Tag: research

Book Review: The Emperor’s New Mind by Roger Penrose

Pooja Kashyap

The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics was written by Sir Roger Penrose. It was first published in 1989. I decided to pick this book because I thought it would give me the physicist’s perspective on what consciousness is. However, this book is much more than that. It’s about Turing machines, lambda calculus, the Mandelbrot set, Gödel’s theorem, cosmology, space-time singularities, quantum mechanics, neurology, AI, and, of course, consciousness. So, it’s a comprehensive package covering nearly “everything”.

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Interview: Dr. Boris Goncharov, a Senior Scientist at the Albert Einstein Institute, Germany

Pooja Kashyap

I’m thrilled to introduce Dr. Boris Goncharov, a distinguished figure in the field of gravitational wave research. Currently, he is a Senior Scientist with the Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) group at the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI) in Hanover, Germany, where he is exploring the fascinating world of nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves.

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From Urine to Water: The Latest Breakthrough in Spacesuit Technology

Pooja Kashyap

Of all the things in movie, Dune, I particularly got fascinated with the idea how the people used those suits to recycle sweat and urine into drinkable water. It got me thinking: why can’t we make this tech a reality? Well, it turns out researchers at Cornell University are on it! They’ve developed a prototype for a new urine collection and filtration system for spacesuits. Isn’t that awesome?

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Book Review: The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman

Pooja Kashyap

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma is written by Mustafa Suleyman along with the researcher Michael Bhaskar in 2023.  Before reviewing the book, I’d like to mention Suleyman views that I came across in one of his interviews with The Guardian. The following lines cover almost everything that is mentioned in the book – The Coming Wave.

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Gravitational Wave Memory: A Tool for Measuring Spacetime Symmetries

Pooja Kashyap

When we talk about the fabric of reality, in terms of physics, we deal with interesting abstractions and tonnes of complexities. One such intriguing concept of Einstein’s theory of general relativity is the existence of gravitational waves. As the name suggests, these ripples are generated in the spacetime by some of the universe’s most violent and energetic processes, such as mergers of cosmic stars or dent in the landscape due to black holes. Interestingly, whenever these waves pass through, they leave a measurable imprint on the relative positions of objects—a…

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Brain-like Artificial System: Dendristor to Mimic Brain’s Dendritic Computations

Pooja Kashyap

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology is expanding its tentacles rapidly across globe, engineers around the world are designing new types of computer architectures and hardware. One interesting aspect of most brain-inspired technologies developed so far is that researchers focus on mimicking how neurons fire (i.e., send electrical signals) rather than replicating the entire structure of the brain.

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UmboMic Revolutionizes Cochlear Implants with PVDF Technology

Pooja Kashyap

What if a microphone, which is fabricated from a flexible material can be placed inside our ear, to be more specific, directly on the eardrum? This biocompatible sensor will pick up sounds and sends them to a tiny amplifier, which makes the sounds loud enough to be processed by a cochlear implant. Doesn’t it sound like a boon for those who are deaf or hard of hearing?

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Interview: Dr. Artem Oganov, a Distinguished Professor at Skoltech, Russia

Pooja Kashyap

It is my honor to interview Dr. Artem R. Oganov, a world-renowned scientist whose expertise spans chemistry, crystallography, mineralogy, and materials science. He is the winner of many awards, including the prestigious European Mineralogical Union medal. And since 2017, he has been a proud member of the European Academy of Sciences.

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Interview: Dr. Andy Wang, a Bioelectronics Scientist at the University of Cambridge, England

Pooja Kashyap

Meet Dr. Andy Wang, PhD, a leading researcher in the Biointerface Group at the University of Cambridge, under the esteemed Prof. Shery Huang. Dr. Wang brings a wealth of expertise to the field, having earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Tsinghua University in 2016, followed by a PhD in the same field from the world-renowned Cambridge University Engineering Department in 2021.

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Planetary Puzzle: Aquodiium Ions may Influence Uranus and Neptune’s Magnetic Fields

Pooja Kashyap

Scientists from Skoltech and their Chinese colleagues have discovered conditions that might allow for the existence of a unique ion called aquodiium. This ion is essentially a water molecule that has gained two extra protons. This means, the “regular” H₂O formula with two additional protons (H⁺), will make its chemical formula H₅O²⁺.

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