Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fact-checking in science journalism

Posted on September 15, 2018 by

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has helped produce a report on fact-checking in science journalism, and it is an eye-opening read. It was drafted by Deborah Blum and Brooke Borel; there is a nice summary here. The standout findings … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Fact-checking in science journalism

Will an Indian win an Ig Nobel by 2035?

Posted on September 14, 2018 by

The 28th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony concluded yesterday, handing out 10 prizes to 38 recipients with institutional affiliations in 26 countries. There is one recipient with an affiliation in India, though I doubt anyone is keeping track. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Will an Indian win an Ig Nobel by 2035?

Board games

Posted on September 13, 2018 by

Every Thursday, a Bangalore-based community called ReRoll organises an evening of boardgames open to all at Lahe Lahe, a café in Indira Nagar. According to the organisers, about 40 people come each time and about 10-15% of them are first-timers … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Board games

Absolute hot

Posted on August 25, 2018 by

There’s only one absolute zero but there are multiple absolute ‘hots’, depending on the temperature at which various theories of physics break down. This is an interesting conception because, while absolute zero is very well-defined and perfectly understood, absolute hot … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Absolute hot

On the banner on the ISRO homepage

Posted on August 12, 2018 by

The ISRO homepage has been hijacked by an almost-full-page banner soliciting readers’ comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech. A friend was understandably irked by this and wanted to know if it could be discussed in an article. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on On the banner on the ISRO homepage

Failing Sarabhai

Posted on August 11, 2018 by

We are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society. Normally … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Failing Sarabhai

High-temp. superconductivity, hype cycles and peer review

Posted on August 10, 2018 by

TL;DR – Journalists are already more accountable than the publishers of scientific journals are. If scientists find journalistic review of the scientific literature to be lacking, help them improve instead of completely disabling them from doing it. *** The recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on High-temp. superconductivity, hype cycles and peer review

Ghost’s Koenig editor

Posted on August 7, 2018 by

The new content editor in the Ghost CMS, named Koenig, is quite good, a much smoother use than WordPress’s new Gutenberg. Ghost’s latest iteration in v1.25.3 (as of today) has a full-screen minimal layout and bold serif text type brought … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Ghost’s Koenig editor

Weekend getaway

Posted on August 6, 2018 by

I just spent the weekend at Sunti koppa, a small village to the northwest of Mysore, in Kodagu, a.k.a. Coorg, district. I was there with my relatives – six of us in all – and we were put up at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Weekend getaway

Pro-preprints around the world

Posted on August 1, 2018 by

After I published my rebuttal to the Nature anti-preprints article, a scientist in the US wrote to me saying he was on the journal’s side and that he expects preprints to be done away with in the future. It was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Pro-preprints around the world