K2-18 b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits an M-type star. It takes 32.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.1429 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2015.

A new investigation with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide.

Webb’s discovery suggested that K2-18 b could be a c, one which has the potential to possess a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean-covered surface.

The planet’s name is K2-18b, meaning it is the first planet in the 18th planetary system found by the extended NASA Kepler mission, K2. Astronomers assign the “b” label to the first planet in the system, not “a,” to avoid possible confusion with the star. 

It’s only about half as dense as Earth. In other words, it must have a lot of water, which isn’t very dense, or a very big atmosphere, which is even less dense.

Astronomers thought that this could either be a smaller version of our solar system’s ice giant Neptune, called a mini-Neptune, or perhaps a rocky planet with no water but a massive hydrogen atmosphere, called a gas dwarf.  

Mini-Neptunes and gas dwarfs are not  to be hospitable for life, because they probably don’t have liquid water, and their interior surfaces have enormous pressures. But a hycean planet would have a large and likely temperate ocean.

K2-18 b orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 in the habitable zone at 120 light-years distance from Earth in the constellation Leo. Exoplanets such as K2-18 b, which have sizes between those of Earth & Neptune, are unlike anything in our solar system.

These ‘sub-Neptunes’ are poorly understood, and the nature of their atmospheres is a matter of active debate among astronomers.

A “hycean planet” is a type of exoplanet, a planet outside of our solar system, characterized by a thick hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a global ocean, making them potential candidates for habitability. The name “Hycean” is derived from the words “hydrogen” and “ocean”

The suggestion that the sub-Neptune K2-18 b could be a Hycean exoplanet is intriguing, as some astronomers believe that these worlds are promising environments to search for evidence for life on exoplanets.

According to Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge these  findings underscore the importance of considering diverse habitable environments in the search for life elsewhere.

Traditionally, the search for life on exoplanets has focused primarily on smaller rocky planets, but the larger Hycean worlds are significantly more conducive to atmospheric observations. The abundance of methane and carbon dioxide, and shortage of ammonia, support the hypothesis that there may be a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere in K2-18 b. There is a possible detection of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS)..

On Earth, this is only produced by life. The bulk of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments.The inference of DMS is less robust and requires further validation.

According to Madhusudan, Upcoming Webb observations should be able to confirm if DMS is indeed present in the atmosphere of K2-18 b at significant levels.

While K2-18 b lies in the habitable zone, and is now known to harbor carbon-bearing molecules, this does not necessarily mean that the planet can support life.

The planet’s large size — with a radius 2.6 times the radius of Earth — means that the planet’s interior likely contains a large mantle of high-pressure ice, like Neptune, but with a thinner hydrogen-rich atmosphere and an ocean surface. 

It is also possible that the ocean is too hot to be habitable or be liquid. According to Subhajit Sarkar of Cardiff University, although this kind of planet does not exist in our solar system, sub-Neptunes are the most common type of planet known so far in the galaxy,” “We have obtained the most detailed spectrum of a habitable-zone sub-Neptune to date, and this allowed us to work out the molecules that exist in its atmosphere.”

Characterizing the atmospheres of exoplanets like K2-18 b — meaning identifying their gases & physical conditions — is a very active area in astronomy. However, these planets are outshone — literally — by the glare of their much larger parent stars, which makes exploring exoplanet atmospheres particularly challenging.

K2-18 b is a transiting exoplanet, meaning that we can detect a drop in brightness as it passes across the face of its host star. This is how the exoplanet was first discovered in 2015 with NASA’s K2 mission. 

This means that during transits a tiny fraction of starlight will pass through the exoplanet’s atmosphere before reaching telescopes like Webb.

The starlight’s passage through the exoplanet atmosphere leaves traces that astronomers can piece together to determine the gases of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.

According to Madhusudan, this result was only possible because of the extended wavelength range and unprecedented sensitivity of Webb, which enabled robust detection of spectral features with just two transits,”.

For comparison, one transit observation with Webb provided comparable precision to eight observations with Hubble conducted over a few years and in a relatively narrow wavelength range.

These results are the product of just two observations of K2-18 b, with many more on the way,” explained team member Savvas Constantinou of the University of Cambridge. “This means our work here is but an early demonstration of what Webb can observe in habitable-zone exoplanets.” The team’s results were accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The team now intends to conduct follow-up research with the telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) spectrograph that they hope will further validate their findings and provide new insights into the environmental conditions on K2-18 b.

“The ultimate goal of the mission is the identification of life on a habitable exoplanet, which would transform our understanding of our place in the universe,” concluded Madhusudhan. “Our findings are a promising step towards a deeper understanding of Hycean worlds in this quest.”

There is an opposite current of opinions. It is not strong evidence,” says Stephen Schmidt, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. “It’s almost certainly not life,” says Tessa Fisher, an astrobiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

They found evidence for the presence of two simple carbon-bearing molecules — carbon monoxide and methane — and showed that the planet’s upper atmosphere lacked water vapor. This atmospheric composition supported, but did not prove, the idea that K2-18b could be a hycean world. In a hycean world, water would be trapped in the deeper and warmer atmosphere, closer to the oceans than the upper atmosphere probed by JWST observations.

The reason many researchers infer that the planet has a vast liquid ocean is the absence of the gas ammonia in K2-18b’s atmosphere. Their theory is that the ammonia is absorbed by a vast body of water below.

But it could equally be explained by an ocean of molten rock, which would preclude life, according to Prof Oliver Shorttle of Cambridge University.

WHY OTHER RESEARCHERS ARE SKEPTICAL?

In 2023, the researchers reported similar findings in the follow-up work, the scientists conducted a search using a different set of wavelengths and found a stronger and cleaner signal that the molecules are present. If DMS and DMDS do exist in the planet’s atmosphere, and if they were formed by biological activity, the findings would be groundbreaking. 

“A lifeless mini-Neptune scenario remains the most parsimonious explanation,” says Joshua Krissansen-Totton, a planetary scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Then there’s the issue of whether DMS or DMDS is actually present, or whether the signal is spurious. The measurement reported by the Cambridge team is “really pushing the limit of what JWST can do”, says Laura Kreidberg, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.

Schmidt and his colleagues this year re-analysed the 2023 claim from the Cambridge team and found no evidence of biosignature molecules in the data. Schmidt says that the new observations are “pretty noisy, and any reported features could still just be statistical fluctuations”. The Cambridge researchers, however, say that there is just a 0.3% probability that the signal is due to chance.

A team of five scientists successfully perceived a colour never before seen by human eyes, after use of lasers and tracking technology to selectively activate certain cells in their retinas.

The blue-greenish shade has an intensity , outside the natural range of colours seen by humans. According to Kimberly Jameson, a colour-vision scientist at the University of California, this is an “extraordinary achievement”,

Even before this researchers have stimulated individual cone cells, which are the photoreceptors in the eye whose signals the brain interprets as colour. But this time it was done across an area large enough to alter a person’s vision substantially.

“What is novel in this study is the evidence that such new colours can, in fact, be perceived,” says Sérgio Nascimento,  a physicist specializing in human vision at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal.

OFF THE CHARTS INTENSE

The researchers, who published details of the technique in Science Advances , call the imperceptible colour ‘olo’. A computer scientist and vision researcher at the University of California, Berkeley Ren Ng said that, It is something like a peacock blue or teal, “but the level of saturation is off-the-charts.  Ren was both a co-author of the study and one of the test participants. 

The participants looked into a device called Oz which consists of mirrors, lasers and optical devices and run by software called Wizard — works by controlling the precise doses of light delivered to each cell in the retina, to generate the signals the brain uses to interpret colour or to create signals it has never experienced before.

Ng says the technique has the potential to perceive more new colours, even for colorblindness, for which there are no effective treatments, to perceive differences in shades.

It may need more efforts and inputs . So far, the research workers can carefully control colour in just a small area of vision and the method requires high technology available to very few labs. 

Jenny Bosten, a visual neuroscientist at the University of Sussex in Brighton, said that, despite its narrow scope of applicability, the research is “an impressive technical achievement. There is a wide scope & potential for future research using the technique.

