Podcasts about iisc

Join us for an insightful conversation with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys and one of India's foremost technology entrepreneurs. In this episode, we explore his remarkable journey — from the early days of building Infosys to his ongoing contributions to deep-tech research, innovation, and philanthropy.Mr. Gopalakrishnan shares his thoughts on the evolution of India's IT industry, the importance of foundational research in artificial intelligence and brain science, and why he believes the next big leap for India must be led by academia and entrepreneurship. He also reflects on his work with institutions like IIT Madras and the Centre for Brain Research at IISc, and his efforts to nurture India's innovation ecosystem.Whether you're a student, a tech enthusiast, or someone interested in the future of Indian research and enterprise, this episode offers valuable perspectives on leadership, vision, and nation-building.Resource List:The Story of India - https://www.penguin.co.in/book/the-it-story-of-india/ Awards and accolades won by Infosys - https://www.infosys.com/about/diversity-inclusion/awards.html Fax Machine -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax  Telex Machine - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex What is a satellite link? - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/satellite-link  TIFRAC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIFRAC IBM Mainframe  - https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/mainframe Itihaasa - https://itihaasa.com/History What is a single window clearance program? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-window_system Government Budget on Research and Development -  https://www.cnbctv18.com/budget/budget-2025-government-bears-the-bulk-of-indias-rd-budget-19550338.htm Technologies Readiness Level - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level Axilor Ventures - https://www.axilor.com 

In this enlightening episode of Nodes of Design, we sit down with Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti to explore his journey into design. We discuss how designers can create meaningful societal impact, the evolving role of artists in the AI era, and key takeaways from the DRM method. Prof. Chakrabarti also shares valuable recommendations for designers looking to innovate and push boundaries. Tune in for a masterclass in design thinking, research, and real-world application!Amaresh Chakrabarti is a Senior Professor and current Chair, Department of Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. He did BE from IIEST Shibpur, ME from IISc Bangalore, and PhD from the University of Cambridge UK, where he led the Design Synthesis group of its Engineering Design Centre (EDC) for 10 years before joining IISc as an Associate Professor. He published 35 books, over 300 peer-reviewed articles, and has 13 patents granted/pending. He co-authored DRM, a methodology used widely as a framework for design research. He founded IDeAS Lab – India's first Design Observatory, and India's first indigenous Smart Factory. He is the founding chair for the Intl Conf Series on Research into Design (ICoRD) and Intl Conf Series on Industry 4.0 & Adv Manufacturing (I4AM). He received the Careers360 Faculty Research Award 2018 for being the 'Most Outstanding Researcher' in Decision Sciences, and among the global top 2% of researchers in 'Design Practice & Management'. He received IISc's Alumni Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering (2022). He is a Fellow of the Design Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Designers, UK, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing Journal (AI EDAM) published by CUP.Springer Book Series Design Sc. & Innov: http://www.springer.com/series/15399Webpage: http://cpdm.iisc.ac.in/people/ac/ac.htmCitations: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VvD5STUAAAAJ&hl=enThank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community Spreadknowledge.This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

In this episode of Bharatvaarta, host Sharan engages in a deep and insightful conversation with Professor Goutham Desiraju from the Indian Institute of Science. The discussion revolves around Professor Desiraju's follow-up book on the delimitation of states in India, a pressing and contentious topic in contemporary Indian politics. The conversation addresses the need for equal value of votes across different constituencies, the historical and political context of the delimitation freeze, and the implications of reconfiguring state boundaries. Professor Desiraju provides a comprehensive analysis of how delimitation, if done scientifically and fairly, can help India become a more balanced and prosperous democracy. The episode also touches on the broader themes of governance, the effects of linguistic states, and the importance of electoral reforms in achieving a true global leadership status for Bharat by 2047. Topics: 00:00 Introduction 01:37 Discussion on Delimitation 06:57 Historical Context and Current Issues 11:19 Challenges and Future Prospects 18:35 Demographic Concerns and Solutions 38:58 Linguistic Politics and British Influence 43:05 The British Strategy Against Orissa 43:48 Linguistic States and Social Silence 44:37 British Influence on Local Languages 46:35 Historical Repetition and Linguistic Demands 47:26 Gandhi and Linguistic States 50:17 The Role of Language in Identity 51:25 Jesuit Influence in Tamil Nadu 54:48 The Evolution of Language and Identity 01:06:19 Small States and Governance 01:13:09 Concluding Thoughts on Delimitation Buy the book Amazon: https://amzn.in/d/aetUjcS

Vinu Sankar Sadasivan is a CS PhD ... Currently, I am working as a full-time Student Researcher at Google DeepMind on jailbreaking multimodal AI models. Robustness, Detectability, and Data Privacy in AI // MLOps Podcast #289 with Vinu Sankar Sadasivan, Student Researcher at Google DeepMind. // Abstract Recent rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have made it widely applicable across various domains, from autonomous systems to multimodal content generation. However, these models remain susceptible to significant security and safety vulnerabilities. Such weaknesses can enable attackers to jailbreak systems, allowing them to perform harmful tasks or leak sensitive information. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into critical applications like autonomous robotics and healthcare, the importance of ensuring AI safety is growing. Understanding the vulnerabilities in today's AI systems is crucial to addressing these concerns. // Bio Vinu Sankar Sadasivan is a final-year Computer Science PhD candidate at The University of Maryland, College Park, advised by Prof. Soheil Feizi. His research focuses on Security and Privacy in AI, with a particular emphasis on AI robustness, detectability, and user privacy. Currently, Vinu is a full-time Student Researcher at Google DeepMind, working on jailbreaking multimodal AI models. Previously, Vinu was a Research Scientist intern at Meta FAIR in Paris, where he worked on AI watermarking. Vinu is a recipient of the 2023 Kulkarni Fellowship and has earned several distinctions, including the prestigious Director's Silver Medal. He completed a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar in 2020. Prior to their PhD, Vinu gained research experience as a Junior Research Fellow in the Data Science Lab at IIT Gandhinagar and through internships at Caltech, Microsoft Research India, and IISc. // MLOps Swag/Merch https://shop.mlops.community/ // Related Links Website: https://vinusankars.github.io/ --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/ Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinusankars/

In this enlightening episode of Nodes of Design, we sit down with Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti to explore his journey into design, the gap between industry and academia, and how to bridge it. We discuss how designers can create meaningful societal impact, the evolving role of artists in the AI era, and key takeaways from the DRM method. Prof. Chakrabarti also shares valuable recommendations for designers looking to innovate and push boundaries. Tune in for a masterclass in design thinking, research, and real-world application! Amaresh Chakrabarti is a Senior Professor and current Chair, Department of Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. He did BE from IIEST Shibpur, ME from IISc Bangalore, and PhD from the University of Cambridge UK, where he led the Design Synthesis group of its Engineering Design Centre (EDC) for 10 years before joining IISc as an Associate Professor. He published 35 books, over 300 peer-reviewed articles, and has 13 patents granted/pending. He co-authored DRM, a methodology used widely as a framework for design research. He founded IDeAS Lab – India's first Design Observatory, and India's first indigenous Smart Factory. He is the founding chair for the Intl Conf Series on Research into Design (ICoRD) and Intl Conf Series on Industry 4.0 & Adv Manufacturing (I4AM). He received the Careers360 Faculty Research Award 2018 for being the 'Most Outstanding Researcher' in Decision Sciences, and among the global top 2% of researchers in 'Design Practice & Management'. He received IISc's Alumni Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering (2022). He is a Fellow of the Design Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Designers, UK, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing Journal (AI EDAM) published by CUP. Springer Book Series Design Sc. & Innov: http://www.springer.com/series/15399 Webpage: http://cpdm.iisc.ac.in/people/ac/ac.htm Citations: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VvD5STUAAAAJ&hl=en Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more. If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

Sriram Viswanathan is the Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital - a global deep tech, multi stage venture capital firm. He is a Board Member at several for profit companies and nonprofit organizations. Sriram is an alum of UCLA and IISc.

