Primitive Life Mars
The 16 August issue of the Science magazine published an article by a group of scientists led by David Mckay on the discovery of evidence of primitive bacterial life on Mars. This article is based on the examination of a meteorite found in Antarctica and supposed to be from the planet Mars. The reasons to publish such an article were 1) the presence of hydrocarbon similar to breakdown products of dead organisms on Earth, 2) Mineral phases considered to be byproducts of active bacteria and 3) carbonate globules of tiny size, which could be microfossils of primitive bacteria. All these were found in a very small diameter distance. A chronology of dates dating back to about 4.5 billion years gives details about the meteorite, which was ALH84001, which was found in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica in 1984. The chronology of events begins with the original solidification of the igneous rock, the fracture of the rock by meteorite impacts, the deposition of carbonate minerals that allowed primitive bacteria to live in the fractures and the dislodging of a major chunk of the rock which was later ejected to the space. The evidence for life on Mars are found from mineralized fractures in the meteorite found in close proximity. The discovery of plenty of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the surface of fractures which are complex organic molecules generally formed by non-biological factors. The evidence from meteorite ALH84001 suggests possibility of biological origin.
Carol Stroker and Larry Lemke explained to a group of space officials that they have identified strong evidence about the existence of life on Mars these times in hidden caves that are sustained by Water. The report was based on methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity that was similar to those discovered in the caves on Earth recently. The scientists at NASA are involved in research and have theorized Martian subsurface that it could shelter biological organisms which have developed unusual abilities to exist in extreme conditions. This lead Stroker and a group of U.S and Spanish researcher to search for subsurface life near the Rio Tinto river called so because of its red tint caused by highly acidic water which dissolves iron. The main aim of the search was to unravel underground microbial ecosystem that might control the chemistry of the environment on the surface. Similar search for life in the Mars may have coincidental effect to that of the search in Rio Tinto to uncover a novel uncharacterized metabolic strategy living in the subsurface. Stroker said that by comparing their search in Rio Tinto with the details collected by ground-based telescope and orbiting space craft have reached conclusions that life exists below the subsurface of Mars. The scientists pointed out that fluctuating methane signatures could be the presence of active underground biosphere and the presence of sulfate jarosite a mineral salt present in Earth in hot springs. NASA is now planning to send a powerful rover to Mars in 2009 to sniff out methane with high sensitivity to further throw light on the findings. There is a speculation as a result of findings from the meteorite ALH84001 that life could have existed in Mars. An analysis of satellite images has given evidence on the presence of extremophiles on Mars. The biological origin accounts to annual appearance and disappearance of dark dune spots at the polar regions of the planet. Another evidence to prove the existence of life on Mars is the presence of Haloarchaea, which could live on Mars since the atmosphere of Mars has a pressure that is below the triple point of water where freshwater species annot exist. Thus the Mars Exploration Rovers of 2004 focussed to find an evidence of liquid water than to find present or past life on Mars. In the year 2004, it was announced by NASA that the rover Opportunity had found evidence that Mars was a wet planet in the past which gave hope of past life on the planet. However, in December 2006, the images taken by Mars Global Surveyor showed that there was flow of water on the surface of the planet occasionally which was characteriesed by the changes in craters and sediments. The presence of water on Mars was analysed to find possible life on the planet at present or in the past. The Viking experiment was conducted to find more evidence of life on earth. The Viking landers were sent to Mars in the 1970's to detect organic substance and the presence of organisms of Martian surface. The evidence form Viking experiment gave mixed results. While one experiment found no evidence of organic compounds in the soil other experiment gave positive results. A test conducted by dropping nutrient solution gave immediate positive result. It was concluded that the result was due to the presence of oxides in the soil. Dr.Gilber Levin conducted these experiments and he is convinced till date that there is life on Mars. Since the debate continues for the evidence for life on Mars, it may be concluded that a trained field geologist with a rock hammer may be send for a human on site exploration for a much better chance of finding evidence of life. A Human to Mars program may be organized as per the opinion of the Mars society. A telescopic study of Mars in the late 1890 spawned theories on vegetative and a possible intelligent life on Mars. Though this was a popular idea, the poor quality of the data made it plausible. As per their study the poles of Mars were ice locked and it seemed to hold the possible essential matter for life H2O. The question, which later arose, was the present of H2O in liquid form. Even till the year 1962, astronomers interpreted the theories that said there was life