X Files - FX Channel

Surfing TV channels just before going to bed is very bad idea. You never know what you might stumble against. Last week, I chanced upon an episode of X Files - and an interesting one too, about UFOs.

Alas, it was almost 12:15am. Reluctantly, I switched the TV off. But I didn't forget to check the schedule. Apparently, the repeat telecasts timings are 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm. So I doubt it if I can watch any episodes during the week. I did manage to watch the Friday episode - about the killer that kills 5 people every 30 years.

And, oh, it was so good to listen to the title music once again! I am glad 'The Truth Is Out There' :-)

A botanist called Nikolai Vavilov

I might have said this before but at the risk of repeating myself I will say it again 'Geo magazine is simply a treasure trove of information which I am glad I can get my hands on every month'. This month, I read about Nikolai Vavilov - a Russian botanist who was determined to amass a collection of seeds, roots and grains from world over (and researching them) to save the last remnants of dying species and to save his homeland as well as the rest of the world from famines but ironically died of chronic malnutrition in Stalin's prison. He had inspired so much loyalty among his colleagues and co-workers that despite the 1941 Nazi blockade of Leningrad, some of them died of hunger but didn't touch a grain from the collection. I guess such people are hard to find these days.

Just so that you can get an idea of how valuable his work was, I will quote from the Geo article:

In 1979 it was estimated that four-fifths of the cultivated land in the Soviet Union were growing plants originating from seeds from Vavilov's centres. The yield of these hybrids provided the state an additional 5 million tonnes of food every year.

And the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 75% of all known cultivated plants have been lost since the days of Vavilov. Between 1903 and 1983, 660 of the 688 species of green beans have disappeared from the United States alone, as also 516 of the 544 species of cabbage and 742 of the 798 species of maize. In Mexico, 80% of erstwhile corn species have been lost. In the Philippines, farmers once sowed thousands of strains of rice: today only 2 varieties grow on 98% of the fields.

The article didn't mention what happened to Trofim Lysenko, the man it claims was chiefly responsible for turning Stalin against Vavilov. So I checked on the net. Here's what Wiki has to say about him.

In 1962 three of the most prominent Soviet physicists, Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Vitaly Ginzburg, and Pyotr Kapitsa, presented a case against Lysenko, proclaiming his work as false science. They also denounced Lysenko's application of political power to silence opposition and eliminate his opponents within the scientific community.

The Soviet press was soon filled with anti-Lysenkoite articles and appeals for the restoration of scientific methods to all fields of biology and agricultural science. In 1965 Lysenko was removed from his post as director of the Institute of Genetics at the Academy of Sciences and restricted to an experimental farm in Moscow's Lenin Hills (the Institute itself was soon dissolved). After Khrushchev's dismissal in 1964, the president of the Academy of Sciences declared that Lysenko's immunity to criticism had officially ended. An expert commission was sent to investigate records kept at Lysenko's experimental farm. A few months later, a devastating critique of Lysenko was made public. As a result, Lysenko was immediately disgraced in the Soviet Union, although his work continued to have impact in China for many years after.

Lysenko died in 1976.

As far as Vavilov is concerned, he has an Institute of Plant Industry named after him in St. Petersburg.

I guess it's true - what they say about 'getting one's just deserts'!

Nano - by Robin Cook

When I first saw the title 'Nano' I thought the book must be about the Tata car. On closer inspection, though, the author turned out to be Robin Cook. I remember watching 'Coma' a few years ago and being creeped out of my skin (though I am not sure it will have the same effect if I watch it again!). Apart from that, I am not familiar with any of his novels. The back cover suggested that the plot is woven against the backdrop of nanotechnology. Intrigued, I got it issued.

This novel is a sort of a sequel to the story of Pia, who is a brilliant nanotechnology researcher. Looks like in one of her earlier adventurers of uncovering truth about some illegal (and possibly, unethical) doings of certain people and organization she and her friend George have narrowly escaped an attempt on their lives. Their 3rd friend, Will, has been lying in a coma due to the injuries sustained in the same episode. Pia has a dogged determination for ferreting out truth, despite risks to her personal safety and well-being. But there is another side to her personality. Due to years of neglect and abuse in the foster homes, it is difficult for her to trust people. And she often ends up hurting their feelings.

