Recently Google announced multiple India-specific projects – “Project Loon”, “Tap to translate”, “Offline mapping” and “Asus Chromebit”. Will these projects have a transformational and disruptive influence on India? Critically discuss. (200 Words)

Answer:-


Google recently launched India specific projects namely Project Loon, Tap to translate, Offline Mapping, Asus Chromebit which can be a game changer & change the way technology sector works in India, let us look closely:

1) Project Loon will revolutionize the way ISPs operate, following a more robust mechanism which will lead to lower cost, better connectivity & less disruptions.
2) Tap to translate will greatly favour a multi-lingual country like India where the population in inner penetrations have low level of literacy in either Hindi or English.
3) Offline mapping will be highly beneficial as most people work with Wifi at home & office, thus while travelling they are devoid of internet which makes journey troublesome.
4) Asus Chromebit will fulfil the objectives Aakash tablet failed to achieve, by offering a low cost CPU at 8000 INR leading to wide E-Literacy.

But, there is note of caution India must adhere to while agreeing for such schemes:
1) These revolutionary technologies might lead to monopoly of Google in India’s market.
2) Telecom operators who have purchased spectrum at exorbitant prices might suffer huge losses.
3) Initial years it might be difficult to keep in track the way these technologies work which might lead to data piracy.
4) Influx of technology without IPR constrains might lead to long term damages.

The huge potential of India where the median population is 23 has become a global market since 1991 & the major source of revenue for companies investing in India. India must go ahead with caveat to change its face in years to come by living upto the ambitious mission “Digital India”

Q.- It is said that IT sector in India is vulnerable to some of US policies vis a vis this sector. Examine why. Also discuss what measures can India take in this regard. (200 Words)

Ans:-

The policies of a government will always depend on its domestic compulsions. Thus the US decision to increase the fee of H1B and L1 visa, which is being accused of giving American jobs to foreigners is hardly a surprise for India. Especially when the Republican party is feeling the heat of presidential election to be conducted in 2016.

Movement of labour freely is one of the essential principles of Globalization, the biggest proponent of which is US himself. As the fee hike is IT sector specific and India being the largest exporter of IT professionals to US, the move is definitely going to affect the Indian IT companies in US. So the following measures could be taken by the Indian govt to address the situation.

Measures-
Short term- Take US to WTO, and prove that Indian companies discriminatively targed.

Long term- Sign a “Model agreement on Visa” with US govt, on the similar lines of “model agreement on exemption from visa for diplomatic travel” the Indian govt is presently working on. This will ensure that the US govt is not only guided by domestic compulsion but also Indian concerns are taken into account. Such an agreement should be brought against a bargain to increase FDI in any of Indian sectors, which would give us additional leverage in discussions.

Camphor-scented leaves found in Western Ghats

The species, which is endemic to the Ghats region of Kerala, was named as Cinnamomum agasthyamalayanum.

A new tree species that gives out strong smell of camphor when its leaves and stem are crushed has been reported from southern Western Ghats.

The species, which is endemic to the Ghats region of Kerala, was named as Cinnamomum agasthyamalayanum after the type locality, Agasthyamala hills, from where it was reported. The find attains significance as this is considered the only endemic species that gives out the smell of camphor. Now, the challenge is to find out whether camphor can be distilled from the plant at commercially viable level. While natural camphor is extracted by distilling the leaves and bark of Cinnamomum camphora, a native to China, Taiwan, southern parts of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, it is also synthetically produced. Camphor oil is extracted by steam from the chipped wood, root stumps and branches of the camphor tree. It is then rectified under vacuum and filter pressed, explained scientists.

Camphor has a wide range of medicinal applications especially in Ayurveda. Camphor has pain-relieving effect. It is an ingredient in a few externally applied oils to relieve muscle spasm. It also has mild mucolitic property and can reduce bronchospasm. It is also used in mild dosage in internal medicines. Cinnamomum agasthyamalayanum was identified by A.J. Robi, P. Sujanapal and P.S. Udayan of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur.

It was found distributed between Attayar and Chemungi of Agasthyamala in Thiruvananthapuram. Isolated populations were also recorded from Rosemala in Kollam district of Kerala. The finding was recently published in the International Journal of Advanced Research.

Though Cinnamomum camphora would grow in Indian climatic conditions, it need not yield camphor at commercially viable levels. The new species can grow up to 8 metres in the dense wet evergreen forests of the Ghats at an altitude between 500m and 1400m, said scientists.

It was found “distributed in the windward evergreen forests of Agasthyamalai phyto-geographical region of southern Western Ghats. The population was found to be very low in all regions which were surveyed.

The leaves and stems of the new species have the smell of camphor probably due to the high content of volatile oil,” said Mr. Sujanapal of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur, Kerala.

TB treatment programme may be generating more MDR cases

The RNTCP currently treats patients without knowing their resistance profile: JMM
The Joint Monitoring Mission 2015 has come down heavily on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for their inability to handle the MDR-TB crisis in the country. The report released last month reflects on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations made by it in 2012.

Despite its inability to diagnose drug-resistant TB, the national programme’s heavy dependence on the century-old, insensitive smear microscopy as a primary diagnostic tool has been strongly criticised. Besides the lack of sensitivity, the microscopy is ill-equipped to diagnose drug-resistant TB. This is particularly worrying as the number of drug-resistant cases is steadily increasing.

The Standards for Tuberculosis Care in India (STCI) — a document drawn up by the Central TB Division in consultation with the WHO and national TB institutes — advocates drug sensitivity testing for all presumed MDR-TB cases. However, this may not become a reality in the near future. “Progress is threatened by slow uptake of the new molecular test” the JMM says. “Procurement of these tests is unaccountably delayed.”

“The RNTCP currently treats patients without knowing their resistance profile,” states the Joint Monitoring Mission report. This along with its current regimen of thrice weekly drugs even to those with prior resistance has been associated with “failure and amplification” of resistance to rifampicin drug. “It is therefore likely, under programme conditions, to be generating more MDR cases,” it says.

While private doctors treat patients with daily dosing, the RNTCP follows a thrice weekly strategy. The report has emphasised the need to “accelerate implementation of the transition to daily dosing.”

