Today man has Discovered all the elements that exist ,in nature. Many of these elements, have been subjected to various tortures of heat , pressure and all other chemical procedures ,to make useful compounds. These compounds are further manipulated , in all possible ways to create more complex molecules , and the cycle goes on. A very classical example is that of Carbon and hydrogen. When carbon and hydrogen bond together we call them as hydrocarbons .The simplest of these is methane which has four atoms of hydrogen and one carbon atom . Many variations of these carbon -hydrogen combination are found in nature, and have been present for millions of years. But today man ,with his ingenious ideas, has created many new variations of these hydrogen and oxygen combination, to create new compounds .If this was not enough new elements have been added to the hydrocarbon bond to concoct fantastic new compounds , which can defy anyone’s wildest imaginations . New compounds thus created have either been useful to man or useless to him or harmful to him, some compounds are both useful and harmful, while others are useless and harmful. Today we cannot imagine a life without these compounds .One of a classic example for such a compound is the humble plastic. Just look around you and mentally remove all the things that are made of or contain plastics, and think you life without it. Impossible...? Very much so. But plastics are nothing but a bunch of carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged by man to suit his need. Thus manipulation of these hydrocarbons continue and has become a routine research operation. Some of these compounds have damaged our environment also .Plastic for example is a ecological nightmare , burning of petroleum has spewed tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere, the very air that we breath has been polluted. The list keeps growing as new mutants of these hydrocarbons are designed. But we keep using these compounds and keep making new variants of them, unabated. Since it has made our lives easy we try to forget the inconvenience caused and get along.But there are another set of elements ,whose compounds, have given sleepless less nights to many people from politicians to philosophers , from the scientist to the lay man. A compound made up of carbon ,nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen , or more specifically the DNA ,a group of molecules that have been present on this earth (and may be even outside), for millions of years. Today man has learnt to manipulate this molecule just like the hydrocarbons .Removing a molecule for here and putting it there , adding a new molecule or removeing one, various such permutations are been tried out today. But the people who were mum when the hydrocarbon was being manipulated , are today raising a hue and cry for a bunch of carbon ,nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. They are worried of Transgenic plants and animals , cloning ,DNA splicing and anything that has to do with the alteration of these molecules. The amazing thing is the same alterations have been done to hydrocarbons and other molecules for scores of years , without a din. As I mentioned earlier the hydrocarbons have no doubt manipulated our environment, but we have been able to control it ,and will be able to control it better if we reduce our greed. Why cant the same apply for the bunch of amino acids which form the DNA . Now you will think I am talking from a chemists view point , what about the philosophical view?. Well the only other thing that caused more harm to earth than philosophy is the meteor that struck earth and destroyed the dinosaurs .Without philosophy there would not have been religion , nations ,casts , sects etc . We all would have been a bunch of molecules held together in a very special way. No Osamas or Saddams no Bush or Musharrafs only Homo-sapiens .How nice would that have been. Anyway since we have all these and some more equally bright individuals ,we have to live with them and that is certainly a adventure.
