Fish that fly like a bird

Earth is amazingly diverse. This is one good example of it. A Japanese camera man managed to capture a flying fish that actually stayed airborne for more than 45 seconds. Good example for people who doubt evolution, In million years this fish could become a bird. How can they fly? I did some research in to this matter. They are thought to have developed this skill to evade predators .

The process of taking flight, or gliding, begins by gaining great velocity underwater, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) per hour. Angling upward, the four-winged flying fish breaks the surface and begins to taxi by rapidly beating its tail while it is still beneath the surface. It then takes to the air, sometimes reaching heights over 4 feet (1.2 meters) and gliding long distances, up to 655 feet (200 meters). Once it nears the surface again, it can flap its tail and taxi without fully returning to the water. Capable of continuing its flight in such a manner, flying fish have been recorded stretching out their flights with consecutive glides spanning distances up to 1,312 feet (400 meters).

Transparent Fish for Studying Cancer

Now scientists at Children's Hospital Boston have generated a transparent zebrafish by mating two specific strains: a breed that lacks reflective pigment, called roy orbison, with one that lacks black pigment, called nacre. The offspring had only yellow pigment in their skin, essentially looking clear. Richard White, a clinical fellow in the Stem Cell Program at Children's, named the new breed Casper, according to a press release from the hospital.

Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Viewing the fish under a microscope, White saw the cancer cells begin to spread within five days. He even saw individual cells metastasize--something that has not been observed so readily and in real time in a living organism.The spreading melanoma cells appeared to "home" to the skin after leaving the abdominal cavity. "This told us that when tumor cells spread to other parts in the body, they don't do it randomly," says White. "They know where to go."The fish may also answer questions about stem-cell transplants. While transplants of blood-forming stem cells help cancer patients rebuild healthy blood, some transplants don't "take," according to the press release, for reasons that are unknown. Scientists have lacked a full understanding of what steps blood stem cells must take to do their job, says White. He showed that the process is observable in the fish. He first irradiated a transparent fish's bone marrow, then transplanted fluorescent blood-forming stem cells from another zebrafish. After four weeks, the fluorescent stem cells had visibly migrated and grown in the fish's bone marrow, which is in the kidney. Even individual stem cells were visible--something that researchers haven't easily observed in a living organism, White says.By studying how the stem cells embed and build blood in the fish, scientists can look for ways to help patients rebuild their blood faster. Drugs and genes could be tested in the living fish, with direct observation of results, White says.

Liquid Drops Can Go Up Hill

Sometimes if you think out of the box you can do things that were impossible in nature, like making a droplet of a liquid climb up a surface, the trick could be performed if you vibrate the surface 30 to 200 times a second depending on the liquid type.

Mathmatician Jens Eggers from Bristol University explains it like this:

"As the shaking plate rises the drop is compressed, while it bulges upward as the plate falls. If the shaking is vigorous enough to overcome the surface tension experienced as the drop is compressed, the drop will tend to lean forward, producing a net force which drives the drop uphill."

V-22 Osprey, a sucess ?

This is not an image from a science fiction movie, its the Americas latest model of aircraft that sent in to the battlegrounds in Iraq. This machine is a combination of a helicopter and a plane, could cost $119 million per copy. It can take off and land like a helicopter with the ability to fly like a plane . Sounds impressive isn't it? but this plane took 25 year to develop and killed around 30 test pilots.The Pentagon has put $20 billion into the Osprey and expects to spend an additional $35 billion before the program is finished.Thats not it, the machine is still dangerous and risky, specially in Iraq experts say. The V22 lacks auto rotating technique which helps helicopters to land safely if engine fails.It lacks forward mounting machine gun, and claims to have faulty chips and software glitches. Experts warns that many of these machines would fail in Iraq, lets keep an eye on the news. What a way to waste money.Click here to see the Flight risk of Osprey. Read the complete article about V-22 Osprey.

