Tag: Vaccines

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-49

About: the world this week, 28 November to 4 December 2021, the media gets omicron infected, Barbados bids adieu to The Crown, France honours an inspirational ‘Danse Sauvage’ banana skirt Spy, The Word of the Year, and China walls-in a tennis player.

Everywhere

The Omicron virus had a frenzied, fierce spread across the media of the world, with every vaccinated or unvaccinated news channel or newspaper dissecting and analysing its known (and unknown) capabilities. The wise said that we require some more time to see and study the effects of the new variant. Getting wiser?

We are definitely not going back to where we started in January 2020: we have evolved – I hope it is good enough. The weapons that we have with us, irrespective of any variant, is the rich learning and training of the past year, which we have to deploy to win yet another battle…and maybe the war. Meanwhile, get that shield!

The Land of the Bearded Tree

Barbados is a small island country in the Caribbean Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, with its capital at Bridgetown, its largest Town. Its neighbours are Saint Lucia, to the north, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to the west, and Trinidad & Tobago to the south. It is a fairly flat island, surrounded by ‘million-dollar coral reefs’; and Tourism generates considerable revenue for the country.

The Portuguese first sighted Barbados in the year 1536 while sailing to Brazil and referred to the island as ‘Los Barbados’ or the ‘Bearded Ones’, probably after the fig trees found on the island which had an uncanny beard-like resemblance. These trees can become incredibly large and are a natural habitat for birds, bats, and monkeys.

Barbados became an independent state in the Commonwealth realm, with Britain’s Elizabeth-II as Queen of Barbados, on 30 November 1966. Centuries ago, in 1625, an expedition for King James-I of England first claimed Barbados, when his ships arrived on its shores. A settlement was established two years later.

Now, after nearly 400 years, Barbados severed its last remaining bonds to the British Monarchy. In October 2021, Dame Sandra Mason was elected by Parliament to become the first President of Barbados. On 30 November 2021, Mason replaced Queen Elizabeth as head of state, with Barbados transitioning to an independent Republic.

This week, in a ceremony on Monday evening, Prince Charles, who was present to ‘hand over the country’, acknowledged the ‘appalling atrocity of slavery’ – a black mark in the history of Barbados, as the nation removed his mother, The Queen, as head of state and inaugurated its first President.

The vibrant celebratory ceremony also showcased Barbadian music and dance, but a highlight was singer Rihanna, who hails from Barbados, being made a national hero and told to keep shining like a diamond and bring honour to the young Republic, by her works and actions. If diamonds are forever, this this original diamond forever belongs to The Republic of Barbados.

France Goes Bananas

This week, the late Josephine Baker, Professional Entertainer-French Dancer, Civil Rights Activist, and World War-II Spy, became the first black woman to be inducted into the Pantheon in Paris, the highest honour that France bestows. The Pantheon is reserved as the final resting place for just dozens of France’s greatest, including Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Marie Curie.

Josephine Baker famously sang that she had two loves: “J’ai Deux Amours” – my country and Paris. They heard it, and loved it.

In a moving ceremony, led by French President Emmanuel Macron who called Josephine an ‘exceptional figure embodying the French spirit, the award was bestowed upon her. At the request of her surviving children, Josephine’s remains will continue to stay in Monaco where she was buried. Instead, a plaque was placed on a cenotaph containing soil from the four places dearest to her heart: St Louis, Paris, her Castle-Les Milandes, and Monaco.

Josephine was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States (US), grew up fatherless, and in poverty. Between the ages of eight and ten she was out of school, helping to support her family, working as a laundry maid; as a live-in domestic help; as a waitress in a Cafe; as a street child in the slums of St. Louis, sleeping in cardboard shelters, scavenging for food in garbage cans; and making a living with street-corner dancing.

On one such street she met her first husband, Willie Wells, who she married at age 13; however, the marriage lasted less than a year. Following her divorce from Wells, she found work with a street performance group called the Jones Family Band. In 1921, at age 15 she married William Howard Baker but left him when her vaudeville troupe was booked into a New York City venue. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925. It was during this time that she began to see significant success in her career as a dancer. And she continued to use Baker as her last name for the rest of her life, as she was, by that time, best known professionally as Josephine Baker.

As a child Josephine developed a taste for the flamboyant that was later to make her famous. In her teen years she struggled to have a healthy relationship with her mother, who did not want her to become an entertainer, but she persisted.

As an adolescent she became a dancer, touring at 16 with a dance troupe from Philadelphia. In 1923, she joined the chorus in a road company performing the musical comedy ‘Shuffle Along’. And then moved to New York City, where she advanced steadily through the show ‘Chocolate Dandies’ on Broadway and the floor show of the Plantation Club.

In 1925, she went to Paris to dance at the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in La Revue Negre and introduced her unique ‘Danse Sauvage’ – an uninhibited, wild, exotic and spontaneous dance – to France. She went on to become one of the most popular music-hall entertainers in France and achieved star billing at the Folies-Bergere Cabaret Hall. She revelled in Paris life, free of the institutionalised racism and segregation at home in America.

Josephine met immediate success on the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees and became the darling of Parisian society. People flocked to see her perform the jaw-dropping banana dance where she appeared semi-nude, wearing the famed banana belt skirt, or in simmering sequins, in the city’s night spots. Her costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Her show, embodying the colonial time’s racist stereotypes about African women, caused both condemnation and celebration.

Josephine became French by her marriage to industrialist Jean Lion in 1937, and made France her home, dividing her time between Paris and a fairytale castle – Les Milandes- which she bought in the southwest of the country.

When World War II began, she joined the French Resistance, famously saying “I want to give myself to France, do what you want with me.” Her fame served her well-she was able to pass coded messages in her music scores without being stopped. She hid Resistance fighters and fleeing Jews in her castle. She had a pilot’s licence at a time when it was exceptional for women to become pilots, and became a lieutenant in the French Air Forces’ female Auxiliary Corps, gaining military decorations. She worked as a spy for France’s wartime-leader-in exile, General Charles de Gaulle.

Josephine also fought against racism in the US, becoming active in the civil rights movement and traveled several times to the US to participate in civil rights demonstrations. Throughout her life she fought for freedom and equality of all.

