A tale of two awardees
In many respects Krishna Ella and Elon Musk are poles apart but on some they share a few similarities. Both of them have played along with nationalist elements in their respective national governments…
Narendra Modi
10 posts
The shadows of Chandrayaan 2
When in September 2019 the surface component of the Chandrayaan 2 mission failed, with the 'Vikram' lander crashing on the moon's surface instead of gently touching down, there was a sense…
What's the anomaly in a Nobel for Modi?
I'm sure you've seen the reports doing the rounds today that some person on some Nobel Prize Committee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very deserving of the vaunted peace prize, followed…
Must war have consequences for scientists?
The Journal of Molecular Structure has temporarily banned manuscript submissions from scientists working at state science institutes in Russia. The decision extends the consequences of war beyond the…
The commentariot
The following post is an orange flag – a quieter alarm raised in anticipation of something worse that hasn't transpired yet but is likely in the offing. Earlier today, at the end of a call with a…
A personal manifesto
Many people who are unsure of how their work can help put out the various (figurative) fires ravaging the country at the moment often quickly conclude that purpose is best found at the frontlines of t…
Ad verecundiam
That Swedish group announced today that Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer are the winners of this year's Nobel Prize for economics. Within minutes, my Twitter feed was awash with c…
Similar DNA
From an article in Times Now News: Comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said both h…
Curious Bends - killer palm oil, bunking homeopathy, India's sex ed. and more
1. How Indonesia's palm oil industry is killing people in China and India "In both China and India, air pollution is one consequence of a massive exodus from farm to city that has occurred i…
The dignity of human labor
My Twitter friend and compatriot @zeusisdead made a good, bristling case for why we shouldn't celebrate India's Mars Orbiter mission's frugality. Here's a telling excerpt from his piec…