Tag Archives: pseudoscience
The “coherent water” scam is back
On May 7, I received a press release touting a product called “coherent water” made by a company named Analemma Water India. According to the document, “coherent water” is based on more than “15 years of rigorous research and development” … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Analemma Water India, coherent water, Feliz Hoenikker, ice-nine, pseudoscience, Somarka, structured water
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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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What ‘The Kerala Story’ and ‘The Old Guard’ share
I was rewatching The Old Guard last week; the film is a bit of a favourite because a) Charlize Theron and b) it explores, even if in passing, the sometimes horrific terms on which science feels free to progress. But … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged Charlize Theron, Enthiran 2.0, fantasy films, Mersal, Mission Mangal, pseudoscience, science fiction, telomere extension, The Kerala Story, The Old Guard
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Who’s to blame for the American right’s distrust of science?
This study unambiguously suggests that scientific journals do the institution of science no favor when they insert themselves so directly in the political debate, especially at a time when trust in the scientific community continues to decline on the right … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Ashis Nandy, burden of proof, Donald Trump, Laurie Penny, Nature Human Behaviour, political right, Politico, pseudoscience, reason of state, science and society, Scientific American, scientific debates
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NSD II
That the Modi government has been able to coopt National Science Day as well as it has speaks only to the occasion’s moral vacuity. India’s National Science Day is the day on which physicist C.V. Raman discovered the optical effect … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged C.V. Raman, integrated science, National Science Day, pseudoscience, scientific temper
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On science, religion, Brahmins and a book
I’m partway through Renny Thomas’s new book, Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment. Its description on the Routledge page reads: This book provides an in-depth ethnographic study of science and religion in the context of South Asia, giving voice to Indian scientists … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged book review, K Sivan, pseudoscience, Raja Ramanna, Renny Thomas, science and religion, scientific temper, scientism
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The problem with rooting for science
The idea that trusting in science involves a lot of faith, instead of reason, is lost on most people. More often than not, as a science journalist, I encounter faith through extreme examples – such as the Bloch sphere (used … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged arrow paradox, biopolitics, Bloch sphere, common English, emergent properties, expertise, faith, mathematical physics, pseudoscience, quantum superposition, reason, science communication, science journalism, Social Psychology, statistical significance, trust, uncertainty, wave function
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Pseudoscientific materials and thermoeconomics
The Shycocan Corp. took out a full-page jacket ad in the Times of India on June 22 – the same day The Telegraph (UK) had a story about GBP 2,900 handbags by Gucci that exist only online, in some videogame. The Shycocan product’s science is … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged capitalism, consumerism, eco-economic decoupling, flygskam, Greta Thunberg, Gucci, infinite growth, Michael Liebrich, nationalism, negative entropy, NFT, non-fungible tokens, pseudoscience, Shycocan, thermoeconomics
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‘Science people’
Two of the most annoying kinds of ‘science people’ I’ve come across on social media of late: Those who perform rationalism – These people seem to know a small subset of things well and the rest on faith, and claim … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged engineers, pseudoscience, rationalism, scientism, social media, survival bias
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Poverty, psychology and pseudoscience
From the abstract of ‘Why Do People Stay Poor? Evidence on Poverty Traps from Rural Bangladesh’, November 24, 2020: There are two broad views as to why people stay poor. One emphasizes differences in fundamentals, such as ability, talent or … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged astrology, attentional space, Ayurveda, cognitive function, faith-based medicine, intelligence, IQ, John Henryism, phytotherapy, Poverty, poverty trap, pseudoscience, scarcity, Sendhil Mullainathan, traditional medicine
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