Josephine adopted 12 children from all over the world from various backgrounds, creating what she called ‘a rainbow tribe’ to embody her ideal of ‘universal fraternity.’ This was to become an inspiration for Hollywood Actor Angelina Jolie who also adopted children from all over the world, in addition to having her own.

Josephine Baker retired from the stage in 1956, but to maintain Les Milandes she had to return to starring in Paris in 1959. In 1968, her estate was sold to satisfy accumulated debt. Then Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco, a good friend of hers, stepped-in to help by providing for Josephine’s children by the Red Cross, and setting her up in a villa outside of Monaco.

She continued to perform occasionally and rebuilt her career. But in 1975, four days after the triumphant opening of a comeback tour, and during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut, she fell into a coma and passed away from a brain haemorrhage. She was buried in Monaco. Princess Grace stood front and centre at Josephine’s burial, a true testament to their friendship.

Oh, what an extraordinary story; rising-up from abject street poverty in America to receiving France’s highest honour! There was no American Dream for her; it was only the French Dance-all the way to her grave.

Get Vaccinated with the Word of The Year

We have used it tirelessly over the past year, even had a couple of jabs of it, Vaccine has been the clear ‘Word Of The Year’ according to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

Last year, 2020, without ay effort, or protest, Merriam-Webster’s chose Pandemic. Not to be left behind, lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary chose ‘Vax’ as their word of the year, due to an explosion in the use of related terms such as ‘vaxxed’ and ‘anti-vaxxer’.

The word ‘vax’ was first recorded in English in 1799, with ‘vaccinate’ and ‘vaccination’ appearing a year later. All of these words find their root in the Latin word ‘vacca’, which means cow. This is because the English Scientist Edward Jenner discovered that cowpox, a mild infection that occurs in cows, can help protect people from smallpox. This was as far back as 1796. He pioneered the concept of vaccines including creating the smallpox vaccine- the world’s first ever vaccine. For many centuries, smallpox devastated mankind. And in these modern times we have learnt to beat such diseases thanks to the remarkable work of Edward Jenner who is called the Father of Immunology. His work is said to have saved more lives than the work of any other human.

I’m sure the ‘Virus’ must be jealous that being the cause of ‘Vaccine’ to get so popular it has been denied this word status. Or did ‘corona’ take it away? Hence it keeps coming back? Name it? Meanwhile, ‘variants’ are waiting on the next page.

China: Kill the Messenger?

Peng Shuai is one of China’s most recognisable sports stars, a three time Olympian.

In November, she publicly accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into sex at his home, in a social media post. She said, ‘even if it is like an egg hitting a rock, or if I am like a moth drawn to the flame, I will tell the truth about you’.

Following the accusation Peng disappeared from public view. And several tennis players began to worry about her on social media using the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stepped in and after a 30-minute video call in the presences of a Chinese Sports Official and IOC Official declared her to be ‘fine’ – I think that’s a dangerous word!And Peng said she would like her privacy to be respected. Now we know for sure!

This week, The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong. The decision was rooted in a lack of transparency by Chinese Officials, with Peng Shuai obviously not be allowed to communicate freely and being pressurised to contradict the allegations she made. This tells about the risks Players and Staff could face in China if events were held in the Country in such an atmosphere. Well, that’s China living inside its Great Wall.

Contrast this with the United States: Ex- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who had to step down from Office, over sexual allegations, brought down his brother, Chris Cuomo, a CNN News Anchor, as well. This week CNN suspended Chris Cuomo indefinitely as he was found to be helping his brother combat and rub-off the allegations.

More skirtful, banana stories coming up in the weeks ahead, wall and rub yourself with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-03

About: This is a story, told from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World.

Everywhere

Indonesia

On 9th January 2021, Sriwijaya Air flight SJY 182, a 26 year old Boeing 737-500 aircraft, took off from Jakarta, Indonesia, on a routine flight – usually 90 minutes – to Pontianak, in the West Kalimantan province of the Island of Borneo. In a few minutes after take-off the plane climbed to a height of 11000 feet when suddenly it dropped to about 3000 feet, in less than a minute, and then unexpectedly crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 50 passengers and 12 crew members. This included seven children and three babies. The plane has a capacity of 130, and all people on-board the flight were Indonesian. The reason for the crash is unclear and the black boxes, both of which have been found and retrieved, are being analysed to find answers.

Indonesian rescuers have pulled body parts, clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea on Sunday morning thereby confirming the crash. And search operations are in full swing.

This is only the 5th accident for Sriwijaya and the first involving onboard deaths. On 27 August 2008, Boeing 737-200, Flight 62 overran the runway at Jambi, Sumatra, striking and killing a farmer in a nearby hut who was taking shelter from the rain.

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, with a population of more than 260 million people. Sriwijaya Air, established on 10 November 2003, is Indonesia’s third largest Domestic, Budget Airline operating from its hub at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Indonesia. It flies people to about 53 destinations within Indonesia and three regional countries.

Air travel is inherently risky and Airline Operators adopt some of the best safety measures available in any mode of human transportation. We can only wish and hope technology further improves and evolves to minimise the chances of an accident off this magnitude.

Going back in time, Srivijaya (written as Sri Vijaya or Sriwijaya) is a Sanskrit derived name meaning ‘prosperous victor’. The name is based on an historical Indonesian Buddhist thalassocracy (ie. primarily maritime realms, seaborne empire) based in Sumatra, Indonesia between the 8th and 12th century. It was the first unified Kingdom, in the region, to dominate much of the Malay Archipelago.

History says that in a rare case of India attacking another country, the Chola King, Rajendra Chola-I, son of the great RajaRaja Chola, of India’s Tamilnadu invaded the Srivijaya Kingdom and brought it to its knees to accept the Chola suzerainty. The provocation was said to be disputes over trade routes by the Srivijya Kingdom affecting a flourishing trade between the Cholas and the Chinese. And the Cholas had an awesome fleet of warships at that time with much of sea-coast under their control. Rajendra Chola-I, one of the greatest Kings of India, expanded the Chola Empire like none before him taking it to the banks of the Ganges in North India and across the Bay of Bengal. The Chola Empire’s territories extended to coastal Burma, the Andaman & Nicobar Island, Lakshawadeep, Maldives, Sumatra, Java, Malaya, and neighbouring Sri Lanka, during his reign between 1014 and 1044 CE.

