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Monthly Archives: August 2020
Why scientists should read more
The amount of communicative effort to describe the fact of a ball being thrown is vanishingly low. It’s as simple as saying, “X threw the ball.” It takes a bit more effort to describe how an internal combustion engine works … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged active voice, Casimir effect, communication, complexity, English as second language, ESL, first language, grammar, Learning, mainstream media, meaning making, passive voice, physics, quantum physics, reading, science communication, science journalism, scientific knowledge, teaching, wisdom
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Ayurveda is not a science – but what does that mean?
This post has benefited immensely with inputs from Om Prasad. Calling something ‘not a science’ has become a pejorative, an insult. You say Ayurveda is not a science and suddenly, its loudest supporters demand to know what the problem is, … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged allopathy, authoritarianism, Ayurveda, bhakts, Bharatiya Janata Party, far right, hospital care, Imre Lakatos, Karl Popper, knowledge systems, modern science, nationalism, Paul Feyerabend, pseudoscience, reason for state, social science, state, Thomas Kuhn, view from nowhere, welfare, welfare state, welfarism
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India’s missing research papers
If you’re looking for a quantification (although you shouldn’t) of the extent to which science is being conducted by press releases in India at the moment, consider the following list of studies. The papers for none of them have been … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Bharat Biotech, Biocon, Covaxin, COVID-19, COVID-19 epidemic, COVID-19 pandemic, ELISA test kit, favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine, Indian Council of Medical Research, Itolizumab, novel coronavirus, peer review, preprint papers, remdesivir, science academies, science by press release, seroprevalence survey, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, tocilizumab, Zydus Cadila
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The matter of a journal’s reputation
Apparently (and surprisingly) The Telegraph didn’t allow Dinesh Thakur to respond to an article by Biocon employee Sundar Ramanan, in which Ramanan deems Thakur’s article about the claims to efficacy of the Biocon drug Itolizumab not being backed by enough data to have … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Biocon, Björn Brembs, COVID-19, cytokine release syndrome, Dinesh Thakur, Drug Controller General of India, Itolizumab, Jammi Nagaraj Rao, journal impact factor, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Newslaundry, phase II clinical trials, phase III clinical trials, prestige journals, prestigious journals, reputed journals, Seema Ahuja, Sundar Ramanan, The Telegraph
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An Upanishadic lesson for modern science?
Do the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads lack the “baggage of biography” – to borrow Amit Chaudhuri’s words – because we don’t know who the authors, outside of the mythology, are or – as Chaudhuri writes in a new essay … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged Amit Chaudhuri, Bhagavad Gita, causality, creation, creator, disinterestedness, Eastern Philosophy, genius, genius construct, Gita Chadha, Immanuel Kant, impersonality, Isa Upanishad, Kena Upanishad, Lawrence M Krauss, modern science, New Critical, Philosophy of Science, power, Richard Feynman, scientific genius, The Life of Science, TS Eliot, Upanishads, Western philosophy
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