For Pakistan to emerge from the
huge mountain of debt we need to give the highest priority to transitioning to a
knowledge-based economy. For this we need to invest massively in education,
science, technology and innovation so that entrepreneurship can flourish.
Multibillion dollar industries are being developed in technologically-advanced
countries, based on fantastic discoveries being made in university research
institutes and company research laboratories. A few examples are given here.
A new revolution in electronics is around the corner. It all started with a
discovery by Swiss scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
– a new wonder material they called ‘molybdenite’ (Molybdenum disulphide, MoS2).
It was found to have many advantages over silicon which is normally used in
electronics, and also over a carbon-based material ‘graphene’.
Molybdenite is an excellent semiconductor and can be made in very thin sheets
that can be employed to manufacture tiny efficient transistors, light emitting
diodes (LEDs), computer chips and solar cells (Nature Nanotechnology,7, 4888,
2012)Journal name:. Your windows may be used as video screens and your clothes
with electronic circuits based on molybdenite printed on them may also be used
as smart phones. It all sounds like science fiction but may soon become a
reality.
The Swiss discovery has been further developed by Tomás Palacios of MIT and
postdoctoral student Yi-Hsien Lee. They have developed a chemical vapour
deposition process to make large sheets of molybdenum disulfide that can be used
to make two-dimensional materials with built-in electronic circuitsDOI:. The
material can be potentially employed to manufacture flexible electronic devices
– opening up possibilities of manufacturing computerised clothing, roll-up
computers and electronics that can interface directly with human tissue.
It may also be possible to spray these materials into walls or windows and
convert them into large computer or TV screens. So anything could become an
interactive digital display and you may be able to connect to the internet
through the clothes you wear (MIT News, 23 August 2012)!
Stem cell technologies promise to help patients with damaged kidneys or hearts
or those suffering from diabetes and other diseases. Indeed medical research is
leading to novel drugs and surgical devices that are showering the
pharmaceutical companies with tens of billions of dollars profits annually. The
remarkable progress made by the Indian pharmaceutical industry in the last two
decades should be an eye opener for us.
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a retinal implant that
promises to restore eyesight to the blind. It comprises a computer chip that
converts camera images into electrical impulses that the brain can understand
and decode. Incredibly small cameras are used that are fitted on a pair of
glasses. The digital information captured by the camera is sent by a thin wire
to the back of the patient’s eye where they stimulate the nerves in the retina,
thereby allowing some visibility to be restored.
Another exciting discovery has been a growing understanding into the underlying
causes of obesity, which is the cause of heart disease in many cases and results
in hundreds of billions of dollars of expenditure on national health services.
It has been found that a virus (adenovirus 36) is responsible for obesity in
children and probably in adults, and work on the development of a vaccine
against obesity is in full swing.
Can we ever have vaccines that will prevent heart disease, just as we have
vaccines against many other diseases? Researchers at La Jolla Institute for
Allergy and Immunology in California have been able to identify the type of
immune cells that are responsible for inflammation of the artery walls and which
can lead to the narrowing of the arteries due to the build-up of plaque. Now
that they know what type of immune cells are involved in the process of
inflammation, plans are underway to develop a vaccine against heart diseases.
About 130-170 million persons worldwide are infected by hepatitis C. Hepatitis
is a common viral disease found in Pakistan and many other countries with poor
quality water supplies and substandard sanitation services. In an exciting
development, Michael Houghton and co-workers at the University of Alberta have
developed a vaccine from a single strain of hepatitis C that was found to be
effective against all known strains of the disease. They found that the vaccine
developed led to the production of a broad range of cross-neutralising
antibodies.
Another multi-billion dollar industry is concerned with biosensors. These are
devices that can be used to detect bacteria, viruses, contaminants in foods such
as pesticides, and they are finding thousands of other applications. For
instance a major problem in hospitals is the existence of viruses and bacteria
that cause serious infections among patients.
The detection of such organisms, even if present in low numbers, is therefore a
very pressing issue. An exciting advancement in this field has been the
development of highly sensitive biosensors that can detect even very tiny virus
particles. A commonly used biosensor is that used for measuring blood glucose.
An ultra-sensitive biosensor for detection of even very tiny viruses has been
developed by Professor Stephen Arnold at the Polytechnic Institute of New York
University. Conventional virus detection techniques require weeks for analysis
but the biosensor developed by Prof Arnold allows the detection to take place
inexpensively within minutes.
The biosensor has been named the ‘Whispering Gallery-Mode Biosensor’ after the
famous Whispering Gallery under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. This
is so because the idea for developing such a sensor occurred to him while Prof
Arnold was listening to a violin concert, and he thought about how the sound
would change if certain particles were to stick to the violin strings.
In this strange and wonderful world of discovery, we have to prepare our young
population for the world of tomorrow through massive investments in education,
science and technology. The question is: will the new government act differently
than its predecessors?
The writer is the former chairman of the Higher Education Commission and
currently president of Pakistan Academy of Sciences.Email: [email protected]