Open Source Genetics!

Am currently reading this book - 'DNA - the secret of life' by James D Watson, in which he chronicles various events that started after the discovery of the double helix by himself and Francis Crick in the 1950s. Its a nice read if you want to know new things on DNA. At least i did not know most of the stuff written in that book.

One fact that struck me most and makes me very uncomfortable is that, often science is closely associated with commerce. This is very true nowadays in case of genetics and in the era where the scientists work to find something before anybody does and patents it; i.e. you have to be the first one to find it otherwise all the effort is gone waste. If you cant patent something then its of now use.

Take for example that there is some research going on to find the gene associated with some disease X and team A and team B are working on it spending lots of money and time. Suppose team A cracks it first and patents it. Then team B cannot work anymore on that gene. In other words no other person or company can use the information discovered by team A to discover drug or to do anything on that gene. Its the sole property of team A now! and only they can work on it.

How does this sound to you ? Its sounds absurd to me. It practically stops everybody who want to work on that disease and hence reducing the probability of the drug being found for that gene.

I do understand that those scientists must have put a lot of money to come till that point. But closing further access to others or giving permission only on large sums of money simply beats me. May be they should work out a model where in they get back all the money that they had put in and some profit. But money really complicates things. When you know that you can milk money out of something, I guess you will.

Why cant this work like open source software ? Here companies develop things and distribute it for free. But they eventually benefit from the users of the software and all the associated training, enhancements and everything related to the product. If anybody uses open source software, it has to be open source as well.

If we translate this idea to genetics, it will be like this: If team A decides to put its discovery in open source, then any further discoveries resulting out of this have to be open source. Sounds simple. But its not as easy as software. We are dealing with humans here and we tend to exploit whatever we can out of the discovery. Its a matter of life and death.

At the end of the day it looks like money matters to most of the scientists today. I always thought that, it was only pure curiosity and the desire to find things, that drives them. Unfortunately thats not the truth.

At least pure physics is free from all this patent stuff i guess. I don't think anybody would benefit from a discovery which predicts the size of the universe!! It is pure knowledge. But who knows.. may be one day! thats why we patent stuff.

Its a debatable topic: Should Genetics be made open source ?

Chini Kum ( less sugar )

I would say that this is a must-watch movie both for its new message, which advocates marriage between individuals whose age differs a lot, like in this case by more than 30 years and for its light n nice humor.

Big B and Tabu (to be precise, whoever wrote the script) have done a great job by adding a great sense of humor which is hardly to be found in Bollywood movies nowadays. Big B runs an Indian restaurant in London and happens to meet Tabu somehow and the story starts there. I would not tell the whole thing here as to what happens in the end. I would advise you to watch the movie. With light comedy in the kitchen backdrop, the movie is worth the money and much more.

I don’t think the old generation would like the concept in the movie. Just imagine a situation where in your daughter is some 34 years old and some 64 year guy wants to marry her! Would you allow it?? May be after watching the movie you will say ‘I may! ‘ or considering the fact that she hasn't been able to catch any guy till now, you would probably say 'its fine!' . But I think it will be very difficult to practice, at least in the Indian sub-continent.

I would not say that it is wrong. Everybody has a right to marry whoever he/she likes. But if everybody starts doing this, human race will definitely come to an end over a period of time!! You are defying natural selection by choosing to marry somebody who is very much elder to you and who is most unlikely to help you in carrying your genes further down the stream. Am I sounding too scientific? may be! Darwin would have definitely not liked this, if he had seen this movie.

Anyways, these cases do not happen much too often in practice and we can be assured that the human race will continue to prosper.

At least I will definitely try to help! I need Zyada Chini (more sugar) :)

DNA computing

I was browsing through Orkut and saw a community called DNA computing. I was curious to know what it is, as i had never heard of anything like that. I googled on this topic and found that since 1994 lot of stuff has been happening in that arena i.e. using DNA to do things that we require. It seems one scientist mixed some DNA and enzymes and amino acids in a test tube and solved a mathematical problem!! Till now we are quite successful at using DNA for doing small calculations and games.

