Starting today, The Hindu has a new science page, available to read in the premium e-paper edition. It will be published on all days except Saturday. I will be anchoring the page from Monday to Thursday; the Friday page will focus on health and will be anchored by my colleague Ramya Kannan; and the Sunday page will be anchored by science editor Prasad Ravindranath. Here’s today’s page, as a preview:
(There’s a quiz at the bottom by yours truly. Give it a shot? And mail your answers to [email protected] with the subject ‘The Science Quiz’. If you’re one of the first five to give all correct answers, I’ll feature your name in the next quiz edition. Also, we’re open to featuring reader-made quizzes!)
I’m quite excited about this new product. The page will feature thought-provoking stories that are rooted in science, and won’t necessarily be coupled with the news cycle. This is a form of science journalism that in my view needs more room and support in India, in an age in which science and its technological offshoots have an oversized effect on our collective futures as well as in which we’re critiquing science in newer, and often more powerful, ways. To keep up, we’ll need good science news but we’ll also need to go beyond it. This page is conceived that way, to build in incremental fashion – just as science does – knowledge, awareness, and wisdom.
The page isn’t in print (yet: I don’t want to speculate on when it will be available to read as a hard-copy. As I’ve been reminded in the last few months, launching a page is probably the second most complicated thing after launching a rocket. There are so many moving parts.) But we’re working on it. 🙂
Finally, I think not many people in my circles have an online subscription to The Hindu. For Rs 2,400 a year, or Rs 200 per month, The Hindu provides significant value. Going ahead, more and more of that value is going to be on the topics of science, health, environment, and spaceflight. If you’re interested in writing and journalism on these topics, The Hindu is an excellent investment.