According to the report, turning to “universal drug susceptibility testing and switching to a daily regimen with adherence support” can go a long way in addressing the problem of unwittingly exacerbating TB drug resistance in the country.

According to Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director of the Chennai-based National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, the RNTCP is planning to start daily dosing using fixed dose combination in 5-6 States and then expand it to the rest of the country. “RNTCP is currently procuring drugs to make this shift,” she said.

Another failing of the TB programme pertains to the mandatory TB notification by the private practitioners. “In spite of mandatory notification, TB patients [treated by private doctors] are not notified to the RNTCP,” the report says. It wants the Ministry to develop e-Nikshay, an advanced version to the existing Nikshay system for notifying TB patients.

The national strategic plan (NSP) for TB control for 2012-17 developed by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had raised the bar for tackling the rapidly growing TB epidemic in the country. The main goals of the strategic plan are to provide universal access to early diagnosis and treatment and improve case detection.

Due to faltering on both counts, the JMM reports that the “implementation of the NSP for 2012-2017 is not on track — projected increases in case detection by the RNTCP have not occurred, vital procurements are delayed and many planned activities have not been implemented.”

Worse, about two-thirds of the recommendations made by the Joint Monitoring Mission 2012 have “not been fully implemented.” For the most part, the Central TB Division has “completed the policy work requested. Work is held up for lack of timely decisions, especially at central level,” it states.

Recommendations
With the cost of treating a person with TB going up to 39 per cent of the household’s annual expenditure, the report has recommended that the Ministry of Health minimises the out-of-pocket expenditure by families by “supporting the cost of TB testing and [providing] free drugs.” It also wants the government to eliminate taxation on TB diagnostics and drugs considering TB as a public health emergency.

In order to ensure that patients receive the standards for TB care for India, the JMM has recommended that the government establishes a “state-of-art TB surveillance system for capturing all TB cases, public and privately-treated.” This is essential for the country to “capture and respond to local and focal epidemics.”

Algorithms are like invisible judges that decide our fate

Companies now use ‘voice analysis’ software to determine whether to hire us. And, once we’re employed, to predict if we’ll stay

Imagine that you’re a contestant in an audition round of The Voice, where you belt out your best I Will Always Love You. A minute passes. No reaction from the celebrity judges. You keep singing. Another minute, still no encouraging smile or nod.

You strain to hit your highest note, pleading with your performance: “Please, please accept me! I am doing my best!” The song ends. No one wants you. Your family bow their heads in shame. Your mom cries. You stand on the stage, alone in the spotlight, heartbroken. A trap door opens beneath your feet and you slide screaming into Adam Levine’s basement torture maze.Dehumanising

Think that’s bad? In the real world, science has come up with something worse. A company called Jobaline offers “voice profiling” to predict job success based on how candidates sound; its algorithm identifies and analyses over one thousand vocal characteristics by which it categorises job applicants on suitability.

It’s horrible and dehumanising, like all our other profiling (the racial kind is always a big hit!) and reliant on born-in, luck-of-the-genetic-draw factors that we can neither avoid nor control.

This is not the only creepy algorithm system HR departments have been employing to help the company bottom line. Companies like Wal-Mart and Credit Suisse have been crunching data to predict which employees are “flight risks” who are likely to quit (easily remedied with a simple anklet attaching the worker to his or her cash register or cubicle) versus those deemed “sticky,” meaning in-it-for-the-long-haul. The information lets bosses either improve morale or get a head-start on a search for a replacement.

The inventors of such programs often enjoy the impeachable, amoral cloak of scientific legitimacy. When it comes to voice profiling, computers are not judging the speakers themselves; only the reactions the speaker’s voice provokes in other (presumably human) listeners. ‘Mechanical judge’

“The algorithm functions as a mechanical judge in a voice-based beauty contest”, wrote Chamorro-Premuzic and Adler in The Harvard Business Review. “Desirable voices are invited to the next round, where they are judged by humans, while undesirable voices are eliminated from the contest.”

The makers of voice profiling programs tout this as a moral achievement. Human beings bring loads of biases into any evaluation; computers are blissfully unaware of differences in race, gender, sexual preference or age. “That’s the beauty of math!” Jobaline CEO Luis Salazar told NPR. “It’s blind.”

The problem is, when applied in a capitalist system already plagued by unfairness and inhumanity, this blindness sounds really, really dangerous. An impersonal computer program gets first say as to who gets to earn money to buy food and who doesn’t, based on an application of a binary code too subtle and complex for us to understand. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015

NASA launches project to search for alien life

The programme aims to better understand the various components of an exoplanet.

NASA has launched an ambitious project that will lead the search for signs of life beyond our solar system.

The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative will bring together the “best and brightest” and marshal the expertise of 10 universities, three NASA centres and two research institutes, the US space agency said.

The programme aims to better understand the various components of an exoplanet, as well as how the parent stars and neighbouring planets might interact to support life.

The programme brings together planetary scientists, Earth scientists, heliophysicists and astronomers to identify and search for biosignatures, or signs of life.

“This interdisciplinary endeavour connects top research teams and provides a synthesised approach in the search for planets with the greatest potential for signs of life,” said Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science.

“The hunt for exoplanets is not only a priority for astronomers, it’s of keen interest to planetary and climate scientists as well,” said Green.

One NExSS project, called “Exoplanets Unveiled,” will specifically address this question: What are the properties of exoplanetary systems, particularly as they relate to their formation, evolution and potential to harbour life?

The project is led by James Graham, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and will draw upon the expertise of Bruce Macintosh, a professor of physics at Stanford University and the principal investigator for the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI).

Most exoplanets are detected through the Doppler technique — measuring the “wobble” of the parent star as an unseen planet’s gravity tugs on it — or though detection of a transit, as the planet’s orbit brings it between the star and Earth.

As the newest generation of instruments for imaging exoplanets, GPI blocks out the bright star to directly see the faint planet next door.

GPI has already imaged two previously known exoplanets and disks of planetary debris orbiting young stars where planets recently formed.

“Getting a complete picture of all the incredibly strange planetary systems out there will require every different technique,” Macintosh said.

“With this new collaboration, we will combine the strengths of imaging, Doppler and transits to characterise planets and their orbits,” said Macintosh.

