Monthly Archives: May 2019
The symmetry incarnations
This post was originally published on October 6, 2012. I recently rediscovered it and decided to republish it with a few updates. Geometric symmetry in nature is often a sign of unperturbedness, as if nothing has interfered with a natural … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged anastomosis, asymptote, Banach-Tarski paradox, Big Bang Theory, cellular automata, degrees of freedom, electro-weak symmetry breaking, fractals, Gilbreath's conjecture, hypercube, Large Hadron Collider, Mandelbrot sets, Mulliken symbols, Nambu-Goldstone bosons, prime numbers, surface tension, symmetry, thermodynamics, V.S. Ramachandran
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A tale of two horrors: poop and aliens
I saw this tweet yesterday: Information like this always reminds me of one fact that awakened me to the behind-the-scenes role that the natural universe plays in our cultural lives. The organic compounds called indole and skatole are what give … Continue reading
Clouds, rain and radar – Addendum
My piece on May 12 calling out Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s baffling conviction in his knowledgeability about surveillance radar systems and atmospheric attenuation has prompted some criticism as to its scientific accuracy. Apart from the compulsively defensive bhakts, some scientists … Continue reading
Clouds, rain and radar
I am not a person jo saare vigyan ko jaanta ho – lekin maine kaha itne cloud hain, baarish ho rahi hai ki ek benefit hain ki hum radar se bach sakte hain. This is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Translated … Continue reading
On pre-approving articles before publication
The debate about whether it is fair for scientists to expect science journalists to let them proofread articles in which they are quoted before going to print has reared its head once more, at least on Twitter, following one round … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
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Complexity and meaningfulness
Science writer Graham Farmelo interviewed Edward Witten, the mathematical physicist extraordinaire, in the summer of 2018. The full interview is available to listen here (27 minutes) and, thanks to Sabine Hossenfelder, to read here. I simply wanted to remark on … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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Notes on ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (spoiler alert)
At the outset, I had a great time watching the film. It ticked all the boxes of an all-round entertainer. What follows are some specific thoughts I had of the film that shouldn’t be construed as criticism or as gratuitous … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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