The need for archives in academic institutions In a pivotal scene in the sensational Christopher Nolan film, Oppenheimer, the protagonist, J Robert Oppenheimer, meets Danish physicist Niels Bohr while struggling with his research at Cambridge University in the early 1920s. Bohr urges Oppenheimer to move to Germany and study under the famed physicist and […]
India is betting big on lithium-ion batteries, but at what cost? In 1817, Johan August Arfwedson, a Swedish lawyer and mineralogist, was studying the mineral petalite in the laboratory of the renowned chemist Jacob Berzelius. His investigations revealed that the mineral mainly contained aluminium, silicon and oxygen. But around 4% of the composition […]
With a mushrooming elderly population, research on ageing is gathering steam Among Greek myths, the tale of Tithonus is particularly tragic. Eos, the immortal goddess of dawn, fell in love with the mortal Tithonus, a prince of Troy. She begged Zeus, the ruler of Greek gods, to grant Tithonus eternal life, but forgot to […]
IISc has made significant contributions to the development of Tejas, India’s Light Combat Aircraft In July 1940, during the early stages of World War II, the skies over Europe rumbled as the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s air force, launched a massive attack on Britain’s Royal Army and Royal Navy. For months, the two sides battled […]
Researchers at IISc and ARTPARK are building robots that will soon become an integral part of human environments The Terminator movies and several science fiction books have painted a picture of robots as mostly evil overlords bent on wiping out humanity. The reality is that although robots have evolved significantly in the last few decades, […]
Cryo-EM, an emerging technique, is allowing scientists to better zoom in on cells and molecules “Like any living organisms, we are a bag of water, formed from billions of cells which all are small bags of water. Since air is not transparent to electrons, an electron microscope must operate under vacuum – which […]
After centuries of sky-watching, we are yet to understand the complex nature of clouds It’s an early winter dawn. The lake seems to be steaming, but it is not. A cloud is being born. I am on a hilltop, watching a village in the valley sparkling in the early morning rays when a white sheet […]
IISc’s second campus at Challakere provides an ideal locale to study aerosols and their impact on climate Travelling down the National Highway from Bangalore to Challakere in the Chitradurga district of Karnataka, and past the city limits, I noticed the air becoming fresher to breathe. Could it have been because of the reduced pollution, […]
Researchers, doctors and communities work together to manage a neglected disease The first time Nagendra Kumar P started experiencing extreme pain was when he was a toddler. “He had severe headaches,” says his father, B Pandegowda. “We showed him to small hospitals nearby. He would become better for a few days, but the headaches […]
The influence of wind currents on humans and non-humans Chennai. 13 December 2016. I woke up in the morning and headed to the tea stall nearby for my daily dose of morning chai. It was windier than usual: my outfit ruffled heavily, and the umbrella I was carrying to protect me from the drizzle […]