IMPRINTS OF LIGHT

The perception of colour comes from the brain comparing the signals it receives from three types of light-detecting cone cell. Each one is sensitive to a different but overlapping range of wavelengths. At shorter, bluer wavelengths, the S cone is most responsive, whereas the M, or medium, cone is activated most by greenish light.

The L cone is more sensitive than the others to longer-wavelength red light. Every colour that humans can see comes to the brain as a characteristic level of activation of these three cell types, analogous to a fingerprint or set of coordinates. 

Because the M cone is in the middle of the spectrum, light activating it always activates neighbouring S or L cones, as well. Ng and his colleagues wondered whether, if the M cone was stimulated by itself, it would create a new colour. 

The team first mapped the retinas of each trial participant, marking the position and type of each cell, using a technique developed by co-authors based at the University of Washington in Seattle. This allowed them to track each person’s eye movements and train laser light on individual cone cells.

They then stimulated just the M cones with microdoses of laser light. To test what the participants were seeing, the team asked them to match the colour they perceived with examples of light of a single wavelength.

There was no match — the olo colour seemed to be more intense than even the most vibrant blue-green colour possible in normal vision. Participants had to ‘wash out’ the olo colour by adding white light to make it match the closest natural colour, says Ng.

Prof John Barbur, a vision scientist at City St George’s, University of London, who was not involved in the study, said that while the research is a “technological feat” in stimulating selective cone cells, the discovery of a new colour is “open to argument”. 

He explained that if, for example, the red cone cells (L) were stimulated in large numbers, people would “perceive a deep red”, but the perceived brightness may change depending on changes to red cone sensitivity, which is not unlike what happened in this study.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has created the national resource data of whole genome sequencing of 10,074 healthy individuals from 83 heterogeneous populations from 99 different sites under the Genome India project to create a library of genetic variations. 

The data has been archived at the Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC), a national repository set up by DBT. It will facilitate seamless access to valuable genetic information, enabling researchers to explore genetic variations and design more accurate genomic tools.

WHAT IS INDIA GENOME PROJECT?

It is a flagship project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

The project is implemented with nationwide scientific collaboration and innovation involving 20 national institutes which included 4 sequencing centres; 13 sample collection centres; and 8 method development centres .

The principal objective of the project is to develop a reference genome for the population of India, which may lead to a better understanding of the nature of diseases and specific interventions essential for various ethnic groups. It may help in designing genome-wide and disease-specific genetic chips for low-cost diagnostics and research.

The  project consortium completed the whole genome sequencing of 10,074 individuals in January 2024. The study has been ensured equitable sampling across linguistic, social, and regional groups in India.

Approximately, 36.7% of the samples were collected from rural, 32.2% from urban and 31.1% from the tribal populations.

The generated data can be used for developing indigenous chips, diagnostics and therapeutics, benefitting healthcare system of the country and thus will contribute to the bioeconomy of the country.

The DBT is aspiring to fund translational research in which this information set will serve as a template.

This data will be accessible for the researchers under the provisions of the Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines and ‘Framework for Exchange of Data (FeED) Protocols.

It aims to construct a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations, that will record our unique diversity. About 0.1 % of the entire sequence differs between any two individuals on average. These genetic variations are crucial for understanding our disease predispositions and rare inherited disorders. They may determine our response to drugs & help track migration and evolutionary patterns of population groups.

Genetic makeup & environmental influences of the population are closely associated. The risk factors for complex genetic diseases and rare genetic variations contributing to specific disorders are crucial in population-specific studies.

The Indian population of 1.3 billion consists of >4600 population groups, and several thousand of them are endogamous.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

It is helpful in documenting the genetic structure of the nation’s population and create a database for researchers and doctors which is helpful in dealing with the genetic underpinnings of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. It will also help in recognising mutations conferring risk of monogenic disorders.

The database generated from genome sequencing can fuel  genetics research with greater precision, and  to develop precision healthcare and diagnostics at affordable costs.

This digital database being outcome of representative public will may help  democratise data, fostering large-scale human genetic studies and empowering nationwide research efforts.

Dr Mohd. Faruq, Scientist at CSIR-IGIB, explained, “This project provides a crucial baseline of population-specific genomic data, which helps in accurate diagnosis, risk prediction, and pharmacogenomics.

According to Dr Faruq , Many genetic variants influencing drug efficacy and adverse reactions are not found in international databases”.This highlights the need for a localised genomic reference to improve treatment outcomes and reduce adverse drug reactions.

One of the key promises of the Genome India Project is its potential to revolutionise healthcare through precision medicine. Dr Madhulika Kabra from AIIMS, New Delhi, stated, “Genome India offers a unique opportunity to identify population-specific genetic variants. This will help in targeted clinical interventions, such as identifying individuals at risk for genetic disorders and offering personalised treatment strategies.”

She also emphasised the project’s role in addressing rare diseases: “The availability of carrier frequency data for rare disorders will enable us to better define and manage these conditions in the Indian context.

The Genome India Project has uncovered over 135 million genetic variations, including 7 million novel variants not found in global databases. Many of these have clinical significance, such as predispositions to diseases like hypercholesterolemia and breast cancer.

Dr Arindam Maitra from BRIC-NIBMG, noted, “We’ve constructed polygenic risk scores (PRS) using this data, which will allow us to predict complex diseases more effectively. While genes cannot be modified, knowledge of genetic risks can help people make lifestyle changes to lower their risk.”

The absence of population-specific genomic data has often limited the success of genetic diagnostics in India. Dr Faruq remarked, “Commercial genetic diagnostic platforms often leave many cases undiagnosed due to the lack of Indian reference data. Genome India addresses this gap, improving diagnostic accuracy for monogenic and complex disorders.”

The Genome India Project, led by Y. Narahari of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and K. Thangaraj of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, involved 20 institutions such as IIT Jodhpur, IIT Delhi, IISER Pune, and Mizoram University.

Thangaraj, one of the joint directors of the Genome India Project, said in his presentation: “Genome sequencing gives you everything you need to know about genetic material.

The 99 populations may be classified into eight broad groups —Austro-Asiatic tribe, Continentally admixed, Dravidian tribe, Dravidian non-tribe, Indo-European non-tribe, Indo-European tribe, Tibeto-Burman non-tribe and Tibeto-Burman tribe.

It will further lead to cost-effective genetic tests, carrier screening applications for expectant couples, enabling efficient diagnosis of heritable cancers and pharmacogenetic tests to prevent adverse drug reactions are some of the other benefits of this initiative.

Genomic research raises several ethical considerations, particularly concerning privacy, consent, and data sharing. The Genome India Project emphasizes ethical guidelines and stringent data protection measures to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of participants’ genetic information.

Additionally, the project prioritizes obtaining informed consent from participants and fostering transparent communication about the research objectives and potential implications.

CHALLENGES IN THE PROJECT & RESEARCH

One of the primary challenges is the sheer scale and diversity of India’s population, encompassing numerous ethnicities, languages, and socio-cultural backgrounds. Ensuring adequate representation from all population groups while maintaining ethical standards and data quality poses a significant logistical challenge.

Moreover, genomic research requires substantial infrastructural and technological capabilities, including high-throughput sequencing platforms, computational resources for data analysis, and bioinformatics expertise.

Collaborative efforts between academia, industry, and government are essential to address these challenges and build robust genomic research infrastructure in India.

American Deputy Director of National Centre for Human Genomic Research (NCHGR), criticised that, the Human Genome Projects are mediocre science & a terrible science policy.

According to him Human are narcissistic  species &   the thought of their molecular blueprint might be exciting for most of them. 

According to him this research is not arising from mass consensus . 95% of  the DNA,  does not code  for protein  and is thought by many junk .

CRITICISM

According to Goldstein & Brown in their seminal work on Cholesterol metabolism, mentioned that,  they did not require the map position of Human Genomic Profile. Even during the discovery of genes responsible for cystic fibrosis & muscular dystrophy , did not require detailed sequence information.

Knowing the amino acid sequence of a mutant gene product does not ensure the development of rational therapies. The amino acid sequences & detailed X-ray structures of Rat Sarcoma (RAS) products have been known since several years. 

