Putting faith back in science
Pope Francis may have just succeeded in creating a kind of middle ground, albeit a slippery one
Chimeras of afterlife
A growing number of the elite are freezing their bodies in the hope for a rebirth. Is it possible?
Debased database
Statistical data has been used and abused for centuries by a range of people for a variety of reasons. Is there a way out?
Protein bodyguards
A protein found in almost all life-forms not only offers protection against toxins but also preverits errant behaviour in other proteins
Indian scientists thwart Western embargo on manufacture of carbon composites
An indigenous technique of manufacturing carbon-carbon composites -- state-of-the-art materials of immense commercial and military importance.…
Evolution with full stops and commas
Darwinian sapience takes a beating as the notion of 'punctuated equilibrium' - which postulates that evolution occurred in sudden fits and starts -…
Humanity's puzzling past
The 4.5 million year blind leap from "almost human" to Homo sapiens continues to baffle palaeontologists, but 2 new finds offer a new …
The dark side of big data
Latest Facebook data breach episode is a reminder that rise of Big Data represents a massive engineering of society with ominous implications for …
Cultural calling
Henrich attempts a thrilling adventure in the fierce interplay between genes and culture in human evolution
Fingering the keyboard
Indian scientists are developing computers that can understand and respond to the spoken wordIndian scientists are developing computers that can …
Nature and culture, no fissure
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Binary blunders
The gender spectrum is a consequence of the complex interplay between culture and highly-nuanced and protean brain
The great brain robbery
As the Alzheimer's epidemic rages worldwide without the hope of a cure, the best we can do is change the way we live to halt it in its tracks
Making sense of sexual swings
Is your sexual preference only a result of your genes or do environment and culture also influence it?
Mars' water connection
Channels and valleys observed on the Martian surface and meteorites of Martian origin indicate that once there might have been water on the planet
The computer plays postman
India seems ready to cash in on electronic mail, a cheap and fast way of communication in which messages are exchanged through computer networks.
Manipulating reality
The concept of Virtual Reality -- simulating the real world -- is adding a new dimension to entertainment and education.
A stale session of scientists
The 81st session of the Indian Science Congress failed to inspire interaction among scientists and was reduced to a forum for criticising the …
जीवाणुओं का रहस्य
कई विशेषज्ञों का तर्क है कि प्रतिरोधक क्षमता का संबंध शरीर में सूक्ष्मजीवों की उपस्थिति से भी जोड़ा जा सकता है।
यौन भावनात्मकता की समझ
क्या आपकी यौन प्राथमिकता केवल आपके जीनों का परिणाम है या पर्यावरण और संस्कृति भी इस पर प्रभाव डालते हैं?
‘पोस्ट ट्रुथ’ का सच
सरकारों ने हमेशा से काल्पनिक तथ्यों के जरिए प्रोपेगंडा को बढ़ावा दिया है। जबकि सोशल मीडिया के तीव्र प्रसार ने झूठ बोलने की कला ...
The brew of `post-truth'
Popular opinion can now be engineered using fake news grapevines spawned by new technologies. Here's how
No consensus on consciousness
Despite fanciful theories by psychologists, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists, consciousness remains an abiding mystery
The `feeling' in nature
Andrea Wulf resurrects the forgotten intellectual explorer, Alexander von Humboldt, whose work has left a lasting imprint on our understanding of …
Call the bluff
The JNU episode must force us to decipher the modus operandi of the modern `truth-telling' information machinery