Category Archives: Scicomm
An ‘expanded’ heuristic to evaluate science as a non-scientist
The Hindu publishes a column called ‘Notebook’ every Friday, in which journalists in the organisation open windows big or small into their work, providing glimpses into their process and thinking – things that otherwise remain out of view in news … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged Daniel Pimentel, expertise, Jonathan Osborne, reputation, science journalism, scientific consensus, scientific journals, The Hindu
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The Kapitza pendulum
Rarely does a ‘problem’ come along that makes you think more than casually about the question of mathematics’s reality, and problems in mathematical physics are full of them. I came across one such problem for the first time yesterday, and … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged classical mechanics, Kapitza Pendulum, mathematical physics, Pyotr Kapitsa, Simple Harmonic Motion
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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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Land on the moon, feet on the earth
Yesterday was fantastic. India made a few kinds of history, when one is great enough, by autonomously landing a robotic instrument in the moon’s south polar region. Some seven hours later, it deployed a rover, bringing the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s toughest … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Chandrayaan 3, Indian Express, Indian Space Research Organisation, Memes, misinformation
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Landing Day
Good luck, Chandrayaan 3. Good luck also to all the journalists covering this event from within India – a unique location because it’s where you will feel the most excitement today about the mission’s activities on the moon as well … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged Chandrayaan 3, Indian Space Research Organisation, Pragyan rover, Vikram lander
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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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Is Dias bringing the bus back?
So Physical Review Letters formally retracted that paper about manganese sulphide, in the limelight for having been coauthored by Ranga P. Dias, yesterday. The retraction notice states: “Of the authors on the original paper, R. Dias stands by the data … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged Ashkan Salamat, lutetium hydride, manganese sulphide, Physical Review Letters, Ranga P Dias, research misconduct, room-temperature superconductivity, The New York Times, University of Nevada, University of Rochester
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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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