Monthly Archives: December 2022
The strange beauty of Planck units
What does it mean to say that the speed of light is 1? We know the speed of light in the vacuum of space to be 299,792,458 m/s – or about 300,000 km/s. It’s a quantity of speed that’s very … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Boltzmann constant, Hagedorn temperature, Planck constant, Planck scale, Planck temperature, Planck units, quantum gravity, SI units, speed of light
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Getting rid of the GRE
An investigation by Science has found that, today, just 3% of “PhD programs in eight disciplines at 50 top-ranked US universities” require applicants’ GRE scores, “compared with 84% four years ago”. This is good news about a test whose purpose I could never … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged academic diversity, Cornell University, Educational Testing Service, graduate studies, GRE examination, H-index, higher education, impact factor, PhD, scientometrics
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A ‘quantum consciousness’ absurdity at IIT Mandi
As you go downward, inward, smaller and smaller, you get more vast conscious experience. This is the idea in Indian knowledge systems. At the bottom of it, or the very base of it, at the source, is Brahman. My point … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged decoherence, IIT Mandi, Indian knowledge systems, Indian philosophy, Orch OR, quantum computer, quantum superposition, Roger Penrose, Science of Consciousness, Stuart Hameroff
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The curious case of the blue coloured ice cream
From an unusual ice cream colour to quantum mechanics to ecology to semiconductors to gastroporn. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Scicomm
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, anthocyanins, blue LED, blue screen, blue spirulina, C-phycocyanin, Charles Spence, electroluminescence, experimental psychology, FT Marinetti, gallium nitride, gastroporn, iridescence, Maria Jose San Roman, Morpho butterflies, Planck's equation, pterobilin, Rayleigh scattering, structural coloration
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