 |
|
| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
|
|
|
On the threshold of DNA computing
Why Canada is the best haven from climate change
Prof Yash
Pal Prof Yash Pal What does the normal weighing machine that we have at our homes tell us – our weight or mass? If mass, would it give different readings at the equator and at the poles? |
|
|
On the threshold of DNA computing
This is for the first time that a DNA molecule has been engineered artificially by inserting four nucleotide bases into the sugar based framework for a DNA molecule. And as expected, the Japanese research team, led by Masahiko Inouye and his colleagues at the University of Toyama, could realise a double helix structured DNA molecule that was quite stable and akin to a natural DNA. This path-breaking achievement has opened up the possibility of improving gene therapy techniques and building a high end, super fast, nano-sized biological computing system. Clearly and apparently, for more than a decade now, researchers have been toying up with the idea of using DNA to build a biological computer. As it is, the possibility of exploiting DNA as a potential candidate for a “living computer” was first outlined in a research study carried in the journal Science in 1995. Dr Leonard Adleman of the University of South California, Los Angeles, who authored the paper, has described how a problem could be set up by synthesising molecules reacting in a test tube and producing a molecule as the answer. In the staggeringly complex and intricate process of protein synthesis made possible by DNA researchers, behold the possibility of devising a truly parallel computing system. In the baffling chemical structure and astounding functions of DNA, nature seems to have designed a near perfect super computer. This is so because DNA can store, retrieve and process trillions of bits of complex data in a maze of intricate action-reaction cycles. As and when an operational DNA computer becomes a reality, it would be a billion times more energy efficient than an ordinary digital computer. Similarly, its data storage capability could be of mind boggling dimensions in comparison to the conventional number crunchers. An operational version of a DNA computer could help medical researchers zero in on abnormal biochemical changes in the human body which are responsible for causing diseases and disorders and set them right by synthesizing and releasing appropriate drug formulations. Thus DNA, the master molecule and building block of the life process could revolutionise human life — from medical treatment to high-end computing. In the earlier part of this decade, a team of scientists led by Ehud Shapiro, a Professor at the Weizman Institute in Jerusalem, had successfully engineered an experimental computer based on the molecules of DNA. This tiny computer was engineered to make use of enzymes as its hardware, which in turn coaxes the DNA molecules to transform themselves into corresponding software. “The living cell contains incredible molecular machines that manipulates information-encoding molecules in ways that are fundamentally similar to computation” observes Shapiro.
|
|
Why Canada is the best haven from climate change
A group of islands with the potential to develop into a tourist paradise has been named as the country least equipped to withstand the effects of climate change.
The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, are a small nation of sparkling blue lagoons and picture-postcard beaches. But the country is politically unstable and a report published today says it is the world’s most vulnerable country to the future impacts of global warming such as increased storms, rising sea levels and agricultural failure. At the other end of the scale, Canada is the best place to move to if you want to be a climate change survivor in the decades ahead (although Britain is also a good place to be as a warming atmosphere takes hold). The best-to-worst rankings are revealed in the first-ever climate change vulnerability index, produced by Maplecroft, a British consultancy which specialises in the mapping of risk. Its study, The Climate Change Risk Report, looks in great detail at global warming risks in 168 countries. Africa is the most vulnerable region, and eight of the 10 most vulnerable countries are African, with the Comoros Islands followed by Somalia and Burundi in second and third places. Only five non-African countries are in the 20 most vulnerable. They are Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan and Nepal. As might be expected, developed nations score best. Canada is top, followed by Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The United Kingdom is in 12th position, just behind the US. The surprise in the top 20 is Uruguay, which is listed ninth, and the only well-placed nation not to be in the club of countries which are rich, or Western (and usually both). The originality of the new study is that it does not predict global warming’s impacts, from increased droughts to rising sea levels, which has been done for the past two decades by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Instead, it looks at how countries are fitted to meet them. “We’re not saying anything about the changing climate,” said Andy Thow, one of the report’s authors. “We’re saying, what’s the situation on the ground in terms of vulnerability? If there were an impact, how vulnerable would the country be?” Vulnerability is examined by the study across six different sectors n the economy; natural resources and ecosystems; poverty, development and health; agriculture; population, settlement and infrastructure; and institutions, governance and social capital. Eventually a figure is arrived at on the scale of one to 10, with one being the most vulnerable, and 10 the most secure. The Comoros score is 1.21; Canada’s score is 8.81. (The UK scores 8.06.) — The Independent
|
|
This Universe
What does the normal weighing machine that we have at our homes tell us – our weight or mass? If mass, would it give different readings at the equator and at the poles?
As you have yourself called the bathroom machine as a weighing machine, it gives you the weight and not the mass. It measures the force exerted by us due to gravity. However we are not so stupid when we consider it as measure of mass because the value of g, acceleration due to gravity, does not change very much on the surface of the earth in our normal movements from place to place. But you are right when you wonder whether it will give your mass on the moon or mars. No, it will only give our weight there. But our mass will remain the same as on earth. The surface of the earth seems special because weight and mass are the same and simple weighing machines can be used for determining both. I hope you realize that it is so because we have decided to define the measure of mass in units of weight on earth. I leave it to you to find out how you would determine the mass of the earth? You would not know where to place the weighing scale… Today I was watching a movie, where a person dies after someone injects an empty syringe into his body. Is this possible? Movies contain lot of fantasy. It is true that if you put in a lot of air into veins and arteries you might cause something like a ‘vapour lock’ in the system of blood flow. However I am told that a small amount of air going into the lungs clears up without too much problem. I warn you that I am not an expert and you should not get into any experimentation in this regard! |
In what has been described as a significant research breakthrough with far reaching implications for genetic engineering and computer research, a team of Japanese scientists have claimed that they have successfully put together a DNA molecule entirely out of artificial components.