How much of a milestone is AzaadiSAT?
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…
Analysis
257 posts
The physics of Spain's controversial air-con decree
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
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…
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…
Should 'geniuses' be paid extra?
A newsletter named Ideas Sleep Furiously had an essay propounding a "genius basic income" on May 28. Here are the first two paragraphs that capture a not-insignificant portion of the essay&#…
Unless the West copies us, we're irrelevant
We have become quite good at dismissing the more asinine utterances of our ministers and other learned people in terms of either a susceptibility to pseudoscience or, less commonly, a wilful deference…
The problem that 'crypto' actually solves
And why that makes cryptocurrencies hard to beat.…
What the bitcoin price drop reveals about 'crypto'
One of the definitive downsides of cryptocurrencies raised its head this week when the nosediving price of bitcoin – brought on by the Luna/Terra crash and subsequent cascading effects – rendered bitc…
How do you measure peacefulness?
The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea [in 2007], and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, archbishop Desmon…
Tech solutions to household labour are also problems
Access to leisure is crucial in the climate crisis era, and technological solutions bereft of social change won't help.…
What arguments against the 'next LHC' say about funding Big Physics
A few days ago, a physicist (and PhD holder) named Thomas Hartsfield published a strange article in Big Think about why building a $100-billion particle physics machine like the Large Hadron Collider…
A tale of two myopias, climate change and the present participle
The Assam floods are going on. One day, they will stop. The water will subside in many parts of the state but the things that caused the floods will continue to work, ceaselessly, and will cause them…