EXTREMOPHILE MICROBES- A WONDER.

 

Humans always tend to straightjacket life into a mould that is known to us and life as defined by us has many limitations for existence. However, there are organisms on the Earth itself which actually defy our definition of life. They are known as Extremophile Microbes. They seem to live and thrive under extreme temperatures and pressures where none of the higher organisms can ever survive.  Because of such nature they are named Extremophile or lovers of Extremes.  

These organisms thrive in every nook and corner of the Earth where conditions are unberabale for habitation either for humans or even other animals.

Such Extremophiles live in volcanic vents, in Nuclear reactors; they are present in permafrost, acid mines, microwave ovens, and even in lakes buried under kilometres of polar ice caps. It was found that microbes existed on the outer walls of a Space station for 3 year period. There they would be bombarded by Cosmic rays which kill humans or any other animals, yet they survive there comfortably.

In the year 2011, scientists from Japan have found that microbes not only lived under an atmospheric pressure of 400,000 G, they thrived. That, when a pressure of 6 G can kill humans and other animals.

So climatic conditions are no barrier for microbes at all, they can virtually live anywhere. We consider microbes to be an inferior life form. However, they adopt to extreme environments easily by incorporating a set of unique biological and biochemical processes.

Humans have one set of similar proteins to navigate life while the Extremophile Microbes have multiple sets of Proteins. Amazingly depending on the conditions around them, they activate a set of proteins suitable for that environment.

They may be rudimentary life forms but I am surprised as to how they could develop such an ability which the so called higher animal species could not.

A huge research project on Microbes “Earth Microbiome Project” was launched in the yaer 2010 to sequence 200,000 generic samples and assemble 500,000 microbial genomes.

Another project is the “Earth Biogenome Project” to sequence the genomes of all the microbes of our planet and create a most comprehensive map of Eukaryotic organism on the Earth.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE- DOES IT REALLY HELP HUMANS OR DOES IT HARM THEM?

 

Many of the industry leaders behind the rapid AI advancements are concerned that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. AI tech has grown at such a rate that there has been no time for the law to catch up; there is no oversight over AI development, meaning it’s difficult to ensure it is being used ethically. Experts have expressed their perception of AI as a future extinction risk for the human race, and the jury is out on exactly why. Reasons cited by AI developers include making human careers and even the human mind obsolete, and the destabilization of society due to the rapid, malicious spread of misinformation. This aspect can now been seen on the social media where all types of nonsense is spread as gospel truth. Ultimately Social media had brought things to a stage where the dissemination between reality and fiction becomes blurred.

A significant number of companies and stakeholders, especially those in the Information and Technology sectors, have been eager to adopt AI into their companies with a hope to reduce overheads and get more work done faster and therefore make more profits. Though the majority of businesses don’t use AI at the current moment, the AI trend seems to have begun.

A 2023 study by McKinsey estimated that half of today’s work activities could become automated by 2060, signalling the potential for drastic changes to the workforce in the coming decades. The adoption of AI has already been associated with job cuts. AI advancements have left professionals across a wide range of industries concerned about the future of their roles, but some sectors are more vulnerable than others. 

In March 2023, Elon Musk, along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter by the non-profit organization the Future of Life Institute urging AI developers to stop training AI models more powerful than GPT-4 for at least 6 months, citing “profound risks to society and humanity”. Such risks included flooding our information channels “with propaganda and untruth”, and the automation of fulfilling jobs that give humans purpose. Their argument is that the uncontrolled race to develop increasingly powerful AI systems is dangerous due to the lack of safety protocols and AI governance systems. With no collective oversight, the power to decide the future of AI is in the hands of independent companies.

A survey of 2700 AI researchers predicted a 50% chance of AI surpassing humans at every task by 2047. And more immediate worries cited by the majority of surveyed researchers include using AI to manipulate public opinion and control populations through large-scale disinformation perpetuated by advanced deep fake technology.

In May 2023, more than 350 executives, researchers, and engineers working in AI - including the CEOs of Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic - signed another open letter stating that AI poses an extinction risk for humans, and mitigating the risks posed by AI should be a “global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war”. 

As per a 2023 report by the Pew research centre analysis, many of the jobs with the highest exposure to AI tend to involve getting and analysing data or information. The industry with the most jobs exposed to AI is professional, scientific, and technical services, with 52% of workers facing high exposure. So the STEM group(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)  would be hit the most by AI. Customer-facing roles that involve repetitive tasks like cashiers, service agents, and salespeople are exposed as well.

According to Business Insider, ChatGPT specifically is likely to lead to significant disruptions in the job market due to its ability to generate and analyse content at a rapid pace. Jobs that require content creation, coding, or data analysis are vulnerable to AI.

