(Mis)measure of science

On Swarup's blog I found a link to this awesome article by Peter Lawrence on the mismeasurement of science. I often like to joke that Euclid'e H-index cannot 13. But jokes apart, it is very important the science policy makers take note of the arguments here.

Deccan Herald article on Nuclear Deal

I must confess that I have not been following the nuclear deal very closely. Of course one has the gut feeling that there is something really rotten about it. In fact, there is very little that one can read about what it is in any way a good thing. I may link to other articles in the upcoming days. However, here is a very striking article from today's Deccan Herald. Here is a quote.

Equally, for the UPA government, especially for the Congress party, there is bound to be sensitivity in identifying with a US administration that is about to go on yet another crusade against a Muslim country. For completely different reasons, therefore, the Manmohan Singh government and the Bush administration have unspeakable concerns in ensuring that somehow the nuclear deal is wrapped up before the dogs of war are let loose in West Asia.

Of course being a Muslim or otherwise has nothing to do with opposing the activities of the US in the region.

Spreading the word at Christ College

I was happy to accept the invitation of my friend and colleague Diptiman Sen to be a mentor/lecturer/presenter at two programmes arranged by the Indian Academy of Sciences recently, and which took place at Christ College in the southern part of Bangalore. The first was for Pre-University teachers and the second for Degree and Post-Graduate College teachers. To my pleasant surprise at the second event there were many M. Sc. students as well. At the first programme, the teachers asked me deal with some difficulties they had in explaining concepts after a fairly detailed introduction I gave. At the second, the teachers said that they had no difficulties! So there I was having to fill up about two and a half hours! It turned into a very long impromptu set of lectures on the present status of elementary particle physics. I enjoyed it very much, even if the participants did not! Also striking on both occasions was the warmth and hospitality of the organizers. I hope there will be more invitations for such programmes coming up!

My recent popular (?) science writing

Here I am giving links to three articles that I wrote with summer students and my former student Shivaraj who has now gone off to Minnesota. The first two were written with students coming to me from the Institutes `Young Science Fellowship Programme' [the syntax does not really make sense; anyway that is what it is called] and these are Keshav Choudhary, Lishbanya Mohapatra, Indrajeet Patil and Avinash Rustagi. The third one is with a student, Kshitij Garg, who came to me through the KVPY programme.

The first article is on the observation of exotic baryons at Fermilab and has been published in Current Science here.

The second article is on oscillation phenomena in heavy-meson systems and has been published in Current Science here.

The third article is on quantum entanglement phenomena in B-meson system. This has been accepted for publication in Current Science.

I will direct the readers of this humble blog to the articles themselves and they are meant for such a readership.

QOTD

Found in an excerpt by a book by the former wife of Stephen Hawking:

Nor, I have to confess, did the set of scientists with whom Stephen was now associating attract me in the least. On the whole, particle physicists were a dry, obsessive bunch of boffins, little concerned with personal contact but very concerned with their own scientific reputations. They were much more aggressively competitive than the relaxed, friendly relativists with whom we had associated in the past.

This is too good...

Indian police hunt for monkey accused of stealing South Korean tourist's glasses

By AP
Tuesday July 17, 01:32 PM

Police combed the alleys of the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in northern India on Tuesday to search for a monkey accused of stealing reading glasses from a South Korean tourist.

Kim Dang Hoon filed a formal complaint against the primate that he claims broke into his hotel room and pinched his spectacles, according to investigating officer Inspector Govind Singh.

"It is difficult to trace the monkey but I am trying my best to locate the rogue," Singh said from Varanasi, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Lucknow.

Thousands of wild monkeys roam Varanasi, dotting the trees on the banks of the Ganges River and scampering through the city's many temples, where they are venerated as manifestations of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.

In his written complaint, Kim said he opened his hotel room window for fresh air when the monkey made his move. "He headed straight to the table where my glasses were kept and took it away," Kim said in the statement.

Part of the frame later was recovered by hotel staff and Kim said he filed the report so he can make a damages claim on his travel insurance.

Singh said he would be at a loss if his officers caught the culprit because there are no laws under which a wild monkey can be charged.

Problems with monkeys harassing tourists in the city were common, Singh said.

"But we can't do anything. We cannot shoot them or beat them as Hindus worship monkeys," he said.

QOTD

"A university has a lot of weird people. Some of the faculty are weird, some of the grad students are weird." Read more about this here.