What I didn't like about 'Eternals' (2021)
I rewatched Eternals today and had some time to collect some of my thoughts on it. Spoilers ahead (including one each for The Tomorrow War and Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings). 1. Too much…
VM
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Look away
1 min read
Not something I usually blog about but boy is this funny. (At least) Star Sports has been airing an ad for an app called 'Magicpin' that I think helps you in some way when you shop for stuff.…
Getting ahead of theory, experiment, ourselves
5 min read
Science journalist Laura Spinney wrote an article in The Guardian on January 9, 2022, entitled 'Are we witnessing the dawn of post-theory science?'. This excerpt from the article captures its…
On science, religion, Brahmins and a book
5 min read
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 stu…
On anticipation and the history of science
4 min read
In mid-2012, shortly after physicists working with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe had announced the discovery of a particle that looked a lot like the Higgs boson, there was some clamour in…
The Print's ludicrous article on Niraj Bishnoi
7 min read
The Print has just published a bizarre article about Niraj Bishnoi, the alleged "mastermind" (whatever that means) of the 'Bulli Bai' app. I know nothing about Niraj Bishnoi; the art…
Physicists observe long-expected helium superfluid phase
5 min read
Physicists have reported that they have finally observed helium 3 existing in a long-predicted type of superfluid, called the ß phase. This is an important discovery, if it's borne out, for reaso…
Reading books, writing words
3 min read
It suddenly feels like a lot more people have been reading a lot more books. Or maybe they're talking about it a lot more. I have one friend who went through more books in 2021 than there were wee…
A false union in science journalism
4 min read
At what point does a journalist become a stenographer? Most people would say it's when the journalist stops questioning claims and reprints them uncritically, as if they were simply a machine. So…
JWST and the imagination
2 min read
When the Hubble space telescope launched in April 1990, I was too young to understand what was going on – but not yesterday, when NASA launched its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Ev…
About vaccines for children and Covaxin…
2 min read
I don't understand his penchant for late-night announcements, much less one at 10 pm on Christmas night, but Prime Minister Narendra has just said the government will roll out vaccines for young a…
The way we talk about computing power
2 min read
Whenever I hear someone rhapsodize about how much more computer power we have now compared with what was available in the 1960s during the Apollo era, I cringe. Those comparisons usually grossly under…