Tag Archives: The New York Times

The universe’s shape and its oldest light

Posted on June 22, 2024 by VM

The 3-torus is a strange and wonderful shape. We can’t readily visualise it because it has a complicated structure, but there’s a way. Imagine you’re standing inside a cube in which light is moving from the left face towards the … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm | Tagged 3-torus, Big Bang cosmology, COMPACT collaboration, cosmic microwave background, manifold, Max Tegmark, relic radiation, The New York Times, universe geometry, universe shape | Leave a comment

Marginalia: On NewsClick, NYT, toolkits, etc.

Posted on October 7, 2023 by VM

The Bharatiya Janata Party in power in India knows that the process is the punishment, that the amount of punishment imposed depends on the law invoked in the chargesheet, and that no law is as ripe for misuse in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis | Tagged Bharatiya Janata Party, Kavita Krishnan, Neville Roy Singham, NewsClick, parachute journalism, Prabir Purkayastha, The New York Times, The Wire, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act | Comments Off

NYT’s ISRO coverage continues assault on sense

Posted on August 29, 2023 by VM

The New York Times refuses to learn, perpetuating views of ISRO that are equal parts blurry and illiterate, and often missing points that become clearer with just a little bit of closer reading. The launch and subsequent success of Chandrayaan … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Scicomm | Tagged Chandrayaan 3, Gravity Film, Indian Space Research Organisation, NASA MAVEN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reason of state, The New York Times | Leave a comment

Is Dias bringing the bus back?

Posted on August 16, 2023 by VM

So Physical Review Letters formally retracted that paper about manganese sulphide, in the limelight for having been coauthored by Ranga P. Dias, yesterday. The retraction notice states: “Of the authors on the original paper, R. Dias stands by the data … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm, Science | Tagged Ashkan Salamat, lutetium hydride, manganese sulphide, Physical Review Letters, Ranga P Dias, research misconduct, room-temperature superconductivity, The New York Times, University of Nevada, University of Rochester | Comments Off

NYT’s profile of India’s space startup scene

Posted on July 9, 2023 by VM

The New York Times published a ‘profile’ of the Indian spaceflight startup scene on July 4. The article is typical in that: a) by virtue of being published by one of the world’s most-read news outlets, it can only be … Continue reading →

Posted in Scicomm | Tagged Alex Travelli, GSLV, Indian Space Research Organisation, Lvm 3, pharmaceuticals, PSLV, The New York Times | Comments Off

The strange NYT article on taming minks

Posted on September 2, 2022 by VM

I’m probably waking up late to this but the New York Times has published yet another article in which it creates a false balance by first focusing on the problematic side of a story for an inordinately long time, without any of … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Scicomm | Tagged animal ethics, Joseph Carter, minks, saviour complex, science journalism, The New York Times | Leave a comment

What makes ‘good science journalism’?

Posted on August 25, 2022 by VM

From ‘Your Doppelgänger Is Out There and You Probably Share DNA With Them’, The New York Times, August 23, 2022: Dr. Esteller also suggested that there could be links between facial features and behavioral patterns, and that the study’s findings … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Scicomm | Tagged ESL, eugenics, science journalism, The Atlantic, The New York Times | Leave a comment

The climate change of bad news

Posted on October 15, 2020 by VM

This post flows a bit like the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. As one friend put it, “It starts somewhere and then goes in a different direction.” This year hasn’t been beset by the same old steady drizzle of bad news … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Op-eds | Tagged bad news, Ben Smith, caste, cognitive dissonance, fact-checking, Jacob Silverman, Jonah Lehrer, journalism, Miami Herald, parachute journalism, privileges, Rafia Zakaria, Rukmini Callimachi, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New Yorker | Leave a comment

Two sides of the road and the gutter next to it

Posted on October 3, 2019 by VM

I have a mid-October deadline for an essay so obviously when I started reading up on the topic this morning, I ended up on a different part of the web – where I found this: a piece by a journalist … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Op-eds | Tagged bias, Bob Woodward, Donald Trump, ignorance, Jay Rosen, Kary Mullis, Nobel Prizes, objectivity, Omar Kelly, Poynter, Richard Feynman, Surjit Bhalla, Swarajya Mag, The New York Times, victim-blaming, victimisation, view from nowhere, women in STEM | Comments Off

To watch ‘The Post’

Posted on January 15, 2018 by VM

I read a few reviews of The Post. Based on what the critics are saying, it seems the film has at least the potential to raise the spirits of many journalists today who could use a leg up. That said, … Continue reading →

Posted in Life notes, Op-eds | Tagged journalism, Meryl Streep, Pentagon Papers, political journalism, science journalism, The New York Times, The Post, The Washington Post, Tom Hanks, Vietnam War | Leave a comment