Take the Pill, Live For Ever

Scientist dream of inventing a medicine which could make you live for ever, or at least slowing down the aging process. It seems that the dream is going to be a reality in the near future. Researchers in Cambrige , Massachusetts, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is testing such a pill in humans in clinical trial. Its designed to increase the life span of a humans by reducing the aging process. It will take years of tests and trials to know if the drug will ultimately permit people to live to over 100 years old. Its all started on a chemical that SRT501 is based on,called resveratrol. .Professor David Sinclair announced in 2003 that this naturally occurring compound extends the lifespan of yeast. Then they tested this on mice, it worked! This substance is known to be in Red wine (not another reason to drink) since its found in grape skin (instead, eat grapes ). If you think of absorbing resveratrol by drinking red wine you will have to drink huge amounts which is practically impossible. Another advantage of this drug is that it can reduce the disease associated with aging like Type 2 diabetes. If they could increase the life span of humans dramatically It could create a huge problems in the future. Think about the population growth, jobs, pensions, retirement funds all these could be affected. But still, I like to live younger. Life seems to go faster than we think,so much to accomplice,so little time,soon I'll be 30 years old, I need that pill ASAP!

This article is based on : So You Want to Live Forever? -by David Ewing Duncan

Scientist Claims Black People 'Less Intelligent'

Nobel Prize winning scientist James Watson who discovered the structure of DNA made the controversial remarks in an interview in The Sunday Times. This was not based on genetics or scientific research, so he faced lots of criticisms for his remark.Being intelligent doesn't remove your fundamental beliefs after all.

He said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really.". He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”.

He expects that scientists would be able to find the genes responsible for differences of intelligence in human beings within a decade. Anyhow, its very bad for a scientist to talk like this without solid evidence.Later he publicly apologized for his remark, but it doesn't reduce the damage he has done.If they discover genes of intelligence it could create lots of discrimination in the world . Can you imagine a time where people could be refused to be admitted to a university or a job because of their genes. Think of a race living in this world, knowing that they are inferior because they don't have intelligent genes, your kid being bullied by a high IQ group in the school. My question is ,Can you say a white dog is more intelligent than a black dog?

Chimpanzee is my Auntie

Photograph copyright Karen Huntt

In 2003, study by a group of scientists revealed that we are genetically quite similar to chimpanzees. ‘That explains everything,’ my wife said, looking at me thoughtfully. I was surprised by the fact that humans are 99% genetically identical to the chimpanzees. The scientist who produced the evidence claims that the chimps (Pan troglodytes) should be reclassified as Homo troglodytes. This lead to a huge debate among the scientific community since this was clearly violating the historical classification schemes. In 2006, to make matters worse scientists suggested that earliest known ancestors of modern humans might have reproduced with early chimpanzees to create a hybrid species which eventually evolved in to modern humans (that explains 99%). Then in 2007 a study revealed that chimps may have evolved more than humans in the 6 or 7 million years since both diverged from a common ancestor. This is startling news, does that means chimpanzees are the evolutionary choice over humans? Are we just a mistake of evolution? , An aberration in the system? , A kind of a virus? Looking at the rate of destruction we are causing to our own world, I think we are a mistake of evolution. By the way it is believed that hybrids species doesn't last long in the evolutionary process. Chimps might be counting fingers in the jungles,eating bananas,waiting to take over the world.Next time you see a chimp at the zoo, look for similarities, it could be your aunt or uncle.[ please click on the links for more details................ ]

Genetically Modified

This picture is disturbing isn’t it? Is it possible to do some thing like this. An interbreed of humans and animals, I bet it would be done in the near future. Recently scientists created a genetically modified fish that glow in the dark. It’s called GloFish, patented and for sale at 5$ dollar per fish. Some people are against genetic engineering saying it’s unethical or against gods will. After successfully mapping the human gnome, we entered in to a new era of genetics. American companies are busy patenting our genes, more than 1/5 of our genes are already owned by some one else (more than 4,000 genes, or 20 percent of the almost 24,000 human genes, have been claimed in U.S. patents).

You may not understand impact of this on our life, let’s say you want to invent a drug to cure some illness and that drug affects a gene which was patented by another company, you won’t be able to experiment that drug without paying royalty to the company which patented that gene. Can’t believe it isn’t it, but it already happened in America. Read this article written by a well known author about patenting genes. In the future some one could loose his job just because he had genes which could trigger an illness in the future or some one granted innocent of a crime that he committed because he had a violent gene.