Apart from Pia, the center stage of the novel is occupied by Nano - a company that's doing cutting--edge research into the applications of nanotechnology. It is headed by Zachary Berman - a rich man with an eye for beautiful intelligent women and accustomed to getting what he wants one way or other. Pia is working at Nano and needless to say, has been fending off unwanted attention from Berman when she is not busy working on some kind of nanorobots that can go into human bodies to fight disease. One day, while out jogging in the Nano premises, Pia comes across a runner, a Chinese one, whose heart, for all intents and purposes has stopped beating for more than an hour. Yet, when Pia arranges to transport him to the ER of a hospital he wakes up asi if nothing has happened - without any apparent damage to his body in general, and brain in particular. Pia is amazed, and intrigued when Nano security turns out in full force to whisk the man away. But when she tries to investigate, she is stone-walled. Another similar episode confirms her suspicions that there's something rotten in the state of Nano!

Despite warnings to mind her own business Pia continues to investigate the matter along with Paul, the doctor in the ER where the runner has been admitted and occasional help from George. Until finally Berman, and those who are operating in the shadowy background decide that she has gone a step too far.....

The novel moves at a fast pace but not so much that it makes you dizzy. The plot is not crowded with characters and so it is easy to return to the novel after a gap of 2-3 days. The technical descriptions were a bit too much for my taste - though I like to read about medical things - making me skip entire paragraphs at times. But it was interesting to read about what goes into researching such technologies and developing applications out of it. Kind of reminded me of Arthur Hailey's very domain specific novels like Wheels and Hotel.

I am sure every reader will get a sense that there is more to Pia's story than what's told in this novel. So I will wait to read the sequel :-)

I am considered more ancient than a pack of dinosaurs roaming about in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'. The young members of my development team had shaken their heads in collective unison when they learnt that I don't have an account on Facebook and Twitter. I gave them my reasons for not having them and they told me why I need to have them. But neither side was convinced and so we left it at that.

When I recently read about Facebook Home, it further strengthened my resolution to stay away from the social networking sites. Since I was a techie a few years back, I can appreciate the technology behind it, perhaps even the business sense that went into developing it. But as a consumer, I am forced to ask - do we need it? One line in the newspaper article that I read is still fresh in my mind - it can connect you to your social network while you wait in a line. Why do I need to read about what my friends are doing while I wait in the line? Sure, waiting in a line for even 5 minutes can be sheer exasperating. It can make you harbor a few murderous thoughts if you are stuck in a traffic with a stretch of vehicles in the front long enough to last more than one green signal. However, people can do so many things - read a book (not recommended when you are driving a car) or listen to music or look around even if just to figure out who the co-commuters are. But I agree, there is a certain sense of loneliness in these activities. And those of us who stay in the metros are not used to being alone. There is always noise, crowd and stress to accompany us wherever we go. Something you are not used to being with can sure make you uncomfortable. The connection to social networking sites, on the other hand, can create a false sense of being in company - even if it is a virtual one. Is this a good sign?

There are, maybe, other aspects to it. Won't you be in danger of running out of topics if you are connected to your friends 24 x 7? You talk of food, music, work, sports, weather, movies, books (!), mutual friends.....and then what? The other day I got a message from a friend who I had lost touch with since past 2-3 years. 'Inbox me your number. Let's catch up' he said. Then, there was a lone-overdue email from a friend who is criminally lazy about staying in touch. It was pure pleasure to see her long mail in my inbox as I began my day. And the way the mail was structured spoke volumes about how excited she was as she wrote about different things that she has done since she last wrote to me. I wouldn't have experienced all this if I had stayed connected to them on social networking sites, would I?

I am not saying these sites are bad. But technology does have a way of enslaving you. That's a thin line that always tempts you to cross it. It is difficult to put your foot down once you get hooked on to it. And probably needs a strong will power to do so. Do I have it? I don't know. But I don't want to find out the hard way either.

"Have you got internet access for your phone yet?' asked one colleague when he noticed my new phone. 'Nope. And I don't think I will ever get it' I replied. 'I don't like the idea of staying connected to the world 24 x 7' I said. He eyed me as you would a 3-foot, one-eyed creature that has just disembarked from a UFO.

I guess the dinosaurs can breath a little easy now :-)