Pakistan's National Institute of Oceanography, based in Karachi, is operating a summer-only Jinnah Arctic Station in Antarctica first established in 1991 when Pakistan Navy hoisted the Pakistani flag there. The Jinnah Station was formally commissioned on Friday the 25th January, 1991 and the scientific observations commenced. According to Waponline, the Jinnah Station consists of three laboratories in pre-fabricated huts, three pre-fabricated Igloos manufactured in Pakistan for accommodation of 9 persons and four tents for miscellaneous needs. It also includes a sophisticated unmanned weather station from which weather data is now being received in Pakistan via satellite .This makes Pakistan the first among the Muslim nations and the second nation in South Asia (after India) to be poised for full membership of the Antarctic Treaty System. Establishing research presence in Antarctica is seen as important by nations of the world because of its value in understanding global climate change and its potential for tremendous resources including oil and other mineral deposits. It is also important for Pakistan because India is alleged to have trained its soldiers there for occupation of Siachen in Kashmir. This allegation, if true, would be a violation of the treaty prohibiting military use of the continent. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 sets aside the entire continent for peaceful scientific use only.
Here's the mission statement of NIO Pakistan:
“The National Institute of Oceanography is located in Karachi. It was established in 1981 by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan. The main area of research of the Institute is the north Arabian Sea and beyond. The oceanic and atmospheric processes of the north Arabian Sea modify our climate, offer numerous living and non-living resources, Oceanographic research brings together all the scientific disciplines needed to study the ocean.“
To learn more about various Antarctic stations set up by different nations of the world, please visit here.
Click here to see the world map highlighting nations with bases in Antarctica.
Acknowledgment: The inspiration for this post came from a post on Moin Ansari's blog.
Threre are more reasons to migrate to Canada
1 year ago
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This is surprising
Here are a few excerpts from a piece by Prof William Easterly published in Foreign Policy Magazine:
"We found that there was a remarkably strong association between countries with the most advanced technology in 1500 and countries with the highest per capita income today. Europe already had steel, printed books, and oceangoing ships then, while large parts of Africa did not yet have writing or the wheel. Britain had all 24 of our sample technologies in 1500. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga had none of them. But technology also travels. North America, Australia, and New Zealand had among the world's most backward technology in 1500; today, they are among the wealthiest regions on Earth, reflecting the principle that it's the people who matter, not the places. As migration has transformed parts of the world that were nearly empty in the Middle Ages, technology has migrated with them. "
"OF COURSE, IN SOCIAL SCIENCE, no generalization is universal. The most important counterexample is China, which in 1500 had plow cultivation, printing, paper, books, firearms, the compass, iron, and steel, and yet failed to emulate Europe's Industrial Revolution in the centuries that followed. Scholars have argued that autocratic Chinese emperors killed off technological progress for domestic political reasons. For example, one Ming emperor banned long-distance oceanic exploration for fear of foreign influence threatening his power, after Chinese ships had already reached East Africa in 1422."
"This gives us a hint as to how political formation affects development: Fragmented Europe did not have any one autocrat who could kill off technological innovation, and the constant threats of living in a hostile neighborhood spurred the advancement of military technology. And because borders were relatively open around 1500, the reality that citizens could leave for more advanced places -- the forerunner of today's "brain drain" -- kept alive the spirit of innovation. "
"Most importantly, what the history of technology tells us is that the blank-slate theory is a myth. Top-down development programs simply don't work. In fact, the principal beneficiaries of Western largesse today -- African autocrats and dysfunctional regimes -- are themselves the main obstacles to development. If there's anything that "must be done" to spur future development, it's to create the conditions necessary to empower the ordinary individuals who will create new and unforeseen technologies out of old ones. There's a Thomas Edison born every minute. We just have to help them turn the lights on."
The head of India's National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Rasik Ravindra, will lead a team of eight scientists on the journey, departing next week from an Indian research base, according to the BBC.
The trip to the pole and back is expected to last around 40 days.
It is hoped their mission will shed light on how environmental conditions have changed in Antarctica over the past 1,000 years.
Mr Ravindra says the scientists will fly via South Africa to India's Maitri research base, situated in an ice-free area known as the Schirmacher Oasis.
From there they will travel to the pole - a journey of more than 2,000km - in specially designed vehicles, carrying out a range of experiments on the way.
"We will conduct meteorological experiments, [and] record humidity, temperatures, wind speed and atmospheric pressures during the 20-day trip to the South Pole, and other experiments will be conducted on our way back," Mr Ravindra said.
"Everything is now linked to global warming," he added.
Other experiments will look at the movement of tectonic plates and how the Antarctic landmass has evolved over millions of years.
Correspondents say India is keen to draw international attention to its scientific presence in the region, and is building its third Antarctic research station. The first was abandoned in 1990.
Pakistan is one of six countries invited to join UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) as a permanent member. The other 5 Invitees are Belarus, Finland, the Republic of Korea, Spain and Ukraine.
The committee now consists of 26 permanent members, including
.Argentina
•Australia
•Belgium
•Brazil
•Canada
•China
•Egypt
•France
•Germany
•India
Indonesia
•Japan
•Mexico
•Peru
•Poland
•Russia
•Slovakia
•Sudan
•Sweden
•UK
•USA
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N11/582/28/PDF/N1158228.pdf?OpenElement
Though the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has made enormous efforts to promote research work, Pakistan ranked 43rd in the world in terms of published scientific papers in the year 2010, according to Dawn newspaper.
