tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6804564760451574472024-02-20T12:46:38.424-08:00In my twenties...Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-31965366063830643582011-08-05T11:45:00.000-07:002011-08-05T11:48:46.476-07:00My Freetime Freelance: It's Not All in Your GenesLab Times Issue 3/2011<br /><br />Beyond all the wiring that stitches the brain together are the command centers operating from within each neuron, which endow the organ with an exceptional intellectual propensity. Recent research has identified some ‘new’ performers, the regulators of the epigenome. A rendezvous with Annette Schenck and colleagues tells us more. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2011/lt03/lt_2011_03_30_31.pdf">Click here to read more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-1366460998890467742011-08-05T11:43:00.000-07:002011-08-05T11:48:32.109-07:00My Freetime Freelance: Whose Loss Leaves the Immune System ImperilledLab Times Issue 1/2011<br /><br />Only recently, an immunomodulatory role for the ‘cylindromatosis’ tumour suppressor gene (Cyld) has been ascribed. In their pioneering work, George Mosialos and his group have cracked the mechanism of Cyld-dependent regulation of T-cell development with their in vivo mouse model. Excerpts from a tête-à-tête with Mosialos follow... <br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2011/lt01/lt_2011_01_30_31.pdf">Click here to read more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-36745335493793796362011-08-05T11:38:00.000-07:002011-08-05T11:48:18.524-07:00My Freetime Freelance: A 'Potential' Driver of Cellular ArchitectureLab Times Issue 5/2010<br /><br />The need for novel antibiotic formulations with broad spectra has led to a burgeoning focus on bacterial cell biology. As Leendert Hamoen’s team at the University of Newcastle uncovers a potent cellular feature that modulates localisation of membrane proteins in bacteria, does their research offer attractive prompts to the pharma industry?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2010/lt05/lt_2010_05_32_33.pdf">Click here to read more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-74775133057945085772011-08-05T11:36:00.000-07:002011-08-05T11:48:06.229-07:00My Freetime Freelance: Cux - The Crux of CognitionLab Times Issue 4/2010<br /><br />The human cortex confers man with the exceptional quality of cognizance. While research staggered for years in identifying the ‘cell-intrinsic’ molecular basis of cognition, Marta Nieto and colleagues have been pioneers in illustrating a novel mechanism in cortical development. And that adds another piece to the puzzle...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2010/lt04/lt_2010_04_34_35.pdf">Click here to read more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-66246359295558674832010-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:002011-08-05T11:47:48.320-07:00My Freetime Freelance: When Brain and Behaviour “Picture” TogetherLab Times Issue 1/2010<br /><br />The plasticity of the brain allows for structural changes that suit individual behaviour and lifestyle. Using MR imaging, Annemie’s group has recently discovered that the brain of a songbird gets geared up for the breeding season in more ways than just one. Is there something more to their images?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2010/lt01/lt_2010_01_30_31.pdf">Click here to read the article...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-57840289678022386432009-11-22T08:03:00.000-08:002009-11-22T08:08:15.313-08:00My Freetime Freelance in "Lab Times", EuropeDIGIT-AL REVOLUTION<br /><br />The digits of the vertebrate limb arise from a multi-step process during which the precursor cells take on one of three different fates. While the process itself is modulated by a network of cascades, Juan M. Hurlé in his 30 years of research, is close to zeroing on the master regulator all the way upstream.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2009/lt06/lt_2009_06_32_33.pdf"><br />Click here to know more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-23420027881810963382009-07-03T11:46:00.000-07:002009-07-03T11:58:30.460-07:00PhD MannersThe trouble in doing a PhD is (please help! I hope there are many of you voting up for the following points):<br /><br />1. Building a rapport with your supervisor (but sometimes, you could get so confounded with your work that you have nothing plain and simple to talk about!)<br />2. Handling too many different things...all at the same time<br />3. Repeating experiments a dozen times to standardize, another dozen times when for no reason the method fails, yet another dozen times when a part or whole of the experiment could not be completed, another three times to get concordant observations<br />4. Trusting your observations (they could be out-of-the-world and sometimes make you think that it's been an artifact all the way)<br />5. Ignoring those colleagues who've been making a steady progress with work (have they never had problems? or do they have less work in all that they can manage stuff? or is it luck that favors them? ignore!!)