and, of course, their minding, patrolling teachers. Of the laureates Sir Harold Kroto, winner of the 1996 Nobel for Chemistry, comes out tops as the...

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Is obesity in our heads?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Don't get this wrong. This doesn't mean if one wants to reduce obesity, all one has to do is to make up one's mind to eat less, eat healthy, exercise, etc. On the contrary, a new research in today's issue of Nature Genetics suggests that the genes, six of them, that predispose people to obesity act in the brain. So, it's quite likely...

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How should IISc play its second innings?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
As the Indian Institute of Science kicked off its centenary celebrations today, it once again reminded us what can ONE visionary man do for the future of a nation. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, scientist CNR Rao, ex-ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan and director of Tata Sons J J Irani, and others took a sentimental trip down the memory lane and I was...

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Wind, water, sun pitted against biofuel, nuclear, coal

Posted by Seema Singh at 
In the battle for clean energy it's the bounties of nature -- wind, water and sun -- that beat biofuel, nuclear and coal hands down. At least a new scientific evaluation says so. And this comes at a time when the Detroit majors are betting on biofuels and touting their efforts in this field, Stanford University civil and environmental engineering...

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Energy from the ocean: Redux

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Here's some more on tapping energy from the oceans . Defence tech behemoth Lockheed Martin plans to revive its Ocean Thermal Engineering Conversion --using the natural temperature difference between surface and deep sea, to generate steam that could power a turbine. The last time LM attempted this was in the 70's (during the oil crisis) after...

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Happiness: the emotional contagion

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Laughter is contagious. We've all known this. But to what extent? Does this happy contagion vanish like the smile of a Cheshire Cat? Maybe not. New research published today in British Medical Journal shows that happiness is a collective phenomenon that spreads through social networks; it travels not the well-known path, from one person to another...

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£10 million bounty for tidal technology

Posted by Seema Singh at 
It is the biggest international single prize for innovation. It is also, to my mind, one of the best defined problem statements for a global competition. And the hope is: the winning team, in 2013, will bring one of the best solutions to the energy-starved common man. Prize: £10 million Saltire Prize, announced by Scotland today. Challenge: "A...

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