[nukkad] Shakespeare and science

["Mahesh chandra Gupta" <>]

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There is a surprising and interesting article titled " The amazing world of
extremophiles" in Employment News dated August 4, 2001. It gives information
about bacteria that would have been unbelievable a few decades ago. Some
examples are as follows:
1. There is a recently discovered group of bacteria called Archeobacteria.
This group comprises 4 subgroups: Methanogens, Halobacteria, Sulfur
dependent archeobacteria and Thermoplasmas. Archeobacteria include many
bacteria that thrive in extreme conditions that would be lethal for most
known bacteria.

2. Sulpholobus acidocaldarius proliferates at 85 degrees Celsius.
Pyrobacterium organotrophum is present in boiling waters of Azores island.

3. Pyrolobus umarii grows best at 105degrees C and can multiply in temp upto
113 degrees. It cannot grow below 90 degrees , which is too cold for it!
[Conventional teaching is that proteins coagulate at 45 degrees, hence
organisms can not grow at such temperature. After having encountered
thermophiles, current thinking is that upper limit for them would be 150
degrees, because chemical bonds of DNA etc woukd be broken down at such
temperature.

4. Polaromonas vacuolata thrives optimally at 4 degrees C. It cannot
reproduce at above 12 degrees.

5. Thermoplasms are strange bacteria that thrive best at 55-59 degrees and
at pH 2. These are isolated from piles of burning coal refuse.

6. There are also alkaliphiles which thrive only in alkaline medium.

7. Halophiles live in highly saline environments.

8. The true champions are Deionococcus radiodurans. These withstand deadly
doses of radioactivity, which would kill other life forms. [They were
discovered when scientists analysed tinned food that had gone bad in spite
of having been radioactively treated to sterilize them.]

9. Scientists have recently found lithoautotrophic bacteria 4---600 metres
below earth's surface granite and other igneous formations -- very hard rock
lacking in organic nutrients. These bacteria manufacture their own organic
matter from hydrogen, water and carbon dioxide, in the absence of sun light.

All the above would have appeared trash and impossible nonsense just a few
decades ago because the long cherished principles of biological science
stand defied. Had scientists closed eyes to these possibilities, these
discoveries would never have been made. These are already being put to
industrial and medical use.

Now where does Shakespeare come in? At the end of the article, the
scientists who have penned this article state:
        After understanding about these wonderful creatures, a quote coming
to our mind could be -- "There are far more things in the earth and heaven,
                    Than were dreamnt by the boldest visionaries."

I could add another quote by, probably, Alama Iqbal:

"Kanayat na kar alam-e-rango-boo par,
Sitaron ke aage jahan aur bhi hain".

[Do not be lost in this world around you that you can see and feel; there
are yet worlds that lie far beyond those stars.]

N.B.: Context --- Science has yet to learn more and more. Remember Newton!
He felt merely like a young boy playing with pebbles on the sea shore, while
the vast ocean of knowledge lay before him unexplored. When scientists
themselves are alive to unforeseen possibilities, let we mere mortals not
prejudge and foreclose them.

    MC Gupta
Aug 5


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