Prime Stream
thescian | August 31, 2006The Oscars of Indian Science have been awarded. Read about it at nanopolitan.
For those interested in looking this up in wikipedia, the pages on Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award lacks details and could use some updates. The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar page is yet to be created.
thescian | August 30, 2006Heard on the BBC today morning, spoken by someone high up at the AAAS (President?) . I am paraphrasing. "The global energy systems investments (oil rigs, coal mines, distribution, refineries, etc) are about 12 trillion dollars and it takes about 30 to 40 years to change their character (from coal and oil to, say, renewables)." I couldn't get a confirmation on the numbers I heard but the numbers are quite startling nevertheless. Even more surprising is that the change could happen within our generation - has to happen within our generation.
I was rummaging at the BBC and landed at The Green…
thescian | August 29, 2006On the occasion of Pluto being booted out of its planetary status, guess who is using it as a promotional event? Astrologers in India, thats who.
"Indian astrology is mathematically concerned with the nine planets, two of which are Raghu and Ketu that are nothing but derivatives from the diameter of earth, which is a circle having a value pi (22/7) imbedded in the equator of earth," he said.
The 'he' is Mangal Prasad, an astrologer. If you decipher his statement, enlighten me please.
Raghu and Ketu are the much celebrated shadow planets used by Indians all over the world to slack off a few…
thescian | August 29, 2006The next target group for penis enlargement ads has been identified. It's the polar bears whose member has been retreating because of all the harmful chemicals they ingest. Suspend your disbelief and go read Maggie Wittlin's recent posting of I Can't Believe It's Science at Seed Magazine.
thescian | August 29, 2006A comprehensive article at The New Yorker on Perelman, Poincaré conjecture and the politics of math. Perelman, as you might have read, refused the Fields medal - the nobel prize like award for math. From the article,
Mikhail Gromov, the Russian geometer, said that he understood Perelman's logic: "To do great work, you have to have a pure mind. You can think only about the mathematics. Everything else is human weakness. Accepting prizes is showing weakness." Others might view Perelman's refusal to accept a Fields as arrogant, Gromov said, but his principles are admirable. "The ideal scientist…
thescian | August 28, 2006Chris Mooney, author and science blogger who blogs here at The Intersection, has his landmark book Republican War on Science out on paperback. The accompanying War on Science website has much for your scientific eyes that is rebelling against the administration's war on science. Chris has generously offered a complimentary copy to fellow bloggers at scienceblogs and would even ship one to this humble blogger overseas. May the science be with him.
thescian | August 28, 2006I thoroughly enjoy the Last Word feature of New Scientist where the readers pose and answer questions amongst themselves. The questions are hilarious sometimes and always informative. Case in point: The question about the awful smell of human droppings.
Another question asked and yet unanswered is this. I am paraphrasing here. "If I try to calculate the number of my ancestors starting with my parents, the numbers don't add up. [My parents + their parents + their parents + .. ] is: [2 + 4 + 16 + ... and so on]. If I continue adding, very soon - within a few generations - I end up with an…
thescian | August 24, 2006
A short story at Prospect by Vasily Grossman (Yikes! Just noticed that it needs Subscription to view in full.)
He would look into the dog's eyes. These kind eyes, not the eyes of Niels Bohr, would be the first to look into the cosmos, to see cosmic space that was not limited by the earth's horizon. A space with no wind and only weak gravitational forces, a space where there was no rain, no clouds, no butterflies, a space of photons and electromagnetic waves.
And it seemed to Aleksey Georgievich that Pestrushka's eyes would be able to tell him what they had seen. And he would read and…
thescian | August 24, 2006Thus Spake Zuska - a new blog added to scienceblogs. Zuska spoke thusly,
I verbally bludgeon morons, celebrate the fabulousness of techie women, and encourage every female to release her Inner Pissed-Off Woman.
