In 2009, scientists defined nine planetary boundaries to safeguard the human populace. Now, they have added a new one. Credit: Steffen et al. 2015 Everything remains healthy and flourishing if the boundaries are obeyed. Be it a romantic relationship, a workspace interaction, or our relationship with our own planet. Respecting planetary boundaries is significant if … Continue reading Environmental Justice: A Boundary to Protect The Human Civilization of the Planet →

These white fur balls are invisible to infrared radiation, a technique used to map the population of living creatures in remote locations. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com When it comes to counting animals in remote and inaccessible areas, scientists’ best bet is unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These devices are quite similar to drones. They mount … Continue reading Making a Census for Polar Bears is Challenging. But Why? →

It takes millennia for the sunlight to get to the surface from the core and then it can escape the star to reach us. Photo by Fer Nando on Unsplash From our school textbooks, we know that the sunlight takes around 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the Earth. After reading the title of … Continue reading The Sunlight We See Is Much Older Than 8 Minutes →

The amount of radiation bananas expose us to is undoubtedly safe, says science. Photo by Vanessa Loring on Pexels.com As I was browsing the internet this week, I stumbled upon an article that claimed bananas are radioactive. A "WTF" expression hovered over my face for a moment because I love bananas. I scoured through the … Continue reading Bananas Are Radioactive. Should you worry? →

An abysmally fast solar wind interacted with the air of a low-altitude atmosphere to produce this unconventional, unique aurora. Photo by stein egil liland on Pexels.com Nature is spectacular. And complex. And unpredictable. Recently, mother nature has got a surprise for the entire populace of the Indian subcontinent. An aurora in the sky of the … Continue reading Aurora Captured in India, a Rarest of Rare Phenomenon →

Eureka moments often happen when you are not looking for it. Photo by Andrew George on Unsplash “A student in Rutherford’s lab was very hard-working. Rutherford noticed it and asked one evening: -Do you work in the mornings too? -Yes—proudly answered the student sure he would be commended. -But, when do you think? —amazed Rutherford.” … Continue reading Doing Science by Not Doing Science →

A visually intuitive numeric system was about to be forgotten until UC Berkley Linguists and Silicon Valley techies came forward to rescue it. Credit: Amanda Montañez and Scientific American What number do you get while subtracting 3 from 18? 15. How did you do it? With MENTAL operations that your math teacher taught in the … Continue reading Kaktovik Numerals plus Silicon Valley equals Voila →

Modern-day PIs are bringing humor to the table, and that’s for good reasons. Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash Physics is just like sex: sure, it may give you some practical results, but that’s not why we do it Richard Feynman We effortlessly remember this quote for two reasons. Firstly, one of the world’s best … Continue reading Break the seriousness of the lab, with humor! →

Ph.D. and postdoc fellows who are willing to move overseas may find this article useful. But researchers planning to stay back in their country may benefit too. Photo by Naassom Azevedo on Unsplash A spring afternoon. A govt. funded high school. 8th-grade students are busy with their usual banter but cautious enough as the headmaster … Continue reading Choose the right group for your research—A set of guidelines to keep in mind →

For small numbers, ronto and quecto, respectively. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash An electron weighs a “rontogram”, Jupitar weighs two “quettagrams”, and the diameter of the observable universe is around one “rontometer”. This is how Katrina starts her article for the Chemistry World. General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), the authority that decides … Continue reading Two New Prefixes for Big SI Units-Ronna and Quetta →