Transcript Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman Lecture

The Wondrous World of
Scientific Discovery
Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS
Unesco Science Laureate
Requirements for Rapid Progress
 Human capital with knowledge
and skills
 Research: Technology
 Innovation/Entrepreneurship Infrastructure
and incentives to innovate
2
Innovation Determines Progress
Socio-economic development is no longer
dependent on natural resources (eg.Japan,
European countries)
KNOWLEDGE is now the main driving
force of world economies
China
Singapore
Korea
Taiwan
Impact of just one institution---MIT

MIT graduates and faculty have founded
11,000 companies

Employ: 1.1 million people

Annual Sales: $2000 billion

Collectively these companies are the 11th
largest economy in the World!
http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2009/08/entrepreneurialimpact-the-role-of-mit
The Triple Helix : Knowledge
Economy: Singapore

Small country ---865 sq km (population 5 million)

No natural resources: focus ONLY on human resources
and high tech manufacturing/exports
Lee Kwan Yew: Leadership !!!!!!
Mobilization of its human capital
 Exports: $ 518 Bln
 GDP : $ 467 Billion Through extensive growth in its
high technology manufacturing industries
In World Trade, The Role of Technology is Critical
Shares of manufactured products in world exports by technology (%)
Medium-Tech
35
30
25
Resource Based
Hi-Tech
20
Low-Tech
15
10
5
Source: Oxford / Cambridge Sarya Sel
2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
0
8
Pakistan---An Exciting Beginning !!

My appointment as Federal Minister of Science &
Technology (2000) and Chairman Higher Education
Commission (2002-2008)

6000% Increase in Development Budget of Science
Ministry and 3500% increase in Dev. Budget of Higher
Education

HEC an autonomous body reporting to PM
Excite young minds about the wonders of
science !
 Select and train the Brightest in top universities
abroad
 Attract them back--- by creating an enabling
environment :

Salaries

Research Funding

Access to Literature
 Free Access to Sophisticated Instrumentation

Jobs on Arrival

Year-wise PhDs Produced
International Research Publications
Impact Factor Journals
World University Rankings

Higher Education Times, UK Rankings,
November :
Several Pakistani universities ranked
among the top 500 universities of the
World
 -- In Natural Sciences:
Karachi University at 223, NUST at
250 and UET (Lahore) at 281 in world!

Glowing International Reviews--A Silent Revolution

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World Bank
USAID
British Council
“Nature”--27th November 2007---- “The
Paradox of Pakistan”
“Nature” --28th August 2008--- “After
Musharraf”
“Nature”--- 3rd September 2009
“Nature”----22nd September 2010
i-MOOCs
Integrated Approach to MOOCs
 Courses from MIT, Stanford, Yale,
University of California, Khan Academy etc
integrated according to levels (school,
college, university) and disciplines
 Technical and vocational courses,
language courses and Virtual University
courses included

 www.lej4learning.com.pk
Chinese/German/French
Language Courses

We have initiated a nation-wide program
to teach Chinese/German/French
languages across Pakistan.

Confucius Centers/Goethe
Institute/Alliance Francaise involved.

By Video-conferencing and Webinars
BIOTECHNOLOGY/
GENOMICS
Biotechnology
Seeds No Longer Needed: Advent of
tissue culture technologies
 GM crops: transforming agriculture ---inbuilt natural pesticides
 Animal genes in plants: Luminescent
orchids
 Genes that lead to salt tolerance; growing
crops with sea water !

Biotechnology

Genomics: tailoring new animal and plant
species with growing understanding of
structure-function relationships

“Golden rice” with provitamin A, saving
thousands of lives due to vitamin deficiency in
children

Growing crops round the year --- discovery of
DET1 gene, that controls the “biological clock”
in plants
Biotechnology

Use of Gene therapy against breast cancer----Modified spider proteins combined with fire fly
proteins to detect cancer cells

Malaria: Genetically modified mosquitoes ---GM
females cannot fly away after laying eggs, GM
males can to spread the characteristic
Biotechnology

Genetically modified cows --- that produce
“human milk” !
Obesity:
1. Obesity Gene (FTO)
2. Lack of Sleep
3. Adenovirus 36
4. Artificial sweeteners
5. Brown fat (50 grams burns 500 calories/day)
Biotechnology
Understanding and reversing the ageing
process
1. Apoptosis
2. Telomere
3. Ageing Genes (4)
4. Oxygen radicals
Exciting advances: Resveratol, NAD

Re-engineered Polio Virus to Treat
Cancer

In 2015, scientists at Duke University, USA, used a
genetically re-engineered polio virus, PVS-RIPO, to
treat glioblastoma -- a brain tumor that carries a life
expectancy of less than a year.

