Bridging the lab-industry gap
by V.P. Prabhakar
OVER the years, the Regional Research Laboratory at Jorhat (Assam) has developed more than 100 technologies in various fields, of which 40 per cent were a success culminating in the setting up of various industries throughout the country.

Cutting the cost of space exploration
by Radhakrishna Rao
THE current genre of conventional “once only used” lunch vehicles based on chemical propulsion are phenomenally costly and not unoften unsafe and unreliable. The recent spate of launch failures in USA has once again underscored the need for developing “reliable and cost efficient” space boosters. As things stand now, to carry a pound of payload into near earth orbit, it costs anything upto $ 10,000 with a conventional space launcher based on throwaway components.

Science Quiz
by J. P. Garg

Genetic engineering, safety and justice
by Bharat Dogra

A SIGNIFICANT aspect of technological change in recent decades is the capacity of new technology to spread very fast. However, in cases where the safety of this technology is suspect, this rapid rate of expansion can prove very harmful. For example, the rapid spread of CFCs, depleted the protective ozone shield to an alarming extent, exposing millions to higher rates of skin cancer, cataract and other serious complications.

If anything, the spread of GMOs or genetically modified organisms, particularly in food and agriculture, may turn out to be even more rapid. Till just a short while ago people were busy debating the future potential hazards of GMOs and we now realise that millions of acres are already planted with GM crops. The leading country just now is the USA but some others may follow soon.

According to latest statistics (see Time magazine, September 13, 1999) 30 per cent of US dairy cows are already injected with the recombinant bovine growth hormone. This hormone is made with genetically engineered bacteria. In 1998 35 per cent of the soyabean crop, 26 per cent of the corn crop and 42 per cent of the cotton crop in the USA was grown from seeds that had been genetically engineered.

More than 4500 GM plants have been tested; at least 40 have cleared government reviews.

This rapid spread of highly controversial GMOs has been helped by generous relaxation of laws to help big companies which have invested billions in genetic engineering. In 1992 the USA Food and Drug Administration ruled that food products altered by genetic engineering raise no new or unique safety issues and will be registered no differently than foods created by conventional means. The agency ruled that it will not require that foods altered by genetic engineering should be labelled. (International Herald Tribune, May 27, 1992).

Significantly, several senior scientists within the USA had given very different recommendations. In fact several prominent scientists (including Nobel Laureates) had got together to form the Washington- based Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to plead for caution in the commercial introduction of GMOs. In a widely discussed study ‘Perils Amidst the Promise,’ the UCS recommended.

µNo Company should be permitted to commercialise a transgenic crop in the United States until a strong government programme is in place that assures risk assessment and control of all transgenic crops, and gives adequate consideration to centres of crops diversity in the US and elsewhere in the world.

µThe appropriate United Nations organisation should develop international biosafety protocol, which are necessary to ensure that developing countries, especially those harbouring centres of crop genetic diversity, can protect against the risks of genetically engineered crops.

However, the US government obviously chose to ignore such warnings (there were several others). However, the expected equally rapid spread of GMOs to Europe has been resisted strongly by consumer, farmer and environmental groups in many countries of Europe, most notably France. This year the European Union banned the import of non-approved GM corn. As GM and non-GM corn in the USA is mixed up, this effectively stopped all corn imports from the USA.

However, several developing countries which are more dependent on US grain imports and less able to voice their opinion are unlikely to be able to tell the USA to keep aside its GM crop and send only its non-GM crop to them. So while for the sake of exports to Europe, it is possible that the USA will keep to its non-GM stocks, it appears unlikely that such concern will be shown to developing countries.

However, incidents like the allergic reactions suffered by consumers of soyabeans carrying genetic threads from Brazil nut, large-scale deaths of bees and butterflies exposed to GM crops, damage suffered by some GM crops such as cotton balls dropping off, have confirmed the fears raised by several eminent scientists regarding GMOs. Genes introduced to make plants tolerant to pesticides can escape in pollen and create highly resilient weeds.

Apart from unseen risks of GMOs, profit-maximising companies are known to put genetic engineering to uses which can harm farmers even if successful in increasing corporate profits. The most widely cited example is that of the terminator technology aimed at stopping the growth of second generation seeds and making the farmer dependent on seed companies. Pat Roy Mooney, perhaps the best-known activist on this issue, says that the terminator technology is “biological warfare on farmers and food security.”

Yet often it is the genetic resources stolen from farmers of poor countries which provide the basic raw materials of biotechnology companies.