I also found an article in the New York Times dated today Nov 21 2003 which talks about DNA which can self-assemble an electronic circuit. Now that sounds like a sci-fi !!

This article talks about storing data in DNA. Its a known fact that we can insert plasmids, which are similar to DNA strands, into a cell and they will replicate them without fail during multiplication! so, in theory, if we code some data into a plasmid and inject it into a bacteria it will remain there for generations if we keep them alive!

Amazing stuff!!

God is squaring me out!

An addition to the squares! I noticed that my office extension is 9682 = 25 = 5 squared.
I am really being squared !!

The number 23

It’s a new movie that we saw today. It is about this man who gets obsessed about the number 23 and he starts seeing it everywhere after he starts reading a book about that. Like in a word, by adding up letters, by giving them a number based on their position in the alphabets. Jim Carry has done a good job. Nice thriller and it keeps you on your toes till the end.

Trust me, the movie will also leave you looking for 23 around.

My birth day is on 23^rd of Jan!

Take E=Mc^2, the famous energy equation. E is 5, M is 13, c for 3 and 2 … all make up to 23. I guess Einstein did not notice this stuff!

So, start looking for 23!!

I am a bit of a number manic. I usually try to find something interesting in the numbers I see. Like the apartment that we are staying in. It is 4, 121, Kusweg, Beach Road, Strand. If you look at the numbers they are 2 squared and 11 squared!

My birth day is 23/01/1981 = 25 = 5 squared.

My current mobile number – 7668 668 89 = 64 = 8 squared.

My number in Bombay – 9820333759 = 49 = 7 squared

My car registration number – KA 02 MA 64 – You can see a 64 here as well.

SA – country code – 27 = 9 = 3 squared.

Today – 20/5/2007 = 16 = 4 squared

Interesting numbers!!

Living in Strand

South Africa is a beautiful country. Living by the sea only makes it even better! I never knew why property rates are so high along the sea until I myself started living by the beach in Strand. It is flat no 4, 121, Kusweg, Beach road, Strand. It has an amazing sea-view and it is a treat to live here.

I don’t know why, but I never get tired of simply sitting and watching the sea. Everyday the sea changes its colors depending on the clouds and the clouds change the colors too. Strand is situated in a kind of bay area where on the other side of the bay is Cape Town. The sea is lined by mountains on the other side and that’s where the sun goes down.

It’s a treat to watch the sun go down in the mountains by the sea, painting the sky with spectacular colors which I would have never thought of! Trust me, God is a great artist. The sea also changes colors depending on the sky, clouds and I have not understood till date as to what the formula is for the color of the sea. It can be blue-green, dark blue, gray, red (because of the red planktons that float) sometimes and when it rains as it is today it is light gray-green. So many colors!!

It is lovely to watch the clouds as well. The sun gives them different colors during different times of the day. Morning and evening are the best and the clouds come in different shapes too. Sometimes it is as if a huge army is coming to attack you from the other side – big monstrous dark cloud which covers the mountains as well. Some times small clouds are scattered all around in a very regular manner and shape.

On the other side of our apartment I can see huge mountains lined up as though they are guarding us from the invaders. On some days you can see huge clouds which come and rest on these mountains as though they are tired by the journey. Or as though the mountains decided to get a white blanket for the night and have a good sleep. And in the places where there is a gap between the mountains you can see the cloud flowing down similar to a water fall but in a much slower fashion as if time had slowed down. Sometimes when the clouds are sitting on the mountains and the sun shines on them, I can only think of heaven!

Some day I will buy a beach house!!

weekend fracture!

You might have started guessing if i had a fracture over the weekend. No!! I watched this new movie, 'Fracture' featuring Anthony Hopkins and Van Gosling. Nice movie. Its a treat to watch Hopkins. He is amazing. He just steals the show. The movie is a suspense, semi-thriller stuff. Nicely done. I wont tell the story here. I recommend you to go and watch the movie for yourself. It will be worth the money.

the monk who sold his 'blind date' !!

