Monthly Archives: July 2018

(I can speak only for myself here) I certainly seem to be needing a monthly reminder that to focus on pure science as a journalist is not in any way an abdication of one’s responsibilities as a citizen of India. … Continue reading →

On Twitter today, @thattai published a short thread about how framing the ‘debate’ about cellphone radiation harming biological tissue between ionising and non-ionising radiation is not a good idea because even non-ionising radiation (called so for its inability to strip … Continue reading →

There was an announcement from CERN on June 20 that I’d wanted to cover, missed it and which – to my zero surprise – no one else covered either. For the first time, two Asian schools have won CERN’s annual … Continue reading →

It isn’t tempting to write about Elon Musk in that it is easy but in that it is an event that few thought we could witness live: a successful businessman letting his inner recklessness show. Yes, I’m accusing Musk of something … Continue reading →

I’m not fully convinced as to why everyone is currently bashing the Jio Institute up. When the ‘Institutions of Eminence’ scheme’s rules were announced in August 2017 and greenfield institutions were welcomed to apply, everyone was either perfectly okay with … Continue reading →

There’s a video from Postcard News doing the rounds, showing a lady demonstrating the ability of a cow-urine-based substance to purportedly detoxify the human body. It does a fabulous job of making a mockery of itself given that it is only a … Continue reading →

There was no post on July 11 because whatever I wrote on that day was for the article below. I couldn’t share it on that day itself because the embargo for the scientific papers it was based on lifted at … Continue reading →

The most curious thing about moving to Delhi – little anxiety, lots of a seemingly deep-rooted melancholy that I will no longer have a scientist roommate. It was one of the most fun things about my time living in Chennai, … Continue reading →

The Higgs boson has finally been observed decaying into the particles it most often decays to – six years after it was discovered. The reason for this delay was noise. The Higgs boson is a scalar boson: it has spin … Continue reading →

Fracture mechanics theory in college was never my forte, whether that was because it was taught by a particularly dull professor who thought he had a loud voice or because it was just a dry subject. Rule 1: If a … Continue reading →