The magnetic sky
On May 6, the team behind the now-inoperative Planck space telescope released a map of the magnetic field pervading the Milky Way galaxy. Titled 'Milky Way's Magnetic Fingerprint', the ma…
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Smaller dinos were harder to wipe out, and they're still around
The asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years ago didn't get them all. Some of them survive to this day in the form of birds, and they may have made it because they got smaller. For abou…
The secrets of how planets form
Astronomers who were measuring the length of one day on an exoplanet for the first time were in for a surprise: it was shorter than any planet's in the Solar System. Beta Pictoris b, orbiting the…
The hunt for supersymmetry: Reviewing the first run - 2
I'd linked to a preprint paper [PDF] on arXiv a couple days ago that had summarized the search for Supersymmetry (Susy) from the first run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). I'd written to on…
The hunt for supersymmetry: Reviewing the first run
What do dark matter, Higgs bosons, the electron dipole moment, topological superconductors and quantum loops have in common? These are exotic entities that scientists have been using to solve some lon…
The hunt for supersymmetry: Is a choke on the cards?
As scientists have progressed by leaps and bounds in making discoveries and confirming new ideas, they have been disappointed by how one of their favorite theories has been unable to post a positive status update in... years.…
Feeling the pulse of the space-time continuum
Humans have known about the force of gravity since ancient times. Yet, we are still exploring its true nature, how it works, and why it works the way it does.…
Ambivalent promises for S&T in the BJP manifesto
There is very little, if any, concrete stuff about promoting science in the country, and a lot of it seems poised to supplant the goals of other ministries.…
The nonsense in Wockhardt's reply to the FDA
As Sun Pharma buys Ranbaxy for $3.2 billion, let's not forget that that these companies, and Wockhardt, came under fire last year for maintaining horrible working conditions in their plants.…
The Indian medical devices industry stays foreign
On the one hand, India plans to expand its public healthcare system to more than 500 million people by 2020, and on the other, doesn't reduce costs of the devices that will form the spine of this system.…
'Poverty first, Mars next' is a non-idea
The government has mismanaged scientific research to the point of the people thinking its only goals are to alleviate poverty.…
An elusive detector for an elusive particle
The delay of a go-ahead from the Cabinet for an indigenously designed neutrino detector is demoralizing for scientists because it could turn investors away.…