Based on the above insights, roles that are most exposed to AI include:

• Tech jobs, including data analysts and software engineers
• Sales and customer service representatives
• Media jobs like advertising, content creation, and journalism
• Finance jobs like advisors and analysts
• Lawyers
• Office support staff such as receptionists and office clerks
• Accountants
• Budget analysts
• Technical writers
• Web developers

A November 2023 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau found that only 3.8% of businesses surveyed reported using AI in the production of goods and services, but some industries were outliers. 13.8% of businesses in the IT sector reported that they were currently using AI, and businesses in the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector weren’t far behind, with 9.1% of businesses in that category reporting AI usage.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Bloomberg in an interview about his Company in 2023: "I could easily see 30 per cent of jobs getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period." It may pickup new recruits, say only about 10% for AI, which means 20% of the jobs would go poof.

There are some people who say that AI would not replace people in jobs but that is mere hogwash. Most of the people who are researching AI themselves say it would. Of course, there was the Industrial revolution in Europe when workers from Agriculture migrated to the factories and cities where jobs were created. Yes, AI too would create jobs alright, but only in a much smaller number than it eats up. Those jobs would be for developing AI, and its security while it knocks off a large number of jobs in various sectors. And there is a huge difference between the Industrial revolution and the AI revolution. The Industrial revolution did not eliminate people from jobs, but actually created more jobs. But this AI revolution would not do so and can prove catastrophic to many.

MISSILES

 

Ballistic missiles are powered initially by a rocket, then follow and unpowered trajectory and arches upwards and then descend to reach the intended target. This means they have no engine power to control the descent and do so by gravity.

There are 4 general classification of ballistic missiles:

1.       Short Range: Less than 1000 Km

2.       Medium Range: Between 1000 to 3000 Km

3.       Intermediate Range: 3000 to 5500 KM

4.       Long Range: Over 5500 KM.

The Ballistic missiles can have 2 or 3 stage rocket thrusters. Boost phase takes it to the point where rockets stop firing and the missile begins the unpowered flight. This lasts 3 to 5 minutes and happens in the atmosphere.

The missile then ascends by the momentum generated on account of the rocket thrust out of the atmosphere and begins to descend back to the earth. This phase may last up to 20 minutes. In this mid-course ICBM’s can travel at about 24000 Km/Hr.

In the terminal phase, the separated warhead re-enters the atmosphere and imp[acts on the earth. This takes about 1 minute.

The main difference between ballistic missiles and cruise missiles is while the ballistic missile depends on the rocket thrusters, a cruise missile is an unmanned vehicle with jet engines. Cruise missiles remain within the atmosphere during their flight and can fly as low as a few meters above the surface to avoid detection.

Cruise missiles are self-guided and have terrain mapping, GPS and inertial guidance systems in them and use motion sensors to steer the missiles in a pre-determined path. They can also be guided from the ground if required.

Hence while the ballistic missiles are functional, the cruise missiles are more dynamic and versatile.

Cruise missiles also include decoys which fly at the same speed as the warhead and therefore it is more difficult to intercept.

Israel’s Iron Dome operational since the year 2011, intercepts rockets and artillery shells fired from about 4 Km to 70 Kms. This was developed to counter Hezbollah’s rockets and has shot down thousands of them so far. The Dome operates both during day and night and also under adverse weather conditions. A typical Iron Dome battery has 3-4 launchers each with 20 missiles each. Each Iron Dome battery is capable of protecting an area of 150 Sq. Km. One intercept costs about 100,000 USD.

There are only 5 nations on the earth that can hit anywhere on the earth with their missiles. They are 1. Russia, 2. USA, 3. China, 4. Britain, 5. France.

Then comes in countries with lesser range, 6. North Korea. It can hit anywhere in the world except in South America.

Then come 7. Israel 8.  India, 9. Saudi Arabia, 10.  Iran,  11. Pakistan, 12. South Korea & 13. Taiwan.

 

INDIA MISSILES.

BALLISTIC

1.       PRALAY: Surface to surface missile –Range 500 Km.

2.       PRITVVI II: Surface to Surface-Range 250-350 Km

3.       PRITHVI III: Surface to Surface-Range 350-600 Km

4.       DHANUSH: Surface to Surface-Anti Ship 350 to 750 Km

5.       AGNI-I: Surface to Surface-Range 1200 Km

6.       AGNI-II: Surface to Surface-Range 3500 Km

7.       AGNI-III: Surface to Surface-Range 5000 Km

8.       AGNI-IV: Surface to Surface-Range 4000 Km

9.       AGNI-V: Surface to Surface-Range 8000 Km

10.   K-15: Short Range Ballistic Missile-Range 750 Km

11.   K-4: Medium Range Ballistic Missile-range 3500 Km