Woot!
thescian | August 24, 2006Here at the University of Michigan website. It is neatly done presentation aimed at you ane me, the intelligent science reader. In other news, a research breakthrough where stem cells can be produced without destroying human embryos might be what researchers were looking for in the US.
thescian | August 24, 2006Omar Khayyám was an accomplished mathematician and an astronomer although he is most often remembered for Rubaiyat. That one line introduction out of way, let's get to the finger part. Khayyám wrote thusly,
"The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
We will all do well to remember that. Now, head over to Sunil's post on Khayyam, Galileo, fundies and the finger salute where he discusses much more and quotes from a recent article in Nature magazine.
thescian | August 23, 2006To nature, the life of an empire is no more than the life of a swarm of bees, and a thousand years are of lesser count than half an hour to you and me. Now the moral of that is that we must not depend on any sort of divine providence to put a stop to war. Providence says, 'Kill one another my children, kill one another to your hearts content. There are plenty more where you came from.' Consequently, if we want the war to stop we must all become conscientious objectors.
I'm not forgetting the gratification that war gives to the instinct of pugnacity and admiration of courage that are so strong…
thescian | August 23, 2006
Dilip writes in How the Other Half Lives
,
"Malnourishment, particularly of kids, has been in the news in recent weeks and months. In Guna district of Madhya Pradesh (check this photo essay), in Orissa, in Maharashtra's Melghat, and even in Bombay.
Is this a new phenomenon? Not at all. Malnutrition has been an Indian phenomenon for years. By some estimates, over half of India's children are underweight or malnourished today. This is the highest number in the world. In fact, together with our South Asian neighbours, we account for half the world's malnourished children. "
The picture is from…
thescian | August 22, 2006Here's the news at Reuters that's reporting on the gods who shall not be denied the worldly pleasures. After drinking milk, it appears that the next logical step for gods would be fondling udders.
Thousands of people flocked to temples across India on Monday following reports that idols of Hindu gods were drinking milk given by devotees as sacred offerings, witnesses said.
Teenagers, adults and the aged stood in long lines with garlands and bowls of milk to feed the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna and the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha, they said.
Hundreds chanted hymns in the northern city…
thescian | August 22, 2006The latest Make Podcast has a PDF download that provides some helpful instructions for freezing snails and reviving them back. The snails, I have been informed, take a rather cold view of my characterization about the instructions being 'helpful'. The PDF also has some fascinating history about a scientist called Basile Luyet who did some wild things with freezing (living) things up 50 years ago.
"I've been told that Luyet would toss two goldfish into some liquid nitrogen," Fahy says. "He would quickly withdraw Goldfish A, which would seem stiff and frozen -- but it would resume wriggling…
thescian | August 19, 2006I know you are curious. It's not the one you think. Find out what it is at witnwisdumb speak.
thescian | August 19, 2006The BBC reports on a religious madness in the great city of Mumbai.
Hundreds of people flocked to a beach in the Indian city of Mumbai after reports the seawater had turned sweet.
Several people who drank the muddy water from the Arabian Sea said it had been changed by a miracle and could now cure illnesses.
Authorities in Mumbai said they collected samples for testing but warned against drinking the polluted water because of health risks.
Many saw it as a blessing from Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, a 13th Century Sufi saint.
The pious shall fuck-up the earth. And, they shall drink the sea - even…
thescian | August 18, 2006A long and hard look at the current religious and political climate in Europe. I am glad to see the author end the essay with a hopeful note. I was looking for a better understanding of these issues after listening to a muslim colleague describe an incident that happened to him on the train. A woman screamed at him in the train for no apparent reason. It's a cynical world we live in. Have a peaceful weekend.
thescian | August 18, 2006Yesterday, as I was talking to my brother-in-law near the Amersham Library park, two young girls aged about 15 walk up to us and one of them says, "EXCUSE ME! Can I have a cigarette?". If I were a psychologist, this would be the time to delve into the development (or retardation) of juvenile minds. You are fortunate. I am not a psychologist. Nevertheless, let me make a few broad observations. It's the perception of smoking being cool that underlies this behavior in children, isn't it? How would they know what Nicotine is? They are young and impressionable. It would be inconceivale for them…