The government of Odisha has approved the Biotechnology Policy 2024 to create a flourishing ecosystem for the biotech industry. This will further promote higher education, research & infrastructure development in the sector and strengthen the supportive ecosystem for innovation, incubation, investment, income & impact to build enterprises. Association of Biotechnology …
MARIJUANA and heroin may be frowned on by parents and the police, but they do have a beneficial side for scientists. Recent breakthroughs in understanding how these two addictive drugs act on the brain could result in a non-addictive opiate that will help drug addicts cope better with withdrawal symptoms. …
SEVERAL writers have made a name for themselves by publishing dire warnings to developing countries of the dangers posed by new technology from the West. Many wind up exaggerating and making predictions that are as uncertain as those of the neighbourhood astrologer. However, Henk Hobbelink's book is a rarity as …
A JAPANESE company will soon begin manufacturing toilets incorporating biosensors that can detect diabetes. This will enable doctors in their clinics to monitor diabetes, especially in patients over 65, by analysing a patient's urine through a computer and modem (New Scientist Vol 136, No 1853). The toilet was developed by …
NEARLY half the world's population depends on rice for food. Yet, it was only i.n the early :980~ thaHhe crop was Included in biotechnology research to enhance yield and quality. Since then, however, while the research has thrown up break-throughs, problems have cropped up that could hinder the development of …
BIOLOGICAL sciences have witnessed a continuous revolution since 1953, when James Watson and Francis Crick elucidated a double helical structure for the DNA molecule. To comprehend fully all the transformations the subject has undergone requires the reconstitution of a body of related information, which was formerly classified as genetics, biochemistry, …
AN ENVIRONMENTALLY safe, biotechnological toxin that kills mosquito larvae has been produced by the Centre for Biotechnology (CBT) at Anna University in Tamil Nadu. Named Biocide-S because it is produced from the Bacillus sphaericus bacterium, the pesticide has been successfully field-tested in a yearlong project at Kochi in Kerala. The …
SCIENTISTS have enhanced the nutritional value of the potato by inserting a synthetic gene into the plant and are now considering how to use genetic engineering to provide the plant with resistance to pests and disease. The International Potato Centre (CIP) in Peru collaborated with Louisiana State University to produce …
• 1992 was the year of environment. More than 100 heads of state and government gathered at Rio to discuss the health of the planet. But the conference refusea to look at underlying issues -lack of global democracy at one level and local democracy on the other -that favour exploitative …
The department of science and technology (DST) is to launch three missions to focus on the crucial issues of biotechnology and genetic engineering, improving prediction of natural disasters and increasing leather exports. The missions will function as part of the department but draw on expertise from the department of biotechnology …
The controversial Human Genome Project -- a collaborative effort to decode and understand the human genetic code in chromosomes -- is already showing results and is likely to be completed ahead of schedule (Nature, Vol 359 No 6394). The first maps of two human chromosomes -- the long arm of …
BIOTECHNOLOGY means a lot of things to different people. The new and the traditional coexist and reinforce each other within biotechnology -- now an established and highly interdisciplinary applied field. However, it symbolises big money, in terms of new industries, agricultural practices, patents and research grants. For scientists and academics, …
THE International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is located very picturesquely amidst emerald green paddy fields against a backdrop of hills in Los Banos, Philippines. The institute has generated many controversies and has even been accused of stealing germplasm from rice-growing countries. Hybrid rice varieties developed at IRRI in the 1960s …
CREEPY, CRAWLY strands are not looked upon with gusto by children, however hungry. And, it took loads of icing sugar to make a test food supplement palatable to about 5,000 primary schoolchildren. They were fed high-protein spirulina algae as part of the noon meal in a programme evolved by the …
A BRITISH laboratory and a US firm are collaborating to produce artificial blood after scientists overcame two obstacles that had hampered this effort. Attempts to use haemoglobin isolated from the red blood cells as "artificial" blood failed because it caused kidney damage and was unable to give up oxygen -- …
ACCORDING to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God made Adam and then, not wanting him to feel lonely, took one of his ribs and created Eve. A simple explanation of why there are sexes and why there are only two. But try satisfying a scientist, or even a …
The latest rage in the West is products like music, ink and cards based on DNA's atomic structure. A French biotechnology company has developed Le Biopen, a special writing instrument that uses ink containing short strands of DNA, whose exact sequence is konwn only to the company. The pen can …
US President George Bush's refusal to sign the biodiversity treaty has failed to please those whom he claims to be protecting: the biotech community. Although Genentech chief executive officer G Kirk Raab wrote to Bush praising him for his "courageous stand (in) rejecting an unwise convention", his employees think otherwise. …
A CENTRE for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics has been mooted by scientists at the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to help forensic experts establish the identity of criminals beyond reasonable doubt. But the proposal is caught in a tangle between the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the home …
INDIANS still do not have the culture of seeking patents. Over the last 15 years, foreigners have obtained two to three times more patents in India every year than Indians. In 1989-90, Indians held less than one-fifth of all patents in force in India. Of the 1,040 Indian applications filed …
