After mapping the code of life, biotechnology's enfant terrible, Craig Venter, now offers to predict the life span of anybody willing or able to pay to know it. The brilliant but abrasive scientist who heads Celera Genomics, Maryland, US-a company that made public the sequencing of the human genome in July 2000 simultaneously with the publicly funded Human Genome Project-is now offering to give, in collaboration with a UK-based firm, details of a person's genes within a week of submitting their DNA (genetic matter) samples for £400,000 (Rs 2.8 crore).

Armed with his genome map, the client could check for gene mutations linked with illnesses like cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Also on the gene chart would be his propensity or the lack of it to contract heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and other inherited ailments. The genes unique to the individual will then be compared with the DNA common to all humans. Venter proposes to launch this service commercially later this year and has set up a new facility for it.

Venter, who has annoyed the scientific establishment with his commercial approach, claims that he has already signed up several millionaires but declines to give names.

Scientists, however, are sceptical of the gains of the Venter venture. For one, mapping a genome is not the same as understanding it. For another, human life is the sum of its genes and the environmental influences that shape it. Venter's offer may not be accurate in its predictions of death and the boon may turn out to be a curse after all. Any uniqueness in the individual genomes so mapped would only raise anxiety levels-and perhaps hypochondria-among the moneyed few so anxious to know when to expect death.

Stamp of Diplomacy

The festival of lights has struck a chord with the US House of Representatives. A resolution has been moved in the House making a case that the United States Postal Service should issue a stamp commemorating Diwali. The resolution was moved by Frank Pallone, the Democratic representative in the House and founder of the India Caucus.

The Citizen's Stamp Advisory Commission that is part of the U.S. Postal Service currently issues many stamps with holiday themes, including Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and most recently, Id. "Diwali is one of the most important and colourful of Indian festivals and is celebrated enthusiastically by Indians all over the world," Pallone argued. "It marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year and is seen as a brand new beginning for all." And, what the Congressman left unsaid, also a new beginning and meaning to the growing India-US relationship.

-Anil Padmanabhan

US ECONOMY
Gloom at Wall Street

WOUNDED BULL: The Wall Street bull is getting weak at the knees

As the US stock markets plunged to a five-year low, a poll showed that the majority of Americans feel the nation's economy is in the worst shape in nearly a decade. The poll conducted by New York Times and CBS News shows that nearly half the respondents are worried that they or someone in their household will be out of a job within a year.

Not without reason as Wall Street gears up for its next round of lay offs. After the first phase of big ticket downsizing, workers had been let off in a dribble as cuts have become more difficult. But now the market is agog with the news that Credit Suisse First Boston and J.P. Morgan are poised to announce another round of deep cuts. The securities firms have already slashed nearly 33,000 jobs since last year. In an industry that hires and fires in direct response to stock prices, the steady slide in the Dow Jones in the past few months has been a sign of things to come. The US companies have, in the third quarter ended September, only carried out seven public offerings-the lowest ever since 1980. All this would be sobering news to the Republicans and President George W. Bush who have been going full steam ahead on the Iraq agenda, which many believe is a smokescreen for the impending economic crisis. A telling gloom indicator for the Republicans: every time the President spoke, the markets go into a tailspin.

-Anil Padmanabhan