Much of the work on the Human Genome Project was repetitive, the project interested and attracted more than just technicians. One of the most important legacies of the Human Genome Project is the role that interdisciplinary team science played in achieving the end goal.

The Human Genome Project brought together a diverse cohort of professionals from both the private and public sector. This included not only biologists, geneticists and medical professionals, but also computer engineers, bioethicists, legal experts, mathematicians, statisticians and many others.

“Big Science” is a term used, often pejoratively, to describe a large-scale, centralized scientific project usually funded by a government or large bureaucratic entity. This is in contrast to what can be called “small science,” or inquiry driven by individual investigators, which is done in smaller labs with a small staff led by a principal investigator.

Historically, “big science” projects were viewed by many scientists as wasteful and inefficient. They argued that the most fruitful scientific research required a more independent and focused approach driven by a hypothesis, or central question

The Wallace Line is an imaginary line that intersects the Lombok Strait between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok to the south, and extends north through the Makassar Strait between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sulawesi. 

Wallace’s Line is not a static boundary—it has shifted over time due to the interplay of geological transformations and climate change. As sea levels fluctuate, land bridges appeared and disappeared, offering brief windows for species migration. The two regions are different continental plates that have been moving independently — the Asian and Australian plates

On the shoreline of Bali and its eastern part. Across the water channel, there is island of Lombok. There is a narrow 21-mile-wide stretch of ocean, known as the Lombok Strait, separates these two islands. In 1858, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace wrote Charles Darwin a letter , from the Malay Archipelago. 

He had spent years documenting species across the region. The natural world was not a seamless blend of species, but a patchwork divided by invisible barriers. 

One of those barriers, the one running through the Lombok Strait was the most striking of all known as Wallace’s Line. Before the exploration of Wallace, in the 1850s, the general belief was that, species were static & distributed based on environmental conditions, with little or no consideration for Earth’s historical processes.

Wallace’s meticulous documentation of species distributions ended this assumption. He observed that, despite their proximity and environmental similarity, the islands of Bali and Lombok had vastly different fauna. 

Wallace identified the 250m depth of the Lombok Strait as the single most compelling explanation for the differences between Asian and Australian animals. It caused various species to remain isolated from each other on opposite sides of the Lombok Strait through centuries of migrations and evolution. 

The Sunda Shelf is a continental shelf that incorporates Borneo, Java and Sumatra, and is joined to peninsular Malaysia and the mainland nations of Vietnam and Thailand.

Bali is joined to the shelf but Lombok is separated from the shelf by the comparatively deep Lombok Strait. The Sahul Shelf in the east joins Australia and New Guinea.  Between the Sahul Shelf and the Sunda Shelf is a constellation of islands and seas known as Wallacea.

On the west side of the Wallace Line in Borneo, Sumatra and Java— there is a presence of creatures with deep Asian roots e.g. tigers, rhinoceroses, elephants and primates.

On the eastern side into the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi and New Guinea,  the creatures belonging to Australian species like marsupials, such as tree possums climb through forests, cockatoos and lorikeets speckle the skies and egg-laying mammals like echidnas.

REASONS OF THIS DIVISION

The secret lies beneath the ocean’s surface. During the recent Ice Ages, when sea levels fell, land bridges connected many Southeast Asian islands to the mainland, allowing species to migrate freely.

But the deep waters of the Lombok Strait never dried up. It remained a formidable barrier, preventing species from crossing, leaving two distinct evolutionary worlds to develop independently.

CHANGING COURSE OF EVOLUTION

A highly adaptable primate like Macaca fascicularis, found on the west of Wallace’s Line,  it adopted an arboreal lifestyle by developing a long tail. They mark their presence across the forests from Thailand to Borneo, it has also successfully integrated into urban environments.

On the eastern side of of Wallace’s Line in Sulawesi, there is a species of  booted macaque, or Macaca ochreata, developed a more robust body and a shorter tail, adaptations suited to the island’s dense forests and differing food sources. 

This geographical isolation lead to change in their behaviour. Macaca fascicularis , a crab eating , macaque, living on the west side of Wallace line , are opportunistic and often raid crops and human settlements. are opportunistic and often raid crops and human settlements.

A nocturnal bird found in Southeast Asia, known as Sunda frogmouth (Batrachostomus cornutus)  belongs to an ancient lineage mostly confined to the Sunda region. This species shown  phenomenal adaptation for tropical forest , especially its camouflage.

However, on the Australian side  of Wallace’s Line, the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) and its relatives have evolved separately, adapting to comparatively drier ecosystem.

This divergent evolution  dates back to the Oligocene, period,  means 30-40 million years ago, considered as the oldest known vertebrate divergences across Wallace’s Line.

This long-standing  separation or geographical isolation suggests that island arcs and continental plate movement land  may have provided a land corridor for dispersal. 

Animals on the western side of Wallace Line if crosses the Wallace line and enters the eastern side, they may struggle for their existence due to change in the climate & vegetation. However some animals may survive if they cross the Wallace line. 

If protected from survival odds, like  competitors, predators, or disease—they may successfully colonize the new habitat & ecosystem, the way invasive species are doing.  Some species of bats, such as flying foxes, are found on both sides of the Wallace Line, as they can travel long distances in search of food and roosting sites.

THE HUMAN WALLACE LINE

Some anthropologists travelled to east Nusa Tenggara (the Timor Archipelago, including the islands of Timor, Flores and Sumba), where Alfred Russel Wallace had drawn a dividing line between the races of the east and the west of the archipelago.

These medically trained anthropologists aimed to find out if the Wallace Line could be more precisely defined with measurements of the human body. However anthropologists failed to find definite markers to quantify the difference between Malay and Papuan/Melanesian.

This, however, did not diminish the conceptual power of the Wallace Line, as the idea of a boundary between Malays and Papuans was taken up in the political arena during the West New Guinea dispute and was employed as a political tool.

The structuring concept for the human diversity in this region was the difference between people with frizzy hair and darker skins in the east and light brown people with straight hair on the western islands.  From the 1880s onwards, physical anthropologists were eager to measure the physical differences between Malays and Papuans

The human Wallace Line became salient, especially during the West New Guinea dispute, and was employed as a political tool by all parties involved to further their goals. The map was considered as, a visual tool  to abstract knowledge and to circulate it. It became  a tool  Not only for mapmakers and geographers but also for biologists, ethnologists and medical experts. 

Jane Camerini argues that, In racial science, maps simplified diversity and emphasised racial difference. Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster, travelled with James Cook have observed ‘two great varieties’, one ‘more fair, well limbed athletic, of a fine size and a kind benevolent temper; the other blacker, the hair just beginning to become woolly and crisp, the body more slender and low, and their temper, if possible more brisk, though somewhat mistrustful

In the nineteenth century, John Crawfurd and George Windsor Earl confirmed this division. But French  anthropologists Armand de Quatrefages and Ernest Hamy,  opined that, Wallace ignored,  the presence of so-called Negritos, groups of people of small stature who were found on each side of Wallace’s anthropological line. The anthropological practice of drawing lines was a forceful tool to establish racial categories. 

The imagined boundary between Malays and Papuans has been a consistent feature of our conceptions of Southeast Asia, even though the line has moved on the map over time. Anthropometrics hoped to find the right markers that could be used to define the difference between Malays and Papuans quantitatively, but it turned out to be impossible to link characteristics such as the cephalic index to one of the two groups.

The NASA Engineers, use the lessons learned to better design spacecraft and improve the fit and functions of spacesuits. The research also aids in the development and assessment of medical standards, physical fitness programs and standards, physiological and psychological adaptation training, sensorimotor training, and nutritional health protocols.

NASA is particularly interested in investigating how the body reacts to long-duration spaceflight as the agency plans for extended missions on the Moon and Mars. 

SPACE RADIATION

On Earth, we are shielded by the planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere from the majority of particles that make up the space radiation environment. Even so, everyone on Earth is exposed to low levels of radiation every day, from the food we eat to the air we breathe. 

In space, astronauts are exposed to varied and increased levels of radiation that are different from those on Earth. Three major sources contribute to the space radiation environment: particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field, solar energetic particles from the Sun, and galactic cosmic rays.

