tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82123562024-03-12T15:03:06.931-07:00balancing lifeDevelopment, Education, Society, Science and Everything ScientificSunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.comBlogger340125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-7582601410038545292015-09-15T05:59:00.000-07:002015-09-15T05:59:07.422-07:00While this blog will remain dormant, this is just to inform readers that I've started writing a monthly science column for <a href="thewire.in">The Wire</a>, and this can be <a href="http://thewire.in/author/slaxman/">read here.</a>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-33117612057101262982011-08-10T18:16:00.001-07:002011-08-10T18:16:45.893-07:00Travel writingNot quite a return to blogging just as yet, but here is a recent travel article I wrote for Mint:<br />
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<a href="http://www.livemint.com/2011/08/05223520/Texas--A-slice-of-Americana.html?h=A3">A slice of Americana</a>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-57396895280752083592010-09-06T09:32:00.000-07:002010-09-06T09:32:07.698-07:00What’s next, Balancing Life?I started blogging five years ago without knowing what blogging was. This blog started as a place where I could put up essays I wrote about various topics that interested me, and I hoped that some of them would be read, and I would get some comments and feedback that would help me clarify my own thoughts. But the experience has been way more enriching than I had ever imagined it would be. It has helped me develop my writing skills, improved my ability to think cogently and write concisely, and helped me explore complex topics. Often, diverse and contrasting opinions on the same topic have helped me reshape my own views. This blog has also strengthened my passion for writing about the various sciences, particularly about the natural world. It has been a fun ride. But I haven’t written anything on this blog for a couple of months. That’s not because I don’t have anything to write, but because I think the blog has served its purpose well. Now I’m left with the “what next” question. I don’t know the answer to that, and am still thinking about it.<br />
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The blog and its archives will remain here. And at some point of time I’ll probably start writing essays and articles on this blog again. Till then, sign up for email updates (top right side bar), and you’ll know when I start writing again. Thanks for all the fish.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-1178093212271149422010-04-17T13:08:00.000-07:002010-04-17T13:08:39.999-07:00On Cretaceous beds, dinosaur fossils, the formation of the Indian subcontinent and geology in IndiaSome weeks ago I had a wonderful discussion with Suvrat, who <a href=http://suvratk.blogspot.com/>has rapidly uplifted</a> the quality of discussion on geological/earth sciences, paleontology, evolution and whatnot. My own interest in the geological sciences came through an interest in paleontology which comes from a serious interest in and study of evolution. So it is an absolute pleasure to discuss "naive" questions on geology, different type of deposits and beds and fossils with someone who actually knows what he is talking about, and Suvrat is exactly that. For my simple (and sometimes simplistic) questions, Suvrat patiently wrote back in magnificent detail explaining and clarifying broad questions in geology (and research in those areas in India), filling his answers with personal perspective. I thought snippets of the whole thread would be of significant interest to readers of this blog who cannot but have been fascinated by dinosaurs and moving continental plates and changing worlds.<br />
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The discussion started when I wrote to him about <a href=http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000322>this discovery</a> of some fossils in India, which showed a prehistoric snake devouring dinosaur eggs. A spectacular finding, it gave a new perspective on snakes millions of years old, and how they evolved over time. Now, the fossils were discovered in Gujarat, in what are called the Lameta Formation beds. These beds were formed over 67 <i>million</i> years ago, in the late Cretaceous era, amongst the oldest such formations still around in south Asia. I knew nothing about this region itself, and in general the state of paleontology and geology in India and other parts of South Asia, and this piqued my interest so I asked Suvrat:<br />
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<i>".....are there any parts of south Asia where they've found fossils and deposits from Paleozoic (particularly Cambrian) or even Precambrian eras? I'm guessing, particularly because of the climate (and geology) it might be hard to find remains and fossils from those eras. But is there anything like the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Shale>Burgess shale</a> in south Asia?........also, parts of China and Mongolia have yielded spectacular remains of Cretaceous as well as Cenozoic stuff. Do you think parts of south Asia (like the Lameta beds) might hold some treasures like those parts? Finds from here might help piece together evolutionary bits, particularly since the Indian subcontinent split off from <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana>Gondwanaland</a> somewhere in the mid Cretaceous. So presumably (and if you're very lucky) you could find some really interesting fossils and look and see how they compare with fossils on either side of Gondwanaland and Laurasia, and stuff in between. What do you think?"</i><br />
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To this Suvrat patiently came up with a beautiful bite-sized "dummies" post about Cambrian and pre-Cambrian sediments in India:<br />
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<i>".....Throughout much of the Paleozoic the Peninsular Indian continent was part of Gondwanaland, surrounded by what would become Antarctica, Australia, Africa. So there were no marine incursions and no marine sediments were deposited. So (there is) no chance of a Burgess type deposit in S. Asia. There is Cambrian sediment northwards in the Himalayas but that is crumpled and metamorphosed, so if it did contain exceptional fossil beds like Burgess, they have been destroyed.<br />
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There is plenty of Precambrian sediment all over the Indian continent. The most promising for animal fossils is the Vindhyan basin. There is Proterozoic sediment there but the Neo-Proterozoic where early animal evolution unfolded is not very well represented and has not yielded too much in terms of animal body fossils. Some tracks and trails have been found but their significance is debated. So there is some scope for further surprises there. <a href=http://suvratk.blogspot.com/2008/07/revising-age-of-vindhyan-rocks.html>This post</a> give a flavor of the controversies regarding the Vindhyans. <br />
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As Gondwanaland began to split up the eastern margin of the future Indian continent rifted earlier. Here continental interior basins developed filled by fluvial sediments (a lot of India's coal is from these basins). These contain abundant plant fossils which have Gondwanaland affinities i.e. they are similar to ones found in Antarctica and Australia. So the plant fossil record does tell us about this ancient geography and evolutionary relationships of floral groups. Later the western margin of the Indian continent rifted from Africa and marine basins developed in Rajasthan, Gujarat and M.P. There is a thick Jurassic marine fill and thinner Cretaceous marine sediment. There is Cretaceous sediment is south India on the eastern margin. These deposits have been studied quite extensively and their fossil record is being studied as part of the larger paleo-geographic framework."</i><br />
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Coming to the spectacular fossil finds in Gujarat that the paper discusses Suvrat continues <i>"...the Lameta are mostly marginal marine and terrestrial deposits ...the last stage of deposition in western India before the Deccan volcanism. Being terrestrial deposits the fossil record is not as rich as marine sediments since the chances of fossils getting destroyed in terrestrial settings is higher. However as the recent find shows, freakish events like mudslides, floods, river banks caving in and so on can preserve spectacular examples. So while the background rate of fossil preservation is not that good, there is always a chance of a catastrophic event entombing entire horizons.<br />
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<b>In a sense we are lucky to have the Lameta at all. These deposits are quite thin, just a few meters of so and would have surely been completely eroded away by now. But the Deccan volcanics over much of Cenozoic have encased them in a protective shell and saved them from destruction. So a Chinese basin type preservation (in the Lameta) is not out of the question. We need to conserve whatever good localities are available for further study. </b></i>"<br />
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His last lines were obviously a red flag for more questions from the ever curious and persistent schoolboy (me). So I asked:<br />
<i>"...........Is anything like that ever likely to happen in India? For all its faults in other spheres, China has done spectacularly not only to preserve its fabulously rich geological basins (which are fossil treasure troves), and has also developed a strong community of Chinese paleontologists and geologists who are making some spectacular contributions to science. Paleontology or geology are hardly significant professions for anyone in India.....it is a "no scope" profession. Similarly, there are so many sites in the US (from the badlands in the Dakotas all the way down south to sites in Oklahoma and Texas) that have not only been reasonably well preserved, but where American geologists and paleontologists have been given unrestricted access and lots of funding to carry out their research. I'm pretty sure a researcher in India will struggle to carry out any field trips in these fields, and the Indian government can sometimes make it very difficult for foreign scientists to carry out field research in India (for various reasons). So how do you see things in India, and where do you see things going towards?</i>"<br />
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Suvrat comes up with even more perspective, and ends on an optimistic note:<br />
"<i>........Over in India we have strong social pressures to take up Medicine, Engineering, MBA ...but not pure science and certainly geology ranks lower in the sciences as well. China probably has suffered less of that historically and so plenty of really bright Chinese students take up geology and the result combined with adequate government support is the world class research coming out of their labs. There may be another economic angle to this. Historically, salaries in China were more equitable across all professions (that has changed recently) ..and so a doctor in practice probably did not make that much more than a geologist teaching at a State Univ. In India there always have been great differences in income, based on profession. Geology jobs for long until recent were with the government and salaries modest. On the other hand a doctor or a lawyer or a MBA always made more money. I wrote <a href=http://suvratk.blogspot.com/2008/10/indian-geosciences-and-thoughts-on.html>a post</a> sometime back speculating why Bengali geologists published more in top class research journals in sedimentary geology than other ethnicities in India, outlining some of these issues."</i><br />
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But then there is the key question of site preservation. Most of us know how abysmally historic sites are protected in India. Geologically/Paleontologically spectacular sites unfortunately aren't necessarily breathtakingly beautiful forests or mountains, but are often what look like "waste/fallow land". Secondly, there is a massive construction boom in India which demands both land and material (for bricks, stone etc). All of this obviously encroaches on these lands. Here is Suvrat's perspective on those sites in India:<br />
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<i>".....those kinds of geology parks do exist in India but enforcement is non -existent. I have had two bad experiences. One in Jabalpur, coincidentally in the Lameta beds. That was during college a couple of decades ago and the outcrop already showed signs of being worn away by human activities and the threat of encroachment from slums. The second is at Gilbert Hill (Andheri) Mumbai which is a great example of columnar jointing in basalts but also is the de-facto toilet of the surrounding slums. Both sites are officially geology heritage sites but neglected. Recently there was a report on how Jurassic rocks containing fossils from the Rajmahal hills in Jharkhand are being used for construction purposes despite pleas from geologists for protecting at least part of the site. So that awareness and political clout to protect these sites as national monuments and for science just does not exist in India for now.</i>" Think about that. A magnificent and rare geological formation right in the middle of Mumbai, which, with some vision could be made into a national monument type public park! But even before that happens, the site may be lost for ever by a city with a voracious appetite.<br />
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But Suvrat ends with on an optimistic note. <i>" ..........the good news is that geology salaries are going up. A lot of private companies in mining and petroleum are setting up shop and geologists make a good income both in production and in R and D. Add to that because of environmental concerns and groundwater in particular the need for good geology expertise is being recognized. So "saving the earth" or <a href=http://suvratk.blogspot.com/2009/04/geology-will-be-central-to-indias.html>"save India from climate change"</a> may be a good theme to use to educate people about the importance of geology and chip away at the age old social reluctance to see geology as a top profession and encourage bright young students to pursue it as a career.</i>"<br />
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I share some of Suvrat's optimism in that private stake holders (including big oil) have made some spectacular finds in geology, and have often worked to protect it. But will it happen in India, or will those geological and paleontological scientific treasures be lost even before they are found and studied?Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-71322601247059546392010-04-01T20:52:00.000-07:002010-04-01T20:56:32.150-07:00Eating high fructose corn syrup makes Yogi bear..............fatter than the average bear.<br />
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Apologies for that awful title that I couldn't resist.<br />
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<span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_mid.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span><br />
If you are fond of sweets, chocolates, candy, cookies and ice cream, and have ever read the label for the ingredients, you must have noticed one of them, called <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup>high fructose corn syrup</a> (HFCS). You might have wondered about it a little, or just thought that fructose is sweet like glucose, and gone on with your indulgence. HFCS has now largely replaced table sugar (or sucrose) as the main sweetener in most confectioneries sold in most stores. A huge reason for this has been the easy availability of the vast quantities of corn grown in the US, from which high fructose corn syrup is extracted, making it cheaper than sucrose. While there has been speculation for a while (and increasing correlative data) suggesting that HFCS may increase obesity or other health problems related to sugar, much of this has been decried by the food industry.<br />
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However, the data is slowly shifting towards the adverse health effects of HFCS. A recent paper in <a href=http://www.sciencedirect.com.foyer.swmed.edu/science/journal/00913057>Pharmacology Biochemistry and behavior</a> (Bocarsly et al, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2010.02.012) now suggests that HFCS causes the characteristics of obesity, from increases in body weight to increased triglycerides in the blood.<br />
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Let's take a look at what this study shows.<br />
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The researchers studied the effects of HFCS in captive rats. Their experiments were simple. They fed groups male or female rats, either normal rat chow, or rat food mixed with sucrose (sugar), or rat food mixed with equal amounts (and calories) of HFCS (and each sample size was ten rats). They varied their experiment so that the rats could eat HFCS with every meal, or HFCS was provided only for 12 hours during the day. They carried out these studies over a short time frame (two months) as well as a longer time frame (6 months). Here is the rationale behind this experiment. The experiment not only tested if HFCS could cause increase in weight, but compared it directly with consuming table sugar, sucrose. Now sucrose is a compound that is made of one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. So when sucrose is broken down, it breaks down to fructose and glucose. Secondly, the process by which glucose and fructose are broken down are similar, and the amount of energy they each can release is the same. HFCS has <i>around</i> 55% fructose and 45% glucose. So the food industry has always claimed that using sucrose, or using an equivalent amount of fructose would be biologically very similar. However, when rats were fed either regular food, or food + sucrose, or food + HFCS, the results were quite different.<br />