The first image of an Earth-ize exoplanet is still likely years away. GPI is currently only sensitive enough to detect infrared emission from hot, bright planets the size of Jupiter.

Detecting the faint, reflected light of cooler, smaller planets will require next-eneration technologies and techniques, which MacIntosh said will be developed via instruments like GPI for eventual use on future planet—finding missions such as NASA’s Wide-ield Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

At 603 kmph, Japan’s maglev train breaks its own speed record

The train accomplished the feat in a test run, surpassing its previous record of 581 kmph set in 2003.

A Japanese maglev, which is the fastest passenger train in the world, has broken its own speed record.

Operator JR Central said the train reached 603 kmph in a test run on Tuesday, surpassing its previous record of 581 kmph set in 2003. The train travelled for about 2 km at a speed exceeding 600 kmph.

Japan’s high-speed rail services are among the most advanced in the world, with hundreds of trains running each day with minimal delays.

The Maglev Test Line, near Mount Fuji about 80 km west of Tokyo, is developing technology for use on a future link between Tokyo and Osaka. The magnetic levitation trains hover above rails, suspended by powerful magnets.

Scientists work on DNA barcoding to help conserve ornamental fish

Indian scientists are using a new approach to identify animal species based on genetic labels or barcodes, to monitor and clamp down on trafficking of ornamental fish from the Northeast — a biodiversity hotspot., Examining genetic sequences can help differentiate species with high accuracy. Hence DNA barcoding can be applied even when traditional methods fail, said biotechnologist Sankar Kumar Ghosh.
“Combined with traditional methods of identification, barcoding can pinpoint threatened fish species being sold under nicknames or popular trade names by exporters in Northeast India, to mislead and avoid detection,” Dr Ghosh, professor, Department of Biotechnology at Assam University, Silchar, told IANS.
To lure hobbyists and enthusiasts, dealers in the northeastern states also adopt other unfair practices like the use of synthetic dyes to impart colour to the fish to make them attractive.
The northeast region is home to around 267 species of fish and about 250 are known for their ornamental value , said Dr Ghosh.
According to a Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute report, the region contributes 80 per cent of the ornamental fish trade in the country.
From small varieties like snakeheads (murrells) to bigger catfish and other unusual looking species, most fetch a good price in the domestic as well as international markets in neighbouring countries like Nepal and Singapore, said Dr Ghosh.
“Although there exist several regulatory enactments in India, aquarium fish are traded largely without endowment to the government and mostly from wild capture. This poses a threat of endangering the species,” he pointed out.
This has necessitated cataloguing the ornamental fish reserve and its diversity in the region. “So we collected over 100 samples of ornamental fish from river beds (the Brahmaputra, the Barak in Assam and rivers from Manipur and Tripura) and traders in Northeastern states and used DNA barcoding to correctly identify 51 ornamental fish species which are exported from the region.
“Of these, around 30 per cent were found to belong to the threatened category. Our study has established that the technique can monitor and regulate trafficking of fish species and help conserve wildlife,” Dr Ghosh said. Of the identified species, as many as 14 are sold under multiple trade names, the study said.
The global annual turnover of ornamental fish trade is estimated at about $10 billion with a growth rate of six per cent per annum. Although India’s contribution to the global ornamental fish trade is meagre at present, the country has a great potential to increase export to about Rs.150 crore annually, said S.P. Biswas, a specialist in fish biology and ecology, citing a recent report.
“It is a very serious issue in the northeastern states. Ornamental fish have a very high demand in the international market and habitat destruction is also a major issue. Genetic methods should be quick enough to identify the species.

Emissions from biomass burning cross the Himalayas

The organic acids present in the aerosols serve as a unique fingerprint in identifying the source of pollution.
Contrary to the general assumption that the southern slopes of the Himalayas act as a barrier and effectively block the transportation of pollutants from India and other parts of South Asia, a study published a couple of days ago in the Nature Group journal Scientific Reports finds sound evidence to prove otherwise.
Aerosols have been found to rise and cross the entire range of the Himalayas. So much so that studies conducted in the northern slope of the Himalayas at an elevation of 4,276 metres above MSL could find markers distinctive of pollution arising from India and other regions of South Asia.
Local meteorological conditions and regional atmospheric flow process have been the two major factors enabling the pollutants to cross over, notes Zhiyuan Cong, the first author of the paper from the Institute of Tibetan Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.
The culprit

The organic acids present in the aerosols serve as a unique fingerprint in identifying the source of pollution. In this case, the dicarboxylic acids served as a fingerprint.
Though dicarboxylic acids can be produced by biomass burning, vehicular exhausts and cooking (primary source), as well as atmospheric photooxidation (secondary source), the researchers were able to pinpoint the source as biomass burning.
Levoglucosan is a specific marker of biomass burning — it is “produced through the pyrolysis of cellulose during the combustion process,” Dr. Cong notes. Another unique marker of biomass burning is the water-soluble potassium. Both the markers showed strong positive correlation with dicarboxylic acids thereby confirming biomass burning as the source of pollution.
Though the pollutants were found to reach the northern slopes of the Himalayas during all the seasons — pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter seasons — the amount of aerosol found peaked during pre-monsoon. This, according to them, is one more indicator of biomass burning as the source.
Agricultural burning and forest fires along the southern Himalayan foothills and the Indo-Gangetic Plain reach a high during the pre-monsoon period. That probably is the reason why the amount of biomass burning marker found peaked during the pre-monsoon time.
Dr. Cong attributes the local topographic relief of the Himalayas as playing an important role in allowing the pollutants to cross the mountains and reach the northern slopes.
The up-valley wind during daytime, being maximum in the afternoon, helps in pushing the pollutants to higher altitude. On the northern slopes, a down-valley wind is prevalent during the same time. The combination of the up-valley wind in the southern slopes and down-valley wind in the northern slopes allows the accumulation of aerosol on the glacier surfaces.
“Acting as efficient channels of south-to-north air flow, the mountain valleys could allow the air pollutants to easily penetrate throughout the Himalayas,” the authors write.
“Regardless of where the pollutants come from, the study has provided compelling evidence that they are due to biomass burning. We must step up the global effort to drastically cut down biomass burning as much as we can,” Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, who is unconnected with the study, told Nature.