Science & spirituality how to harmonize, IISc Bangalore by Exploring mindfulness, yoga and spirituality

Mind management, IISc Bangalore by Exploring mindfulness, yoga and spirituality

Speaking at the Satish Dhawan Auditorium at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Rajiv Malhotra discusses the influence of the illustrious scientist and mathematician Satish Dhawan on his own childhood and journey into the philosophy of science. He recounts how his Theory of Digestion came to be formulated, the gross distortions of Dharmic concepts and entities that he fought against, which led to major breakthroughs in creating new frameworks in Indology. Rajiv's actions, though, began to be seen as controversial by those who preferred inaction as a response instead of challenging the disfigurement of Dharmic concepts.Battle For Consciousness Theory : battleforconsciousnesstheory.comSnakes in the Ganga - http://www.snakesintheganga.comVarna Jati Caste - http://www.varnajaticaste.comThe Battle For IIT's - http://www.battleforiits.comPower of future Machines - http://www.poweroffuturemachines.com10 heads of Ravana - http://www.tenheadsofravana.comTo support Infinity Foundation's projects including the continuation of such episodes and the research we do:इनफिनिटी फ़ौंडेशन की परियोजनाओं को अनुदान देने के लिए व इस प्रकार के एपिसोड और हमारे द्वारा किये जाने वाले शोध को जारी रखने के लिए: http://infinityfoundation.com/donate-2/

A research team at the University of Limerick has made a major discovery by designing molecules that could revolutionise computing. The researchers at UL's Bernal Institute have discovered new ways of probing, controlling and tailoring materials at the most fundamental molecular scale. The results have been used in an international project involving experts worldwide to help create a brand-new type of hardware platform for artificial intelligence that achieves unprecedented improvements in computational speed and energy efficiency. The research has just been published in the world-leading scientific journal Nature. The UL team, led by Damien Thompson, Professor of Molecular Modelling at UL and director of SSPC, the Research Ireland Centre for Pharmaceuticals, in an international collaboration with scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Texas A&M University, believe that this new discovery will lead to innovative solutions to societal grand challenges in health, energy and the environment. Professor Thompson explained: "The design draws inspiration from the human brain, using the natural wiggling and jiggling of atoms to process and store information. As the molecules pivot and bounce around their crystal lattice, they create a multitude of individual memory states. "We can trace out the path of the molecules inside the device and map each snapshot to a unique electrical state. That creates a kind of tour diary of the molecule that can be written and read just like in a conventional silicon-based computer, but here with massively improved energy and space economy because each entry is smaller than an atom. "This outside-the-box solution could have huge benefits for all computing applications, from energy-hungry data centres to memory-intensive digital maps and online gaming." To-date, neuromorphic platforms - an approach to computing inspired by the human brain - have worked only for low-accuracy operations, such as inferencing in artificial neural networks. This is because core computing tasks including signal processing, neural network training, and natural language processing require much higher computing resolution than what existing neuromorphic circuits could offer. For this reason, achieving high resolution has been the most daunting challenge in neuromorphic computing. The team's reconceptualization of the underlying computing architecture achieves the required high resolution, performing resource-intensive workloads with unprecedented energy efficiency of 4.1 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W). The team's breakthrough extends neuromorphic computing beyond niche applications in a move that can potentially unleash the long-heralded transformative benefits of artificial intelligence and augment the core of digital electronics from the cloud to the edge. Professor Sreetosh Goswami, the project lead at IISc, said, "By precisely controlling the vast array of available molecular kinetic states, we created the most accurate, 14-bit, fully functional neuromorphic accelerator integrated into a circuit board that can handle signal processing, AI, and machine learning workloads such as artificial neural networks, auto-encoders, and generative adversarial networks. "Most significantly, leveraging the high precision of the accelerators, we can train neural networks on the edge, addressing one of the most pressing challenges in AI hardware." Further enhancements are coming as the team works to expand the range of materials and processes used to create the platforms and increase the processing power even further. Professor Thompson explained: "The ultimate aim is to replace what we now think of as computers with high-performance 'everyware' based on energy efficient and eco-friendly materials providing distributed ubiquitous information processing throughout the environment integrated in everyday items from clothing to food packaging to building materials."