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Here is what the experiment unambiguously revealed. <br />
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The male rats fed HCFS gained more weight than mice fed with regular chow or chow supplemented with sugar even over a two month period. Over a six month period, this weight gain in male rats was very significant when compared with rats eating regular chow. In male rats, after 6 months of these diets, the rats on HFCS weighed on average a 100g more than rats fed on regular food. Female rats also gained weight eating HFCS, but at a lower rate than males. After a 7 month duration on these diets, the rats fed with normal food weighed 177% over baseline. However, the rats with continuous access to HFCS were ~200% heavier than baseline. There were a few other interesting observations, indicative of the effects of HFCS on obesity. In both male and female rats, the increase in body weight was accompanied by an increase in actual <i>abdominal</i> body fat, as well as increased triglycerides. So if the same effects hold for humans, the weight gain would primarily be around the abdominal region. <br />
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There remain some limitations in this study. The dramatic increases in body weight as well as abdominal fat was observed in rats that had food + HFCS available continuously. In female rats that had access to HFCS only for 12 hours during the day (for a long duration) did not show those dramatic weight increases. However, male rats even with controlled access to HFCS showed this increase in abdominal fat accumulation. Since we care about human consumption of HFCS, does human consumption of HFCS reflect tightly controlled access to it, or a constant availability of HFCS with any meal? Secondly, there will be some differences in the rates of metabolism of glucose and fructose between humans and rats. However, the broad processes of absorption and breakdown of these nutrients are very similar in us and in rats, so it is quite likely that this general phenomenon will hold true in humans. But doing these experiments in humans (where a long term study could be five or ten years) would be extremely difficult to control. Secondly, the experiments were done in rats kept in cages in a laboratory. One could argue that there is clearly nothing in common between laboratory rats and humans. These rats exercise very little and are largely sedentary. They don't run around as much as they should, are already somewhat obese even before feeding on HFCS, and have fairly unlimited access to food and can eat whenever they want to, and as much as they want to in one sitting. Surely that can't be the way humans live. Oh but wait a minute!<br />
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The authors in their discussion speculate on why HFCS might cause increased body weight gain when compared to regular food or even food supplemented with an equivalent amount of sucrose, but their discussion only briefly touches on aspects of sugar metabolism that could explain this. So I'll elaborate a little more, and add some of my own speculation based on how these sugars are metabolized. In short, it all comes down to the body's way to regulate sugar levels, sense how much is there, and feedback to control the effects of these sugars.<br />
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Firstly, glucose and fructose are absorbed very differently. Glucose is absorbed early in the small intestine, while fructose is absorbed later. But the big difference comes in how and where the two sugars, as well as sucrose itself are metabolized. Sucrose has to be broken down in the stomach into glucose and fructose before it can be used. Glucose can be used by just about every cell in the body through a process called glycolysis, to break it down into usable energy. The process of glucose breakdown is a very tightly regulated process called glycolysis. In this process, a key regulatory step happens when glucose is converted to another sugar called fructose-6-phosphate, and then to another sugar called fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, which is then broken down into triglycerides and then energy. Now, the enzyme that does this conversion to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is called phosphofructokinase and it is highly and exquisitely regulated by multiple inputs, including other co-factors as well as other modifications. This allows the cell to tightly and precisely control how much glucose is broken down. Fructose however is broken down not in all cells but largely only in the liver through a process called fructolysis. Here, instead of fructose being converted to fructose-6-phosphate, and then being tighly regulated in its conversion to 1,6-bisphosphate and later triglycerides, it is converted into a similar (but biologically very different) sugar called fructose-1-phosphate. This small change in the position of that single phosphate group makes a huge difference biologically, since the breakdown of this sugar into triglycerides happens very quickly and easily, and is not tightly controlled by many inputs. The result of this is that fructose is very rapidly and easily broken down into triglycerides which can then be used for energy, or be converted into glycogen or fats for storage. While the eventual outcome of glucose and fructose is similar, the way the two are regulated and controlled is very different. In other words, the body has much more control over how fast glucose is broken down, but far less control over fructose breaking down.<br />
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So this phenomenon, combined with the fact that HFCS has over 55% fructose, and 45% glucose means that the body is dealing with a much higher ratio of fructose to glucose when compared with just plain old table sugar (sucrose). The difference is small over a few meals, but over a long period of time, this adds up to quite a lot. Also, what this difference in circulating glucose (that is regulated and not tightly broken down) does is change the way the body responds to feeding. Glucose controls insulin release, which in turn controls a hormone called leptin, which controls apetite and satiety in the brain. Now, this small but continuous difference in fructose/glucose ratios (comparing HFCS to sucrose) alters how much circulating glucose remains in the blood, which can alter leptin levels as well as leptin sensitivity, and this finally alters the brain's ability to be satiated after a meal. Over time, HFCS <i>could</i> change the satiety achieved by eating, and also finally alter eating patterns. All this put together could cause the increase in body weight seen over time.<br />
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Of course, there will be people unsatisfied with these data. But the data is suggestive, and this idea is compelling.<br />
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<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Pharmacology+Biochemistry+and+Behavior&rft_id=info%3A%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=%0D%0AHigh-fructose+corn+syrup+causes+characteristics+of+obesity+in+rats%3A+Increased+body+weight%2C+body+fat+and+triglyceride+levels+&rft.issn=&rft.date=2010&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.pbb.2010.02.012&rft.au=Miriam+E.+Bocarslya%2C+Elyse+S.+Powella%2C+%2C+Nicole+M.+Avenaa%2C+and+Bartley+G.+Hoebel&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CCreative+Commons">Miriam E. Bocarslya, Elyse S. Powella, , Nicole M. Avenaa, and Bartley G. Hoebel (2010). <br />
High-fructose corn syrup causes characteristics of obesity in rats: Increased body weight, body fat and triglyceride levels <span style="font-style: italic;">Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior</span></span>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-72816072167080838822010-03-30T17:31:00.001-07:002010-03-30T17:31:56.809-07:00Some changes....expect quite a few changes in this blog over the next few days/weeks.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-18801420574279715002010-03-29T16:20:00.000-07:002010-03-29T16:22:00.015-07:00How buying “local” produce can have a very high carbon footprint…......and other such thoughts.<br /><br />Buying “local” food and supporting local farmers and their local produce is one bullet point mantra often touted to be far more sustainable than buying food at a supermarket that belongs to a big company. The main claim for this is that local produce has very low transport costs (from the farm near by to the market), so the carbon footprint for this produce is extremely low. This then would mean that it is far less energy consuming and in the long term far more sustainable.<br /><br />For a while I thought this was a compelling argument, and sometimes pondered over how guilty I should feel for not heading out to the local farmer’s market to buy “local” produce. But then, ever the skeptic, I decided to actually see if this was true.<br /><br />First of all, at least in most of the US, local food now means food grown not necessarily 10 miles from the city, but within the state. Obviously, there are many cities near which there is no significant farming/agricultural land growing wheat, corn, fruit and vegetables. While Dallas does have farms a hundred miles or so from it, “local” predominantly means within the state of Texas. But since Texas is almost three times the size of France with most of the population in the four large urban centers (Dallas-Fortworth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin) it is very likely that a significant portion of the “local” food is being trucked across hundreds of miles from various rural, agricultural parts of the state to the cities. So that immediately weakens the distance and high energy consumption argument.<br /><br />But could it still be possible for me to be more energy efficient (and our food more sustainable) if I shopped at a farmers market and not at a supermarket chain? Here is what some simple but rigorous calculations suggest:<br /><br />Dallas has a lovely <a href=http://www.dallasfarmersmarket.org/>farmers market</a> as well as other <a href=http://sprouts.com/home.php>stores</a> that sell local produce extensively. All of them are located around 8-10 miles from home. So a return trip is about 20 miles by car, through significant traffic. In addition, these stores only sell produce, so if I need a toothbrush or soap or any other daily use produce, I need to head out to a pharmacy or a general store to buy it. So if I get my food from a farmers market my gas consumption will be about gallon of gas a week (or over 50 gallons of gas a year). It also is a significant investment of my time.<br /><br />In contrast, we live about 500 yards from a supermarket owned by Safeway/Tom Thumb, which is at the end of the street our house is in. It is the typical big American supermarket which sells everything from food and produce to kitchen towels and brooms. In our case, shopping is done on the way back from work without any detour, and on occasion I walk down to the store to pick up stuff. The total extra annual gas consumption for our shopping is zero gallons. In addition, it also saves a lot of time during the week since there is no need to make additional shopping trips for items of daily use that is not food or produce.<br /><br />All of this only considers individual energy consumption (which can be quite significant), and does not go into the significant energy efficiencies brought about by economies of scale achieved by larger supermarket chains.<br /><br />There is tremendous value in local food and local crops, and there should be a significant space for it. But even a simple hard look suggests that it is not necessarily a more “sustainable” and energy efficient method of food production. The more I research these issues (and those around “slow food”), the more it seems like they are largely seductive rants against corporations and globalization. Where there remains much value in these ideas, and they should be encouraged, they will not meet any rigorous analysis of sustainability and energy efficiency unless one uses similar eyewash metrics that large, inefficient corporations use.<br /><br />(For a fascinating and rigorous information on a host of these issues, <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Just-Food-Where-Locavores-Responsibly/dp/031603374X/>Just Food</a> is an excellent read).Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-88799782310883756052010-02-20T12:09:00.000-08:002010-02-20T12:15:51.368-08:00Revisiting “Inherit the wind”<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvAjT9vKrUIyEMwNooRu5y8-lDY-j6Ae-Th5FWesJphK5Lw-nhb8SaOTZr5D5vjRT7GKIuleMPFPcTETQnBJM48dQJ_DRJ4An2AHWjHOUbL7H6zjxaKBDwKy9Vg3x_hY7D0u1Mg/s1600-h/Inherit_the_wind_Spencer_Tracy_Fredric_March.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSvAjT9vKrUIyEMwNooRu5y8-lDY-j6Ae-Th5FWesJphK5Lw-nhb8SaOTZr5D5vjRT7GKIuleMPFPcTETQnBJM48dQJ_DRJ4An2AHWjHOUbL7H6zjxaKBDwKy9Vg3x_hY7D0u1Mg/s320/Inherit_the_wind_Spencer_Tracy_Fredric_March.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440420348867078274" /></a><br />Stanley Kramer made <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherit_the_Wind_%281960_film%29 >“Inherit the wind”</a> way back in 1960. It is remarkable that the movie remains as relevant and powerful today as it was back then. “Inherit the wind” was an adaptation of a play by the same name that was a parable of the famous <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial>Scopes “monkey” trial</a> , and when it was made in 1960 also became a critique of <A href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism>McCarthyism</a>. As the old quote goes, the more things change, the more things remain the same. <br /><br />“Inherit the wind” was a thinly veiled fictionalization of the Scopes trial, a case in 1925 that tested the Butler act which prohibited the teaching of the theory of evolution, or any theory that denied creation <i>as told in the Bible</i> in schools. John Scopes, a high school teacher in Tennessee, was charged with teaching evolution in schools, and put on trial. It became a battleground between fundamentalists who believed in an absolute and literal version of the bible, and modernists, reformers and thinkers; people like Spencer Tracy’s fictional Henry Drummond (based on the real life <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow>Clarence Darrow</a>) who thought that an idea was bigger than any monument man could build. <br /><br />Watching “Inherit the wind” today, fifty years after it was made; one is struck by both the power of the screenplay and story, as well as the ability of the director to confront a serious issue head on, with no punches spared. The Scopes trial itself was fought by two of the best lawyers and orators in America at that time, three time presidential candidate and staunch Presbyterian, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan>William Jennings Bryan</a>, who prosecuted, and Darrow, who fought for the defense of Scope. In Kramer’s movie, Durrow becomes Spencer Tracy’s Henry Drummond, and Fredric March’s Matthew Brady is strongly based on Bryan. The first few scenes of the movie suggest for a few moments that the characters will all be painted with a broad brush of stereotypes, with Brady entering the town to rousing chants of “some old time religion”. But everything changes once Drummond appears on screen, and the entry into the courtroom. The sheer ferocity of the courtroom drama and the power of each argument make you forget those early moments of awkwardness, and suck you right into the battle. The sequences of incidents in court that lead Drummond to utter frustration in the courtroom are built brilliantly. First Drummond is not allowed to call upon any experts in anatomy or geology, anthropology, archeology or astronomy, with his pleas being dismissed as “irrelevant” to the case. The case was about trying Cates (the character based on Scopes) for teaching evolution, which was against the law. It was as simple as that. Nor was Drummond allowed to read out passages from “The origin of species”, even as Brady proudly declares that he has not read the origin, and has no need to read any work of paganism and the work of Satan. Drummond’s moments of frustration can only be described as masterly. Finally, Drummond has to fight the case using the Bible itself as the sole reference.