Category Archives: Op-eds
The SARS-CoV-2 red herring
It’s no longer about science. Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Science
Tagged COVID-19 origins, COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump, RaTG13, World Health Organisation
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What is ONOS’s (real) problem?
The Indian government set the country’s research community aflutter when it announced the launch of a long-awaited plan to improve research access without announcing many of its salient details as well. On November 25, the Ministry of Education published a … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds, Science
Tagged article processing charges, Department of Science & Technology, gold open access, green open access, One Nation One Subscription, prestige journals, Principle Scientific Advisor, publish or perish, scholarly publishing, subscription-based journals
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Keeper of the foul air
This city is essentially uninhabitable from November to January inclusive and barely liveable the rest of the year. Should it even remain the nation’s capital? I realise Shashi Tharoor is frustrated here — revealing the increasingly evident gap between what … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Op-eds
Tagged air pollution, Guwahati, Katihar, National Capital Region, New Delhi, Shashi Tharoor
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Tamil Nadu’s lukewarm heatwave policy
From ‘Tamil Nadu heatwave policy is only a start’, The Hindu, November 21, 2024: Estimates of a heatwave’s deadliness are typically based on the extent to which the ambient temperature deviates from the historical average at a specific location and … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Science
Tagged comorbidities, COVID-19 pandemic, disaster relief, heat injury, heatwave, India Meteorological Department, natural disaster, State Disaster Response Fund, Tamil Nadu
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Tamil Nadu’s lukewarm heatwave policy
The policy is only for heatwaves, and if it doesn’t expand in future to include the state’s own responsibility, Tamil Nadu will miss the forest for the trees. Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds
Tagged climate change, comorbidities, COVID-19 pandemic, heatwave, hyperthermia, Integrated Health Information Platform, National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health, State Disaster Response Fund, Tamil Nadu
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Why having diverse interests is a virtue
As illustrated by the Marx-Ling-Brown dispute over that Canadaland podcast and Israel’s violence in West Asia Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged Canadaland, diverse interests, fact-checking, Gaza, Israel, Jay Rosen, Jesse Brown, Justin Ling, Paris Marx, scepticism, view from nowhere
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A cynical archaeology
From ‘ASI submits Bhojshala survey report to Madhya Pradesh High Court’, The Hindu, July 15, 2024: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on July 15 submitted its scientific survey report of the disputed Bhojshala-Kamal-Maula mosque complex to the Indore Bench … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Science
Tagged Archaeological Survey of India, archaeology, Bhojshala, Kamal Maula, The Hindu
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On the Nature feature about the Sarafs, a rare disease, and time
Heidi Ledford has a tragic and powerful story published yesterday in Nature, about a team of scientists at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology racing to develop a CRISPR treatment for Uditi Saraf, a young girl whose brain was … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds
Tagged CRISPR/Cas9, FENIB, FSSAI, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Ministry of AYUSH, Natelco, neuroserpin, rare diseases, Rema Nagarajan, Uditi Saraf
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The cost of forgetting Ballia
Actively papering over the effects of extreme weather has to be the most self-destructive thing we’re capable of in the climate change era. Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds
Tagged Ballia, Election Commission of India, heat wave, India Meteorological Department, Lok Sabha elections, Mirzapur, National Disaster Management Authority, The Hindu, Uttar Pradesh
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The BHU Covaxin study and ICMR bait
Earlier this month, a study by a team at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi concluded that fully 1% of Covaxin recipients may suffer severe adverse events. One percent is a large number because the multiplier (x in 1/100 * … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm, Science
Tagged academic publishing, Banaras Hindu University, Bharat Biotech, Covaxin, Drug Safety, Indian Council of Medical Research, Priya Abraham, The Hindu, The Vaccine War
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