Mendel’s Genetic Revolution and the Legacy of Scientific Racism

In July this year, the world is celebrating 200 years of Gregor Mendel’s birth, widely accepted as the father of genetics for his discovery of the laws of inheritance. His experiments with peas, published in … Read moreMendel’s Genetic Revolution and the Legacy of Scientific Racism

Webb Telescope Opens New Window in the Sky

The new Webb telescope has shown that NASA’s $10 billion investment and 26 years are finally delivering their promise: pictures of the cosmos in depth, detail and quality far beyond what we had. The first … Read moreWebb Telescope Opens New Window in the Sky

The Importance of Self-Reliance, Scientific Temper and ‘Idea of India’

The normally bi-annual All India Peoples Science Congress (AIPSC) postponed by two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held in Bhopal on June 6-9, 2022.  Readers may remember that the All India Peoples Science … Read moreThe Importance of Self-Reliance, Scientific Temper and ‘Idea of India’

Elsevier and Wiley’s War on Science and Research

THREE journal publishers have filed a case in Delhi High Court for blocking Sci-Hub and Libgen in India. These two websites provide free downloads of research publications and books to research scholars and students. This … Read moreElsevier and Wiley’s War on Science and Research

The story of Indian science generally focuses on the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the scientific institutions that were built to help India industrialise. This story is incomplete, as it does not take … Read more

Rakhigarhi Skeleton DNA: Indus Valley People were not Rig-Vedic Aryans

TWO recent studies on ancient DNA and migrations into South Asia appeared at the same time in two of the most prestigious journals of their disciplines, one in Science, and one in Cell. Both share a number … Read moreRakhigarhi Skeleton DNA: Indus Valley People were not Rig-Vedic Aryans

Remembering the Republic, Planning and Science in the Times of Unreason

INDIA became a republic on January 26, 1950, when the constitution, steered by Babasaheb Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly, came into effect. It is the constitution that guarantees that all sections of people – irrespective … Read moreRemembering the Republic, Planning and Science in the Times of Unreason

Science Will Survive the Modi Regime, Will Science Institutions?

THIS year also, the Indian Science Congress held in Jalandhar, covered itself with shame; as it has been doing for the last few years. Venkataramanan Ramakrishnan, the Nobel Prize winning scientist, had called it a … Read moreScience Will Survive the Modi Regime, Will Science Institutions?

Science Wars to Climate Change Denial: Post Modernism and its Consequences

Most of those who led the charge against science explaining nature, are now surprised that climate-change deniers have stolen their theme song. Immersed in the assault on science, this group of thinkers simply overlooked the … Read moreScience Wars to Climate Change Denial: Post Modernism and its Consequences

Dating Bakhshali Manuscripts: Answering Important Questions in History of Mathematics

The Bakhshali Manuscripts, a collection of 70 odd leaves of birch bark, containing a wealth of mathematical methods, have finally been dated. The oldest of the three samples tested was written as early as the … Read moreDating Bakhshali Manuscripts: Answering Important Questions in History of Mathematics

Hindutva, Mathematics, Pythagoras and Zero

The Hindutva brigade have been continuously proclaiming that the Greeks learnt Pythagoras from India. This is what Harsh Vardhan, the BJP Science and Technology Minister, claimed in the Indian Science Congress last year; that “we” … Read moreHindutva, Mathematics, Pythagoras and Zero

Vimanas, Rockets, and Tipu Sultan

THE RSS and its camp followers have a strange relationship to imagination. They take the imagination of the mythology, and present it as matter of fact history. When it comes to the scientific imagination – … Read moreVimanas, Rockets, and Tipu Sultan