EdMail
GM seed can solve world hunger problems or not?
By Technology Times at January 7, 2012 | 1:14 pm | 0 Comment
THIS REFERS to the story published in Technology Times, titled “Genetically modified corn, maize damage Pak farming”. This is a good article; people both farmers and consumers need to know pros and cons of agriculture biotechnology rather adopting it without knowledge of its long term effects. Monsanto, Pioneer, Syngenta etc are pushing hard to sell its GMO or more...
Hydrogen cars: A suggestion
By Technology Times at January 7, 2012 | 1:13 pm | 0 Comment
IT IS very encouraging to learn that students ofNEDUniversity,Karachi, are researching on renewable and pollution-free fuel for cars. I wish them success. However, I have the following comments: I guess the hydrogen gas would be stored in cylinders. If this is the case, there would be a risk of bursting as it is happening with CNG cylinders almost on a daily basis. more...
Thermal power
By Technology Times at December 31, 2011 | 4:46 pm | 0 Comment
RECENTLY PAKISTANI scientists have experimented successfully to generate electricity by coal at Thar. The scientists have also claimed to generate 100-megawatt electricity in 2013, adding that they can get 100 million barrel diesel too. This is really a great achievement of Pakistani scientists andPakistan is proud of them. On the other hand, head of Thar coal project more...
Cellphone: A source of trouble
By Technology Times at December 31, 2011 | 4:45 pm | 0 Comment
CELLPHONE HAS become a necessity these days, but is also a nuisance, especially for women because of anonymous and unwanted calls for harassment. There is a silent majority which is suffering from this menace. People, especially women, continuously receive obnoxious phone calls, forcing them to talk. In case of refusal, they receive threatening and vulgar text messages more...
Indus magnet as alternative energy
By Technology Times at December 31, 2011 | 4:43 pm | 0 Comment
EXISTING ENERGY sources have many drawbacks like construction of large dams, as in the case of hydroelectric power generation, which is expensive. Nobody likes to construct such dams, especially in our country. We have to install an array of solar panels for solar energy, while energy generated through expensive windmills is not sufficient. The nuclear energy source is more...
Lack of PhDs: A worrisome scenario
By Technology Times at December 24, 2011 | 12:46 pm | 0 Comment
GENERALLY, IT is learnt that after qualifying the academic qualifications required for becoming a teacher at school, tertiary or at any level, further advancement in receiving any higher education is no more seen in our teachers. The country does not have enough teachers with doctorates simply because there is a practice in our education system that only a teacher of a more...
Serious issues of pest management
By Technology Times at December 24, 2011 | 12:45 pm | 0 Comment
REFERENCE THE article “Will genetically modified ‘Bt Cotton’ increase yields inPakistan?” Insertion of Bt. gene that synthesize toxin to kill the caterpillar only, has nothing to do with yield increase. Countries like Pakistan has all time very serious issue of pest management, as majority of the small famers could not recognize pests, they have financial more...
CNG ‘suicide bombers’
By Technology Times at December 17, 2011 | 1:18 pm | 0 Comment
ALMOST 40 people have been killed and an equal number injured in just a fortnight in a series of blasts involving public transport buses and wagons using CNG as fuel. These are just alarm bells. In the beginning, the increase in gasoline costs prompted the public to go for CNG conversion of their vehicles. In the meantime, public transport buses, mini-buses, wagons and more...
Hazards of energy savers
By Technology Times at December 17, 2011 | 1:17 pm | 0 Comment
THE ENERGY crisis in our country has taken us towards the energy conservation these days at the national level. The use of energy-saver bulbs instead of traditional bulbs and tube lights has increased throughout the country. As everyone knows that these energy-saver bulbs are economical in use but nobody knows that these energy savers can be a serious health more...
60 dams on our rivers?
By Technology Times at December 17, 2011 | 1:16 pm | 0 Comment
IT HAS been repeatedly revealed by media that India is building 60 large and small dams on our three Western rivers in occupied Kashmir under the plea that Pakistan is wasting its waters into the sea. Pakistan is smugly laying its bets on Bhasha dam while ignoring the KBD, which could have been built in half the time of Bhasha dam to solve our chronic problem of energy more...
HEC and ‘absconding’ scholars
By Technology Times at December 11, 2011 | 12:54 pm | 1 Comments
THIS IS apropos of the report about the Higher Education Commission penalising PhD absconders (published in media). It was a great shock that some of the PhD scholarship holders have disregarded their bond to serve their homeland after earning the academic title of ‘doctorate’.The PhD faculty is an important ingredient and indicator in gauging the academic worth of a more...
60 dams on our rivers?
By Technology Times at December 11, 2011 | 12:52 pm | 0 Comment
IT HAS been repeatedly revealed by media that India is building 60 large and small dams on our three Western rivers in occupied Kashmir under the plea that Pakistan is wasting its waters into the sea. Pakistan is smugly laying its bets on Bhasha dam while ignoring the Kala Bagh Dam (KBD), which could have been built in half the time of Bhasha dam to solve our chronic more...