A big challenge in reducing the risks of radiation exposure is that some space radiation particles especially galactic cosmic rays are difficult to shield against. Exposure to increased radiation can be associated with both short- and long-term health consequences, depending on how much total radiation astronauts experience and the time frame in which they experience that exposure.

Increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases, such as heart disease and cataracts, have been observed in human populations exposed to radiation on Earth. Health risks for astronauts from radiation exposure in space are mainly driven by long-term impacts.

Additionally, animal and cellular research indicate that the type of radiation in the space environment has a larger impact on health outcomes compared to the radiation experienced on Earth. Not only will astronauts be exposed to more radiation in space than on Earth, but the radiation they are exposed to could pose increased risks.

The current strategy to reduce the health risks of space radiation exposure is to implement shielding, radiation monitoring, and specific operational procedures. Compared to typical six-month space station missions, later Moon and Mars missions will be much longer on average. Consequently, the total amount of radiation experienced and associated health risks may increase.

NASA is developing new radiation detectors

Ensuring astronauts get quality sleep is also important; otherwise, their internal biological clocks, or circadian rhythm, might be altered by factors like different dark and light cycles, a small and noisy environment, the stress of prolonged isolation and confinement. 

NASA scientists are using devices, such as actigraphy, that help assess and improve sleep and alertness by recording how much people move and how much ambient light is around them. New lighting, spurred by the development of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology, is used on the space station to help align astronaut’s circadian rhythms and to improve sleep, alertness, and performance.

GRAVITY FIELD

Transitioning from one gravity field to another is trickier than it sounds. It affects spatial orientation, head-eye and hand-eye coordination, balance, and locomotion, with some crew members experiencing space motion sickness.

When shifting from weightlessness to gravity, astronauts may experience post-flight orthostatic intolerance where they are unable to maintain their blood pressure when standing up, which can lead to lightheadedness and fainting.

NASA has learned that without Earth’s gravity affecting the human body, weight-bearing bones lose on average 1% to 1.5% of mineral density per month during spaceflight. Without the proper diet and exercise routine, astronauts also lose muscle mass in microgravity faster than they would on Earth.

Moreover, the fluids in the body shift upward to the head in microgravity, which may put pressure on the eyes and cause vision problems. If preventive or countermeasures are not implemented, crews may experience an increased risk of developing kidney stones due to dehydration and increased excretion of calcium from their bones.

CLOSED ENVIRONMENT

NASA has learned that the ecosystem inside the spacecraft plays a big role in everyday astronaut life in space. Microbes can change characteristics in space, and micro-organisms that naturally live on the human body are transferred more easily from person to person in closed habitats, such as the space station.

Stress hormone levels are elevated and the immune system is altered, which could lead to increased susceptibility to allergies or other illnesses.

Venous Thromboembolism is a situation in which, Stagnant or reverse flow in the internal jugular vein has been observed in  crew members . This is an emerging finding and has potential impacts on flight participants with cardiovascular conditions.

Exposure to the isolation and confinement of spaceflight can result in decrements in cognitive and behavioral functioning.

Astronauts find they grow a little taller during their stay on the ISS as their spines elongate slightly. This can lead to issues such as back pain while in space and slipped discs once back on Earth.  Dr Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist from Seattle, observed that William’s cheeks, apparently sunken, showed signs of low body weight suggesting a calorie deficit in Williams.

A new constituent sub system of the immune system has been discovered and it is considered as  a source  of potential antibiotics.

Israeli scientists,  revealed  a part of the cell  known to recycle proteins has a secret mode that can germinate an arsenal of bacteria-killing chemicals.

According to them,  it transforms our understanding of human immune system. The cellular waste disposal system called the proteasome is best known for its central role in protein degradation and recycling.

The team discovered that some of the peptides released in the proteasome during protein breakdown are capable of killing bacteria. The researchers found that many of these degradation products matched sequences previously identified as antimicrobial peptides, critical components of the innate immune system, which acts as the body’s first line of defense against bacteria, viruses and parasites

The proteasome is a large protein complex responsible for degradation of intracellular proteins, a process that requires metabolic energy.  The proteasome degrades most cellular proteins in a controlled and tightly regulated manner and thereby controls many processes, including cell cycle, transcription, signalling, trafficking and protein quality control. 

Proteasomal degradation is vital in all cells and organisms, and dysfunction or failure of proteasomal degradation is associated with diverse human diseases, including cancer and neurodegeneration. Target selection is an important and well-established way to control protein degradation.

It is assumed to be a protein “death machine”, destroying a variety of cellular proteins, that have acquired a specific degradation signal(s) such as a multiubiquitin chain. Protein degradation plays a key part in eliciting immune signalling and immune cell differentiation processes.

The proteasome  cleaved antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), contributing to the innate immune response.  AMPs are naturally occurring molecules found in various organisms, including humans, that have a crucial role in the innate immune response against pathogens.

Notably, AMPs are synthesized by a wide range of cells and tissues throughout the body, including epithelial cells, leukocytes and mucosal surfaces, and are present in various body fluids, such as saliva, sweat and tears.

Many AMPs are initially produced as inactive precursors called pro-AMPs, and their activation requires enzymatic processing, often involving proteases. Such AMPs have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, viruses and even some parasites.

They work by disrupting microbial cell membranes directly , modulating host transcription and translation . The proteasome-derived peptides provide a cell-autonomous defence mechanism against bacterial infection, collectively termed proteasome-derived defence peptides (PDDPs), are constitutively made, and their production may be enhanced upon bacterial infection, by altering proteasomal composition and function. 

The altered proteasome function is governed by the recruitment of a regulatory subunit of the proteasome, PSME3 within an hour of infection they identified proteasomes with a control unit called PSME3 and found that this subunit was responsible for prioritizing the production of such peptides.

Recent experimental researches shown that,proteasomal-cleaved peptides may be secreted to the extracellular milieu.  The peptide generation rate by proteasomes is at an estimated rate of millions of peptides per minute. Thereby providing the cells with an enormous potential number of protective peptides at a basal state.

This discovery, alongside the established role of proteasome-cleaved peptides in adaptive immunity, positions cellular proteasomes as key orchestrators of what we propose to define as a proteolysis-driven immunity—a dual-function mechanism for immune protection that bridges innate and adaptive immunity.

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that such an extensive system for protein degradation, involving tight regulation, ATP requirements and tens of components, will derive more functions from proteasome-cleaved peptides for cellular defence, offering a previously undescribed model for cellular sustainability.

Natural antibacterials such as PDDPs could provide alternatives to conventional antibiotics in combating antibiotic-resistant infections. Their endogenous production may confer immune tolerance, reducing the risks associated with exogenous AMP treatments.

In 1688 James’s Catholic wife gave birth to a son, which gave rise to a threat of potentially long-term Catholic monarchy. James way of ruling offended huge parts of the population, who were afraid that the Protestant church would lose its influence. As a result of this, a few Protestant politicians approached William of Orange convincing him to invade and take the throne. 

As a result of this, a few Protestant politicians approached William of Orange convincing him to invade and take the throne. William, a Protestant and opponent of Luis XIV, had already planned to prevent a possible Catholic alliance between England and France.

When he reached London in November 1688, the support of James soon collapsed. Following this, James fled to France, leaving William free to take the throne. The threat of Catholicism still remained during the first half of the 18th century. The reason for this was a movement known as Jacobitism “(after ‘Jacobus’ the Latin word for James).

Many plans were made to overthrow the monarchy and by this to restore the line of James. There were two major Jacobite uprisings in 1715 and 1745, but they couldn’t endanger the new established system.  In fact Jacobitism reached just the opposite of what it wanted. The fear for further revolution united supporters of the Protestant monarchy from across the country.

In 1689 the Parliament invited William and Mary to govern the country in cooperation. However, this invitation was bound to a Bill of Rights. This Bill made it impossible for Catholics to hold the throne, which at the same time secured the Protestant Church as the established religion.

“In addition, it prevented the monarch from maintaining an army during peacetime, and it took from the monarch the power to abolish laws”. Another consequence of the Glorious Revolution was that Parliament became established as the primary organ of government, with which the monarch needed to collaborate. Furthermore, the parliament took over the power to control the economy.

