Limb Amputation To Be History?

The human society might get rid of the painful experience of limb amputation, provided a group of US scientists working to that effect is successful in its mission.

A team at the Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh (USA) is reported to have developed a “miracle powder”, nicknamed “pixie dust”. The scientists claim that the powder is likely to ensure that injured limbs do not need to be amputated.

The powder has been made out of pig bladders, which enables the body to grow new tissue, and can also regenerate large areas which have been badly injured. But how is it possible? Well, pig bladders are blessed with a substance called extra cellular matrix, and that is mainly constituted of collagen.

Notably this “pixie dust” has already been used to treat some severely injured US soldiers who are back from war-torn Afghanistan. All those soldiers had their limbs so badly injured that they were very much likely to be amputated. But they did not have to go through that ordeal, courtesy the use of “pixie dust”.

Is Your Pet Dog A Lefty or Right Handed?

No no, please do not get me wrong. I have not lost my sanity. Dogs and cats indeed are left or right-handed. And so are even parrots and fish. This startling fact has been unearthed by a team of psychologists from Canada’s Queen’s University. They have come to this conclusion after studying 42 pet cats for several weeks.

Really an interesting piece of information, eh? Such findings might not help us improve human life by any aspect, but they nevertheless add a touch of fun and amusement to our day-to-day life.

So if you have a pet, then why do not you ask him or her right now – “Hey Tommy (or whatever it is), are you a lefty? Or right-handed?”

European Inventor Award 2010 For Sanjai Kohli of India

India’s Sanjai Kohli and his partner Steven Chen have won the prestigious European Inventor Award 2010, instituted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Commission. They have won the award in the category of inventors who belong to countries outside the European Union.

So what is their achievement? A significant one, to say the least. Kohli and his partner are credited with inventing powerful but inexpensive chips that have facilitated the commercialization of GPS. It is reportedly due to chips invented by them that today we can see the successful incorporation of GPS technology in so many constituents of our everyday life, such as cars, planes, ships and mobile phones.

By the way, Mr. Sanjai Kohli is the worthy son of F C Kohli, the “Father of Indian software service industry”. Like father, like son.

Long live Indian technology! Long live Indian brain!

What Exactly Is “Carbon Credit”?

You must have heard of the term “Carbon Credit”, right? Why, it is one of the most pronounced terms in today’s time, when Global Warming has become such a huge menace for all of us.

But what exactly is meant by “Carbon Credit”? If you just have a sketchy idea, and not a concrete one, then please permit me to offer a brief explanation.

Carbon Credit is basically the monetary reward that a country or organization gets for reducing its Carbon Emission. There is a reward of one (1) unit of Carbon Credit for the reduction of every metric ton of CO2. And the monetary value of every unit of Carbon Credit is, as of today, approximately 12 Euros (the value may change in the future).

In a nutshell, a country or an organization can get around 12 Euros for every metric ton of CO2 that it will manage to reduce.

I got this explanation of Carbon Credit from my good colleague and friend Mr. LS, an expert on Forest and Environment Management. In case you find anything wrong in the information, please rectify me.

Hang Ketan Desai Till Death

Ketan Desai, the President of Medical Council of India or MCI has been arrested, after being caught red handed while taking a bribe of Rs 2 crores.

MCI is the organization that regulates medical education in India. And one of its chief functions is to give government recognition to a medical college (and the medical degree offered by it) after being satisfied with the latter’s infrastructure, quality of teaching, etc.

In fact Mr Desai had asked for the bribe in exchange of giving government recognition to a Punjab-based medical college.

It is taken for granted that Mr Desai and his associates have already given that government recognition, in exchange of hefty amounts, to various such medical colleges which are not able to impart appropriate medical education. But the students who will pass out of these colleges will be able to boast government recognized medical degrees, and will be approached by innocent people at the time of need. And just imagine the type of treatment those doctors will offer.

By fiddling with medical education, Mr Desai has actually fiddled with human life. So I feel the case should not be treated as one of just corruption and bribery. Rather, it should be treated as a case of deliberate attempt to mass murder.

And then will it be too much to demand a death sentence for this scoundrel?

UNESCO Declares Bengali To Be The World’s Sweetest Language

UNESCO has declared the Bengali language to be the sweetest language of the world.

Bengali is one of the major languages of India, and the main language in the state of West Bengal in eastern India. It is the mother tongue of the Bengali community of India, i.e. the community to which I belong.

Bengali is also spoken in the tiny country of Bangladesh, a neighbouring country of India. In fact, in Bangladesh Bengali is virtually the sole spoken language, and enjoys the status of the National Language.

I have always been so proud that I have such a sweet as well as rich language as my mother language. And today that pride got a huge booster.

However, my pride in and love for my language will never make me look down upon any other language of this world. Rather, I have (and will always have) a huge respect for every spoken language in this world, as each of them has enriched the human civilization in one way or the other.

DGCA Orders Grounding Of Paramount Airways

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered the grounding of Paramount Airways, the Coimbatore-based regional carrier.

So what is Paramount’s fault? Well, as per civil aviation guidelines, it is mandatory for a scheduled operator (national) to maintain a minimum strength of five aircrafts.

And unfortunately, Paramount (which earlier had five aircrafts) was of late operating with just one aircraft.

Quite naturally DGCA had no option except to order the cancellation of Paramount’s license.

The airlines has now moved the Delhi High Court against DGCA’s order. Let’s see what happens now.