on Mars. It was studied through spectroscopic date that there were vegetations on the surface of earth. All the above were held good until Mariner 4, the first spacecraft transmitted photographs that showered craters without any sign of considerable vegetation which also measure the atmosphere and temperature that revealed the characteristic of Mars was not suitable for most creatures on Earth. Although certain experiments revealed primitive forms of life on Earth could survive under specific Martian conditions for some time period. The evidence later given by Mariner 6 and 7 gave the information that the atmosphere of Mars was mainly made of Carbon Dioxide. In 1970, all earlier perception gave way to a theory of Mars being lifeless and unsuitable for life which was very much in contrast as considered before. The geological history of Mars is simpler than Earth's due to its smaller size. The decrease in the internal heat power has reduced geological activity like volcanoes and earthquakes in Mars. The lower gravity of Mars has allowed water on it to escape to space from the Martian surface turning itself to a more drier than the driest desert on Earth. The idea which astronomers drew out in the last nineteenth and early twentieth century through telescope, that linear feature were canals drawn out by intelligent Martians were destroyed with the images sent by spacecraft Mariner that showed an arid Mars without any sign of life. Continued studies of Mars by scientist let them believe that once the planet Mars was rich with ingredients of life with plenty of water, a good atmosphere and when water from Mars reduced, the Martian life went underground where conditions were suitable. Our latest challenge remains to find life in wet place of the planet probable underground to look for recent life (or living organisms) wherever they are on Mars.
British scientists claim that they have found evidence of life on Mars and also suggests primitive organisms may exist in protected regions of the planet. The British scientists also reported on methane belching bugs which may have lived on the planet some 6,00,000 years ago.7 With various conclusions from spacecraft pictures and rovers a true result on the existence of life on Mars has not yet been arrived. It is time to sent human mission to Mars and is the only possible way to do extensive research and investigation to arrive at conclusive result on Life on Mars. If private companies are encouraged to conduct exploration on the subject, we may come out with better results. The SETI institute is a nonprofit, private organization dedicated to education, scientific research and public outreach. The mission of the institute is to explore, explain and understand the origin, nature and existence of life in the universe. The scientists of Johnson Space Centre found evidence that strongly suggested the existence of primitive life more than 3.6 billion year ago. The team is into further investigation about the fact for the scientific community at large to confirm or deny the findings.
The paper will start with an introduction, which will be followed by aspects of cruelty against animals in the name of science. The paper will define cruelty, and thereafter apply the meaning to animals, and the ways in which cruelty is meted out to them by scientists and researchers. The history of using animals for experimentation will be analyzed, and then, the British Cruelty to Animals Act in 1876 will be explained. A conclusion will be made, about why it is unethical to use animals for experimentation, and why the trend must be halted. Animals have been used for the purpose of experimentation for a great many years today, and although several animal rights activists and others have been actively campaigning for this cruel and completely unethical practice to stop, there have been no signs of this practice ever coming to a real stop, in which animals would be able to lead free and unfettered lives. It is a sad fact indeed that many, in fact most oft he average human population of the world apparently believes that it is completely OK to use animals for experimentation, and also to inflict diseases in these poor hapless creatures, so that human beings would be able to find a cure for that disease. Take for example, an imaginary scenario in which a woman loved her dog deeply, but the same women would not hesitate to sacrifice her beloved dog if she were promised that this sacrifice would fetch her a cure for her child's disease. Human beings have always chosen a fellow human being over an animal, and this trend is reflected today, in the fact that although animal rights activists do put forth philosophical arguments in favor of animals, people still will not put an end to these creatures being used in experimentation. Perhaps, feel the authors of the book ‘Sacred Cows and Golden geese…' what if it could be proved to human beings that animals actually provided vague and inconclusive results? Is it true that certain drugs are withheld from humans just because they proved to be harmful to animals, or is it true that drugs that are not harmful to animals are used on humans, with disastrous results? What if all these were not true? Scientists and researchers have often stated openly that more often than not, these great ‘breakthroughs' in treatment may not actually be useful in treating the same disease in a human being, because of the simple fact that animals are fundamentally different from human beings. Perhaps, feel the authors, the hundreds of people involved in animal experimentation would be thrown out of their jobs if animal experimentation were to be stopped, and this may be the reason why it is extremely difficult to put an end to this despicable practice.
