VM

1664 posts

Scientific fact? Not good enough to be true.

1 min read
Op-eds Science Aryan migration Caspian grasslands Caspian steppes caste system European steppe genomic analysis haplogroup R1a1a Harappan civilisation Indo-Aryan migration Indus valley civilisation mitochondrial DNA Rakhigarhi Rig Veda Saraswati river

Last week in India: Two scientists who coauthored two papers, along with many others from India as well as abroad, have spoken out against the conclusions of those papers even as they refused to dista…

Toppling Epstein's intellectuals network

4 min read
Op-eds Science Cesar Hidalgo Elementary Evgeny Morozov Jeffrey Epstein John Brockman Joi Ito Martin Nowak Marvin Minsky Max Brockman Miami Herald MIT Media Lab Nicholas Negroponte Patrick McCray Peter Aldhous Robert Trivers Ronan Farrow Xeni Jardan

While there have been no other high-profile exits from the MIT Media Lab after Ethan Zuckerman and J. Nathan Matias submitted their resignations, the lab’s students had been demanding its director Joi…

To fail with grace

2 min read
Culture Op-eds

This article has been republished on The Wire. When the Vikram lander's autonomous descent manoeuvre didn't go as planned, scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) looked s…

The PM's Chandrayaan group-hug

1 min read
Op-eds Chandrayaan Chandrayaan 1 Chandrayaan 2 chandrayaan 2 landing chandrayaan 2 landing live chandrayaan 2 landing time chandrayaan 2 live chandrayaan 2 rover chandrayaan 2 rover name chandrayaan 2 update Chandrayaan-2 news chandrayan chandrayan 2 chandrayan 2 landing Dehradun ISRO isro chandrayaan 2 moon landing isro live isro moon landing Kalpana Chawla live chandrayaan 2 NASA nasa full form Shillong Vikram lander

https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1170243147626008576 I understand Dutt’s interpretation of the moment in question but with reservations about what it signals for the nation’s many oppressed. For star…

Moon, mission and Modi

1 min read
Op-eds Chandrayaan Chandrayaan 1 Chandrayaan 2 chandrayaan 2 landing chandrayaan 2 landing live chandrayaan 2 landing time chandrayaan 2 live chandrayaan 2 rover chandrayaan 2 rover name chandrayaan 2 update Chandrayaan-2 news chandrayan chandrayan 2 chandrayan 2 landing Dehradun ISRO isro chandrayaan 2 moon landing isro live isro moon landing Kalpana Chawla live chandrayaan 2 NASA nasa full form Shillong Vikram lander

Should Prime Minister Narendra Modi not have been in the control room during the autonomous descent phase of Chandrayaan 2? Did his presence exert unnecessary pressure on the ISRO scientists? I don’t…

Moon landings

1 min read
Scicomm

Ahead of Chandrayaan 2’s date with the lunar surface on September 7, the following line has been bandied about in the Indian as well as foreign media: Only three countries – the US, Russia and China…

The simple tech that can pierce the Kashmir blackout

6 min read
Scicomm 35A Amit Shah amplitude modulation Article 370 Azad Hind Radio BBC World Service Bob Tanna Digital Radio Mondiale F region Ionosphere ionosphere absorption Kashmir Kashmir Valley Mehbooba Mufti Nariman Printer Omar Abdullah Politics news Prime Minister Narendra Modi radio broadcasting shortwave radio signal attenuation skip zone

On August 15, AFP reported that the BBC plans to expand its shortwave radio coverage in Kashmir “to ease the impact of a communications blackout imposed by the Centre”. The report added that “short wa…

Review: 'Mission Mangal' (2019)

6 min read
Culture Scicomm Akshay Kumar Bollywood Chandrayaan 2 frugal engineering frugal innovation GSLV Mk-III Hinduism Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO Make in India Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission Mission Mangal NASA nationalism PSLV science communication Vidya Balan

This review assumes Tanul Thakur’s review as a preamble. There's the argument that ISRO isn't doing much by way of public outreach and trust in the media is at a low, and for many people – mo…