The Cholas have been one of my all-time favourites with fabulous achievements to their credit. Theirs was a great Empire, and it is distressing to learn that very little is written and known about them in India. And I hope that I have ignited a ‘kind of spark’ here.

Reeling from the aircraft disaster, Indonesia was struck again, this time by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, on Friday morning, on the Island of Sulwesi, leaving at least 30 dead. This came just hours after an earlier, smaller tremor. Hundreds of people were injured and thousands displaced by the quake.

Disaster never comes alone? It brings along its brothers, sisters and cousins, I guess!

Uganda

Reggae singer, pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, aged 38, – real name, Robert Kyagulanyi – hopes to unseat long-serving Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who has been in power of near about 35 years, since the fall of Dictator Idi Amin. And is one of the world’s most despised Dictators. Museveni is seeking a sixth term in the Elections being held on 14th January and besides Bobi Wine there are nine other challengers in the fray.

Over the last two decades Bobi Wine has written and sung songs about improving basic needs in Uganda: access to healthcare, education, clean water, and justice, which music he wishes to string into a Presidential win.

Bobi Wine’s mother was a nurse who worked to bring bread to the table, and bought land in Kampala’s Kamwokya slum where Bobi built his world-famous recording studio. This has earned Bobi Wine the title of ’Ghetto President’ with the run for the presidency.

His song, ‘Tuliyambala Engule‘ (We shall wear the Victor’s Crown) has become one of the campaign’s unofficial themes.

There has never been a peaceful handover of power in Uganda. The Government has suspended social media and internet services during the Elections. Counting is underway, and we hope to hear a new reggae music album hit the Ugandan Charts. Will it be ‘wine’ for the celebrations? Early counting results show President Museveni leading, and results may be declared in the coming days. Let the music play on. Uganda’s national bird, the grey crowned crane, looking down from this week’s doodle, will make its pick, for sure.

The United States of America (USA), again.

On 13 January, The USA executed the first woman, Lisa Montgomery, 52, in nearly 70 years, since 1953. She was the only woman on a death row and was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of a pregnant woman, cutting the fetus out and kidnapping it, in the year 2004. The baby survived.

The US Supreme Court denied a last-ditch effort by the Defense Attorneys who argued that she should have been given a competency hearing to prove her severe mental illness, which would have made her ineligible for the death penalty.

Jaws-II

Meanwhile, we are not done with President Donald Trump who on Wednesday was impeached a second time for instigating the horrible insurrection riots of Capitol Hill, in a culmination of a ‘I do not accept the Presidential Election Results – the Election was stolen from me’ attitude. This is the first-ever US President to be impeached twice, and that too in a single term. Now, the Senate should decide whether to throw him out of Office, which is unlikely as it requires a 2/3rds majority vote. He might live to see another Election having escaped the jaws of justice twice over?

I’m disappointed with the Republicans for failing to control this ‘Bull in an American Shop’. The ten Republicans who broke ranks and voted to impeach the President have the conscience, which others don’t.

Looking up, a lot for firsts are being added to American History. Make America great, again?

Test Cricket Down Under

Playing traditional Test Cricket with Australia, in Australia, India was horribly ‘ground under’, badly mauled in the first test, losing it with what looked like a ‘mobile number score card’ in the second innings. Then it started climbing from the down and clawed back to a superb win in the second test to level the series 1-1. Now in the third test India showed sublime steely defiance to bat out the final day and draw the match-chasing an unlikely 407 runs to win. India got to a score of 334 with five wickets down in an incredible performance, which will go down in Indian Test Cricket History as one of the best fight-backs.

There’s a deciding fourth match coming up in the Test Series and the Winner can still take it all. With Indian Captain Virat Kohli taking ‘baby leave’ (It’s a girl) filling-in Captain Ajinkya Rahane, is becoming man enough to lead the Team, milking the Australian muscle.

Vaccines, again

India is beginning to roll out one of the biggest Vaccination drives in the world with the precious Vaccines, stored cold, being dispatched to various destinations across India. The first vaccination is expected to happen on the 16th January.

I say, get that arm ready for the punch!

Data Security and Breaches

This is a topic on a high these days with people debating on which messenger service to move to after the very popular Facebook owned WhatsApp announced some fat changes in its Privacy & Data sharing Rules between its Companies, to take effect from 8 February 2021. Who reads the legal-jargon fully loaded-fine print anyway before ticking ‘I accept’? Suddenly, there was a scramble to discover other messenger Apps with leaner terms & conditions. My College Group hunted down Signal after initially tinkering with Telegram, and we are moving to new data highways.

Meanwhile, in a data breach unprecedented in its scale in India, a large multi-speciality private Hospital in Kerala had all of its patients’ records of the last five years leaked on to the internet. These were records of Medical Test Results, Scans, Prescriptions, etc., searchable by a unique patient ID.

The Government too was caught napping, when in early January this year there was a story on a technology portal about how details of COVID-19 test results of tens of thousands of patients were leaked on the internet through multiple Government of Delhi domains.

How does this happen? Most common ways are, criminal hacking, human error, malware, unauthorised use, social engineering, etc.

What do we do to prevent data breaches from happening? Some tips are: Limit access to valuable data, conduct employee security awareness training, company-wide, update software regularly, encrypt data, and develop a cyber breach. Keep updating that software on your Mobile Phones, Computers and other software driven electronic devices.

My golden rule is, engage with social media ‘fully dressed’ and undress yourself only when you are at home. Share, and ‘show things’ that you would like everyone in this world to see and don’t mind it… and keep all other things to yourself.

Please Yourself

It was a tiring day, after close-of-work I had a hot shower-allowing the steam to caress the skin and soften the body, and then decided I deserved to reward myself with a good movie. I switched on Netflix and after the mandatory flirting through a cornucopia of movie choices opened the curtain on Rajiv Menon’s inspirational 2019 Tamil movie ‘Sarvam Thaalamayam’ (rhythms everywhere) starring music director G V Prakash as the hero, Peter Johnson. G V Prakash? Oops, I had never seen him act in a movie before this. Never mind, let the film roll.