A version of this essay has been published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/climate-tragedy-of-wayanad-and-the-vulnerability-of-western-ghats-13808331.htmlAfter days of intense coverage of the landslides in Wayanad, the news cycle has moved on to other calamities. But the problems remain, and things cannot be left to benign neglect as is usually the case. For example there was a strange thundering noise from deep underground that alarmed people in the area. This is ominous, as it may presage a tectonic movement, although there have been no big quakes here for centuries.A dramatic before-and-after report from Reuters, using satellite images from Planet Labs, Google, Maxar Technologies and Airbus, shows how the landslide left a giant scar on the surface of the earth, washing away hundreds of houses, leading to widespread fatalities and destruction.Prime Minister Modi visited the afflicted area. Better governance, both by Center and State, is sorely needed to tackle the problem, because it is not simple: there are proximate, preponderant and root causes. A lot of it is anthropogenic based on local factors, but climate change is also a major factor, as the local climate and rainfall patterns have shifted dramatically in the recent past. There was a drought in 2015, followed by the Ockhi cyclone in 2017, and then landslides and floods in 2018 and 2019.As a resident of Kerala, who has visited Wayanad only twice (once in 2018 and the second time in April this year), both the problems and the possible solutions are of immediate importance to me, because the very same issues are likely to crop up all over the State, and unless remedial measures are taken now, we can expect further tragedies and endless suffering. Proximate Cause: Excess RainThe proximate cause is La Nina-enhanced rainfall, which has been higher this year along the west coast. In Wayanad itself, it rained 572mm in 48 hours before the landslide: about 1.8 feet, an enormous amount. Before the Wayanad landslide, there had been another in Shirur on the Karnataka coast near Ankola, where a number of people were swept away. The story of Arjun, a Kerala trucker whose truck full of lumber disappeared, was all over the news, and after a weeks-long search, there was no sign of him or the truck. The total rainfall since June 1 was of the order of 3000mm in Wayanad, which is unusually high, creating vulnerability to landslides. In a recent interview, environmental expert Madhav Gadgil mentioned that quarrying may have added to the intensity of the rainfall, because the fine dust from the mining and explosions forms aerosols, on which water molecules condense, leading to excessive precipitation. The intense rainfall saturated the soil, and in the absence of sufficient old-growth vegetation that might have held it together, the hillside simply collapsed. Preponderant Cause: Population Pressure, Over-Tourism, EcocideThe preponderant causes of the problems in Wayanad are obvious: population pressure, over-tourism and environmental destruction. The forest has basically ceased to exist due to human exploitation. According to India Today, 62% of the green cover in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018 while plantation cover rose by around 1,800%. Fully 85% of the total area of Wayanad was under forest cover until the 1950s.Overpopulation, settlement and habitat lossMy first visit to Wayanad was in 2018, when we drove to Kerala from Karnataka: from the Nagarhole/Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuaries to the contiguous Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, all forming a Project Tiger ecosphere along with neighboring Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Together they form the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Bandipur/Nagarhole actually looks like a forest. But I was astonished when we drove into Wayanad, because it does not look like a forest any more: it is full of human habitation. It looks like any of the other districts in Kerala: thickly populated, with settlements all over the place. It appeared to be only notionally a wildlife sanctuary.Habitat loss, especially that of forest cover, is true of all of Kerala, as highlighted in a study by IISc scientists. It is startling to see how much of this has happened in just a few decades. But it is the culmination of a process that started at least a century ago. Wayanad, according to myth and legend, was once a lovely, lush forest inhabited by a small number of tribals. There were fierce Kurichya archers (it is possible they were warriors banished to the forest after losing a war) who, with Pazhassi Raja, carried on a guerilla war against the British colonials in the 19th century until the Raja was captured and executed. I visited the Pazhassi Museum in Mananthavady this May, on my second visit to Wayanad. There were artifacts there from the tribal settlements.Then, in the 20th century, there was a large migration of lowland people, mostly Christians from Central Travancore, to the Wayanad highlands (and the Western Ghats uplands in general). They encroached on public/forest lands, cleared the forests, and created plantations and agricultural settlements. Their struggles against malaria, wild animals and the land itself was the subject of Jnanpith winner S K Pottekkat's renowned novel Vishakanyaka (Poison Maiden).The public land thus captured eventually made some people rich, but the whole process also in effect enslaved the tribals, who became an exploited underclass: the very same story as of Native Americans, who are still struggling for social justice after centuries of being untermenschen.Since most of the settlers were Christians, the Church became a powerful spokesman for them. Successive governments gave a lot of the settlers title to the land they had illegally captured. So there is a class of rich planters, and on the other hand, miserable plantation workers, often migrants especially from Tamil Nadu. The green deserts need to be turned back into forestsKerala's highlands, over time, became ‘green deserts', rather than ‘tropical rainforests'. The monoculture of tea, rubber, coffee, and especially invasive species such as acacia and eucalyptus is destructive. They crowd out native species, ravage the water table, do not put down deep roots, and offer almost no sustenance to wild animals. It may look deceptively green, but it is no forest. An expert committee, the Madhav Gadgil Commission, recommended in 2011 that the entire Western Ghats was ecologically sensitive (ESA or Ecologically Sensitive Area) and 75% of it must be preserved intact with minimal human presence. The report was scathing about quarrying, including blasting with dynamite, which upset the already fragile ecosystem, ravaged as it was by the removal of old growth forest and the root system that held the soil together. At the time, Gadgil did say that the calamity would not take a 100 years, but it would happen in ten to twenty years. He was right, but he was ignored as though he were Cassandra. The Church opposed the Gadgil report tooth and nail, and the Government of Kerala pushed back on it. So the Central government created the Kasturirangan Commission (2013), which reduced the proposed ESA to 37%. It classified 60% of the Western Ghats as a ‘cultural landscape' with human settlements, plantations and agriculture. But that too was not acceptable. In fact, Jayanthi Natarajan claimed that she was forced to resign as Environment Minister because she actually notified the order on protection of the Western Ghats the day before she was removed. Her successor duly put the order on hold.Sitting Congress MP in nearby Idukki, P T Thomas, says he was dropped in the 2014 elections because he supported the Gadgil report against “encroachments… illegal constructions, quarrying, timber smuggling, sand mining from the rivers and ganja cultivation…My stand upset the Idukki dioceses of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. The Idukki Bishop had openly opposed my candidature.”The GoK convened a third committee, the Oommen Commission (2014), which was specific to Kerala, and it recommended keeping all inhabited areas and plantations out of the ESA altogether. Mission accomplished. No more restrictions on land use.Over-tourism and carrying capacity of the landThis is one reason for the proliferation of resorts and homestays in Wayanad. Every second house caters to tourists, as can be seen from a Google Map (of the area around Kalpetta). The environmental pressure from this (what about solid waste disposal? Do they dump liquid wastes into rivers?) is horrific and increasing. Trash lines the area near the Thamarassery Pass.As a tourist myself, I did not choose a plantation resort, but instead a homestay which has a working farm. Perhaps I made a wrong choice, because a plantation has a lot of space to absorb the tourist impact. The homestay had many youngsters from Bangalore over the weekend, and it was perfectly nice, but I wonder how much I contributed to the human toll on the environment. I had gone to Wayanad to visit the Thirunelli temple and the Edakkal caves, which have petroglyphs and drawings reliably dated back to 8000 Before the Present, making them second only to the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh, whose rock art dates back to 10,000 BP and earlier. So this area, despite the geological fault lines, has indeed been inhabited for a very long time. The carrying capacity of the land was sufficient in those prehistoric times and even up until recently; now the land can no longer sustain the population. It is also host to another recent influx. Muslims from nearby lowland Kozhikode and Malappuram districts have come up the Thamarassery Pass and settled in Wayanad in numbers. They have added to the population pressure in Wayanad. Incidentally this is one reason Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency (which includes areas from nearby Kozhikode and Malappuram districts that are heavily Muslim) is so dependably a Congress citadel. When I made my trip in April, just before elections, I asked several people who would win there: the candidates were Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Annie Raja (CPI), K Surendran (BJP). All of them said “Rahul Gandhi”. One man told me “Rahul Gandhi is going to become the PM”. Another laughed and said, “Are you joking? We all know the answer”. It was, pun intended, a landslide win for the Congress candidate. Root Cause: Geology and Errant RainfallThe root cause of the problems in Kerala is the increasingly unstable landscape. It is remarkable that Kerala has such a high number of landslides and vulnerable spots. India Today reports that Kerala has recorded the largest number of landslides in the country, 2,239 out of 3,782 that occurred between 2015 and 2022. The “Landslide Atlas of India 2023” from ISRO lists 13 out of 14 Kerala districts among the top 50 landslide-prone areas of the country.This is surprising, because the more obvious fault lines must be in the North, where the Indian Plate continues to grind up against the Eurasian Plate, and the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau continue to gain a few centimeters in elevation every year. Indeed Arunachal, Himachal, J&K and Uttarakhand are landslide-prone. But why Kerala, at the other end of the land-mass?It must be the case that there have been severe tectonic movements in Kerala in the past: the Parasurama legend of the land coming up from the sea is based on a real event, presumably caused by an earthquake in a prehistoric time frame. More recently, the thriving Kerala port of Kodungalloor (aka Muziris), the principal West Coast port in historical times along with Bharuccha in Gujarat, was suddenly rendered bereft in 1341 CE after a severe flood in the River Periyar, and port activities shifted to nearby Kochi.More recently, old-timers talk about the Great Flood of ‘99, i.e. 1099 Malabar Era, or 1924 CE. Exactly 100 years ago there were torrential rains in July, and records suggest it was 3368mm or 1326 inches over three weeks, that is 11 feet of rain. Floodwaters rose up to 6 feet, rivers changed course, and at least 1,000 people died along with large numbers of livestock, and there was massive destruction of agricultural land and foodgrains. The Flood of ‘99 became etched in the collective memory of the area, but it mostly affected the lowland areas of Travancore and Cochin, leaving the highlands largely untouched. That has changed with deforestation, quarrying, construction, and denudation of hillsides.There were the floods of 2018, which affected the hills, especially in Munnar. A full mountainside fell 300 meters into a river there. Entire settlements were washed away. A total of 2,346mm of rain or 923 inches was recorded in July and August, almost 50% higher than the norm. 483 people were killed, with many more missing and unaccounted for. Infrastructure was wiped out, including roads and clean water supply. Dams had to be opened, wreaking havoc on those downstream. There is also the perennial threat of Mullaperiyar Dam overflowing or being breached, which is, among other things, a source of friction between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Other root causes include the following: * Climate Change: A study by the World Weather Attribution group indicated that climate change has intensified rainfall in the region by about 10%, contributing significantly to the severity of the disaster. The ongoing increase in global temperatures has led to more extreme weather patterns, including heavier monsoon rains.* Soil Characteristics: Wayanad's soils are loose and erodible, particularly in areas with steep gradients exceeding 20 degrees. When saturated, these soils lose their structural integrity, making them susceptible to landslides. The presence of large boulders and mud further complicates the stability of the slopes during heavy rains.* Soil piping: Previous landslides in the region, such as the 2019 Puthumala event, created conditions for soil piping, where voids form in the subsurface soil, increasing the risk of subsequent landslides during heavy rainfall.* Lack of Effective Land Management Policies: There is a notable absence of comprehensive land use and disaster management policies in Kerala, particularly in ecologically fragile areas. Despite previous disasters, there has been insufficient progress in implementing hazard mapping and community awareness programs to mitigate risks associated with landslides.Thus Kerala is vulnerable to a host of issues, especially climate change (which is also eating away at the coastline). Behind the tropical paradise facade of “God's Own Country”, there lie tremendous dangers related to excessive human exploitation, amounting to ecocide. What is the solution? Maybe Madhav Gadgil was right, after all, and strict controls should be imposed on human activity, especially denudation of forest, and quarrying. His report had included Vythiri, Mananthavady and Sulthanbathery taluks in Wayanad as Ecologically Sensitive Zone ESZ-1, which means no change whatsoever in land use is permissible there. Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Meppadi, where the worst of the disasters happened, are all in Vythiri taluk. No effective disaster prevention or mitigation efforts have been put in place. The only solution is reforesting and restoring green cover, and stopping construction, quarrying, and tourism and the most contentious issue, relocating people away from the ESZ. Unfortunately the tropical rainforest may not restore itself if simply left alone (as temperate-zone forests do), and perhaps efforts such as Miyawaki foresting with native species may need to be pursued.It is to be hoped that we have not passed the point of no return. Kerala's population is shrinking (Total Fertility Rate is 1.80, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman), but there is no limit to human greed.What needs to be done There are no magic solutions, but comprehensive climate action and improved disaster management strategies can mitigate things to an extent. Experts emphasize the importance of:* Enhanced Communication and Coordination: There is a critical need for better intergovernmental communication regarding disaster preparedness. This includes timely warnings and efficient evacuation plans to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.* Land Use Policies: Implementing stringent land use regulations is essential to prevent construction in ecologically sensitive areas. The degradation of green cover due to unregulated development has significantly increased the risk of landslides.* Early Warning Systems: Developing robust early warning systems for landslides and floods can provide crucial alerts to communities at risk. These systems should be supported by regular community education and drills to ensure residents are prepared for emergencies.* Afforestation and Environmental Conservation: Massive afforestation and reforestation drives (especially with native species) are necessary to stabilize hillsides and reduce landslide risks. Protecting and restoring natural habitats can help mitigate the effects of climate change and enhance biodiversity. Collaborating with local communities for reforestation projects can also provide economic incentives and foster a sense of stewardship.* Community Engagement: Empowering local communities to participate in disaster preparedness and environmental conservation efforts is vital. Education on risks and proactive measures can significantly reduce the impact of disasters.* Tourism Management: Over-tourism can exacerbate environmental degradation. Developing a sustainable tourism strategy that limits visitor numbers, promotes eco-friendly practices, and educates tourists about environmental conservation is essential. Establishing eco-tourism zones and supporting community-based tourism initiatives can provide economic benefits while preserving the natural environment.* Regulation of Quarrying and Construction: Strict regulation and monitoring of quarrying and construction activities are necessary to prevent ecological damage. Implementing sustainable practices in these industries, such as controlled quarrying methods and responsible waste management, can mitigate their impact on the environment. Regular audits and penalties for non-compliance can enforce these regulations.* Surveillance and meteorological data collection: With modern technology like drones, continuous monitoring of the landscape is possible at a relatively low cost; and this can also be used for collecting large amounts of meteorological data to support early-warning systems. Satellite images from India's own as well as foreign sources can be used to warn of dangerous construction, quarrying, and loss of forest cover. Some of these are purely technical solutions, offering computerized forecasts and disaster warnings. The social and governance aspects are even more important: discipline, co-operation and awareness on the part of the residents, and the strict enforcement of land use rules and regulations. Dealing with powerful settlers, encroachers, and vested interests requires a delicate balance of enforcement and negotiation, carrot and stick. Government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities must collaborate to develop and implement policies that address these challenges. Advocacy for stronger environmental laws and community involvement in decision-making processes can help align interests and foster co-operation.With all these in place, it may be possible to repair the damaged hills of the Western Ghats, one of the global hotspots of biodiversity. 2200 words, Aug 17, 2024 updated 3000 words, Aug 19 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