<br />6. Anti-depressants (trying humor in between failed experiments! ridiculous??)<br />7. Wondering if all this would come to a nice end in 3-2-1 year/s (as appropriate)<br />8. Spiriting a "spirited" attitude (Help!!!)<br />9. Thinking about future (and papers!!!)<br />10. Wondering how Einstein/Darwin/Cajal enjoyed it!!Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-19364164429140616702009-05-29T10:07:00.000-07:002009-05-30T00:15:20.990-07:00My Freetime Freelance in "Lab Times", EuropeTICKING CLOCKS AND CHANGING TIMES<br /><br />The circadian pacemaker encodes the body’s response to<br />seasonal change. Johanna Meijer and her group have a twisting<br />tale of how their work on pacemaker cells revealed exceptions<br />to the limit cycle oscillator theory. As we arrive at a consensus,<br />do the results have more profound imports?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lab-times.org/labtimes/issues/lt2009/lt03/lt_2009_03_32_33.pdf">Click here for more...</a>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-66278208650194387622009-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:002009-05-30T00:16:16.775-07:00My first moment of Eureka!!!Food, water and shelter...are these the only indispensables for man? Well not for an eccentric man, I mean a scientist-in-the-making. Years of fidgiting in a doomed lab can mean nothing at the end. But relax, there's one possibility. Charm? Well, I still dont have a clue what I could call it, what I witnessed a while ago. Neurons under the fluorescence microscope. You wouldnt expect a geek to stay past eight at night on a summer Friday evening, would you? But there was this hunch right from the beginning of this momentous day. Even before I finished that final lap of my experiment. Infact, the hunch was subdued in my guts since the very beginning of this week. A week that would end my first complete year as a PhD student. I walked to this field with much enthusiasm, but I saw my energy getting drained down with one failure after another. At first it was a whole different subject, I despised it. Changed my lab after seven valuable months. Changed my project, my supervisor, my city, my living style, my free-time! And then were those guileless days, when I was aware of all that lay front and behind my project and my subject but lacked the skill to perform my experiments. I still remember those challenging times...when nights were long (it was winter too) and dreams were scary. Though I had the contentment of having found my heart (Neuroscience), I had little courage to venture forward in this unbeaten path. Eyes blindfolded, hands unskilled, mind confused...but a heart that bore a little hope that things would be better. This was the feeling that lurked in me until a while ago. So, it's been quite a bit of a journey, one and a half years of PhD life, until I finally discovered my discovery. My moment of Eureka. One after another my slides, as I observed them under the "scope" looked like they were talking to me in a language that I had put forward in my research proposal. The same words, I heard them repeat. And when I called my "usually-err-not-so-nice" boss to look at what I have done, she finally exclaimed, "Madhu, you have golden hands. Yeaaa. You made my day!" And so did I make mine.<br /><br />The most eventful day of my life (so far;)): May 08, 2009. Worth living!!Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-9330852033131516112009-03-06T13:14:00.000-08:002009-04-04T02:32:03.151-07:00BeatsEven as I write this post, jazzy beats of Rahman's best are booming into my ears and the acoustics banging on the delicate walls of my tympanum. Friday, end of the week...usually the worst day of my hectic week. As always, I came home from lab late in the evening sighing at the "little" progress I have made in my tough life as a pro-scientist. Phew! And then there was this terrible looking tiny apartment strewn with paper, food, wrappers, clothes and all crap that patiently withstood a week to be swept out into trash. It was way too much on my head to begin a weekend. In a trance, I sat in front of my dummy PC (no, it's got no life!) and aimlessly opened a weird collection of songs (I have no clue how I got them all together)...It was not a head start. A lazy tune in Hindi; people often call it "romantic" but well, on this occasion it had more drab than romance. More damage and more doom. I hadn't had the slightest energy to shut it off, bang it on the head or atleast change the song. It rrrrromanced on. And thankfully, in a few minutes came the next track...