Advances in exponential technologies like
synthetic biology and genomics are reinforcing the
notion that previously unresolvable diseases (cancer,
heart disease, Altzeimers) are in fact resolvable
Biotechnology

Using microbes as work horses: (Corticosteroids,
antibiotics etc) thousands of applications in
agriculture, medicine

Synthetic life ?

3D Printing of kidneys, liver, ears, jaw bone, hip bones

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Stem Cells: repairing human organs: Induced
Pluripotent Stem Cells by retro-differentiation---Nobel
Prize given to Yamanaka
3D Printed Kidney !
Wearable Kidney Machine: Wearable
Artificial Kidney Completes First Clinical Trial,
Could Free People From Dialysis
 https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/86397

Prof. Jonathan Himmelfarb
University of Washington
Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen) and Arizona State University (ASU) have identified three
tiny RNA switches, known as microRNAs, which may hold the
keys to regenerating muscles, cartilage, and spinal columns.
These switches are able to turn genes on and off, and are
associated with the regeneration of tails in the green anole lizard
Neuroscience:
Human Brain
The

Neuroscience: essence of man

Human Brain: 100 billion neurons!
Each connected to 7000 other neurons!
100 billion X 70000 synaptic connections!

Cars Driving Themselves !
Mind Reading Hat !

Honda has developed a special hat which when worn can
control the movements of robots just by thought!

The hat is in the form of a skullcap that has highly
sensitive electrodes fitted in it which detect the electrical
signals from the brain as well as the blood flow.
The information is transmitted to a robot, which
recognizes the intention of the person wearing the hat and
acts accordingly.
This mind reading hat uses remote sensing sensors so
that no surgical implants are needed.
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Engineers from Nankai University,Tianjin, have created a headset
consisting of 16 sensors that captures EEG
(electroencephalogram) signals from the driver’s brain. They then
created computer software that will allow the brain signal-reading
equipment to control the car going forward, backwards, coming to
a stop, and both locking and unlocking the vehicle. The core of
the whole system is processing of the EEG signals in the
computer.
Artificial
Intelligence

Machine intelligence

Flying robotic quadcopters: hundreds
operating in intelligent coordination

Intelligent Wars: The Era of the Drones!

AI WINS IN CANCER DETECTION
CONTEST
Scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
(BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have
developed a way to train artificial intelligence to read and
interpret pathology images.
it was tasked to look for breast cancer in images of
lymph nodes. It turns out it can detect breast cancer
accurately 92 percent of the time and won in two
separate categories during the contest
Blind Seeing
with the Tongue
Daily Telegraph
Sunday 31 August 2014
Electronic lollipop 'allows blind people to
see with their tongues'
An electronic lollipop that enables blind people to see by
using their tongue has been created by scientists.
BrainPort V 100
400 sensors each corresponding to 1
pixel
In-Ear Device That Translates
Foreign Languages In Real Time,
Waverly Labs, New York
MOLECULAR BASIS OF
MEMORY !

A Theory of Memory”, presented Plenary
Lecture at 22nd IUPAC Symposium on the
Chemistry of Natural Products, held in Sao
Paulo,

Atta-ur-Rahman, Pure Appl. Chem., 73(3) 555560 (2001); Pure Appl. Chem., 74(4), 511
(2002); Pure & Appl. Chem, 77, 75-81 (2005).
Thoughts are not Abstract !


Thoughts may involve freezing of
Conformational Mobility of Sugars by
Hydrogen Bonding in Glycoproteins
(Patterns Embossed on a “Velvet” formed
by strands of hydroxyl groups)
Learning may be formation of hydrogen
bonds—
forgetting may be the breakage of these
bonds
Patterns Discovered--- Memory
Encoded in Microtubule Lattices

Travis J. A. Craddock1*, Jack A. Tuszynski1,2, Stuart
Hameroff3

1 Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

2 Department of Experimental Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Canada
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3 Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology, Center for Consciousness Studies,
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
March 2012 Issue of PLOS Computational Biology
My Reviews Published Recently
The Neuroscientist: October 2014, 20 :422
Reviews in Neurosciences, 26 (3), 253-268
(2015).

EPILEPSY
45
PATCH CLAMP FACILITY
46
Hippocampal Neurons Patch Clamp
Electrode
Isoxylitones A and B
5a
H3C
4
3
H3C
3a
5a
H3C
5b
CH3
5
6
1
5b
CH3
5
4
3
O
E
3'
2' CH3
1'
H3C
3a
6
1
3'
Z
O

2'
CH3
1'
Isoxylitones A and B are able to prevent convulsions in both the electrically
and chemically-induced seizure models
48
NEW MATERIALS
Metamaterials

