Cure

Title: Cure

Author: Robin Cook

Publisher:  Pan Books, 2010 (First)

ISBN: 978-0-330-52382-0

Pages: 459

Robin Cook’s mastery over medical thrillers is an acknowledged fact as evidenced by numerous books originated from his experienced pen. They don’t disappoint the reader and provides for good infotainment channeled in through easy, flowing language and neatly paraphrased concepts. Indeed, simply by looking at the theme of Cook’s books, readers get a clear sense of the direction in which the healthcare industry is moving forward. Just spell out the recent developments in medicine, and Robin Cook is sure to have produced a best-seller on the topic, whether it is genetic tinkering, manipulations of the brain or as in the present issue, induced pluripotent stem cells.

Stem cells are the next big thing in biology. These are special cells which can grow to become any of the 300-odd types of cells in human body. Skin cells, nerve cells, heart tissue, muscles, whatever it may, stem cell can be induced to grow into it. This is definitely impressive, being the cure of many degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or Type 2 diabetes. If we can artificially produce brain cells or pancreatic cells in the above cases, the treatment is simple as to replace the damaged part. However, getting stem cells for culture is the most tricky part. The simplest route is to do an abortion on a growing embryo which is full of stem cells and take it out for research. Quite understandably, the unethical nature of the process has attracted widespread criticism and opposition from pro-life groups. The U.S. has effectively banned or very severely restricted access to this route. This has forced academicians and industrial researchers to turn to adult stem cells, found in every human, to bring about the necessary treatment regimen. The field is chaotic with huge number of patents filed for universities and companies active in the field. Any one good enough to produce an easy to manufacture solution is to end up one of the richest men in the world.

Cook’s present book details one such company, iPS USA, illegally acquiring rights for patents which is due to a Japanese university. The Japanese government wants to get its rights back and employs Yakuza (mafia in Japan) for forcibly obtaining a pair of critical lab books from the American company. In the typical scenario involving organized crime and big money, several murders take place, some of them cleverly designed to look like natural ones. Laurie Montgomery, the medical examiner in New York who is returning to work after prolonged absence on family reasons suspect foul play and tries to bring out the truth and the perpetrators. The New York mafia, which bankrolled the company kicks into action, kidnapping Laurie’s only child. The medical examiner employs a kidnapping consultant firm, which is a euphemism for activities which are criminal to snatch the child back from the thugs. Like other works before this one, everything ends in a pleasant note.

What is troublesome with the presentation is the casual way in which criminality is acknowledged as a normal and unalienable part of modern life, be it in Japan or the U.S. The Japanese government is portrayed as quite incompetent to get what they wanted legally from America, with a minister running discussions with a local mafia don to do it for them. Things are not bright on the other side of the ocean too. A New York detective captain is shown urging the unfortunate parents of the abducted child to hire a ‘consultant’ who is nothing but another criminal organisation. The reason for admitting the unconventional elements is described as the legal wrangles which bind the police and law enforcement agencies in performing such delicate work. In the end, the readers end up with the notion that both these advanced industrialized countries are run by criminal societies cooperating across borders.

The book is also not as appealing as Cook’s other titles boasting medical thrillers. This book is mostly thriller and nothing fundamentally medical in it.  After a cursory introduction to pluripotent stem cells, the storyline goes forever detached to action packed sequences, with no reference to the topic of attraction. Though there is no denying that it is very handsomely organized, we end up with a sense of disillusionment at the end.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Title: The Man Who Knew Infinity – A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

Author: Robert Kanigel

Publisher:  Abacus, 2008 (First published 1991)

ISBN: 978-0-349-10452-2

Pages: 373

Every Indian has heard about Ramanujan. Even those who cringe at the thought of mathematics would vociferously point out to him as the man who made India proud at his mathematical talent. He was extremely capable, no doubt, but India failed to recognise his genius and only after he was acknowledged as worthy of attention by a few British academicians did we relent to provide him with resources to pursue his interest without undue concern about his family. This point brings out one issue in vivid detail – our inability to rely on our own judgement. Indians, as a whole still depend on – or appears to depend on – foreign opinion on what is good or bad for them! This aspect is particularly recognised by man-gods who are so numerous today and making good money by fleecing the faithful. One prominent feature of their marketing ploy is to make it appear that the ashram, or abode of the spiritual leader is frequented by foreigners or that the guru is well appreciated abroad, which his foreign trips would duly attest to. Coming back to our book, Ramanujan was also a product of British observation and judgement, so to say. The book portrays all aspects of his short life in true detail. The author, Robert Kanigel is a professor of Science Writing and Director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT. He is the author of many books and his flair is easily seen through the lines.

Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar was born on Dec 22, 1887 at Erode, Tamil Nadu. He was brought up at Kumbakonam and studied there. After high school, which was not particularly noteworthy, he was hooked up with a math textbook by G S Carr, which was ordinary in quality. He lavished his sole attention on math and began neglecting other subjects. He failed in exams and his scholarship was revoked. After failing to obtain B.A degree from the colleges in Kumbakonam and Madras, his family made an arranged marriage for him, with a child bride of 9 years old. Ramanujan had to go in search for a job, displaying his notebooks in front of worthy patrons who would support him doing it. Though he had no academic qualifications to show off, he eventually found a patron in Ramachandra Rao, a high ranking civil servant who allowed him a stipend of 25 rupees per month. This was something amid the distressing circumstances, but not much. Many a times he had to write in red ink on paper already written with blue ink, to conserve paper! His first paper on Bernoullin Numbers appeared in the first journal of newly constituted Indian Mathematical Society in Madras. With publication, Ramanujan’s talent began to be noticed, but nobody was in a position to assess its worth when compared to established mathematical precincts. He was urged to write to European mathematicians for encouragement, which he did by writing to three English professors, of which G H Hardy alone had the sensibility to detect genius in his otherwise unordered work. The association with Hardy was to change Ramanujan’s life forever.

Hardy at first dismissed the letter from India as prank, but some of the theorems expounded in them caught his eye. Littlewood, who was his colleague, also took interest in it and after careful deliberations, decided to bring Ramanujan to Cambridge for further study and polishing his skills. Eric Neville was despatched to India to persuade the genius who was loathe to leave India since crossing the seas was forbidden to brahmins, to which caste he belonged. However, as with several Hindu customs which would bend before money and influence, this one was also manageable to Hardy. Ramanujan agreed to cross the seas to England. They also prompted Madras University to foot the bill for Ramanujan’s stay there for two years. He set sail in 1914 and straight away plunged into work.

With help and support from Hardy and Littlewood, Ramanujan progressed steadily and published several distinguished papers. Even though Cambridge was steeped in World War I, and its faculty and students engaged in hostilities far away on the continent, he continued his work singlemindedly. The sheer joy of finding his real mettle helped grease the path for the first three years, but things began to change for the worse after that. Ramanujan was a strict vegetarian and had to cook for himself since he couldn’t eat at a place that even processed meat. The vegetables, fruits and milk became increasingly dearer as the war wore on interminably. Reduced calorie intake, coupled with overwork and no physical exercises made him afflicted with tuberculosis. Recuperation in distant sanatoriums was stressful, for his particular habits mentioned above. Added to this was the stressful letters coming in from home regarding the domestic warfare between his mother and wife. Ramanujan was mentally stretched to the breaking point and tried to commit suicide by jumping before an oncoming underground train, which was stopped just in the nick of time to save him.

Professionally, his star had risen. He was admitted to the Royal Society as a fellow and soon became a fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge as well, where he worked along with Hardy. His bad health prompted him to return to India in 1919. The reception was warm this time, with Madras University offering him a sinecure professorship with freedom to do research on whatever field he liked. However, Ramanujan’s life was to be short one as TB put its tentacles firm around him. He ded on Apr 26, 1920, at the age of 32.

