Monthly Archives: August 2022
A trip to Jebel Jais
A peak of the Al Hajar mountains in the UAE and an important part of the country’s future. Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged Al Hajar mountains, Hope probe, Jebel Jais, Musandam peninsula, Ras Al Khaimah, sandstorm, United Arab Emirates, Zagros fault
Comments Off on A trip to Jebel Jais
The importance of sensible politics to good science
Stuart Ritchie writes a newsletter-blog that I quite like, called Science Fictions. On May 30, he published a post on this blog entitled ‘Science is political – and that’s a bad thing’. I thought the post missed some important points, which … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Brahmins, casteism, gender-based discrimination, history of science, Jawaharlal Nehru, politicisation of science, reason of state
Comments Off on The importance of sensible politics to good science
On referring to female officers as ‘madam sir’
ET Lifestyle published a Twitter thread this morning about police officers referring to female superior officers as “sir” or as “madam sir”. I do find the practice offensive, because it signals an inability to imagine anyone but a (cis)man in … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
Tagged English language, ESL, female police officers, gender bias, linguistic relativity, madam sir, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, sexism, Whorfianism
Comments Off on On referring to female officers as ‘madam sir’
How much of a milestone is AzaadiSAT?
At 9.18 am today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first developmental flight of its new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), a three-stage modular launch vehicle designed to carry a payload of up to 500 kg to the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged AzaadiSAT, Bose hologram, Independence Day, ISRO, NITI Aayog, SpaceKidz India, SSLV
Comments Off on How much of a milestone is AzaadiSAT?
How do you trap an electron?
I’ve always found the concept of two forces on an object cancelling themselves out strange. We say they cancel if the changes they exert completely offset each other, leaving the object unaffected. But is the object really unaffected? If the two forces … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged alternating current, Earnshaw's theorem, Gauss's law, Helmut Steinwedel, hyperbolic electrodes, Mathieu equation, ponderomotive force, quadrupole ion trap, Wolfgang Paul
Comments Off on How do you trap an electron?
The physics of Spain’s controversial air-con decree
The Government of Spain published a decree earlier this week that prevents air-conditioners from being set at a temperature lower than 27º C in the summer in an effort to lower energy consumption and wean the country off of natural … Continue reading
The question of Abdus Salam ‘deserving’ his Nobel
Peter Woit has blogged about an oral history interview with theoretical physicist Sheldon Glashow published in 2020 by the American Institute of Physics. (They have a great oral history of physics series you should check out if you’re interested.) Woit … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Abdus Salam, BICEP2, Brian Keating, electroweak theory, ICTP Trieste, Nobel Prize for physics, Nobel Prizes, Norman Dombey, Paul Dirac, Peter Woit, Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg
Comments Off on The question of Abdus Salam ‘deserving’ his Nobel
Immunity for scientists? Err…
On the sidelines of a screening of the semi-fictional biopic of beleaguered ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, the Madhavan-starrer Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Narayanan told journalists on August 1 that “scientists should” receive immunity against “arbitrary police action” (source). “It is … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged ISRO spy scandal, Nambi Narayanan, scientific community
Comments Off on Immunity for scientists? Err…