It’s a story about a famous mridangam player named Vembu Iyer – strung impeccably by the great Malayalam Film Actor, Nedumudi Venu – and his student Peter Johnson, son of a poor expert mridangam maker. Peter is a diehard fan of Actor Vijay with innate music skills, which he displays to wide acclaim on the streets, when celebrating the film openings of his hero. While delivering a mridangam to the maestro Vembu Iyer, playing on Stage, he is enthralled by the scene and decides to learn from the master himself. The movie is about finding one’s calling and relentlessly trying to achieve it after various up & downs. The heroine, Sara, is a nurse who besides the actual nursing job, including treating Peter on first contact (falling in love is a must) when he gets injured in a street brawl, nurses the talent of Peter. She encourages him to learn from the ‘beats of nature’ if he is unable to find himself a Teacher, when Vembu Iyer throws him out over a misunderstanding. The movie is about how Peter gets back to Vembu Iyer, finishes his training and comes out beating the mridangam on his own. Many memorable performances by the cast. Watch it for the motivation.

More stories, coming-up, in the weeks ahead.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-01

About: This is a wonderful story, from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World. This week we take five heavy steps in 2020 and two light steps in 2021. A solid start, for sure.

Everywhere

The Software Of Life: The Hard Story of Katalin Kariko

Ever wondered how we got a Vaccine for Covid-19 so quickly? This is the incredible, fascinating story of how an indefatigable, never-say-give-up biochemist provided the foundation and the springboard for making this possible.

I quote this unforgettable, powerful – my all time favourite – speech by Howard Roark, in a court, in Ayn Rand’s classic, ‘The Fountainhead’, defending his unconventional method of approach to work.

“Throughout the centuries there were men (also meaning women) who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was the first, the road new, the vision un-borrowed, and the response they received-hatred. The great creators-the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors-stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anaesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of un-borrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered, and they paid. But they won”. Let’s take the next step on this week’s road.

The announcement of the discovery of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) – one of the fundamental building blocks of life – and cracking of the genetic code happened within weeks of each other in a climax of scientific excitement in the year 1961. We have all, by now, become awfully familiar with mRNA, haven’t we?

For more than a decade, researchers in the US and Europe had been attempting to unravel exactly how the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is involved in the creation of proteins – the long strings of amino acids, and the carrier of genetic information, that are sine quo non to the growth and functioning of all life forms. It was discovered that mRNA is the answer. These molecules act like digital tape recorders, repeatedly copying instructions from DNA in the cell nucleus, and carrying them to protein-making and synthesizing structures called ribosomes. Without this key role, DNA would be nothing but a useless string of chemicals, and so some have dubbed mRNA the ‘software of life.’ Now, onto our biochemist, the mRNA Scientist.

Katalin Kariko was born in the year 1955, in a Christian family in Szolnok, Central Hungary. She grew up in Kisujzellas on the Great Hungarian Plain where her father worked as a butcher. Fascinated by science, Kariko began her career, at age 23, at the Biological Research Centre in the University of Szeged, Hungary, where she obtained her PhD. Kariko was first exposed to the functions of mRNA as an under-graduate student in 1976, during a lecture at the University and has been intrigued ever since. Her PhD was on studying how mRNA might be used to target viruses. While the concept of gene therapy was also beginning to take off at the same time, she felt mRNA had the potential to become a game-changer in kicking-up the body’s cells to fight infections.

Communist Hungary being always hungry for resources couldn’t feed Kariko’s hunger, leave alone her appetite, for research, and in 1985 the University sacked her.

With little opportunities elsewhere, Kariko got a job at the Temple University, Philadelphia, USA and decided to immigrate. Hungarians being forbidden to take money outside the country, she sold the family car in the black market, and hid the money by sewing it up inside her two-year old daughter’s stuffed toy teddy bear.

It did not take long for the American Dream to crash-land. And after four years, Kariko was forced to leave Temple University and join the neighbouring University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), following a dispute with her boss, who even attempted to have her deported.

By the early to mid 1990s, the initial excitement surrounding mRNA was beginning to thin-out and fade. While scientists had cracked the problem of how to create their own mRNA, a new hurdle had emerged: when injected into animals it induced such a severe inflammatory response from the immune system that the animal died. Any thoughts of human trials was impossible.

However, Kariko was determined to solve this problem. But many other scientists were turning away from the field, and her bosses at UPenn felt mRNA had shown itself to be impractical, and she was wasting her time. They issued an ultimatum, if she wanted to continue working with mRNA she would lose her prestigious faculty position, and face a substantial pay cut.

Meanwhile, Kariko was diagnosed with cancer and her husband who had gone back to Hungary, to complete unfinished business, got stranded over a Visa issue.

While undergoing surgery, Kariko thought it over: decided to stay in UPenn, accept the humiliation of being demoted, and continue to doggedly pursue the problem. This led to a chance meeting with Drew Weissman, a respected immunologist, who moved to UPenn in 1977, which would both change the course of her career, and that of science.

While Kariko’s academic status at UPenn remained lowly, Weissman had the necessary funding to finance her experiments, and the two began a partnership.

Kariko and Weissman realised that the key to creating a form of mRNA which could be administered safely, was to identify which of the underlying nucleosides – the letters of RNA’s genetic code – were provoking the immune system and replace them with something else ‘more friendly’. In the early 2000s, Kariko stumbled upon a study which showed that one of these letters, Uridine, could trigger certain immune receptors. It was the crucial piece of information she had been searching for.

Every strand of mRNA is made up of four molecular building blocks called nucleosides. But in its altered, synthetic form, one of those building blocks, like a misaligned wheel on a car, was throwing everything off by signalling the immune system. So Kariko and Weissman simply substituted it with a slightly tweaked version, creating a hybrid mRNA that could sneak its way into cells without overly alerting the body’s defences.

In 2005, Kariko and Weissman published their Study, announcing a specifically modified form of mRNA, which replaced Uridine with an analog – a molecule which looked the same, but did not induce an immune response. It was a clever biological trick, and one which worked. When mice were injected with this modified mRNA, they lived. Kariko and Weissman filed a patent, established a company, but then found there was no interest shown in their work. Nobody invited them anywhere to talk about it, nothing at all.