Ramanujan’s contributions ranged mainly on number theory and elliptical functions. He pioneered many fruitful investigations in infinite series, mock-theta functions and partition functions in number theory. His method for calculating the value of Pi (the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle) is the fastest algorithm developed for computer applications. His theorems were based on intuition which was proved true in a rigorous way by other mathematicians around the world. Ramanujan’s mastery of numbers continued unabated even when he was seriously ill with TB. When Hardy visited Ramanujan who was convalescing in a sanatorium, he casually mentioned the number of his cab which was 1729 and remarked that it was an ugly number. Ramanujan immediately came out with a negation and declared it is a very auspicious number since that is the shortest integer, which can be expressed as the sum of two cubes, as 1729 = 10³ + 9³ and also 12³+1³!

The book is noteworthy for the fact that biographies of Ramanujan either rely solely on the biographical aspect, without paying any attention to his work and those who concentrate on the work fail to portray the genius as a man. This book finds a right balance between the two and handles mathematical concepts without becoming a burden on the general reader. Though a set of photo plates are included, there is only one image of Ramanujan, the one the world is so familiar with. Kanigel’s biographical acumen extends further from his human subjects towards the educational systems, religious and geographical peculiarities and such like. His coverage of G H Hardy also places before the reader an arresting caricature of British public school system. To accentuate the description of the effects of war on Ramanujan, Kanigel goes on to provide an interesting survey of those difficult times in Europe.

There is only one drawback to place against the work. Undue importance given to details of personal lives of Hardy and his colleagues in Cambridge distracts the reader from the main theme. This would have been avoided to good measure. Perhaps these passages may be edited out from books addressed to children.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

The Origin of Our Species

Title: The Origin of Our Species

Author: Chris Stringer

Publisher:  Allen Lane, 2011 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-846-14140-9

Pages: 273

Meritorious books on the subject of human origins are rare in literature owing to the still fluid state of knowledge. New discoveries of fossil remains come out all the time, forcing paleontologists to run for cover and justify their long-held positions. This book is a extraordinary one of the sort. Chris Stringer is a foremost British expert on human origins and works at the Natural History Museum in London. He has authored many books on human origins and this is his latest offering.

Remains of primitive human fossils were found from Africa, Europe, Indonesia and China. Africa was late entrant into the picture and it was thought before that humanity originated in many places, with a multi-regional theory gaining hold. Upon discovery of more ancient and widely varied humanoid species in Africa in the 20^th century, and analyses of DNA has now led the scientific community to postulate that humans originated there and spread out to various regions. Interbreeding and hybridization with primitive humanoids are issues hotly debated among academic community.

Stringer presents an illuminating discussion on dating techniques and other revolutionary breakthroughs occurred in paleontology. By establishing the ratio of isotopes, researchers are now able even to identify the diet of the person under study. Application of this wonderful technique on the fossils in Europe and Asia of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon men (modern man) show that the former solely or heavily relied on meat (of reindeer, mammoth, byson and horse), while the latter also used fresh water fish in all their currently identified habitats. The increased efficiency in nutrient intake might have helped modern men to gain the ascendancy. A curious fact in connection with dating is that just like trees put on annual rings in its trunk, similar rings develop on human dental enamel, which is accumulated on a daily basis. Called perikymata, these provide valuable information on the age of the person while he died.

Apart from physical parameters, changes in behavioural patterns played a central role in humans making the advent. A fact which helped humans in earlier divergence from primates is the change in colouration of the outer covering of eye ball (sclera). For most primates, it is dark brown while it is white for man. This helps his colleagues to gauge the movement of his eyeball precisely in a social setting. This, in a sense, helped others to mind-read colleagues and also to convey signals through eye movement. Such facility naturally led to heightened ability to control thoughts, emotions and actions, to plan far into the future and to evolve self-consciousness. The resultant cohesion helped the ancient men a great deal to hunt in groups and outwit the stronger though dull prey.