I must tell you about one little incident that happened in Durban. I missed a date or threw away a date!! Can you believe it??

Some days before going to Durban I started to look for girls in Durban who were on Orkut. You know I started scrapping them and see if they responded. I was just trying my luck or testing the probabilities that I might get a date in Durban.

Many of them did, but I started some real conversations with only a few girls. I guess these had an internet connection at home and checked emails and scraps regularly or worked with computers at office. So I had a very limited choice to start with and they had to be single! :) , So that they will come out with me for a blind date. I could not fix any real date before going to Durban. Life is tough, I must say!!

So, I went to Durban. 1^st day, no luck. 2nd day, no luck. On the third day, I asked one of them if she is interested in a blind date. I really did not expect a ‘yes’. She was a Durban Indian and doing studies. You see, the probability of finding a girl, who is a student and single, is very difficult. Because usually you get to have lot of friends around when you are studying and hence the probability of finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend is very high then! I guess I was bit lucky in this case. Anyways, she replied back saying that she is busy and bla….bla..bla. Typical girl I believe. I left a scrap with my mobile number asking to let me know if she changed her mind ;) ! According to what I have seen, most of the girls – may be around 90%, change their mind very quickly and this girl did!! She messaged me asking whether I was enjoying Durban and when I was returning back and such stuff. I call this ‘beating around the bush’! Why don’t you girls get straight to the point? Anyways, I did not wanted beat around the bush and asked what she is doing that evening and whether she is free for a date! Believe me, she was good in making plans and she was fast. She told that we can go for supper and then a movie. I was like ‘WOW’!! She knows how to plan a date. Must have done it many times. But there was a problem. She said that two of her ‘cool’ friends will also be joining!! I did not like this idea and told that I liked going alone with her. I guess she must have been scared to go on a date with a stranger all alone knowing that the crime rate in Durban is very high and i could be potentially kidnap her!! I tried to convince her a lot but she did not budge. She was bent on going for a ‘double date’ as she termed it. I thought ‘double date’ is going out with two girls (all for yourself :) )!!

I guess I was bit adamant. Also, I was tired due to my previous night at the casino. I really stayed late there at the casino. I was already feeling sleepy in the evening. Finally I gave up and asked her to go ahead with her plans thinking that she will change her mind. But, she did not. She asked me to ‘SUIT MYSELF’ to her plans. What the ****!! May be I was begging but I was doing it with some self-respect!! I think that really hurt my ego. That was it. I was not going to take any more. I declined the date!!

That’s it. Do you think I was stupid? I really felt so the next morning :) . What if I had gone for that date with her? I know that one date will really not turn your world upside down but I am thinking whether it would have any considerable effect on my life!! What if I had started liking her? I would have been going on a very different path than what I am now!!

Life is always filled with these interesting twists and turns and I missed one. Anyways I am just wondering what would have happened if I had taken that turn. I wish I had some time machine, by which I could go backwards and see what would have happened. Unfortunately I have no ways of doing that.

May be it would have been an interesting path taking me to a wonderland. May be not. May be. May be not. May be. May be not. May be…………………….. :)

Durban day 5 – Chasing the sun (of a bitch)

I had a flight to catch at 4.45. I packed up my stuff and decided that I probably can’t do anything much. I had started reading a book called ‘eleven minutes’ by Paulo Coelho. So I decided to go and sack in a bar with the book and have some beer. I found a nice place called Mimmo’s in the sun coast casino with a good beach view; ordered myself a millers and started reading the book. It was good. I was reading at a pace of 30 pages per beer. Not bad at all. I finished around 100 pages when I thought I should catch the flight.

I was early at the airport. I got my boarding pass, had lunch there at the coffee shop and boarded the flight at 4.30.

