introduction to biohistory!

Welcome to the life of Stephen Boyden! Nature and Humanity beautifully interwoven in his book titled "The Biology of Civilization". A general read, meant for people like you and me, and just about anyone else around us.
Stephen toggles around the history of human civilization and the ever changing environment of this planet. What he calls biohistory, is simply the history of life on earth and the emergence of man's most evolved biological attribute - culture. Culture has immense impact on not only the human race, but also on the other species and environment around us. For example, we can see that our current usage of energy and earth resources are highly ecologically unsustainable and exhaustive. The need of the hour is to amend these socio-economic practices for life to be still viable on this planet.
We have all read how life began on earth. But how did human culture evolve? This capacity for culture has evolved over a few million years ago with the emergence of the ability to develop and practice sign language for communication. Language is highly complex, involving a plethora of grammatical rules, alphabets, words and phrases, all tied up to make 'meaningful sentences' and ofcourse the biology - brain, larynx and tongue which all coordinate for speech. Culture is not only about language, but also encompasses acquiring knowledge, having ideologies and beliefs.
To sum up, studying human history along with the biological evolution of mankind is biohistory. Stephen concludes by suggesting a 'cultural renaissance', a transformation needed to shift to a ecologically more sustained society. 

All of 7 years old, Shamil is one of the many children who work in tea stalls on the highway roads of India.  

Today he is extremely happy - one it is his birthday and second, he has earned more than what he does on usual days. Happily he runs home with the rupee notes crushed in his little fist and announces to his mother "Maa (mother), I got lots of money today!"and he opens his fist to show her his triumph. Lots of two rupee notes and a few coins fall into his mother 's lap and she takes him into her arms.

More money to Shamil meant more number of rupee notes and coins, with absolutely no concept of what is the difference between a two rupee and a twenty rupee note. The tea stall owner is aware of this fact (and so cheats him on every possible occasion).

Perhaps we need to rethink. When children like Shamil barely have enough to survive on, how can we make read math and science? Incase you have suggestions and ideas, its time to implement them for a better India.

In midst of the clear blue waters, a gush of muddy water swooshed in front of her face. As she reached the bottom of the ocean, she noticed a shiny object buried into the ocean floor. Scared and yet curious, she swam towards it.  Could it be a bigger fish or food? Her heart raced. Nah! This was no food!!!!!!! It was hard as the rocks on the ocean floor. What was it, she wondered. At one end of the mysterious object, she found a little hole – big enough for her to let inside and discover the deep secrets of the ocean. Gathering up all her courage, she swam into the hole. Her eyes wondered. It was pitch dark and once her eyes adjusted to the darkness she looked around. She stared in amazement! An empty little house!!!!!! This could be ‘her own’ space in the deep vast oceans….

The mysterious object referred here is an aluminium can, found frequently in the ocean floor. This just shows the extent of pollution caused by us. It is time we become considerate for other life forms that co-exist with us.

defining optimism

Today was his first day of work. The older brother dragged him out the bed at dawn and while rubbing his eyes he found himself awake in the middle of the street. The roads were bustling with people all hurrying to go to work.  His older brother too, made his way fast pushing his way amongst the crowds, dragging the little one by his hand. When they reached, the older brother announced “ here we are brother, lets start digging!” The younger child looked around – there was garbage all around him. What would they possibly find here? He wondered. Quickly following his brother’s steps, as he made his way through the dump, rain poured down. His brother pulled him to a dry corner and they both waited for the rain to stop. Disappointed and desolated, the young child looked as  the rain drops fell harder on the ground. The rainwater had formed tiny streams on the edges of the road while they sat in the corner to remain dry. When he looked up, he saw his brother folding a piece of paper. A boat !!!!!! The little child was so excited to see the paper boat sailing in the running water. His brother smiled and said “lets go home.  It won’t rain tomorrow”. 

It is good to appreciate what we have and what we don't have. What I have may be very little to me, but a lot to many others. 

numero uno :)

Its not usual for people to write about what their work when they begin blogging, but mine is a special case. I confess, I am totally in love, in awe, engrossed (whatever you might want to call it) into what I do everyday (and I do know this, because there has been not a single day that I don’t feel like going to work since past 3 years). I am a scientist (in the making) – developmental biologist to be precise. Developmental biology means very special to me (you could look up the definition on the web as here, I prefer not to write the ‘book definitions’). I love watching embryos. Embryos develop from a single cell (zygote that arises from the fusion of a sperm and an egg). What is exciting, fascinating in this process? well, I think its its the formation of a new individual with contributions from both the parents with individuality of its own. In as little as 24 hours, a one cell zebrafish embryo develops into a multicellular embryo with functional ears and eyes. Is this not nature at its best?

All this research on embryos is not for sheer pleasure of discovering nature (it might be for some scientist turned philosophers). Many children across the world are born with birth defects, which arise due to abnormalities during the developmental process. This makes us scientists work harder to find out the ‘rules of nature’ that lay down the basics of how an individual is ‘formed’. 

Rest later….got to go, for once l shall try to aim for doing as much work as my heart wants to in the lab….