Funding agriculture research
By Technology Times at December 11, 2011 | 12:50 pm | 0 Comment
THIS IS apropos of the news item regarding $100 million spent on importing jute fibre. I had pointed out this fact in my letter on jute cultivation (July 19, 1974). I did a research on enhancing the process of jute retting in Dhaka University, and this was published in a scientific journal of the US.I conducted pilot experiments for growing and retting of jute at Karachi more...
Pakistan Winning SEVEN Awards in Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2011 in Thailand and CARE Contributing FOUR
By Technology Times at December 7, 2011 | 11:54 am | 0 Comment
All my gratitude to Almightily Allah Who has bestowed on us the intellect and the determination to work hard for our country to bring honor to Pakistan. This year CARE has made yet another history by winning FOUR awards in the five categories CARE was competing, one GOLD and four SILVER merit awards. I wish we could share the movement with every Pakistani when the name of more...
Global warming
By Technology Times at November 26, 2011 | 2:38 pm | 0 Comment
SCIENTISTS ARE certain that global temperatures would increase by five degrees by the middle of this century and by 10 degrees by the end of this century as a result of global warming. Pakistan is amongst those countries which are vulnerable to these climate changes. The government should take some serious action on the issue. A national climate change policy should be more...
Dr Salaam:Iicon to follow
By Technology Times at November 26, 2011 | 2:37 pm | 0 Comment
NOVEMBER 21 was the 15th death anniversary of Pakistan’s Nobel prize-winning physicist, Prof. (Dr) Abdus Salaam. He died at the age of 71 in his house in London. Many of his students, colleagues/friends and well-wishers had wished to have his grave built in the UK, where he studied and through his genius received worldwide recognition. But others were of the view more...
Floods and climate change
By Technology Times at November 19, 2011 | 12:52 pm | 0 Comment
Our region is victim to extreme climate change. The floods of last year caused losses of tens of billions of dollars, over 2,000 people died, 15 million were displaced and one-fifth of our land went under water. Last year’s misery had not ended when we were struck by more flooding this year causing further losses. Twenty out of 22 districts of Sindh were affected and more...
Wheat crop 2012
By Technology Times at November 19, 2011 | 12:51 pm | 0 Comment
Wheat is the most important staple crop of the country. Although sown on a large area, there have been crises of short crop in the country whenever the support prices fixed were not considered profitable by the farmers. Also, the burgeoning cost of inputs had compelled farmers to cultivate and produce for self-consumption rather than for sale. Such food scarcity had more...
Promoting nanoscience
By Technology Times at November 15, 2011 | 11:41 am | 0 Comment
ANOSCIENCE IS an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with the size of particles as small as the one-billionth part of a metre or 10 hydrogen atoms lined up together. It is an emerging science. However, its idea is rooted back to 1959 when Nobel laureate Richard Feynman proposed the presence of a lot of room at the bottom to be explored by scientists. His prediction more...
Uprooting agrarian economy
By Technology Times at November 15, 2011 | 11:33 am | 0 Comment
THE PRICE of urea fertiliser has once again been increased by Rs450 a bag. The last increase of Rs202 was only two weeks back, while the total increase in two weeks is 47 per cent. This increase is over and above the previous frequent jumps. The price per bag of urea was Rs950 last year while the current announced price is Rs2,000. People have no choice as no crop can more...
Two-day off not good for economy
By Technology Times at November 14, 2011 | 1:05 pm | 0 Comment
THE GOVERNMENT has now announced a two – day weekend to manage power crisis. This will further damage the fragile economy by reducing the working days in offices. The solution to the energy crisis consists in not giving another day off at all. Will the government suggest that it will turn off the water supply to all homes due to the water crisis? The government more...
An abundance of talent
By Technology Times at November 14, 2011 | 1:03 pm | 0 Comment
THERE ARE moments when one feels so proud of Pakistan and the Pakistanis who live in it despite all the odds stacked against them in a country where the leaders provide no welfare facilities and no opportunities for future growth. The MIT Technology Review has published a list of ‘35 of the world’s top young innovators for the year 2011’ and in that list is the name more...
QAU neglects girl students and others in a rush to go for undergrad classes
By Technology Times at November 14, 2011 | 1:01 pm | 0 Comment
THIS IS the first year that QAU has changed its exclusive status from a post-grad-only institution in the entire country.... and opened itself to a deluge of undergraduate admissions despite the fact that there is lack of faculty, space and infrastructure for this. It is creating major problems for the students who are coming by the droves to get enrolled. The university more...
Unsung heroes! incomplete alchemy
By Technology Times at October 29, 2011 | 2:09 pm | 0 Comment
I think most of us are affected by a Critique Virus. This has led us to criticize everything under the sun covering the land mass of our beloved country, Pakistan. We do not analyze our problems threadbare and get to their solutions thru excessive civil society activism and lobbying. Pakistan had introduced the PIPRO (Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights Ordinance) in more...
Why a course in professional ethics is necessary?
By Technology Times at October 29, 2011 | 2:08 pm | 0 Comment
The situation described below is very common in Pakistani institutions. Students are always directed by professors/ supervisors to write their name(s) on researched work. Failing in doing so, they would present hurdles inside university/ department. In some cases, supervisors discourage students about research work and afterward publish that work with their own names. more...
