Indigenus

Pardon me if I sound like an excited child in a toy shop but I am just back from CERN, the particle physics lab on the Franco-Swiss border that everyone knows of now, thanks to 'Angels and Demons'. The best part of the trip, besides being able to see all the experiment hubs, was the Indian presence at CERN (and I am itching to write a bigger article on it soon).

It was lovely to be greeted by a Nataraj statue presented to CERN by India's department of atomic energy.

And then to be greeted by CERN physicist Archana Sharma, the woman from Jhansi whose infectious 'science patriotism' is something I identified with. There's another story to be told on her efforts to put India on the CERN map and vice-versa. For the first time ever, a contingent of Indian students is visiting CERN to get an exposure of a lifetime, thanks to Sharma's perseverance.

I can't but mention Dilip Jana, a young scientist I found working late on a Sunday night in a CERN library, wife in tow. His fascinating personal journey from remote Nandigram (now famous as a political hotbed) in West Bengal to the US for higher studies and then a deputation at CERN is awe-inspiring. Something all young students aspiring to be scientists must be told about. More about him in the India article on CERN soon.

Being at CERN was an experience in itself -- a glamorous particle physics lab, the Large Hadron Collider and loads of talk on matter, anti-matter and Higgs -- in the middle of small villages on both sides of the border, vineyards and the Alps. Worth a longish travelogue, actually!

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on July 13, 2009
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We counted this already among the many menaces of living in polluted cities, but now there's a study to prove it beyond doubt. Our children breathe heavily polluted air in schools.

The respirable standard particulate matter (RSPM) in Delhi schools apparently exceeds all air quality standards in most seasons, according to pollution watchers at The Energy Research Institute (TERI) in New Delhi. They studied five schools in the national capital region and found that nitrogen dioxide levels were also over the top in some of these schools. They report 'alarming' levels of pollutants on Diwali day, the festival of lights, and for days preceding Diwali.

Here, the first two self-explanatory graphs talk of the RSPM and nitrogen dioxide levels (in that order). The third graph gives a feel of the Diwali bonanza!

In the emission inventory of Delhi, the prime culprits stand out -- vehicles and industries, primarily the power plants. The researchers have suggested a slew of mitigation measures to make school zones safer for children including improved parking, pick up and drop off zone for children, dense tree plantation, water sprinkling in play fields and special reinforcement messages prior to Diwali.

How doable is all this? Anything else that can be done to get our school authorities working?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on June 02, 2009
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As I get to speak to more and more research scholars in this country, I sense the increasing frustration in them on account of the usual peeves -- poor facilities and meagre resources. But something far more worrisome is the angst brewing up because of insensitive seniors. Sparks flew when a researcher scratched the surface of this controversial topic recently. I have been wondering if this is a majority situation. Are Indian labs really unfriendly towards young researchers?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on January 16, 2008
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What do scientists want to read when not reading scientific papers? This is the question we asked our potential readers in a country-wide survey before planning the content for Nature India . Why don’t I just begin by asking what you, our valued readers, want from NPG’s India-specific science portal that goes live in a couple of weeks.

I have no hesitation in letting out this little secret: topmost on the wish-list of our survey subjects was job information! We know exactly where the buck stops, don’t we?

Here’s your chance to have a say. What do you want to see on the pages of this portal?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on December 03, 2007
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