Biodiversity is of great importance to drug development, and developing countries are the source of an estimated 90 per cent of the world’s store of biological resources. More than half of the world’s most frequently prescribed drugs are derived from plants or synthetic copies of plant chemicals with a global value over the counter of more than $ 40 billion a year. The Human Development Report, 1999 says, “In the same way that many Arab states benefited from industrialisation’s thirst for the petroleum that lay beneath their land, so now biorich countries could have the chance to benefit from biotechnology’s demand for the rare germ plasm found on their land. Many indigenous communities have a further claim to biotechnology’s bounty because they have been the cultivators, researchers and protectors of their plants. But the sad reality is that without the consent of local people, this knowledge has been used to develop highly profitable drugs. In any other situation this would be called industrial espionage — theft of both the genetic materials and the long acquired knowledge of using them to develop medicines.”

Giving an example, HDR says the rosy periwinkle found in Madagascar contains anticancer properties, and drugs developed from it give $ 100 million in annual sales to a US-based multinational pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly but virtually nothing to Madagascar.

Dr Teweldo Egziabher, head of the Environment Protection Agency of Ethiopia who has participated in many international negotiations on this subject, recently revealed that when the European Commission adopted a directive on patenting genetically engineered living things, it deleted the requirement for disclosing the country of origin of the living things used in the genetic engineering, which had been introduced by the European Parliament to help developing countries claim benefits from their genetic resources used by others. Negotiations are going on under the auspices of FAO to develop a system of benefit sharing in the case of crop genetic resources. The bigger industrialised countries are insisting that they will give aid to developing countries from existing aid budgets in lieu of shares in financial benefits and no more. But this aid has been steadily decreasing since 1992.

Clearly several crucial questions of safety and justice need to be resolved before any further spread of GMOs can be allowed.

Bridging the lab-industry gap
by V.P. Prabhakar

OVER the years, the Regional Research Laboratory at Jorhat (Assam) has developed more than 100 technologies in various fields, of which 40 per cent were a success culminating in the setting up of various industries throughout the country.

The laboratory was established in 1961 as one of the multi-disciplinary laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under its chemical science group of laboratories. Its major thrust of research and development activities has been to develop indigenous technologies by utilising the immense natural wealth of India. The north-eastern region of the country has abundant material resources like petroleum, natural gas, minerals, tea as well as aromatic and medicinal plants and hence the laboratory was targeted to undertake research for development of knowhow for a wide-range of industries and extension works.

Dr C.N. Saikia, Senior Scientist, says the laboratory developed expertise in the areas like natural products chemistry, drug and drug intermediates, VSK cement plant technology, agro-technologies, petroleum microbiology and petrochemicals, crude oil transportation, paper and paper products, benefication chemicals, ecology and environmental studies, geotechnical investigations, foundation design engineering, soil and building materials etc. The annual turnover of the products with RRL technologies within the country is estimated to be Rs 110 crore.

A few years back the laboratory had been able to bag the coveted national honour of “Fellow of National Science Academy (FNA)” and this was then for the first time that anyone from the North-East had achieved such a distinction.

According to Dr Saikia, who explained significant achievements of RRL, it developed the knowhow for ‘Arteether’, a potent new generation anti-malaria drug active against Chloroquin resistant malaria strains. The knowhow has been transferred to M/s FDC Ltd, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company, for commercial production.

It developed Vertical Shaft Kiln (VSK) for mini cement plants. At present 35 mini cement plants are in operation in the country based on RRL-Jorhat technologies. A modified VSK technology for 30,000 TPA plant has also been developed to cater to the national and international needs. A series of pour point depressants for transportation of high waxy oils have also been developed.

The laboratory’s contribution to extensive cultivation of citronella grass and extraction of oil have led to the establishment of major citronella based agro-industry in the north-eastern region. The production of citronella is about 500 tonnes and this has generated employment for 22,000 persons in the rural sector alone. It has developed and introduced agro-technologies for mushroom cultivation and popularisation of several protein-rich edible mushroom varieties in different areas of north-east India.

Dr Saikia also showed visiting newsmen specially developed papers and boards, including thermographic paper, carbonless copy paper, director copy paper, carbon paper, gummed paper tape, file covers, file boards, handmade papers, paper slates and boards and plastic slates. Paper slates and plastic slates are not easily breakable, lighter in weight and more appealing to the customers and to the children. Plastic slates are water resistant.

A new process has been developed for utilisation of banana plants for production of fibres useful for making twins and fabrics in the conventional jute processing machines and also for making eco-friendly products like carpets, doormats, bags, flower vase, table mats, purse, flower basket, wallhangings, shopping bags, etc.

