Why urban diseases like rabies and dengue are so hard to control Less than a kilometre from Bengaluru’s Lalbagh botanical garden lies the Bisilu Maramma Devi temple. The goddess has another name: Plague Maramma. Devotees believe that the deity harnesses the sun’s power to kill bacteria and viruses and ward off illnesses. The temple […]
How do you use AI tools in your work? (Edited by Ashmita Gupta)
Researchers are using science to improve our coffee It’s a crisp, windy morning in Bengaluru. I open my jar of fresh coffee powder and pack some tightly into my coffee filter. I then gently pour some boiling water over the bed of coffee grounds, filling it to the brim. Watching the water burble over […]
Beauty and bias in perceiving art “I feel like we are nearing the end of times. We humans are losing faith in ourselves.” Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animator and co-founder of the renowned production house Studio Ghibli, uttered these words in 2016 after seeing an AI-generated animation film for the first time. Nine years […]
Narayanaswamy Balakrishnan (“Balki”) has spent over five decades at IISc. Upon completing his BE (Hons) from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, he pursued his PhD from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IISc, where he continued as a faculty member. He contributed to diverse areas, including aerospace electronics, computational electromagnetics, and information security. He also played […]
A brief history of IISc hostels To the south-west of the IISc Main Building, a stone’s throw away stands a rather squat piece of architecture. The ground floor construction is of grey-brown rock, cut and piled in rectangles of various sizes. The first floor is painted with what must have been a shade of […]
The scientist for social development One morning in the early 1940s, 12-year-old Amulya Reddy received a letter from his uncle and hero, CGK Reddy, a marine engineer and political activist. The letter, written on a rough piece of paper, had arrived from the Madras jail where CGK was imprisoned for his anti-British activities. In […]
Secret lives of mixed species groups Some years ago, while driving through the scenic Masai Mara, a savannah wilderness in Kenya, Kartik Shanker made an interesting observation. “Various species of ungulates (hoofed mammals) like gazelles, zebras, and wildebeests were foraging together, but what was interesting was that smaller individuals grouped with similarly sized individuals […]
The promise and perils of scientific publishing Midway through 2025, a young researcher was wrought in thought. He knew that he had a paper that was good, worthy and ready to be shared with the world, but he hesitated. It was not a lack of confidence nor a matter of insecurity. It was a […]
Mariadasan Anthony Decroos (known as MA Decroos) dedicated more than 40 years of service to the Institute from 1965. He worked with five Directors, handling sensitive, confidential, and strategic planning assignments that contributed significantly to the Institute’s growth. When CONNECT reached out for an interview, the 85-year-old promptly agreed to reflect on his life and […]
