The DNA-based computer that can calculate π
I'm not fond of biology. Of late, however, it's been harder to avoid encountering it because the frontiers of many fields of research are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary. Biological pr…
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A falling want of opportunity for life to grip Titan
There is a new possibility for life on Titan. Scientists affiliated with Cornell University have created a blueprint for a cellular lifeform that wouldn’t need water to survive. Water on Earth has be…
The neuroscience of how you enter your fantasy-realms
If you grew up reading Harry Potter (or Lord of the Rings, as the case may be), chances are you'd have liked to move to the world of Hogwarts (or Middle Earth), and spent time play-acting scenes i…
A conference's peer-review was found to be sort of random, but whose fault is it?
It's not a good time for peer-review. Sure, if you've been a regular reader of Retraction Watch, it's never been a good time for peer-review. But aside from that, the process has increasin…
The case for sustainability just got easier—nature reserves are much more profitable than previously thought
“Can you have your cake and eat it to?” is a question environmentalists would like to answer positively. Now they can, at least in the case of the value generated by nature reserves. Tourist visits t…
The global warming hiatus could last another five years. Its aftermath is the real problem.
Whether you've been fending off climate-change skeptics on Twitter or have been looking for reasons to become a climate-change skeptic yourself, you must've heard about the hiatus. It's th…
Curious Bends – big tobacco, internet blindness, spoilt dogs and more
1. Despite the deadly floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, the govt ignores grave environmental reports on the new dams to be built in the state "The Supreme Court asked the Union environment ministry…
Experiencing the modern city
Of all the things that have had a persistent tendency to surprise observers, cities have been among the most prolific. Then again, they'd better be for all their social and economic complexity, fo…
Two years, one opinion
Re Chinmayi Arun's Comment in The Hindu on February 16, 'Using law to bully comedians' - the central argument of the piece has become such an overused trope. She invokes the heckler's…
Why we appreciate art
I met a friend after a couple years in Bangalore last weekend, and he told me an interesting fact about how one of my favorite authors, Joseph Heller, became a bestseller. He said that Robert Gottlieb…
A submarine on Titan in 2040
Nothing bespeaks humankind's potential more than the following statement: Around 2040, NASA plans to splash down a submarine to explore a liquid hydrocarbon lake on Titan. Fore more than a decade…
A book on the Otherside
I walked into the bookshop. The first row of books had a label on it saying 'Recommended'. I never touched those books. They were always too mainstream, and populism never read well. Instead,…