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Sunday, August 02, 2009 5:44 PM

Rethinking biology, with math in tow

For long, biology and math have been somewhat mutually exclusive, at least in this part of the world and in initial years of education. In any case, introducing math to biologists later in career turns out a tad too late or difficult for optimal use....
Posted by Seema Singh | 6 comment(s)
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Monday, July 06, 2009 4:35 PM

Obsession with pretty colours

Disclaimer: this is the last of the Lindau posts and you'll see why this had to be posted even a few days after the meeting ended. As for the title, it was one of Roger Tsien's (Nobel 2008) self-proclaimed neuroses - obsession with pretty colours...
Posted by Seema Singh | 3 comment(s)
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Monday, June 29, 2009 4:47 PM

In the land of the Nobels

It's the Nobel season in the island town of Lindau in southern Germany, where every year around this time, Nobel laureates gather to interact, inspire and to some extent mentor, young researchers from all over the world. The meeting that started 58...
Posted by Seema Singh | 2 comment(s)
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Friday, June 12, 2009 3:27 PM

Aerodynamics of seeds

This post is about this picture. Enjoy. When maple seeds become airborne, they pick up downward speed and start to spin around their center of gravity, which is located in the nut. This spinning motion is induced by the airflow around the seed as it descends...
Posted by Seema Singh | with no comments
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Friday, May 22, 2009 8:04 PM

Viral epidemic to go mobile

This is not to create panic (we are just emerging from the swine flu scare -- sorry to use this name even though not politically correct, as I wrote earlier ) as it's about a different kind of viral epidemic - sweep of bugs of the mobile world. New...
Posted by Seema Singh | with no comments
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009 4:29 PM

Hulaballoo over conflict of interests in cancer research

Let's say you read a brilliant research articled, and at the bottom a tiny asterisked note that says: "The author received funding from xyz company for this research." Would you be put off, or discard the just-a-few-minutes-ago-brilliant...
Posted by Jacob Koshy | 1 comment(s)
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Monday, April 06, 2009 10:18 AM

Sleeping is cool, at least for your brain!

Why do we need sleep? This question has been one of the most enduring puzzles of biology; some scientists proposing that sleep helps in memory and learning, others arguing that it conserves energy. One of the more recent hypotheses has been of the so...
Posted by Seema Singh | 1 comment(s)
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Friday, February 06, 2009 8:09 AM

Blue is for creativity; red is for...

Caution, attention to detail. And you thought colour is merely cosmetic! In today's Science, researchers report how colours (primary colours, to begin with) have impact on cognitive task performance of individuals. The colour blue inspires creativity...
Posted by Seema Singh | 11 comment(s)
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 2:53 PM

Technology's gee-whiz effect on education

The Indian cabinet last week cleared the Rs 20,120 crore Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan , the gargantuan plan to universalize secondary education. Last week the government also said it will implement the National Mission on Education through ICT...
Posted by Seema Singh | with no comments
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:28 PM

No dearth of speakers in the GM food debate

We are a nation of debates, and delays. And when it comes to GM crops, we are also a nation of botched regulation, bad monitoring, slipshod field trials, partial/non-availability of data... I am not even counting the illegal manner in which Bt cotton...
Posted by Seema Singh | with no comments
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Friday, October 17, 2008 12:57 PM

Chinese premier with a ‘science' editor

Imagine the head of a country meeting the editor of a science magazine for two hours! Unless it's truly a meeting of minds, it's difficult to pull it off, that too among much media glare. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao recently spent two hours with...
Posted by Seema Singh | 3 comment(s)
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Friday, September 26, 2008 1:30 AM

The world of science through photography

These photos and graphics form some of the winning entries of the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored by the journal Science and the US National Science Foundation. Currently in its 6th year, the competition honours...
Posted by Seema Singh | 7 comment(s)
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Thursday, August 28, 2008 5:14 PM

Is P+C+M= B?

"Using physics, chemistry and mathematics to understand biology", is the title of the first monthly lecture which National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, is starting under a community outreach program for students from September 28. The idea is...
Posted by Seema Singh | 3 comment(s)
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Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:24 AM

Dissecting Indian science, publicly

It's good to see scientists, who often avoid debating across the table, discuss through the press. The beneficiary, almost always, is the reader. In two recent issues of Economic & Political Weekly two senior scientists literally pitch universities...
Posted by Seema Singh | 4 comment(s)
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