Desicritics Category: BizTech: Science

Book Review: Head First Statistics

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:29:26 EST

Head First Statistics is more a study guide covering basic topics of most statistics courses or even parts of statistical topics in application areas such as analog and digital communication, noise theory. Measuring central tendency, measuring variability and spread, calculating probabilities, using various distributions for solving problems, correlation and regression are some of the topics covered across fifteen chapters.

While the discussion is paced to be reader friendly, there seems to be an emphasis on distributions with entire chapters dedicated to some of them. The quality of the examples can do with some upgrading for a consistency within the book. Maybe lesser number of useful examples such as the one bringing out the various statistical concepts related to measuring central tendency in improving a health club could be continued across multiple chapters. This could ensure the continuity as the concepts build on one another.

To summarize, a good statistics study book with an emphasis on distributions. It would be good to see some of the other statistical concepts to be given more coverage in future editions. At least one other book which can be an additional read to this book would be Statistics in a Nutshell.

Book Review: Head First Physics

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:18:58 EST

Here is a refreshing approach to the subject of Physics which is one of the elementary science subjects in any high school. Emphasizing a “reader as part of the problem” approach among the many innovations in this book, it is a delightful read.

The book covers almost all the topics of algebra-based mechanics and practical physics in its eight ninety four pages, including an index. In spite of being such a huge book, the book makes for a consistent pace of understanding and comprehension as it starts from guidelines to think like a physicist, units and measurement more advanced topics such as gravitation and orbits, oscillations and finally coming back to applying the algebra and physics formulae to having a new understanding to thinking like a physicist.

With memorable examples and various innovations of the Head First series on full exhibition, the book is one of the must reads taking away from drab text-books and learning by memory approaches to learning physics. One of the outstanding aspects of this book is the continuity of the topics as they connect with each other while interpreting the examples.

Book Review: The Last Lecture

K. M. — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 00:52:51 EDT

The Last Lecture is a book by Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. It is based on a lecture he gave - Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams - after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The book is advice on living a full life delivered in the form of anecdotes.

Here are some excerpts from the book that stayed with me:

About spending time on preparing for a lecture when he had only a few months to live

Why was this talk so important to me? Was it a way to remind me and everyone else that I was still very much alive? To prove I still had the fortitude to perform? Was it a limelight-lover’s urge to show off one last time? The answer was yes on all fronts. “An injured lion wants to know if he can still roar,” I told Jai. “It’s about dignity and self-esteem, which isn’t quite the same as vanity.”

Describing what he learnt from a strict football coach

There’s a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It’s not something you can give; it’s something they have to build.

Describing his liking for the character of Captain Kirk in Star Trek

During my cancer treatment, when I was told that only 4 percent of pancreatic cancer patients live five years, a line from the Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan came into my head. In the film, Starfleet cadets are faced with a simulated training scenario where, no matter what they do, their entire crew is killed. The film explains that when Kirk was a cadet, he reprogrammed the simulation because “he didn’t believe in the no-win scenario.”

Describing the time when he learnt of the terminal nature of his cancer with his wife in a doctor’s room

I had just learned I would soon die, and in my inability to stop being rationally focused, I found myself thinking: “Shouldn’t a room like this, at a time like this, have a box of Kleenex? Wow, that’s a glaring operational flaw.”

Describing the time when his to-be wife had just rejected him

If it’s possible to be arrogant, optimistic and totally miserable all at the same time, I think I might have pulled it off: “Look, I’m going to find a way to be happy, and I’d really love to be happy with you, but if I can’t be happy with you, then I’ll find a way to be happy without you.”

Giving some tips on time management

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.

and

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

Describing how he got tenure an year earlier than usual

“Wow, you got tenure early,” they’d say to me. “What was your secret?”
I said, “It’s pretty simple. Call me any Friday night in my office at ten o’clock and I’ll tell you.” (Of course, this was before I had a family.)

Describing how people sometimes complain that he sees things in black and white

OK. I stand guilty as charged, especially when I was younger. I used to say that my crayon box had only two colors in it: black and white. I guess that’s why I love computer science, because most everything is true or false.
As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve learned to appreciate that a good crayon box might have more than two colors. But I still think that if you run your life the right way, you’ll wear out the black and the white before the more nuanced colors.

