Friday night a storm moves in. Raindrops start to lazily fall. Lightning lights the night sky (but eludes the camera). The clouds reveal their power. They loom overhead. The clouds remain on…

I'm not sure which is worse;  the arrogance of these people actually thinking that they speaking for God or their belief in a God that can only bully people into submission. “Because the…

Happy holi is celebrated across India . In the evening of purnima holika (made from wood logs ) symbolizing evil is burnt and prahlad (made of green twig) is taken out from the burning Holika just…

Some Thoughts On Priorities It occurs to me that in this modern age of demands for instant satisfaction of our wants and needs, the instructions to supervisors of refineries, explosives factories and…

This is a short note to draw your attention to Jim Kaler’s recent page covering ADVANCES IN ASTRONOMY for 2009 – 2010. It’s not very long, but the latest in everything from the Moon to the whole…

Sea beaches and their vegetation have disappeared as most of beaches are encroached upon for hotels industry, housing , and industries in India . Mangroves and sunder bans have also being lost to the…

Every friday from now on I'm going to pick out a cool fossil and stick it here. It's not necessarily going to be from the recent literature, and I'm an invertebrate paleontologist, so don't expect…

Really?  Seriously  according to OK Cupid's analysis of their data from asking 642533 people the question  5% of men (gay and straight) and 10% of women (gay and straight) think the…

Open Thread #1 I have started this blog entry under 'random thoughts' for the benefit of those of my readers who may with to discuss a broader spectrum of my topics than is usual in scientific…

Borrowing from the tactics of Bill Maher, I propose a New Rule:  When putting forth the claim that something is "sustainable," it must be with reference to a comparable item or process that is…

40 percent of world’s population lives in coastal areas. Coastal areas have different characteristics where saline water from sea, its winds carrying salt, salt marshes, inland sea water vegetation ,…

Vegetation line along rail road or connecting roads was such a common site that sometime trees would even obstruct the passage, in my childhood. They widened the roads and cut the trees . Jaipur…

My blogging output here is scarce this week, because I am spending my time at the NEUTEL 2011 conference in Venice. I am producing some posts summarizing the talks I hear at the conference, together…

South Korea has agreed to send some 50 tons of boron from its reserves to Japan to help fight the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima reactor plant. The scientists at TEPCO have been sent samples for…

The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington, is in Tokyo trying to dampen expat fears that the Fukushima nuclear reactors could possibly ruin their lives. I had…

What I Had For Breakfast #2 Four whole fried chickens, and a Coke. My bike's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before lycra was invented, so it'll run good on regular…

Last year, the NPR sound engineer said I was the first scientist to really nail what sonification is.  In my 365DOA podcast, I am joined by Matt and Hai-Ting of ScopesMonkeyChoir.com in the…

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake is equal to about 450 megatons of TNT being set off underground.  Due to the situation at the Daiichi nuclear plant near in Sendai Japan there is much talk of how…

Floods in a country,or several countries, rapid Tsunamis around the world (taking place at a faster rate), temperatures rising - do they not provide enough proof that climate change is taking…

The NEUTEL 2011 conference started today in Venice. Many experiments in neutrino physics will be reporting new results there, and the interest is of course high in the community. Along with a few…