A salvage
Why do you write? is a very difficult question to answer, so when an answer presents itself, you treasure it.…
VM
1664 posts
A trip to Jebel Jais
8 min read
A peak of the Al Hajar mountains in the UAE and an important part of the country's future.…
The importance of sensible politics to good science
5 min read
Stuart Ritchie writes a newsletter-blog that I quite like, called Science Fictions. On May 30, he published a post on this blog entitled 'Science is political - and that's a bad thing'. I…
On referring to female officers as 'madam sir'
4 min read
ET Lifestyle published a Twitter thread this morning about police officers referring to female superior officers as “sir” or as “madam sir”. I do find the practice offensive, because it signals an…
How much of a milestone is AzaadiSAT?
6 min read
At 9.18 am today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the first developmental flight of its new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), a three-stage modular launch vehicle designed…
How do you trap an electron?
6 min read
I've always found the concept of two forces on an object cancelling themselves out strange. We say they cancel if the changes they exert completely offset each other, leaving the object unaffected…
The physics of Spain's controversial air-con decree
4 min read
The Government of Spain published a decree earlier this week that prevents air-conditioners from being set at a temperature lower than 27º C in the summer in an effort to lower energy consumption and…
The question of Abdus Salam 'deserving' his Nobel
4 min read
Peter Woit has blogged about an oral history interview with theoretical physicist Sheldon Glashow published in 2020 by the American Institute of Physics. (They have a great oral history of physics ser…
Immunity for scientists? Err…
2 min read
On the sidelines of a screening of the semi-fictional biopic of beleaguered ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, the Madhavan-starrer Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Narayanan told journalists on August 1 that…
65 years of the BCS theory
5 min read
Thanks to an arithmetic mistake, I thought 2022 was the 75th anniversary of the invention (or discovery?) of the BCS theory of superconductivity. It's really the 65th anniversary, but since I'…
A 'bold' vision
1 min read
'Support Europe's bold vision for responsible research assessment', Nature editorial, July 27, 2022: The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, announced on 20 July and open for sign…
WordPress.com rolls back its botched 'experiment'
2 min read
So, WordPress.com has restored the family of premium plans that it had until April this year, and has done away with the controversial 'Starter' and 'Pro' plans. The announcement on th…