Meanwhile scientists like Stephen Hawking say genetic modification is the only way of survival of man kind in the future. Once in an interview with guardian news paper,’ because technology is advancing so quickly, Hawking said, 'computers double their performance every month'. Humans, in contrast, are developing much more slowly, and so must change their DNA make-up or be left behind. 'The danger is real,' he said, 'that this [computer] intelligence will develop and take over the world'. I think he has a point in his argument, he believes that this is another phase in evolution.

But I can’t agree on American companies patenting our genes, how can some one own stuff in our bodies. I hope we will not be forced to pay royalty for using their genes in the future. Imagine one day receiving a bill saying that you have to pay a fee to a company for having blue eyes.

This man can Play GOD?-A Synthetic Life

This is no fiction,Dr Craig Venter, the scientist who led the private sector to sequence human genome is back with a new idea. He wants to build a living organism from scratch, a life, truly man made life which could grow and replicate , mind boggling idea ,well he thinks he can do it ,so he has already applied for the patents as well.This could be the turning point of mankind ,like the day we invented fire or wheel.Some groups are beginning to oppose the idea, called on patent offices to reject applications on synthetic life forms. Religious groups will join them very soon, like they did to stop stem cell research in America which could have been used to do scientific wonders like growing an eye for some one who lost it. Luckily, people like them were not there to stop it saying "its gods creation" when we invented fire, so we are eating cooked food now.

The scientist says that these life forms could be designed to make fuels and absorb greenhouse gases. Well i think we can even use them to change atmosphere of planet Mars to allow human settlements or to create special plants to survive that hostile environment, to fight diseases ,to improve human cells and increase human life span, options are endless. This is truly a science fiction come true, I want to read Jurassic park again. Your comments are welcome.

Inspired By Stephen Hawking

During the times when I was studying in Bangalore University, I read about this great scientist called Stephen Hawking in the news paper, a theoretical physicist, he was visiting India for a speech. Hawking is severely disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (a type of motor neurone disease. From what I knew he could only move few fingers of his hand and his facial muscles, he talked using a computer specially designed to identify his finger and facial muscle movements. Then, I was able to buy his famous book called “A Brief history Of Time” on the streets of Bangalore, probably a pirated copy. I read it like I was reading the world’s best science fiction. I was fascinated by the way he described complicated theories of physics in a simple manner; even a person with a limited knowledge of physics could understand most of it. When asked about his objectives, Hawking told Robert Deltete of Zygon in a 1995 interview, "My goal is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.” Nowadays he’s regarded as the modern Einstein. If you are interested in reading his popular books, here is the list.

• A Brief History of Time
• Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
• The Universe in a Nutshell
• On The Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy
• A Briefer History of Time

If you want to read his fascinating lectures given in different occasions please visit Stephen Hawkings official website.

Apart from inspiring people from his ground breaking theories, recently he expressed his eagerness of visiting the space, as a preparation for that he took a zero gravity flight onboard a specially modified plane ,which gave him 25 seconds of weightlessness .After finishing his journey his first words were “Space ,here I come”. I always think of him as a role model for any one who needs to improve his positive attitudes towards life. If a person with that type of a disability could be the greatest scientist on earth, and probably visit space in the future ,what could stop you from achieving your dreams?

'Doomsday' vault design unveiled

The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008. The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

The first high-speed digital camera that can follow a speeding bullet in mid-flight has been developed for the U.S. Air Force. The system may lead to "active armor" that sees incoming bullets and intercepts them in mid-air. It may also help guide missiles and unmanned vehicles, or manage traffic.

The system mimics the fovea in biological eyes -- the dense region of light receptors at the center of the eye used for detailed vision.

What we cant see

I read this article few months ago about dark energy and dark matter,according to the scientists when we observe a galaxy using any instrument we can only see 10% of its matter,90% of its matter & energy we can't observe.Scientists found its existence only by gravitational fluctuations.Dark matter do not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be detected directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.What if there are intelligent life made of dark matter?we will not know they are there.