Ahmedabad institute’s invention promises sun-like energy

Scientists at the Institute of Plasma Research were successful in confining plasma, the fourth state of matter, similar to creating sun-like energy in a laboratory.
A Gujarat-based research institute has claimed to have made a breakthrough in confining plasma, the fourth state of matter, in a Steady State Super Conducting Tokamak (SST-1).
A Tokamak is a device that uses a magnetic field to confine plasma.
The invention by Institute of Plasma Research will help in boosting energy generation, an official said.
“We have got a breakthrough in confining plasma many times during our experiments. We have produced and confined the high temperature plasma from hydrogen with the help of superconducting magnets inside the machine (Tokamak),” IPR director Dhiraj Bora told PTI.
It is similar to creating sun-like energy inside a laboratory, he said.
The plasma is confined and given heat inside SST-1. The most important source of energy for our earth is the sun which is a perfect spherical ball of hot plasma, the fourth state of matter, with internal convective motion and generates a magnetic field like a dynamo process.
Similar to that, the scientists at IPR, located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, have conducted a fusion experiment with a Tokamak and got a breakthrough in confining plasma which gives a hope to create a sun-like energy in near future.
“A microwave current is passed to keep the plasma hot and to confine it inside a Tokamak. A current of the order of 70,000 amperes is passed and plasma is heated to 200 to 300 million degrees. In such process, plasma gets confined inside it (device) and through that heat energy can be generated,” Bora said.
“We would like to heat plasma further, then we will be able to confine it for longer period of time. This heat can be extracted in the form of energy and can be connected to turbines,” said Mr. Bora.
Confining plasma is necessary for creating such an environment to simulate conditions for fusion reactions, similar to which takes place inside the sun, he said.
According to Mr. Bora, about 5,000 MW of thermal energy can be produced by using just 50 MW of electricity.
The IPR has been running such experiments for around 25 years with the contribution from nearly 50 scientists.
The IPR is an autonomous physics research institute. It is involved in research in aspects of plasma science, including basic plasma physics, research on magnetically confined hot plasmas and plasma technologies for industrial applications.

India fifth biggest generator of e-waste in 2014: U.N. report

India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014, a UN report has warned that the volume of global e-waste is likely to rise by 21 per cent in next three years.
The ‘Global E-Waste Monitor 2014’, compiled by U.N.’s think tank United Nations University (UNU), said at 32 per cent, the U.S. and China produced the most e-waste overall in 2014.
India is behind the U.S., China, Japan and Germany.
Most e-waste in the world in 2014 was generated in Asia at 16 Mt or 3.7 kg per inhabitant. The top three Asian nations with the highest e-waste generation in absolute quantities are China (6.0 Mt), Japan (2.2 Mt) and India (1.7 Mt).
The top per capita producers by far are the wealthy nations of northern and western Europe, the top five being Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and the U.K.
The lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant was generated in Africa (1.7 kg/inhabitant). The continent generated 1.9 Mt of e-waste in total.
In 2014, people worldwide discarded all but a small fraction of an estimated 41.8 Mt of electrical and electronic equipment — mostly end-of-life kitchen, laundry and bathroom equipment like microwave ovens, washing machines and dishwashers.
While only 7 per cent of e-waste last year was made up of mobile phones, calculators, personal computers, printers, and small information technology equipment, almost 60 per cent was a mix of large and small equipment used in homes and businesses, such as vacuum cleaners, toasters, electric shavers, video cameras, washing machines, electric stoves, mobile phones, calculators, personal computers, and lamps. — PTI

There are good reasons to be anti-net neutrality – but you need to really trust telecom companies

There is a simple reason why most pro-net neutrality activists prefer to insist that the neutrality debate is black and white: give an inch and they will take a mile. This is an understandable position to take considering the players involved on the anti-neutrality side are international giants, like Google and Facebook; domestic giants, like Airtel and Reliance; and, at least going by the consultation paper, even the telecom regulator. In reality, however, there are lots of good arguments against neutrality, which itself is a term that has many different definitions.

First a reminder of the basic concept. Net neutrality is the idea that service providers treat all traffic on the internet the same. That means no preferential treatment for any sort of data. No fast lanes, no free lanes, no special prices for Skype or Viber. Net neutrality activists are specifically asking the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to make sure that telecom companies are prohibited from offering some portions of the internet, whether it is WhatsApp or Wikipedia, at a different price to others.

Not everyone agrees, and it is not just because of greedy telecom companies. Here are a few reasons to be anti-neutrality, along with the pro-neutrality responses to them.

Individual Liberties 1: Freedom to innovate
Pro-neutrality activists are asking TRAI not to bring in any licensing of apps or websites on the internet, since current law already applies to the web, and a licensing regime would be an obstacle to innovation. At the same time, they are also asking the regulator to bring in rules to prohibit a company from trying out different business models online, such as creating a fast-lane for high-bandwidth services or offering a select number of services for free.

In both scenarios, it is valid to ask not "how" authorities should regulate but "whether" any regulation is necessary. Customers might not like the fact that they have to pay more for certain things and app-makers might not want to be left out of a free zone, but there is an argument to be made about leaving the marketplace free from fetters. Why should the government come in the way? As with apps, current competition laws also apply to internet service providers. Beyond this, shouldn't companies, especially ones that built the infrastructure which gives access to the internet, be free to innovate?

NN counter: Telecom companies already submit to regulation when they enter the business, so it isn't a perfectly free market to begin with. And that regulation aims to serve the purposes of India's telecom policy, i.e. not to ensure a free market for business, but to provide "secure, reliable and high-quality telecom services to all citizens".

One of the objectives of the National Telecom Policy laid out in 2012? "Mandate an ecosystem to ensure setting up of a common platform for interconnection of various networks for providing non-exclusive and non-discriminatory access." It's a reference to phone calls, but of course is easily extendable to all telecom services.

Individual Liberties 2: Regulatory capture
One reasonable argument is that government regulation will end up standing in the way of the National Telecom Policy's universal access objectives, rather than helping it along. State governments, to give an example, have in the past ended up blocking access to electricity transmission lines rather than facilitating it for their own interests, and "regulatory capture", where such regulations are used to benefit preferred incumbents is a familiar problem of fettered markets.

