Category Archives: Scicomm
New science pages in The Hindu
The Hindu has a new print product out called ‘Surf & Dive’ (S&D), whose first edition the editor Suresh Nambath and MP Shashi Tharoor launched at the group’s ‘Lit for Life’ event in Chennai on January 18. We’ve been working on … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Scicomm
Tagged science journalism, Surf & Dive, The Hindu, The Hindu Science
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Does science have trouble seeing governments?
From ‘Energy megaproject in Chile threatens the world’s largest telescopes’, Science, January 10, 2025: The AES project would occupy several sites totaling 3000 hectares, and the plants making hydrogen and ammonia with renewable energy would be sited just 5 kilometers from … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged carbon credits, Cerro Armazones, Cerro Paranal, Chile, clean energy, European Southern Observatory, Extremely Large Telescope, Mauna Kea, Science journal, SpaceX Starlink, Thirty Meter Telescope, Very Large Telescope
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Does science have trouble seeing governments?
From ‘Energy megaproject in Chile threatens the world’s largest telescopes’, Science, January 10, 2025: The AES project would occupy several sites totaling 3000 hectares, and the plants making hydrogen and ammonia with renewable energy would be sited just 5 kilometers from … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged carbon credits, carbon trading, Cerro Armazones, Cerro Paranal, Chile, climate change, European Southern Observatory, Extremely Large Telescope, green hydrogen, renewable energy, Science journal, SpaceX Starlink, Thirty Metre Telescope, Very Large Telescope
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The news exists to inform, not to educate
I’d like to highlight a letter published in Science on January 2. I have many points of disagreement with it but I’d also like others to read and reflect on it, especially if they’re (you’re) also going to disagree with my reading. … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Carl Sagan, COVID-19 pandemic, education, science communication, science education, science journalism
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The news exists to inform, not to educate
I’d like to highlight a letter published in Science on January 2. I have many points of disagreement with it but I’d also like others to read and reflect on it, especially if they’re (you’re) also going to disagree with my reading. … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Uncategorized
Tagged Carl Sagan, COVID-19 pandemic, science communication, science education, science journalism
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Visual science journalism’s DNA problem
Your left hand and right hand are mirror-images of each other. You can’t superimpose them completely even after all manner of rotations and translations. Only mirroring them works. The same thing can happen to some molecules. When two molecules are … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged chiral molecules, DNA, double helix, enantiomers, mirror life, science journalism, scientific illustration
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A not-so-random walk through random walks
Though I’ve been interested of late with the idea of random walks, I was introduced to the concept when, more than two decades ago, I stumbled across Conway’s Game of Life, the cellular automaton built by John Conway in 1970. … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged animal foraging, Brownian bridge, Brownian motion, cellular automata, Conway's Game of Life, fractals, gamma distribution, Gaussian distribution, heavy tail, John Conway, Langton's ant, Lévy flight, probability distribution function, random walk, random walk hypothesis, resistor networks, Sierpienski triangle, statistical properties, stochastic processes, Wiener process
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Rapid rotation explains unusual stability of C2 anion
In various settings, including chemical reactions in the lab, inside nuclear reactors, and in outer space, scientists have found C2– anions living for as long as three milliseconds before decaying to a more stable state — and they haven’t been … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged centrifugal potential, decay modes, diatomic carbon, diatomic carbon anion, interstellar medium
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