Monthly Archives: June 2020

Redeeming art v. redeeming science

Posted on June 29, 2020 by VM

Recently, someone shared the cover of a soon to be released book, entitled The Physics of Climate Change, authored by Lawrence M. Krauss and expressed excitement about the book’s impending publication and the prospect of their reading it. I instinctively … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science | Tagged diversity, Enrico Feri, Erik Shapiro, Geoffrey Marcy, Georges Lemaître, Jeffrey Epstein, Lawrence Krauss, passing the trash, Richard Feynman, separate art from artist, separate scholar from scholarship, sexual harassment, social anthropology | Leave a comment

Clarity and soundness

Posted on June 27, 2020 by VM

I feel a lot of non-science editors just switch off when they read science stuff. A friend told me this earlier today, during yet another conversation about how many of the editorial issues that assail science and health journalism have … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm | Tagged clarity of thought, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, editing, editorial decisions, health journalism, newsroom, science communication, science journalism, sound argument | Leave a comment

Where is the coolest lab in the universe?

Posted on June 18, 2020 by VM

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) performs an impressive feat every time it accelerates billions of protons to nearly the speed of light – and not in terms of the energy alone. For example, you release more energy when you clap … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm | Tagged blue hypergiant, Boomerang Nebula, Bose-Einstein condensate, cosmic microwave background, energy density, Eta Carinae, gas outflow, heat, International Space Station, kinetic energy, Large Hadron Collider, Nature News, red giant, temperature, thermal equilibrium, thermodynamics, vacuum, Vladivostok, white dwarf, Wolfgang Ketterle | Leave a comment

Go easy on the dexamethasone hype

Posted on June 17, 2020 by VM

The people involved with the RECOVERY clinical trial have announced via statements to the press that they have found very encouraging results about the use of dexamethasone in people with severe COVID-19 who had to receive ventilator support. However, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm, Science | Tagged COVID-19, dexamethasone, disability, mortality, RECOVERY trial | Leave a comment

Journalistic entropy

Posted on June 14, 2020 by VM

Say you need to store a square image 1,000 pixels wide to a side with the smallest filesize (setting aside compression techniques). The image begins with the colour #009900 on the left side and, as you move towards the right, … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Scicomm | Tagged conspiracy theories, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, entropy, fact-checking, false balance, health journalism, image compression, Indian Council of Medical Research, information theory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka Pulla, pseudoscience, science journalism, thermodynamics, Washington Post | Leave a comment

The number of deaths averted

Posted on June 10, 2020 by VM

What are epidemiological models for? You can use models to inform policy and other decision-making. But you can’t use them to manufacture a number that you can advertise in order to draw praise. That’s what the government’s excuse appears to … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Science | Tagged cherry-picking, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, India coronavirus lockdown, novel coronavirus, novel coronavirus pandemic, self-fulfilling prophecy | Leave a comment

The costs of correction

Posted on June 6, 2020 by VM

I was slightly disappointed to read a report in the New York Times this morning. Entitled ‘Two Huge COVID-19 Studies Are Retracted After Scientists Sound Alarms’, it discussed the implications of two large studies of COVID-19 recently being retracted by … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged COVID-19, Elisabeth Bik, hydroxychloroquine, New England Journal of Medicine, New York Times, peer review, preprint papers, preprints, scientific literature, scientific publishing, The Lancet | Leave a comment

Why we need some borders between us

Posted on June 3, 2020 by VM

Borders are often a bad thing because they create separation that is unconducive for what are generally considered to be socially desirable outcomes. And they’re often instituted to maximise political outcomes, especially of the electoral variety. However, as electoral politics … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Op-eds | Tagged #MeToo, affirmative action, borders, deliberative democracy, democratic society, higher education, human spaceflight, leaky pipeline, privilege, quota system, reservations, SpaceX, status quo | Leave a comment

Ocean-safe consumption

Posted on June 2, 2020 by VM

Just spotted this ad on the website of The Better India, a journalism website that focuses on “positive stories”: India’s nationwide lockdown has many important lessons – including the fact that it wasn’t useful in slowing the spread of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Scicomm | Tagged biodegradable, bioplastic, consumerism, consumption, coronavirus lockdown, Ganga river, surface cleaners, The Better India, toxicity | Leave a comment

Eight years

Posted on June 1, 2020 by VM

On June 1 last year, I wrote: Today, I complete seven years of trying to piece together a picture of what journalism is and where I fit in. Today, I begin my ninth year as a journalist. I’m happy to … Continue reading →

Posted in Life notes | Tagged commemoration, focus, hope, progress, The Wire, The Wire Science | Leave a comment