Category Archives: Scicomm
A Q&A about philosophy in journalism
Earlier this year, Varun Bhatta, assistant professor of philosophy at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, reached out to ask me some questions for something he was writing about the representation of philosophical ideas in journalism. He … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged business model, Creative Commons, editorial independence, journalism, philosophy, public interest, science communication, science journalism, The Conversation, The Hindu, The Wire, Varun Bhatta
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Violence shuts science? Err…
Dog bites man isn’t news. Man bites dog is news. I’m reminded of this adage of the news industry – and Nambi Narayanan’s comment in August 2022 – when I read reports like ‘Explosion of violence in Ecuador shuts down … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged CONDESAN, Ecuador, Nambi Narayanan, Science journal
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Using superconductors to measure electric current
Simply place two superconductors very close to each other, separated by a small gap, and you’ll have taken a big step towards an important piece of technology called a Josephson junction. When the two superconductors are close to each other … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Bloch oscillation, Josephson junction, Josephson voltage standard, metrology triangle, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Ohm's law, Planck constant, quantum Hall effect, Shapiro steps, SQUID, superconducting quantum interference device, superconductors, thermal noise
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A survey of El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption
On December 22, a group of researchers from the US had a paper published in Science in which they reported the results of a survey of 1,800 households in El Salvador over its members’ adoption, or not, of bitcoin as currency. In September … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Bitcoin, Chiva wallet, cryptocurrency, El Salvador, financial instruments, financial literacy, Nayib Bukele
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Unexpected: Magnetic regions in metal blow past speed limit
You’re familiar with magnetism, but do you know what it looks like at the smallest scale? Take a block of iron, for example. It’s ferromagnetic, which means if you place it near a permanent magnet – like a refrigerator magnet … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged ferromagnetism, ferromagnets, magnetic domains, magnetic permeability, nickel, Physical Review Letters, pump-probe, spin quantum number, ultrafast phenomena
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You can do worse than watching paint dry – ask physics
I live in Chennai, a city whose multifaceted identity includes its unrelenting humidity. Its summers are seldom hotter than those in Delhi but they are more unbearable because it leaves people sweaty, dehydrated, and irritated. Delhi’s heat doesn’t have the … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged active process, advection, compressive stress, evaporation, Jean-Baptiste Salmon, Physical Review Letters, polymer gelation, relative humidity, skin, sweating
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Waters and bridges between science journalism and scicomm
On November 24-25, the Science Journalists’ Association of India (SJAI) conducted its inaugural conference at the National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. I attended it as a delegate. A persistent internal monologue of mine at the event was the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged National Institute of Immunology, public interest, science communication, science journalism, Science Journalists Association of India, SJAI 2023
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Cognitive ability and voting ‘leave’ on Brexit
In a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE on November 22, a pair of researchers from the University of Bath in the UK have reported that “higher cognitive ability” is “linked to higher chance of having voted against Brexit” in the June … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged Brexit, cognitive ability, numerical reasoning, Understanding Society survey, University of Bath, verbal fluency, word recall
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On Somanath withdrawing his autobiography
Excerpt from The Hindu, November 4, 2023: S. Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told The Hindu that he’s withdrawing the publication of his memoir, Nilavu Kudicha Simhangal, penned in Malayalam. The decision followed a report in the Malayala … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Current Science, Indian Space Research Organisation, K Sivan, S Somanath, science communication, science writing
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