Current Affairs
Nobel prize for cancer research pioneering scientists
Written by Supriya
This year's Nobel prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to three American scientists-Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider . The trio with their work in the late 1970's and 80's opened new avenues of research for anti-cancer drugs and therapies.
They discovered that the chromosomes, the thread like structures in human cells are protected by telomeres - the portion at the chromosome ends.
The telomeres- the portions marked red at the chromosome ends add new DNA, the genetic material, whenever any erosion of DNA takes place during metabolism. Elizabeth Blackburn compared telomeres to the tips on the ends of shoelaces that keep them from fraying. An enzyme telomerase is involved in this process. When people begin to age, the telomere region keeps shortening bringing about the gradual erosion of the genetic material and thus, age related problems.
In cancer cells, a high quantity of the telomerase enzyme has been found. Thus these tumor cells use the regenerating power of this enzyme to grow in an uncontrolled manner spreading throughout the body .
This discovery of telomeres and telomerase has laid the foundation for therapies and drugs which target the telomerase enzyme in cancer cells thus controlling cell growth.
The Bharat Matrimony-Google case
Written by Nikhil
Recently, Chennai-based Consim India Pvt Ltd, which owns bharatmatrimony.com and indiaproperties.com, sued Google for infringement of its trademark.
The Argument:
The company has said Google ads are used in BharatMatrimony’s platform to sell space to its (BharatMatrimony’s) competitors.
Consim said that it had “trademarked www.tamilmatrimony.com, www.telegumatrimony, www.bharatrimony.com, www.bengalimatrimony.com, www.muslimmatrimony.com. Hence, Google should not allow ads on those trademarks”.
If a user types ‘Tamil matrimony’, for instance, in the Google search field on the site, the resultant advertisements or websites shown include shaadi.com and simplymarry.com. Consim says this shows Google is allowing its competition to bid on the trademarks of BharatMatrimony.
Despicable Creations. Not fathers
Written by Nikhil
A girl's father is the first man in her life, and probably the most influential. - David Jeremiah (Quoted in Fathers Who Dare to Win by Ian Grant, 1999)
I wish to draw your attention to the darker gruesome facet of this statement. A Josef Fritzl shocked the world a quarter of an year ago. To the shock and disgust of many of us, there has been a sudden spurt of cases like Fritzl's in India over the past couple of months.
Spare a thought for those girls who have been subjected to incest by men whom they look up to; men, who, ideally are supposed to protect them from the depravity in society existing due to a heavy influence of baser instincts in people's actions.
In cases where the female sex has been exploited by spineless insensitive men, decision makers in the society have prescribed nothing less than capital punishment as a deterrent for the perpetrators
A Penchant for Parochialism
Written by Nikhil
I am infamous for missing the office bus everyday while coming in the morning to office. My laziness, coupled with the disconcerting chilly mornings is instrumental in making me snuggle more in my blanket. Today was not a run of the mill day though. Surprisingly, I was sprightly all morning and was even on time to board the ‘much missed’ office bus. But even then, I reached a good 25 minutes late to office. The reason: Some acquaintance of my bus driver was involved in a scuffle at some point on the way. Evidently, the associative instincts of my driver guy got the better of his duty and he strode off; to make peace, I believe.
Here I was, amidst equally frustrated colleagues of mine who wanted to get to office soon to have their morning breakfast. A clarification here: work was not a concern on my colleagues’s minds. It’s just that the canteen gets horribly crowded a little while after 9 am. Hence the hurry. There were a few champions of ‘an eye for an eye’ principle amidst us as well. One of them went on to remark “Arre, bhaiya hai kya?, tho chal jaake case lete hain saale ki”. Pardon me for mention of un-parliamentary language here, but this very statement forms the crux of what I want to throw light upon through this article. The statement, very evidently, comes in the wake of the latest controversy that has created ripples in Mumbai. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena - a result of a single person’s seething discontent and his aspirations is yet again in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Reservations - Economic Times (Face Off)
Written by Nikhil
This is an article I had penned quite a while back....
It’s a rat race out there, they said…there is cut throat competition out there, they said… Cut throat competition, it isn’t anymore, it has transformed into a slit throat, burn vehicles and block national highways competition now. The current reservation policy of the UPA government does nothing but encourage these ‘rats’ to dig further and go deeper down the caste matrix in trying to reach stages from where it would be easy for them to demand privileges. As a young Indian in 2007, I am appalled to see people thronging at NH1 to demand their status at the lower rungs of the so called ‘caste chain’. It would be very convenient for me to criticize those indulging in absolute vandalism in the name of reservations, but won’t delve into it. This problem cannot be laughed off derisively.
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