Goodbye, Mr Chimps

Historical Mansion of Lin An Tai, Taipei ( Taiwan)

I am at the lab usually by 8.00 AM. There are several others who work in shifts to observe and to be observed  because we conduct high end experiments and   hence the need for a 24/7 vigil. Parking lot is visible through the window and Chimps can see me  getting out of my car. He knows that   I get in early so that  I can get a spot  close to this building.  If it were in his power, he would  have ensured that this spot is reserved for me permanently. He is my best friend for the past several years, he has been here longer than me and knows  more than me about the lab and the people.  He grunts when I make mistakes, grins when my experiments are successful.  Usually as soon a  he hears my footsteps in the corridor, he gets up and, swings hanging onto the iron door frame. What a grip, it never slips, at least so far. I admonish him for such acrobatics “ You are getting old, be careful” , but he gives me a huge grin  and reaches for  the breakfast packet.  We split the breakfast – I always carry enough for two-  but not the banana, that is  for him only.

But today he seems  different,  gloomy   and withdrawn. Idiosyncrasies of old age?  Of late he doesn't like me spending too much time with others, did I stop in the corridor too long to exchange a few words with  M.?  You know he notices every single detail. I ask my colleague who was in the night shift and now busy packing up to leave, "What happened? He isn’t  feeling well, looks like .  Or you chided him for something  silly ?" 

“Oh you don’t know?  The authorities are planning to retire him”

“Retire? What  would he do ? At this age? And he has nowhere to go either” I am aghast. "But how did he come to know about it ,I mean did someone tell him specifically ?"

“Oh Come on, He has been here for the past 30 years and he is intelligent enough to understand the goings on. Did we not panic last year, when the talks on downsizing  where in the air ,without being told point blank?”

“Well, but he is a bit different, isn't he? But what would he do ? How will he survive? We can just turn him out “

“He is entitled to  receive full retirement benefits , including medical, I believe.  Better than what most  us can expect.  You know his entire family has  dedicated their lives from day one,  for scientific research.  Elder siblings Rita and Theresa were adopted by the NASA, a few others  were with the  health programs on infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, cognitive and behavioral sciences …….....  Only the AIDS research didn’t lead anywhere, because they didn’t respond at all.    All of them- they are all much  older than Chimps - have now been retired and  you know what and are being rehabilitated in a resort. “

“You are kidding,  a resort? “

“No! this is not a joke. Chimps  too will be taken there. I hear it is a fantastic place with all modern  fittings, almost like a spa.  Chimps can finally be reunited with his family there. But alas, they may not recognize one  other."

"What do you mean, they won’t recognize?”

“Ha! You are really ignorant.  Chimps,  was  separated from  his biological mother the moment he was born,  just like Rita and Theresa and dozens of  others before them. They were all  bred for  very specific causes by different adoption  agencies.  So  there has been no family bonding whatsoever”.

 “Oh ,then  indeed poor darling will be miserable at the resort.”

“ You know, but that will be best for him, to be with his kith and kin at least   during  the sunset years, they are all very  intelligent, they  will get used to one another . That is the best  we can do for them, after all they dedicated their body and soul for scientific research. I don't mind a bit that we need to foot their retirement and medical benefits bill  ”

“Perhaps you are right, but  we must  visit him every week, how about every Saturday?  By the way what is name of this resort ? “

“ Chimp Haven, the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, just 22 miles off Shreveport, in Louisiana. Not very far from here. It will be a nice picnic for the whole  family". 

Deeply moved by  a  report that  the National Institute of Health (USA)  is attempting  to rehabilitate  about a 100 chimpanzees, who are no longer of research value , since invasive research on Chimpanzees has become irrelevant. 

 “ NIH faces Chimp housing quandary “:Nature 491, 2012, page 18. 

Treading the middle path

Controversies are part of public life.  Allegations and assertions fly in from multiple sides. Media   committed to   Breaking News every second,  is no help either. Common man is left too astounded at the revelations and too confused  to choose between true and false.   One knows truth is somewhere in between or everywhere, but  nebulous and evasive.

One would have thought  things are very different in the scientific world. After all, science is the pursuit of truth and scientists are driven by hard data alone, not mere speculations. So there should  be just black and white with sharp boundary and  no intervening grey area. If only this were true! State of things are no different in the scientific world either. Only difference is it rarely spills out  into daily newspapers or news channels.  For example the controversy about the genetically modified crops.(1-4) While one group is ready to wager  everything to advocate that  GM crops are man’s best answer to the impending global food crisis, their opponents would leave no stone unturned to prove the opposite. The huge chasm between this divide is filled by  the “maybe/may not be” population  who would keep on  demanding more proof to decide one way or the other.

Another debate which rages on endlessly is the climate change. Well, everybody agrees that  global climate is  changing, but not on the causes,  consequences nor on the urgency to confront the issue.  Of course there is a tendency to link  the occurrence of every natural disaster to climate change has resulted in the trivialization of the issue.   Kerry Emmanuel of MIT has done a detailed study  on the occurrence of hurricanes in the US  and remarks  that  “anthropogenic climate change may have a substantial influence on tropical cyclone activity around the world ” (5).  No conclusive reports have appeared as yet on the genesis of Hurricane Sandy that lashed the US east coast last week.  

These are only minor aberrations. Scientists have always taken decisions, one way or the other. Or else man wouldn't have stepped on the moon, nor  polio vaccine  made.

Tailpiece:  
L’Aquilla (Italy) is  an earthquake prone city, the residents are  aware of that. During March-April 2009, seismologists detected spikes in the activity of Earth’s underbelly, but top scientists of the   NCFPMR (National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks, Italy) reassured the public not to worry,  nothing out of ordinary would happen.  But alas on 6^th April 2009,   at about 3.00 AM the town experienced one of the worst earthquakes ever in the last 30 years.  Seven members of the Commission now stand convicted of manslaughter though not willful.  Their crime, not that they misread the signals , but that they mislead the residents into a false sense of “ all is well”, one of them  even suggesting that they relax with a glass of wine.

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Sunset  from the shores of  Tungabhadra

References:

1.    Rat study sparks GM furore: Butler, Nature 27^th September,2012 489,page484

2.    Hyped GM maize study faces scrutiny: Butler  Nature 11^th October,2012, 490, 158

3.    Genetically modified plants and human health, Royal Society of Medicine 2008 vol. 101(6) .  290-298, Key et al

4.    Global Warming Effects on US Hurricane Damage: Kerry Emmanuel ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/wcas_2011.pdf