It was closing to sun set and I was about to see the most spectacular sunset from the plane. Now if you imagine being outside the plane you would see that we were going in the opposite direction as to earth’s rotation and towards the sun. As I told before the plane travels at about half the speed of earth’s rotation. If it had traveled at the same speed as earth’s rotation then the plane would have been at the same point relative to the sun if you ignore the revolutionary motion for some time. And hence we would see the sun at the same point all through the flight.

But we were traveling at a lesser speed and hence we were losing out. The chase was good. I could see the sun going down with spectacular colors around. The horizon was filled with colors of yellow, which was soon changing to red. The best part was after the sun went down. The whole place looked like as if there was a volcano and red-hot lava was flowing out. I wish I were the pilot. I could have got a better view. It’s difficult narrate things of beauty like this. It’s best to keep quiet. Otherwise we would be doing injustice. Anyways I have tried my little best to explain this. I think you should try some flight like this and see it for yourself.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever – some poet has said this I guess.

At last Cape town was there and that’s the end of my Durban story!

Durban day 4 – Umhlanga Rocks.

It was a nice sunny day and Caroline told that I should go to the beach. I strictly followed what she told me and went straight to Umhlanga Rocks. I got myself an umbrella, a beach towel, a book to read and laid myself down on the beach. It’s a nice beach with lot of people around.

I was reading Richard Feynman’s ‘The pleasure of finding things out’. It’s a very nice book. I have often come across some books, which suddenly change my flow of thinking in a much-unexpected direction. As this has done, I have started reading physics and such stuff nowadays. Believe me. But it is good to get such unexpected turns and twists once in a while. Life will be interesting. I suggest this book to you guys to read, especially if you like physics or science or if you like exploring things.

It was afternoon and the tides were rising high and I could no longer lie on the beach. I was also getting hungry and decided to get something to eat. I went to Sibaya again, had some lunch there and started playing again with the slot machine. I lost some money and won some. In the end it equaled out I guess. Then I was watching Black Jack being played on a table and asked another person standing beside as to what the rules were. He was happy to see an Indian there J I guess it knocks on some door of their heart and makes them happy. Ravi also worked with the SA police. Trust me; I was meeting a lot of people from the police. I don’t know why. Anyways he told me that if he had money I could go and play on another table where the bets were low – 25 rand. I said ok. We went to another table and I started with 200 rand. I played for some 15-20 minutes and I had 300 rand in profit. Not bad at all. But it was actually Ravi who played and I decided that we must divide the profit. He was my working partner! I gave him 150 rand. He did not insist of course. It was fun.

I met another Indian by name Kugen. He was from the Tamil land. It’s the same story that his forefathers came during the sugarcane boom. He was working as a technician for audio systems. He was happy to see an Indian too. He said that the Indians there still feel that one-day they should go to their roots in India. I was surprised to hear that he was sending his daughter to Bharatanatyam classes!! Not even people in India do it nowadays. They don’t want to lose the link. Somewhere in their hearts, its still there, that, they are Indians living in an alien country. Kugen also told that the Indians in Durban are very hardworking. On weekends the South Africans go to the beach and spend time but the Indians go to the market to buy stuff! I told him that his kids will start doing that stuff!

I think its man’s eternal quest to seek what he does not have. It’s very difficult to live with a sense of completeness. We always need a purpose in life without which our life will be like a ship in a storm with nowhere to go. We are always in search of that Lighthouse.

Durban day 3 – Botha’s Hills

Caroline was actually becoming my travel planner by suggesting various places to visit and guiding me. That was nice. On the third day she suggested me to go to Botha’s hill, which is around 60 kms from Durban.

I forgot to tell you that I met an interesting couple at the guesthouse from Johannesburg. His name was Lucas and he worked in the South African Crime Intelligence Dept. He was amazing. It seems he had fled SA during the difficult times and gone to Uganda where he got some military training and such stuff. Eventually he returned to home in 1993, just before SA got Independence. It was very nice to talk to him. He said that when he starts working on a case, it can keep him away from home for 4-5 days sometimes as he has to pick up leads and go to different places. Crime is a very bad thing. He told ‘Hey Bro, when I say bye to my family everyday, I don’t know whether I will do it again. It’s a very difficult life for the police’. I could not say much to what he said. It is very difficult to step into his shoes and empathize with him. Some experiences have to be had first hand. One cannot learn much by listening or watching.

