Simple questions, are they???

Here are some very simple….brain storming questions…??

• Everyone of us have traveled in a bus…and most of us prefer to have a window seat…at least I do…!
So when at the window and the windows full open and air rushing inside and is continuously being bombarded on face….an amazing feeling leaves…. a simple question…all that air that is coming inside the bus from all the windows, from where does it move out??? It must be going out…from somewhere???…its not that its just coming in…right??? So from where exactly does all this air move out????

• Somewhere in those childhood days…used to cycle day-in and day-out…those early days of learning to ride a bi-cycle were full of fear of a fall and bruises on all possible places on the body…I even managed to land up in a gutter once (thankfully it was dry…!) So…what now I can ride bicycle quiet well…but am unable to answer a simple…real simple question…at least it looks simple…why does a bicycle or take just one Tyre of bicycle can balance itself well when in motion….but not in absence of motion??? One would realize that if you go on balancing forces(in order to justify the phenomenon) that are acting on the moving Tyre…same are applicable for a vertically placed motionless Tyre…but still it falls off…!


(Questions …discussed at Tuesday’s group discussion sessions!!!)

Zooming in: tube light zone!!!

The hundreds of miniature insects on your tube light…or on TV or computer screen in a dark room!!! Always wondered why the hell they are attracted towards light!!! I mean during the day they don’t seem to be moving towards the sun…(real stupid thought!!!)….neither is there some food that they feed on, at the tube light…!

A major question that always aroused…discussed with friends, but we all never got an answer to it!!!

Supposedly many people have tried answering it and the most convincing way out to these widely observed phenomenon is that…usually if you see the natural sources of light they are practically at infinity…e.g.-sun…so all the rays that are coming from the sun are parallel to each other. Now for tracking a linear path the simple logic is to make constant angle with the rays of light…! Now back on earth we have various other artificial sources of light tube lights, bulbs etc. and the rays that are coming out of such sources are given out in all directions and are basically not parallel to each other!!! Now for an insect in order to follow a linear path as it always does…it is constantly trying to maintain a constant angle with the rays…and since the rays are not parallel and radiating from a single point…the angle keeps on changing…due to which they follow a spiral path and finally land up at the source of light!!! The reason our tube lights are full of insects!!!

BUT, since generations of these insects end up at the source of light and seem to get nothing out of it…why don’t they learn to avoid such situations??? Another obvious question…and the reason for this behavior lies in the fact that…it’s a place for aggregation of so many insects…so it might be acting as mating grounds…wherein you can look out and choose for your mates and mate!!!(a very important part of life cycle)

BUT, as I mentioned in one of previous blogs about such areas being feeding grounds of lizards (strategic locations)…there is a risk involved in landing up in such areas from an insects point of view!!!

Again, usually if observed there is just a single lizard at such location …showing territorial dominance and thus benefiting the insects..owing to the fact that the probability of getting eaten by a lizard decreases tremendously when hundreds and thousands of your type are present…to be eaten up! Also..the fact that since there is a single lizard and it has a limited appetite…and the number of insects are always in large excess… such that a lizard is satisfied…much before not more then half of them are eaten up (may be? coz half to me seems a large extrapolation…but still in spite of it the insects seem to be benefited!!!)

Everyday phenomenon…simple observation…logical analysis…complex interactions!

Obama...victory speech!

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and hes fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nations promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nations next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. And while shes no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what youve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didnt start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generations apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didnt do this just to win an election and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how theyll make the mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

.....makes me feel....will we ever have an INDIAN President like this!!!!

Will the Indian government ever have its good golden days...when the representative of the people will work for the people for achieving something for the country which is beyond votes beyond communal or regional or self upliftment!!!

Will ever our leaders have plans and stratergies and a foresight for a better india???

Bio-diversity...

today(23rd Oct 2008) was a knowledgeable day...it changed the way i looked at many things!!!

The topic was Biodiversity and the venue was NCL (auditorium) Pune.
The day was as pleasant as it could be...the air refreshing and the ambiance enthusiastic...greeted with excellent photographic lobby of birds,snails and flowers...they really couldn't have appeared better than these! The auditorium was filled with students, teachers, research fellows and eminent scientists belonging to varied fields...it was the very first encounter with diversity for the day!!!

“you look at that river gently flowing by. You notice the leaves rustling with the wind. You hear the birds’ you hear the tree frogs. In the distance you hear a cow. You feel the grass. The mud gives a little bit on the river bank. It is quiet; it’s peaceful. And all of a sudden, it’s a gear shift inside you. And it’s like taking a deep breath and going….. Oh’ yeah, I forgot about this” (An inconvenient Truth)

The first talk was by Dr. H.N.Gour...he gave an full-fledged introduction to bio-diversity...also impressed the Puneites...with introductory Marathi lines! A very important point that he put across was of GMO's and issues related to them, also truly quoted biodiversity as GLOBAL WEALTH.