In the final chapter,

Many cancer patients say their illness gives them a new and deeper appreciation for life. Some even say they are grateful for their disease. I have no such gratitude for my cancer, although I’m certainly grateful for having advance notice of my death. In addition to allowing me to prepare my family for the future, that time gave me the chance to go to Carnegie Mellon and give my last lecture. In a sense, it allowed me to “leave the field under my own power”

I don’t usually like reading autobiographical books, but this book is different. Usually the people whose lives are interesting enough for a record of their life to be readable have no time and no inclination to write autobiographies. But this is a book that would never have been written if Prof. Pausch had not been so unfortunate.

It is certainly worth reading. Reading the book, the thought that comes into my mind is: That was a life well lived. And thanks to Prof. Pausch for sharing it and for the inspiration which it provides.

Government Funding of Science

K. M. — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 08:22:51 EDT

As part of a comment on a post on India’s Chandrayaan mission on desicritics.org, I wrote

The government has no business pursuing scientific research.

Here are some responses

kerty: Unfortunately, many sectors can not rely on private commercial transactions. So tax payers have to pool their resources and create capital markets that can allow large scale projects to be undertaken. Unfortunately, capital markets run on profit motive. Lack of instant profit gratification can not help corpocracy or private sector to tackle fields of r&d and infra-structure that are key for economic development. So tax-payers have to pool money and assign such roles to government - roles that neither individual, private sector is capable of undertaking. Removing poverty is a function of economy - and that role is ideal for private sector - government need not dabble in it when empowerment of private sector can tackle it. R&D and economic infra-structure is a proper role of government and good use of tax money.

Morris: …a lot of other government activities are unjust to some people. I think the real question is; is this a proper activity for a government to engage into? If the answer is yes and I think it is then why not. The fact that India is poorer than the US is not relavent.

Chandra: It is increasingly debatable as to what the Govt should be or should not be in. The bottomline clearly is efficiency. Anybody who is able to use resources efficiently is good.

There are three aspects of this issue that I wish to comment on

1) The proper role of government

A government is an involuntary organization. Its involuntary nature makes it fundamentally different from other organizations such as companies, political parties, social groups etc. A voluntary organization is one which works on mutual consent. The individuals who are a part of such an organization, participate in it of their own choice. They (in whatever manner, democratic or otherwise) decide the rules by which the organization functions and the goals which the organization pursues. Any individual can leave a voluntary organization (subject to the rules to which he has already agreed) if he judges the rules or goals to be inappropriate. The only power a voluntary organization has over its members is the power of persuasion. It may not initiate physical force on its members and it may not violate its contracts with its members (the rules subject to which its members join the organization and stay in it). A voluntary organization cannot force a man to act against his judgement. A voluntary organization recognizes the principles that the individual is the unit of thought, choice and action; that the goals and interests of a group are merely the sum of the goals and interests of its members as determined by voluntary consensus; that the proper way to deal with men is persuasion and not force. A voluntary organization enables its members to work together in pursuit of their shared goals. No society can function without voluntary organizations.

But a voluntary organization cannot work without an arbiter. It cannot work if there is no authority to resolve and settle disputes. A voluntary organization cannot work in an anarchy. The role of government is to maintain a framework of individual rights within which individuals and voluntary organizations can work and interact with each other. The creation and maintenance of such a framework is the only proper role of government. This involves creating a system of laws and procedures in accordance with individual rights to adjudicate the resoluion and settlement of disputes (the law courts). It involves granting authority to certain individuals to implement laws (the police). It involves protecting its territory from outside interference (the army).

As a necessarily involuntary organization, a government can have no shared goals or purposes. Thought, choice, action, purpose, goal are all concepts which apply to individuals. Action, purpose and goal are concepts which can apply to groups if there is a consensus among its members and an agreement on the mechanism of estalishing a consensus. Shared goals can range from running a business to spreading a religion to landing on the moon to running a charity to achieving spiritual awakening. All such goals are legitimate. Individuals and voluntary groups have every right to spend their resources on pursuing these goals in any manner they see fit. No individual or group (and therefore the government) has any right to use the resources of some individuals to pursue the goals of others. For example a government may not subsidise a pilgrimage, may not sponser research, may not subsidise certain industries, may not provide social welfare etc. All such activities may properly be carried out by voluntary groups.

