This edition of the Scian Melt is here as promised… There have not been too many nominations for this one but I searched around a bit and have added a few posts on my own.
Enjoy!
Fitting to start this melt with an initiative started by Sunil Laxman on presenting science news. He hopes this will be a fortnightly feature with my own breakdowns and synopses of recent scientific breakthroughs I read over that time (spreading news of the scientific breakthroughs in a nutshell). We hope so too, Sunil.
Presenting Everything Scientific Vol. 1 which covers a variety of topics from Chimps and us to
Nanoparticles go beyond carbon via Smoking makes you blind and Pain is all in the head.
Next in the melt is a new blog discovery (for me), Sowmya. As her blog title promises, she picks up shallow thoughts and generates profound insights from them. Her blog is delightful and in her own words about life experiences, light bulb moments, science, travelogues…
Light bulb moment -4 , Mustard Seeds answers ths question Have you ever thought why we use so much mustard seeds in our food?.
Also check out her excellent posts on Einstein.
Sowmya has also written about the placebo effect in Placebo – I will please!.
This post was triggered by Prashant Mullick’s musings on his own blog on homeopathy and the placebo effect.
While Sowmya and Prashant have used mild words to describe this system of alternative medicine, the Scian himself, Selvakumar has this post titled – rather strikingly – Identifying The Bullshit around us, where he takes on all sorts of subjects from astrology to Deepak Chopra to ghosts and Sai Baba. And oh, I forgot penis enlargement. Read it. And also read the interesting comments on this post.
And does God exist? And what is God doing in a melt on science? And why am I using a capital G here? Reuben at Zoo Station presents his Proof of god’s existence. In his post, he presents but 3 arguments from a page that offers 300+ proofs of god’s existence
And to end this melt, a post which is strictly not about science. But about technology. This is a topic very close to my heart. Also Richard Feynman in ‘The meaning of it all’ has described technology as the “doing of new things” – in other words, application of science. So I thought this be will not be amiss here.
A Tutor Half a World Away, but as Close as a Keyboard – from NYTimes Technology. Five days each week, at 4:30 a.m. in Cochin, the teachers log on to their computers just as students in the United States settle down to their books and homework in the early evening.
And that brings us to the end of yet another episode of the Scian melt. The next one will be hosted by Prashant Mullick at his blog Kyun.
I think this melt is a superb idea. Can we have more participation please? More nominations for the next time and more volunteers to host it.
Nice, Charu. Frankly I did not think one could come up with even these many posts.
Fabulous! This edition of the Melt made my day!
Very nice Charu, interesting read. Agree with you. There should be more posts!
thanks charu!! i am pretty new to this whole blogging thing, but so far its been a lot of fun. am glad you enjoyed my posts. being part of the Scian Melt is definitely a morale booster!!
A nice Melt, Charu! You have done a great job of collecting nice posts on science. Like Anand, I was also pleasantly surprised to see so many of them here. Of course, we have always had Selva’s SciAn and Kiran’s Indic View (which covers quite a bit of science and technology — in addition to the economics — of energy). Dilip has been writing on scientific topics on and off, and Sunil’s fortnighly effort is a wonderful new development. Now, thanks to this Melt, I have discovered another nice blog: Sowmya’s.
Great show!
Hi Charu,
Thanks for putting my post in!
I think this Scian Melt is a very nice idea………i didn’t know what Scian melt was (when you asked for nominations), and actually hadn’t seen this before. But i hope to be a regular visitor henceforth!
nice job, makes for nice saturday reading.
Great to see more involvement in The Scientific Indian activities. Since we introduced the Melt in early October 2004, the nine editions have seen ups and downs in interest but its always great to get the crowd together once again.
First things first – Selva of Scian tells me the melt is Prashant’s idea originally – the next melt is going be at his blog. Head there.
And I also got nominations from Prashant and Selva for this melt – for instance, I did not discover Sowmya’s blog but got there though Prashant’s nomination.
Anand, Aparna, Sunil, Abi, thanks!
Selva, glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun putting this together š
Sowmya, pleasure all mine – your blog is superb.
Prashant, looking forward to the next one at your blog. hopefully this interest level will stay up š
wow. nice to see so many great science posts. will spend a lazy sunday and monday and tuesday – slowly ingesting the posts
will definitely nominate the next time and also host at some point in time
let’s reactivate the media blog !
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nice set of posts! great work, charu!
Harini, Uma, thanks š
I was rather disheartened by the zero-response to my earlier call for nominations!
and Harini, yo to media musings. start with a post right now :))
Hi RB, I always learn something new and interesting from your site and via your links. I’d been contemplating a response to your previous B.A. post–being that I, too, am a recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree–but have found a response complicated by too many thoughts. Reading the NY Times article about the out-sourcing of tutors to India inspired me to respond (and ramble).
These days, I equate having a college or university B.A./B.S. in the US with having a driver’s license. Possessing a driver’s license (and a car), as well as a B.A./B.S. is the bare minimum. Each of these are highly valued as proof of social ‘normalcy’, yet there are no guarantees one will find fulfilling, joyful, interesting work of benefit to society. It’s actually become quite easy and common to get both a driver’s license and a university degree. For many high school grads, going on to college or university is a matter of course, even with little or no thought given to educational purpose; it’s a right of passage–like getting a driver’s license at 16. I was one of these kids who went off to university at 18 (in 1979), mostly so I could get away from my family and have my own life. The concept of having an educational purpose or occupational goal was not encouraged by my family or school. I’m still learning these lessons now.
Possessing a license does not equal safe, responsible driving. Millions of car accidents occur every year due to poor driving. (I won’t even go into the wastefulness of oil, the obesity problem, and the general lack of a global consciousness due to Americans’ dependency on their cars). Universities are cranking out graduates who cannot write or communicate what they think and feel. There are lots of so-called ‘highly qualified’ teachers teaching chlidren in our public schools who have little subject knowledge of anything. They are qualified to teach because they went through certification in a college of education. For many, teaching is just a job that pays a little better than a retail job would. One of the problems–as I see it–is that education is a commodity now, rather than a door through which one can access worlds. Education needs to be a joyful experience for the learners, the teachers, the administrators, for the parents, relatives, and the community. Many US public schools resemble jails today (especially the middle schools and high schools in big cities). There is no joy of learning. Kids are locked up all day. Emphasis is on test results than real learning. Most school cafeterias serve unhealthy food that is like plastic, and yet for many students the school meal will be their best or only meal of the day. I have a stake in all this–I love to learn and I am a teacher who wants to be part of a learning environment that values the learner. I am almost finished with a Master of Arts program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). It seems like there are many innovative schools in India that seek to integrate a student’s mind-body-spirituality with her environment while providing access to other languages, science, math, etc. I’ve been influenced by some essays on education by Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and the Mother. Education is definitely on my mind and close to my heart all the time. I’d like to find a wonderful place to teach…. Maybe in India?? Re: the tutoring article–Why not? It sounds like a good situation for everyone. And, maybe the tutees will learn something about India through the experience. It’s not at all surprising to me that teachers from outside the US, speakers of English as a second (third, or fourth) language are qualified to teach English grammar and other subjects. I think that’s wonderful, in fact.
My B.A., by the way, is in East Asian Studies, Japanese Thought and Religion with a Spanish minor and one of my favorite classes was a Hindu Literature class.
Nicole, thanks for the nice worda about my blog! ands oyur long detailed response.
I completely agree when you say that education has become a commodity and there is no joy left in learning – atleast not at the school or undergrad level…
irony about education – esp till the undergrad level – you may not be able to do much with it but you can do nothing without it!