February 2009 - Posts - Lab Rats

February 2009 - Posts

What's your ‘National Agenda on Problems and Solutions'?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
If the title sounds a bit weird (it does to me) then let me set the context. A conference was recently organized in Hyderabad on the 'National Agenda on Problems and Solutions' by the New Delhi-based National Centre for Science Communications and Vigyan Prasar in honour of Pushpa M Bhargava, founder of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology...

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Prehistoric Sex

Posted by Seema Singh at 
This is indeed a peek into life of the lost world, as also one of those discoveries that raises our understanding of biology a few notches up. Scientists report in today's issue of Nature that they have discovered embryos in certain fossil fishes which provide the evidence of reproduction by internal fertilization. This is the second time in about...

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Treat your doc as god, but for heaven's sake ask questions

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Let me start with an anecdote. Some three years ago, while researching for a story on clinical trials, I visited some hospitals in the city meeting doctors who ran human trials of new (also some old drugs for new indications) drugs. In each case I found several patients, not necessarily poor but visibly uninformed, relying totally on their doctors and...

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Yours, Mine, Ours

Posted by Seema Singh at 
How many times have you grit your teeth, thumped the air, bitten your nails, driven at top notch speed, or even shed a tear while reading a book? Chances are at least a few times, if not these things then probably a host of other activities, visualizing yourself as one of the characters in the book. Why do we imagine the scenes in a book differently...

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Will Infosys be the bellwether again?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Information Technology company Infosys Technologies Ltd . is credited with some firsts in the industry, which are too well known to be enumerated here. The reason for today's leadership call is different - setting up of Infosys Science Foundation with a corpus of Rs 21.5 crore, to which Rs 2 crore will be added every year. It's a great step...

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Songbirds with backpack; owls on cell phone

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Hi-tech birds, if you are thinking, then maybe you are wrong. But isn't it a relief that these creatures are not using technology; at least not yet! However, scientists studying birds are getting high on technology. Radio transmitters have long been used for tracking migratory birds but songbirds, the smallest and the commonest birds in the sky...

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Finally, cancer clues in urine!

Posted by Seema Singh at 
For long, the traditional and modern systems of medicine have locked horns over the possible role of urine in cancer treatment. While the former continues its tradition, the latter is applying tools of modern science to test it, finally inching towards a non-invasive cancer diagnostic. A team of US researchers has found a molecule (rather, a panel of...

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Will the LCA ever fly with an Indian engine?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
That's a billion dollar question or least will become one by the time we even have a good working prototype. Consider this: India's GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) has spent about $411 million in the development of Kaveri engine since the project began in 1989. It was supposed to power India's much-touted Light Combat Aircraft...

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Blue is for creativity; red is for...

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Caution, attention to detail. And you thought colour is merely cosmetic! In today's Science, researchers report how colours (primary colours, to begin with) have impact on cognitive task performance of individuals. The colour blue inspires creativity, while red focuses the eye for details. The implication can be wide ranging, from its use in educational...

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Education enterprise: plural, singular, insular

Posted by Seema Singh at 
India yesterday launched some $1 billion National Mission on Education , (NME) -- a project meant to get all the institutions in the country wired since so far only the well-heeled have been riding on the Internet wagon. Good programme; better late than never, but the only worry is what if we mess it up as it is top-down in planning and execution and...

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What can this grass teach us?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Plenty, in overcoming food insecurity and biofuel crop scarcity. Last week, scientists published the complete genome of sorghum, a heat and drought-tolerant grass species. For many, this cereal is best known as a biscuit-topping syrup, for others it's a staple crop, which feeds more than 500 million people in at least 98 countries. But for the agronomists...

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