Though scientists differ on the time a great revolution occurred in the human brain (in its organisation, not size) which seeded the growth of domestication of animals, composite tool making and highly complex social life. The brain size of man already matched his 21^st century counterparts by 200,000 years ago. In fact, its size was a little bigger than moderns, but their physical sizes were bigger too. What is important in the case of brain is the ratio of its volume to body mass, called Encephalization Quotient (EQ). Otherwise, elephants which have bigger brains than man would have been the cleverest. The ratio was 3.4 to 3.8 for Homo erectus, 4.3 to 4.8 for ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals and 5.3 to 5.4 for earley moderns. The figure has levelled off or slightly declines for late modern humans. Probably, we get away with reduced intelligence with the help of technology and cultural progress, which was not the case for a primitive man struggling for his existence in the wild. So, the physical change in brain size for early moderns was accompanied by reorganization of the brain around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago. This mutation might have occurred as a result of wild climatic swings, probably in the wake of Toba supervolcano’s eruption around 73,000 years ago in current Indonesia. The physical as well as behavioural modernity made us what we are today. However, elements of modernity, like body colouring and composite tool making found in Neanderthals and DNA analyses suggest that people in Europe, Asia and New Guinea share at least 2% of their genomes with Neanderthals. It also indicates interbreeding with them when the first individuals of early moderns migrated out of Africa. These people, when bred with next wave of migrants out of Africa carried the mixed genes to other parts of the world except Africa, which still presents the purer samples of human DNA. Sharing genes of another ancient human lineage, the Denisovans, by modern Melanesians people (as much as 6%, in this case) shows that admixture occurred even far away from Africa.

Stringer presents a good case for why the florescence in technology and social skills developed. Too few population density stifles growth due to lack of competition. Evolution needs a large population size to use its tools on. Closely spaced groups with moderate population densities, competing or cooperating with each other for resources and mates provide the ample social setting for brain development. The climatic setting was provided by global warming up at the end of last Ice Age around 20,000 years ago. Language helped a great deal in ensuring a positive feedback mechanism. Evolution has not stopped since modern man originated. Genetic variation among regional populations attest to this fact.

Being a very recent work, the book describes many new discoveries of ‘missing links’ – the weapon with which creationists attack evolution. These are gradually filling up the gaps in fossil record, lending a hand to evolution to become a watertight theorem to dangle in front of clumsy admirers of a divine being bent on creating the world. The book is also remarkable for its great sincerety, great knowledge and the great effort. Whenever the evidence is not up to the mark, Stringer doesn’t mince words to suggest that even his own research findings must have to be evaluated in a new light. The book is well structured and elegantly written. However, it is too technical to appeal to the general reader. Detailed description of cranial features and other anatomical peculiarities are too cumbersome and uninteresting. Words like iliac pillar and pubic ramus scare people away! Overall we feel that the author has missed a great opportunity by not scaling down the level of erudition digestible by the lay reader.

The book is recommended for serious enthusiasts.

Rating: 3 Star

God - The Failed Hypothesis

Title: God: The Failed Hypothesis – How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

Author: Victor J Stenger

Publisher:  Prometheus, 2007 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-59102-481-1

Pages: 258

A delightful work with utmost conviction and clarity from a renowned author. Stenger is emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He has authored many books on popular science and atheist topics. This bold new initiative is a commendable one in taking the bull by its horns. Many scientists and scientific establishments keep the refrain that science is not fit for commenting on spiritual or theistic citing incompatibility. Repeated assertions like this impart the fallacious argument with necessary weight to carry it into established wisdom. This is far from the truth, as exemplified many times in this text. What scientists fear most is the drying up of funds for their work and it would be a good idea for most of them to dance to the tune of superstitious sensibilities of the society. Stenger establishes that the concept of God and other mystical ideas can be tested by scientific methodology and pronounce judgement on them. However, simply by reading the title, we get a hint of the outcome.

