Category Archives: Analysis
Gender equity in retractions
From the abstract of a fascinating study published in PLoS ONE on May 3, 2023: … this study investigated gender differences in authorship of retracted papers in biomedical sciences available on RetractionWatch. Among 35,635 biomedical articles retracted between 1970 and … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged ETH Zurich, Marcella Carollo, PLoS ONE, research misconduct, research papers, retraction, Retraction Watch, women in science, women in STEM
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Marginalia: Romila on textbooks, Rapido ad, Nobel nonsense
We may go on deleting sections of our history but in the world outside where there are multiple centres of research into the Indian past, and many scholars, there these expunged sections from books used in India will continue to … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture
Tagged Ayurveda, Brian Keating, Charles Lieber, Elon Musk, Hyperloop, NCERT, Nobel Prizes, prestige bias, public transport, Rapido, Romila Thapar, Vedas
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Marginalia: Romila on textbooks, Rapido ad, Nobel nonsense
We may go on deleting sections of our history but in the world outside where there are multiple centres of research into the Indian past, and many scholars, there these expunged sections from books used in India will continue to … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture
Tagged Ayurveda, Brian Keating, Charles Lieber, Elon Musk, Hyperloop, NCERT, Nobel Prizes, prestige bias, public transport, Rapido, Romila Thapar, Vedas
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What about the celebrities in food ads?
The row over Bournvita last month was spurred by a social-media influencer’s viral video of the product’s allegedly unhealthy sugar content. Following a legal threat from Mondelez International India, which makes Bournvita, the influencer deleted his video and apologised. But … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Scicomm
Tagged Ayurveda, Bournvita, Department of Consumer Affairs, FMCG, FSSAI, news literacy, surrogate advertising
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What about the celebrities in food ads?
The row over Bournvita last month was spurred by a social-media influencer’s viral video of the product’s allegedly unhealthy sugar content. Following a legal threat from Mondelez International India, which makes Bournvita, the influencer deleted his video and apologised. But … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Scicomm
Tagged Ayurveda, Bournvita, Department of Consume Affairs, FMCG, FSSAI, news literacy, surrogate advertising
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The gap between language and quantum mechanics
Physics World has a fantastic article about the problem with using a language invented, in Terry Pratchett’s words, “to tell other monkeys where the ripe fruit is”, to describe the peculiar but very much real possibilities created by the rules … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Scicomm
Tagged Embassytown, faith, Higgs boson, language, quantum computing, quantum entanglement, Quantum mechanics, quantum superposition, Werner Heisenberg
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Who’s to blame for the American right’s distrust of science?
This study unambiguously suggests that scientific journals do the institution of science no favor when they insert themselves so directly in the political debate, especially at a time when trust in the scientific community continues to decline on the right … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Ashis Nandy, burden of proof, Donald Trump, Laurie Penny, Nature Human Behaviour, political right, Politico, pseudoscience, reason of state, science and society, Scientific American, scientific debates
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BLR road-widening is a sham
While I’m told that discussions on a plan to widen Bengaluru’s Sankey Road, between Bhashyam Circle and Malleshwaram 18th cross – a stretch that’s one of the contributors to the city’s reputation for horrific traffic – have progressed in the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Bengaluru, ekistics, induced demand, public transport, traffic congestion, urban sprawl, urban transportation
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India’s devious reason to not spend more on culture
‘Difficult to allocate public fund to art and culture: Centre’, The Hindu, March 19, 2023: Given the high disparity it experiences in elementary rural infrastructure like health, education and transportation, it might not be “tenable” for a developing nation like … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture
Tagged Archaeological Survey of India, doublespeak, Ministry of Culture, Monument Mitra, privatisation, rural infrastructure, Union Budget
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Nature paper says bad news is good news
‘Negativity drives online news consumption’, Claire E. Robertson et al., Nature Human Behaviour, March 16, 2023: Here we analyse the effect of negative words on news consumption using a massive online dataset of viral news stories from Upworthy.com—a website that … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged bad news, disinformation, echo chambers, journalism, misinformation, Nature Human Behaviour, negative emotions, news consumption, Upworthy
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