A Scientific Research Vault
Isaac Newton figured out how gravity behaves way back in the 1600s. He could describe what it did, how apples fall, how planets move, but he didn’t really know why it worked. Even he wasn’t totally satisfied with it. One of his ideas was that maybe invisible particles were pushing things together from all directions. That didn’t hold up, but the question remained, how does gravity actually happen?
Read More
What would the writings of Murakami be if not fiction? That question caught my attention, kind of like a loose thread dangling from an old, comfy sweater. I kept thinking about it over and over. Because if you really sit with Murakami’s novels, Kafka on The Shore, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase (currently reading) to name a few, then you’re aware of how important cats, well, metaphysical side doors, rivers, clouds, flash-backs, memories, blurring effect of reality and dreams, music, solitude are these.…
Read More
Scientists have been studying tiny magnetic bits inside solids called spins. These spins are important because they could be the building blocks for future technologies that use quantum physics, like super-secure communication or super-fast computers.
Read More
Imagine you’re standing on a road where cars drive in both directions. Generally, the speed limit is the same whether you’re heading north or south. That’s exactly how light usually works in most systems, the “speed limit” stays the same no matter which way it’s going. This is called reciprocal control, the system treats both directions equally.
Read More
I usually have three to four books on the go at any given time. There’s a rhythm to it, a kind of balance. Typically, it’s one work of literature, one non-fiction, something light for the in-between moments, and always, always a science fiction novella. This time, I picked up Let’s Get Together by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1957. I’m a huge, huge, and huge fan of Asimov’s works.
Read More
I have this inherent pull towards classic literature that I try to read at least one classic every three months, else, something is missing in life. There’s something about them that I still can’t explain, the time-worn pages, the echo of old thoughts, the slow paced plotlines, and at times, the characters are also slow in terms of how they operate in their respective worlds. Every revisit feels like a reunion with long-lost companions. I find myself re-acquainted with characters with a feeling that we might have when we meet…
Read More
What if time wasn’t just a constant, straight line moving forward, but a strange and flexible thing that can bend and change in ways we never expected? This is what Alan Lightman offers in his 1993 novel Einstein’s Dreams. I love books that make me see the world, and ourselves, in a new way, and this novel has always been one of my favorites. It’s a small book packed with big ideas, and filled with creative worlds that stay in mind even after the pages of the book have run…
Read More
MIT engineers have built a robot that can seriously play ping pong, and not just bat the ball back. This bot can understand the spin, predicts where the ball is going, and interestingly puts its own spin on returns. The whole project is from MIT’s Biomimetic Robotics Lab. It surely must be fun to build such robots, but embedding dexterousness through table tennis is a smart move as it pushes the robot to deal with speed, spin, unpredictability, and quick decision-making, all at once.
Read More