ASTROSAT

Ways of seeing

VM

Jan 9, 2016

A lot of the physics of 2015 was about how the ways in which we study the natural world had been improved or were improving.

Hubble turned 25
Half of the JWST’s mirrors got ready (with no more delays announced ahead of its 2018 launch)
The Udaipur Solar Observatory came online
ISRO launched ASTROSAT
The Foldscope gained popularity
The LHC restarted (and even delivered an exciting preliminary result)
Nature Methods declared cryo-electron microscopy to be its ‘method of the year‘ (paywall)
BARC’s MACE gamma-ray telescope was installed in Hanle, Ladakh
SESAME in Jordan got one-step closer to completion
On the downside, the TMT might not come to be

Justice delayed but a ton of bricks await

From 'SC declines Ramdev, Patanjali apology; expresses concern over FMCGs taking gullible consumers ‘up and down the garden path’', The Hindu, April 10, 2024: The Supreme Court has refused to accept the unconditional apology from Patanjali co-founder Baba Ramdev and managing director Acharya Balkrishna for advertising medical products

Feel the pain

Emotional decision making is in many contexts undesirable – but sometimes it definitely needs to be part of the picture, insofar as our emotions hold a mirror to our morals. When machines make decisions, the opportunity to consider the emotional input goes away. This is a recurring concern I'm

Cheers for everyone but the bustard

Behold, the legerdemain of spinning bad news into good: Setting aside the meaningless headline, we have a lede (and the rest of the article, for that matter) that claims the Supreme Court of India "struck" a fine balancing act between the transition to renewable energy and protecting the

It's the little things

'What Muslim Women Face Every Day at Work', The Wire, April 4, 2024: [Nisha] Shah, who prays five times a day, says such Islamophobia at the workplace – amongst highly educated Indian youth – has become more audacious. She says her two-three prayer breaks are shorter than the frequent smoke

Read more

Justice delayed but a ton of bricks await

Feel the pain

Cheers for everyone but the bustard

It's the little things