By requiring TRAI to clear any sort of fresh business model or differential pricing agreement, we are giving more discretion to the regulator instead of to customers. Without TRAI's interference, customers would be free to decide what services and pricing model works best for them.

NN counter: TRAI already plays that discretionary role and regulatory capture is more of a likelihood without a framework governing the internet, such as net neutrality, than with. If net neutrality is embraced as a principle that furthers the National Telecom Policy, then every decision of TRAI's, or even another court, would have to flow from that principle.

Spreading the wealth: Free internet
The anger at Airtel Zero and Internet.org has confused lots of people. Those are "zero-rated" programmes, which effectively involve letting services, like Facebook, subsidise internet usage so that the customer doesn't have to pay for data. Anyone using Airtel Zero or Internet.org can use things like Facebook without having to spend anything. Yet net neutrality proponents are dead set against this, because some services will be priced differently to others.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Airtel have hit back at what has been called "net neutrality absolutism". They argue that this isn't against neutrality, because there are no fast lanes, and also insist some free internet services are more likely to get more people online than no free internet. How could free data be bad? And if Facebook wants to pay for me to use its service, why shouldn't it?

NN counter: Zero rating is still an unsettled issue, with lots of neutrality proponents uncomfortable with rejecting services that seem to expand access to the internet. The arguments against it are more about byproducts than free internet per se.

Zero-rated services would balkanize the internet, creating separate free zones for each service provider. They would also naturally favour incumbent big businesses, since those would have the funds to subsidise free data, potentially stifling innovation. Since there aren't that many ISPs, they also open up the potential for effective extortion, since no service would want to be left out of a free zone. Essentially it creates a "poor internet".

All of that may be defensible as being price innovations, but they could also be anti-competitive and, more importantly, they do not serve the National Telecom Policy's aim of universal connectivity since it is not the "open internet" that users will have access to. Whether the regulator has a legal freedom to prevent this, however, is up for debate.

Fast lanes: More efficient internet
The original neutrality debate involves ISPs charging more for certain kinds of data. Skype calls and YouTube videos need to be uninterrupted and fast, while email access or Twitter can come in slower and still be relatively seamless. ISPs argued that being allowed to charge more for certain services, like Skype, to be on a fast lane, would reduce congestion on their networks and make the internet better for everyone. Without it, they have argued, we are condemned to slow internet for all.

Worse, this prevents telecom operators from making money off of those services that use the internet a lot. Service providers have claimed that without the freedom to do this, and with falling voice and SMS revenues, they won't have the funds to invest in building more infrastructure for the 'net.

NN counter: See what happened to the speeds of video-streaming website Netflix when it was negotiating with American internet service provider Comcast last year over how much it would have to pay.



Neutrality activists believe that fast lanes will easily become a way for ISPs to extort money from services – who after all would want their service on the "slow lane". This could become similar to the way cable networks operate, a system that is control-accessed and therefore stifles innovation and new entrants.

Blow for Net neutrality

It is no surprise to see online retailer Flipkart pulling out of Airtel Zero, the controversial plan offered by India’s leading telecom provider Bharti Airtel to provide its subscribers free access to select websites. Flipkart had to contain the fallout after Airtel Zero was severely criticised by the proponents of Net neutrality, the principle that all Internet traffic has to be treated equally. The e-retailer faced a severe backlash on social media over its decision to join Airtel, and even had its app down-rated on app stores by die-hard Net neutrality advocates. For all the pro-Net neutrality utterances it makes now — ironically, Airtel also does so — what is still a surprise is what made it join the platform in the first place. Flipkart did so disregarding the wave of support for Net neutrality that has been sweeping across India following the recent publication of a consultation paper on it by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Politicians, celebrities and the common person alike have joined the cause. Did it not occur to Flipkart that its own success until now could not have been possible but for an open Internet? Was it pushed into such a deal by private equity investors who have pumped in a few billion dollars into the business in recent years? Or was it emboldened by the relative silence of Net neutrality supporters on a similar scheme, which goes by the name of internet.org?
Facebook introduced internet.org a few months ago to subscribers of Reliance Communications. Airtel Zero and internet.org are very similar schemes. Airtel would know; it is Facebook’s partner in Africa. The only difference is in positioning. Internet.org is presented as an attempt to make the Internet available to those who don’t have access to it. There is no denying that many in India still do not have Web access. But the actors in internet.org are all commercial enterprises, as they are in Airtel Zero. The list includes Facebook, Reliance Communications, and many of the nearly three dozen Indian content and news sites, some of which have been vocal in their support for Net neutrality. Many of their business models are based on their ability to accumulate bigger audiences and more readers. Such free plans, also called zero-rating plans wherein the subscriber gets access to select sites, are deemed to be against Net neutrality and banned in countries such as Chile. Whatever made it join Airtel Zero in the first place, Flipkart is now making the right redemption noises, leaving Airtel in the lurch. The dramatic pullback has given supporters of Net neutrality more ammunition, much more than would have been the case had Flipkart not decided to join Airtel Zero in the first place.

IAS Prelims : GS Science and Tech : MCQ Set 2

The IAS Prelims Science and Technology Multiple Choice Questions are as follows

1. What is the objective of SMAP Satellite launched by NASA?

a. Observe and measure moisture of soil on Earth.
b. Detect moisture in atmosphere of Mars.
c. Measure rigidity of rocks on Moon.
d. Measure sea level on Earth.

Ans: a

Explanation: SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) Satellite is a three-year mission which will measure the amount of moisture in soil. It will help to monitor drought, predict floods, assist crop productivity, weather forecasting and linking water, energy and carbon cycles.

2. Which district has become the first one in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)?

a. 8 trillion km
b. 10 trillion km
c. 12 trillion km
d. 14 trillion km

Ans: b

Explanation: A light-year is a unit of distance. It is the distance that light can travel in one year. Light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 kilometers (km) each second. So in one year, it can travel about 10 trillion km.

3. Which district has become the first one in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network

a. Ajmer of Rajasthan
b. Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh
c. Idukki of Kerala
d. Hisar of Haryana

Ans: c

Explanation: Idukki district of Kerala has become first district in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network i.e. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) Internet connectivity. NOFN is the largest rural connectivity project of its kind in the world.