It is meaningless to talk of efficiency of resource allocation when one is talking of government activities. Is an efficient pilgrimage an efficient allocation of resources? Is a successful trip to the moon an efficient allocation of resources? Is a welfare scheme run without corruption an efficient allocation of resources? Is a subsidy or bailout granted to failing banks an efficient allocation of resources? Is the creation of a wildlife preserve an efficient allocation of resources? The concept of efficiency does not make sense without a purpose. And a government does not have a purpose beyond that of protecting individual rights.

2) The effects of government sponsored science

Since government funds come from taxation, government funding of research (whether by research institutes as in India, or grants to professors as in the U.S.) reduces the capacity of industry to conduct their own research. When industry conducts research and the research fails to yield any practical results, the industy’s profitability declines. When the research succeeds the industry makes greater profits and its capacity for research increases. Good research is rewarded and bad research is punished. That is not the case with government sponsored research. When research fails, the researcher(s) has nothing to lose. When it succeeds, he (they) receive a patent, commercialize the results and reap the rewards (out of taxpayer money). Profits are private and losses are public. This is true of any commercial activity by the government. Those favored individuals (or groups) who get government support are able to take higher risks since the upside is unlimited and there is no downside. (Just consider the current mortgage crisis for example.) In the American model of research grants to university professors, the university is turned into a research lab. The professors who are able to get the most grants and write the most papers succeed at the cost of the professors who are genuinely interested in teaching. In the Indian model of research institutes, there are labs all over the country engaged in carrying out meaningless research, little of which is ever commercialized.

More importantly, the quality of research suffers. Since the government has no specific goals for research and no ability to judge matters of science or the calibre of researchers or the potential of their proposals, the task of approving grants is taken over by favored panels of ”scientists” whose primary skills are political rather than scientific. Obtaining research grants becomes a game of winning favors. Politically motivated projects often get funding. Consider the enormous amounts being spent on researching “climate change” as an example.

3) Private industry and large scale projects

Consider some numbers. The estimated cost of the Chandrayan mission is around $120 million. The annual profits of Exxon Mobil are $40 billion, of General Electric $21 billion, Reliance $2 billion, TCS $338 million. Private industry certainly has the sort of money required for large projects. The reason they do not engage in certain large scale projects is either that the projects are too risky or because under current laws (such as anti-trust), the projects are not profitable. Would a company spend billions on cancer or AIDS research when it knows that its intellectual property rights would immediately be confiscated? Would a company launch a satellite when it knows that government would demand control over its commercial uses? Would a company build a highway when it knows that toll-fares would be fixed by politicians eager to win the next election? Would a company setup a university when it knows that admissions and fees would be subject to vote-bank politics? Why do laws that prevent large scale projects from being profitable exist? Apparantly to “protect” “consumers” from the “greedy” private sector. These laws deliver the “consumer” to unprincipled politicians who do not care to look beyond the next election. If the road in front of my (am I a “consumer”?) house (which gets washed away every monsoon) had been laid by a private corporation, I (or some housing society) would have a contract and the corporation would be legally bound to implement it. The corporation would lay a concrete road that would last for 20 years. Instead the muncipal officers give the contract (for laying a 2-inch thick tar road which survives for about 8 months) to favored corporations, who in turn ensure that the muncipal officers will have adequate funds for political canvassing in the coming election. And if the muncipal officers decide that “public interest” will be better served by some other project, that is just too bad. I should learn to sacrifice my narrow selfish interests for a “larger purpose”. Or I can try going to court and proving that a road in front of my house is crucial to the “public interest”.

Medical Ignorance and Patient's Bliss

Suresh Naig — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:55:03 EDT

The young boy of 14 years was lying on the hospital bed, concealing his amusement. He was amused seeing the anxious face of his father, whose second nature was anxiety. His father exhibited the same anxiety as he would every time, before signing the school report card. Between now and the report card, it was his helplessness which caused the anxiety. While signing the school report card of his son, he was helpless to understand his consistency in scoring just above average grades. In the hospital he was at a loss to piece anything from the conversation of the doctors.