<br /><br />Mom would only scream at us, dad and me, when such songs were being played; songs which can only be enjoyed by people with a certain elite sense of art and songs which are taboo in the opinion of classical musicians (a cadre to which mom belongs). But she never does realize that such music can be invigorating and can pop up your spirit to a better extent than can a high dose of anti-depressant. Well, this is exactly what happened now. In mom's words, a theru koothu with "what-dirty-lyrics?!" actually did revive my mood and prepared me for my weekend. Amazing is the power of beats, I mean it. Be it rock, jazz, hip-hop or ragtime, Music is indeed the best healer of a tensed mind. It can simply put everything at ease. And the moment I stand up and dance to such a "ridiculed" song, my mom cant stop but smile. That's Music!Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-68266034613252503202008-12-25T22:03:00.000-08:002009-04-04T02:31:26.796-07:00The Flavors of Bharatanatyam – Inherited and NovelBharatanatyam reminisces the classical compilation of Bharata Muni, the Natyasastra, and over the centuries has been moulded with varied forms, into being what is today a powerful medium for epitomizing the world around and also the elements of the inner self. Despite its roots in the Christ’s Era, this ancient art form that was lost among the court-dancers and held captive with the Kings, was resuscitated rather recently. This awakening, in the dawn of the twenty-first century, has brought with it a plethora of flavors, some inherited but predominantly, youthful and novel.<br /><br /><strong>The Renaissance</strong><br />Inspite of being thousands of miles away from the traditional schools of Bharatanatyam, including my own, I cannot but wonder at the phenomenal growth that the art form has witnessed with the contemporary elements being neatly inter-twined in all of its manifestations today. When Rukmini Devi and Krishna Iyer re-discovered Bharatanatyam and visualized its puritan art sans the extraneous “sringaara”, the dance form had already acquired a whole new identity. It was being draped with new emotions, the navarasas, yet clinging onto the traditional elements of body movements – the adavu and the abhinaya just the way they were documented in the Natyasastra, the Abhinayadarpana or for that matter, any of the authentic lakshanagranthas.<br /><br /><strong>New Avenues in Bharatanatyam</strong><br />Though the revived presentation of Bharatanatyam initially adhered to most of the authentic aspects of “Nritya”, the middle of the twenty-first century saw an enormous growth in contemporary dance forms that often imbibed features of other Indian classical dances and sometimes even attempted to portray social issues. A classic example would be the style adopted by Padma Bhushan Dr. Padma Subramaniam. Besides having introduced various new elements into a concert such as the “Pushpanjali”, Padma Subramaniam also integrated, in her dance, implicit messages for her audience. Though her basics were from the Vazhuvoor style of dance, Dr. Padma made Bharatanatyam a totally versatile art form and incorporated movements from Odissi, Kuchipudi and Kathak in her own new style of dance. “Bharatanrityam” thus evolved giving a new direction to the ancient dance form. Every piece of her performance has since been presented with a gush of contemporary ideas; she would not only amuse her audience with the tales of a Kuravanji but also bring a dummy gun as a prop to display a presentday war!<br /><br /><strong>Art and Activism: Expressions that ‘speak’ for the times<br /></strong>Over the past decade, Bharatanatyam has emerged as an instrument that portrays on the one hand, the agony and chaos in the present-day world and on the other, the scientific and technological advancement in the new millennium. Anita Ratnam has been one of the leaders in this fusion of cultural activism in Bharatanatyam. Anita came from the traditional Kalakshetra School of Dance and mastered her art under her guru, Adyar K. Lakshmanan. She invested her time in new dance ventures as she toured the world and collaborated with a number of foreign performers and theater companies. Arangham founded by Anita in 1992, has presented several socio-oriented dance ballets such as ‘A Map to the Next World’, a summary of the colonial legacy of the native Americans and Indians. Besides, she has also adopted various abstract themes in her concerts. ‘Movements Monuments’ has been choreographed to simply highlight the interrelation between physical and kinetic structures. The performers used several geometric figures in their movements which reflected a subconscious encoding of structures in form,<br />foundations, shapes and emotions. ‘Pratirupa’ inspired by German poetry is one other choreography that emphasizes on the inner self. While meandering away from the epics and Indian mythology in such dance ballets, Anita also keeps to traditional Tamil literature and temple art in her productions ‘Kaisiki Natakam’ ‘Kannagi’ and ‘Gajaanana’ among others.