WordPress's ineptitude
As some of you might know, I've been having some issues with WordPress.com in terms of their UX, their service as well as a few outages. I've been on the platform for almost a decade now, duri…
'Mantra sciences' is just poor fantasy
I don't know how the author of a piece in the Times of India managed to keep a straight face when introducing a school based on Vedic rituals that would "show the way" to curing diseases…
Happy new year!
2017 was a blast. Lots of things happened. The world became a shittier place in many ways and better in a few. Mostly, Earth just went around the Sun once more, and from what we know, it’s going to be…
Happy new year!
2017 was a blast. Lots of things happened. The world became a shittier place in many ways and better in a few. Mostly, Earth just went around the Sun once more, and from what we know, it's going t…
Politics at SESAME
I’ve been following the story of the SESAME collaboration in the Middle East since I first heard about it seven years ago, and was really thrilled when its synchrotron achieved first light in November…
A shorter article about short gamma ray bursts lights up little
* Identify a simple and well-defined question * Describe the question and answer it * Get the fuck out Writing with these three rules in mind makes for a good science article. You stick to the poi…
Eroding the dignity of Jayalalithaa's memories
On December 20, P. Vetrivel, a former MLA and member of the AIADMK party, convened a press meet and released a 20-second video clip purportedly showing former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa…
Friends no more
Growing up, watching Friends was a source of much amusement and happiness. Now, as a grownup, I can't watch a single episode without deeply resenting how the show caricatures all science as avoida…
The journey of a crow and the story of a black hole
The Washington Post has a review, and introduction therewith, of a curious new book called Ka, authored by John Crowley (acclaimed author of Great Work of Time). It is narrated from the POV of a crow…
In solidarity with Nautilus's writers
In April this year, Undark published a piece that caught me by surprise: Nautilus magazine was going broke. Actually, it wasn't a surprise that lasted long. Nautilus, to me, had been doing a comme…
'Lots of people don't know lots of things'
You might have seen news channels on the television (if you do at all, in fact) flash a piece of information repeatedly on their screens. News presenters also tend to repeat things they’ve said 10 or…
Why a pump to move molten metal is awesome
The conversion of one form of energy into another is more efficient at higher temperatures.1 For example, one of the most widely used components of any system that involves the transfer of heat from o…