<br /><br />Putting Brady on the witness box, Drummond systematically hammers away at passages from the Bible, which if taken literally can only be absurd. If the earth was created in seven days, asks Drummond, and the sun and the moon and stars were only created on the fifth day, then before the fifth “day”, what would a day be? Would it just be a day, or a year, or a million years? To these and other pointed thrusts, Brady remains unperturbed, and only remarks that he did not think about it, because the Bible didn’t talk about it. Drummond leaps upon this point and says that it is precisely the problem, that people here did not think, and the only person who thought about it and talked about it has been put on trial, only for his “right to think”. As Drummond builds his argument, and the single minded fanatism of Brady (and the townsfolk) comes more into prominence, Tracy’s firm, crisp voice almost seems like a thunderous shout as he says fanatism and ignorance always remain busy and need feeding. The entire movie is a masterpiece of courtroom drama, with actors and script rising spectacularly above the merely good to elevate this movie towards true brilliance. <br /><br />Even between these extended periods of stupendous drama from Drummond and Brady, there are little moments to cherish. When Mrs. Brady is confronted by Rachel Brown, the torn, tormented fiancé of Cates, on why her husband, who Cates trusted and confided in, twisted her words in court to make Cates appear diabolically evil, Mrs. Brady snaps back that at least she believes in her husband, and believes in something, and that makes it her basis for living. What did Rachel believe in? And could she stand for anything at all? In another lull between courtroom storms, Drummond and Brady spend an evening chatting about old times, and Brady asks Drummond why they moved so far apart, and Drummond responds that perhaps Brady had just stood still while he himself had continued to move forward. And while having dinner with Mrs. Brady, Drummond says that he would still perhaps have voted for Brady for president, but if Brady did indeed become president, he would have been his loudest opponent shouting from the opposition bench. The contradictions and complexities of human emotions stand out between, during and within the intense moments in the courtroom.<br /><br />And then there is Gene Kelly, as the caustic “Baltimore Herald” reporter E.K. Hornbeck, who covers the case, and whose newspaper pays the entire cost of the defense as well as Drummond’s expenses. His character is a throw back to a time when journalists still had names with two initials (are there any left today other than A.O. Scott?), who fought with their words as if they were bare-knuckled fighters, who confronted issues head on, and cowered before no one. Cynical, terse and sarcastic. In a last scene with Drummond, Drummond snaps back at Hornbeck’s cynicism, saying he would die alone, and that no body would mourn for him or appear at his funeral. Hornbeck smiles and says he knows that even if no one came, Drummond would be there, and would fight to the last for his right to be alone. The right to think, the right to speak, the right to question authority, and to stand for the truth. All powerful ideas, yet ideas that have shaped this nation unlike any others. <br /><br />In the very last scene, we are left with Drummond picking up his copy of “The origin of species”, and then the Bible, smiling, and clasping them together. What does he mean by that? Is it a reconciliation or a preparation for battles to come?Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-2813273077370204282010-02-12T12:42:00.000-08:002010-02-12T15:12:43.354-08:00The adventures of Ibn Batutua<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPornkcKmoeKcHJ9bUhr87Wb1HajjRFJTacrXhODesvGcHIJaCFMNu3v08nTkr1Oejic82z1-wyG90kSjvTMG_AF22IzUZSHhzRhZh1mAL5FDBdRZEkuR3aKwTMoEVqkFKIzd8A/s1600-h/ibnbatuta.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPornkcKmoeKcHJ9bUhr87Wb1HajjRFJTacrXhODesvGcHIJaCFMNu3v08nTkr1Oejic82z1-wyG90kSjvTMG_AF22IzUZSHhzRhZh1mAL5FDBdRZEkuR3aKwTMoEVqkFKIzd8A/s320/ibnbatuta.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437496523274439714" /></a><br /><I>"Ibn-e-batuta ta ta<br />Bagal mein joota ta ta<br />Pehne to karta hai churrr"</I><br /><br />Through those lyrics from <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishqiya>Ishqiya</a>, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulzar>Gulzaar's</a> zany mind conjures up an improbable road song, full of carefree spirit and an imagery of freedom and lust for travel. Yet who was Ibn-batuta, what was his story, and why is he remembered even today (at least by a few) in distant India? <br /><br />Now somewhat forgotten by history, Ibn-batuta might well have been one of the greatest travelers of all time. A few years before Marco Polo set off on his memorable voyage to Cathay, Ibn-Batuta, born in Morocco in the then backwater trading town of Tangier, set upon a voyage which took him almost his entire life, and by the end of which he had travelled across north Africa and Asia all the way to China and back. A staggering distance, more than twice that of what Marco Polo accomplished, and all because he wanted to see all places on earth that comprised of "dar-ul-Islam", the lands where Islam had spread and where Islamic law took prominence. At the end of his journey the ruler of Morocco told him to write the story of his travels to the very ends of the earth, in the form of the classic travel chronicle of the time in Arabic, the <I>Rihla</i>. And the result is a rollicking adventure across the lands that were the richest and most prosperous in the world at that time, in the early 14th century.<br /><br />While his story remained unknown to the west until the last couple of centuries, his <i>rihla</i> had been widely read in the wider "Islamic world" which covered most of Asia. Since then, translations into English and French brought his story to the west. Reading Ross E. Dunn's <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ibn-Battuta-Traveler-Fourteenth/dp/0520067436>version of Ibn-Batuta</a> however puts his story into marvellous perspective. Dunn uses his considerable knowledge of medieval Islamic civilizations across the world to describe the Sindbad like adventures of Ibn-Batuta, while simultaneously describing the conflicts, rulers and political climate of the time in the various lands travelled by Batuta. Through the story of Ibn-batuta Dunn is able to describe how even very diverse lands would have been easily traversible by a muslim of learning. Ibn-Batuta was an educated muslim, trained from childhood in arabic, Islamic law, religion and practice. So when Ibn-Batuta set off on his first journey (ostensibly to perform his "haj", his pilgrimage to Mecca), his knowledge of Arabic and the quran alone would have sufficed for him to be sure to be welcomed (or at least offered shelter) in all the lands he travelled through. Yet, the time of his journey was also one of the most remarkable times in human history. A few centuries earlier Islam had spread rapidly, through both trade and the sword, across Asia, North Africa and a large part of Europe. This was partly because the Arabs were intrepid travellers and traders, and sat right at the middle of a great trade network that connected Europe from ancient times to the wealth of India and China. The Arabs ruled both the land (through their horse and camel caravans) and sea routes (with dhows that plied across the Indian ocean and Arabian sea). Yet, at that time, various events had taken place to make the world a place of great innovation, trade and prosperity as well as political turmoil. The Al-mohads had lost their hold on Spain and Iberia (al-Andalus), and the caliphate had collapsed. In Asia, the hurricane-like forces of Genghis Khan and his vast Turko-mongol armies had swept down the central Asian steppes and overrun the lands of the Khwarizm, Babylon and Persia. After his death, Genghis' descendants squabbled (while still ostensibly under a great Khan), and the empire split into many smaller pieces. Many of these, in Central Asia, came under the strong Persian and Arabic influences, and under these influences converted to Islam. Meanwhile the Mamluks remained strong in Egypt and parts of Arabia and held off the mongols, so while Baghdad had been destroyed by the mongols, Cairo and Damascus and Shiraz remained (and grew) as great centers of Islamic learning. With the fall of Islamic Spain, muslim scholars and men (women, unfortunately, got the short end of the straw in those days) came to these cities, helping their growth as vibrant places of culture. At this same time, the great trading cultures of Venice, Genoa, Florence and what was left of the Byzantine kingdom sent fleets across the Mediterranean, and central Asia, the heart of Islam, became the great melting pot of people and ideas. And finally, even though there were so many kingdoms, it was a rare time of relative peace. The Mongols were still somewhat united under the great Khan, they had made peace with the Mamluk rulers of Egypt, Arabia and Syria, the mongol invasion had made peace possible between Christian Europe and the muslim Arabs, and India itself was largely united under the new Islamic Delhi Sultanate. It was across these lands that Ibn-batuta travelled.<br /><br />Of course, Batuta dictated his rihla when he was old, at the end of his travels, so some of his dates are slightly off, or the precise place where he met certain people of that time a little skewed. Yet, his accounts remain amongst the best and most descriptive of all the lands he traversed through at that time. Batuta perhaps did start out only to complete his haj, but as he went from what was then a provincial town (Tangier) into the magnificent metropolis that was Cairo (perhaps the largest city in the world then), and then Damascus and into Persia, there was no stopping his wanderlust. For a man of some learning, these places were the wonders of the world. Ibn-Batuta was also an odd mix of scholar, pilgrim, muslim puritan, sufi believer, curious traveller, rogue, yet person of the pleasures of the world. Thus, his descriptions contain an amusing, sometimes conflicting mixture of all these attributes. Yet what made him such a great traveller was undoubtedly what must have been an engaging and friendly personality. He made friends, often with eminent people of the region, with ease. And while imagining himself to be very proper and correct, Batuta appeared to have an extraordinary ability to flatter persons of importance, who were often so pleased with him that they showered him with generous gifts. Through his traveling acquaintances, he was also able to meet most of the rulers of the realms he passed through. And with each subsequent destination, his renown as a great traveller increased, thereby enabling him to command even greater respect. An indication of his abilities particularly with flattery is seen even in his rihla, when the ruler of Morocco asked him to name the great kings of the time. Without blinking an eyelid, Batuta clubbed the relatively minor kingdom of Morocco with the great kingdom of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria, and the grand Sultanate of Delhi and the Khanate of Mongol China. Similarly, when he met the Chagatai ruler (then one of the smaller Mongol Ilkhanates), he told him that all these kings were equally great, and all were magnificent, earning himself great rewards. <br /><br />Through his version of Ibn-Batuta's tale, Ross points out that though Ibn-Batuta travelled through so many different lands, it would have been so easy for a learned muslim to make those travels without knowing any of the local languages or customs. Batuta's background as an arabic scholar of sharia (Islamic law) made him a particularly valuable visitor to those lands where muslim kings ruled over vast majorities of non-muslims (such as the Sultan of Delhi, in India), and where learned muslims were in great demand. And, like most travelers across unknown or dangerous lands, Batuta jumps from situations of great fortune to great misfortune, but emerges out of them only with the desire to see more lands. In his travels he acquires gifts, great wealth, horses and camels, slaves, friends and many wives, only to loose them or abandon them and then promptly acquire new ones or reacquire old ones. Batuta's stories of India were of particular interest to me, and Dunn also does a wonderful job of describing Delhi as records say it was when Batuta landed up there after years of travel in Central Asia. A vast part of the Indian subcontinent, from the fabled Khyber pass through the Gangetic plains all the way down south to the deccan were ruled by the sultans of Delhi, and the current incumbent was Mohammad-bin-Tuglaq. Tuglaq ruled at a time when the Sultanate was at it's zenith, and yet was on the verge of collapse. His kingdom was vast (the largest it would ever be under the Delhi sultans), rich with resources and people, and was bursting at the seams. Tuglaq was an eccentric of the strangest sort; a visionary, a tyrant, a petty ruler, a scholar, a reformer and a deeply religious man all at once. All these qualities were in conflict with each other, so it wasn't a surprise that his rule was becoming increasingly schizophrenic. Much of Batuta's colorful descriptions of the Delhi court have come to us from other historical sources, and there remain so many descriptions of Tuglaqs eccentricities that the word "tuglaq" has become a common noun to describe odd behavior in many Indian languages. The sultan would one day befriend or reward a scholar, and the very next day decide to behead him. Having decided that he couldn't trust anyone around him, Tuglaq decided to appoint only unknown foreigners in his court, and it was here that Batuta presented himself. Tuglaq made Batuta the qadi/kazi (judge) of Delhi, gave him a great salary and set off to suppress some revolt in the Deccan. Batuta paints a colorful picture of the intrigue in the Delhi court, where everyone was unsure of his fate, yet tried to outdo the other in outward pomp, so everyone raked up huge debts. Finally, unable to take it any more, Batuta tries to escape, is prevented from doing so, and then is sent with some visiting Chinese ambassidors to the court of China. So he makes his way to the south Indian coast of Malabar, gets robbed (escaping only with his trousers and nothing else), encounters numerous wars and conflicts between the local chiefs, gets shipwrecked, then makes his way to the Maldive islands. Here he is immediately appointed judge, marries multiple local women of influence, complains about the local customs, tries to overthrow the small kingdom there, fails and still escapes. His writings portray wonderfully the confusion and intrigue that existed amongst all the smaller Indian kingdoms, and the conflict between Islamic lords and smaller Hindu chiefs and the greater population, even though he remains true to himself in his travelogue, and only talks about everything from his own perspective. Even though Batuta cares little about the common population, his occasional references to events involving commoners portray a rare picture of medieval India. <br /><br />As he continues his travels all the way through south east Asia to China, all the while being welcomed into muslim communities in each of these lands, it becomes increasingly apparent to modern readers like us just how vast, prosperous and powerful the Islamic networks of those times were. And more than just the sword, it becomes increasingly clear how much of a role trade (and trading guilds) played in the spread of this faith. Also, unlike the historians of any particular kingdom (say those of the Mamluks or the Delhi Sultans) Batuta was just a traveler through these lands, and so his own accounts provide a different perspective (sometimes more accurate at least for some aspects) than do official court historians. Yet Batuta is also infuriating as a travel writer, since he remains so focused on the muslim world alone, and ignores the diversity of customs and other cultures he passes through. The various Christians, Buddhists and Hindus he must have encountered remain inconsecuential to him, so we miss out on eyewitness accounts of all these other peoples. Throughout it all though is a rare love for travel and the sights of new lands, which make his accounts all the more readable, and also gives us a glimpse into a vibrant time in human history, enabling us to realize how closely interconnected the world always has been. <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ibn-Battuta-Traveler-Fourteenth/dp/0520067436>Dunn's book</a> is particularly readable because it puts all these events in perspective and provides this wonderful picture of the world as it was then.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-52379833555371187772010-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:002010-01-13T09:18:44.380-08:00Book Review: Atul Gawande’s “The checklist manifesto: How to get things right”<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqAbiz4juqUpNrmjKJ4bkYxlkH4Fx3V5Z2kDZPGp3hdBDlPLhvybQ-r64Zq2GmndxW3nS-GrtCLLctx-GfInaQ-ure5iELAixvhz78q1Ncx4-aeGXJ4oxqElPqOZgwZvnjLXSBA/s1600-h/checklist.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 172px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqAbiz4juqUpNrmjKJ4bkYxlkH4Fx3V5Z2kDZPGp3hdBDlPLhvybQ-r64Zq2GmndxW3nS-GrtCLLctx-GfInaQ-ure5iELAixvhz78q1Ncx4-aeGXJ4oxqElPqOZgwZvnjLXSBA/s320/checklist.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426229051904422370" /></a><br />Ever thought about how healthcare could be improved? How doctors could reduce errors or complications during serious operations? Almost everyone has a theory on why hospital errors always occur. But Gawande, in his latest book <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0805091742 >“The checklist manifesto: How to get things right”</a>, suggests that a major part of the solution lies in an innocuous and mundane a checklist. The book’s point is very simple. No mater what you do, checklists can help you do it better. This applies to the usual suspects (like the airline industry which pioneered checklists) as well as what would seem improbable; a hospital. <br /><br />He sets us up well, starting with typical medical almost horror stories, of near misses and tragedies in the operating theater, and lays out what he calls “the problem of extreme complexity”. Medical cases are astounding in diversity and complexity. Problems can arise at any time during a medical procedure, and quickly go out of hand. So what can be done to improve this? Aren’t doctors and nurses doing their best already? And then, right away, he throws at you a solution so startlingly simple that you almost laugh it off. A checklist. Checklists work and are widely used in a whole range of professions (who sometimes don’t even call it a checklist). Gawande first describes a few cases in medicine that he came about during his academic research, which intrigued him because they achieved improvements that were way above the typical average in those settings. Piecing together the facts, he realizes that what works here is a little list of things that doctors and nurses run through before, during and after every medical procedure, as part of a defined yet flexible and adaptable checklist.