Dr Saikia says the future programme of RRL would be directed towards development of anti-cancer, anti-AIDS and other drugs from natural resources and by synthetic methods.

Cutting the cost of space exploration
by Radhakrishna Rao

THE current genre of conventional “once only used” lunch vehicles based on chemical propulsion are phenomenally costly and not unoften unsafe and unreliable. The recent spate of launch failures in USA has once again underscored the need for developing “reliable and cost efficient” space boosters. As things stand now, to carry a pound of payload into near earth orbit, it costs anything upto $ 10,000 with a conventional space launcher based on throwaway components. As such, consistent efforts are on to reduce both the cost of space launchings and turn the orbital exploration into a less risky venture. However, the reusable American space transportation system space shuttle that was once projected to be a “reliable and cost efficient” bridge to space has turned out to be an economically unviable and technologically unreliable enterprise. No wonder, the space shuttle is no more the favoured vehicle of the American space planners.

Vigorous efforts are being made to bring down the launch cost through innovative design of space vehicles. For instance in USA, a joint project of the US Air Force and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking to use laser beam as a propulsion system to boost payload into orbit. This space launching system is propelled by a pulse detonation engine where the air is so rapidly heated that a plasma is created without any on board chemical. At first, this creates a cooling problem at the point where the laser detonates the air within the vehicle shroud. A cryogenically cooled engine is now being used to resolve that problem.

On the other hand, a freelance American researcher, Derek Willis, is experimenting with the use of oxygen and engine oil as a low-cost alternative to costly rocket fuel. According to Willis, this fuel known as Aerated Solid Propellant (ASPROP) costs just about 1/10th of the price of the conventional rocket fuel.

Since they must generate a huge volume of energy, a rocket propellant need to be made from combination of fuel and oxidisers that are highly reactive and inflammable. Solid propellants such as ammonium perchlorate too suffers from disadvantages. For once burnt, they tend to be difficult to control. Moreover, they are extremely dangerous to handle. So hybrid systems combining solid and liquid fuels are emerging as a popular alternate. But then, while being safer, hybrid fuels tend to be costlier for the simple reason that they generate less power as compared to solid or liquid propellants.

By loading a high concentration of oxygen inside an energy rich oil, ASPROP provides a very high specific impulse — an index of propulsive thrust. In about two years — subject to everything going as planned — the four stage rocket being developed by Willis should lift a 2-kg payload into an altitude of 200 km. Willis says that he will experiment with the cheaper end of the launcher market — putting smaller satellites or scientific experiments into a low earth orbit.

In yet another breakthrough of great significance, American Naval researchers have developed a cheap nontoxic fuel that could dramatically reduce the cost of delivering a payload into space. The new fuel technology also could lead to smaller, and more reliable rocket engines. Martin Minthorn, a propuslion engineer at US Navy’s Standard Missile Programme office says that there are many commercial application of this fuel, including emergency power generation, oxygen generation and back up power system for electric vehicle.

On another front, a team of British researchers has hit upon the idea of using the technique of magnetic levitation for launching satellites. It has caught the imagination of American space technologists.

Right now, launching a spacecraft through conventional means requires a rocket with two or more stages. It accounts for a lion’s share of the launch cost. Against this backdrop, magnetic levitation and propulsion (maglev) could eliminate the first stage of the rocket and dramatically reduce the cost of a launch. As envisaged now, the spacecraft would be carried along a track and accelerated to about 965-km per hour, allowing a single rocket engine to take it into the low earth orbit.

A maglev system will be virtually maintenance free because there will be no mechanical contact between the spacecraft and the track. A team in the school of engineering at the University of Sussex is currently working on “magnetic river” concept of maglev to develop an advanced space transportation system.

Science Quiz
by J. P. Garg

1. “Had this honour come to me 20 years ago, how much greater work I would have done”, commented the American scientist J. Willard Gibbs on receiving late recognition for his work. What had he put forth 20 years ago?

2. With a view to overcoming the handicaps Indian military faced during the Kargil war, the Indian Space Research Organisation will launch next year the first of a new series of satellites which will house a camera of spatial resolution of 2.5 metres. Name this satellite, whose imagery will help detect objects as small as a beach umbrella.

3. This battery-operated electronic device is used to regulate heartbeat artificially when the heart does not function normally. Name this device, which is usually implanted into the chest and connected to the heart by a wire.

4. Continuing on the subject, AICD is an improved device that continuously monitors the heartbeat rate and rhythm. The device delivers high-energy shocks to the heart and immediately brings it back to normal when its activity becomes abnormal due to any reason. What is the complete name of this latest device?