They were here for a holiday and take some rest off their busy lives. I learnt that Lucas loved walking and the previous day he had gone for a small walk of some 15 km. that’s all!! I thought that he must be around 30-35. But he told me that he was 46! I did not have a camera. I should have taken a photograph of him.

Anyways, I got the map and started off towards Botha’s Hills. Its actually part of an area called the Valley of the thousand hills. The drive was a nice one with mountains and farms around. I went to a café. Had my lunch and started driving back. The café had a nice view but not so nice service. Anyways I had some good beerJ. That’s one thing I like about SA. You get to drink anywhere and everywhere.

I was rather tired, as I did not have much sleep the previous day. I skipped dinner and went to bed.

End of day 3!

Durban day 2 – Casino Sibaya

I did not know what to do on the second day. I feasted on the nice breakfast that Caroline had prepared. The weather was looking bad and it had started drizzling slowly. I left the guesthouse and went to a nearby Internet café to check mail.

The owner of the café was an Indian and I started talking to him. He said that he is from the Telugu land and that his great grand fathers had come here during the sugarcane boom as laborers! I asked them whether he supports SA or India during cricket. He said that it is SA. I think that’s the way it is with the Indians here. They have become true South Africans but nevertheless maintaining some flavors from the roots. He suggested me that I should go to the casino Sibaya.

I started off from there and went towards a place called Bellito, which is further north from Umhlanga. Recently this place got hit by huge waves, which caused damage to lives and property. I could see the damage myself. I spent some time on the beach there watching the waves. There were really huge scary waves or just that it was hit waves recently made them scary! Whatever…

By now it started raining a little bit and there was no point sitting on the beach. I decided to go to Sibaya and have some fun.

Sibaya is built on the top of a mountain and it’s a beautiful place. All around the place there are sugarcane fields and you can see the sea from the place. It’s a lovely view. I had gone to the Sun-coast casino the previous night, but I had not gambled. I thought I would try my luck at Sibaya.

They have a very nice system. To play the slot machines you need to buy a card with a magnetic strip, which will hold information about the money you have won. It will have zero balance initially and you need to go and insert it into any of the machines. Then you insert the money in another slot, which will get updated to the card, and you start playing. If you win it will add to the card. If you lose it will reduce the balance. After you have decided that you have won enough or lost, you have to go and give the card and they will give you the money! Nice system isn’t it

After knowing how to play, I got myself a card and started playing a machine called the Mystery-Jackpot. I was a conservative in the beginning and started with 20 rand. It vanished in no time. I inserted a 50 rand note now and it also went in no time! I got frustrated. You see nobody wants to stop when they are losing. So inserted a 100 rand note now and started playing. I guess lady luck tilted a little bit to my side and I had started winning some money. I had won almost 850 rand with that 100 rand note. Then I lost some money and eventually stopped when the balance was 750. It is all probability I believe. But the machines may have been programmed to make you lose. Sibaya has lots of restaurants inside. I got myself a beer and a pizza and ate a victorious lunch.

It was still raining outside and coincidentally rain had stopped the ICC cricket world cup match between Aus and Sri Lanka. The Aussies haven’t stopped winning for a long time and I wanted them to lose and the theory of probability also said so!! They had reduced the overs to 38 and Gilchrist was looking murderous - he made 149 off 100 balls and Aus made 280+ I guess. The Lankans were playing well but not up-to the required run-rate. Rain stopped the match for some time and it was really a struggle for Sri Lanka with bad light and a bad pitch. They lost eventually.

It was 1 in the night when I finally left the casino. I had a good time, had made some money, watched cricket and it was fun. I was tired and the music of the slot machine was still ringing in my ears when I slept that night. So that was day 2!