Unknown to them, some scientists were quietly paying attention and reading the fine print of their publication. And in 2010 a Biotech company called Moderna, was founded with a group of Harvard and MIT professors, with the specific aim of using modified mRNA to create vaccines and therapeutics. A decade on, Moderna is now one of the leaders in the Covid-19 vaccine research and production, as part of America’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ which goal is to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021. Around the same time Moderna was founded, Kariko and Weissman finally managed to commercialise their finding, licensing their technology to a small German company called BioNTech, after five years of trying and failing.

Both Moderna and BioNTech, which was founded by a Turkish born entrepreneur, had their focus on the lucrative fields of cancer immunotherapy, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Now that Kariko and Weissman’s discovery made it possible to safely administer mRNA to patients, some of the original goals for mRNA back in the 1970s, suddenly become viable possibilities, again.

In 2013, Kariko accepted an offer to become Senior Vice President at BioNTech after UPenn refused to reinstate her to the faculty position she had been demoted from in 1995. She was told, UPenn concluded that she wasn’t ‘Faculty Quality’. When she said she was leaving they laughed at her and said, ‘BioNTech doesn’t even have a website.’ Kariko has been at the helm of BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine development ever since, and the Official Vaccine co-developed with Pfizer has now been approved for use.The rest, they say, is history.

With the Covid-19 pandemic requiring vaccine development on an unprecedented scale, mRNA vaccine approaches held a clear advantage over the more traditional but time consuming method of using a dead or inactivated form of the virus to create an immune response. Basically, the mRNA tells cells what proteins to make, essential to keeping our bodies alive and heathy. The mRNA degrades quickly and the instructions it gives the body aren’t permanent, making the technology and ideal platform for a variety of applications.

After so many years of adversity, and struggling to convince people that her research was worthwhile, she is still trying to comprehend the fact that her breakthrough in mRNA technology could now change the lives of billions around the world, and help end the pandemic. She has passed on the strong-willed message to her daughter, Susan Francia, who won the gold medal in the US Rowing Team, in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Katalin Kariko deserves a Noble Prize. Medicine, or Chemistry – you decide!

The World of Abortions

This Wednesday, Argentina, South America’s third-most populous, catholic-majority country, legalised abortion in an historic vote to give millions of women access to legal terminations under a new law supported by its President, Alberto Fernández.

The law will legalize abortion in all cases up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion in Argentina, is currently only permitted when a pregnancy results from rape or endangers the life or health of the woman. In all other circumstances, abortion is illegal and is punishable by up to fifteen years in jail.

According to a study report nearly 40,000 women and children in Argentina were hospitalized in 2016 as a result of unsafe, clandestine abortions or miscarriages.

Let’s do a quick flashback, when India passed a similar, important legislation in January 2020, which went largely un-noticed and un-applauded. India amended its Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act allowing women to seek abortions as part of reproductive rights and gender justice placing India in the top league of countries serving women who wish to make individual choices based on their own perspectives and situations. The new law leans forward a lot, is empathetic, and looks at a very sensitive issue with a human face.

India’s MTP Act raised the upper limit of MTP from 20 to 24 weeks for women, including rape survivors, victims of incest, differently-abled women and minors. Failure of contraception is also acknowledged, and MTP is now available to ‘any woman or her partner’ replacing the old provision for ‘only married woman or her husband.’ It proposes requirement of opinion of one Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks. It also provides for the requirement of opinion of two RMPs for termination of pregnancy of 20 to 24 weeks. It seeks to increase the upper limit from 20 to 24 weeks for survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women. For unmarried women, the Bill seeks to relax the contraceptive-failure condition for ‘any woman or her partner’ from the present provision for ‘only married woman or her husband’, allowing them to medically terminate the pregnancy.

Whoa, unbelievable things happening inside us! I’ve always believed that a woman should have complete control over her body, and make informed choices depending on the predicament she is in.

The striking Indian farmers should have applauded this law, which is as path-breaking at the new Farm Laws. Sometimes, we simply do to know what is good for us until we plough, seed and watch the results swell – and occupy space!

Rajinican’t: In World Inthavaaram, 2020-49, I talked about 70 year old South-Indian Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s decision to enter Indian Politics.

https://kumargovindan.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/world-inthavaaram-2020-49/

This time around, after many tireless flicks of the cigarette, it missed the lips. The Actor was hospitalised with irregular blood pressure during a shooting of his 168th film ‘Annaatthe’ (meaning, elder brother) and the movie crew got infected with Covid-19. This was weeks before he was to make an announcement of launch of a casteless, boundary less New Political Party on 31st December 2020 to take on the mighty parochial, chauvinist Dravidian Parties of Tamilnadu. The Doctors on discharging him from Hospital put the brakes on his ventures outside the bed and advised complete bed-rest for at least a week. In 2016 Rajini has undergone a kidney transplant and has been plagued with health issues over the years. Given the stranglehold of the pandemic, making it awfully difficult to meet people and convince them to vote for him, Rajini decided to quit politics even before he entered it, citing health issues. God sent him an email (probably a mRNA hit him in Hospital?), while lying on his Hospital Bed, and Rajini read it well.

Millions of his fans were disappointed. But, I think it’s a bold decision. Made me wonder why he was ‘still acting’ when he was planning to launch his political career in a couple of days? Appears that he wanted to finish the shooting, of the already started film, before plunging into full-time politics. It wasn’t to be. Wisdom is making intelligent choices on things you can and cannot do. Cigarette-flicking takes the pressure off the head, putting it in the hands…and it works!

The Ancient World

Every new year becomes seemingly brighter, once we unravel and learn more about new things of ancient life on Earth; the way our ancestors lived – well, actually the way they ate their food.

Archaeologists digging in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have made the extraordinary find of a hot food and drinks snacks shop – known as a termopolium – that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to locals and passersby. The shop, with its bright frescoes and terracotta jars, was discovered in 2019 and unveiled last Saturday. It is expected to be opened to the public – for viewings only – this year. Once the travel restrictions are lifted, buy yourself a ticket to Pompeii for an ancient snack?

Pompeii, 23 km southeast of Naples, Italy, was home to about 13,000 people when it was buried in a volcanic eruption from ‘loudly thinking’ Mount Vesuvius, in 79 CE.

Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop-keeper probably lowered into a counter with circular holes. The front of the counter was decorated with brightly coloured frescoes, some depicting animals that were part of the ingredients in the food sold, such as a colourful rooster and two ducks hanging upside down. Traces of pork, fish, snails and beef had been found in the containers, a discovery which is a ‘testimony to the great variety of animal products used to prepare dishes.’

For sure the Romans ate well!

The UN has declared 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, while it’s also the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables.

Happy New Year 2021. The best is yet to come! And there’s lots to eat.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2020-49

About: This is a light-hearted story on what happened this week, in our World. I have reduced the marked boundaries this week hoping that we slowly evolve to a boundary less world. Imagine!

I’m also moving away from a pure reporting style to what I call, a ‘pulsating style’, with my breath in it. Hope you can feel it.

Everywhere

We look forward to new tidings in the New Year, and why not? The US is surely looking for inspiration in this direction with the ‘almost newly elected’ – yet to be wholly certified – President-elect Joe Biden looking to crank up the year(s). He is getting there, with his Transition Team receiving formal briefings since this Monday, and making announcements on new people additions – diverse, I must say – to governing portfolios. And they look to be just the right people behind the right desks. A team that looks like America!

One State after another is legally certifying the Election results in favour of Biden-Harris, in what seems to be a long-drawn process, consistently debunking the ‘baseless’ road-block charges of cases put up by the outgoing golf-playing President. Look, this is America, again.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister (PM) Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2019 for talking peace with neighbouring Eritrea and unlocking many chained freedoms in his own Country, after decades of untold repression. Now in 2020 he is in a bloody ethnic war with rowdy elements in the country’s northern Tigray region, bordering Eritrea.

Ethiopia is divided into ten regions, and two cities, each with great autonomy, regional police and even militia. Abiy wanted to coalesce these divisions into a united country, which the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which rules Tigray, saw as usurping of its powers. PM Abiy had dismantled the ruling coalition, led for years by the TPLF, and created a new Prosperity Party. This created a situation where the TPLF had to join the new Party and agree to PM Abiy’s dictations, or not. The TPLF opted not to join.

Recently, Elections called in the Tigray region, by the Government, were postponed due to the pandemic, which the TPLF disobeyed and went ahead with its own causing the present conflict to flare up, with the PM not recognising the Election results – rightfully so. Then the TPLF attacked an Army Post and the firing broke out. At the time of this post PM Abiy has subdued the TPLF – at least for the time being.

The TPLF should abandon its ‘illegal’ occupation of the minds of the people, join the Prosperity Party and work for the prosperity of Ethiopia. War of this kind gets one nowhere and the constant abrasion wears out everyone thin on both sides.

Early this week, as super cold winds descended on the North, India witnessed sordid protests by Farmers mostly in Punjab and Haryana against the New Farm Laws unleashed by the Central Government. Nearly every known Agricultural Expert in the Country has ‘certified’ that the New Farm Laws are path-breaking and the best thing ever to happen to Farmers in decades. Nevertheless, a section of powerful farmers are refusing to lean-in.

The New Laws basically throw open the up-to-now within-mandis /Government controlled markets of farm produce, enabling Farmers to sell directly to who ever they think offers them the best price, besides sticking to parts of the old system if they feel unsafe. This kills gangs of middlemen, many of whom live and propagate in swanky five-star Offices – mostly in the Punjab-Haryana area, from where the protests are the loudest. Now you know why! Many rich Politicians in India claim they are humble farmers – owning swathes of land. Other aspects of the New Farm Laws remove many foods items from the over 60 years old Essential Commodities List; and allows Contact Farming – a form of which has already been successfully introduced in Punjab. Think about this statistic: Farmers in Punjab (followed by Haryana) are the wealthiest Farmers with receipts 600% higher the that of the average ‘poor’ Indian farmer.

The way I see it, the New Farm Laws are progressive and gives absolute freedom to Farmers. Further, I’m for making a new Law, which taxes five-star rich farmers so that the poorer ones stop gaping at the stars and grow richer indoors.

News breezes in that Farmers in the State of Maharashtra are already reaping the benefits of the new laws being planted, and in recent time they have harvested over Rs 100 million in out-of-mandi sales across many districts. The heart of a farmer needs more!

India has always had a broad-based, deep-digging, farming community and this Government wants to lift them up to flower a better living. You cannot do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Let’s adopt the new and remove weeds in our path as we grow. The Farmers must listen and get back to their farms. Opposing for the sake of opposing is a fruitless endeavour.

“Let us change everything. If not now, never”, thundered one of India’s biggest movie superstars, the stylish Rajinikant, on 30th November, ‘announcing that he will announce’ the launch of a brand new Political Party on 31st December 2020’. He plans to contest all 234 State Assembly Seats in Tamil Nadu in the Elections to be held in May-June 2021. No doubts on the speed: he is known to be quick on the draw and super quick enough to catch a bullet by his teeth, when fired at him; and believe me there is no cigarette in the world that has not enjoyed the olympic journey from the pack, to the hand, to the lips, than Rajini’s master flick. Rajini’s ‘punch’ dialogues (one line statements sandwiched with meaty stuff, as the one at the top of this section) are legendary and changed the course of an Assembly Election, many years ago. “Even God cannot save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa comes back to power” – that was the whip-lash, death-blow punch in 1996, which knocked-out the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa…and reverberated for a long time.

Hope the punch dialogues now works for his own party-when formed.

Of course he had his no-speed, Hamlet moment, ‘To do or not to do Politics’ since 2017 and Fans had almost given up. Now they are cheering non-stop. And the cigarettes are firing about like crazy and punches are being thrown in the air.

On 2nd December the United Kingdom became the first country in the World to approve (licence) the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination. Britain’s medicines regulator declared it safe to be rolled out. Recall, that Russia and China have already approved use of the Vaccine without waiting for final test results.

The first doses are already on their way to the UK, with as many as 800,000 due in the coming days.

I’m hoping that the Vaccine isn’t garnered by a powerful few and is made available to those who desperately require to be shot with it – to stay alive, longer.

So, the Vaccines are here and many might be wary of them as the Vaccines are made of ‘conked out’, clueless viruses or bits & fragments of them. Well, let me enlighten your decision-making process. Roughly about 8% of human DNA is made up of ancient viruses that used to infect us millions of years ago – they are buried in our DNA. We are just adding to our inner stockpile of virus ammunition. Go out and get vaccinated, when the Vaccine does arrive. Your kids will carry them forward and have a story to tell, in generations to come. That’s domesticating the virus, is it not? We have it chained to our DNA.

