Letters

Why Scientists Are Missing I agree with the editor that India’s scientists have retreated in silence (‘Indian scientists: missing in action’, March 15-31, 2011).

Is information knowledge?

In 1948, a young mathematician published a paper in an obscure technical journal.

Set the books free

Penguins are lovable. And it is hard to believe a children’s book on such an inoffensive bird can trigger a controversy.

Betrayal by monopoly

In the past two decades, the US government has become a bulwark of the movement for intellectual property rights.

Rising power of the knowledge commons

How many of the Einsteins who exist now will be allowed to learn physics? That is the question Eben Moglen, professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, threw at a selected audience in Delhi last month.

New coffee house chain by Coke

Coca-Cola Toronto

Wisdom roots

In 1992, a viral epidemic spread through the Jheelo ki Basti of Udaipur district in Rajasthan. Healthcare facilities were limited and many children died. The scourge was finally contained only with the help of traditional healers in the area, whose kada (potion) quickly brought a frightening situation under control.

A political drought

During one of the meetings of the World Water Commission, which recently submitted its report in The Hague to a bevy of water ministers, a member had strongly emphasised the need for educating politicians about the importance of water. I, however, found that argument incorrect because I have rarely met a politician, especially in India, who will not emphasise the importance of water. The real problem is that hardly any of them know how to solve the water problem. Teaching them is difficult.

Minding our language

Wherever they may roam

as long as those little, green men do not show up, the third stone from the sun - Earth - remains the only planet that can boast of life. In fact, life is in such abundance here that science can often lose track of all the various lifeforms that we share this planet with. Biologists speculate that right now, there may be as many as 10 to 30 million species of living organisms living under the same Sun with us.