With all the sudden attention, the boy was feeling elated, but he never had reason to know that it was the virus inside his body, which had created all this. He was afflicted by Dengue fever, a viral fever causing no pain, no swelling, no vomiting for the afflicted person, but only anxiety for the parents and the doctors alike.

On the third day in the hospital, fever was erratic rising on and off without warning, rashes appearing all over the body, yet without any pain. His parents wanted to do something, but having no clues on what to be done; they constantly beckoned the duty nurses, who compounded their problems. Instead of one paediatrician who visited the boy regularly, a gang of doctors descended on the bed, where the young boy was lying, appearing pink and smiling. He appeared pink due to skin rashes all over the body, yet complained of no itches, which was a hitch for the doctors.

The doctors were confused; the boy never exhibited allergic reaction for he never had itches, neither his blood pressure was lowered to conclude anaphylactic shock, yet the rashes were a cause for concern. They were discussing the case in English, yet it was difficult for the father to catch up with, as their conversation had liberal dabbling of jargons. The physician was telling the paediatrician it is "idiopathic", which the father clung to, and conveyed the same to me, when I visited the hospital during visiting hours, a courtesy demanded by the society. The father narrated the whole episode of doctors' visit, and concluded his son's condition as "idiopathic", to my amusement.

I refrained from saying anything to my friend, as the hospital and doctors were my best of clients, contributing huge sales for my company's products. On the 5th day the boy was discharged from the hospital, without any apparent damage. He was his usual, bubbly and peppy. The credit for his discharge without any damage was due to his condition "idiopathic". The boy was rendered only palliative treatment and not therapeutic.

"Idiopathic" literally means not comprehensible, because it never fitted into any known parameters, since it was a new affliction, less documented. Had it not been for the physician's pronouncement as "idiopathic", they would have started treating the patient, which would have triggered chain reactions.

Had they known that it was a haemolytic fever, reducing the platelets significantly, prompting them to infuse platelets from another donor, which would have increased platelets subsequently, threatening internal clots mostly in veins, leading to a condition of premature DVT- deep vein thrombosis, triggering the hospital to prescribe an anti-coagulant, which would have caused epistaxis- nasal bleeding and capillary bleeding resulting in urticaria- skin rashes, demanding platelets infusion from a donor. The perpetual cycle was broken by the ignorance, euphemised as "Idiopathy". Ignorance could be bliss, at times in medicine too.

Book Review: The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today

BangaloreGuy — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:56:27 EDT

Firstly, congratulations to the editor and to the authors. Writing a book about the future, especially a compilation of essays on what the future might hold from 60 brilliant minds is usually something that comes up from a governmental organization - carrying out the same in a private space is commendable. One wishes more such endeavours are undertaken!

The preview for the book was interesting enough. There was mention of Nobel Peace Winners writing about wars - not just any wars, but nuclear wars. There were mentions about forced marriages amongst other things!
Whoa! I wanted to review it already!

There's always this lingering taste of a "slip betwixt cup and the lip", and in this case, it kind of seemed true, on starting with the book. But then, I discovered that this book's like a hamburger, almost. The starting and ending parts are (almost) plain, boring and somewhat poorly written (relatively). Its the essays in the middle that provide the taste, and some of the more compelling reading.

If you're going to read the book, I suggest that you dump the first 30 pages or so, and you might want to consider a similar number to dump at the last too - they're just a conundrum of blase writing, wishing for horses, and some stupid Utopian dreams mixed with some serious over the top thinking - "you're not allowed to marry X 'cos your gene pool's bad". Hello?? Someone miss the Stallone movie? (Demolition Man)

So, almost a quarter of the book's plain bad. There, I said it. Bad. Oh but, don't run off, the rest of the book makes up for it. There are a few essays that really should be the only ones they should have published - and boy, they're good.

Some pieces like that of Craig Newmark, founder of "Craig's list", are a joy to read - funny, witty, and a peekaboo at the future. Some like the Internet co-founders' piece on how humans will transcend their, what he calls "biological barriers" are marvellous - its been lucidly written, backed up by facts known currently - and it doesn't go Utopian, or look at the glass being half-full, but points perceptively to a future.

