Redeeming art v. redeeming science
Recently, someone shared the cover of a soon to be released book, entitled The Physics of Climate Change, authored by Lawrence M. Krauss and expressed excitement about the book's impending publica…
Analysis
257 posts
Journalistic entropy
Say you need to store a square image 1,000 pixels wide to a side with the smallest filesize (setting aside compression techniques). The image begins with the colour #009900 on the left side and, as yo…
The number of deaths averted
What are epidemiological models for? You can use models to inform policy and other decision-making. But you can't use them to manufacture a number that you can advertise in order to draw praise. T…
Ocean-safe consumption
Just spotted this ad on the website of The Better India, a journalism website that focuses on "positive stories": India's nationwide lockdown has many important lessons – including the…
The journalist as expert
I recently turned down some requests for interviews because the topics of discussion in each case indicated that I would be treated as a scientist, not a science journalist (something that happened sh…
In defence of ignorance
Wish I may, wish I might Have this wish, I wish tonight I want that star, I want it now I want it all and I don't care how Metallica, King Nothing I'm a news editor who frequently uses Twitt…
'Science alone triumphs': A skeptic annotates
An article entitled 'Science alone triumphs: Providing a true picture of the world, only science can help India against coronavirus', penned by a Jayant Sinha, appeared on the Times of India&#…
For coronavirus claims, there is a world between true and false
In high school, you must have learnt about Boolean algebra, possibly the most fascinating kind of algebra for its deceptive ease and simplicity. But thanks to its foundations in computer science, Bool…
On India's path to community transmission
There's a virus out there among many, many viruses that's caught the world's attention. This virus came into existence somewhere else, it doesn't matter where, and developed a mutation…
A great discussion on the history of India's tech.
On February 27, the Bangalore International Centre and Carnegie India hosted a panel discussion around Midnight Machines, the new book by Arun Mohan Sukumar that traces the interplay of technology and…
The difficulty of option 'c'
Can any journalist become a science journalist? More specifically, can any journalist become a science journalist without understanding the methods of scientific practice and administration? This is n…
The scientist as inadvertent loser
Twice this week, I'd had occasion to write about how science is an immutably human enterprise and therefore some of its loftier ideals are aspirational at best, and about how transparency is one o…