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Falling Star
The uproar over the prime minister's threat
to resign may be over with the NDA reaffirming its faith and promising
to behave. But the incident has called into question Vajpayee's inclination
to govern. Buffeted by crises, is he preparing for a last bow? A report.
The Political
Bank
The never-dying saga of UTI pitches the Government
and the Opposition into the usual slanging match. More skeletons fall
out of the UTI cupboard proving that the institution has been misused
by politicians of all hues.
Crouching
Tiger
Discontent is brewing in the RSS and the VHP
over the coalition-hampered BJP and a pacifist Vajpayee being unable to
push through the saffron programme. How long will it be before they refuse
to toe the BJP line?
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THE
NATION
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The Centre
Cannot Hold
Prodded by the DMK to
requisition the services of three IPS officers involved in the arrest
of M. Karunanidhi, the NDA Government is dragged into a constitutional
debate.
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Unravelling
The Plot
A week after Samajwadi MP Phoolan
Devi was gunned down by masked murderers, all the men believed to be involved
have been arrested. Yet many questions remain to be answered before the
case is solved.
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SCIENCE
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Space Invaders
Research reveals life on earth may have
originated from outer space comets.
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OTHER STORIES
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Home |
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SCIENCE : ASTRONOMY
How Did Life Begin?
Strangely, while most scientists agree on when life began
on earth-four billion years ago-they are major disagreements on how. Three
theories of the origin of life:
SPERM BANKS IN COMETS
First postulated by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe
in 1974, it goes against the grain by suggesting that life originated
in deep space. Comets then acted as the super distributor of sperms of
life throughout the cosmos and sowed the seeds of life on earth.
FROM THE COSMIC SOUP
The popular theory put by A.I.Oparin in 1924
propounds that life on earth evolved from a primordial chemical soup when
the planet was just being formed. A chain of chemical events in the ocean
depths formed protein molecules - the basic building blocks of all life.
By A FREAK ACCIDENT
 Scientists
in the 1970s argued that the probability of a chain of molecules assembling
into the DNA of life was zero. Not believing in the comet theory either
they state that a single, freak cataclysmic event on earth caused life
to emerge and that we are alone in the universe.
| THE TEAM |
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C. WICKRAMASINGHE:
The maverick Cardiff-based astronomer who in 1974 first proposed the
theory that comets contained the building blocks of life in the cosmos. |
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SIR FRED HOYLE:
Distinguished astronomer who attacked the theory that life evolved
on earth and replaced it with "intelligent cosmic control". |
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LLOYD DAVID:
Professor of microbiology who used a technique for detecting bacteria
in bottled water to identify viable living cells in air samples from
space. |
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JAYANT V.NARLIKAR:
Pune-based astronomer who has worked with Hoyle on the theory
of the steady state of the universe as opposed to the big bang. |
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K. KASTURIRANGAN:
The ISRO chairman agreed to fund the experiment believing it would
provide answers to fundamental questions about the universe. |
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P. RAJARATNAM:
Senior ISRO scientist who helped build the extremely sensitive probes
that were sent up by a balloon to collect samples of air from various
heights. |
THE DEVICE
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NOT HOT AIR:
The balloon carrying the ISRO probe (left) to collect air samples
from the stratosphere takes off from Hyderabad. |
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 Web
Exclusives |
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Clinical tests of a controversial drug at a
Kerala cancer institute exposes the vulnerability of the medical field
to a larger malaise. An investigation by India Today Special Correspondent
M.G. Radhakrishnan in
Trial
And Error
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METRO TODAY