He created the iconic Simputer, and has lived a life that married science and its applications. V Vinay joins Amit Varma in episode 381 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey and what it taught him. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. V Vinay on Twitter, LinkedIn, IISC and Google Scholar. 2. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 3. Calculus Made Simple -- H Mulholland. 4. India vs West Indies, 1st Test, Bengaluru, November 22 – 27, 1974. 5. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. A Text-book Of Inorganic Chemistry -- JR Partington. 7. Perkin and Kipping's Organic Chemistry -- Stanley F Kipping and Barry Kipping. 8. There's no speed limit — Derek Sivers. 9. The Botany of Desire -- Michael Pollan. 10. Vishwa Bandhu Gupta on cloud computing & more! 11. Design & Analysis of Computer Algorithms -- Alfred V Aho, John E Hopcroft and Jeffrey D Ullman. 12. A Circuit-Based Proof of Toda′ s Theorem -- Ravi Kannan, H Venkateswaran, V Vinay and Andrew C Yao. 13. Ramesh Hariharan's website. 14. The Little Prince -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 15. Bruce Sterling on the Simputer in the New York Times. 16. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. James Hadley Chase, Alistair Maclean, Desmond Bagley and Agatha Christie on Amazon. 18. Illusions -- Richard Bach. 19. Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- Richard Bach. 20. Lila -- Robert M Pirsig. 21. The True Believer -- Eric Hoffer. 22. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 23. The Idiot -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 24. Leo Tolstoy's short stories. 25. Essays -- Ralh Waldo Emerson. 26. The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 27. Self-Reliance -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. 28. Walden --  Henry David Thoreau. 29. Vinaya Pitaka. 30. Isha Upanishad. 31. Atoms in Motion -- Richard Feynman. 32. Mandukya Upanishad. 33. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 34. The Matrix -- The Wachowskis. 35. Chanakya -- Chandraprakash Dwivedi. 36. Chomana Dudi -- BV Karanth. 37. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 38. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu. 39. Departures -- Yôjirô Takita. 40. The Silence of the Lambs -- Jonathan Demme. 41. Notorious -- Alfred Hitchcock. 42. Mr Smith Goes to Washington -- Frank Capra. 43. The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor. 44. Bringing Up Baby -- Howard Hawks. 45. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz. 46. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 47. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring -- Kim Ki-duk. 48. Bicycle Thieves -- Vittorio De Sica. 49. Ilaiyaraaja, TM Krishna and MS Subbulakshmi on Spotify. 50. Twenty-Five Twenty-One -- Jung Ji-hyun. 51. Misaeng --  Kim Won-seok. 52. My Ahjusshi -- Kim Won-seok. 53. Succession, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and House. Amit's newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Searching for Truth' by Simahina.

Episode 171 of the #AskAbhijit show: Ask me interesting questions on the live chat, and I shall answer them.