The events during the revolution in Britain had also major consequences to Scotland and Ireland. James deposition in Britain also weakened his position in Scotland. Thus later in 1689 the Scottish crown was handed to William and Mary. In addition a Bill, similar to the Bill of Rights, made it impossible for Catholics to hold the Scottish throne. In Ireland, however, the situation was different.

The vast majority of the population was Catholic and supported James. Therefore William launched a military campaign against Ireland and implemented the Protestant Anglican ascendancy in Ireland. Moreover he imposed severe structures upon Irish Catholics, which greatly limited their rights.

In an evolutionary sense, the new established system, with its various changes, can be seen as a forerunner to a modern state. The revolution provided the space in which political factions could prosper and later become independent parties in their own right. The terms “Whig and Tory” did not always function as political labels.

The word ‘whig’ originates from the word ‘whiggamore’ which literally translates as ‘cattle driver’.

They became “party” labels during the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81), but they have an older history and a complete different meaning compared to the way they were used from the late 17th century onwards. The most famous dictionary of the 18th century,  written by Samuel Johnson, quotes the following about the terms Whig and Tory.

The term Whiggamore has been around since 1649 and refers to a group of rebels that were against the government, in Western Scotland. Thus the rising of the political term Whig can be connected to the Presbyterianism in Scotland during the 17th century. The term than was transferred to those English politicians that showed a disposition to oppose the court, and to treat Protestant Nonconformists as heroes.

The term Tory also comes from outside of England. Initially the term was used for Papists that lived in the Irish wetlands and lived by robbing English settlers and soldiers. Later on the Whigs transferred the term to the politicians that opposed the exclusion of James II. Although the terms Whig and Tory were first used as an insult to the opposite party, both parties soon adopted the terms and used it with pride.

In relation to both church and state, religion and politics, the terms Whig and Tory have been redefined and transformed in their associations and inflections in the period since they first achieved currency around 1681. The modern associations of Whig and Tory with “liberal” and “conservative” can be misleading. Neither party can easily be designated as “progressive” and each has to be examined in terms of its particular engagements in specific contexts. 

The Whigs and Tories consisted of groups of interest. They were people who shared the same religious, political and economic beliefs. The term “party” though is connected to a modern state. Thus the term “party” cannot be applied to them offhand. More appropriate would be the term factions.

The main political division between the Whigs and the Tories is derived from the factional conflict of the “Exclusion Crisis” (1679-81), Whigs being supporters of Exclusion and Tories being their Royalist opponents.Te fundamental division lies in the  conceptions of sovereignty and political power.

Whigs conceived power as something ultimately residing in “the people” and view rulers as serving the will and welfare of the people; Tories conceived sovereignty as residing in rulers and view “the people” as subjects whose duty is to obey.

Tories are thus identified with a system of hereditary power–exercised especially by monarchs and the established Church–while Whigs are associated with a system of popular power, though generally in the hands of the merchant class rather than the general population.

During the Exclusion Crisis the Whigs were led by Lord Shaftesbury. The first Exclusion Bill was voted with a substantial majority in May 1679. In a reaction to this Charles II later dissolved the parliament. The second try followed just 14 months later when the Bill had passed the House of Commons but was rejected in the House of Lords.

The third was again cancelled by Charles dissolving the parliament and intending to rule without parliament. Without being in parliament the Whigs had to suffer huge losses and their power quickly lost its momentum.

Under the reign of William and Mary, the political influence of Whigs and Tories changed constantly. Although the Whigs supported William during his way to the throne, they were not the only choice. To William, the Tories seemed to be generally friendlier to royal authority than the Whigs. By ruling with both of them he prevented either faction of getting too much influence in the government.

When it comes to foreign policy, the Whigs were the faction that supported Britain’s focus on international trade. This led to major criticism by the Tories, due to the financial and human costs of wars fought under William and Anne. The Whigs and Tories derived most of their wealth from land, but the Tories represented the landed interest, whereas the Whigs were more open to international trade.

After the death of Anne in 1714 the situation in parliament had completely changed. A new royal house (the Hanoverians) took over and with them the Whigs monopolized political power for almost half a century. One reason for this is that a considerable amount of Tories were still in favor of the Stuarts. Their situation was a dilemma, because they wanted to support the line of James but not his Catholicism, at least not in public. 

Another reason for this is that neither George I or George II were familiar with or interested in Britain’s political affairs. The most important Whig leader of that period was Robert Walpole. Walpole was the first prime minister in British history. He was mainly responsible for political dominance of the Whigs during his term in office (1721-42).

He managed to deal with the financial crisis that was caused by the South Sea Company. He pursued a policy of peace abroad, low taxation and managed to balance the interests of the landed and trade fractions. However, he was also accused of corruption in his efforts to retain political power.

The Whig supremacy ended with the election of George III in 1760. George tried to restore his power by freeing himself from the Whigs. Just like William he saw the Tories as friendlier and more open to royal authority. By the late 18th century the stereotypes of the Whigs and the Tories had changed.

Popular leaders among the whigs are – Robert Walpole, William Pitt, the Elder, Charles James Fox, Lord Grey, Lord Russell & Lord Palmerston. The Tories were a powerful and dominant party even during the reign of Queen Anne.

A Tory was a “conservative,” a supporter of the status quo with its various privileges and exclusions, while a Whig was a “liberal” or “reformer,” committed to modernizing the system of church and state. These latest inflections stuck through much of the nineteenth century, during which Tories or Conservatives opposed Catholic Emancipation, electoral reform, and Irish Home Rule, while Whigs or Liberals championed those causes.

In contrast to the term Tory, the term Whig almost died out and was replaced by the term “liberal”.It is interesting that since the last general elections in May 2010, the political “descendents” of the Whigs and The Tories are united under a coalition and build a government again.

The concept of Hindu laws often comprises two competing visions  – old ancient law founded on Sanskrit texts known as the Vedas & its  commentaries, on the other hand,  the body of modern Hindu law comprised of statutes and court judgments regulating inheritance, marriage, and succession of Hindus . The reason for the emergence of this competing vision can be trace in the Indian legal history.

The legal history portrays, a  political & administrative compulsion of the company administration to develop a collaboration with the native elites to produce Hindu law  based on ancient Sanskrit texts. It was modeled on the basis of modern legal governance . 

According to Rachel Sturman &  Eleanor Newbigin ,the doctrine of  anglo-Saxon jurisprudence of law , liberalism,  capitalism and the legal articulation of citizenship claims. According to scholars like  Flavia Agnes there is a dominance of Brahmanical norms & rituals in the  practices of Hindu law, including marriage and divorce.

HOW DID ELITE NORMS ENTRENCHED IN MODERN HINDU LAW?

The British perceived the Sanskrit texts as being the sources of  the laws of the Hindus due to their textual understanding of the religion. Warren Hasting initiated judicial administration, in which inheritance, marriage, caste, and other religious usages were to be administered by the laws mentioned  in Sanskrit texts monopolized by priestly elites. 

After consultation with native priests , a “code of Hindu law” was compiled, known as the Vivadarnavasetu, or A Code of Gentoo Laws by Nathaniel Halhed.

Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (25 May 1751 – 18 February 1830) was born in Westminster and educated at the Harrow School. While at Oxford he studied oriental studies under the influence of William Jones.

He accepted a position as a writer in the service of the East India Company and came to India to translate the Hindu Code from the original Sanskrit Persian version at the suggestion of Warren Hastings.  This translation was published in his 1776 as his ‘A Code of Gentoo Laws’. Halhed spent most of his times in the province of Bengal in India.

Its learned preface describing Sanskrit, claiming a high antiquity for Hindu civilization, & challenging biblical chronology elicited enthusiasm with some, but condemnation from others such as the Revd George Costard” Published by London in 1781.

Translated from the Vivādārnavasetu, a digest of Hindu law in 21 sections (taraṅga) compiled for Warren Hastings by the pandits: Bāneśvara, Kṛipārāma, Rāma Gopāla, Kṛishnajw̄ana, Vireśvara, Kṛ̇ishṇacāndra, Gaurīkānta, Kāliśaṅkara, Syāmasundara, Kṛishnakeśava, and Sītārāma.