Durban - day 1 - uShaka

I reached the place, had a coffee, freshened up and was set to start explore Durban. Caroline told that it would be a good idea to go to uShaka that day as it was the first day of the holiday and hence less crowd. I went to uShaka and got myself a ticket to the uShaka marine world.

The marine world in the aquarium is amazing. You get to see a lot of different fish. They are so colorful and i guess each fish is specialized in a different way. The aquarium is nicely built - its like a tunnel with glass walls inside a lake or a sea. It was big and they kept all kinds of fish from the tiniest to the sharks and tortoises and what not. There is also a chamber where they have kept snakes and spiders!! the chamber is really scary - you will be watching a snake which will be almost dead and suddenly from no where u will hear a loud sound which scares you to a jump.
So that was the aquarium and actually you can spend the whole day by just watching the fish. They are so beautiful.

Then there is this seal show. They have made a funny play or something where in the seal also has a part. I did not know that they are so intelligent. It can clap and dance and do other intelligent things. It was very interesting to watch this show.

After that i saw that the crowd was going to a theater kinda stuff where in the actual stage is a pool. There was the dolphin show!! It is one of the most fantastic things i have ever seen. There were some 3 dolphins and they were dancing in such a synchronous way that i dont think anybody can match. They also had put some nice music. So it actually looks like they are dancing to the music. But actually they are just listening to the whistle and watching the signs made by the trainer there. Anyways you can forget the whistle and the signs and think that they are dancing to the music. Its lovely !! One of the dolphins was around 30 years old. I did not know the they can live for so long. It seems they can live for as long as 50 years!! It was an amazing show!! the money was worth it.

So that was the end of the day. I had few beers and left the place. I had to find some place where i can find dinner. I went to a place up north called Umhlanga rocks ( it is pronounced as umshlanga - in afrikaans h and l together make shl !!). I found an Indian restaurant there which had a buffet. It was not that good and not bad also. But the owner was saving power on AC by keeping it off!!

I was tired at the end of day 1 and went straight to the guest house and slept. So that was day 1 for me in Durban. It was good :)

Durban - day 1 - the flight

I am deviating a little bit from the main flow here which was science. But anyways the title is Eureka and it means ' i found out'. And here i will tell how i found out Durban!!

27th April and 1st May were holidays in SA and i took the Monday off. I had five days and i decided that i will go and see Durban. I booked a return flight from Cape-town to Durban on the SAA. I found a place called 'The Palms' on the net which offered B+B facilities and the prices were reasonable and i booked the a room for 4 nights. I rented a car as well without which its impossible to travel in SA.

So it was all set. The flight to Durban was at 6.15 in the morning. Naren dropped me to the airport. The weather was not too good for a holiday. It was raining badly. Not a good start at all.
I got myself a window seat and sat looking outside at the sun-rise. For a moment i imagined myself to be outside earth somewhere in the sky and watching this plane. We were actually rushing towards the sun rise. It was beautiful to watch the sun come up (or technically speaking - the earth rotating towards the sun) .

The plane was traveling at around 850 km/hr and the earth rotates at around 1600 km/hr. So effectively we were rushing towards the sun at about 2400 km/hr ( actually it will be little less as we were traveling at an angle to the equator and not parallel to it) The distance between Durban and Capetown is around 1700 km. So the sun comes there around 1 hour early than in Capetown. Pretty interesting calculations!!

As the plane added around 850/km hr speed, i could see the sunrise at almost 15 minutes earlier than i would have seen it in Capetown!

Anyways, i was doing all this calculations and also savoring the colors of the sun rise and the landscape below. When i landed at the airport it was cloudy and looked as though the day was going to be like that all through. I got my car and with the road map given by Caroline (The owner of the guest house where i had booked ) i was able to reach the destination. I missed only one turn on the way! i could see many roads named after Indian names - Himalayan road, MG road etc.. my first Durban Indian exp. I had many more to go still!