There are some people you meet once who leave a deep impact on you. The man who conceived the idea of a common number all over India for emergency Ambulance service -108 is one such. I heard him speak a decade ago & have been inspired by his story. Ever since I started this podcast, it has been a dream to have Dr. Sudhakar Varanasi as my guest. Today is therefore a special episode. Dr. Sudhakar had his education at IIT, Kharagpur (1969-74) and obtained a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. After 17 years at IISc, he moved to the corporate world and joined the IT wave in India in 1991. He was a founding director of Tiger Software and then moved to Satyam Computer Services as a part of senior management. One of his major achievements in the social sector is the designing of the 108 emergency medical services. He started EMRI (Emergency Management Research Institute) in 2005 which pioneered large-scale deployment of emergency services for the first time in India under a public-private-partnership model.  He then moved to the CEO position at CoOptions Technologies to set up a state-wide ICT platform across Andhra Pradesh to reach 3 million farmers in villages to bring about financial inclusion. He was also chief mentor at Emergent Institute and CEO at Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Bangalore. He currently mentors many individuals and organizations and challenges them to take on large social causes using innovation, technology, and the spirit of entrepreneurship. His fields of interest are: education, healthcare and financial inclusion. Listen in as Dr. Sudhakar Varanasi shares amazing nuggets of life with a tinge of his trademark humor. A conversation where we cover his journey, the shifts, contentment & joy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-third-eye1/message

Study conducted by BiasWatchIndia published on preprint repository bioRxiv. Findings suggest women's representation low in top-ranked STEM institutes like IISc, IITs.----more----Read full article here: https://theprint.in/science/less-than-1-in-5-stem-faculty-members-in-india-are-women-study-by-initiative-on-gender-bias-finds/1825278/

Climate change and the loss and degradation of natural habitats are major drivers of species extinction globally. This is especially the case for species in tropical mountain ranges. These species are thermally sensitive and adapted to small environmental niches, hence making them susceptible to extinction. .On this episode, I interview Dr. Umesh Srinivasan from the Centre for Ecological Studies at the Indian Institute for Science, Bangalore. His lab studies how forest degradation combines with climate change to impact Himalayan biodiversity at multiple levels, including geographic range shifts to behaviour and demography. Most of their work is based in Arunachal Pradesh, where they have been studying bird populations across primary and logged forests for over a decade. Did you enjoy this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast! You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anishbanerjee.substack.com

इस हफ़्ते एक टेक्निकल पुलियाबाज़ी एप्लाइड फोटोनिकस पर। रोशनी का तकनीकी इस्तेमाल कहाँ कहाँ होता है, इस क्षेत्र में आगे क्या हो रहा है से लेकर भारत में STEM क्षेत्र में संशोधन को बढ़ावा देने के लिए और क्या कीया जाए, इन सब विषय पर चर्चा वैज्ञानिक सोनाली दासगुप्ता के साथ। सुनिए और आपके विचार भी हमारे साथ शेयर कीजिये।  This week, we have a technical Puliyabaazi on the topic of Applied Photonics with our guest, Dr. Sonali Dasgupta who is a career research scientist and a STEM Education expert. We discuss what's new and upcoming in the field of photonics, the state of the research ecosystem in India and how to create more opportunities in fundamental research in India. We learnt a lot of new things from this conversation and we hope that you will also find it enriching. Do listen in and share your thoughts with us.  P.S: A slight correction from Sonali on solid state LiDARs - ‘In the LiDAR  world, solid-state LiDAR are referred to as the ones that do not have any moving parts. So, in a way, they can be called photonics-chip technology, though not silicon-photonics per se.' *****  Related articles  ***** US Scientists confirm major breakthrough in nuclear fusion | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/13/us-scientists-confirm-major-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion QS World University Rankings 2024: Big drop for IISc, top IITs in the global listhttps://www.hindustantimes.com/education/news/qs-world-university-rankings-2024-big-drop-for-iisc-iits-in-the-global-list-101687930815192.html Can India's new billion-dollar funding agency boost research? | Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02336-8 *****   more Puliyabaazi on Science and Technology  *****All About Li-Ion Batteries Ft. Apoorv Shaligram, Co-founder & CEO, e-TRNL Energyhttps://puliyabaazi.in/episode/hiiro-n-3-lithiym-all-about-li-ion-batteries-ft-apoorv-shaligram-co-founder-ceo-e-trnl-energy विज्ञान का विज्ञान। The Scientific Method ft. Nihar Shahhttps://puliyabaazi.in/episode/vijnyaan-kaa-vijnyaan-the-scientific-method-ft-nihar-shah रेत का दिमाग़: मस्तिष्क से प्रेरित इंजीनियरिंग. Neuromorphic Computing ft. Chetan Thakurhttps://puliyabaazi.in/episode/ret-kaa-dimaag-mstissk-se-prerit-ijiiniyrig-neuromorphic-computing-ft-chetan-thakur *****************Website: https://puliyabaazi.in Write to us at puliyabaazi@gmail.com  Hosts: @saurabhchandra @pranaykotas @thescribblebee  Puliyabaazi is on these platforms: Twitter: @puliyabaazi  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puliyabaazi/ Subscribe & listen to the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Castbox, AudioBoom, YouTube, Spotify or any other podcast app.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.21.549976v1?rss=1 Authors: Horisawa, K., Miura, S., Araki, H., Miura, F., Ito, T., Suzuki, A. Abstract: Direct reprogramming is a technique for inducing the conversion of one type of somatic cell into another by the forced expression of defined transcription factors. Cell differentiation is generally determined by specific gene expression profiles based on distinct genome-wide epigenetic signatures. Although the CpG methylation of genomic DNA is an essential epigenetic factor that affects the transcriptional state of genes, little is known about how DNA methylation changes and what roles it plays in direct reprogramming. Here, we performed comparative genome-wide DNA methylation analyses of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and cells composing organoids formed by intestinal stem cells (ISCs) or induced ISCs (iISCs) that were directly induced from MEFs to investigate the impact of DNA methylation dynamics on direct reprogramming. We found that the methylation state of CpG was similar between cells forming ISC organoids and iISC organoids, while they differed widely from those in MEFs. Moreover, genomic regions that were differentially methylated between ISC organoid- and iISC organoid-forming cells did not significantly affect gene expression. These results demonstrate the accuracy and safety of iISC induction, as they show that the DNA methylation state transitions to a state close to that of ISCs during direct reprogramming from MEFs to iISCs. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Located just south of Sri Lanka, it is here that Earth's gravitational pull is weakest & sea level is 100 m lower than global average. Findings published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Duvvuri Subrahmanyam is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where he leads the Turbulent Shear Flow Physics and Engineering Laboratory (TSFPEL). His research interests are broadly in the area of aero/fluid dynamics, with a focus on turbulent shear flows in both incompressible (subsonic) and compressible (supersonic, hypersonic) regimes. Both fundamental and applied aspects of these subjects are of interest to him. During the Covid-19 crisis, TSFPEL played a lead role in an effort at IISc to develop novel low-cost high-functionality medical ventilator technology. He tweets as @mangaloreman.

Dr Aloke Kumar is an Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He did his B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur. He also has a Ph.D. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, USA, an Assistant Professor at University of Alberta, Canada and Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. You can know more about Dr Aloke Kumar, his work and his lab's work here: www.kumarlab.com

Dr. Geetha Manjunath is the Founder, CEO, and CTO of NIRAMAI Health Analytix, and has led the company to develop a breakthrough AI solution for detecting early-stage breast cancer in a non-invasive radiation-free manner. Geetha holds a Ph.D. from IISc and management education from Kellogg's Chicago. She comes with over 25 years of experience in IT innovation. She has proposed and led multiple AI projects at Xerox Research and Hewlett Packard India. Before starting NIRAMAI, Geetha was a Lab Director for Data Analytics Research at Xerox India. Geetha has received many international and national recognition for her innovations and entrepreneurial work, including CSI Gold Medal, BIRAC WinER Award 2018, and is also on the Forbes List of Top 20 Self-Made Women 2020. She was recently awarded the Accenture Vahini Innovator of the Year Award from the Economic Times and Women Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 by BioSpectrum India. Geetha is also an inventor of 16 US patents and more pending grants.TimestampsGeetha's journey from IT research to Deep Tech founder - 1:50Being the CEO and founder - 9:38Challenges scaling a start-up - 14:46Power of 3 - 21:09Awareness towards Breast Cancer & NIRAMAI - 26:17Taboos being a women entrepreneur - 35:46Making it Stick - 43:20QuotesIf you want to solve the problem the world around you gather to support you, have the belief!Mantra for start-ups - Thing Big, Fail FastCancer Awareness - Know It to Fight ItConnect with Geetha:  LinkedIn | Twitter | WebsiteDo not miss to check out our new website and share your love https://inspiresomeonetoday.in/Do stay tuned for new episodes every alternate Friday. Next episode -Mar 31'23. Available on all podcast platforms, including, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify

Hello guys, The much-awaited INTERVIEW SERIES is here. Our guest for Tonight is YASH SHARMA, IISC Alumni. He has cleared almost all competitive exams such as JEE-Mains and Advance, GATE, KVPY with flying colors. This talk with Yash will indeed help fellow aspirants as JEE Mains exams are coming soon

La Dottoressa Flavia Farina, docente di Filosofia e Teoria dell'azione nell'antichità presso il Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo dell'Università Roma Tre, ci presenta i corsi estivi residenziali di latino e greco come lingue vive, organizzati dall'Istituto Italiano di Studi Classici. Per maggiori info visita il sito: https://www.iisc-edu.com/ Intervista a cura di Lorenzo Picca e Francesco Amato

In this podcast 43, I had a detailed conversation with a guest, Dr. Pandian, about the various different customer experiences from the standpoint of a services organization or a systems integrator in the context of building Enterprise AI projects and products. Dr. Pandian is a pioneer in the world of AI with a Ph.D in high performance numerical and symbolic algorithms for real-time applications from IISc., bangalore, India. In the podcast we will delve into the various aspects of building enterprise AI projects, including data collection, processing, modelling, deployment and monitoring. Stay tuned for more interesting conversations from the (XTrawAI.com) podcast series on machine learning and AI applications. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/raghu-banda/message

In this episode, I speak with Curtis Ogden. Curtis has served as Senior Associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change since 2005 and brings to IISC his experience in education, community building, leadership development, and program design, as well as an abiding passion for work at the intersection of racial justice and environmental sustainability. For the past several years he has built a robust practice in support of numerous multi-stakeholder collaborative change networks. We discuss:

As a result of studying winemaking in Europe, Aniruddha Rajagopalan has traveled around the world, experiencing different cultures and learning different languages. Along the way, he built friendships and a network of passionate wine enthusiasts. Passion and hard work are behind the best wines he tasted and enjoyed. After working for both big and small wineries, his experiences showed him that wine-making is nothing like what is romanticized in movies - he got a real understanding of what the actual work is like in wineries. Nevertheless, he also enjoyed himself and had a good time. During this episode, we follow Ani as he travels the world, gets back to India and works at a winery that produces one of the best wines in the world, and finally, lives in Ottawa, Canada. What you will learn from this episode: Understand that winemaking is not all that romantic idea of how the movies would let us fantasize about it [it's all about hard work and dedication] Learn about India's winery located in one of India's historic sites and considered a UNESCO heritage [plus what made their wines one of the best in the world which have won awards from prestigious international bodies] Find out the Indian grape varieties they grow and the geographical location they are situated in and where they export their award-winning wines. Know about his travels that allowed him work and fun and what drew him to Canada and start afresh as a winemaker. Aniruddha Rajagopalan was born in India. He earned a degree in Microbiology at St. Joseph College in Bangalore, India. As the opportunity opened up for him, he went to study and finish MSc in Viticulture and Oenology at Montpellier, France and Geisenheim, Germany. He is proficient in both French and German languages. His work experiences include: Project trainee at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc/ in Bangalore, India, a cellarhand at Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen and Wein und Sekthaus Schlossbergh in Eltville-Erbach and in Bingen, Germany, respectively. He was also once a cellarhand this time at Spring Creek Vintners Ltd. in Marlborough, New Zealand. Before coming to Canada, his last post was at KRSMA Estates Pvt. Ltd in Karnataka, India, as winemaker. And currently, he is now a consulting winemaker at Fernwood Estates, Bainsville, ON; at the same time a tasting room staff at Buyers and Cellars Tasting Room, Ottawa, ON and a viticultural specialist at Databaum, Basel, Switzerland. Connect with Aniruddha Rajagopalan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ani_rajagopalan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniruddha-rajagopalan-b42524119 Email: anifrommanu@gmail.com Topics Covered: 01:42 - An Experience he considers completely different, nothing he'd imagined after finishing his master's degree 05:08 - The hard work behind the winemaking in a large winery and the friendships made with people across the globe 07:09 - Finally heading back for India this time, after having been to a couple of countries and applying what he's learned from his studies and experiences working as a harvester and winemaker 08:47 - Describing the winery in India where he works, its geographical location, and weather conditions 09:48 - What grape variety do they grow in KRSMA Estates in India? [plus a detailed description of the vineyard's soil type, the temperature it is subjected to, and how it affects the grape's flavor and taste and also the wine] 14:17 - Where do Indian wineries export to? 15:00 - What brought him to Ottawa, Canada and not to any of the countries he had traveled to? 18:59 - How he ended up working in the wine bar at the same time being a winemaker 21:42 - Enjoying what he's doing now, experiencing all the aspects of the wine industry 22:44 - What he loves about Canada that surprised him Quotes from Aniruddha Rajagopalan: “I'd gone from working in a winery that did about, let's say, 500 tons of grapes a year to another winery that did 50 tons of grapes a year, and now to a winery that did 10,000 tons of grapes a year. And, it was completely different.” “We were just constantly cycling through eight presses and filling them, pressing them, emptying them, cleaning them. Then they get filled again, then pressed again, emptied and cleaned. And this winery worked 24 hours and we worked 12 hour shifts.” “It's exactly as you said where you'd gone from being this very idealistic student with lofty ideas of how wine is made with ideas that could fill a million romantic novels about wine making into something that was completely the opposite. It was the antithesis of everything that you would understood and thought of wine making about, and that was a bit of a shock.” “I knew that viticulture in India is very different because we don't have winters or we don't have very harsh winters.” “Winters are very mild, and so there's no dormancy, and so you need to do your viticulture slightly differently.” “We were taught, and now we know that grape wines can handle temperatures of up to 50, 52 degrees before they die.” “Along with the concentration of the fruity characters, you also had the concentration of the tannins.” “The winery where I worked was seven hours' drive from Bangalore where my wife worked so it was starting to become a little bit unsustainable.” “We started looking at places, at countries where you might find the vineyards to be closer to the cities so we could both pursue our careers and still be together.” “Canada turned out to be one of those countries which we both liked. And so we decided we'd move to Canada.” “We agreed that I'd work as a part-time consulting winemaker (at a winery near Alexandria).” “On the one hand I can make wine and I understand the production aspect of it. And on the other hand, I get to sell it and see it served and talk about wines and how they taste, how they're made, and basically the marketing side of it.” “There are certain aspects of life here that are unusual for someone coming from India. One being very positive is that I have never seen people who are so happy for so much of the time.”          