This code was considered inadequate to meet the needs of common lawyers so, William Jones, an orientalist & judge at the Calcutta Supreme Court, started reforms in it with the collaboration of the pundits – resulted into creation of another treatise, Vivada-bhangarnava.

This was still considered insufficient, & numerous textbooks on Hindu law and customary were compiled in the 19^th century by authors such as Thomas Strange and John Mayne.

These textbooks acquired importance due to the transfer of authority to the Crown govt. after 1857 and the establishment of High Courts. The relegation of Hindu law to the sphere of family law and its extension to enactments on property, contract etc. also made clarity in Hindu law essential.

Textbook writers & judges constructed the new sources of law on hierarchical manner with Smritis (commentaries on Vedas) being the foremost source. Different schools of laws were expounded by Henry Thomas Colebrooke,  known as Dayabhaga (the Bengal school) and Mitakshara (the Benares school).

The Court verdicts of colonial judges became authoritative due to the doctrine of precedent. This legacy of colonial law forms the basis for Hindu family law in India today.

MODERNIZING THE ANCIENT LAWS

By using appropriate legal methodologies to synthesise a uniform law for majority of Indians, but merely reflected a minority elite class. The process of generating Hindu law was associated with controversies such as recognizing custom – who is a “Hindu” and to whom does the “Hindu law” apply to – and the identification of practices such as adoption or division of property were frequently debated.

The most serious challenge to the idea of Hindu law arose in a conflict between James Henry Nelson, a British colonial administrator in the Madras Civil Service, and Justice Lewis Charles Innes of the Madras High Court on the nature of Hindu law.

Nelson argued that that, there was no Hindu homogeneity in the society and that the Manusmriti translated by William Jones could not be considered as a code of law to govern Hindus.

He also argued that, Tamils were not Hindus despite some of them adopting Brahmanical forms of worship and part of the Sanskrit law due to a large number of them following practices such as polyandry, widow remarriage, divorce, and “devil worship”.

These views were propounded in various works authored by Nelson titled ‘A View of the Hindu Law as Administered by the High Court of Judicature at Madras’, ‘A Prospectus on the Scientific Study of Hindu Law, and Hindu Law at Madras’, forming a sustained attack on the jurisprudence of the Madras High Court.

REASONS FOR NELSON’S APATHY TOWARDS HINDU LAW

His argument was historical and jurisprudential. He challenged the historical basis of Hindu law by arguing that there was no integrity to the code of Manu due to the existence of different versions in South East Asia.

He questioned whether written laws existed in the Indian subcontinent using historical accounts of travelers and based on the account of a Jesuit priest argued that no courts and maxims were used in place of written law.

In arguing that the Mitakshara school did not apply to the Southern part of India, he drew attention to customary practices which were not in conformity with the law laid down by the Mitakshara.

His main line of argument lay in his fifteen false principles elaborately explained in his View of the Hindu Law.

• He disagreed on the idea of “schools of Hindu law” and that they were inapplicable in Southern India.
• He mentioned that,  that Hindu law was applicable to all persons identified as Hindu.
• According to him, the customs that were not judicially recognized could not prevail despite evidence of its practice over a long period of time.
• He was critical of, the doctrines around collective ownership in the institution of the Hindu joint family and adoption by widows.
• Nelson challenged the interpretation & applicability of Sanskrit texts and the usage of English doctrines such as equity in settling legal claims along with an analysis of judgments drawn mainly from the Madras High Court.

SUGGESTIONS GIVEN BY NELSON

Nelson suggested setting up of a Commission to investigate & inquire into the acceptability of Sanskrit law & the customs and usages of Indian castes, by Indian masses. 

This should lead to a Code of Hindu law based on usages and customs to be followed by courts. He further argued that there should be separate legislation for non-Brahmin castes and legislation to allow Indians to assert customary practices against the general Hindu law. 

Duncan Derrett, in the biography of Nelson, comments that, Nelson’s failure to acknowledge Sanskrit texts – did not lend his argument accuracy, especially when he had charged the High Court with misinterpreting these texts.

The question of using Sanskrit texts as codes of law to interpret the customs and practices of a diversified population and the usage of interpretative methods from English common law for creation of family law.

According to Duncan Kennedy , the family law as a category emerged in the nineteenth century. This was due to the family being perceived as a site of moral relations which developed a form distinctive to each nation. Kennedy specifically mentions the development of different personal laws for Hindu and Muslim religious communities by the British as an illustration. 

The heated response to Nelson by Justice Innes in a letter addressed to Mounstuart Elphinstone Duff the Governor of Madras, reflected the anxiety of producing a Hindu family law with the methodology of the common law.

Using the concept of precedent in common law, Innes took a defensive position arguing that, the Madras High Court had to follow the doctrines of Hindu law as laid down by the Privy Council in England.

He defended the use of the Manusmriti on the ground that, this fitted the descriptions given of legal trials at that particular time and cited different interpretations of Sanskrit texts to counter Nelson’s arguments on the application of the Mitakshara.

Among other reasons, the argument on the lack of a written law was countered with the fact that English law was also unwritten law. In regard to the call for a Commission, Innes asserted the results of an enquiry in Bombay among different castes showing that their practices were in conformity with principles of Hindu law, including adherence to Brahmanical worship, and also reiterated the need to ignore specific customs in favour of Hindu law due to the demands of practical administration.

In constructing the domain of family law, Innes dismissed the usage of ordeals as customary legal practices as a ground for the non-applicability of the Mitakshara, arguing that the Mitakshara is concerned only with family law and not with criminal law.

This reasoning was used despite him admitting that the Mitakshara dealt with evidence and ordeals. He also argued that there were no treatises on family law in the Tamil language, which pointed to the probability of the Sanskrit texts being applicable.

For Innes, the domain of family law had to be constructed in relation to property and the economy, and courts were not bound to implement the aspects of the Mitakshara that dealt with property but not succession. The jurisprudential issue raised by Nelson in relation to the adequate translation of concepts such as adoption or guardianship in Sanskrit terminology was ignored by Innes completely.

Although Nelson’s claims failed, this debate is important for its exposure of the jurisprudential basis of Hindu law. Although it can be argued that the Sanskritic basis of Hindu law provides for customs to be upheld and that there is statutory recognition of customs of different groups and castes in India, it does not take away the fact that such groups have to prove their identities.

If history had been different and Nelson’s argument had been accepted, one may have had a more fractured Hindu law and a non-homogenous Hindu legal identity. This could have had consequences for Hindu political mobilization as well as movements to abolish personal laws through a uniform civil code.

A curative petition, in simple words, is the final and last option for the people to acquire justice as mentioned and promised by the Constitution of India. The concept originated from the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra Vs. Ashok Hurra and Anr. where the  following question arose before the court of law- ‘whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final judgment/order of the Supreme Court, after the dismissal of a review petition?’

The court used the Latin maxim “actus curiae neminem gravabit”, which means that an act of the court shall prejudice no one. The maxim becomes applicable when the court is under an obligation to undo a wrong done to a party by the act of court itself — This led to the creation of the concept of a curative petition by the Supreme Court and the reason given for such creation was preventing the abuse of the process of law and to cure the lapses in the existing system of justice.

A curative petition is an extraordinary remedy, as it is filed after the apex Court refuses to review its judgment.

There are only two main grounds for entertaining such a petition: to prevent abuse of process & to prevent gross miscarriage of justice, although it is not possible to enumerate all the circumstances that warrant it.

It is founded on the principle that the court’s concern for justice is no less important than the principle of finality.

Under India’s arbitration law, an award can be set aside only on limited grounds.

It is normally inexpedient for arbitration issues to have many levels of litigation.  

The Court invoked its inherent power under Article 142 to do complete justice.

The power of review is granted by Article 137 to the Supreme Court to review any of its judgments. Such power is not provided anywhere else in the Constitution. The Supreme Court has defined review to mean reexamining or reconsidering a final decision

In both curative and review actions, the Supreme Court is only reconsidering its final judgment as such in both the endeavours the activity is the same save for different words being adopted to describe these activities.