The term ‘cruelty' in itself is defined by the Webster's Dictionary as “causing, or of a kind to cause pain, distress, etc. cruel implies indifference to the suffering of others.” What this means is that cruelty can encompass the means by which an innocent is forced to experience pain, for some purpose of the inflictor's own, which he could stop if he wished to, but does not. This would bring us to the actual point: in what way is cruelty to animals justifiable in the name of science? Why must an animal be made to suffer untold pain and misery, just so that scientists could analyze and experiment with drugs or scientific methods meant for human beings? As a matter of fact, even common household items, cosmetics, and shampoos, soaps, furniture polish and oven cleaners are tested on animals before they are approved and marketed for humans. For example, a few drops of liquid or granules are dropped into a rabbit's eyes, to test whether it causes irritation, and if does, then the human being would benefit, because the shampoo would be withdrawn, improved, and tested again, and yet again, while the poor creature would suffer untold misery on account of the testing procedures. At times, animals are immobilized in stocks, from which their heads alone may protrude, and experiments are then conducted, with no anesthesia to dull the pain. However, those individuals who are committed to the cause of using animals in experimentation always have a ready argument to justify this use. For one, they say, two kinds of experimentation on animals are carried on in the world today, and they are, one, a compilation of the available government data from different countries, and second, the database of all published articles on the issue. These are the two sources that are used today, and furthermore, studies are based on two methods, which are invasive and non-invasive procedures. While invasive refers to experiments conducted on an animal when it is in a conscious state, with a lot of pain inflicted on it, the non-invasive method involves painless research on animals. Pain can often be a part of the procedures being conducted, and without the pain, the experiment would have no value, stress the researchers. In this particular study of primates in Asia, it was found that more than half of the experiments were of the non invasive type, in which the primates were active participants in the experiments. However, there is an intrinsic difference between a human being and an animal; while a human being would be able to give his consent to any experimentation procedure, an animal would not be able to do this. No animal understands what experimentation is. Therefore, how does one decide whether it is ethical to conduct experiments on them, experiments that involve blatant cruelty and assault?
It must be remembered that those people who voice their objections to using animals in experimentation fall under two broad categories: animal welfare activists, and animal rights activists. While those who belong to animal welfare groups do agree that animal experimentation must carry on, but that they must be minimized, so that the pain and suffering of the poor creatures is also minimized, those that belong to the animal rights group are more radical with their opinions. These people have often stated that animals too have their rights, in much the same way as human beings do, and that animals must therefore never be used for the purposes of experimentation, as this is extremely cruel, unkind, brutal and unethical. Going back in time, it is true that animals have been used for experiments since time immemorial, although it was comparatively rare before the nineteenth century. One of the earliest records of animals used for experiments was found to be form ancient Rome, when the renowned court physician, 129 to 210 CE Erasistratus supposedly used a pig to demonstrate the severance of the various nerves to his audience by cutting them on the hapless pig. In the late Middle Ages, anatomy was keenly investigated, with the help of animals, who were dissected to find out the working of the body. Some of the famous physicians of the time were William Harvey and Andreas Vesalius, who used various kinds of animals in their experiments on anatomy. Harvey was also known to have used deer in his experiments to find out about blood circulation, while Rene Descartes is known to have stated that animals are much like machines, because they do not feel pain at all! Amazingly, this was the view that persisted until the twentieth century: that an animal does not feel pain. It was François Magendie and Claude Bernard who laid down the foundations, during the nineteenth century, for the modern day animal experimentation. However, these two scientists conducted their experiments on fully conscious animals which had been restrained, and they were condemned later for their cruelty and unethical treatment of animals. These protests culminated in the passage of the British Cruelty to Animals Act in 1876, which would impose some sort of restrictions on using animals for experiments. Today too, animal experimentation is being continued, and increasingly, animals are being used to test disease producing viruses and bacteria that would affect human beings. it must be noted too, that opposition to cruel and unethical treatment of animals has also existed through the ages, and as experimentation increased, so did the resistance to them. Even so, it has been an often quoted fact that researchers remained convinced that the costs in terms of the pain of their animals were outweighed by the benefits of the experimentation on them.