<br /><br />Digging deeper, he starts to explore checklists in a diverse range of industries. The airline industry is an obvious place to start, and Gawande draws us into the process by taking us to testing facilities at Boeing, starting from the first checklists the airline industry drew up in the 30s and 40s. But from there he starts seeing and then describing checklists in a whole range of industries, from the building industry to investment bakers, top chefs and Walmart. The story on the response to hurricane Katrina, the government bungling and incompetence, and the emergence of Walmart as an unlikely hero in New Orleans thanks to its superb enforcement of checklists is as amazing as it is inspiring. By the time he gets into specific studies in the medical profession, you already know that checklists make a huge difference. Then comes the studies he helped carry out in hospitals across the world, from rural Tanzania to crowded urban India through the UK and America. In every case enforcing these checklists dramatically improve hospital performance. And the items on the checklist are simple, obvious things. Check antibiotic, wash hands, change gloves, change tubing, that sort of thing. But in the heat of a critical operation, or when overwhelmed by huge patient numbers the obvious is often skipped. By setting up the checklist, giving nurses the authority to enforce them, and making medical teams work like a <i>team</i> the checklist becomes a staggeringly effective weapon, taking little time to enforce, but packing a massive wallop of effectiveness. The errors that come up can be quickly spotted and fixed, the entire medical team becomes more effective, and the doctor’s ego can be kept in check.<br /><br /><br /><br />Regular readers of Gawande’s books or articles on healthcare in The New Yorker know that he is a consummate writer. He combines a doctor’s thorough knowledge of the healthcare system in America with the rigors of a scientist and the vivid imagery of a fantastic, old fashioned story teller. In his books you’ll find bits of the old sage, and the thriller writer, and the writer of a whodunit. The checklist manifesto is no different. With every old medical war story he brings up, and with every other profession he dives into, you are sucked into the details of that story, even while you shout out the solution; “a checklist!”. He draws you into the story, makes you feel involved in the process, and you gasp with him when checklists work, or scowl when medical professionals resist them, and smile when a great victory is won thanks to an error the checklist caught. Whether he overstates his claim or not, time, the clinical and hospital review process and accumulating evidence will tell. But he certainly does a fantastic job of convincing you that checklists can make a big difference in medicine. While medicine will remain a highly specialized skill requiring years of study and training, the adoption of a simple, rigorous, <i>adaptable</i> checklist is not only possible in medicine, but works magnificently. <br /><br />Some might think that something as simple as a checklist does not deserve a whole book dedicated to it. By the end of this book though, even a seasoned skeptic will accept defeat. Through the book and this one simple point Gawande is able to give the reader a vivid description of the range of errors or complications in medical science, the immense complexity of modern medicine, and a whole host of issues doctors and nurses face in hospitals in every corner of the world, developed and developing. Some problems are not as disparate as one might assume. By the end of the book, it becomes obvious that some aspects of medical practice isn’t that different from any other complex (as opposed to complicated) field of work, and when checkpoints work so well elsewhere, there is no reason for it not to work as well in medicine. Even smart, intelligent, highly trained people can make mistakes, and checklists can help reduce them. And this is a smart, intelligent, simple book that is well worth reading.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-44140998849075053212009-12-02T12:57:00.000-08:002009-12-02T13:07:52.848-08:00Back to blogging with Darwin, India and scientific peer reviewIt has been a nice long break away from the blog, but hopefully regular weekly programming will resume shortly.<br /><br />Till then, I'll leave you with these.<br /><br />First up, a lovey article by the always excellent Vikram Doctor in the Times of India (yup, even the Times sometimes publishes something worth reading) on <a href=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-India-gave-Darwin-/articleshow/5279041.cms>Edward Blyth</a>, a self trained zoologist and contemporary of Charles Darwin, who was the curator of the Asiatic Society Museum in Calcutta at the time. He corresponded extensively with Darwin, and his exchange of letters with Darwin reveals much about the lives of fortune seeking scientists of the time who weren't from the privileged upper class. The <a href=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-India-gave-Darwin-/articleshow/5279041.cms>article</a> is well worth your time. <br /><br />Also, here is an excellent <a href=http://suvratk.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-didnt-darwin-come-to-india.html>writeup by Suvrat Kher</a> digging deeper into Darwin, Blyth and Alfred Russel Wallace.<br /><br />Finally, in lieu of an apology for being away from the blog for so long, I'll leave you with this hilarious spoof video of scientific peer reviewing, circa 1940's.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-VRBWLpYCPY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-VRBWLpYCPY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-4307482614371910882009-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:002009-10-07T10:30:15.822-07:002009 Nobel for telomeres and ribosomes: answering basic questions in lifeIt’s fair to say that there were few surprises when the Nobel prizes in <a href=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/index.html>Medicine</a> and <A href=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/index.html>Chemistry</a> were announced. Chemists might again quibble, since the prize again went to biophysicists/biochemists for their work on a biological problem, but other than that, the prizes deservedly recognize magnificent work in two areas of basic biology that reveal very important ways by which life, literally, goes on.<br /><br />Also, for the first time, there are three women scientists winning the prize in the sciences. While the prizes themselves are “gender neutral”, it remains a fact that (at least until recently), women have been massively underrepresented in the sciences, and only a handful of women have won Nobel prizes (a reflection of that underrepresentation). If not anything else, these prizes will at least inspire many more women scientists (and the winners have all been great role models, not just for women but all scientists).<br /><br />Now to the prizes themselves.<br /><br />The medicine prize went for discovering how one of biology’s most important processes is enabled by a quirky unit called a telomere. People realized early that DNA, which encodes all our genetic information, was packaged into chromosomes inside cells. Later, proteins called DNA polymerases were discovered, and these proteins were responsible for making copies of DNA, which would allow the DNA to replicate and be propagated. Scientists observed very early that there would be trouble with this copying process, cine the polymerase would leave tails of DNA at the ends, and that chromosomes would slowly shorten. But if that happened, how could all the genetic information be passed on correctly over generations? And then, was there a relationship between this chromosome shortening and the lifespan of the organism? Over the years, the winners of the medicine prize, Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider went on to show how all of this was made possible by telomeres, the capped ends of chromosomes. Telomeres were shown to stabilize the ends of chromosomes, and proteins called telomerases synthesize chromosome ends inside the cell. The Nobel website has an excellent <a href=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/press.html>short summary</a> on the discoveries. <br /><br />Here are two general comments. The first is that all these discoveries were made in two organisms that seem as different from humans as possible; the humble yeast, and a common fresh water microscopic protozoa called <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahymena>tetrahymena</a>. Though some people often question the purpose or use of studying these organisms, basic biological processes (like chromosome maintenance and telomere function) are perfectly conserved across evolution, from these simple bugs through humans. So the findings that came out of these organisms were directly relevant to human and mammalian cell function. Model organisms have taught us a tremendous amount of biology that has been directly applicable to humans.<br /><br />The second general comment is that when Blackburn, Szostak or Greider started working on these organisms, there was no “application” for their research. At the time, telomeres weren’t known to cause any disease, nor could any “product” be made from studying them. The work was done in tetrahymena and yeast, and there was no “utility” in studying them. But the researchers followed their noses, pursuing questions in basic biology. Now their discoveries might play key roles in developing new therapeutics for cancer, ageing or hereditary diseases. When chromosomes shorten too much (and the telomeres shorten beyond a point), the cell stops dividing and goes into senescence. Normal cells don’t divide too much, so don’t need too much telomerase activity. Yet cancer cells divide incessantly. But they still preserve their telomeres, and don’t go into senescence. It has now been observed that cancer cells have high telomerase activity, and people now believe cancer can be treated by removing telomerases from cancer cells (and thus forcing the cells to go into senescence). There is a ton of work being done now to develop therapeutics against cancer targeting telomerases. Yet when this process was being studied, none of this was apparent. <br /><br />The chemistry Nobels have gone to Venki Ramakrishnan, Tom Steitz and Ada Yonath for their pioneering work revealing the structures of yet another of the fundamental enabling units of life, the ribosome. This prize also recognizes the third act by which the process of how DNA encodes the units of life is completed. All three discoveries were seen at the level of the chemical atom using the same technique, called X-ray crystallography. Something that can only be described as an atomic photographic snapshot of biological molecules can be obtained using this technique. In the first Nobel Prize awarded way back when to Watson and Crick, X-ray crystallography revealed the famous double helical structure of DNA, which showed how DNA could be easily copied and replicated. Crick was later able to devise the triplet code, which allowed us to understand how DNA, with just combinations of four nucleic acids, could encode all the information for proteins, the building blocks of all life. This DNA was faithfully copied out to another form of nucleic acid, called (messenger) RNA. mRNA is made by a complex of proteins which form the RNA polymerase units, and the precise molecular details of this process were also largely revealed by X-ray crystallography. This work was recognized in the 2006 Nobel to Roger Kornberg. But there remains the third step, the extremely complex process by which this RNA is made into the actual functional units, the proteins of the cell. This work is done by the massive RNA-protein complex within the cell, called the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosome>ribosome</a>. Primarily using X-ray crystallography (with other structural and biophysical methods) Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath revealed the structures of the ribosome, first with different sub-units of the complex, and later with the structures of the entire complex itself. The Nobel website has a good, simple summary of the process <A href=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/press.html>here</a>. It is a pity that only three Nobel prizes are awarded at a time for a discovery, because <a href=http://biomedical.ucsc.edu/Noller.html>Harry Noller</a> has made just as many pioneering contributions to ribosome structure and function. It is too bad that he missed out (and it must have been a close call between Ramakrishnan and Noller). <br /><br />Most of the work on ribosomes was also done on the most obscure of organisms, mostly microbes that live in harsh environments, like <i>Geobacillus stearothermophilus</i> or <i>Haloarcula marismortui</i> (which <i>lives</i> in the Dead Sea) or Thermus thermophilus. Much of the basic mechanisms of ribosome function are conserved right from bacteria through eukaryotes (of which humans are also a part of). Yet, there are also many differences between bacteria and eukaryotes (and the microbial yeast, a eukaryote, has ribosomes more similar to humans than to bacteria, a fellow microbe). Yonath, Steitz and Ramakrishnan soon had structures of ribosomes with various antibiotics bound to them, showing how these antibiotics could block the ribosome and hence kill bacteria. Their work now gives us a fantastic snapshot to ribosome function, and provides a platform for chemists to come in and make new antibiotics against harmful bacteria.<br /><br />All in all, the prizes have gone to recipients without any major surprises, and their work has tremendous impact, and is a celebration of research in basic, fundamental biology.<br /><br />I’ll leave you with this video of the ribosome from <a href=http://www.yale.edu/steitz/tom/tom.html>Tom Steitz’s lab</a>. I never thought the ribosome looked like a death star, but with the music playing I see it in a different light.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OaQan4O0K_Q&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OaQan4O0K_Q&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-48372532922075776912009-09-15T06:43:00.000-07:002009-09-15T06:44:39.688-07:00Book review: The missing manual – Living Green(Posted on <A href=http://desicritics.org/2009/09/15/062438.php>Desicritics</a>)<br /><br />Over the past few years “sustainable living” has suddenly grown in importance in the more developed and affluent countries of the world, and most people are at least curious about it. Yet it isn’t always easy for people to know if their lifestyles are green or not. An easily readable yet comprehensive and enjoyable resource for green living would be of great value to everyone, from the die hard eco-warrior to the gently curious citizen. Nancy Conner’s <A href=http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596801724/>Living Green</a> is just that much required reference to fill that void.<br /><br />A well written book that can be read as a serious reference or a quick pointer for specific questions, this book (from O’reilly’s missing manual series) addresses most questions anyone could have about living green, and what all it involves. Living green isn’t just about replacing a few light bulbs or occasionally bicycling to work, but is about a comprehensive lifestyle change where the consequences of all our actions are considered from an earth perspective. The book also does well in suggesting that we do have choices, and by living green we do not have to abandon all the comforts we have become accustomed to.<br /><br />This book is organized in chapters that deal with changes we can make in our homes, all the way through green business and getting involved towards sustaining a greener planet. If you are just starting with small changes in your life, and want to see what little things you can easily do around the house, the first section addresses these questions. You will easily be surprised by the number of toxins you are exposed to routinely, from harsh detergents to cleaners and solutions commonly used in bathrooms or kitchens. Importantly, the book provides low cost, simple alternatives that are far less harmful to our own health as well as the health of the planet. Taking just one example, it was most useful to hear that the ultimate all purpose natural cleaner is white vinegar and boric acid powder, which can be used to scour sinks, clean bathtubs, wipe countertops and clean floors. With a few modifications, it can also be used as a garden pesticide. The book then builds towards reducing unnecessary consumption (going for quality over inexpensive quantity is an easy first step), and reusing and recycling. It then goes a level higher, and provides outstanding resources and ideas towards building houses that are green as well as energy saving, talking about everything from simple design solutions to <a href=http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19>LEED certification</a> for buildings. <br /><br />The next section talks about a complete lifestyle change, from raising a green family (ever thought about how many landfills a baby’s diapers could fill up?), green eating and cooking, raising kids who are sensitive towards the environment, through responsible shopping, and another big cause of pollution to the earth, daily transportation. The book provides a handy reminder of the different transportation options (from walking and biking to car pooling) to the costs of air travel or hotel stay, and how easy it can be to offset these effects for little or no extra cost. There are excellent resources for example on hotels or automobiles that take their environmental costs seriously, and are trying hard to improve energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. So, given a choice between two hotels or two cars of similar quality, this book makes it easy to choose the one that does a better job in protecting the environment.