Weird?

21st Dec 2012. Today I was reading up on Parkinson's disease which led me to reading up on James Parkinson, the English doctor who first mentioned Parkinson's disease in an essay (An Essay on the Shaking Palsy) he wrote in 1817. My eyes wandered to his DoB and DoD and I saw that he died today - 188 years back on 21st dec 1824. Maybe not a very interesting thing- but it felt kind of weird.

Mistakes make us unique

A man's mistakes are his portals of discovery. - James Joyce

According to the United States Census Bureau, the world population is currently 7.057 billion. A huge number of people this is and what is interesting is that each of us, is unique, not just literally but also biologically. Each of us, except identical twins have a unique genome. 

How are we so unique? What makes our genome so unique?  

As in life, so in the molecules of life. It is our mistakes which make us unique. Our genome which refers to the DNA molecules present in each of our cell's nucleus keeps undergoing mutations. Sometimes these mutations could be really harmful- like in the case of cancer. Other times they could be useful too- like in the case of evolution where accumulated mutations made our Homo sapiens species.

Now what are these mutations? Mutations are like 'mistakes' in the DNA sequence which changes its sequence. Your parents genes undergo recombination to give a unique 'you'. Then your DNA makes further mistakes to make even more of a unique 'you'. Every new person has about 100 new mutations- a 100 mistakes guaranteed to make you unique. How cool!

And what do our mistakes give us?

A new perspective? A new function? A new way to approach the same problem? 

Mistakes could be fun sometimes- and give a lesson later. They shouldn't be feared though but embraced and accepted for what they end up teaching us. 

If I had my life to live over...I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
Nadine Stair.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”  

-Albert Einstein 

The science of iodized salt

Due to severe dissemination of the information that Iodine is good for us- the sale of Iodized salt is on fire in India. In fact, the salt being iodized is now being taken for granted in an average Indian household.

In fact, the government has prohibited marketing of non-iodized salt. Though one could see that the manufacturers of non-iodized salt are facing loss, one also observes that iodized salt is costlier.

But are we really taking iodized salt in our diet?

The manufacturers of iodized salt do not mix iodine in salt but they use a derivative of iodine , an iodate which lasts only for three months. Sounds okay? Well it isn't. The whole process of making the salt iodized followed by its packing, distribution and reaching the consumer may itself take three months or more which in many cases destroys the iodine content of the salt. Did you notice the rampant existence of hypothyroidism in Indians, specially in Indian women? Though other lifestyle and health factors definitely play a role but am iodine deficiency cannot be ruled out.

Further steps which do so are:

1. Salt is added to the vegetables or pulses during cooking instead of being used as table salt.

2. The storage of the unpacked salt in open containers.

Finally the iodine content is destroyed, leaving only the ordinary iodine less salt to be consumed which is still passed off as 'iodized salt.'

The need of science journalism in the modern times

In the past hundred years, science has grown explosively to make human life much healthier and comfortable. Many dreadful diseases like polio and plague have been brought under control, better machines to accelerate the accurate diagnosis of diseases have been made and many lifestyle products like deodorants,cosmetics,soaps etc have come into being as a basic part and parcel of modern life. All these have been the gifts of science to us.

It is the ongoing journey of science which continues to give us hope over diseases like AIDS and Cancer as well as many other global problems like environmental pollution, food shortage,global warming, species extinction,climate change etc. Unfortunately, for all that science has given us and for all that science is capable of giving us, our society is still oblivious to the power of science. The understanding for science in our society has lagged behind tremendously and has not been able to keep up with the voluminous discoveries and inventions the scientific world has been bubbling with. Carl Sagan succinctly expresses this phenomenon when he states,'We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology'.

The main reason for this could be the excessive use of scientific and technical jargon used by the scientists which makes it difficult for the masses to understand it. Most scientists write their research paper for the scientific world so for a lay person to understand the implications of a new scientific discovery, is a totally uphill task. It is here that science journalism plays a tremendous role. The main goal of science journalism is to present scientific facts and research in a simple and entertaining manner that even a child might understand. Science on its own is an extremely interesting subject and the purpose of science journalism is to reveal this beauty of science without getting bogged down by the details.

The need for science journalism in the modern times is tremendous : unless the society understands science, it might have an antagonistic view towards it. Even today, in some under-privileged parts of the world, vaccines are looked at as 'evil' and are rumored to induce male sterility. Such misconceptions about science are a serious barrier towards achieving a healthier world. Science Journalism here, plays a very important role by dispelling myths associated with science and presenting crisp and clear science facts in an interesting manner.

Also, world over science funding is facing severe cuts. The governments today have come to view science experiments as a waste of funds - tending to actively fund a narrow range of research areas. Scientists need to constantly fight for funding since the grants are available for very specific areas and by provoking the curiosity of the general people, science journalism could do a world of good to science funding.

Science journalism is not limited to just writing about science. It also encompasses Radio, Television and Film making, holding science as the main subject. Programs like How the Universe works on Science TV channel and Dinosaur Planet on Discovery TV channel help in making science fun, entertaining and understandable by the masses.

People wish to know about science : Children are curious by nature and wish to know - Why the sky is blue? Why does it rain? Why do rainbows form? It is just the tedious coursework that they come across in school that in most of the cases changes our love for knowledge to love for grades. According to a survey by The New York Times, their Tuesday Science supplement is the most popular of all the weekly supplements. Science is not boring- Science invokes our curiosity even today yet this is not acknowledged.

We need more science journalists to bring about this change. Specially in a country like India, where myths and mythologies co-exist with all the science and technology development that we have achieved, we need science journalists in regional languages, science programs on televisions, science movies, science shows and science TV channels to make our people be more aware and be in sync with the times.

According to the latest studies, the incidence of cancer is expected to rise to 75% in the developed nations and over 90% in the developing nations by 2030. Every day, world over, cancer claims about 17,000 lives apart from the new cases which emerge. The traditional medical science treatment of cancer has been associated with some debilitating side effects and hence research into the newer and safer methods to treat cancer is actively being pursued. More recently, it has come to light that many traditional oriental herbal medicines may have a possible cancer alleviating effect. 

For example, Withaferin A, isolated from Withania somnifera (ashwagandha), a prominent plant in Ayurveda, has been found to stop the growth of some kinds of cancer cells, particularly breast cancer cells.

Similarly Honokiol, isolated from Magnolia grandiflora, used in the traditional Japanese medicine has been found to have very strong anti-angiogenic and anti-tumorogenic properties, with potential against brain cancer (GBM), gastric cancer and colon cancer. 

Since cancer is a disease of diversity that is still in the process of being fully understood, there needs to be a collective pooling in of the knowledge resources of the world to get an insight into treating this deadly disease.

Hugs keep us alive!

Scientists from University of Arkansas have found that hugging increases hemoglobin levels in the blood as well as the levels of oxytocin (love hormone/feel good hormone). Not only do hugs feel good but they also keep us good.

Here are some other benefits of hugging :

Biological benefits: 

1. Curb appetite
2. Could relieve physical pain
3. Could help people with insomnia 

Social benefits

1. Removes loneliness
2. Builds self esteem
3. Removes fear
4. Emotional healing

Makes me wonder, is this the reason behind Mata Amritanandamayi's healing hugs? 

Here's a big one for you > :D <

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