Archives January 2007

According to reports, fifty two new species of animals and plants have been discovered in Borneo, According to Prof. E.D. Wilson, the 1.5 million species so far discovered represent only 10% of the living species. While exploring for new species of plants and biological specimens is important; it is more important for our universities to have interdisciplinary expeditions to explore/ identify the plants not only by the botanical name but also by the names in the regional languages and most important/ in Sanskrit. Teams can co-ordinate their work with base laboratories to identify them, analyse the products and document after comparing the ancient texts. Then Indian manufacturers of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and other systems should combine to exploit them for preparing medicines for distribution in India, at affordable prices. Out of hundreds of varieties of mangoes and bananas in India, only a few are surviving. After Dr. Mashelkarwon the historic more...

The study of the evolution of the scientists since the seventeenth century to the present day can be quite interesting and it may perhaps hold the key for improving our system During the early days, a stint in the army, then becoming c physicist or chemist or going over to biology was very common in Europe. Thanks to the encouragement given by Napoleon, to scientists and mathematicians, they could join the army as officers and continue the work. This also encouraged the scientists to become politicians later, just as our engineers and doctors go for IAS and IFS. However, in our system, administrators cannot go back as scientists. In the nineteenth century, the trend changed. Those with high motivation joined universities and institutes of technology and got on - the-job training. All the same, changing the field was equally common, in the west. In the twentieth century, every professional has more...