<br /><br />The final section goes in depth into green business, and how it is possible to actually make a profit or create substantial savings by actually being green. Much of it is just simple improvements in efficiency. Using less paper or office recycling programs are low cost efforts that result in big “green” savings. There are significant energy savings offices can obtain by simply allowing more natural light in, or opening windows (as opposed to cranking up the air conditioners all the time). There are choices that can be made for the source of energy (and the differences between renewable and non-renewable energy choices, as well as how one can buy and use more renewable energy resources). Finally, the book goes into different ways by which one can be involved, from activism to socially responsible investing.<br /><br />There is little doubt that the book is comprehensive, and provides information to someone curious about green living at every level. Yet, there are some caveats or limitations in this book.<br /><br />For one, it is certainly true that many people have tried various eco-friendly/green choices around the house, and it just didn’t “work as well” as the regular choice. This book, while providing excellent choices for green options around the house, does not acknowledge that there can be some limitations with green products. From my own personal example, we’ve tried just about every single green dishwashing solution out there. But none of them work as well as conventional dishwashing gels (which do have phosphates in them) while cleaning dishes that have been used for spicy, sometimes greasy, and often heavily cooked Indian or Thai food, though they do work satisfactorily for more standard “American” cooking. So, after much trial and error, we had to go back to conventional dishwasher detergents, after experimenting with a dozen natural ones that claimed to be just as “hard on dirt” but gentle on the environment. On the other hand, many other green products work satisfactorily (green laundry detergent with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide added to it works fine for lightly soiled clothes, but perhaps not as well for the rare, heavily soiled garment). Future editions of the book would do well to acknowledge some limitations of green products, and perhaps compare the two, saying where the green product is perfectly adequate, but where it might fall short. Acknowledging some limitations of green products is not necessarily a weakness, and makes it easier for the average person to make better choices while stepping towards green living.<br /><br />Then, there is an extensive (and overall good) chapter on food, which oversimplifies the “organic is good” mantra, unequivocally casting all fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified food as the great evil. However, the argument is far from that simple, since it is a very complex area that is grey and not black or white. Yes, pesticides can be harmful, and overuse of fertilizers has ruined land. But it is also true that careful and controlled use of fertilizer (along with suitable crop rotation and mixed cropping) can yield more food (at no nutritional disadvantage) than simple organic mono-cropping alone. Nor are all genetically modified foods dangerous. It remains a fact that every single food crop we eat today has been modified, over years of crossing and creating “hybrids”, except that the methods used have been different. There certainly are issues with proprietary seeds and over aggressive patents, but casting all genetically modified food as bad is simplistic at best and false at worst. There is no doubt that sustainable (including organic) food practices are excellent for the earth, but by avoiding nuance, this book might put away some people who aren’t blindly gung ho yet about everything green.<br /><br />The book has been written from the perspective of a person living green. So, perhaps, the tone does not fully reach out to people across the aisle. Living in Texas has taught me that direct confrontation (about lifestyle) rarely works. In a place where say people often leave their lawn sprinklers on during three hour thunderstorms, or where cities still don’t have recycling programs (and where one has to collect and cart recyclables to a recycling center oneself), finding middle ground is a starting first step. Perhaps this book can do more to address that.<br /><br />However, overall the book is superbly written, and provides a single stop for the reader to find out anything about living green. A more than useful manual, it should be the book of choice should one want any reference towards green living. It is a worthy addition to any household, and lets you start making those small steps towards green living.<br /><br /><a href=http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596801724/>Living Green: the missing manual</a>Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-72623642548251503112009-08-14T13:47:00.000-07:002009-08-14T13:54:53.794-07:00The bat and the moth, and the ant and the butterflyWhat better way to resume blogging after a break than with a couple of fascinating stories from the natural world, about predator and prey, defensive arms races and survival cues?<br /><span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_mid.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span><br />Bats invoke a variety of emotions from people, ranging from disgust and (unfounded) fear to “they’re cool”. At least the Batman sometimes did some good in helping kids get rid of their fear or paranoia of bats. But while bats might look like silly rats with wings, they are indeed supremely efficient hunting machines. While some bats eat fruit, a majority of them hunt flying insects in the dark, and eat vast quantities of moths, locusts, flies, mosquitoes and any other bug that flies. In order to do this efficiently in the dark, they have a fabulously developed system of “echolocation”, a better sonar system than most battleships. This is great for the bat, and allows them to locate flying insects with pin-point accuracy. But what about the insects? Obviously, they have a pressing need to survive and need to escape bats. Therefore many insects have evolved remarkable ways to evade their hunters.<br /><br />Some insects have developed evasive flying maneuvers, others just taste bad and the bats learn to avoid them, while others yet have evolved a neuronal auditory system that can detect the bat sonar frequency and allow them to escape. So there is this constant fight between bat and insect in evolving better sonar or ways to evade it. But, taking a cue from standard defense technology, do any insects actually jam or disrupt bat sonar? It appears that a certain species of tiger moth can do precisely this.<br /><br />The tiger moth is a perfectly edible snack for the echolocating bat. But some tiger moths emit specific ultrasonic clicks in the presence of attacking bats. These clicks could potentially serve as a warning sound, or perhaps be used to startle bats (thus giving the moth time to escape), or perhaps affect the bat sonar. A group of researchers decided to investigate this phenomenon in a tiger moth species called <i>B. trigona</i>, and used an ingenious test to determine what role these ultrasonic clicks were playing. They pitted moths against bats in a closed chamber and precisely observed what the bats did. If the click was a warning sound (for say a poisonous or distasteful insect), the bat would at first attack the insect, but drop it or spit it out, and then learn to avoid the insect. If it was a startling sound, the bat would at first be startled, but would learn to avoid it. If the click was indeed a sonar jamming sound, the bats would continue to be confused by the clicking over time. In their experiments, the researchers used a bunch of juvenile or adult bats and presented them with either the clicking moths, or other moths of the same size that didn’t click, or just a different type of edible, non-clicking moth. What they found was fascinating. The bats indeed did eat the clicking moths. However, the bats were 400% more likely to eat a non-clicking moth than the clicking <i>B. trigona</i>. But what if these clicking moths just tasted worse? To make sure that this wasn’t the case, the researchers disrupted the clicking mechanisms of these moths, and then let them out with the bats. This time, the bats hunted them down as well as the other non-clicking moths. It became very apparent that the moths used the clicking sound in order to disrupt the bat sonar.<br /><br />As far as the moths go, the evolutionary race for survival is pretty simple. Out in the wild, they don’t need to develop a fantastic sonar jamming device to completely disrupt the bat sonar. All they need to do to get a huge survival edge is to be able to disrupt the bat echolocator just a little bit (but more than any other insect around), so that they can get away and the other insect gets eaten. To do this, they only needed to develop a simple tymbal structure, and this structure is now widespread amongst some tiger moth species. And by doing that, they haven’t evolved to escape all bats, but have just enough to gain that much needed survival edge over other bat prey.<br /><br />(Original reference: <span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Science&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1126%2Fscience.1174096&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Tiger+Moth+Jams+Bat+Sonar&rft.issn=0036-8075&rft.date=2009&rft.volume=325&rft.issue=5938&rft.spage=325&rft.epage=327&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencemag.org%2Fcgi%2Fdoi%2F10.1126%2Fscience.1174096&rft.au=Corcoran%2C+A.&rft.au=Barber%2C+J.&rft.au=Conner%2C+W.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CCreative+Commons">Corcoran, A., Barber, J., & Conner, W. (2009). Tiger Moth Jams Bat Sonar <span style="font-style: italic;">Science, 325</span> (5938), 325-327 DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1174096">10.1126/science.1174096</a></span>)<br /><br />**********<br /><br />This next story is just as fascinating, though more incomplete and raising more questions. Plants obviously are under constant risk of being eaten by some herbivore or the other. So some plants have a very effective defense strategy. They secrete sugars onto their stem or leaves so that they can attract ants. These ants then stay on the plant, and serve as a nice, natural defense against other plant eating insects or animals. Butterflies, on the other hand, are insects that plants share a love-hate relationship with. On one hand, the butterfly pollinates the flowers, allowing the transfer of genetic material from one plant to the other, thus enabling reproduction. On the other hand, butterflies lay their eggs on plant leaves and the caterpillars then devour the leaves. And for the butterfly itself, the last place it wants to lay eggs on is a leaf full of predatory ants which would eat up the eggs or caterpillars.<br /><br />But can a butterfly, a mere non-thinking insect, know not to lay eggs on leaves with ants? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. In this little paper in <i>The American Naturalist</i>, some researchers devised ingenious experiments to see if butterflies would distinguish between leaves that had ants, or didn’t have ants on them, in order to decide which leaves to lay their eggs on. In their experiment, the researchers took dead specimens of three species of ants, two of which were predatory (and would eat the eggs/caterpillars) and one of which was a bug of a similar size and shape, but a harmless herbivores. Then, they pinned these ants on different leaves, and let the butterflies decide where they laid their eggs. What they saw was surprising, to say the least. The butterflies not only avoided the leaves with the predatory ants, but also didn’t mind laying eggs on the leaves which had the harmless bug on them. So it wasn’t as if the butterfly was just laying eggs on leaves with no ants on them, but actually seemed to know that laying eggs on leaves with the herbivorous bug wouldn’t hurt their eggs and so ignored the innocuous bug. Clearly, it appears that butterflies can use visual clues and decide where to lay their eggs.<br /><br />What is particularly fascinating to me though is not the fact that butterflies can distinguish between predatory and non-predatory ants, but the fact that they know how to do so without any prior “training”. After all, butterflies are far away from animals or birds which care for their young and potentially teach them about predators or food. Butterflies aren’t even social insects, to have groups to collectively “learn” from. So what is the internal wiring they are born with that tells them some ants are dangerous, while others aren’t? What neuronal and signaling pathways do visual cues of predatory ants activate, while those of innocuous bugs do not? And how does that happen? Do other things, like smell, also influence the butterflies? There is a whole world of questions out there, waiting to be answered. <br /><br />Original reference: <span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=The+American+Naturalist&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1086%2F599302&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Egg%E2%80%90Laying+Butterflies+Distinguish+Predaceous+Ants+by+Sight&rft.issn=0003-0147&rft.date=2009&rft.volume=174&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=134&rft.epage=140&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.journals.uchicago.edu%2Fdoi%2Fabs%2F10.1086%2F599302&rft.au=Sendoya%2C+S.&rft.au=Freitas%2C+A.&rft.au=Oliveira%2C+P.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CCreative+Commons">Sendoya, S., Freitas, A., & Oliveira, P. (2009). Egg‐Laying Butterflies Distinguish Predaceous Ants by Sight <span style="font-style: italic;">The American Naturalist, 174</span> (1), 134-140 DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/599302">10.1086/599302</a></span>)Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-35542935881329965012009-07-03T12:53:00.000-07:002009-07-03T13:01:18.643-07:00Graduate junctionI recently found out about yet another "social network", with a difference. For all the readers of this blog who might be graduate students or post docs, here's a new resource for you.<br /><br />The <A href=http://www.graduatejunction.org/site/index>graduate junction</a> is a networking resource for early stage researchers, who might be doing their masters, Ph.D. or post doctoral research work in Mount Doom (or whatever else you call your research group). It seems to be a nice, focused resource, with sharing of resources,a good discussion forum, indexing by category of your research, a database of conferences around the world, useful resources (particularly useful writing resources), some fun (a crossword), and much more.<br /><br />If you are a young researcher still working on your thesis or a postdoctoral fellowship, you might find this useful. It is still work in evolution, but I think it does serve a specific need, and there aren't too many resources for young researchers out there. So go <a href=http://www.graduatejunction.org/site/index>check it out</a>.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-75650909123172418962009-06-23T14:20:00.001-07:002009-06-23T14:33:21.773-07:00Iran on my mind<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuT78rSBtW86NLT960edx8DsQZlYGLyfiPpqZTKQAhyphenhyphenyqlODkPUxZSniEnDoVs0ag3Rxfb7mMhHvMEXNrdXEWdsLzjWLdWFBf7NtzvsLwkOzW78bzewpG-WINublxY5R7rny99A/s1600-h/400px-Green_square_svg.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuT78rSBtW86NLT960edx8DsQZlYGLyfiPpqZTKQAhyphenhyphenyqlODkPUxZSniEnDoVs0ag3Rxfb7mMhHvMEXNrdXEWdsLzjWLdWFBf7NtzvsLwkOzW78bzewpG-WINublxY5R7rny99A/s320/400px-Green_square_svg.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350638347925800146" /></a><br />I've been trying to follow all the incredible happenings in Iran right now on blogs and twitter, with all those protests, rallies and much more. These are chilling times in Iran, and though I don't think anything will change there, I'm sincerely hoping it does. Good luck to all of them.<br /><br />Meanwhile, since Iran is on my mind, I couldn't help but remembering my old room mate. So, its time to revisit an <a href=http://balancinglife.blogspot.com/2006/02/good-luck-brian-where-ever-you-are.html>old post of mine about my friend and Iranophile Brian</a>. <br /><br />I wonder what he's upto now, and hope he is well. Where ever he is, he must be following Iran closely, wearing green, and hoping his friends there are safe. And if he cares to know, I've taken great care of his movie collection, and enjoyed watching all those movies.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-73183934660046334502009-06-06T14:56:00.000-07:002009-06-06T14:59:57.787-07:00A peace corps for India?One of the most remarkable organizations in America that is rarely talked about is the <a href= http://www.peacecorps.gov>Peace corps</a>. Many of my friends have actually never heard of it. But it has perhaps done more for America’s image abroad, in some of the poorest, most underdeveloped regions of the world, than most other organizations or groups. So what is the Peace Corps? Reading from their website, the organization has volunteers who <i>“…..serve in 74 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Collaborating with local community members, Volunteers work in areas like education, youth outreach and community development, the environment, and information technology.”