Please Yourself

I reckon this is vacation season. I’ve been reading about a few Bollywood starlets, some ‘newly married’, some ‘old married’ heading for gorgeous sea-green holidays in the Maldives. And spraying sizzling photographs on Instagram, and the kind. They can be seen on the beach-front, on the water, in the water, under the water, and on the marriage bed with fishes swimming above on the ceiling among other wonderful, picturesque sights. Difficult to choose between the starlet, the fish, and the scenery (…and the bed). I hope secrets tumble out soon – we know where to look, for the special effects!

Over the past week, I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix and kept in-step with Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Family moves in ‘The Crown‘. And also watched the true-story based 2007 year movie ‘American Gangster’. It’s a fascinating story of an honest cop who refuses to hide a million dollar cash-stash he finds in an abandoned car in a crime scene – instead hands it over to the Authorities. And the story of the clever rise to ‘indecent power’ of a drug-lord Kingpin who fearlessly establishes a cocaine drug-empire in America. Later, the cop busts the thriving drug-dealing gang which results in half of the New York Police being arrested for being complicit in crime. The honest cop goes on to become an Attorney – after doing evening classes – and gets the convicted Kingpin released after a jail term of 15 years. Russel Crowe honestly plays the honest cop and Denzil Washington drugs the Drug Lord. I thought both essayed their roles to perfection as Richie Roberts and Frank Lucas respectively, in a well-directed movie by Ridley Scott. Go watch it for the superb performances.

Honest pays and being honest is a reward in itself. Let’s live up to the policeman image of Richie Roberts. Worth emulating for a million dollars!

After months of scrubbing and soap-washing my hands I think I’ve finally reached the bone of the coronavirus. It’s a matter of time before I smash it with an over 95% efficient Vaccine hammer. Will 2021 be the year of the hammering the virus? Meanwhile, please wear that layered mask, keep washing – to remove bone stains – and, mind the gap between fellow humans. That actually keeps the virus away. It works!

Il’be dishing out more pulsating and honest stories in the weeks ahead. Our World is complex, but we do not have to understand everything – just the few that matter and ‘cook the food’ for us. And keep at it.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2020-48

About: This is a light-hearted commentary of what happened this week, in our World.

Wisdom

“I’m tough, ambitious and I know exactly what I want, If that makes me a b***h, Okay” – Madonna, Singer-Songwriter.

Everywhere

New Zealand’s Parliament

I just cannot stop talking about Jacinda Arden’s New Zealand. When Jacinda was re-elected as Prime Minister in a landslide last month, she brought-in to the law-making business people from diverse backgrounds, in what is considered as the most inclusive Parliament in the world. Almost half of New Zealand’s newly sworn-in Parliament are women and 11% are LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning). Both New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori and people with Pacific Island heritage are represented at a slightly higher rate than in the general population.

“It looks like New Zealand looks. We’re not male, pale and stale anymore”, said a professor of Politics at the University of Auckland, of the country’s Government.

Vaccines

The coronavirus Vaccine Station is beginning to fill. Over the past weeks, we had Sputnik V, Pfizer, and Moderna come up with positive results of ensuring coronavirus negatives. On 23rd November, Oxford/AstraZeneca of the United Kingdom wriggled in to the Station with claims of about 70% efficacy levels going up to 90% if a lower dose is used. Smells like Homeopathy? The Oxford Vaccine is cheaper, easier to store and distribute.

In China, a company called Sinopharm claims its vaccine has been given on an experimental basis to nearly a million people and has no adverse reactions, as yet. However, it has not provided any clear clinical evidence of efficacy levels.

If the coronavirus is listening to all the Vaccine Noise it must be packing its bags to return home (China?) and lie-low until we again put up the ‘Welcome Home Board’ – lets not!

Vaccines take years to develop, but thanks to advancement in science & technology and great minds working awfully hard, we are getting quicker results and perhaps longer lives.

The United States (US) of America.

US President Donald Trump, a loser, is getting close to agreeing to hand-over to the winning Biden-Harris team in January 2021 and the Transition seems to be happening. But he is yet to concede. ‘Biding’ his time?

Meanwhile, with the pandemic hitting many highs in America, accelerated by the Thanksgiving movement, Trump is spending more time on his golf course.

Does it help? Could it be that he tried his best to ’go out’ famous but settled down to become infamous? That’s famous anyway!

India

Violin Making

Antonio Stradivari (1644 to 1737) hailing from Cremona, Italy is said to be the greatest hand-made violin maker in history and a Stradivarius Violin is considered the finest string instrument ever created. They are highly prized, valued, and used by professionals the world over.

Baluswamy Dikshitar – one of the trinity of carnatic music composers – is believed to be the first, in India, to introduce the violin into traditional carnatic music in the 17th century. With this background here’s a story.

The art and craft of indigenously making a hand-made violin did not reach India, until recently. Four craftsman: Renjith K P of Mallapuram, Kerala, a father-son duo of Murali E D & Vinay Murali from Ernakulam, Kerala, and Satyanarayana of Tamil Nadu achieved a historic milestone in completing hand-made copies of the famous Stradivarius Violin after attending rigorous training workshops, knowns as ‘Violin Wise’, organised by the Lalgudi Trust, founded by late Lalagudi Jayaram and now run by his violinist son G J R Krishnan.

Over many years, beginning in 2013, the four craftsman diligently attended the annual workshops making steady progress in learning the art, and every aspect of hand-making a violin. James Wimmer a renowned Luthier – someone who builds and repairs a string instruments – from Santa Barbara, USA who trained in Germany under Wolfang Uebel – a violin making specialist- has been engaged by the Trust to train the craftsmen, which has eventually brought hand-made violin making (and repair) to this finelytuned stage. It takes about two to three months to hand-craft a violin and costs about Rs 1.5 Lakh.

In India, teak and jackfruit tree are used for making violins while European woods, such as maple spruce, are the best to bring out the right tone. Other kinds of Violins are mostly made in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh and in Kolkatta, West Bengal.

