THE final week of this month has been (June) an auspicious one indeed. It has revealed the contrasting destinies of two communities, one with a firm grip on its future, the other barely wobbling into the new millennium.
While one basked in the glory of success, the other had to endure the agony of defeat.
In London and New York, the bastions of the community referred to as the West, it was announced that the Human Genome Project, a mammoth effort to decode the whole genetic make-up of humans, was virtually completed.
The Human Genome Project is basically a laborious reverse engineering effort. Scientists practically disassemble a whole human to decipher all the three billion units of the chemical entity that give rise to that human.
Although the start of this project in the late 1980s did not capture much public attention, its end was another story altogether. It was hoopla for obvious reasons.
Jumping on the bandwagon were some of the world’s top leaders. US President Bill Clinton and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair held a joint conference via video to announce the completion of the project.
Meanwhile, in the East, to be exact Kuala Lumpur, the Muslim community began to engage in a rather painful exercise of redefining itself.
Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference were trying to diagnose the malaise that has besieged this umbrella organisation for some time.
There were signs of an erosion of confidence among the members towards the organisation as many realised that resolutions that were passed at the various OIC gatherings ages ago had not been implemented.
Among others, numerous recommendations for the OIC to implement projects aimed at promoting an active Muslim participation in scientific research and development have not moved beyond rhetoric.
In the meantime, science in the West forges ahead.
The data on the human genome offers practically limitless possibilities to scientists. For example, there is now a better chance of determining genetically linked diseases early and treating them more effectively.
It is difficult to predict how far science will progress in lieu of the latest findings from the human genome project.
“The race to the starting line is over,” declared Craig Venter, president of the Celera Genomics Corporation, one of the many public and private institutions involved in the project.
A bone of contention has also developed over access to the human genome data. While some researchers prefer it to be freely available, others want a premium be put for using it.
However, those who have no part in the venture at all will have to wait and see if they can afford to pay for the information on the human genes, should they need it for research and development.
Included in this marginalised group are obviously the developing countries, especially the Muslim world.
In a way, the success of the human genome project is yet another indication of the complete Western domination of research and development over the developing East.
Elsewhere, numerous researches in the field of biology, or the science of the living world are taking place. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to state that so soon after the information revolution, we are going through another revolution, the biological revolution.
One of the many spin-offs of the study of genetics is the introduction of a new breed of vaccines. These are vaccines designed from genetic materials of disease-causing agents.
Theoretically, these vaccines should be safer than the traditional whole-organism vaccines, as being only a very small part of the disease-causing agent, they are not expected to produce an infection.
There are now hopes of developing genetic vaccines against malaria, AIDS, herpes and hepatitis C.
Manipulation and modification of the genetic material has also given rise to crops with a better rate of survival and productivity. If the safety of these genetically modified crops can be ensured then enhanced food supply in the future may be able to help the world’s poorest nations.
A similar procedure performed on animals may lead to the possibility of growing organs that are suitable for transplantation into humans. Coupled with the cloning technique, the supply of artificial organs will be increased.
The other up and coming source of organs is tissue engineering or organogenesis. Thus far, organogenesis has achieved some success with simple tissues like the skin, and cartilage of the bone and ear. But tissue engineers are setting their sights on more complex organs such as the heart.
Another area of biology that is going to make an impact in the 21st century is neuroscience.
The mind-brain duality problem will hopefully be solved in due course as one by one scientists are unravelling the secrets underlying the biology of what was previously thought to be abstract psychological parameters, like perception, memory and problem solving.
Consciousness, that is the “awareness of one’s existence”, however, remains a stubborn bastion in the arsenal of psychology. If the consciousness conundrum is resolved into biological data, then we may begin to understand “why are we what we are”.
The Muslims meanwhile are left at the mercy of the developed West. Is it reasonable to assume that they would benefit from the much touted globalisation where there is to be a democratisation of information?
Can they ever hope that through technology transfer they would be able to get a piece of the action? Or would they be able to share the latest wonders of science via the West’s generosity in the guise of humanitarian aid?
On the whole, the Muslim world is undergoing a period of scientific recession.
One of the major reasons for this persistent decline is that less emphasis is given to young Muslims to strive in the field of modern knowledge.
Some Muslim scholars even opine that the study of science gives rise to secularism although this opinion contradicts the basic teachings of Islam that encourages Muslims to study the earth and the sky and whatever is between the two.
If we do not open up to this simple but vital call of the Quran, then truly we will forever be playing catching up to the science-rich Western community.