Light is almost synonymous with life. We're so hopelessly dependant on massless photons - at the most fundamental level through photosynthesis, light from the sun enables the existence of life itself. On the more sophisticated scale - the modern age is again hopelessly dependant on optics. Optics enables the internet, weather and climate monitoring, fabrication of computer chips,…
Our planet is a witness to multiple natural phenomena - biological, chemical or optical. Aurora is primarily some gorgeous physics at play - but we'd also classify it as an optical phenomenon. Predominantly observed in high latitude regions, regions possessing a weak magnetic field, auroras are a natural light spectacle in the sky. Imagine it as a colourful…
About a hundred thousand years ago, the first ‘modern Humans’ appeared on Earth. We, like all species, have been on an evolutionary roller coaster, and the ride is endless, or so it seems.
Left to its own devices, nature imposes selection on all the living organisms and drives them to evolve. And so it has…
You'd be forgiven for falling in love with the beauty of natural phenomenon all around us, even those outside our direct line of sight, far out in the observable universe. Most agree that there is beauty, in some form or the other, in almost everything that the laws of physics help facilitate. But few people…
What lies beyond earth? This question has beguiled us for ages. An interest in the cosmos started developing with the birth of philosophy itself, but there wasn't much early man could do about it. The curiosity for the space could only be quenched by astute observation and fertile imagination.
In the beginning of the 17th…
We may be an intelligent species, but we're no wise civilisation. Humans have witnessed more conflicts agreements, and have been scarred by the horrors of warfare for almost the entirety of our existence. In fact, in the past 3400 years, we've only been lucky enough to witness 250 years of peace. The ghastly and long term effects of…
Our origins on this planet, the workings of the environment and the quirks in nature have been intriguing puzzles for us since time immemorial. There still remain a plethora of unanswered questions but one thing that can be observed surely is Change. Everything on our planet undergoes some degree of change– planned or otherwise. This…
The term ‘clone’ was first used by J.B.S Haldane, a British biologist, in 1963. A ‘clone’ is a genetic copy of an organism, and ‘cloning’ involves the various processes used to create clones. Cloning is actually a very common process of reproduction for micro-organisms and plants. Reproduction isn't truly cloning when it comes to multicellular…
The framework of modern physics largely rests on two pillars, namely General Relativity (which is celebrating its centenary this year), and Quantum Mechanics. Albert Einstein not only formulated the theory of relativity but was also one of the pioneers in the development of Quantum Theory, exploring the fascinating realm of quantum entanglement. However, it is…
We spend about a third of our lives in slumber. Before advances in neuroscience and biology, it was believed that a sleeping person is a passive, dormant being. Now we know that our body, especially our brains work over-time during our sleeping phase, furiously making and breaking neural connections. Sleeping is not just an act of retreat…