The prescriptions/predictions written by these authors - the "meat" in this hamburger of a book, are marvellous - because they deal with our present, and project from there to the future. They're all futurologists - to extend the term, slightly. Very clear cut cases made for embracing the new technologies that will help feed the world, feed the growing economies' appetite for energy with energy from sources that will not damage the world. There are cases made that describe how and why the environment can be saved - rainforests in the amazon etc., - quite a few with sound logic, facts and examples to buttress their future projections.

In fact, I would think any responsible government of a large country would want to do a similar thingy - but make it large enough to pull government policy out of it. In fact, for India - a country which has been rather slow to change - except in the greed with which natural resources are being plundered - this sort of a book, or a study would be a wonderful way to set-up for the future.

Chandrayaan-I: Money Down the Drain or Time to Celebrate?

B Shantanu — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:56:56 EDT

A few hours ago, ISRO put “Chandrayaan-I” into transfer orbit around the earth, heralding its “Mission to Moon”.

This is a proud moment for the team at ISRO working tirelessly for the last several months, sometimes right through the night.

It is also be a proud moment for India’s indigenous space research programme and more broadly, India’s indigenous R&D efforts - the seeds of which were planted barely a few decades ago.

But questions are being asked…and doubts are being raised.

“Was this the best use of the country’s limited resources?”, “What will this mission really achieve?”, “Will it have any impact on the problems that we are facing today e.g. poverty, hunger, malnutrition?”

At a fundamental level, such questions assume that this is a zero-sum game and there is a constraint on funds for developmental projects. I do not agree with that…India’s main developmental challenge is inefficient (I would even go to the extreme of saying extremely inefficient) utilisation of resources rather than lack of funds.

Having said that, the answer to these questions is neither simple nor straightforward.

While the launch will cost money (although relatively speaking it will be a small amount: Rs 386 cr./~$80m), the benefits are more difficult to compute. How do you put a value on India’s credibility and prowess in R&D research? How do you put a value on the indirect gains that will accrue (in terms of geo-politics)?

How can you quantify the benefits and the advantages of being at the vanguard of space research and exploration? and how can you emphasize the importance of R&D and activities targeted at the next decade?

Many would remember that the same - and similar - questions were asked of ISRO’s focus on remote sensing satellites in the past two decades… The question - and the “answer” - was eloquently articulated in this article in the New Scientist:

But why is India, a country that still has so many development problems on the ground, aiming for the heavens? To Indian scientists, the question is not only patronizing of their scientific aspirations, it betrays an ignorance of the Indian space program’s greater purpose and successes against the odds….

Take, for example, India’s six remote-sensing satellites — the largest such constellation in the world. These monitor the country’s land and coastal waters so that scientists can advise rural communities on the location of aquifers and where to find watercourses, suggest to fishermen when to set sail for the best catch, and warn coastal communities of imminent storms. India’s seven communication satellites, the biggest civilian system in the Asia-Pacific region, now reach some of the remotest corners of the country, providing television coverage to 90% of the population. The system is also being used to extend remote health-care services and education to the rural poor.

In addition…

The “super-cyclone” that hit India’s eastern coast on Oct 29, 1999, could have killed thousands but for an INSAT satellite that tracked its course every half hour identifying areas that needed to be evacuated.

What does ISRO have to say about the benefits of the Mission to Moon? In their own words:

The Study Report of the Task Team was discussed in April 2003 by a peer group of about 100 eminent Indian scientists…After detailed discussions, it was unanimously recommended that India should undertake the Mission to Moon, particularly in view of the renowned international interest on moon with several exciting missions planned for the new millennium.

In addition, such a mission will provide the needed thrust to basic science and engineering research in the country including new challenges to ISRO to go beyond the geostationary orbit.

Further, such a project will also help bringing in young talents to the arena of fundamental research. The Academia, in particular, the university scientists would also find participation in such a project intellectually rewarding.

Needless to say, “If you want to do space exploration, the Moon is where you have to start.”