Tinkering with coconut water and life in the laboratory was not what Aniruddha Rajagopalan was meant to do. Instead, he became a winemaker. The funny thing is, he had no exposure to wine growing up. The alcoholic beverages that he knew were popular in India were spirits and beer. Indian people consume far less wine each year than you might think, plus Indian culture discourages drinking alcohol. As unusual as it may be, meet an Indian winemaker. In this episode, Ani talks about how he was fortunate to study winemaking abroad in Europe as well as learn foreign languages. As a result, he was able to travel on various adventures across the globe and discover all the essential aspects of winemaking. What you will learn from this episode: Find out about India's young wine industry including an interesting fact about people's consumption of alcoholic beverages. Learn about how he became a winemaker by first tinkering with coconut water in the lab. Discover and understand the real work that goes behind winemaking. Know how to become a well-rounded winemaker and also be adept at marketing, finance, and the selling aspects of it. Get to understand the importance of decision-making and the organizational matters that go with winemaking, especially that of a small winery. Learn how to scout for educational opportunities about winemaking in prestigious schools around the globe and travel for work and leisure. Find out the best ways to learn foreign languages like French and German. Aniruddha Rajagopalan was born in India. He earned a degree in Microbiology at St. Joseph College in Bangalore, India. As the opportunity opened up for him, he went to study and finish MSc in Viticulture and Oenology at Montpellier, France, and Geisenheim, Germany. He is proficient in both French and German languages. His work experiences include: Project trainee at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc/ in Bangalore, India, a cellarhand at Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen and Wein und Sekthaus Schlossbergh in Eltville-Erbach and in Bingen, Germany, respectively. He was also once a cellarhand this time at Spring Creek Vintners Ltd. in Marlborough, New Zealand. Before coming to Canada, his last post was at KRSMA Estates Pvt. Ltd in Karnataka, India, as winemaker. And currently, he is now a consulting winemaker at Fernwood Estates, Bainsville, ON; at the same time a tasting room staff at Buyers and Cellars Tasting Room, Ottawa, ON, and a viticultural specialist at Databaum, Basel, Switzerland. Connect with Aniruddha Rajagopalan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ani_rajagopalan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniruddha-rajagopalan-b42524119 Email: anifrommanu@gmail.com Topics Covered: 04:09 - Sharing about his birthplace and where he is originally from 05:23 - India's staple alcoholic beverages 06:04 - When did the first winery in India was put up, and Indian people's average consumption 07:15 - Becoming a winemaker, even with no exposure to wine in his childhood and early adult life 12:29 - Taking the chance to go to Europe for a Vinifera Euromasters education 13:55 - Being well-versed in foreign languages [how he managed to learn six languages, especially French and German] 16:34 - One good thing about studying in Europe regarding winemaking and what it was about it that shocked him [the hard work involved behind winemaking] 22:54 - More realizations about winemaking while on the job with a small winery 23:59 - Becoming a winemaker for the first time [having control over how the wine was made and dealing with all the other important aspects of winemaking] 26:55 - Why every bit of decision matter in a small winery Quotes from Aniruddha Rajagopalan: “Spirits and beer are the most popular alcoholic beverages in India.“ “The early eighties was when the first winery was established in India.” “I remember reading a statistic about 15 years ago which said the average per capita consumption of wine in India was one teaspoon's worth (per year).” “What I was doing in my research work there at the Center for Sustainable Technologies was trying to ferment coconut water.” “I started reading books about wine, about wine making, to see how much of those ideas I could employ in fermenting coconut water.” “The good thing about the program I studied in Europe was that the holidays between the first year and the second year kind of coincided with the European harvest. So you could spend your holiday working the harvest.” “My idea of how wine was made was completely different from what it turned out to be.” “I thought it would all just be press a button here, press a button there, and then the wine gets made and there you go. Bob's your Uncle . Then that first harvest kind of opened my eyes to it. The first day at the winery, I spent half an hour just like wrapping up hoses to make them neat and circular.” “There's so much organizational stuff that you have to keep your eye on and keep thinking about.” “I came to absolutely despise beautiful days because I knew that on the days where the weather was very good, the harvester would be running full time and you'd get truck upon truck upon truck and we'd sometimes we'd work 14, 15 hours days.” “On the days when it rained, it was six hours, and then they'd say, well, the harvester can't go anymore. So it was done for the day. I would love those raining days.” “The first time that I got to be a winemaker, so to speak, where I thought about how I wanted to do it, how I wanted it to turn out and things like that. And that was great fun.” “Working in this very, very small winery gave me a little bit of perspective about how an establishments of that size, every decision you take matters a great deal because you're making only 4,000 liters of wine.” “You can't really afford to mess up a thousand liters of wine, because that's a quarter of a year's production.”          

15th April, 2022 was the launch of Cleantech Innovations Challenge 2022, organized by NCL-IIT(BHU) alliance "Incubation Centre" supported by NCL, Singrauli, Coal India Limited and IIT (BHU) Varanasi along with partner institutions namely IIT Mandi Catalyst, Mandi, HP, NASSCOM, Bangalore, DERBI Foundation, Bangalore, AIC BAMU Foundation, Aurangabad, NEATeHub, Assam, Tides Business Incubator, IIT Roorkee, TEXMiN Technology Innovation Hub, ISM, Dhanbad, IIIT Innovation & Incubation Centre, Delhi, FiiRE, Goa, INCeNSE Technology Business Incubator, IISc, Bangalore, Deshpande Startups, Hubballi, Karnataka, EPIC Foundation, a-IDEA, ICAR-NAARM. This challenge was the nation's 1st 'Clean Tech Innovations Challenge' for the coal sector. Director (Tech), Coal India, Sh. B Veera Reddy launched the challenge on 31st March 2022 in presence of Sh. Bhola Singh, CMD, NCL and Prof. Rajnesh Tyagi, Coordinator, NCL -IIT (BHU) Incubation Centre, IIT (BHU) Varanasi along with partner institutions. We qualified the 1st round, to get an opportunity for presenting to the second round jury from NCL & IIT. This episode is the audio excerpts of the same presentation, held in September, 2022. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vaidicsrijan/message

I am so happy to share this powerful imperfctly perfect conversation with Curtis Ogden who is Senior Associate of the Interaction Institute for Social Change. It was such a delight to be in conversation with Curtis and the hour flew by! Curtis works with multi-stakeholder networks to strengthen and transform food public health, education, and economic development systems at local, state, regional, and national levels. I highly recommend reading his blog posts for IISC which are simply transformational. In addition to his work at IISC, Curtis is on the advisory board of EmbraceRace, a member of the Research Alliance for Regenerative Economics (RARE) and the Emerging Networks Governance Initiative (ENGI) and shares the Thomas W. Haas Professorship in Sustainable Food Systems at the University of New Hampshire where he is engaged in scholarship on the intersection of networks and racial equity. I think you will love this conversation with Curtis. He told me that life is, when lived at its best truly a journey of learning throughout. The invitation is not simply to forget about our heads but to reclaim the rest of our bodies that are sources of knowledge, wisdom and emotion. The three books recommended by Curtis are: Sand Talk: How indigenous thinking can save the world Braiding Sweetgrass Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve : Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism

Yash Shukla is GATE 2022 XE AIR - 37. He has joined IISc Bangalore for M.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering. Yash has battled OCD and Anxiety for over 8 years and here he shares his journey in hopes that others pay attention to mental health issues. The podcast is also joined by Dr. Gyanendra Jha who is a professional Psychiatrist and has studied Yash's case closely. _______________________________________ Momentum Podcast is a podcast to enhance your career. We regularly have a notable and experienced guest and often I talk solo to address your queries and share my personal experiences. ___________________________________

1 जागतिक सर्वोत्कृष्ठ विद्यापीठांमध्ये बॅंगलोरच्या IISC ने पटकावलं स्थान2 विधानपरिषद निवडणुकीच्या घडोमोडी सदाभाऊ खोत भाजपचे सहावे उमेदवार3 कोरोनानंतर आता 'मंकीपॉक्स'चा धोका वाढला; WHO कडून मोठा इशारा4 देशात कोरोना रुग्णसंख्येत 40 टक्क्यांची वाढ; 24 तासांत 7240 नव्या रुग्णांची नोंद5 WhatsAppवर होणार धमाका! ही फिचर्स बदलणार6 रानबाजार: शेवटच्या दोन भागात काय घडणार? कसा होणार शेवट? जाणून घ्या...7 एकाच वर्षाच भारतीय टिमचा सहावा कर्णधार8 चर्चेतील बातमी- आज राज्यसभेच्या सहा जागांसाठी महाराष्ट्रात मतदान, अनिल देशमुख आणि नवाब मलिक यांना मतदानाची परवानगी नाही

Top #news today: > US general calls Chinese activity across Ladakh ‘eye-opening'> Iran foreign minister talks terror, trade, raises Prophet remark row on India visit> IISc top Indian institute in QS world varsity rankings> ‘Unscientific': Centre rejects Environment Performance Index> Pakistan power crisis:Work days reduced, no new purchases or meals for officialsListen here:@HindustanTimes #News #DailyNews #DailyUpdates #currentaffairs #Podcasts #HTSmartCast

The ISRO human space program began as the Indian Human spaceflight  programme in 2007. This began the development of technology needed to  launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low earth orbit. In 2018, the  government approved a further $1.5bn for a 7 day crewed flight. Now  known as the Gaganyaan programme, the programme aims to send two  unmanned missions and one manned flight mission into low earth orbit by  2023.   PM Modi launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) in late 2021 as a  way to contribute towards the accelerated development of India's space  industry. Speaking on the occasion, the PM said that this undertaking  will give the India space sector "new wings". It removes the  restrictions on space access, previously only given to ISRO and a select  few institutions. ISpA aspires to be the collective voice of the Indian  Space industry.   In the light of these advancements and India's new found enthusiasm for  the space race, we decided to dive deep into Indian space exploration.  To shed some light on this exhaustive subject, we invited guests Aloke  Kumar and Koushik Vishwanathan.   Aloke Kumar is the Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of  Science Bangalore. He has also worked in many teams exploring  applications of science to make space exploration easier. Koushik Vishwanathan is also an assistant professor at IISc, with an  interest in advanced manufacturing and finishing processes. He has  worked with Aloke on many of his projects regarding space exploration.