The next to come was the best of all I feel...Dr. Hema Sane, she grabbed the attention of every pair of eyes...right from the moment her name was announced and she was on the podium...a real simple down to earth lady she is...in her late 60's may be! A botanist, had focused her lecture on "Wild is Beautiful" part of plant diversity!
Doing justice to the title...she actually showed the true beauty of the wild, excellent pictorial representations and her precise perfect descriptions...completely changed the way i looked at botany as a subject and plants in specific! During her talk she conveyed a very important message...Conserve plants and other life forms not for humanly benefits...but for them..The plants themselves... because you are no one to decide their fate but you need to respect their rights!!!

Aditi Pant took us to Antarctica, she really did!!! With million dollar pics of the Antarctic biodiversity...she explained the food webs there and gave a precept of microbial, fungal, algal, plant, animal and aquatic biodiversity at the Antarctic!
Her good sense of humour was evident during the talk and she convincingly showed "humans are the real problematic creatures on this planet"

Dr.M.V.Deshpande enlightened about the fungal-insect interactions which i never even thought of...the various aspects and the questions posed by him were actually challenging. The journey from pathogenecity to non-lethal parasitism was truly commendable!

Next in line was the topic most hyped these days in microbiology "the unculturables" basically it was “Molecular Approaches for Exploring Uncultured Bacterial Diversity in Extreme Environment” It was an excellent comparison of various techniques used in molecular methods and the boon they are in studying bacterial diversity without culturing!!!(Wow!)

Have you ever thought cockroaches were beautiful...or rather can ever look beautiful? And they show parental care? And insects were the most dominant life forms? This was exactly what Dr. Hemant Ghate shed light on...! He really changed the way we all looked at those creepy creatures!

This was the most impressive man; btw most impressive was his CV...A radiologist by profession and also an ornithologist and photographer!!! Dr.Satish Pande
He had got all his statistics right, right from avian food preferences to their nesting periods to their clutch size to their cultural significance from conservation angle(phew!)
Best were his recommendations for conservation of avian diversity!

Dr. Sawarkar had a collection of excellent quotes...he gave an overall picture of Indian biodiversity and statistics of the endangered one’s and also a word of caution about the wrongly put forward exaggerated figures of the actually non existing wildlife!

All in all the workshop was truly an eye opener..it made quite a few things evident...

1. mimicking is a very successful strategy employed by diverse life forms!
2. presence of mind is the most important facet of life everyone should adorn(all speakers had excellent presence of mind and related their talks to fellow speakers quite well)
   

Something to think on...
“Darwin gave us the first glimpse of the origin of species. We know now what was unknown to all the preceding caravan of generations: that men are only fellow voyagers with other creatures in the odyssey of evolution. The new knowledge should have given us, by this time, a kinship with other fellow creatures; a wish to live and let live; a sense of wonder over the magnitude and duration of the biotic enterprise” -----Aldo Leopold

Noble prize 06-07-08

Still remember the day quite well…though not the exact date…it was back in the first week of October 2006. I was doing my fav job of the day…reading TOI…and on the Trends page I came across an article on RNAi…mentioning the phenomenon, which fetched A. Fire and C. Mello, a noble in medicine that year. The phenomenon was mentioned quite in brief in layman’s tongue…! After reading the article my curiosity was at its peak and I went ahead reading voraciously about it…how fascinated and amazed I was then!!!
From that particular year I started waiting for the noble prize announcements quite eagerly…!
Had heard about the noble prize for the first time I don’t even remember when…it is quite early in your childhood that you come across the noble prize thing…
But the same curiosity the same fascination and the same amazement did not continue to happen for the following years i.e 2007 and 2008(last yr and this year resp.)
If I am not wrong the noble prize in medicine for the year 2007 was given to the founders of gene knockdown technology…wherein you can knockoff a particular gene and look at its function…!
No doubt it was a great discovery that had revolutionized way research took place in terms of deciphering gene function!!!
But then what disturbed me most was that the discovery was quite old…I mean in today’s context this p’cular tool has been exploited for quite some years now…! I mean its quite surprising that RNAi which provided one of the methods for gene knockdown, which was new…fetched noble prize even before gene knockdown thing itself…!
Even this year when the noble prize in medicine and chemistry were declared…the same thought struck…
Noble prize in medicine went for the discovery of HIV replication cycle and
Noble prize in chemistry went for discovery and use of GFP…
Both again were great discoveries…but then both of them are well exploited and established for years now!!!
What I intend to convey here is that …the noble prize that are announced every year should go in for recent discoveries…this in no way means that the discovery made in the past decades were not significant…but then I think there shouldn't be a lag between a great discovery and its corresponding noble…!
I think that level of foresight…should definitely be there which recognizes the implications of significant discoveries and its effect in a short term…!
According to me 15-20 years of time…its pretty long for recognizing a noble!!!