Science separates chaff from wheat by hypothesis testing. Nonetheless, not every claim can be tested. There are a few conditions which must be satisfied for considering extraordinary claims. They are,  1) The protocols of the study must be clear and impeccable so that all possibilities of error can be evaluated 2) The hypothesis being tested must be established clearly and explicitly before data taking begins, and not changed midway through the process or after looking at the data 3) The people performing the study must do so without any prejudgment of how the results should come out 4) The hypothesis being tested must be one that contains the seeds of its own destruction and 5) Even after passing the above criteria, reported results must be of such a nature that they can be independently replicated (p.24-25). Proponents of creation theory, which can also be tested, do not command the respect of admirers as they once did. Even a schoolboy attending Sunday school probably knows that the mechanism of creation described in the Bible (or any other religious work) does not exist. Intelligent Design (ID) is an alternate theory suggested by creationists when their former theory fell short of teaching in U.S. schools. This developed into a major movement in the 1980s and two judicial rulings in U.S declared teaching ID in schools unconstitutional as it observed that ID is nothing better than creation by God, which ran against the country’s secular credentials. Opposition to this wolf in sheep’s skin is rampant, with a group of scientists claiming that design is too poor to expect from an omnipotent, omniscient being. They cite examples, such as “our bones lose minerals after age thirty, making them susceptible to fracture and osteoporosis. Our rib cage does not fully enclose and protect most internal organs. Our muscles atrophy. Our leg veins become enlarged and twisted, leading to varicose veins. Our joints wear out as their lubricants thin. Our retinas are prone to detachment. The male prostate enlarges, squeezing and obstructing urine flow” (p.69). One would hardly expect such design flaws from an all powerful God.

In the author’s incessant tirade on superstition, good explanatory work of world beyond matter is produced. Effectiveness of intercessory prayer on patients is examined in some detail. Very few experiments were done in the scientific way and those don’t prove positive effects. Mind and soul are the results of electrical interactions in human brain and there is no reason to believe that they continue after death. So a God who endows manking with immortal, immaterial souls can’t exist. The argument that since the universe exists, there should exist a creator too, is erroneous. Author argues philosophically that to maintain ‘nothing’ requires outside intervention and presence of ‘something’ indicates there is no creator.

Another popular misconception is that since the universe appears to be finetuned for life, probably it was made so by a creator or designer, but this argument is fundamentally flawed. If the physical constants and parameters are so optimized for life, why is that life is tied to this blue speck of Earth in the vast universe? Probably such blue specks or similar planets may exist  somewhere in the universe, but human travel to such far off places is restricted by life-threatening radiation permeating outer space like gamma rays or cosmic rays. The only conclusion we can infer from this is that, whatever the universe is designed for, it is just not fit for life. In the trillions of galaxies, stars and planets, just one – a single entity – became the abode of life is the result of pure chance. The author also examines the truthness of biblical prophesies in some detail and concludes that they have not been fulfilled and merely represents the state of knowledge at the time of writing. However, this chapter seems to be not doing justice to the title.

Another common argument for creationists is that our moral values come from God and if we reject him, we stoop to debased morals. A clear and deserved thrashing is meted out to this flimsy point. Men, born and brought up in a social milieu develops moral precepts which naturally take root in any society. The Golden Rule summarizes the nature of human interactions in society, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. This is construed as a teaching of Christ in the sermon on the mount. However, this maxim is present in other ancient texts too, some of them not religious, like 1) In the Doctrine of the Mean 13, written about 500 BCE, Confucius says, “What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.” 2) Isocrates (c.375 BCE) said, “Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by others” 3) The Hindu Mahabharata, written around 150 BCE, teaches, “This is the sum of all true righteousness: deal with others as thou wouldst thyself be dealt by” (p.198). To the consternation of people who regard Bible as the fountainhead of virtue, it allows and regulates slavery as shown in these lines, “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh, he shall go out free, for nothing (Exodus 21:2 Revised Standard Version)” and “If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out alone (Exodus 21:4, RSV)” (p.202). The Church condemned slavery in 1888, when all Christian nations had abolished it. The U.S. civil war was caused by the insistence of southerners to continue slavery claiming that it is not immoral, showing the Bible as evidence. Likewise, morals also did not originate in religion. Protomorality is seen among animals too, like sharing of food and helping injured members as sometimes displayed by dolphins, apes, monkeys and elephants. This trait is innate in humans and provide good survival value in a society. This is further accentuated by cultural evolution and social harmony which provides the basis for our sense of right and wrong. Religion has absolutely no place here.

The book is extensively well referenced and the rich source material is a good starting point for many a journey to the depths of superstition and how to wipe them out. The book is outstanding in its frontal attack on religious baggage and facing it at full throttle. What many scientists had feared to do, Stenger had achieved in a masterful stroke. It is easy to read and is a good page turner.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star