5. Children like “cotton candy” made from melted sugar with a rotating machine. What is the basic action of this machine called, which is also used in washing machines, cream separators etc.?

6. PCs are so common these days and refer to Personal Computers. What does PCS refer to in a relevant field?

7. Some organisms release substances to influence the behaviour of other members of the same species. Name these chemicals, which are normally used for sex-attraction by insects and for territorial marking by animals.

8. Name the most abundant element in the human body which helps in the formation of bones and teeth, blood clotting and functioning of nerves and muscles.

9. An object (like the string of an instrument) can be set into its natural vibrations with the help of another object (say a tuning fork) vibrating with a suitable frequency. What is this phenomenon called?

10. In the 1865 classic space fiction book “From the Earth to the Moon” , an imaginary journey of three men and two dogs carried in a projectile and fired towards the Moon from a cannon has been described. Name the author of this book.

Answers

1. “Gibbs phase rule” in chemistry 2. Cartosat-I 3. Pacemaker 4. Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator 5. Centrifugal action 6. Personal Communication System 7. Pheromones 8. Calcium 9. Resonance 10. Jules Verne.

Modern-day Icarus
IF Icarus had only had a Solotrek XFV, he mightn’t have crashed — no wax wing joints to melt. The XFV can land and take off vertically; its two-propeller engines provide thrust. It flies for an hour and a half on regular gasoline and has a top speed of 80 mph. The prototype is being flight-tested later production plans are not yet set. (Popular Science)

Gamma interferon from plants
Using new technique of introducing foreign genes into cells, scientists in Delhi have produced a life-saving drug gamma-interferon in large quantities from plants.

In conventional nuclear transformation, foreign genes are inserted in the cell’s nucleus, whereas in the new method foreign genes are put into chloroplastids — a component of plant-cells that contains the green pigment chlorophyll and helps cook food for the plants.

Gamma-interferon is a therapeutic protein that is used as an effective agent to boost the immune system.

Gamme-interferon is also used in the management of cancers of lungs and kidneys, rheumatoid arthritis, astma and allergies, some genetic disorders and infectious diseases.

“The yield in this process is much higher than that obtained in conventional processes,” V.S. Reddy, a senior scientist at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), told PTI.

The technology, which may find use in the production of other pharmaceutically important proteins like antigens or antibodies in future, is ready for commercialisation, he said. The ICGEB team recently applied for a European patent for it.

Gadget to translate text into speech
A hi-tech gadget which scans printed characters of two of the most popular Indian scripts, corrects all errors and automatically translates the written text into speech, has been developed by scientists in Calcutta.

The first bi-script, bi-lingual Optical Character Recognisation (OCR) system of its kind developed in the country, is capable of working effectively on Bengali and Devnagari scripts.

Envisioned by a team of four computer scientists headed by Umapada Pal of Indian Statistical Institute’s computer vision and pattern recognition unit, the OCR is expected to be of immense help for the blind, who can now “hear” any printed text in these two languages.

Under the Rs-12-lakh project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Pal and his team had earlier built a Bengali script OCR which could automatically read pages of Bengali books.

“We used the same technique and improvised the system’s font, style and size variation to develop the new gadget,” Pal told PTI.

Ward off pests from grains
An insecticide prepared from a plant whose roots are traditionally used to prepare pickles and Ayurvedic medicines has been found to be useful in warding off pests of stored foodgrains.

A dried powder prepared from the roots of Decalepis hamiltoni, also known as swallowroot, can serve as an eco-friendly bioinsecticde that protects foodgrains against insect attacks.

The bioinsecticide, prepared by scientists from the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore, was found to be especially useful against attacks by rice pests, according to a report in Current Science. CFTRI has filed for a patent on it.

A dried powder extract of Decalepis roots at a concentration of five per cent killed 96 per cent of stored grain pests, while at ten per cent concentration it killed 99.97 per cent.

Decalepis is a twining shrub endemic to the rocky forests of peninsular India. Its aromatic roots have been used in preparation of pickles and several Ayurvedic drugs, without any toxic effects reported in humans.

The recent finding on Decalepis adds to the list of plants traditionally used to protect foodgrains — neem or Azadirachta indica, Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium, Acorus calamus, Cucurma longa (turmeric or “haldi)) and Trigonella foeicum graecum (fenugreek or “methi”).

Natural fibre from banana plant
A new method to extract fibres from wild species of banana plants of Mizoram hills has been identified by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) in Calcutta.

Locally called “Change-el” or wild plantains, its six different species can yield a kind of hemp which has immense commercial importance, BSI scientists found in a survey in the hills of the north-eastern state.

