History and Philosophy of Science

WHEN China had launched its first satellite, the Dongfanghong (East is Red) or DFH-1, at a time when it was relatively isolated internationally, its ties with the Soviet Union ruptured and involved in an aggressive … Read moreThe East Is Redder

EVERY few years, a new hype fuels another stock market explosion. If it was microelectronics, the Internet and biotechnology earlier, it is now the turn of nanotechnology. And along with the hype, as it inevitably … Read moreNanotechnology: The Genie Is Out Of The Bottle

RECENTLY, the team that had cloned Dolly (the first large animal to be cloned) announced that they are working on human cloning. A few months back, the whole world and especially the scientific establishment was … Read moreHuman Cloning A Distinct Possibility

THE picture of the double helix, the structure of the DNA, has today become the icon of science, replacing the earlier one of the atom, tainted now by its association with nuclear weapons. And this … Read moreFifty Years Of The Double Helix

THE recent story of NASA discovering a “mysterious 1.75 million year ancient bridge” is now clearly exposed as a deliberate fraud by Hindu fundamentalists. It was initially propagated by Vaishnava News Network an ISKON web … Read moreThe Hoax Of The NASA Bridge

STEPHEN Jay Gould, paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, science writer, a refreshing social thinker and one of the last surviving polymaths of our age passed away in May this year. Gould leaves behind a controversial body of … Read moreStephen Jay Gould : A Great Scientist-cum-Social Thinker

WE had written earlier that the genetic evidence regarding the influx of people speaking and Indo-Aryan language is strong. New evidence from in-depth and extensive study done by a group of scientists, led by Michael … Read moreAgain On Ancestral Echoes In Our Genes

THERE are some defining moments in the history of science. Cracking the atom, the first steps on the moon are such defining moments. Reading the book of life, the human genome is another such moment. … Read moreThe Human Genome Reading the Book of Life

This article is in two parts and meant to expose the fraudulent claims of the Hindutva lobby who have been arguing that new genetic evidence substantiates their thesis of Harappan civilisation being Vedic. In the … Read moreAncestral Echoes in Indian Genes