4. Which bank has launched India’s first contactless debit and credit cards?

a. ICICI Bank
b. Axis bank
c. HDFC
d. HSBC

Ans: a

Explanation: Contactless cards launched by ICICI Bank can be used to make electronic payments by waving the cards near the merchant terminal instead of dipping or swiping. These cards are based on Near Field Communication technology.

5. Neutrino is

a. Electrically positive and weakly interacting particle
b. Electrically positive and strongly interacting particle
c. Electrically neutral and weakly interacting particle
d. Electrically negative and weakly interacting particle

Ans: c

Explanation: Neutrino is electrically neutral and weakly interacting subatomic particle.

6. What was the theme of Indian Science Congress 2015?

a. Science and Technology for Inclusive Development
b. Science and Technology for India’s Development
c. Science and Technology for Rural Development
d. Science and Technology for Human Development

Ans: d

Explanation: The 102nd session of Indian National Congress was held at Mumbai University. The theme was "Science and Technology for Human Development”.

7. Delhi Police has launched a mobile application in January 2015 named

a. Himmat
b. Kismat
c. Madad
d. Suraksha

Ans: a

Explanation: The Himmat application will allow women to send a distress call to the Police Control Room and their relatives in case of any emergency.

8. The Defense Research Development Organisation(DRDO) has developed a drug named ‘Lukosin’. It will be used in the treatment of

a. Leukemia
b. Lucoderma
c. Lung cancer
d. Brain tumor

Ans: b

Explanation: Lukosin is a herbal drug developed by Defense Research Development Organisation(DRDO) for treatment of Lucoderma( White patches on skin).

9. Which of the following is not a feature of Graphene?

a. Elastic
b. Lightweight
c. Weak
d. Flexible

Ans: c

Explanation: Graphene is a 2-dimensional single layer of carbon atoms. It is characterized by its flexibility, elasticity, lightweight, and strength.

10. In year 2014, a drug named ZMapp was approved by World Health Organisation(WHO) to combat

a. Ebola
b. Malaria
c. Tuberculosis
d. Dengue

Ans: a

Explanation: In the wake of large number of deaths due to viral disease Ebola, the use of drug ZMapp was approved to combat the disease.

IAS Prelims : GS Science and Tech : MCQ Set 1

1. Which of the following about swine flu is correct?

(a) It is a respiratory disease caused by virus that is endemic in pigs.
(b) The symptoms are the same as the seasonal flu -- cough, sore throat, and body aches.
(c) Swine flu is transmitted from person to person by inhalation or ingestion of droplets containing virus from people sneezing or coughing; it is not transmitted by eating cooked pork products.
(d) All the above.

Answer: (d)

Explanation: It is a respiratory disease caused by virus that is endemic in pigs. The symptoms are the same as the seasonal flu -- cough, sore throat, and body aches. Swine flu is transmitted from person to person by inhalation or ingestion of droplets containing virus from people sneezing or coughing; it is not transmitted by eating cooked pork products. The recent outbreak of swine flu in India is due to influenza virus H1N1.

2. What is Thai Sacbrood ?

(a) A bacterial disease in human causing harm to lungs.
(b) A bacterium in soil which enhances soil fertility.
(c) A viral disease affecting honey bee colonies.
(d) A camel type of Thailand.

Answer: (c)

Explanation: Thai Sacbrood is a viral disease affecting honey bee colonies. The disease kills bees when they are larvae and hence there is no multiplication of bee colonies.

3. Consider the following statements.
1. ‘MySecurity.in’ is a web portal that will be a platform for innovation in the field of security related web applications.
2. It will be launched by Ministry of Home affairs.
3. Any individual, company, student, NGO etc can develop and deploy on this portal such security applications which may be useful to the people.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) 1 and 2.
(b) 1 and3.
(c) 2 and 3.
(d) 1, 2 and 3.

Answer: (d)

Explanation: Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has decided to launch a web portal ‘MySecurity.in’ that will be a platform for innovation in the field of security related web applications. Any individual, company, student, NGO etc can develop and deploy on this portal such security applications which may be useful to the people. It will enable the general public to get access to a large number of security related applications.

The main objective of launching the web portal ‘MySecurity.in’ is to promote innovation in developing security related applications as well as offer to the people safe and trusted applications for their security needs. People will have options to choose the applications best suited for their requirements. Application developers, meeting the basic screening criteria, will be allowed hardware and middleware resources in a cloud based environment to deploy their applications. An expert group constituted by MHA will also evaluate the application on parameters like usefulness, innovation, public acceptance, technology used, maintenance, updation, feedback mechanism etc.

4. Consider the following statements.

1. IRNSS is an Independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India.
2. IRNSS will provide Standard Positioning Service (SPS) only.
3. IRNSS satellites revolve round the earth at the height of about 18,000 km from the earth's surface.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and3
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (a)

Explanation: IRNSS is an Independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 Km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorized users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 metres in the primary service area. The IRNSS space segment consists of seven satellites, with three satellites in geostationary orbit and four satellites in inclined geosynchronous orbit. Thus, IRNSS satellites revolve round the earth at the height of about 36,000 km from the earth's surface. Applications of IRNSS include land, sea and air navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, integration with mobile phones, provision of precise time, mapping and navigation aid for hikers and travelers, visual and voice navigation for drivers. It can track people or vehicles and can be of immense use in disaster situations like the recent one in Uttarakhand. Even the Railways may find it useful to track its wagons. Apart from India, its benefits would extend to a range of 1500 km in the region.

5. Consider the following statements about NISAR

1. Its purpose is to measure the changes on earth’s land surface, ice surface, glaciers, earthquakes and volcanoes.
2. The data will be used to understand climate change and predict natural disasters.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both
(d) None

Answer: (c)

Explanation: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission will be launched in 2020. Its purpose is to measure the changes on earth’s land surface, ice surface, glaciers, earthquakes and volcanoes. The data will be used to understand climate change and predict natural disasters. NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band). Hence it can capture resolution even less than a centimeter of earth’s surface.

