A limit of 'show, don't tell'
The virtue of ‘show, don't tell’ in writing, including in journalism, lies in its power to create a more vivid, immersive, and emotionally engaging reading experience. Instead of simply providing…
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1664 posts
Time for proof is now, Mr. Gandhi
6 min read
Rahul Gandhi is free to voice himself but on the question of the Election Commission “stealing votes”, as he has been claiming to the press, he needs to offer the proof he claims he has right away. By…
A microscope that catches the slightest hints of heat
4 min read
A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) is a device well-known for its extreme sensitivity to photons, the particles of light — so much so that they can count photons one by one. They also have…
Frugality is a toxic chalice
6 min read
From 'Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths', NDTV, July 26, 2025: At the end of the day, the US scientists have swallowed their pride and are shee…
Physicists test if they can load antimatter on a truck
5 min read
Physicists in Europe have reported that it’s possible to transport charged particles on a truck for four hours without disturbing them in any way. This seemingly run-of-the-mill announcement, reported…
Quasiparticles do the twist
5 min read
Physics often involves hidden surprises in how matter behaves at the smallest scales. A fundamental property in physics is angular momentum, which describes how things spin or rotate, from planets all…
Sniffing out the mystery chemistry of superheavy atoms
5 min read
Remember the periodic table from your high school classroom? The table orders elements by how the valence electrons in their atoms are arranged. However, quantum physics calculations predict that in e…
A laser to make light of many shapes
4 min read
Lasers can produce a slender beam of light of just one wavelength. For this simple feature, they are everywhere in modern technology, from the internet to medical devices and even in entertainment as…
Found: clue to crack the antimatter mystery
2 min read
Imagine you’ve put together a torchlight. You know exactly how each part of the device works. You know exactly how they’re all connected togetger. Yet when you put in fresh batteries and turn it on, t…
Watch the celebrations, on mute
2 min read
Right now, Shubhanshu Shukla is on his way back to Earth from the International Space Station. Am I proud he’s been the first Indian up there? I don’t know. It’s not clear. The whole thing seemed to…
A blog questions challenge
4 min read
I hadn’t checked my notifications on X.com in a while. When I did yesterday, I found Pradx had tagged me in a blog post called “a challenge of blog questions” in March. The point is to answer a short…
Sharks don't do math
5 min read
From ’Sharks hunt via Lévy flights’, Physics World, June 11, 2010: They were menacing enough before, but how would you feel if you knew sharks were employing advanced mathematical concepts in their h…