Just say no to …

… to new year resolutions. It will make you happier. So says Timothy Wilson, a professor of psychology at the University of Charlottesville, in this wonderful NYTimes op-ed.

Social psychologist Daniel Batson and colleagues at the University of Kansas found that participants who were given an opportunity to do a favor for another person ended up [...]

It doesn’t make sense!

The New Scientist has an article on ‘Thirteen things that don’t make sense‘, with a nice description of some big problems that have been baffling scientists. There are many entries there on astrophysics and cosmology, which never made much sense to my (admittedly puny) mind. But the ones on the placebo effect (at No.1) and [...]

It was 11, it then became 2, and …

… now, it is one big Zero. Zilch. Zippo.

Thus progresses the shameful saga of the fraud perpetrated by Hwang Woo Suk. Read about it in this report byChoe Sang-Hun in the New York Times.

Caste discrimination

There is indeed much discrimination in our society but there is also a sense of fair play, and that sense is growing. It is a sensitive plant and it should be given fresh air to grow. To insist as a matter of course that there is discrimination against Dalits without even looking at evidence to [...]

Intriguing enchantment from a soap bubble with a handle …

I am sure you all want to know what a ‘genus one helicoid’ is. Apparently, it’s the new, new thing in minimal surfaces.

The article mentions some of the applications of minimal surfaces in mixtures of polymers and architecture too; the latter might exploit, for example, the physical ruggedness of the minimal surfaces. However, the next [...]

Happiness and the new year

So in these last days of 2005 I say to you, “Don’t have a happy new year!” Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends. If you’re so inclined, put in some good hours at the office or at your favorite charity, temple or church. Work on your jump shot or [...]

“It may happen, but not now, and not to us”

The first anniversary of the south east Asian tsunami is being commemorated as the Remembrance Week. Dilip D’Souza has an excellent series of posts, with snippets from his coverage of not just the 2004 tsunami, but also the 2001 earthquake in Kutch, Gujarat, and the 1999 floods in Orissa.

On the first anniversary [...]

Sexy scientists?

Science is sexy, but scientists?
Yeah, I know the idea sounds spooky. But there is this uber-elite club, and I know quite a few among my colleagues who would qualify. .

Check out the list of 10 Sexiest Geeks of 2005, compiled by the folks at Wired. Quite a few of the good looking ones in [...]

100 Dollar laptop, Niagara, and browser birthday

… all of them made possible by the great folks at digg.com.

A really, truly, absolutely amazing picture of the Niagara falls from a satellite up above the world so high; it actually looks as if it was taken from a helicopter flying at a low altitude. It’s awsome. [via]

You must feast your eyes on [...]

Why should all Koreans pay for the sins of one fraudulent ’scientist’?

Nicholas Wade has a report on the immediate aftermath of the disgraceful end to the Hwang Woo Suk saga. This guy seems to have figured out how to trick the system:

The South Korean government, which promoted Dr. Hwang as a national hero and an international celebrity, has seen its investment wasted. The leading scientific journals [...]

It’s over

A panel at the [Seoul National University], releasing initial findings of a investigation, accused Hwang Woo-Suk of damaging the scientific community with his deception, while the South Korean government threatened to pull its funding for his research.
“I sincerely apologise to the people for creating a shock and disappointment,” Prof Hwang told reporters as he was [...]

Evolution in Action, etc.

The prestigeous journal Science has just announced the “Breakthrough of the Year”. The prize goes to — can we have some drumroll, please — “Evolution in Action”. You can read its report here. If you are wondering why a 146-year old idea is being accorded this special status now, you should read P.Z. Myers, who [...]

Ranjit Nair on this year’s physics Nobel

Disclaimer: For this post, I am going by popular accounts of the contributions of great people like Sudarshan, Feynman and Glauber.

***
The latest is by Ranjit Nair, who has an op-ed in today’s Times of India on the issue of who deserved one half of this year’s Physics Nobel: Roy Glauber of Harvard or [...]

Nanosilver

Apparently, silver (particularly in the form of silver nitrate) was used as a disinfectant before the advent of antibiotics. Today’s NYTimes has an article about the return of silver — this time, in the nanometric, elemental form — to its well known medical use. It adds that this link between silver and its disinfectant properties [...]

How to get into graduate school?

Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean Carroll offers some guidelines, which are probably not for everyone. But do read them anyway, for they provide an interesting window into how some of the physics departments choose their students.