Asked about the relevance of the Mission to Moon for a “poor nation” like India, G Madhavan Nair had this to say in a recent interview:

How do you handle criticism from a section of the people that a poor nation like India shouldn’t be wasting money on projects like Chandrayaan?

We have faced this question in the early phase of the programme. We are convinced that we are doing more service to the society than the money spent on the programme. But to doubly assure ourselves, we asked a school of economics in Chennai a couple of years back to make an assessment. The report they submitted was really mind-boggling. They found that what we have given back to the society in terms of products and services is something like one and half times more than the cumulative investment made on the entire space programme. Leave alone the infrastructure, the technology, the human resources and the various laboratories we have developed, if we add all that it is certainly more than five times spent on the programme.

Plus there are clear commercial gains.ISRO already has a subsidiary called Antrix (from “Antariksha” = space) which provides services for commercial launch of satellites and payloads into orbit. These services leverage ISRO’s “frugal engineering” to provide a compelling cost advantage in the market for satellite launch services. Last year’s Antrix’s turnover was shy of $240m on which it made a profit of ~ $35m. Chandrayaan itself is carrying 6 payloads for other agencies which would explore the lunar surface over the next two years.

A successful launch will help further commercialisation of these services and add to our credibility. It will increase our launch and space mission capabilities and help us play a prominent role in international negotiations and strategic discussions on space related matters. It would also help ISRO recruit talented engineers and scientists.

There may also be spin-off benefits in related areas of defence research (e.g in development of ICBM capabilities). Besides the cost of the Mission (of ~$80m) is only a fraction of ISRO’s annual budget, is spread over mutliple years and some of the investment is in facilities that will be re-used for other services and launches (e.g. the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu, near Bangalore, established at a cost of $20m - which will also serve future satellites). And all this is done within an annual budget that is less than a tenth of NASA’s (according to this report, in 2006, ISRO’s annual budget was less than 3% of NASA!).

All in all, the Mission to Moon gives great bang-for-the buck.

Yes, it would not directly put food in hungry mouths…yes, it would not directly put any money in the pockets of the impoverished…but the gains that accrue have a huge geo-strategic significance and will help India’s ascendancy on the world stage – not to mention providing a booster shot to indigenous R&D efforts.

We would do well to cheer it.

From the Rig Veda:

“O Moon! We should be able to know you through our intellect. You enlighten us through the right path.” Today, Chandrayaan has set out on this right path.

त्वम सोम पर चिकितॊ मनीषा, त्वम रजिष्ठमनु नॆषि पन्थाम ॥

Tvam Soma para chikito manisha. Tvam rajishtamanu neshi panthaam. Rig Veda (Hymn 91)

For the more curious amongst you, here is the link to the home page of the Mission, link to FAQs and an informative booklet [~700k pdf file]. There is even a YouTube video on the Mission (I don’t think it is by ISRO though)!

To close, here is an uplifting extract from Newsweek on how India’s vision might just show the way for mankind’s next giant leap:

India’s investment in Earth observation satellites over the years comes to only about $500 million per satellite, about a tenth of the cost of its Western counterparts. After introducing a satellite service to locate potential fish zones and broadcasting the sites over All India Radio, ISRO helped coastal fishermen double the size of their catch. For the government’s Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, begun in 1986, satellites have improved the success rate of government well-drilling projects by 50 to 80 percent, saving $100 million to $175 million. Meteorological satellites have improved the government’s ability to predict the all-important Indian monsoon, which can influence India’s gross domestic product by 2 to 5 percent.

Next, ISRO plans to roll out satellite-enabled services to hundreds of millions of farmers in India’s remote villages. In partnership with NGOs and government bodies, it has helped to set up about 400 Village Resource Centers so far. Each provides connections to dozens of villages for Internet-based services such as access to commodities pricing information, agricultural advice from crop experts and land records. ISRO’s remote-sensing data will also help village councils develop watersheds and irrigation projects, establish accurate land records and plan new roads connecting their villages with civilization as cheaply and efficiently as possible. One ISRO partner—the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation—has used satellites to conduct 78,000 training programs for more than 300,000 farmers in 550 villages, teaching them about farming practices like drip-and-sprinkle irrigation, health-care awareness programs for diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, and information about how to access government services. Using satellites to guide reclamation of 2 million hectares of saline and alkaline wastelands is expected to generate income of more than $500 million a year.

