Hear Hear Scian Melt #13 is here!! First up let me congratulate The Scientific Indian, Selva for winning the Best Science/Technology blog of the year 2005!
Moving on to the Melt. We have had nominations in various categories for this melt and thank you all for the enthusiasm! We would also like volunteers for future melts.
Environment
It has been a year and a few weeks since the Tsunami, but what we now know about the Tsunami's is invaluable. Girl Scientist of Living the Scientific Life (or Scientist, Interrupted): has a post Tsunami: One year later. Ramya has a very touching post on why going back to Tsunami hit areas of Tamil Nadu was actually good, because things were coming around. The two posts have very different perspectives, but definitely worth your while.
Avik of Surging Waves writes about how a blind man in Orissa turned a piece of land into forest. He also has a post on Kashmir and Himalayas could face more earthquakes. The Scian has been reading a lot about 'garbage' these days and hails Namakkalites are smarter than New Yorkers. A very insightful post on how 'connectedness' brings awareness among the general public. One last post in this category is by me on frogs disappearing from the planet and an age old experimental test attributed to it.
Everyday Science
Selva had a lot of fun Busting CDs with Microwaves . The post comes with a lot of warning for kids. If you are an adult and are responsible for your actions and your microwave oven, go ahead and try it. Moi had a very geeky post on Everyday Radioactivity - Human Body. Sunil writes about a breakthrough research using zebrafish and answering questions on the color of the skin, evolution and natural selection. He also has a post on 'Nobels that could have been', where he talks about great scientists and their discoveries that definitely warranted more than one Nobel Prize but is not so in reality. Suresh analyses Edge.org's annual question "What is your most dangerous idea ?, while Venkat gives the history behind the metre.
Astronomy and Space Science
Santonu of 'From the pavilion end' had two posts, one supporting 'Space Research' where he writes about performing experiments in a zero gravity setting. Another post by him is on the return of 'Star Dust', a 25kg spacecraft that returns to earth on Jan 15th 2006! Aswin had a very inspiring post on Vishnu Vardhan Reddy and the asteroids that this amateur turned professional astronomer has discovered. Inkycircus had a post on 'An authentically 'long distance' call' - a communication signal sent by 'Messenger' from 24 million km away. Truely long distance.
Honors and Remembrance
Anand has a post of Prof M.S. Narasimhan, who is the recepient of King Faisal International Prize. Aswin remembers Prof.Raychaudhuri who passed away in June 2005 and his enormous contribution to General Theory of Relativity.
Focus-India
Abi wonders about Women in Science: India, while Nitin has a post The Great Leap Backward,
his take on the reservation policy in India. Sunil questions How do teachers become accountable?, a very thought provoking post on how to make government school teachers accountable. Karthik adds his 'dx' to this melt with his post on Semiconductors Made in India. Nilu gives his take on Manjunath's death, definitely a very different view point. On a lighter note, a post by Raj on the Aeolian dust and their effect on the minds of people, a satire with science!
That brings us to the end of this edition of The Scian Melt. If you would like to host a melt please email Selva at melt[at]thescian[dot]com and he will add you to the schedule. Once again thanks for all the nominations. Have fun!
Moving on to the Melt. We have had nominations in various categories for this melt and thank you all for the enthusiasm! We would also like volunteers for future melts.
Environment
It has been a year and a few weeks since the Tsunami, but what we now know about the Tsunami's is invaluable. Girl Scientist of Living the Scientific Life (or Scientist, Interrupted): has a post Tsunami: One year later. Ramya has a very touching post on why going back to Tsunami hit areas of Tamil Nadu was actually good, because things were coming around. The two posts have very different perspectives, but definitely worth your while.
Avik of Surging Waves writes about how a blind man in Orissa turned a piece of land into forest. He also has a post on Kashmir and Himalayas could face more earthquakes. The Scian has been reading a lot about 'garbage' these days and hails Namakkalites are smarter than New Yorkers. A very insightful post on how 'connectedness' brings awareness among the general public. One last post in this category is by me on frogs disappearing from the planet and an age old experimental test attributed to it.
Everyday Science
Selva had a lot of fun Busting CDs with Microwaves . The post comes with a lot of warning for kids. If you are an adult and are responsible for your actions and your microwave oven, go ahead and try it. Moi had a very geeky post on Everyday Radioactivity - Human Body. Sunil writes about a breakthrough research using zebrafish and answering questions on the color of the skin, evolution and natural selection. He also has a post on 'Nobels that could have been', where he talks about great scientists and their discoveries that definitely warranted more than one Nobel Prize but is not so in reality. Suresh analyses Edge.org's annual question "What is your most dangerous idea ?, while Venkat gives the history behind the metre.
Astronomy and Space Science
Santonu of 'From the pavilion end' had two posts, one supporting 'Space Research' where he writes about performing experiments in a zero gravity setting. Another post by him is on the return of 'Star Dust', a 25kg spacecraft that returns to earth on Jan 15th 2006! Aswin had a very inspiring post on Vishnu Vardhan Reddy and the asteroids that this amateur turned professional astronomer has discovered. Inkycircus had a post on 'An authentically 'long distance' call' - a communication signal sent by 'Messenger' from 24 million km away. Truely long distance.
Honors and Remembrance
Anand has a post of Prof M.S. Narasimhan, who is the recepient of King Faisal International Prize. Aswin remembers Prof.Raychaudhuri who passed away in June 2005 and his enormous contribution to General Theory of Relativity.
Focus-India
Abi wonders about Women in Science: India, while Nitin has a post The Great Leap Backward,
his take on the reservation policy in India. Sunil questions How do teachers become accountable?, a very thought provoking post on how to make government school teachers accountable. Karthik adds his 'dx' to this melt with his post on Semiconductors Made in India. Nilu gives his take on Manjunath's death, definitely a very different view point. On a lighter note, a post by Raj on the Aeolian dust and their effect on the minds of people, a satire with science!
That brings us to the end of this edition of The Scian Melt. If you would like to host a melt please email Selva at melt[at]thescian[dot]com and he will add you to the schedule. Once again thanks for all the nominations. Have fun!