</i> Effectively, they are agents of change, education and empowerment in distant parts of the globe, and a part of America’s tremendous soft power. I don’t know if JFK actually visualized the impact the Peace Corps would have around the world, but in my opinion, forming the Corps was one of his greatest and most lasting achievements.<br /><br />I’ve been fortunate to hear about the work the Peace Corps does from friends who have served in the Corps. So, these are the kinds of things the Corps volunteers do. One friend, immediately after graduating college, joined the Peace Corps and went off to Tanzania. There she lived in a medium sized village, and taught the local school kids Chemistry and English, and also found time to make some great friends, learn about Tanzanian culture, share her ideas of American culture with Tanzanians, climb Kilimanjaro, and meet her (now) husband who was another Corps volunteer teaching science and something else to some other kids in Tanzania. After two years and a fabulous experience, she came back to do her PhD in the molecular biosciences. Another friend worked in my former lab as an undergraduate, and once she graduated joined the Corps and headed out to Gautemala to work with village communities, on health, natural resource management and other issues. The way the program works is simple. It recruits mostly from fresh college graduates (or sometimes even current students, who are allowed and even encouraged to take “a year off”). These kids then express their areas of interest, and the region of the world they’d like to go to. And then, they are sent there (almost on a “paid” work/vacation), and work there for a year, or two, or more. What, you might ask, do they get out of it apart from the experience? Isn’t the experience itself everything? No, they get much more, including tangible benefits that help their own careers. They get college credit, a big boost if they want to come back and join masters or PhD programs, they learn new languages, student loan deferments, and also become a part of a network that now has thousands of successful people in all walks of life. They are extremely valuable to corporations who would love to have people with these diverse experiences. The learning is also a two way process, and they learn a tremendous lot while, at a ridiculously low cost, act as informal ambassadors of the United States in places where people have only fuzzy ideas on what the country is about. More often than not, all parties (the Corps volunteers as well as the communities they work with) benefit and learn a lot from this. <br /><br />So where am I going with this? Well, the concept of “volunteerism” on a larger scale in India is still nascent, and it is rare to find people, especially young people, volunteering for too many community activities. Their lives are understandably busy, with getting through school, and then getting admission into a program in college that will lead to a “good job” (engineering, medicine or the like), and then getting on with lives. And then, every now and then, there will be some story in the media wondering why the educated youth never go and serve in rural, deprived areas, and why much of the country remains underdeveloped. It is well known that few (if any) college graduates in India would even consider starting up enterprises or serving in rural, remote and/or underdeveloped areas. The government, it its typical heavy-handed approach, has occasionally mandated things like requiring medical students to serve for a year in rural areas (where doctors are much needed). Most of these efforts have flopped miserably. One big reason why these schemes don’t work is because they are coercive, and the student perceives little or no benefit from this. So this is where I think the government could spend a small amount, set up something like the Peace Corps, and gain a huge return on that investment. <br /><br />Here’s how it could work. The organization can provide streamlined avenues for freshly graduated college students to go and stay/work in some rural/underdeveloped area of their choice, in a subject of their choice. This could range from working with government schools (with poor teachers, often absent), to rural health centers, to the forest or agriculture departments and so on. This provides an avenue for students of different backgrounds to work in. This can come with “official” recognition (say from the education department or the science and technology department), and a significant stipend (I’m thinking of something like rupees eight thousand/$150 per month), as well as options for local accommodation (there is no shortage of government places to stay across the country). As additional, significant incentives, the experience of the students can be considered credit to apply for masters/MBA/MD programs, with the provision of educational/college scholarships for these kids if they decide to continue their education at the end of their fellowship term. In particular, if this program can give significant credit to doctors for admission to specialization/MD programs (say a 20% bonus on their entrance tests or direct admission into certain specialties), this can serve as a serious incentive for doctors to serve in rural health centers. For students who work on engineering projects, projects in agriculture, environment, social issues, water issues and so on, thy could similarly get credit for education. Undoubtedly, this work experience would be very valuable indeed to corporations looking to recruit individuals with diverse experiences, as well as to business schools for their MBA students. In addition, it is possible that students who do take this up realize that there are tremendous economic possibilities in rural India, and perhaps they might themselves then go on to start their own organizations that work in these areas. <br /><br />Of course, most of this has been about incentives for students to join such a program. The reason the government should/could do this is because it is the only entity that has its reach in every corner of the country, and the authority/ability to implement such a program. But the potential problem is that even if the government does this, it might do this in a typical heavy-handed, bureaucratic, top-down approach, and that will fail. So what they need to do is to support the concept, but leave the complete implementation and execution to a board with people who are good at putting grassroots organizations together, and promise never to interfere in that work. All they should do is provide unconditional grants. Given how Indian governments work, with their <i>maai baap</I> attitude, this is bordering on fantasy. But such a concept can work (and has worked, remarkably well, with the Peace Corps). So now, does any one have the drive and will and reach to put this together and get the government to do something like this?Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-57501104960590734972009-05-29T15:50:00.000-07:002009-05-29T16:03:34.702-07:00How gardening helps scientists(Sorry for a long absence. Numerous reasons have kept me away from the blog, but now it should be back to weekly essays on Balancing life).<br /><br /><A href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabidopsis_thaliana>Arabidopsis thaliana</a> is a distinctively unremarkable plant. It is small, scraggy, has few leaves and very modest flowers. It has no dietary value, nor does it look particularly pretty on a bouquet. It is possible that even goats don’t care much for it. <br /><br />Yet the plant has served mankind over the past few dozen years like no other. It is the chosen plant genetic model for hundreds of researchers around the world, who take advantage of its short lifespan, relatively easy growth, adaptability and small size and do wonderful research. It also has one of the smallest genomes any plant has, and research from Arabidopsis has not only revealed much of the working mechanisms in plants (of profound use in agriculture and whatnot) but also in general biology. Many findings from Arabidopsis has applied to all living cells, from bacteria to mammals.<br /><br />But when I say “model plant organism of choice”, I don’t mean it is as easy to do experiments with Arabidopsis as it is say with fruit flies or yeast or bacteria. It is much harder, and graduate students pursuing their PhD with Arabidopsis on average have to work 6-7 years before they’ve done enough to get that PhD.<br /><br />So I was stunned when a Chinese colleague of mine told me about his friend and old university mate. His friend had worked with Arabidopsis for his PhD, and had produced a prodigious amount of work, <i>finishing</i> his PhD in a mere three years. This was a record almost unheard off in the Arabidopsis community. My friend was just as surprised when his friend told him this story. So he asked his friend what the secret to his success was.<br /><br />His friend grinned and said “Most researchers are pretty smart and know a lot about biochemistry or genetics or development, but they don’t know plants. I’m smart <i>and</i> I know plants. I’m from a family of peasant farmers, and my family used to grow vegetables back in China. I know more about <i>growing</I> and caring for plants than the rest of my lab put together. They spend their time learning how to grow the plants, and I spent all my time just designing and doing experiments.”<br /><br />Now you tell me there isn’t value in rustic wisdom. <br /><br />************<br /><br />That said, there’s something more in this story. I’ve met lots of Chinese researchers who have come from very humble backgrounds. Many of them grew up in rural areas, and were from families of farmers. But they all got to go to school, and those who shone academically got scholarships to study in top colleges in Beijing or Shanghai or other cities. While there is much that I don’t like about China (particularly politically), I think they’ve done very well in educating a massive population. India and China had similar class conscious, massively illiterate populations some 50 years ago, and China has done far better in educating its people, and giving more chances to the “underprivileged”. Many of my Indian friends here in the US are researchers. But they all come from urban, middle class, “white collar” backgrounds. I don’t know a peasant yet who has done a PhD in an elite institution, or pursued a career in research. Some food for thought, this.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-31958439127631461222009-03-29T05:41:00.000-07:002009-03-29T18:43:20.718-07:00Urban wetlandsIn a fairly recent <a href=http://balancinglife.blogspot.com/2009/02/only-memory.html>post</a>, I had mentioned how many of Bangalore’s lakes are being killed. But nature is extremely resilient, and given the slightest chance it will bounce back. And some of Bangalore’s lakes are wonderful examples of urban wetlands that are priceless treasures.<br /><br />I’d recently visited the Hulimavu lake, a fairly large lake just half a kilometre from Bannerghatta road, one of the busiest roads in the city. This road is filled with apartment complexes and office blocks, with traffic that usually moves at 5 miles an hour on good days. Not surprisingly, this lake is under severe stress. There is plenty of legal and illegal construction all around the lake, and much of the lakebed has been encroached. Many of the other construction sites nearby use the lake as a convenient dumping ground for excavated earth. Along one channel, untreated sewage is slowly being discharged into the lake. A whole lot of people seem to use parts of the lakebed like a public toilet. And there are roads running all around the lake, on what clearly was the lake’s spillover bed. As is sadly the case in most Indian cities, the local residents are either unaware or unable or unwilling to do anything about this. <br /><br />In spite of this, there remains an incredible diversity of life in and around the lake. We decided to take our binoculars and see what birds still inhabit the lake. I was more than pleasantly surprised at what we saw. There were plenty of brown pariah kites, and a few magnificient copper and white <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahminy_kite>brahminy kites</a> (and we were also able to follow a couple of them to their nest, on a nearby eucalyptus tree). There were also plenty of cattle and little egrets all around the lake. In addition, we saw a couple of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_heron>grey herons</a> in statuesque stillness, waiting for their next fish or frog to swim by, and a good number of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorhen>moorhen</a> pottering around the wetland. In the lake itself there were a good number of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Coot>Eurasian coots</a> swimming around, as well as a few snake-necked <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darter>darters</a> out hunting. These were just the confirmed sightings in a span of about 15 minutes of standing by the lake with Salim Ali’s indispensible handbook, which makes it more than likely that many more waterfowl inhabit the lake. <br /><br />Urban wetland management unfortunately is not much of a concept in most of India. Yet this lake is just one example of the kind of diversity and richness of life in lakes around the city. It is also a fine example of a lake that could easily be made into a city nature park. To do that, only a little needs to be done to protect the wetland. Obviously, preventing encroachment around the lake would be a priority, as would be stopping the flow of untreated sewage that is choking the lake would be an obvious other step. In addition, the usual mismanagement of “lake development” that most city authorities eagerly embrace should be avoided. Usually, the city decides to build a big “garden” around lakes, which means manicured lawns, paved paths, lots of flowers and trees that don’t usually grow in wetlands, and a complete destruction of the wetland around lakes. This usually ends up slowly killing the lake. Most of these birds live and nest amidst the reeds that grow in lake wetlands, nurturing a rich ecosystem that supports frogs, breeding fish, small reptiles and small insects. Unfortunately, “beautifying” or “developing” lakes by building parks only breeds mosquitoes (by killing off fish and dragonflies that eat them, and breed in the reeds). The Yediyur lake in Jayanagar was a thriving lake that was killed off by just this effort of “development”. First came some lawns, and then there were motor boats and motor scooters, and now it is just a little swamp that breeds mosquitoes.<br /><br />Instead, if the city could declare some of the lakes of Bangalore protected wetlands, and then spend a pittance on preserving the wetlands, we would be left with wonderful city parks where children and adults alike could spend evenings or weekends observing a diversity of birdlife and plant life (in addition to perhaps small amounts of regulated recreational fishing). It would be a chance to educate and enrich our own lives, and reconnect with nature in the heart of a stressful urban environment. A fond memory of mine is the environment around Lake Washington, in Seattle, right by the magnificent Husky Stadium. The wetlands around the lake are now carefully protected, and there is a beautiful little nature trail, with a description of the flora and fauna around the lake, as well as the importance of wetlands for human <i>survival</i>. People relax here now on weekends, paddle in little canoes, or walk around the unpaved nature trails, or spend lazy sunday afternoons trying to fish (with a permit). Yet this wasn’t always so, and the lake and wetland had nearly been killed in the sixties, and a massive restoration effort of over twenty years revived it. Here, we have wonderful living lakes in the midst of a massive metropolis. Do we need to sacrifice them in the name of “development”, or can we learn to live with them, and allow them to make our lives so much better?Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-81292016421315733942009-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:002009-03-05T03:55:15.350-08:00A scientific temperJawaharlal Nehru, for all his numerous follies, strongly believed in two wonderful concepts; freedom of speech, and a concept he had coined, a nation with a “scientific temper”. That term, a “scientific temper” is a wonderfully succinct way to describe a broad concept. By speaking of a nation with a “scientific temper”, he wanted to speak of the people of a nation who would be able to think independently, understand and practice the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method>scientific method</a> in their daily lives, analyse and not take statements at their face value, and avoid simplistic reasoning. Of course, it has been easier said than done to create that atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion, rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs abound. Interestingly, I was reminded of the concept of a “scientific temper” by an unlikely source.