The fibre, extracted from the stem and leaf sheaths of the wild plants by boiling them in water. can be used to make bags, baskets, shoes, door mats and ropes at very low cost, BSI’s environmental information centre (Envis) project co-ordinator and member of the survey team, L.K. Banerjee, told PTI.

“The Saisu, Changthir, Changui, Changpawal, Airawl and Changvandawt types of banana trees are the best yielders of this natural fibre.” Banerjee said, adding that except the Saisu, those wild species are found in abundance along river banks, marshy and damp places throughout Mizoram.

“Super iron” to create super batteries
A new generation of batteries may be on the horizon: they last 50 per cent longer than today’s batteries, thanks to a “super-iron” component that promises to be easy and affordable to manufacture, reports Associated Press.

Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology invented super batteries that could run CD players and flashlights — and say the new batteries also could come in the rechargeable forms needed to power camcorders, laptop computers and even electric cars.

From the outside, the super-iron batteries look identical to conventional batteries,” Stuart Licht who led the research team. “The difference is within, and in the much greater energy generated by the super-iron battery.”

The new batteries have 50 per cent more energy than traditional batteries, Licht reports in the journal Science.

After testing gadgets that drain batteries at extra-high rates, such as portable CD players, scientists found another advantage of the super battery.

Net 4 India to serve Delhi
Delhi based Internet Service Provider, Net4 India, plans to launch its services by September to tap the growing small and medium enterprise market in the country. This marks the beginning of a new phase of market segmentation at the Internet services level.

The company, which is part of the UK based Sawhney group of companies, will provide a number of value added services to the user giving end-to-end solutions. The services will include Internet access, e-mail, web hosting, e-commerce, web design, web strategy consulting and Internet marketing.

Net4 India will be offering assistance in strategising, consultancy, database distribution management and customer services.

Iomega’s Zip drive
Iomega Corp has announced that it has shipped the 25 millionth Zip 100MB drive. Iomega Zip drive and genuine 100MB and 250MB disks offer an easy-to-use solution for consumers to move, protect, use, share and backup information on their computers. Fast enough to run business and multimedia applications, the Zip drive brings a new level of performance to today’s powerful personal computers.

Its QuikSync software can automatically save a designated file or folder interrupting user’s work. Copy Machine makes multiple copies of Zip or Jaz disks using one or more drives. It is a great way to share files and ensure there is a backup disk for important information. The password protection feature in IomegaWare software ensures privacy of one’s confidential files. With Norton Zip Rescue (NZR), common system problems such as damaged system files, Windows 95 and 98 registry corruption can be resolved easily.

Xircom introduces PortStation
Xircom Asia Pacific has introduced PortStation, the industry’s first Post Expansion System, for small office/home office (SOHO) users.

The PortSystem provides instant network, communications and peripheral device attachment via a single USB connection to Windows-based computers. PortStation modules allow users to mix and match current and future connectivity technologies, creating a customised PostStation system that can change as needs grow and technology advances.

Modules provide users with a variety of networking and communication technologies, including 10Mbps Ethernet, 56 Kbps modem, digital subscriber Iine (DSL), cable modem, ISDN and home phoneline networking as well as easy way to attach a wide range of devices, including printers, digital cameras, mouse and keyboards.

Mumbai-based Zenith group has announced that it is consolidating its software operations into a single entity to target its burgeoning software development market in the country and abroad.

Zenith plans to merge its software business — Mumbai-based Zenith Infotech and Singapore-based Zensoft.

Post merger, Zenith will market Internet-based products and focus on customised software contracts mostly in the US and Europe.

The two-software companies, Zenith Infotech and Zensoft, wholly-owned by the Saraf family, posted a turnover of Rs 11 crore and Rs 6 crore, respectively, with a combined profit of Rs 3 crore during the last financial year.

Life on earth is 2.7 billion years old
Scientists studying Australian rocks have found evidence that primitive forms of life existed 2.7 billion years ago — a billion years earlier than had been previously shown, reports Associated Press.

“The molecular fossils we report are the oldest preserved biological molecules in the world,” said researcher Jochen J. Brocks, from the University of Sydney, Australia.

“This age should provide a new calibration point for molecular clocks and the universal tree of life,” Brocks and his fellow researchers report in the journal Science.

The finding pushes back evidence of life to the Archean era, the period from the beginning of Earth to about 2.5 billion years ago.

“It was unknown that complex molecules can survive such a long period of time on Earth. “We opened up a window into a time when almost nothing was known about life on Earth and provide a tool that will multiply our knowledge about this shadow land”, Brocks said.