<br /><br /><strong>The Traditions: Immortal and Fresh<br /></strong>No matter how much the ages have influenced and inspired Bharatanatyam into becoming a medium of awareness than a mere form of art and classics, the traditions associated with its teaching, learning and practising have survived its evolution and will remain immortal. The guru-sishya identity, the intimate association with Lord Nataraja, the start at a Vijayadasami, ‘first’ dance lessons and the slokas on mudras and abhinayas, the Arangetram and overall, the ‘reminiscence’ of the art are those virtuous and indelible elements of Bharatanatyam that are unique to this Classical art form. And it is this identity that has spread past boundaries to captivate and profoundly influence the devout rasikas.Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-23143674187362626612008-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:002009-04-04T02:30:35.117-07:00Celebrating Fall<div style="text-align: justify;">It is that time of the year when cold winds inhospitably blow at your face as you walk home in darkness, fatigued from work...a time for those moody days that will soon turn into being utterly depressing...when the leaves that ruffle below your feet stay no more on trees revealing their quivering skeletons...the days of "deafening" quietness when migratory birds cross Oriental boundaries to seek solace.<br /><br />Despite the little consolation of turning your clock back by an hour, Fall can be a dreary season. It could be unpleasant to stay up and awake and busy at work when the skies are dark and the sun can afford no sympathy upon a part of the Earth's inhabitants. It gets rather cumbersome to drape oneself with three-four and five layers of woollen clothing for every few yards of walk outside a centrally-heated building. And those few moments of walk, to top it all, can be chilling to the bones if one forgets that old pair of hand-gloves. At work too, it gets rather annoying to be deceived by day-light or the lack of it only to be disappointed that it is no later than early afternoon. Call it the Golden October or Romance in Twilight, Autumn has no flavors. It comes with a trail of sorrow and paints our colorful days with dismay until Life springs into being the next year.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://portfolio.kevinthom.com/albums/nature/melancholy_autumn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 363px;" src="http://portfolio.kevinthom.com/albums/nature/melancholy_autumn.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Well, this definition of Autumn has only been recently added to my vocabulary. For twenty years, Autumn, I mean the few months that followed August had indeed been my life's best times...each year. The end of August would mark the beginning of conviviality, as the Calender would tip into a series of festivals. It would waylaid the beginning of a season of holidays, of real fun, of colour, sweets, fireworks, surprises and family get-together. They were the days of bustling activity along the busiest streets in the heart of the city, of noisy shopping spree of happy families and of highlights on TV of the D-days' telecasts...whatever it may be. Frequent phone calls from far-relatives would prompt plans for a fun-filled celebration. Those teasing days in-between when the First Quarterly Examinations would seemingly spoil all the excitement. But those days, however, would never last long. With little Poojas that commemorate the birthdays of Gods, the merriment would begin and lapse into an exciting 9-day toy-show during dussera peaking at the all-set, noisiest, rangeen, ecstatically funsome Diwali. A lot more shows of colour and light would follow close but would be clouded by the arrival of Second Quarterly Examinations. And even as they drew to a close, another little round of celebration. And this would be the best one, personally. Those days were the moments I would long for, all year through. They are the days that have been indelibly scripted in my memory.<br /><br />Today, sitting miles away from the hub of celebration, same time, Autumn, I can't but sulk at all the beautiful occasions I am missing...Autumn, for me, marks not only festivities but also the thought of having a fantabulous birthday...but I am glad that this year, I would be home on this special occasion. The eve of the new year. A blessed beginning. And the only reason for celebrating Fall despite being oceans apart.<br /></div>Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-42339587796439307322008-08-01T12:25:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:06:03.735-07:00What's with my brain?Life of a scientist can be fun, hilarious and eccentric besides just maddening. With research it is always the craziest of ideas that make the best papers, nonsense thoughts that stumble into stunning discoveries and poor jokes with a scientific temperament that give the scientist his identity.