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
These are new materials that can
bend the rays of light away
Materials Covered with them just
DISAPPEAR!
Objects behind them remain visible
Harry Potter’s Disappearing Cloak is
now a reality
Being used for cloaking submarines,
tanks etc
Fascinating New
Materials
Intelligent Materials: That remember
their shape !
 Self-Healing Materials: NASA-funded
research has created a material that could
self-heal in seconds. Two layers of solid
polymer sandwich a gel that with an
ingredient that solidifies on contact with air
(i.e. when one or both of the outer layers is
damaged).
 Graphene: Two Nobel Prizes awarded

Graphene !
HD TVs as thin as wallpaper... Samsung
Modified graphene (containing hydrogen,
lithium, potassium and fluorine) can
generate electricity
Graphene-based particles to shuttle
cancer drugs to tumours.
Batteries that charge 10 times faster and
hold 10 times more power
Graphene used to create
world's thinnest light bulb
Researchers and engineers from Columbia University, Seoul National
University (SNU), and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science
(KRISS) created the device using tiny filaments of graphene attached to
metal electrodes, with these strips then suspended above a silicon
substrate. Passing current through the filaments caused them to heat up
to over 2,500° C (4,500° F) and produce an exceptionally bright light.
A Wrinkle Zapping Cream: when rubbed on the skin—forms
a transparent, flexible polymer film restoring aging skin’s
youthful and elastic propertie:
Suzanne Kilmer, dermatologist at University of California
Nanotechnology
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Bullet proof paper: nanocellulose; stronger than
steel; being used for making bullet proof jackets
Nano filters: for purifying water
Nano medicines: far more effective
Nano electronics: minicomputers
Bucky Balls
Nanodiamonds
Amorphous Metals
Paper from Stone! Lung Meng Tech
Co. of Taiwan
Military Robots by 3D Printing
3D Printed Cars (Extruded
From Plastic Powder!)
World’s First 3D Printed Jet Engine
(Monash University, Australia)
Fighter Aircraft with 3D Printed
Parts
E-Textiles!
Ebb Textiles
Ultra-Long Drug Delivery
Materials: Polymer gel developed at MIT

ENERGY
Quantum Dot Lights --- Next
Generation Bulbs
Gravity Light (Using
Sand/Stones) !
ENERGY
Solar Cells with Above 40% Efficiency:
Sharp Corporation has developed new types of
compound solar cells with efficiencies of over 40 %.
This was achieved by replacing the germanium base
layer by indium gallium arsenide.

“Photon Enhanced Thermionic Emission”, (PETE)
can work at high temperatures, unlike currently
available solar cells, and its utilisation of light and
heat (produced by solar radiation) can increase the
efficiency of the new solar cells to above 50% (Nick
Melosh and coworkers at Stanford University)
INTERNATIONAL
THERMONUCLEAR
EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR (ITER)
Driving Cars: with Old Newspapers!

Energy from Cellulose: Scientists at U.S.
Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science
Center (BESC) have succeeded in converting
cellulose directly into isobutanol using a
genetically modified strain of a cellulose degrading microbe (Clostridium cellulolyticum)--can be used 100% as car fuel
Scramjet Hypersonic
Aircraft (5,000 km/hr)
Frank Zapata: Flew 2.25 km at
53 mph at 30 m height
Tesla Electric Car: 0-100km in 2.8
secs, redesigned fuse on the car’s battery
PAC-Car II (ETH) during the Shell Eco-marathon in
Nogaro on 21 May 2005.: Guinness Book of World
Record in Fuel Efficiency, 5385 km/l gasoline equivalence in
2005.
Google's Project Loon balloons to cover Sri Lanka with
internet access: network of balloons floating in the stratosphere at around 20
km (12.4 mi) above the Earth's surface. The balloons are equipped with solar
panels and carry a box of electronics and communications gear
underneath that provides LTE internet connectivity to an area on the
ground around 40 km (25 mi) in diameter
ENERGY

Hydrogen From Water: The cleavage of
water molecule with catalysts to produce
hydrogen is an exciting challenge.
Platinum works but is expensive.
Molybdenum !

Space: Bubbling with mysteries---dark
energy/dark matter !!!
NASA Photographs Massive
Object Being EMITTED from
Black Hole
We are Made of star dust!

The stars, including our sun, produce huge amounts of
light and heat through fusion reactions ---fusing of
smaller atoms to afford larger atoms----that occur within
them. Fusion of hydrogen atoms leads to helium and
then to heavier elements. Carbon, nitrogen and heavier
elements up to iron are formed in larger stars.

The heavier elements such as gold, nickel, uranium etc
arise at higher energies when stars collapse (implode)
before exploding in a supernova, producing huge bursts
of radiation.
We are Made of Star Dust !
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Star dust when settled, planets appeared and life
emerged
We were created from chemicals and we will
disintegrate into chemicals
Life starts with the essential elements arranged in
simple molecular shapes such as H2, CH3, H2O,
NH3
We are Made up of Star Dust--- so shine &
Illuminate the world with knowledge !
Thanks