…and here is a great account of how far we have come in 45 years:

The launch of a US-made Nike-Apache Sounding Rocket from Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram, on Nov 21, 1963, marked the beginning of India’s space odyssey…

…Recalling the incident, R. Aravamudan, who has been associated with the Indian space programme from the very beginning, says: “There were no buildings yet in the range (Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station -TERLS). Our first office was in the bishop’s house and the St. Mary Magdalene church building there.”

“Once the rocket was launched, there was no telemetry or radar tracking, only photography from three stations of the vapour cloud. The orange vapour trail was visible from all over Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu. This created great excitement. Since the common public had never seen such a sight before, it also gave rise to some hilarious newspaper reports.”

…”We had to make use of public transport as there were no official vehicles yet and no canteen. So, our day began with a quick breakfast of idli sambar at the Railway Station Canteen, which was the only place where we could get food to our taste.

We would then pack some snacks and lunch from the same canteen and go to the bus stand to catch a mofussil bus to Kazhakkutam. We would get down at the bus stand there and walk about a kilometre or so to the range. The whole trip took about an hour.

“The range (TERLS) was quite large in area and the only means of transport within the range was by bicycle. Those like (A.P.J. Abdul) Kalam, who could not cycle, had to hitch rides with others.”

*Somewhat* Related Post: Of Vimanas and Time Travel

Recommended Reading: G Madhavan Nair’s interview in Outlook.

Chandrayaan-I - Not A Waste of Money and Resources

thunga — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:52:13 EDT

Critics say that the "Chandrayaan Mission was a waste of money and resources". In a country like India, the money and resources could have been better used in development activities which would increased the livelihood of so many people lying below the poverty line.

Please say "aye" if you are naive enough to buy this argument. This logic is very similar to that used by our once-charming politicians to promote khadi industries when modern industrialization would have added more value to the country and the people around it. Sir M. Vishveswariah added more to irrigation by building the dams in Karnataka than if the money had been spent on giving seeds to the farmers. There is an inherent lack of understanding amongst the people in India about the use and potential of technology to improve the well being of the people. The media instead of educating through clear thinking and bringing in rationale to decisions, have taken the sidelines to just report opposing views of any issue without stating the merits or demerits of either side.

This article will be heavily biased towards the advantages that India is going to obtain through the Chandrayaan mission. I would love the hear arguments against the same!

Through the Chandrayaan mission, there will be two kinds of distinct advantages. The first being the technology transfer and increase in the utility of technology and the other being the political cultural shift the country vis a vis other countries in the region and the world.

The Technology utility advantage would be the value added by the technology to the economy and the people. The experiments done on the moon for its soil and other chemicals would improve chemical research in the country and might lead to breakthrough ideas in chemical industry which will improve the livelihoods of so many people. This is not just relevant to the chemical industry but also to other allied industries from physics, software, materials to half of the things that are used by the people of India.

The technological transfer advantage is the amount of money or other value add obtained by sharing this technology with other countries. It is the same as technological utility advantage but obtained by exchange of information and technology instead of promotion of technology internally.

Political-Cultural Shift advantage to India

As we know only 3 countries have the capability to do space walk and less than 10 countries have been able to launch their own satellites. Space has been a very important criteria in terms of signaling the strength of a country from the 1960s when the USA wanted to show its power against the USSR. It will hopefully give more brownie points to India which will influence others to heed to the words of the Indians.

Three cheers to the people behind the mission. Special cheers to Mylswamy Annadurai and Madhavan Nair. We should celebrate this event as a very important step in not just the progress of science research but in the economy of India. Eagerly awaiting for the 48 hours to pass to hear more good news :)

Dyscalculia - Not Having Fun With Numbers

Deepti Lamba — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:56:28 EDT

Today was a day of revelation for me. I held back tears when memories of misery and utter frustration rained down on me while I waited for my children's bus to come. I had inadvertently stumbled on a condition that made me realize I wasn't dumb as a doorknob when it came to mathematics.

For years I believed I had some kind of a dyslexia. I could read and write well but when it came to math I was just plain dumb. My brain would shut down and the numbers wouldn't make sense. I still cannot handle change.