The Supreme Court’s review & curative actions amount to an acknowledgement by it that sometimes errors or mistakes in judgments do occur resulting in a miscarriage of justice.

Legally speaking, curative action by the Supreme Court should not amount to review action. However, as already stated the power to review is inherent in curative actions of the Court.

EVOLUTION

The curative petition was crafted by the apex court in 2002 in the landmark judgment of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra. Such a petition is a judicial invention to rectify gross miscarriage of justice in its own final judgments.

According to the Ashok Hurra case, the court can hear a curative petition only if there is a violation of principles of natural justice, a question of bias against the presiding judge, and/or an abuse of the process of the court.

Although these grounds were not exhaustive, the court should consider such petitions only in rare circumstances to prevent frivolous litigation.

In the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra Vs. Ashok Hurra, the main question lies around the relief against the final judgement when the option of review petition has already been discharged. Article 137 of the Indian Constitution broadly supports the idea of a curative petition.

It states that the “Supreme Court has the power to review any judgment pronounced by it if the matter concerns the laws and rules made under Article 145 . 

Art. 137 : – Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament or any rules made under article 145, the Supreme Court shall have power to review any judgment pronounced or order made by it.

Art 145 : – Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, the Supreme Court may from lime to time, with the approval of the President, make rules for regulating generally the practice & procedure of the Court.  

Order 48 of the Supreme Court Rules, enacted in 2013, codifies the requirements of a curative petition and includes a certificate by a Senior Advocate confirming that the requirements for filing a curative petition have been met.

RECENT CASES

The Supreme Court’s decision to reopen the Bhopal gas tragedy case through a curative petition led to significant legal developments concerning industrial liability & compensation.

Another critical case was the acceptance of a curative petition by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which significantly influenced public infrastructure contracts and dispute resolution mechanisms in India.

The acceptance of curative petitions is rare, but there are pivotal cases illustrating its impact

RARITY OF CURATIVE PETITION

A curative petition is the third stage of proceedings before the Supreme Court, that is filed after proceedings in a special leave petition/appeal & the review of the decision in SLP/appeal.

This is one of the main reasons why such petitions are accepted only in rare and extraordinary circumstances and not otherwise.

Curative Petition can be simply seen as the last option in delivering justice, as it indulges many criticisms in light of legal developments despite being the newer concept in the legal field of the land.

It witnesses the fist of criticism as it has the capability to shake the trust that a large public bestows in the legal system.

The concept of curative petitions is not new to the legal world in itself, but the need for the same in our country is debatable.

It’s a kind of petition that is not generally allowed to be heard in open courts as it’s mostly brought upon & heard in the chamber of judges and only in the rarest case it is allowed to happen in the open courts.

The SC has held that curative petitions must be rare rather than regular, & be entertained with circumspection. 

The principle on which the concept of a curative petition is based i.e., “It is better that a guilty person go free than an innocent be punished

According to the rules prescribed in the Supreme court Rules of 1966,  The aggrieved parties hold the statutory right to appeal in the apex court of the country and once the apex court reserves the judgement against the statutory appeals it should be seen as a final & binding order.

The same petition has to be filed within 30 days of the original judgement /order, to the same Bench Judges who delivered the judgment or order that sought to be reviewed.

There is a Latin proverb that suits the reasoning “interest Reipublicae Ut sit finis litium” It particularly means any litigation must come to an end in the interest of society & the public at large while considering the time taken for each litigation to reach its final outcome. 

Furtherance with the justice promised and securing the interest, makers are always ready with the possible solution and as a result, the Indian Constitution is honoured with Article 137, which specifically inherits the power to review the orders passed by the SC.

In occurrence with the legal developments over the period of time, the question arose that what if the dismissal of the review petition later witnesses the violation of natural justice? To cure that miscarriage of justice the concept of the curative petition came into practicality to guard the justice promised by the founding brains.

This concept of the petition at the last resort evolved in relation to the doctrine of “Ex Debito Justitiae” –  means the “requirements in the way of justice must be fulfilled” secondly it also draws the principles from the Latin proverb i.e., “Actus Curiae Neminem Gravabit” —  means that the act of court cannot be prejudice to anyone. 

FINALITY OF THE JUDGMENT

The core principle is  Error is not a fault of our knowledge, but a mistake of our judgment giving assent to that which is not true”.

Assigning such rights to review the final order of the apex court may  invite the flood of litigations. So, to keep a check on the idea evolved from the “Doctrine of Harmonious Construction”.

The doctrine of ‘harmonious construction’, in the present context, simply means that in case of a conflict between two laws, their interpretation should be in a way in which the spirit and essence of both laws are maintained, which is done by ‘harmonising’ the laws

It particularly ensures that the final judgement laid down by the apex court can’t be questioned until or unless it’s a matter of miscarriage of justice or abuse of process of law, having this doctrine made it possible that the curative petition is not vulnerable to any misuse and doesn’t act as an opening gate of reservoirs which holds the numbers of probable litigations inside.

It emphasizes questioning the finality of judgement on the basis of gross miscarriage, violation of principles of natural justice and abuse of the process of law.

FILLING A CURATIVE PETITION

●In the Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure of the Supreme Court of India there are certain points made that explain the procedure in filling the curative petition

❖There shall be Plenary Jurisdiction that has been inherent in the Supreme Court to hear such kinds of petitions – means that if there is lapses in regard to the merit of the petition then the court holds a power to impose an exemplary cost.

❖Curative petitions can be civil or can be criminal.

❖The petitioner should clearly showcase that there was a gross miscarriage in the delivery of justice and holds the biases that leads to the abuse of the process of law.

❖In a petition it should be specifically highlighted on which grounds the review should be considered & on which it was dismissed by the bench.

❖A senior lawyer must certify the petition, and look into that every ground has been fulfilled.

❖Petition must be circulated to the three most senior judges and the bench who dismissed the review petition.

❖It must be rare in nature and not regular.

❖If the majority of the judges conclude that the issue should be heard, then it will be shipped off a similar bench beyond what many would consider possible.

❖Curative petitions are not generally allowed to be heard in open courts as it’s mostly brought upon & heard in the chamber of judges and only if there is a particular solicitation then it is allowed to happen in the open courts.

❖The bench at any stage while considering the curative petition can ask the senior counsel as an amicus curiae

❖No new grounds will be considered in the curative petition & the grounds that were brought upon had to be taken in the application for review .

❖If the Bench concurs at any stage of the petition that it does not hold the merit, then the bench inherent with the powers may impose a plenary cost on the petitioner.

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION Vs. REVIEW PETITION

SLP can be filed under Article 136 of the Indian Constitution before the hon’ble SC.

It states that an appeal can be directly made to the SC against any order or decree passed by any court or tribunal in India

Review Petition basically prayed before the hon’ble court to review its order or judgement that has already been pronounced. The court may accept such petitions in consideration of grave error by judicial lords and fallibility.

The legal remedies guaranteed,  comprise the crispness of the order in the filing process: A review Petition is followed by a curative petition which is overlooked by a mercy petition.

A convict who is awarded the death sentence and that sentence particularly upheld by the order of the apex court, then he/she has three legal options left in the bucket i.e., Review & Curative Petition before the SC & on dismissal of the same the Mercy Petition before the President

The Supreme Court Rules, 1966 made in exercise of the powers under Article 145 of the Constitution prescribe that in civil cases, review lies on any of the grounds specified in Order 47 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides:

(i)Discovery of new and important matter of evidence

(ii)Mistake or error apparent on the face of the record

(iii)Any other sufficient reason.

In the case of criminal proceedings a review lies on the ground of an ‘error apparent on the face of the record’ – mean an error which strikes one on merely looking at the record and does not require any long drawn process of reasoning on points where there may, conceivably, be two options.

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (pronounced Ghee-yan Bah-ray) is a rare neurological disorder in which  immune system of a person mistakenly attacks part of his peripheral nervous system—the network of nerves that carries signals from the brain & spinal cord to the rest of the body. It is also called acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP).

GBS begins suddenly & can increase in intensity over a period of time until certain muscles turns useless. Some cases of GBS are very mild & only marked by brief weakness.