<br /><br />It is common in a lab to interact with co-scientists to sneak into their ideas not to have them mask our own but to occupy our leisure with "entertaining" science thoughts. On such occasions, it is not quite unusual to use transferred epithets like, "your DNA sample", "my gel", etc. so much that it goes unnoticed even if we said "my pups are being delivered today!" Well for the non-scientists, it just means that I have bred some mice for research and they have borne babies today. I personally dislike this idea of owning biological samples "strictly meant for research purposes" as it doesnt sound too good to state in public that "my kidney cells dont grow" (they are the HEK 293T cells, a cell line developed from an embryonic kidney...well, somebody's kidney, not mine!) or "her blots are so blobby and not good for publication" (to describe the result from a Western Blot, a technique that's used in protein expression analysis). Such a possessiveness, however, is not dispensable when it concerns my colleagues. Not forgetting to mention that English is not the language that they are conversant with.<br /><br />Thursdays are meant for primary culture when I, the 'responsible' person, gently, swiftly and sympathetically sacrifice new born mice to get out their cerebral hemispheres (something to do with the brain) to subsequently grow brain cells on a plate. It is not an easy job though not really nasty. P0 pups (new born) as we call them, are tiny, one-third the size of our little finger and calm and less agile than the bigger mates. It took me quite a few tries before I got the art of uprooting the intact cerebrum. The procedure doesn't stop there. I then carefully pull out the meninges (a thin layer covering the cortex) again making sure I do not disturb the gross morphology of the structure under the microscope and finally drop the clear cerebral hemispheres into a new petri dish with..whatever.. media. I have performed this dissection less than a dozen times now, so I still call myself an amateur in mouse work.<br /><br />My turn this week came yesterday. Half past one, 6 pups, all game and I started the work. The usual. Cut off the head, hold the snout with big forceps, cut open the skull, pinch off the cerebral hemispheres with fine forceps, under the micrscope, clear the meninges, drop the hemispheres in whatever media. 3 pups and as always, I never got the hemispheres intact. They were either dislodged from each other or disfigured or even slurried. The fourth head. Splendid. Even after all the processing from above, I realized that this one looked amazing. A blind man (provided he is a biologist) could identify this structure under the microscope as belonging to some region of the head. Exemplary! I was so ecstatic with the production of my masterpiece held between a pair of forceps when somebody slammed the door of our tissue culture room. It was one of those non-English speaking colleagues. I know not for what reason she was here but the moment she entered she was all screaming..."Oh my God! Look what you have done!" Apparently I was so confounded with her entry that I had no clue what has been happening all along with my masterpiece. And she exclaimed, "Your brain is on the floor!"<br /><br />Well. Not quite.Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-16106279513853620012008-07-27T12:18:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:07:54.850-07:00Life AloneIt's nearly her silver wedding anniversary with my dad<br />Since the time she stepped in home - a strange place for a little girl<br />Flipping past her, all desires to make music her world<br /><br />She slogged day and night to keep her new home<br />Happy and the people satiated with her novel recipes<br />And to work she succumbed just to keep the budget at ease<br /><br />Soon, a little mischievous newcomer - a gift from God, added to her life<br />Some joy but a lot of worry and pain<br />A whole lot of responsibilities put her mind on strain<br /><br />And as her little lady grew up, worries doubled<br />All pain she patiently bore<br />Just to bless her daughter with the best in her career and so much more<br /><br />She continues to strive to give her the best<br />And the rest to their little family - a true physic<br />Finally also finding time to catch up with her first love - Music<br /><br />Mom, I call her, a blessing in disguise<br />I miss you so much being oceans apart<br />Truly you are irreplaceable and I feel it more now that I have a lonely start.Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-57967111989058808582008-07-27T10:18:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:23:33.059-07:00Vitamin MOkay, its not folic acid that this post is about but a more essential vitamin that none of us can exist without, that human beings alone need and a vitamin that has acquired identity only recently in evolutionary history.