<br /><br />One of the pioneering biochemists, science advocates and science policy advisors of our time, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Alberts>Bruce Alberts</a> talked about this concept in a talk of his recently. While talking about science policy, research and much more, he also talked a bit about some of his efforts with City Science, an effort to improve science education in schools in San Francisco, which he hoped would not just improve science education, but would get kids to think about everything. Now, this effort isn’t just about getting kids to learn their science books better, but it is about bringing about a fundamental change in their way of thinking, enabling them to question, analyse and reason better in all aspects of their everyday lives, making the scientific method a part of it. He used a simple example of just one of the types of lessons that the kids learnt which illustrated the concept beautifully. I thought it would be just the kind of story to share on this blog.<br /><br />This was a lesson for five year old kids in kindergarden, showing how this concept can be inculcated in kids very early in life. A bunch of five year olds were allowed to run around and play in their schoolyards wearing clean white socks. When they returned, each kid was told to collect all the little black and brown bits of dirt, grass, seeds and whatever else from their socks. The kids were then asked to sort out the dirt, separating the seeds from the dirt. At this age of course, the kids knew that seeds were something plants grew from, but couldn’t easily tell seeds from just regular, largish specks of dirt. But they were allowed to come up with their own ideas of what would be a seed and what would be dirt, and they created their own little piles of “seed” or “dirt”. Now, at this stage, you would think the teacher would just come in and correct the kids. But no, the exercise was taken further. First, the kids were asked to look at their seeds and dirt under a 5$ “microscope”, where they could get a clear idea of the shape and dimensions of their dirt or seeds. Then they could draw out the different patterns they saw, making their own guesses for dirt or seed from this, and perhaps intuitively looking for a regular pattern into which all seeds could fall into. Finally, in order to prove their hypothesis, the kids were asked to plant their “seeds” or “dirt” in seed free earth, keeping a record of what they planted, with a small drawing of what each speck planted looked like. If their separation was correct, the dirt would never grow into grass or a plant, but a majority of the seeds would grow in a few days into grass or sprouting plants. Then, the kids could see for themselves which specks were dirt, and which were seeds. So, with this fun little experiment, the kids were introduced to the concept of forming a hypothesis, and then testing the hypothesis. They could easily have just been shown seeds, and dirt, and told which was what, ending the lesson. But by allowing them to go through this process, it enabled them to understand that just an idea, however appealing it might sound, wasn’t necessarily true. It inculcated the idea of the “testability” of a hypothesis, and the concept that a statement that couldn’t be verified or tested wouldn’t fall under the scientific domain. It also showed them something about “falsifiability”, the fact that if something convincingly failed the test (say all pieces of dirt classified as “seed” not growing into plants) <i>could</i> suggest then that the idea could be false. Of course, this didn’t go into the limits of falsifiability and suchlike, but this is pretty good for five year olds isn’t it?<br /><br />The broader idea here is that by doing this early in a child’s life, it would enable the child to understand the scientific method better, better enable the child to question simplistic statements or “theories” (thereby differentiating scientific theories from popular “theories”), and would help the child grow up into someone more rational and someone less likely to be swayed purely by emotion or passion.<br /><br />So, coming back to Nehru’s scientific temper, I think these are the type of initiatives that we need, starting with kids at a very young age. There certainly are small efforts here and there, by wonderful NGOs or other organizations, but most of the efforts are few and far between. With education in India itself, most of the effort (or argument) appears to be for better colleges or research institutes or more IITs, but the biggest hole lies in our schools. It is a white elephant no one wants to touch. But only when that hole is plugged will terms like a nation with a scientific temper mean anything.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-55232360282917326202009-02-23T06:54:00.000-08:002009-02-23T06:56:10.179-08:00Only a memoryThe first time I heard about “urban planning” was from some friends at the School of Architecture and Planning in Chennai, when I was still in college. That was what some of them were planning to study when they went to the US for their masters degrees. I wondered aloud if that was something ever practiced in India, and was greeted with a unanimous laugh, and a witty quip about urban non-planning. Anyway, now that I’ve visited Bangalore after nearly four years, I can only nod in agreement. That the city has changed rapidly over the past ten years, there is no doubt. But the callousness and utter mismanagement of what should have been good urban planning has only left me deeply saddened. <br /><br />The mismanagement has been at every level, resulting in the chaos that is now almost descriptive of the city. The city has, expectedly, grown rapidly. Unfortunately, it has grown with common-sense defying haphazardness, and has massively misused or mismanaged resources. The most important resource completely mismanaged has been water. There has understandably been a proliferation of new layouts, and an explosion of apartment complexes. Interestingly, some of the biggest growth has come in areas like HSR layout and Whitefield. These areas are apparently close to major technology centers, hence the growth. However, while the apartments have come up, promising ultra-luxurious living, the single most important thing you need for survival has been overlooked. Water. These areas have precious little of it. These areas have the lowest water table in the entire region, and try as you will, it is hard to strike any ground water here even at depths of 300 feet. Which then makes one wonder why or how such large residential complexes have been sanctioned in these areas. Typically, residents here shell out in the range of rupees five thousand every month for just their water needs, provided in part by tankers supplying water, and in part by depleting the little ground water that is left. How exactly this is sustainable eludes me. The presence of consecutive weak, apathetic governments in the states hasn’t helped. I cannot but help comparing the city to Chennai, which also had acute water problems. Years ago, they started enforcing rainwater harvesting, made it mandatory, and actually enforced the rule. The water situation in Chennai dramatically improved over the years. In stark contrast, the city of Bangalore “recommended” rainwater harvesting at least in large apartment complexes years ago. This was poorly implemented, with only a fraction of the larger complexes setting up rainwater harvesting systems (which don’t really cost much), and fewer actually utilizing them. In some belated form of realization, the city now plans to enforce a rule they passed four years ago. <br /><br />Given the fact that Bangalore lies in a dry region, one would imagine that the administration would at least want to preserve the few sources of water around the city. Yet, instead of making the few lakes that still remain into city or state parks, they are now viewed as prime sources of real estate for buildings. Here’s how the system apparently works. There is plenty of construction happening all around town. There is obviously a lot of earth that construction digs up. Obviously, the easiest way to get rid of that earth is to take it to the nearest lake and dump it in there. If you visit some lakes like the Gottigere, Hulimavu or even Madiwala lakes (to name just three), you’ll see this happening all around them. Soon, a few acres of lake will disappear, and then in a year or two, the local authorities (or a local politician) will announce the creation of a new layout in that very former lake bed. The next thing you know, there will be a new “ultra-luxury American style” condominium complex coming right up. If this scheme doesn’t work, there’s an easier one. Just build a small temple in that reclaimed lakebed. Illegal or not, within a few months, crowds will start thronging to the temple, thereby forcing the temple to expand. Before you know what’s happening, a few acres of former wetland would have disappeared, all in the name of god. <br /><br />A third strategy seems to be to cut off all sources of water for the lake, by allowing construction (residential and commercial, there isn’t much of a difference between the two) on all sides of the lake, up to the very lakebed itself. In a few years, all rainwater that should have fed the lake won’t make it there anymore, and then you’ll have a few feet a year of new construction land.<br /><br />Finally, the greedy administrators in collusion with the land mafia seem to have another trump card to acquire lake land for buildings. Bring up the bogey of development. Clearly, if you want an “international” city, the best places to build a new technology park with an associated residential layout have to be on a reclaimed lakebed. And anyone who raises an objection to this is naturally anti-development.<br /><br />The city (that once apparently had over 300 lakes in it) is being ruined by masterful mismanagement. For all the glitzy technology complexes with gleaming glass facades, a city can’t live without water. It remains unfortunate that the residents of the city don’t care too much about the issue, but when faced with water shortages clamor to the government to get more water from the Cauvery (miles away, passing through Mysore), potentially stroking inter-state disputes. To top the utterly callous mismanagement of water, the proliferation of residential and commercial buildings has been random, haphazard and mostly unregulated. A number of buildings have exceeded the number of floors they are legally allowed (on the specified area), or have come up without any parking space, or else commercial complexes have come up in ostensibly residential neighborhoods. <br /><br />What is now left is a city that is monstrously large, and in utter chaos. Any changes the administration would now want to make can only be cosmetic. In comparison, Delhi and Chennai have also grown, but the authorities have at least managed to maintain a semblance of logic in this growth, resulting in cities which are, if not admirable, at least functional. Bangalore used to be one of the most attractive cities in India, because of the lovely climate, tree-lined avenues, quiet, organized suburbs and a cosmopolitan population. Now only the cosmopolitan population remains, under immense regional chauvinistic pressure. I think I can safely say that the city of my growing years can only be a memory.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-56082793983768640832009-01-28T23:06:00.000-08:002009-01-28T23:37:10.873-08:00Muddling through chaosFor the past few weeks, I've been getting used to the chaos that is India. Our return to the US has been temporarily delayed, but we hope that issue is taken care of soon enough. Till then though, I'm having as much fun here as possible, while shuttling between Bangalore and Chennai. It has been a few years since I last visited India, and all I can say is that years of pathetic administration continue to run down Bangalore. Chennai, while also bursting in its seams, seems to have better order within the madness. Exchange the bus drivers and climate of Bangalore with Chennai, and you end up with a city that wins hands down over Bangalore. It is amazing how quickly weak administrations can ruin something that is good.<br /><br />******<br /><br />While I try to get back to regular blogging (with perhaps some observations from India) here's a story I'll leave you with.<br /><br />I happened to sit in an autorickshaw in Chennai that was being driven by an extremely chatty driver. Never someone to resist conversation, I probed him on with questions, which he was only too happy to answer. Now, there are thousands of autorickshaws in Chennai ferrying passengers across town, and fleecing them without ever bothering to turn on that meter. I usually consider them to be rogues and thieves. But there are stories behind their lives as well. Only some of the autodrivers actually own the auto that they drive, with most of them renting the auto from auto owners for a large sum. The ones that do own their own autos though don't have it easy. This driver was particularly happy that day because he had just finished paying the entire cost for the auto, and was now an independent auto owner. To prove it, he showed me his freshly minted receipt of payment. <br /><br />So I asked him how he could afford to buy me an auto, and he told me his tale. He used to be a vegetable seller (as proof we whizzed past some vegetable vendors, he yahooed them, and then told me that was his brother-in-law and family, who still continued the family trade), and then decided to buy an auto. He first wanted a bank loan, so opened a savings account in the bank. He had some 5000 rupees in it, and thought that was good enough to get a loan. But the bank wanted collateral (or at least a minimum savings balance of rupees 60000). So he said goodbye to the bank, and found a money lender, who willingly gave him the money (with the auto itself taken as collateral). Now this poor guy has to pay some ridiculous amount as interest. He didn't know the exact percentage, but said that his total loan was about rupees 120000, and he would have to pay around rupees 175000 back to the money lender, over a period of some 5 years. That was his scratchpad calculation, though if he didn't pay that up in 5 years, even that sum would skyrocket.<br /><br />No wonder, he said with a smile, that he would never ever put that meter, but charge me whatever he thought I could pay (which, apparently, was quite a bit). I wonder though, can't there be any better way for someone like him to raise capital to buy an auto? I understand the banks have a need for collateral, but if money lenders can lend the money (and I'm sure they are more careful with their money than banks are), can't banks do it? Economic gurus, what ideas do you have?<br /><br />That said, auto drivers in Chennai remain thieves, and I curse them all with a lifetime of indigestion for their dishonesty.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-14003091720058671662008-12-24T13:45:00.000-08:002009-01-07T20:58:13.213-08:00Empowering educators to improve education Part IIIn the <A href=http://balancinglife.blogspot.com/2008/12/empowering-educators-to-improve.html>previous post</a>, we talked about Sikshana’s efforts in empowering teachers and educators, thus enabling them to improve school performance in India.<br /><br />But all this is of course, anecdotal, and we only had Mr. Ramamurthy’s words for it. Does Sikshana have concrete, <i>quantitative</i> results to show for this? Indeed they do. At the end of each year, Sikshana again carries out tests for all students in the school (using the Premji foundation tests), and evaluates them. This then gives them a very concrete metric to measure improvement. The results thus far have been very encouraging, with anything between 10 – 50% improvement in the scores of kids in just one year. And more interestingly, a majority of the schools have met their own self-defined target for improvement. When asked how, the teachers usually say that they really appreciate the freedom Sikshana gives, and the trust it places in them, so feel obliged to work hard. <br /><br />A lot, in Mr. Ramamurthy’s words, can be done with very little. <br /><br />These seemingly simple interventions appear to have had a major effect in improving education in these schools. Yet, this method may not work everywhere. When asked for examples where this method doesn’t work as well, Mr. Ramamurthy unhesitatingly said this system didn’t work as well for them in <i>urban</i> schools in Bangalore. This is why they thought it didn’t work as well in urban schools. This system works a lot on faith in the teacher, and his general observation that in Indian rural areas, communities still work substantially on trust and honor. And “loss of face” by failing to make a commitment is still looked down upon in the local community. Rural school teachers are usually a close and highly respected part of the rural community. They are a part of the village elite, who are looked up to. With this status, they usually also feel obliged to work hard when trusted with resources, since they are praised and valued for work done well. So this system has worked in over a 100 schools in rural Karnataka. However, this seems to be lost in the anonymity of an urban setting. Teachers in urban schools are not really integrated into the school community. In fact, there isn’t really a school community, since kids come from different neighborhoods, economic backgrounds and communities. The teacher is just another anonymous person in a city of millions. So, teachers and staff (with exceptions of course) usually treat teaching as just a job that gives them a salary, and they usually want to get the best out of the job that they can. Only a few rare, dedicated urban teachers want to really improve the condition of their students. The local communities and parents of students will never feel that the school belongs to them, and is an integral part of their daily lives. In Bangalore, there is sometimes a second reason as well. An occasional problem of plenty.