6. Consider the following statements about GSLV Mk3

1. It can carry up to 4500 to 5000 kg satellites.
2. It is a 4 stage vehicle.
3. It will use cryogenic engine and not solid and liquid propellants.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (a)

Explanation: GSLV Mk-3 is the latest version of GSLV. It can carry up to 4500 to 5000 kg satellites. Until now, India relied on EU’s Arianespace launch vehicle to send those INSAT-4 satellites. It will consist of 3 stages. 1st stage will have solid propellant, 2nd stage will have liquid propellant and 3rd stage will be cryogenic engine. GSLV MK-3 will make ISRO a competitive player in commercial launches of foreign satellites.

7. What is the purpose of India’s Mars orbiter mission?

(a) Study its surface
(b) study its atmosphere
(c) Study its mineral composition
(d) All the above

Answer: (d)

8. What is Kessler Syndrome ?

(a) A disease where human talk while sleeping.
(b) A rare viral disease causing respiratory problems.
(c) A problem found in space launch vehicles.
(d) Proliferation of space debris in low earth orbit.

Answer: d

Explanation: The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect, proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade—each collision generating space debris which increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space exploration, and even the use of satellites, unfeasible for many generations.

9. What is Japanese Encephalitis ?

(a) A viral disease which affects brain.
(b) A fungal disease which affects kidneys.
(c) A bacterial infection affecting elder people.
(d) An allergic reaction to dust and pollens.

Answer: (a)

Explanation: Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain. Japanese encephalitis is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus. The Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae. Domestic pigs and wild birds (especially herons) are reservoirs of the virus; transmission to humans may cause severe symptoms. The symptoms include high fever, headache, vomiting, confusion and, in severe cases, seizures, paralysis and coma. The disease can result in brain damage. Children and elderly people are especially at risk of developing a severe form of encephalitis. Mortality of this disease varies but is generally much higher in children.

10. Which of the following is not a life-style disease?

(a) Type 2 Diabetes
(b) Cancer
(c) Malaria
(d) Heart disease

Answer: (c)



Explanation: A disease associated with the way a person or group of people lives. Common lifestyle diseases include heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, chronic liver disease, COPD, diabetes, stroke and osteoporosis. The risk of developing these diseases depend on a lot of factors including the type of work you do, your work environment, physical activity and your susceptibility to stress. Other contributing factors include poor posture, kind of foods you eat and poor sleeping habits.

Stanford Researchers created a Smartphone Battery that charges in only one minute

Researchers at Stanford University created a smartphone battery that charges in only one minute. The project was published on 6 April 2015. Stanford University chemistry professor Hongjie Dai is the lead researcher of the project.

The battery invented is the first high-performance aluminum battery which is fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive.

The researchers placed the aluminum anode, a graphite cathode and an ionic liquid electrolyte inside of a polymer-coated pouch. The electrolyte is essentially a salt that is liquid at room temperature so it is safe.

An aluminum-ion battery generally consists of two electrodes, one negatively charged anode made of aluminum and a positively charged cathode. The aluminum-ion battery could eventually replace many of the lithium-ion and alkaline batteries used in many Smartphones today.

Application of the Aluminum batteries

•Aluminum batteries could be used to store renewable energy on the electrical grid.

•An aluminum battery can be recharged tens of thousands of times. It's hard to imagine building a huge lithium-ion battery for grid storage.

•Aluminum-ion technology also offers an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable alkaline batteries.

Aluminum has long been an attractive material for batteries, mainly because of its low cost, low flammability and high-charge storage capacity. For decades, researchers have tried unsuccessfully to develop a commercially viable aluminum-ion battery.

Researchers developed smart phone-based Digital Diffraction Diagnosis System to diagnose cancer

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) of the United States (US) developed a smart phone-based device, called as D3 (Digital Diffraction Diagnosis) System, which performs rapid and accurate molecular diagnosis of cancerous tumors.

The discovery was revealed in the second week of April 2015 in a research paper titled Digital diffraction analysis enables low-cost molecular diagnostics on a smart phone. The paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) online journal.

Steps involved in cancer diagnosis using D3 System
Step 1: A sample of blood or tissue is extracted from the patient and is labelled with micro beads. These micro beads bind to known cancer related molecules and generate diffraction patterns during imaging.
Step 2: The D3 System containing an imaging module and a battery-powered LED (Light Emitting Diode) light is mounted on the camera of a smart phone.
Step 3: By using the smart phone, high-resolution imaging data of the sample is recorded.
Step 4: The recorded data is transmitted to a computer server over the Cloud for analysis.
Step 5: The server analyses the diffraction patterns generated by micro beads.
Step 6: Results will be sent back within an hour over the Cloud


Importance of the D3 System
• The system is capable of recording data on more than 10000 cells from a blood or tissue sample in a single image.
• It can accurately categorise the samples as high-risk or low-risk or benign depending on severity.
• The data generated by the system matches with the conventional gold standard pathology or HPV testing for molecular profiling.
• By using the system a single cancer diagnosis test can be conducted at a cost of 1.80 US dollars.
• It is a boon for people living in geographically disadvantaged areas.

Net neutrality: nuts and bolts

Here is an explainer about a buzzword in India these days, Net neutrality:

What’s Net neutrality?

It is the principle that all traffic on the Internet must be treated equally by Internet service providers. Those advocating Net neutrality believe all bits of data are equal, and, therefore, should not be discriminated on the basis of content, site or user. This has largely been the default mode since Internet started.

Why has there been so much of noise about Net neutrality in recent months?

First, India’s top telecom company Bharti Airtel, towards the end of last year, decided to charge subscribers extra for use of apps such as Skype and Viber. These apps compete with the voice and messaging services of telecom providers, and are even cheaper. There was uproar, after which Airtel stayed its decision, saying it would wait for regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services.

Then, Facebook brought to India internet.org, a pre-selected bouquet of Web sites offered free to subscribers of Reliance Communications. There was not much controversy then.

The buzz became really big after TRAI put out a 118-page consultation paper asking the public for its opinion on 20 questions, most of them about how the Internet can be regulated. Views were also sought on Net neutrality.