Can you recall some Violin greats? I can, a few: Late Yehudi Menuhin is one, Joshua Bell, Nicole Benedetti… are others. India? Late Kunnakudi Vaidyananthan, Late Lalgudi G Jayaraman, L Subramanian…

Sport

Football: The ‘Hand of God’ goes back to God.

On 25th November, Diego Armando Maradona, of Argentina, one of the greatest, superstar, football players of all time passed the ball to God who was standing outside the Football arena, and ran to him, forever – never to return, falling to a ‘red card’ cardiac arrest. He was 60 years old, and we all wish he could have shown us more of his magic play, conquering our hearts with his divine talent of running and scoring magnificent goals with the ball. Who can forget the ‘Hand of God Goal’, but better still the second goal by Maradona – voted the ‘Goal of the Century’ four minutes after the Hand of Gold Goal, in the very same game. Let’s go back to that game.

It was a sunny 22nd June 1986, the FIFA World Cup Quarter-Final between Argentina and England in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. There was a shimmering tension in the air as the game was set to begin.

In the background was a humiliating defeat in the Falklands War over ‘territorial’ claims, ‘handed’ down by Iron-lady Margaret Thatcher’s England, to Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri’s Argentina. On the football field, the then 25 year old Captain Maradona said, ‘Let’s get on with the Game’

The scores were tied 0-0 at half-time. Six minutes into the second half of the match, Maradona while trying to dribble past the English defenders passed the ball to team-mate Jorge Valdano. However, the ball was cleared towards the England goal by English defender Steve Hodge. Maradona pounced on the chance but struggled to get to the ball with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton heading up at almost the same time. But Maradona ‘grew a leg’ on his left arm to nudge the ball-in what looked like a header – and found the net, giving Argentina the much-needed goal lead. The English players complained to the Referee on the use of arms, but the goal stood up to the challenge – given that there was no video refereeing at that time and the Referee was obstructed (by God?) from having a clear view. The benefit of doubt went to Argentina. Later, Maradona said the goal was, “a bit with the head and a bit with the hand of God.”

Four minutes after the ‘Hand of God goal’, in the 55th minute, Maradona collected the ball in the Argentine half and in a magical, extraordinary solo run, weaved his way through the England defence as if it wasn’t there, before striking a low hard shot into the nets. It was voted one of the greatest goals of all time.

Said somebody from the England side, ‘The first goal was a disgrace, It was handball, and it was a dreadful mistake, but the second goal was a miracle. One of the most brilliant I had ever seen. He (Maradona) has such grace, such poise on the ball. I didn’t like the second goal, but I couldn’t help but admire it.”

Going on, Argentina beat Belgium, 2-0 (Maradona scored twice) in the Semi-Finals, to reach the Finals with Germany, which it won, 3-2. Argentina lifted the Football World Cup for the second time in 1986, the first being in 1978.

Diego Maradona was the son of a maid and a factory worker and grew up in a shack in Villa Fiorito, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He stood five feet, five inches, but his stocky body and muscular legs gave him awesome explosive power.

Like the game of Football, Maradona’s life can be divided into two halves – God being a full-time Referee in the first.

In the first half, Maradona began his professional career at age 15, at Argentinos Juniors, a historic but modest club. Success there took him to Boca Juniors and then to Barcelona and Napoli. But he found fame and fortune hard to handle; and craved affection. Nightclubbing, with the wrong people, led to dribbling with cocaine addiction – a habit he struggled to tackle and overcome. There were many women in his life, and they say he had enough children to form a football team of his own.

The second half of Maradona’s life was tragic. Obese, looking worn-out, and often in pain he made pathetic attempts at comebacks. He failed as a Manager, especially of Argentina’s national team and was often in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In his sagacity, he predicted that compatriot Lionel Messi would become one of the World’s greatest players. Kind of handing over the ball? No 10.

Rest in Peace, Diego Maradona. We’ll miss the Hand of God. But those trademark surging solo runs with the ball as-if glued to the football boots, and the instinctive dashes of brilliant vision will forever stay glued to our memory. He is Legend. Never mind the second half!

Melange

Spider Silk

There are about 40,000 known species of Spiders, and they have been around on Earth spinning their webs for over 300 million years. They can be found in every Continent except Antarctica. If the world’s population of spiders worked together, they could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year. Planet of the Spiders? Not all spiders build webs, but every species produces silk.

Spider silk is stronger by weight than steel and as tough or even tougher than Kevlar – the toughest man-made polymer. It is finer than human hair and able to maintain its strength below – 40 Degrees Centigrade. Spider silk is also more elastic and waterproof than silkworm silk.

Spider Silk is primarily made up of proteins- chains of amino acids. There are about seven types of silk, for different uses, produced by seven separate silk glands. A single spider does not possess all seven glands and has about three or four of them in a life. The glands are located at the lower side of the abdomen and contains a watery fluid known as ‘dope’, which is the first stage of silk production. This fluid passes through a spinneret (a web spinner) and in fractions of a second, this goopy, liquid slurry of proteins is transformed. And it doesn’t just turn into a solid. On their way out of a spider’s bottom, the protein building blocks in silk, called spidroins, fold themselves and interlace, creating a highly organised structure – many fibres bound together like a cable – without a catalysing outside force. The diameter of a single fibre is controlled by the muscular action of a valve. The faster and tighter the silk is drawn, the stronger the silk. That’s how they generate different qualities of silk.

Scientists have spent years trying to mimic spider silk hoping that it will someday revolutionise the construction of ultra-strong, sustainable materials.

How about a spider silk sari with a matching spider silk blouse for an Indian Wedding? Lots of strength in there!

While spiders produce tough silk, the World is continuously spinning a web or hard news. There’s lots of turmoil in Africa: Ethiopia, Nigeria are hitting the brutal headlines. This Friday, a top Iranian Nuclear Scientist was assassinated in Iran: he died in Hospital after an attack on his car. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is showing signs that he may finally give up power after months of protests against his disputed re-election in August. Down under, Australia is seeing spectacular success in eliminating the coronavirus. Read that the Australian Open Tennis Tournament opening in a new January 2021 may be postponed by one or two weeks.

The World is a happening place. Enjoy every single day. Spin your story, with or without Spider Silk and leave the rest to the Hand of God.