Curiosity as a public good
India has won 22 Ig Nobel prizes to date. These awards, given annually at Harvard University by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, honour studies that "first make people laugh, and then…
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A cricket beyond politics
On September 11, the Supreme Court was asked to urgently hear a petition that sought to cancel the Asia Cup T20 match between India and Pakistan scheduled for September 14 in the UAE. The petition, fi…
A tribute to rubidium
And to Paul Feyerabend…
The news exists to inform, not to educate
I’d like to highlight a letter published in Science on January 2. I have many points of disagreement with it but I’d also like others to read and reflect on it, especially if they’re (you’re) also goi…
Getting rid of the GRE
An investigation by Science has found that, today, just 3% of “PhD programs in eight disciplines at 50 top-ranked US universities” require applicants’ GRE scores, “compared with 84% four years ago”. T…
A question about India's new science prizes
really deserving candidates In a meeting chaired by Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on September 16 and attended by senior members of the various science departments of the national government (DST,…
The Merge
Earlier this month, a major event happened in the cryptocurrency space called the 'Merge'. In this event, the ethereum blockchain changed the way it achieves consensus – from using a proof-of-…
Awaiting more info on WP.com's new pricing
After my last blog post on WordPress.com's bizarre paid-plans rejig, which stayed on top of Hacker News for a few hours and eventually caught the attention of the CEOs of WordPress.com and Automat…
Intro to NFTs
A far-too-simplified introduction to cryptocurrencies and NFTs.…
Where the atmanirbharta in spine?
Truth be told, I didn't expect CSIR chief Shekhar Mande could be so disingenuous. "India didn't have to depend on western countries," he says. What is this abject refusal to thank ot…
Ads on The Wire Science
Sometime this week, but quite likely tomorrow, advertisements will begin appearing on The Wire Science. The Wire's, and by extension The Wire Science's, principal source of funds is donations…
The weekly linklist – July 25, 2020
I've decided to publish this linklist via Substack. Next weekend onwards, it will only be available on https://linklist.substack.com. And this is why the list exists and what kind of articles you…