The ISRO human space program began as the Indian Human spaceflight programme in 2007. This began the development of technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low earth orbit. In 2018, the government approved a further $1.5bn for a 7 day crewed flight. Now known as the Gaganyaan programme, the programme aims to send two unmanned missions and one manned flight mission into low earth orbit by 2023. PM Modi launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) in late 2021 as a way to contribute towards the accelerated development of India's space industry. Speaking on the occasion, the PM said that this undertaking will give the India space sector "new wings". It removes the restrictions on space access, previously only given to ISRO and a select few institutions. ISpA aspires to be the collective voice of the Indian Space industry. In the light of these advancements and India's new found enthusiasm for the space race, we decided to dive deep into Indian space exploration. To shed some light on this exhaustive subject, we invited guests Aloke Kumar and Koushik Vishwanathan. Aloke Kumar is the Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. He has also worked in many teams exploring applications of science to make space exploration easier. Koushik Vishwanathan is also an assistant professor at IISc, with an interest in advanced manufacturing and finishing processes. He has worked with Aloke on many of his projects regarding space exploration.

भारत की पहली Women Engineer Rajeshwari Chatterjee की कहानी है इस episode में, जिनको भारत सरकार द्वारा scholarship मिलती है विदेश जाकर पढ़ाई करने की , और फिर वापस आके वो कैसे IISc में भारत की पहली microwave Engineering lab स्थापित करती हैं, lets listen together! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/taleha-khan/message

Reliance Retail, part of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, is acquiring an 89 percent stake in direct-to-consumer brand Clovia for $125 million. Indian Institute of Science has entered into an MoU with Ajit Isaac, founder and chairman of Quess Corp, and his wife Sarah Isaac, for establishing a Centre for Public Health at the IISc campus. Plus, Sri Lankan Cricketer Mahela Jayawardene co-founds a cyber security venture. Reliance Retail, part of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, is acquiring an 89 percent stake in direct-to-consumer brand Clovia for $125 million as the largest Indian retail chain looks to expand its footprints in the apparel and innerwear categories, TechCrunch reports. Eight-year-old Clovia, which operates a ‘bridge-to-premium D2C brand' and sells over 3,500 products across innerwear and loungewear categories for millennial women, had raised about $25.8 million before Sunday's announcement. India's Income Tax Department has found and seized “a large number of incriminating pieces of evidence” that reveals a Pune and Thane-based unicorn startup, referring to Infra.Market, “booked bogus purchases” and disclosed an additional income of more than $29.4 million, TechCrunch reports. Infra.Market's investors include Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and Accel, and is valued at $2.5 billion. The startup helps construction and real estate companies procure materials and handle logistics for their projects. The company “made huge unaccounted cash expenditure and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over Rs 400 crore ($52.7 million),” the department said in a statement, according to TechCrunch. The Indian Institute of Science has entered into an MoU with Ajit Isaac, founder and chairman of Quess Corp, and his wife Sarah Isaac, for establishing a Centre for Public Health at the IISc campus. The Isaacs have committed a sum of Rs. 105 crore towards setting up this Centre, which will be called the Isaac Centre for Public Health (ICPH), and will be a part of the postgraduate Medical School, soon to be established on campus. The Centre will be operational by 2024. Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene has teamed up with technology entrepreneurs Chandita Samaranayake and Stefano Harding, to co-found Dygisec, a Singapore based cyber security company, according to a press release from the company. With operations in Sri Lanka, Singapore, the US, and with plans to expand into Australia and the UK, Dygisec will offer its agent-less, data-driven cloud compliance policy engine called Triton. The company also plans to form a Cloud Security Academy to train and certify 5,000 cloud security experts representing women, financially-challenged and differently-abled individuals in Sri Lanka over the next three years. Loop, a startup building a user research tool for software product development teams, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding led by VC firm Speciale Invest. Additional funding for the startup, founded by Kritika Oberoi and Akash Tandon, is coming from First Cheque, angel investors and a grant from Sequoia Capital India as part of the Sequoia Spark program. Looppanel allows product and design teams to analyse and share insights from Zoom-based user interviews in minutes. Product managers and designers can quickly test their assumptions and prototypes with their own customers. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

The TATA is such a huge global conglomerate? why does it even have the need to sponsor the IPL? Who sowed the seeds for the global giant TATA? Conversation with whom inspired the Tata's to start the IISc? Why was Lakme invented? answers to all these and some lovely stories about Tata's and their love for dogs on the 17th episode of the AGyaani podcast. PLEASE NOTE: All and any kind of music used in this podcast is for educational purposes only. Finally, Drop your reviews, suggestions, requests, memes on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wowagyaani Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowagyaani/ Music Credits: https://rb.gy/p65efc Adios!

The lads do a heavy one this time around. Courting thorny issues like the minimum age for marriage for women, and student suicides on the IISc campus in Bengaluru. But they round it off well, with the story of woman in Brazil who was duped with the purchase of a baby pig - She was told she was buying a miniature 2.5 kg pig, that ended up turning into a 250 kg food processor. SHOW NOTES - 1. If you or someone you know needs help, here are some helpline numbers and links. If you are feeling low, talk to someone about it. A friend, a relative, or sometimes even a stranger could help. Suicide helpline number 9152987821 https://icallhelpline.org/ http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html 2. Wisdom app AMA deets - Date 24, Dec 2021, Time 9.30 pm IST App link https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wisdom-life-advice-audio/id1576484544 Our Wisdom profile https://joinwisdom.audio/farfromfact Download the app on your iPhone and follow Far From Fact. (Not available on android yet.) If you are unable to install the app, try changing your region to the US. 3. Video of Lilica, the overweight pig

It's a sign of a nation we are becoming - simple solutions to complex problems. To stop students from taking any extreme steps - the prestigious IISc is now taking down fans from hostel rooms of students!!!! From blaming NEHRU for the ills of India - from blaming Oil Bonds for the high prices of fuel to blaming and taking down FANS!!!! - we really have mastered the art of simple solutions. + your questions as always!

With us today is Dr. Samira Agnihotri, who has studied bird song, racket-tailed drongos and ethno-ornithology.   Dr. Agnihotri has worked in the Biligiri Rangana Betta or BR Hills from 2005 when she began to study birdsong while pursuing a Master's degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences. She then studied racket-tailed drongos, walking through the forests with a mike and recorder, and obtained her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science. She followed up her research on drongos as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. She is keenly interested in the traditional ecological knowledge of the Solega people and has dabbled in ethno-ornithologies, collaborating with linguist Dr. Aung Si, and is intent on documenting Solega knowledge and oral histories. Samira is also interested in nature education, and in exploring different ways to popularise the ecological sciences as well as encourage and aid the preservation of traditional knowledge systems. Samira is a member of Punarchith, a collective that works with farmers and rural youth in Chamarajanagar District. