Science & Society

Disclaimer:- This text is not meant either to question God’s existence or Religious rituals or preach Atheism (if there is such a thing). No, on the contrary, I hope, if nothing else, then this text does glorify my own personal belief that there is one Supreme Power in an indescribable form – A Force that exploded the universe into being– A Force so strong that the universe continues to expand at tremendous speeds as an aftermath of an explosion caused by The All-Conquering Force…… PROLOGUE17th Century A.DThe Vatican Church is getting a little uneasy, he thought. The high echelons of the…

DISCLAIMER: This blog is neither a letter by a child to his parents nor a path to become a scientist (simply because there doesn’t exist one…....or maybe there exist infinite ways of equal probability). It is just a description of the present scenario in India and other countries concerning science as a career. Also, the text may bear resemblance to the blogger’s life…. Scene:- A typical Indian middle class dining room with a dining table that can seat 6 at a time. The kitchen is a few feet away and the walls are decorated with a couple of paintings. Seated at the table are three people…

I enjoyed a drink one time with a fellow who was, even for science blogging, left of left.    I won't name names because it doesn't matter, he is a talented writer and a good guy but I always feel like he loves politics more than science and his persistent belief that Republicans/conservatives/right wing neo-cons/Nazis/(insert your favorite term here) are anti-science and progressives are not seemed rather odd.   But I have written about the Democratic War On Science many times. When I mentioned to him that plenty of left-wing people are anti-science, both in politics and in…

Every science writer has their own reasons for getting into science communication—their own goals and purpose that drives them. Some are focused on science literacy—their aim to take a complicated research paper and break it down so the average non-scientist can derive its importance. Others target more of a peer audience, bringing newly discovered research to light in a format that can be quickly absorbed and applied in specific scientific arenas. And some write about science just because they like to discuss things they find interesting in a non-structured environment with other scientists…

Yesterday morning I peeked., just a small peek, at Age of Autism, and saw this: And I was intrigued. You know, that whole "admitting to total bias bit" had me cracking up. See, Age of Autism insists it is a "daily web newspaper" and its pieces (in which obviously no fact checking ever occurs) come up in the google news hits (a travesty, as you well know), and Dan Olmsted is completely biased towards anything involving vaccines causing harm.  Tsouderos bases her conclusions on the mainstream consensus of scientific evidence regarding vaccines' efficacy in preventing disease and she's…

British photographer Graham Ekins snapped one of the rare photos of squid in flight: "Capturing the flying squid is one of the highlights of my photography career," he says. I can imagine it would be! The Essex reporter may have gotten a bit over-enthusiastic, though, claiming in the story about Ekins that These flying squid use jet propulsion to leap out of the Pacific Ocean and soar up to 65ft into the air. 65 feet is . . . kind of a lot. I've never heard of flying squid getting more than a few feet above the surface.

I was contacted a few weeks ago by Bruno Arpaia, an Italian jornalist, translator, and writer of several remarkable novels. He explained that he had just finished a novel, "L'energia del vuoto" (the energy of vacuum) centered on the LHC and the research in particle physics, and that he wanted to thank me for supplying a lot of useful information in this blog, from which he had learned a few details useful for the writing of the book. I was of course quite happy to receive such a compliment, and to be proven that sometimes this blog may be useful. Bruno promised to send me a copy of the book…

Lab rats generally don’t live pleasant lives. Some are infected with diseases. Some are exposed to radiation. Some are sucked nearly dry with ticks. But occasionally a rat makes it lucky and is chosen to participate in a study on pleasure and rewards, where the pleasure and rewards are sex.   You might think, as I once did, that initiating rat sex would be straightforward.  Male rat + female rat = GO! And… mission complete! But no. We were wrong, you and I. Even rat sex is not left to chance in a well-designed study. Because who knows? The lady might be tired,or hungry, or…

This past weekend I attended Science Online 2011—the "un-conference" conference of writers, bloggers, journalists, artists, programmers, and anyone else who uses the internet as a tool for science communication—that gathers to discuss the impact and potential of this new medium in advancing science. There are a few posts I'm preparing that address specific topics from the conference, but first I wanted to mention a very personal experience I had which has completely changed my perspective on the science blogging community, and where my place is in that community. I was a first-time attendee…

America has been a global powerhouse more due to individual and small group initiative than the large, government projects currently popular.     But the U.S. seems to have a widening 'inventor' gap - people who regard themselves as creative and interested in science math and desiring to help society.   While the U.S. relies on big funding, Indians make $4 microscopes so everyone can have fun with science and generate interest. The 2011 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index announced today indicates  there is a generational basis for the looming shortfall.    Americans…