By evening of Tuesday, over 4.2 lakh mails had been sent in support of Net neutrality through the savetheinternet.in Web site. Political parties such as the Congress, political leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal and celebrities such as Shah Rukh Khan joined the bandwagon, as has the comedy group All India Bakchod through a video. All of them argue why the Internet should not be touched. TRAI will be open to taking comments till April 24, and counter comments by May 8. In between all this, Airtel last week launched Airtel Zero, which is a free offering of a slew of apps that sign up with the telecom provider. On Tuesday, Flipkart pulled out of the platform after initially agreeing to be on it, saying it was committed to Net neutrality.

Who benefits from Net neutrality? How?

Every Internet user. Think through how you would like to browse the Internet. Wouldn’t you like to access the Web without worrying about how differently videos will be charged compared to other forms of content? Wouldn’t you like to access the Web without the telecom service provider getting to serve some sites faster than others? If yes for both, you are pro-Net neutrality.

New ventures benefit too. In fact, one of the key reasons for start-ups to have come up in a big way in recent decades is the openness of the Internet. The Internet has reduced transaction costs and levelled the playing field.

A start-up can come up with an app today, and can immediately attract a global audience. The likes of Googles and Facebooks could have struggled to grow if the Internet had not been open.

Then, why do we need to think about regulating the Internet?

Essentially because the telecom companies do not like the way the apps are riding on their networks for free. The companies complain that voice-calling and messaging apps are cannibalising on their business. On top of all this, it is they who have to invest billions in getting access to spectrum and build networks as also adhere to regulations.

So, absence of Net neutrality will benefit telecom companies?

It could make them a gatekeeper to a valuable resource, a role that supporters of Net neutrality feel will be misused to create winners and losers. They could charge companies a premium for access to users.

It would not be a telecom companies versus internet players issue, as could be mistakenly perceived. For, the absence of Net neutrality could also benefit established Internet companies who are flush with money. They could nip challengers in the bud with vastly higher payoffs to telecom companies.

Is this an issue in India alone?

No. The Federal Communications Commission just recently voted for what is seen as strong Net neutrality rules. This is to ensure Internet service providers neither block, throttle traffic nor give access priority for money. Europe is trying to correct a 2013 proposal for Net neutrality, in which privileged access was allowed to ‘specialised services.’ This was vague and threatened Net neutrality. Chile last year banned zero-rated schemes, those where access to social media is given free to telecom subscribers.

Net neutrality: what you need to know

Here's all you need to know about net neutrality and the controversy surrounding the issue.

It is the principle that all traffic on the Internet must be treated equally by Internet service providers. Those advocating Net neutrality believe all bits of data are equal, and, therefore, should not be discriminated on the basis of content, site or user. This has largely been the default mode since Internet started.

Net neutrality is a principle that says Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat all traffic and content on their networks equally.

How does net neutrality affect you?

The internet is now a level-playing field. Anybody can start up a website, stream music or use social media with the same amount of data that they have purchased with a particular ISP. But in the absence of neutrality, your ISP might favor certain websites over others for which you might have to pay extra. Website A might load at a faster speed than Website B because your ISP has a deal with Website A that Website B cannot afford. It’s like your electricity company charging you extra for using the washing machine, television and microwave oven above and beyond what you are already paying.





Key Players
» Internet Service Providers like Airtel, Vodaphone, Reliance...
» The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which lays down the rules for telecom companies
» The Internet companies like Facebook, Google, whatsapp and other smaller startups
» You, the consumer


Why now?

Late last month, TRAI released a draft consultation paper seeking views from the industry and the general public on the need for regulations for over-the-top (OTT) players such as Whatsapp, Skype, Viber etc, security concerns and net neutrality. The objective of this consultation paper, the regulator said, was to analyse the implications of the growth of OTTs and consider whether or not changes were required in the current regulatory framework.

What is an OTT?

OTT or over-the-top refers to applications and services which are accessible over the internet and ride on operators’ networks offering internet access services. The best known examples of OTT are Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, e-commerce sites, Ola, Facebook messenger.

Genetically engineered bacteria can treat cancer.

Genetically modified Salmonella — bacteria that causes severe food poisoning — can be used to kill cancer cells, a new study has claimed.

“There has long been interest in using genetically engineered microbes to target and destroy cells within solid tumors,” said Roy Curtis, from the Arizona State University.

“I think this study goes a significant way in developing some strategies that will help in the overall means of using Salmonella as part of a cancer therapy,” he said.

For years, researchers have known that certain strains of bacteria, including Salmonella intricate, can kill cancer cells.

Specifically Salmonella intricate Samovar Triumphant has been shown to not only colonies solid tumors, but also to exhibit an intrinsic anti-tumor effect.

However, in order to use Salmonella as a weapon against cancer in humans, researchers must find a balance between allowing it to kill the cancer and be safe for the patient.

The bacteria, commonly known for causing severe food poisoning, can lead to sepsis and death in humans.

In the study, the researchers focused on modifying the polysaccharides structure (LPS) of the Salmonella strain to make the bug less toxic.

LPS, found in the outer membrane of bacteria, is one of the major inducers of sepsis, a life-threatening infection.

Researchers used genetic engineering to delete genes involved in the synthesis of the LPS, and then tested various modified Salmonella strains to see how they performed in test tube studies with human cancer cells and in tumor bearing mice.

They identified a particular mutant strain that was the most effective at killing cancer cells and shrinking tumors, and also unable to cause disease.

However, this mutant strain was less able to colonies the tumors, although being most effective in killing tumor cells when getting there.

To address this problem, the researchers then added another genetic modification, an inducible arabinose promoter.

The modification allowed the Salmonella to be injected in the mouse in a form that would not harm normal, healthy cells, was effective at colonizing tumors, and after entering cancer cells, would turn toxic.

“This transition from a benign, invasive Salmonella that doesn’t hurt normal cells to the toxic type occurs very rapidly in the tumor due to the very rapid growth and cell division that occurs when Salmonella enters a tumor,” he said.

In a normal cell, Salmonella grows very slowly, dividing once or twice in a 24-hour period, but in a tumour, the bacteria divide every hour.

According to Curtis, the investigation therapy would probably be used in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, once it gets to human trials.

The study was published in m Bio, an American Society for Microbiology journal.