According to the worldwide scientific journal ranking (SJR); Pakistan published 6,987 research documents in 2010. However, the same year United States was on top with 502,804 papers followed by China with 320,800 and United Kingdom with 139,683 research documents. On the other hand, India ranked ninth worldwide.
Among the Islamic countries, Pakistan trailed behind Turkey and Iran which published 30,594 and 27,510 research documents, respectively.
An official of the HEC requesting not to be named told this reporter that in 2007 Pakistan ranked 45th with 3,750 publications, in 2003 it was ranked 50th with 1,539 research papers and in 2000 54th with 1,174 papers. In 1996, the country was on 52nd position with 893 research papers.
The number of publications is directly proportional to the production of PhDs in the country.
“Pakistan gets over $10 billion every year through foreign remittances. On the other hand, due to financial crunch demand for foreign labour has been decreasing worldwide. Even in Saudi Arabia it has been decided to push out foreign labour force and adjust the locals in their places, because it is becoming difficult even for the oil-producing countries to address the problem of unemployment.”
The official claimed that in the West, population was decreasing and the new generation was more interested in the subjects of art and humanities rather than science, mathematics and research work.
Due to this, the official added, the demand for specialised persons would increase in the West and Pakistan can meet the requirement of these nations by producing specialised persons and earn huge foreign exchange.
Sources said most of the successive governments in Pakistan did not take future planning seriously and always tried to solve problems by makeshift arrangements. The government should focus on specialisation in different subjects because only specialised persons can earn foreign exchange to steer out the country from the financial problems.
Executive Director HEC Prof Dr S. Sohail H. Naqvi told Dawn that they had been trying to generate as many specialised persons as possible and for that reason were encouraging and facilitating universities. He said for increasing the number of PhDs, the commission required funds. “Hopefully, Pakistan will further improve its ranking regarding publication of
research papers,” he said.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/26/pakistan-ranks-43rd-in-scientific-research-publication.html
Here's a SciDev report on Pakistan's Human Genome Project undertaken with Chinese collaboration at the University of Karachi:
A burgeoning genetics research collaboration between China and Pakistan has yielded its first result: the mapping of the genome of a Pakistani national.
The Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), Karachi, had agreed last year to work together on seven genomic projects, train Pakistani scientists, set up a genomics centre in Pakistan, and transfer state-of-the-art technology to Pakistan.
The first project involved sending genetic samples of the first volunteer, former science minister Atta-ur-Rahman, who is also ICCBS patron, to the BGI for mapping.
'Genome mapping' involves locating and identifying genes to create a map, akin to identifying towns and cities, to create a road map. Genome maps help scientists locate genes for human diseases, by tracking the complete genetic information of individuals and, families over generations.
Researchers at the Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), under the ICCBS, and BGI mapped Rahman’s genes in 10 months. ICCBS director Mohammad Iqbal Choudhary announced the results to the media last month (27 June). The results are yet to be published in a scientific journal.
This makes Pakistan the world's sixth and the first Islamic country to completely map a human genetic sequence, Choudhary said.
More projects are underway to gain insights into various population groups in Pakistan; genetic predisposition to disorders, including liver and heart disease; anaemia, diabetes, cancers, Alzheimer's disease and blood disorders, Choudhary told SciDev.Net.
It could lead to "significant advances in their diagnosis and treatment" Kamran Azim, assistant professor at the PCMD, said.
"It is going to take more than two years to complete the genome projects and come up with the final conclusions about different aspects of the country's different population groups," Choudhary said.
BGI scientists are interested in studying the genetic structure and physiology of Pakistan's diverse ethnic groups, particularly those along the Makran coast, Balochistan province, and Kalash Desh in northern Pakistan, Choudhary said.
Manzoor Hussain Soomro, chairman of the Pakistan Science Foundation, observed that the development could pave the way for better medical management and new drugs discovery.
But, he cautioned, such research could also raise ethical, legal and social concerns over confidentiality and misuse of genetic information by prospective employers, insurers, courts of law and family members.
Soomro said that though it is not yet clear who would safeguard the genome mapping data, it should logically be the responsibility of Pakistan's national bioethics committee under the Pakistan Council of Medical Research.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/china-aids-first-pakistani-genome-map-1.html
Here's an ANI report on gene mapping in Pakistan:
Karachi, June 28(ANI): Scientists at the Karachi University have mapped the genome of the first Pakistani man with the help of the Beijing Genomics Institute.
This has made Pakistan the first country in the Muslim world to map the genome of the first Muslim man.
The achievement places Pakistan in the ranks of the few countries- the United States, the United Kingdom, India, China and Japan- that have successfully sequenced the human genome as well.
"Our nation is a mix of a lot of races," said Professor Dr M Iqbal Choudhary, who heads the project. "Pakistanis are like a "melting pot" i.e. a mix of Mughals, Turks, Pashtuns, Afghans, Arabs, etc."
"According to the researchers, the newly sequenced Pakistani genome has uncovered a multitude of Pakistan-specific sites, which can now be used in the design of large-scale studies that are better suited for the Pakistani population," The Express Tribune quoted Dr Choudhary, who is the director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at Karachi University, as saying.
The first Pakistani genome has been mapped using a recently developed technology, ten years after the first human genome was discovered.
Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research at the University of Karachi took 10 months to accomplish the task. The individual who has been genetically mapped is a resident of Karachi. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/pakistan-becomes-first-islamic-country-map-genome-first-111639389.html
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