Yesterday at a grocery store, the cashier muttered something about owing two rupees and I wondered whether the store owed me 2 rupees or I owed them. I got nervous and antsy. Who owed who? My brain came to a standstill. Dumb Dee Dumb it sang to me. I cleared my throat and asked - Do I owe you? The reply was a no and I was shown the bill and explained the difference.

I didn't hate myself at that moment. I have long since accepted my condition - dumb and a secret I've long since kept. I still have trouble remembering my husband's cell number since the first five digits are the same as mine. I used my fingers to count the similar numbers while I penned the sentence. I still use my fingers to add and subtract. I used to have trouble distinguishing my right from my left. I still visualize myself in a place when I give directions. So what's wrong with me? I have dyscalculia. Its a learning disability in which one cannot comprehend math, numbers, and more.

The DfES defines dyscalculia as:

A condition that affects the ability to acquire arithmetical skills. Dyscalculic learners may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts, lack an intuitive grasp of numbers, and have problems learning number facts and procedures. Even if they produce a correct answer or use a correct method, they may do so mechanically and without confidence.

Dyscalculia is dyslexia for numbers. But unlike dyslexia, very little is known about its prevalence, causes or treatment. Current thinking suggests that it is a congenital condition, caused by the abnormal functioning of a specific area of the brain. People with dyscalculia experience great difficulty with the most basic aspects of numbers and arithmetic.

Best estimates indicate that somewhere between 3% and 6% of the population are affected. These statistics refer to those who are ‘purely’ dyscalculic – i.e. they only have difficulties with maths but have good or even excellent performance in other areas of learning.

Its not the end of the world to finally put a tag on what I have lived with all my life. There will be those who would deny the condition. Those who'd say I could have worked harder, been less lazy, less dumb, less paranoid, less angry, even less suicidal but it doesn't take away the condition or the fact that there are those who suffer from it.

Its close to nightfall and I cradle an empty feeling in my heart. I finally know that some part of my brain is different, I know why I always scored so low in IQ tests. There is no triumphant feeling that I made it despite my disability. There is no other feeling except the knowledge that I am not dumb and that this disability made me who I am.

Related Article: Inside story: dyscalculia

Markham Ice Shelf Breaks Away In Arctic

Ashish — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 12:34:29 EDT

With our current sea water levels, we maintain an uneasy balance with the seas and oceans in coastal areas. Housing, habitation, and other forms of human existence are almost on the ocean's doorstep, and there are millions of people living on islands that are only a few meters about the surface of the seas. When we get a storm (call it a hurricane/typhoon/cyclone), the wave front pushed up by the storm typically expands inwards towards land and causes damage; the stronger the storm, the more the damage.

We are also getting more and more into the region where we can start seeing the effects of global warming, and as yet, the engines of civilization are still pumping more chemicals into the air that increase the speed of global warming. Worldwide, countries are not able to agree on what to about global warming, since they fear that any such action will cause an economic damage (never mind that 20-30 years later, we will see much more damage to humanity). As per projections, the massive ice shelfs that exist in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and Greenland contains enough water to raise sea water levels by many meters, and thus unprecedented damage. Scientists are slowly observing that they were not paranoid enough, that there are changes happening to the ice shelfs much ahead of projection:

A 19-square-mile (50 kilometers) ice shelf attached to an island in Canada's northern Arctic for thousands of years has broken from land, another sign of the effect of global warming, scientists said. Nearly the size of Manhattan, the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated from Ellesmere Island in early August and is now floating in the Arctic Ocean, said Luke Copeland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa.

In January, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said net loss of ice mass in Antarctica increased to 196 billion metric tons in 2006 from 112 metric tons a decade earlier. To have a chance of containing the average worldwide increase in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would require cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 85 percent by 2050, according to the UN panel. Ice shelves, which attach to land and float on the ocean's surface, form through the accumulation of snow and freezing water.

Movement towards preserving the continued economic growth and future of humanity is conditioned upon being able to forestall events that can cause harm to humanity, and this dithering over responsibility and fear of current economic harm if trying to implement caps on emissions is slowly destroying our future.