Category Archives: Analysis
NYT’s ISRO coverage continues assault on sense
The New York Times refuses to learn, perpetuating views of ISRO that are equal parts blurry and illiterate, and often missing points that become clearer with just a little bit of closer reading. The launch and subsequent success of Chandrayaan … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Chandrayaan 3, Gravity Film, Indian Space Research Organisation, NASA MAVEN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reason of state, The New York Times
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Making sense of Luna 25
At the outset, let’s hope the unfortunate demise of Russia’s Luna 25 mission to the moon will finally silence the social media brigade that’s been calling it a competitor to India’s Chandrayaan 3 – although I wouldn’t put it past … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Chandrayaan 3, European Space Agency, Exomars, Fobos Grunt, Indian Space Research Organisation, Luna 25, Luna Glob, NASA, Roscosmos
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A lotus for Modi, with love from Manipur
This bit of news is so chock full of metaphors that I’m almost laughing out loud. Annotated excerpts from ‘CSIR’s new lotus variety ‘Namoh 108’ a ‘grand gift’ to PM Modi: Science Minister‘, The Hindu, August 19, 2023: It’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Bharatiya Janata Party, Genetic Sequencing, Jitendra Singh, Manipur, Naga chilli, Namoh 108, National Botanical Research Institute, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Hindu
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The shadows of Chandrayaan 2
When in September 2019 the surface component of the Chandrayaan 2 mission failed, with the ‘Vikram’ lander crashing on the moon’s surface instead of gently touching down, there was a sense in all public spaces and conversations that the nation … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Arun Mohan Sukumar, Chandrayaan 2, Chandrayaan 3, Indian Space Research Organisation, Jahnavi Phalkey, K Sivan, Narendra Modi, National Physical Laboratory, S Somanath, solar cooker, Vikram lander
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The value of ripeness
Think of the long centuries in which attempts were made to change mercury into gold because that seemed like a very useful thing to do. These efforts failed and we found how to change mercury into gold by doing other … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Abraham Flexner, Alexander Grothendieck, Carl Friedrich Gauss, J. Robert Oppenheimer, ripeness, useless knowledge
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What’s with superconductors and peer-review?
Throughout the time I’ve been a commissioning editor for science-related articles for news outlets, I’ve always sought and published articles about academic publishing. It’s the part of the scientific enterprise that seems to have been shaped the least by science’s … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged academic publishing, arXiv, Jan Hendrik Schön, LK-99, Nature journal, peer review, preprint papers, Ranga P Dias, room-temperature superconductivity, Science journal
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Hot in Ballia
More than half of the deaths reported during the heatwave in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this week were reported from just one district in the former, called Ballia. On (or around) June 17, the medical superintendent of the Ballia district … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Ballia, Bihar, COVID-19 pandemic, death certificate, heatwave, Indian Council of Medical Research, Joshimath, Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath
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Cyclone Biparjoy and Chennai
When is a natural disaster a natural disaster? It began raining in Chennai last evening and hasn’t stopped as of this morning. But it’s been intermittent, with highly variable intensity. In my area, the wind has been feeble. I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Chennai, Chennai rains, climate crisis, Cyclone Biparjoy, natural disaster, Sattur Ramachandran, Sustainable Development Goals, urban dysfunction
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What ‘The Kerala Story’ and ‘The Old Guard’ share
I was rewatching The Old Guard last week; the film is a bit of a favourite because a) Charlize Theron and b) it explores, even if in passing, the sometimes horrific terms on which science feels free to progress. But … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged Charlize Theron, Enthiran 2.0, fantasy films, Mersal, Mission Mangal, pseudoscience, science fiction, telomere extension, The Kerala Story, The Old Guard
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Can we ‘redistribute’ prestige?
Pudding.cool has a good visual essay on the yard-sale model of economics, which shows that wealth has a tendency to accumulate more in the hands of people who are already wealthier. This is because a richer person has more opportunities … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged affirmative action, Brian Skinner, econophysics, prestige bias, wealth redistribution, yard-sale model
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