Is Dias bringing the bus back?
So Physical Review Letters formally retracted that paper about manganese sulphide, in the limelight for having been coauthored by Ranga P. Dias, yesterday. The retraction notice states: "Of the a…
Science
363 posts
The value of ripeness
Think of the long centuries in which attempts were made to change mercury into gold because that seemed like a very useful thing to do. These efforts failed and we found how to change mercury into gol…
What's with superconductors and peer-review?
Throughout the time I've been a commissioning editor for science-related articles for news outlets, I've always sought and published articles about academic publishing. It's the part of th…
Review: 'Oppenheimer' (2023)
Oppenheimer was great. I really liked it. I don't have a review as much as some notes that I took during the film that I'd like to share. But before diving into them, I should say that I got a…
A request to ISRO about Chandrayaan 3
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said its launch window for the Chandrayaan 3 mission is July 12-19. For now, the mission is expected to lift off on July 14 (at 2.35 pm IST). Chandray…
Finding, and losing, Majorana
I'm looking forward to breaking down and understanding a new paper in Physical Review B soon – the sort of work of condensed-matter physics that's complex enough to warrant a week-long dive in…
Unclear science
Scientific papers frequently have a line to this effect, often in the same syntax: "While we know X, why Y happens is unclear." The papers then proceed to elucidate Y. Sometimes a paper come…
A new science page at The Hindu
Starting today, The Hindu has a new science page, available to read in the premium e-paper edition. It will be published on all days except Saturday. I will be anchoring the page from Monday to Thursd…
A well-meaning manel is not a good panel
It's time the good intentions of the organisers cease to matter.…
What 'The Kerala Story' and 'The Old Guard' share
I was rewatching The Old Guard last week; the film is a bit of a favourite because a) Charlize Theron and b) it explores, even if in passing, the sometimes horrific terms on which science feels free t…
Can we 'redistribute' prestige?
Pudding.cool has a good visual essay on the yard-sale model of economics, which shows that wealth has a tendency to accumulate more in the hands of people who are already wealthier. This is because a…
Gender equity in retractions
From the abstract of a fascinating study published in PLoS ONE on May 3, 2023: … this study investigated gender differences in authorship of retracted papers in biomedical sciences available on Retra…