April 2006
Table of Contents:
Editorial
Every once in a while, one gets the opportunity to do something meaningful,
something that will help us give back to society, something that will give us
a chance to contribute to the development of mankind, that will take it forward.
It is with this aim and with this purpose that we are proud to present ‘Jeev’-
a magazine dedicated towards the life sciences..........[more]
Articles
Metaevolution: Evolution of Evolution
by Paras Chopra
Metaevolution is, unsurprisingly, evolution of evolution. But the existing
concept of metaevolution is quite different from mine. Existing concept defines
meta evolution as evolution of evolution since the big-bang ( i.e. the birth
of universe), but I define metaevolution as the evolution of evolution (EoE)
since the birth of life (on earth?)......... [more]
Bacterial Space Mission by Anshuman
Mirani
Well I guess the name says it all. Using bacteria for space research programs
is what this article is all about. This is an idea that struck me a few days
ago. Then I checked the viability of my idea with a few peers and checked it
out over the net. Turns out that it might actually be possible..... [more]
Hacking Evolution for Living Indefinitely
by Paras Chopra
Our bodies have been designed to reproduce the genes to the next generation.
So, after 50-60 years, when the reproductive phase ends, then the evolution
doesn't have anything to do with us. Why should evolution prevent us from dying.......
[more]
Fitness Genetics: All Pain, No Gain?
by Nitin Kapai
Do you really think that getting up each morning at 5’o clock and
going for that strenuous morning run and a nice workout at the gym is gonna
give you that great look you’ve always wanted? You do, don’t you?
Well here’s something to burst your bubble.......... [more]
Microbial Forensics by
Tanuj Malkani
Deliberately spreading disease among the enemy has been occasionally practiced
over hundreds of years. But modern bioterrorism is more chilling than ever because
of rapidly expanding knowledge about infectious diseases and biotoxins and their
potential to wreak havoc in complex, interdependent societies........ [more]
Stem Cell Technology by Anshuman
Mirani
When you think of the latest news and developments in the field of Bio
Technology, the thing that comes straight to mind is Stem Cell Technology. So
what are stem cells and what’s all the hype about?............ [more]
X Men: Fascinating Dreams or Imminent Reality
by Anshuman Mirani
While the X-men series, the animation as well as the original comic, is
a big source of entertainment and fascination for most, many bio technologists
around the world are probably taking a great deal of inspiration from it as
well. For those who are not familiar with the concept of X-men, they are “mutants”........
[more]
Columns
Interview of Sriram Kosuri by
Paras Chopra
Brief Biography: I went to UC Berkeley interested in both biology and mathematics.
I naively picked bioengineering as a major. In my second year, I met Adam Arkin
where I started becoming interesting in system biology and stochastic biological
networks. From there, I came to MIT and joined Drew Endy's lab working on understanding
and predicting perturbations of the simple biological organism, bacteriophage
T7.... [more]
Company Profile - Biocon: India’s Biotech
Giant by Anshuman Mirani
29 November 1978. That was the date when the foundations for a revolution
were laid. This was an intellectual revolution that would put India on the world
map of great innovators and raise the hopes of creating a lot of jobs. And the
company which started it all: Biocon...... [more]
A Different Perspective
by Arpita Mirani
When Watson and Crick discovered the DNA and its double-helical structure,
never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that genes and the DNA
would fascinate not only the members of the scientific community, but also detectives,
movie makers and children alike...... [more]
Endnotes by Paras Chopra
As some wise man has said, “The most important thing in world
is not the work, but the initiative taken for that work.” The initiative
to launch yet another life sciences magazine was, therefore, as important as
the magazine itself. The responsibility we had as the first Biotechnology Engineering
batch at our college has made us mature and capable enough to handle projects
such as this magazine...... [more]
Extras
The Biology Quiz by Anshuman Mirani
Let us see how many questions can you answer out of ten?.... [more]
My Web Resources for Biology
by Paras Chopra
More than 100 web resources for Biology, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics,
Biology Animations....... [more]
Feedback
Please write us your comments, suggestions, questions, etc about the articles and/or magazine. We will try to answer your queries, and accept any criticisms and suggestions with a smile :) We also invite articles for the next issue of Jeev.April, 2006, Jeev
http://www.dce.edu/jeev
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