Others cause nearly devastating paralysis, leaving the person unable to breathe on their own. In these cases, the disorder is fatal—potentially causing loss of normal breathing, blood pressure, or heart rate. Fortunately, most people eventually recover from even the most severe cases of GBS. After recovery, people may continue to have some weakness.

SYMPTOMS

In GBS the weakness usually comes on quickly and worsens over the period of time . Often, feet are affected first, & weakness may move up to the other parts of the body.The person may first notice unexpected difficulty climbing stairs or walking.

Less commonly, symptoms start in the face and move down to the legs and feet. Most people reach the greatest stage of weakness within the first two weeks after symptoms appear; by the third week 90% of affected people are at their weakest.

In GBS, the brain may receive abnormal sensory signals from the rest of the body due to the nerve damage associated with the condition. This results in unexplained, spontaneous sensations, called paresthesias, that the person may feel as tingling, a sense of insects crawling under the skin (called formications), and pain.

Some people with GBS feel a deep muscular pain in the back and/or legs. Unexplained sensations often happen first, such as tingling in the feet or hands, or even pain (especially in children), often starting in the legs or back.

Children will also begin to have difficulty walking and may refuse to walk. These sensations tend to disappear before the major, longer-term symptoms appear.

Guillain-Barré syndrome may include: Difficulty with eye muscles and vision Difficulty swallowing, speaking, or chewing; Pricking or pins and needles in the hands and feet Pain that can be severe, particularly at night Coordination problems and unsteadiness; Abnormal heart rate or blood pressure Problems with digestion and/or bladder control.

The body’s nerves have a central conducting core called the axon that carries an electric signal. The axon is surrounded by an insulating layer (or sheath) called myelin. The myelin sheath surrounding the axon speeds up the transmission of nerve signals and allows the transmission of signals over long distances.

In the most common type of GBS, called acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP), the immune system damages the myelin sheath. In two other types of GBS, called acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) and acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN), the immune system may damage the axons themselves.

As a result, the nerves cannot transmit signals efficiently and the muscles begin to lose their ability to respond to the brain’s commands, which causes weakness and abnormal or no reflexes.

Miller Fisher syndrome is another type of GBS involving the cranial nerves, which extend from the brain to areas of the head & neck. The main symptoms are weakness or paralysis of the muscles that move the eyes, problems with balance and coordination, and abnormal or no reflexes. People with this disorder may have other common GBS symptoms like muscle weakness.

High protein level in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF is the fluid that surrounds the spinal cord and brain.

WHO IS MORE PRONE ?

GBS can affect anyone of any gender or age, but most often affects adults and people older than 50. GBS is not contagious or inherited and the exact cause is unknown.

Since the body’s own immune system does the damage, GBS is called an autoimmune disease. Normally the immune system uses antibodies (molecules produced in an immune response) & special white blood cells to protect us by attacking infecting bacteria and viruses. In GBS, however, the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy nerves. This attack may start as a fight against an infection.

One possible reason for this is that, some chemicals seen on bacteria and viruses resemble those on nerve cells. The immune system may not be able to distinguish bacteria and viruses from healthy nerve cells which also become targets of attack.

GBS usually starts a few days or weeks following a respiratory or gastrointestinal bacterial or viral infection. One of the most common risk factors for GBS is infection with the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni, which causes gastroenteritis (including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea). Sometimes, surgery will trigger the syndrome.

In very rare cases certain vaccinations may increase the risk of GBS. Some countries worldwide reported an increased incidence of GBS following infection with the COVID-19, Zika, cytomegalovirus, or Epstein-Barr viruses.

DIAGNOSIS

Cases of GBS begin differently for different people, and there are several disorders with similar symptoms. Therefore, it may be difficult to diagnose GBS in its earliest stages. Doctors may perform the following:

➢History and physical exam: A doctor will perform a physical exam and review the person’s medical history. They will assess how the person’s muscles and nerves are working. The doctor will note whether symptoms appear on both sides of the body (which is typical in GBS) and how fast the symptoms appeared. This is helpful because in other disorders, muscle weakness may progress over months rather than days or weeks. They will also check the reflexes, as some reflexes are lost in people with GBS.

➢Nerve conduction velocity test (NCV): This test measures the nerve’s ability to send a signal. In GBS, the signals traveling along the damaged nerves are slowed because of damage to the myelin sheath.

➢Cerebrospinal fluid analysis: A doctor may also conduct an analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the spinal cord. This fluid contains more protein and fewer immune cells in people with GBS.

➢Imaging: In some cases, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the spinal cord or even brain may help find any other potential causes of muscle weakness.

TREATING GBS

ACUTE CARE FOR GBS

Currently, there is no cure for GBS. However, some therapies can reduce its severity & shorten recovery time. There are also several ways to treat the complications of the disease.

People with GBS are usually admitted to the hospital and treated in the intensive care unit due to possible complications of muscle weakness. At the hospital, people with GBS are closely monitored to track the progression of their muscle weakness, breathing, and heart rate. If an intervention is needed, it can be quickly provided by the hospital staff.

●Two treatments are commonly used to interrupt immune-related nerve damage. Both are equally effective if started within two weeks of GBS symptoms.

➢Plasma exchange (PE), also called plasmapheresis, involves removing some blood through a catheter. Plasma (the liquid part of the blood) is separated from the blood cells. These cells, along with replacement fluid, are returned to the body. PE may work by removing the bad antibodies in the plasma that have been damaging the nerves.

➢Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg) involves injections of immunoglobulins—proteins that your immune system naturally makes to attack infecting organisms. The immunoglobulins are developed from a pool of thousands of healthy donors. IVIg can lessen the immune attack on the nervous system and shorten recovery time. Researchers believe this treatment also reduces the effectiveness of antibodies that attack the nerves by both “diluting” them with non-specific antibodies and reducing the number of harmful antibodies.

Anti-inflammatory steroid hormones called corticosteroids have also been tried to reduce the severity of GBS, but clinical trials have shown this treatment is not effective.

Supportive care is very important to address the many complications of paralysis as the body recovers and damaged nerves begin to heal. Since respiratory failure can occur in GBS, a person’s breathing should be closely monitored. Sometimes a mechanical ventilator is used to help support or control breathing. The autonomic nervous system (that regulates the functions of internal organs and some of the muscles in your body) can also be disturbed, causing changes in heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, or sweating, so the person should be put on a heart monitor or other equipment that measures and tracks body function.

REHABILITATIVE CARE

If the person has problems swallowing, they may also need special care to prevent choking, which can cause pneumonia.

As people with GBS begin to improve, they may be transferred from the acute care unit at a hospital to a rehabilitation setting. They can receive physical rehabilitation and other therapy to regain strength and resume activities of daily living. Because GBS can affect several parts of the body, different methods and approaches may be needed to prevent or treat complications. For example, a physical therapist can manually move and position the person’s limbs to help keep the muscles flexible and prevent muscle shortening. Muscle strength may not return in the same way.

Muscles that get stronger faster may take over a function that weaker muscles normally perform (this process is called substitution). A physical therapist can select specific exercises to improve the strength of weaker muscles so their original function can be regained.

Occupational and vocational therapy can help people learn new ways to handle everyday functions that may be affected. They can also help the person manage work demands and identify the need for assistive devices and other adaptive equipment and technology.

LONG TERM OUTLOOK

GBS can be a devastating disorder because of its sudden and rapid, unexpected onset of weakness—and often paralysis. Fortunately, most people with GBS have a full recovery. With careful intensive care and successful treatment of infection, autonomic dysfunction, and other medical complications, even people who have respiratory failure usually survive.

Recovery can be slow–anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. Some people do not recover completely and experience long-term weakness, numbness, fatigue, or pain. People recovering from GBS may face physical challenges and emotionally painful periods.

It can be extremely difficult to adjust to sudden paralysis and dependence on others for help with routine daily activities.

Some people with GBS need mental health counseling to help them adapt. Support groups can often ease emotional strain and provide valuable information. Some studies show that normal variations in certain genes could increase risk of developing GBS; however, more research is needed to identify and confirm associated genes