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Records the wanderings of a wordsmith
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Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Intel's Bangalore story is getting more exciting. The chipmaker is getting its next generation Xeon processors, meant for company servers, designed at its center in the city. It is also starting a team here to develop some chipsets, drivers and other embedded software for its Centrino mobile processor that incorporates the 811 series of wireless standards and the Bluetooth protocol.
The company stands by its commitment to invest US$ 100 million in India and employ 3,000 people in all by 2005 or so..
But I am really curious to know what Intel is planning to do beyond the silicon era... Silicon chips are nearing their limit in terms of speed and miniaturization. Scientists are working on alternative materials to make the chips of the future..When they do come up with a new material fit for microprocessors, time will come to bid the sand particles adieu.
When that new paradigm in microprocessor technology sets in, I will be able to say:
"The Pentium is dead. Long live the Pentium." (No malice, just kidding).
By the way, my computer has AMD Athlon chip and I stand by it.
posted by S. Srinivasan at 9:32 AM
Monday, April 21, 2003
In India, 61 infants out of 1,000 die before their first birthday from disease or hunger. Doctors are fighting diseases such as malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis and jaundice.
Indian scientists say genetically modified crops could help save these problems. Some Indian environmentalists, including the indefatigable Vandana Shiva and Greenpeace, are fighting the introduction of GM crops. They are particular that GM food crops are not allowed. But scientists say GM crops are safe for humans and can keep poor people well-nourished and healthy.
They say plants could be converted into vaccines through gene modification. A midday meal of protein-rich potato and Vitamin A-rich rice could given to children across the country to fight malnutrition and diseases.
Asis Dutta, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and his colleagues, have developed a potato _ named Protato _ that contains a third more protein than a normal potato.
The gene-modified potato contains a gene called AmA1 taken from Amaranth, a plant common in South America and available in health food stores. The gene increases the potato's protein content, including some crucial amino acids, such as lysine, needed for complete development of a child's brain.
The transgenic potato, developed last year after three years of field study, awaits approval from the Indian government before it can be sold.
Using the same technique, genes could be added to fruits and vegetables that give them power to prevent diseases.
This way, children would eat their favorite fruit or vegetable without knowing they were being given a vaccine, which many now associate with painful injections.
Some scientists are even working on taking genes from India's traditional medicines, mostly herbs, and introducing them in transgenic crops.
posted by S. Srinivasan at 11:16 AM
Some of the recent biotech successes of Indian scientists:
A powerful anthrax vaccine without side effects; A 25-rupee kit to diagnose tuberculosis; Rice grown in salt water; Genetically modified peanut leaves that protect cattle and sheep from plague; skin culture to treat burns and; a DNA-based rabies vaccine.
Scientists are also researching how genes and DNA can be used for everything from immunizations to computing. Surprisingly, the Indian government is funding them to a great extent.
Talking of the anthrax vaccine, developed by Rakesh Bhatnagar and his team at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, a scientist said, "This vaccine is better than the one currently available in the United States. The old one causes side effects and is difficult to administer."
The Central Scientific Instruments Organization, a research institute of the Indian government, has developed a hand-held kit for diagnosing tuberculosis.
The kit costs 25 rupees can be used by people without any knowledge of medicine to test themselves for the disease and know the result in a matter of hours.
Under the conventional method, a suspected patient has to visit the hospital several times.
The group which made this kit is also working on using DNA, a part of living cells that contains genetic instructions, in computing.
Scientists hope to build a computer which will use DNA instead of silicon semiconductors in 15 years. The challenge is to bridge the gap between life and machine and embed the DNA in a processor-like instrument.
Professor Akhilesh Tyagi and his team at the University of Delhi have created a strain of rice that can be grown in brackish water. They are testing the rice strain in fields. This could be a boon to India, where river/rain water is often not available for irrigation. Tyagi's rice can grow in sea water.
M.S. Shaila, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, has developed a vaccine for a plague that hits cattle and sheep in South Asia, the Middle East and Equatorial Africa. To make the vaccine, she used a gene from the disease-causing virus itself, using a technology called recombinant DNA method.
She is an ardent advocate of genetically modified crop and says they are perfectly safe for human beings too.
posted by S. Srinivasan at 11:11 AM
Sunday, April 20, 2003
An exciting week that filled my thoughts and reports with biotechnology-related stuff..The three-day Bangalore Bio 2003 show, that kicked off on 15th, sounded like an innocuous trade show and I was skeptical about getting stories.. The Karnataka government believes that it could promote the biotech sector in the state just with hype.. that was another reason for my skepticism... But the event was a revelation.
If anybody thought Indian scientists are working on hand-me-down technologies of the 1970s West, take a look at the biotech findings of our guys...They are in the vanguard of scientific pursuit, working on some of the breathtaking aspects of biosciences ranging from genetically modified plants that act as vaccines to computers running on DNA as the processor. (Yes, DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid which forms the instructive part of a living cell).. They have come up with vaccines for dreaded diseases like Anthrax that even the U.S recognizes to be superior to its own..
For more on these await my next two postings
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