<br /><br />Being a resident of a European nation, I have begun to realise the face value of a Euro a lot more than I ever considered tossing a 1-Rupee coin into the plate of a poor man at the roadside. When I first travelled to the UK, I was amazed to see items priced as low as 2 and 3 GBP. By a casual gesture I would flip into my basket, nearly all that I found pretty and arrive at the cash desk with a sum of around a 100 GBP - a figure that I never really cared to multiply by 86 to realise what a spendthrift I have been. It was not long before I caught up with the habit of converting to INR and getting hold of my expenses that I was given the privilege to move to another country where the currency value is a little lower - the Euro.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://culturalcocktailhour.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/piggy-bank.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://culturalcocktailhour.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/piggy-bank.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It has been really difficult to control my expenses despite constant reminders from my friends that a 20 Euro pair of flip-flops can be really really expensive. I would rather recklessly toss in the 1-cent from the cashier (the remainder from the billed 19.99 Euro) and not really bother to pop it into my piggy bank when I'm home. Saving 50 Euros for a birthday gift was common.<br /><br />All until I realized the face value of the currency. 1 Euro is definitely not equivalent to 1 Rupee even for a localite. The average salary of an upper middle class employee is about 3000 Euros per month, the same figure in Rupees is definitely not the average salary of the employees from an IT software company in Bangalore. Neither is 1 kg rice 1 Rupee and 29 Paise nor is Ipod Classic 230 Rupees. Soon after I realized the grave mistake that I have been doing, I was in a hot debate about gifts with my labmate, a localite. As we spoke she ridiculed my attitude towards money and my heavy budget for a birthday treat with a simple statement, "Well, last year I planned to gift a ticket to the Opera to Pat (her husband), but I later gave up the idea. It was way too expensive. 58 Euros per person!!" And that shut my breath.<br /><br />And here I am a lot more responsible in handling the European currency. Well I finally realized today it is worth about 68.8 INR. I have even subscribed to the daily currency update to constantly remind me of what a "squanderer" I have been!Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-16397010345333751182008-07-20T02:36:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:14:03.514-07:00Nano about Neuro: Striking Together<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.neuronano.net/UserFiles/Image/nuevo-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.neuronano.net/UserFiles/Image/nuevo-2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"Applied Sciences" have become the buzz words among scientists-in-the-making today. Cheminformatics, pharmacogenomics, physioarithmetic (dont know if it exists) and many such integrative Sciences open newer portals for research prospects. As a neurogeneticist (in the making!), I wondered how it would be to integrate the nascent Nano-industry with my field of interest. Afterall, there's so much in common!<br /><br />Nano: a tiny scale of 10^-9m...viz. one-billionth of a meter.<br />Neuro: a nerve cell body is usually about the same size.<br /><br />Nano: charged particle deposition is central and this is used in a variety of applications viz. to create a surface of nano-dots.<br />Neuro: charged particle deposition on the next neuron (called the post-synaptic neuron) in a successive series of neurons (the neuronal network) can excite the former and create a depolarized surface.<br /><br />Nano: polymerizes to nano-fibers<br />Neuro: axons are the fibers<br /><br />Nano: application of an electric field to fluid droplets containing nanoparticles distorts the angle of the droplets potentiating the use of nano-fluids in fine-tuning focusing lenses in cameras.<br />Neuro: an electric impulse from the optic nerve applied onto the brain enables perception of an image caught on the retina, the principle behind the human camera.<br /><br />Nano: applied best in the electrical and electronic industry<br />Neuro: ofcourse, its all about electrical circuitry in the body!<br /><br />With so much in common, I guess its time we founded nano-neurotechnology, a field that deals with the application of nano-particles in brain repair and neuronal injury. Infact, there is already some evidence of its existence. The picture (courtesy: http://neuronano.net) shows neurons grown on a layer of carbon nanotubes, a substrate that is so much analogous to the biological extra-cellular matrix and can enable survival of neurons on it. Does a neuron's electrical conductivity respond to cues from a conductive substrate? That's a clue to the technology.Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-68939667700820019612008-07-19T14:34:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:11:30.493-07:00Vanity: truly detestedNever forget how you have come to be what you are. Well, this is an annoying feature in the present era...vanity, pomposity, foolishness! Yeah, I am being very caustic on this issue because I have been victimized to "vanity" shows in every other co-cultural meet in this foreign land. Well yes, we are in India no more. We are the privileged lot given that extra avenue to be ourself sans restrictions from the conventional Indian society. But its so unnatural that women, more often than men, seem to lose their identity in pretending to be a 'super'natural being adorning themselves with the skimpiest clothes (point to note: on a wrong weather condition; totally unsuited for the occasion and many times for the woman herself and clothes which when made 10 times as long would still be considered 'insufficient' by her family), beauty accessories with an unfamiliar spelling (and sometimes even the name), a hair-do which in a few months can malnourish the 20-30-year long well-groomed blackness (beauty trials on fine hair can never be made with recipes for coarse hair), fluenting a language that's way beyond an American's understanding. Well, its hard to describe how it works with men in vanity. But what is vexatious is why they hide their identity when it comes to meeting others of the same tribe and don on a self that's so alien. I am sure they are not enjoying it...it would be a lot of dramaticism, a lot of enacting and a lot of effort to get it rolling - the artifical self. And to talk about snobs?! I know nothing can be done about it...it probably would get worse but its annoying for those few people around who still walk sticking to the convention "Be a Roman when in Rome" and yet hold on to their identity - the only definition of me and you.<br /><br />Well, its all in your thinking.<br /><br />P.S. Vanity is not nationality-defined.Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-680456476045157447.post-25810712229031104952008-07-19T10:51:00.000-07:002008-08-01T14:12:51.954-07:00Miracles Happen<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6771565-lg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6771565-lg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Cant stop but raise a brow when you realize that at times, Life indeed is rewarding! Unfulfilled dreams, expectations of a quarter of a lifetime, uncertainities, misfortunes, ill-luck and criticisms...they never last more than a tiny phase of life. And there's one moment - a moment when you dont realise its live and real, a moment that many times goes unnoticed in the want of pursuing the future behind it - when everything's just fine. Just the way you wanted life to treat you. And you have all that you deserve. Its that great moment that I have nearly come to, after a long long wait - infact, it was not a wait - I was nearly getting to be satisfied with the turn of life. Getting a little tired of trying and tired of hoping for the best in a career. It was nearly the last lap, and I bet if I had missed this one, I would have never stopped to think that I lost something invaluable. I had lapsed into this sense of feeling that you get after a tiresome day when you are so paralyzed by work that you hit the sac without a grain for your appetite, when all you work for is to feed that little piece of flesh in your body! It is a feeling of satisfaction that you are forced to perceive with all the discontentments buried in the back of your mind...when nothing has worked the way you had wanted it to. This was my stand a little while ago. But for that last lap I mentioned. A casual gesture changed my life. Just out of practise, I continued trying...may be it was the last try. A last call for getting the best. It was the same way I tried as I had many many times before, all of which had ended in vain. This try was no different until it rewarded me a career of a lifetime. And here I am blessed with what I wanted where I wanted to be, and however I wanted life to treat me, I got it all. Was it a blessing that was a result of God's slow response to my deepest prayers? Was it an illusion that it was indeed destined to happen and I never realised? Was it a miracle? Or was it a reward of persistent tries???<br /><br />No matter of what it was a result, I cannot stop but say, "things definitely do happen the way you want them to...cuz only when things have to go wrong they go wrong; there are moments when all things go right and perfectly as planned! That's a summary of Murphy's and Newton's (Third) Laws!"Madhu Kannanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08460630189901592360noreply@blogger.com0