Japan and Korea grew into rich countries by manufacturing cheaper versions of products, such as cars and TVs, based on imitation of those produced by western companies before setting up their own R&D. Sadly, we seem incapable of doing even that. Ria Chabbra, a 14 year old middle-school student living near Dallas, heard her parents arguing about the benefits of organic food and decided to investigate for a science project. She found that organic produce contain higher levels of Vitamin C so she wanted to know if they were good for health. Through the internet she found that fruit flies have short lives and are used for such research so she e-mailed several professors who worked with fruit flies. To her surprise Johannes Bauer, an assistant professor at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, responded. " We are very interested in fly health, and her project was a perfect match for what we were doing," said Dr. Bauer. New York Times, 18
April. Her research titled " Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits to Drosophila melanogaster " tracked the effects of organic and conventionally grown foods on the health of fruit flies. She found that flies fed on organic bananas and potatoes did better by every measure, including fertility, stress resistance and longevity than those fed on conventional foods. Her project was among 30 finalists in the prestigious 2011 Broadcom Masters national science competition. Dr Bauer said that although he would not normally agree to work with a middle-school student he found that Ria performed at the level of a college senior or graduate student. " The seriousness with which she approached this was just stunning," he said. He encouraged her to publish her work and it has been accepted by a science journal with Dr Bauer and Santharam Kolli, a research assistant, as co-authors. A simple e-mail led to this girl's paper but would any Indian professor or any official respond to a mail from a school student or spend time helping her? We know what the answer is. Here people are puffed up with a false sense of their superiority and helping anyone is considered to be a waste of time. Such research would be impossible also because standards in schools are falling fast because this government has abandoned all examinations in schools and students are promoted without anyone knowing the level of their knowledge. This was done to hide the abysmal quality of teaching in government schools whose teachers are paid double those in private schools. After the Boston bombing we see investigators in space suits, covered from head to toe with masks and gloves so as not to pollute the crime scene or contaminate any evidence. Here we do not know who killed Aarushi 5 years after she was murdered because the police spoiled all evidence with their clumsiness. Even monkeys can imitate but we cannot. Hence, we remain poor and weak. So sad.
April. Her research titled " Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits to Drosophila melanogaster " tracked the effects of organic and conventionally grown foods on the health of fruit flies. She found that flies fed on organic bananas and potatoes did better by every measure, including fertility, stress resistance and longevity than those fed on conventional foods. Her project was among 30 finalists in the prestigious 2011 Broadcom Masters national science competition. Dr Bauer said that although he would not normally agree to work with a middle-school student he found that Ria performed at the level of a college senior or graduate student. " The seriousness with which she approached this was just stunning," he said. He encouraged her to publish her work and it has been accepted by a science journal with Dr Bauer and Santharam Kolli, a research assistant, as co-authors. A simple e-mail led to this girl's paper but would any Indian professor or any official respond to a mail from a school student or spend time helping her? We know what the answer is. Here people are puffed up with a false sense of their superiority and helping anyone is considered to be a waste of time. Such research would be impossible also because standards in schools are falling fast because this government has abandoned all examinations in schools and students are promoted without anyone knowing the level of their knowledge. This was done to hide the abysmal quality of teaching in government schools whose teachers are paid double those in private schools. After the Boston bombing we see investigators in space suits, covered from head to toe with masks and gloves so as not to pollute the crime scene or contaminate any evidence. Here we do not know who killed Aarushi 5 years after she was murdered because the police spoiled all evidence with their clumsiness. Even monkeys can imitate but we cannot. Hence, we remain poor and weak. So sad.
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