Culture
A tribute to rubidium
And to Paul Feyerabend
Scicomm
Analysis
Lighting the way with Parrondo’s paradox
In science, paradoxes often appear when familiar rules are pushed into unfamiliar territory. One of them is Parrondo’s paradox, a curious mathematical result showing that when two losing strategies are combined, they can produce a winning outcome. This might sound like trickery but the paradox has deep connections to
Scicomm
Challenging the neutrino signal anomaly
A gentle reminder before we begin: you're allowed to be interested in particle physics. 😉 Neutrinos are among the most mysterious particles in physics. They are extremely light, electrically neutral, and interact so weakly with matter that trillions of them pass through your body each second without leaving a
Scicomm
What does it mean to interpret quantum physics?
The United Nations has designated 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Many physics magazines and journals have taken the opportunity to publish more articles on quantum physics than they usually do, and that has meant quantum physics research has often been on my mind. Nirmalya Kajuri, an
Scicomm
A transistor for heat
Quantum technologies and the prospect of advanced, next-generation electronic devices have been maturing at an increasingly rapid pace. Both research groups and governments around the world are investing more attention in this domain. India for example mooted its National Quantum Mission in 2023 with a decade-long outlay of Rs 6,
Scicomm
The Hyperion dispute and chaos in space
I believe my blog’s subscribers did not receive email notifications of some recent posts. If you’re interested, I’ve listed the links to the last eight posts at the bottom of this edition. When reading around for my piece yesterday on the wavefunctions of quantum mechanics, I stumbled
Scicomm
What on earth is a wavefunction?
If you drop a pebble into a pond, ripples spread outward in gentle circles. We all know this sight, and it feels natural to call them waves. Now imagine being told that everything — from an electron to an atom to a speck of dust — can also behave like a wave,
Scicomm
A new kind of quantum engine with ultracold atoms
In conventional ‘macroscopic’ engines like the ones that guzzle fossil fuels to power cars and motorcycles, the fuels are set ablaze to release heat, which is converted to mechanical energy and transferred to the vehicle’s moving parts. In order to perform these functions over and over in a continuous
Scicomm
What keeps the red queen running?
AI-generated definition based on 'Quantitative and analytical tools to analyze the spatiotemporal population dynamics of microbial consortia’, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, August 2022: The Red Queen hypothesis refers to the idea that a constant rate of extinction persists in a community, independent of the duration of a species'
Scicomm
A limit of 'show, don't tell'
The virtue of ‘show, don't tell’ in writing, including in journalism, lies in its power to create a more vivid, immersive, and emotionally engaging reading experience. Instead of simply providing information or summarising events, the technique encourages writers to use evocative imagery, action, dialogue, and sensory details to
Scicomm
A microscope that catches the slightest hints of heat
A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) is a device well-known for its extreme sensitivity to photons, the particles of light — so much so that they can count photons one by one. They also have very little noise, which makes their readings quite reliable. TESs are often used in single-photon detectors in
Analysis
Frugality is a toxic chalice
From ‘Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA’s Weaknesses, ISRO’s Strengths’, NDTV, July 26, 2025: At the end of the day, the US scientists have swallowed their pride and are sheepishly going to watch the launch of a satellite where they have invested nearly $1.15 billion. It is