To conclude, it must be stated that when this is taken in the light of the fact that almost all human beings tend to avoid pain in any form, and go into a lot of trouble to ensure that one need not suffer needless pain, it seems extremely cruel that animals can be exposed to pain in the name of science and experimentation, especially when they cannot stand up and fight for their own rights. Therefore, it must be said that the use of animals for experimentation can be termed as extreme cruelty and brutality to animals and is unethical, and that it must be stopped at the earliest. Animals have feelings too, they feel pain too, and a human being with his formidable thinking prowess must realize this important fact before he stops and condemns a hapless animal to an existence filled with pain and cruelty. Economic regulations and Social Regulations are two sides of the same coin namely “Government regulations”. All governments have a set of rules for citizens to follow so that the countries run smoothly and there is no disparity between individuals. It is for the government to see that the rules are followed or regulated and every one is benefited in return. Economic regulation as the name suggests is for the financial sector which is run by individuals or private firms. They are also known as direct regulations. They are a set of rules imposed on these individuals or companies so as to control and modify their economic behavior and narrow profit making in certain areas sot that the general public can benefit from it. There are a lot of areas like production and supply of materials, services sector etc., where the government has to depend on the private sector. But economic regulations see to it that such companies do not make more than necessary profit and become monopolies. Regulation of prices and wages, licenses, taxes and tax information, tariffs and tariff control ,import and export duties and standards of production of food and other consumables are all types of economic regulations a government imposes on its industries and private sector. Non adherence to these regulations could result in payment of penalties and other legal liabilities. Industries where economic regulations are implemented are communication services like airlines, railways, telecommunications, radio and television broadcasting, manufacturing industries, agricultural products, the retail and banking sector and the oil industry. Social regulations on the other hand are made for the benefit of the consumer. They are made to control the methods of producing goods or products in industries and generally aimed at getting the best quality products out of minimum production costs. They are also aimed at proving safety standards for workers, environmental safety, health safety, human rights, use of water and land, pollution control, infrastructure development, and protection against mental trauma which is due to deception, inaccurate information, or fraud. The government makes these regulations to protect the general citizens who otherwise cannot do it alone and would be grossly exploited by the wrong people. Social regulations are implemented to control the overuse or misuse of natural resources like the environment and human labour. They help people against exploitation thus preventing the society from being effected. Both economic and social regulations are required to run a government smoothly and benefit the society. This in turn helps in the growth and development of the country leading to change in standards of living and income. While the economic regulations keep the private sector's services in control, social regulations keep their standards and process of providing services in control. The final idea is that the private sector should make profits but keeping the individual in mind. These regulations force the profit making industry to contribute a part of their profits for the benefit of the society, be it through services or taxes. Economic regulations are necessary to prevent companies from making profits by exploiting people for their services like for example, increasing tariffs of airlines or railways thus preventing general commuters from economic burden whereas social regulations are aimed at preventing overuse of resources by such sectors for achieving these profits like providing substandard work environment for workers so as to make the most of the finances invested. Social regulations also help in preventing behaviors that are a threat to human health and social welfare in the individual level. This could relate to mental trauma caused by misinformation or exploitation on the part of an organization which led to loss of any kind to the individual. Companies are liable to compensate to the individual for such losses because of social regulations that the government has implied upon them. Both economic and social regulations keep the private sector on their toes but they may cost a country quite some amount in order to keep the citizen from bearing the brunt of heavy cost of manufacturing and low profit margins. While economic regulations are the rules to adhere to, social regulations are the punishments for not obeying the rules through penalties. Companies are provided relief in economic regulations if they obey social regulations and contribute to the development of the society. Consumer benefits through economic and social regulations are what keeps the world going in this world of “consumerism”.
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