Category Archives: Science
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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India’s science leadership
On October 17, the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) introduced a reading module for middle-school students called “Chandrayaan Utsav”. It was released by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the presence of S. Somanath, Chairman of the … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Atoms for Peace, Chandrayaan 3, Dharmendra Pradhan, Homi Bhabha, Indian Space Research Organisation, pseudoscience, S Somanath, scientific leadership
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Gaganyaan: The ingredient is not the recipe
For all the hoopla over indigeneity – from ISRO chairman S. Somanath exalting the vast wisdom of ancient Indians to political and ideological efforts to cast modern India as the world’s ‘vishwaguru’ – the pressure vessel of the crew module … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged crew module, Gaganyaan, Indian Space Research Organisation, S Somanath, The Hindu
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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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“Why has no Indian won a science Nobel this year?”
For all their flaws, the science Nobel Prizes – at the time they’re announced, in the first week of October every year – provide a good opportunity to learn about some obscure part of the scientific endeavour with far-reaching consequences … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Alfred Nobel, attosecond physics, Big Science, in-vitro transcribed mRNA, Large Hadron Collider, LIGO India, Nobel Prize, quantum dots
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The journal’s part in a retraction
What explains a journal’s peer-review producing two different results on two separate occasions? Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Ashkan Salamat, Brad Ramshaw, James Hamlin, lutetium hydride, Nature journal, peer review, Physical Review Letters, Ranga Dias, retraction, room-temperature superconductivity
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On India’s new ‘Vigyan Puraskar’ awards
The Government of India has replaced the 300 or so awards for scientists it used to give out until this year with the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP), a set of four awards with 56 laureates, The Hindu has reported. Unlike … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Science
Tagged Bhatnagar Award, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Space, Khader Vali Dudekula, Millennium Plaque of Honour, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Environment, PIO, Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar, The Hindu, women in STEM
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Scientists’ conduct affects science
Nature News has published an excellent feature by Edwin Cartlidge on the “wall of scepticism” that arose in response to the latest superconductivity claim from Ranga Dias et al., purportedly in a compound called nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride. It seems the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Douglas Natelson, Majorana zero modes, Microsoft Research, Mikhail Eremets, Nature journal, objectivity, Paul Feyerabend, Ranga Dias, rationalism, Russell Hemley, self-correcting
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The UAE’s hacks for international prominence
The UAE seems to be making a sincere attempt to whitewash itself, according to a New York Times report on September 1, by hosting the COP28 climate talks. This is both unsurprising and fascinating – both because we’ve seen this … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hope probe, interplanetary mission, Rahul Menon, Sharjah, space programme, The Hindu, United Arab Emirates
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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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