<br /><br />A number of companies based in Bangalore now try to do their bit for the community, by supporting schools. Some of them do so by giving grants to schools, sometimes as a once in a year thingy, and with little expected in return. For example, to get some good PR, a company might donate a hundred thousand rupees, or send in some computers. But most of these companies do not ask the teachers/principal if they need it, what they would do with it, and how they will ensure that the children improve their performance. This means some urban schools have access to funds which they can spend, but without the expectations that the Sikshana model sets. So, in cases where Sikshana has approached some urban schools in Bangalore, and offered to provide (the limited) resources, with expectations set at the start, the teachers/staff are hostile, and say <i>“there are other people giving us a few lakh rupees and they don’t ask questions, why do you want to set expectations, and then expect us to meet them?”</i>. So, Sikshana largely burnt its hands with its forays in urban Bangalore, and now keeps most of its focus in rural/semi-rural schools.<br /><br />Aniket, in a comment in the previous post, asked pertinently, “what happens when Sikshana goes away”. The beauty of this type of model though is that many of the improvements are carried out with very little monetary investment (their costs right now are about $1000 per school, and they cover over a 100 schools). A major emphasis has been on building the confidence of the teachers, and getting the community involved. With greater community involvement, there automatically are significant improvements at least in the basic functioning of the school. This is partly independently sustainable. Long term though, this type of system can become sustainable only through policy action of the government. One problem with the government though (particularly in India, but true mostly) is that it is a rigid, top-down approach, <i>mandating</i> specifics from teachers and staff (for example, requiring 30 students/year to take the board exam), as opposed to this model, <i>expecting</i> results, but giving the teachers the freedom to use resources as they see fit. Also, government policy will not make teachers owners of the resources, and thus teachers will not be inclined to responsibly utilize it. So, it is a bit of a chicken and egg question, and the answer (after all this hand waving) is that I don’t know. Sikshana though wants to collaborate with the state government (which does support it significantly here) and expand this program across the state (as well as take this model to other states which have expressed interest, such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu).<br /><br />Finally, I’ll touch upon a topic that is an elephant in the room that every one pretends doesn’t exist. Education in India is a lucrative business, backed by powerful patrons. Everything from setting up a school to obtaining a license to growing costs money, and lots of money greases the wheels. Which means there may be almost a subtle incentive for governments to keep government school standards modest at best, and encourage (or at least wink at) the proliferation of private schools (which charge fees). Any attempt at government school reform will be at best half-hearted, with roadblocks along the way. Do I see a solution through this? Nope. Do you?<br /><br />And yes, Sikshana does have <a href=http://sikshana.blogspot.com/>a blog</a>, reasonably well updated, and is great to read. So do <A href=http://sikshana.blogspot.com/>check it out</a>.<br /><br />(I’m headed the India way next week, for a few busy days, so there may be a few travel posts from a bedazzled almost-tourist visiting the cities he grew up in, but will probably not recognize anymore. Enjoy the festival season and a happy new year to you).Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-6704089864273002742008-12-22T16:23:00.001-08:002009-01-07T20:58:13.213-08:00Empowering educators to improve education (Part I)Let’s talk about education in India for a bit. <br /><br />Most of us will agree that while some of us have received an excellent (mostly private school) education, the overall condition of the government run state schools are a mess. Educational standards remain abysmal and students go through classes barely learning to read, write or count, and drop out to go and work in their fields or graze cattle (or worse, work in stone quarries or textile mills). Many of us look at the problem superficially, declare that government schools suck, and then state that the solution lies in privatizing education. Yet, that argument is at best simplistic (and at worst dangerous). While there are tens of thousands of private schools in India, from schools run in a backyard to outstanding elite, exclusive, expensive private entities, the vast majority of children in India (particularly rural and semi-rural India) still study in government schools. This number is in the hundreds of millions of children (think the entire population of the United States). A majority of these children are poor, and their parents will struggle to afford private schools (some of you may now say the solution is in <a href= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_vouchers>education vouchers</a>, and that is a whole different story we won’t talk about here), so the primary educator will remain the government of India.<br /><br />So, here’s the status quo. All of us will readily agree that a majority of government schools suck. However, the reasons we attribute this to varies, from teacher absenteeism to social structures to lack of motivation to whatever else. Most solutions to “fix” or improve these schools have largely been some top heavy, one size fit all approaches that have mostly failed. But there are some wonderful examples of government schools that have shown dramatic improvements. Often this has been enabled by the efforts of some Non-governmental organization (NGO) or the other. I thought I’d talk a little about one such group, <A href= http://www.sikshana.org/>Sikshana</a>, and what they have achieved. A couple of weeks ago, I got to meet and hear the founder of the group, Mr. Ramamurthy, talk about Sikshana. <br /><br />Their goal is to empower educators and bring about quality education. The group wants to create sustainable models to improve government schools across the country, and ensure that government schools do a decent job in providing a sound basic education to kids. This of course sounds cliché, and is easier said than done. Sikshana realized early on that the usual top-heavy approach requiring schools to enforce some standards hasn’t worked too well. Instead, Sikshana decided to use a mostly carrot, little stick approach, implicitly believing that most people want to do something well as long as they are not forced to do it and do it on their own, and that small incentives can be a strong motivator to do this. So their model seems almost laughably simple, yet when you look at it closely is brilliant. So here is their multi-pronged strategy to improve schools.<br /><br />Sikshana has currently adopted about 100 schools in the Kanakapura district (which is a semi-rural district not too far from Bangalore). This they did with the full support of the government. But by adopting the school, they did not take up all running responsibilities (that responsibility still lies with the government, which should not be allowed to wash its hands of all responsibility). So the government continues to run the schools, provide the basic mid-day food, employ and pay the teachers, provide the school building etc. Sikshana steps in though and only acts as a facilitator or provider for small things. But even this they decided not to thrust upon the school in a typical charitable organization fashion. Here’s what they do (and they do it slightly differently in each school, based on the nature of that school). They first get together and meet the school principal, teachers and staff, and sit down for a chat, to get an idea about the school. They find out if the teachers are really keen on improving the school (and try hard to get an honest feedback). Then they conduct a test for all the students in the school (using material from the <A href= http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/>Premji foundation</a>), in order to gauge the level of comprehension of all students. After that, they discuss the results with the school staff. Usually, levels are abysmal (and usually the staff, when shown the results, are rather apologetic in typical rural Indian fashion). At this stage, Sikshana asks them if <i>they</i> think things can be improved with small investments, and if so, how much of an improvement the staff think they can guarantee. Here’s the clincher, Sikshana doesn’t ask the schools for a laundry list of equipment or needs (which is the usual procedure followed by charities or NGOs), but says they will provide a small amount of resources to the school, and the school staff have full control over those resources, to be used as they feel fit. Usually this elicits a startled response, since the teachers are usually only told to do something, but are rarely given any discretionary authority. But now, they are given the full power to do whatever they think is necessary to improve things. Different schools and teachers now react differently, and do different things with it. Sikshana usually knows that all teachers usually do only a few things (from their studies and data), but don’t insist that the teachers do it, instead allowing the teachers to come up with ideas themselves. This, it seems, is a strong motivating factor for the teachers/principal to put in a serious effort. After all, it is almost as if they will be spending their own money for something and not just use a hand-me-down. They implicitly accept personal responsibility, and surprisingly take it up as a challenge to improve performance. So the teachers often jump in and tell Sikshana they’ll make sure that things improve by 10% or 20% in a year!<br /><br />Thus, the resources the school gets are used for a wide variety of things. Here are some examples. Some schools spend all the money to organize an annual day celebration. While they do this, Sikshana encourages the school to involve the local community (the parents of the kids). Initially, for some schools, this was a challenge since the parents had never been involved with the school before. But over a few years, this changed. The first annual day celebration might have attracted only a handful of parents, but the next few showed increased participation. Slowly, as the parents saw their kids win prizes at the event, or saw them perform (in a dance or play or sporting event), they became more enthusiastic supporters of the school. So much so, that in some schools now, the entire annual day celebration has become some kind of a community event, with some parents now putting up tents for the event, others sponsoring mikes or loudspeakers, and others organizing food or treats for the kids. With greater parental enthusiasm about the school, the kids themselves start becoming more enthusiastic, and the attraction of winning a prize in front of the entire village during the annual day function starts becoming a big incentive to excel in school. Sikshana then started another little program. It started to conduct some annual quizzes and other such events and selected one or two students from each school it supports, to take them on a field trip to Delhi. Now, Bangalore itself remains a dream for most of these kids, and Delhi might as well be Mars to them. So the kids who make it to these trips become some kind of village heroes or celebrities. In some cases, the entire village comes together to send off the kid on the trip, or collects a few hundred rupees for the kid to spend “when you go to Delhi and see the red fort”. These kinds of things again become huge incentives not just for the children, but for the teachers as well, as it becomes a question of pride as to which school sends more kids on the field trip. <br /><br />That is community involvement. Sikshana provides (or “enables” as they put it) more concrete educational aids as well. For example, some schools asked for some computers for the kids, which they got. Sikshana keeps costs of computing software low by using open source software (Ubuntu/Red Hat etc), so they are able to meet many of these requests on their budget. But then, additionally, Sikshana then provided the kids of the schools with USB thumb memory drives. This enables the kids not just to play with the computer but to <i>store</i> their work, something that almost all schools completely overlook. The kids were given full, unrestricted access to the computers, and were allowed to just figure things out on their own. The results have been startling and amazing. Some kids, on their own (and with no computer training) have come up with fantastic little projects, using flash and animation in their creations. Many of these kids don’t speak a word of English, and some of them had paid little attention in class ever. But something in the computer (and the freedom they had with it) sparked something in the kids, and soon, they even started showing more involvement in class, as their confidence grew, and their work on the computer was appreciated. <br /><br />In the next part of the post (which I’ll post in a day or two), we’ll talk a bit about success measures, and what didn’t work.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8212356.post-12904767425420423472008-12-16T15:45:00.000-08:002008-12-16T15:47:35.091-08:00The hardest, most satisfying thing I’ve ever doneRegular programming should hopefully resume now at Balancing Life. The past few weeks have been hectic, and quite eventful. I ran and completed my first marathon this Sunday, when I survived the <a href=http://runtherock.com>Dallas White Rock Marathon</a>.<br /><br />Why did I do it? Well, I really wanted to run this marathon for <A href=http://www.ashanet.org/dallas/soh/Sunil_profile_2008.html>a great charity</a>, and wanted to raise ~2000$ for them. To do that, I had to do something challenging, and believe me, the marathon was more than that. But by doing this I’ve learnt so many lessons.<br /><br />The marathon itself was an incredible experience. There were nearly 20000 runners of all ages, shapes and sizes who ran either the full, half or relay marathon. I thought the weather was good, since it had suddenly become warmer. But there were very strong head winds and a humidity of nearly 85%. At the start we felt fine running, but as the miles wore on, the conditions began to take their toll. I had trained hard over the past 2-3 months, and hoped to run at a 9 – 9:15 min/mile pace, which I kept up for the first 17 miles. But as we reached the lake, the wind became increasingly nasty, and though I kept hydrating at all water stations, I was beginning to feel the effect of the humidity. We had some hills to run at mile 19-20, and soon after I negotiated them, my left leg started cramping. A friend of mine (who wasn’t running the marathon) met me at mile 20 and decided to run the last 6 miles with me. As the cramps got worse, I had to slow down dramatically, but he kept talking to me, encouraging me to keep moving. I did, and finally we saw that finish line and the huge crowd that was there. Running across that finish line was amongst the most exhilarating moments of my life. I was so exhausted at the finish, and could barely walk up to where they were handing out the finisher medals, but boy, was I happy to grab that! Along the way, as I ran, I saw so many incredibly inspiring sights.<br /><br />There was an old woman (in her eighties, the oldest runner in the race) running a half marathon. Her T-shirt read “a model in 1932, and still running”. There was another man who ran the half marathon. He had no legs, but ran with prosthetic limbs. There was a small group of 5 people, mom, dad and 3 teenaged kids, running the half marathon with T-shirts saying “A family tradition for 10 years”. Up to mile 19, a gentleman in his early 60s kept pace with me, and then, as he couldn’t keep up any more said “you’re not too bad, are you”. And I am a good thirty years younger than him! The crowds that came by to cheer the runners as we ran around Dallas were fantastic, and made every runner feel special. And of course there were those elite international runners from Kenya and various other African countries running up in front at blinding speed. One can only look at them in awe and wonderment.<br /><br />All this running has also brought so much discipline in my life. Long runs take a lot of time out of the day, so one has to be more efficient and organized with all other work. Of course, I’m incredibly sore after the race, but overall this running has dramatically improved my health (and helped me get rid of that little paunch that was embarrassing me). My diet has subconsciously changed, and I can’t bear even the sight of fried food any more. There are lots of carbs and protein in my diet now, and lots of fruits and vegetables as well. While I still indulge in some sweets, my body now demands only good, wholesome food. The only occasionally acceptable alcohol any more is a rare glass of red wine. And the best part of it all is that after a long run I can pretty much eat whatever I want to (each mile run burns about 100 calories), but only want to eat healthy stuff.<br /><br />Most important of all, thanks to incredible support from friends and family, I was (more or less) able to reach my charity fundraising goal, and know that it has made a small contribution in helping a bunch of kids read (and I know the money goes there, because I make it a point to visit and spend time in those projects ever time I visit India). If this doesn’t give a sense of satisfaction, nothing will.Sunilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07776658071546232685noreply@blogger.com7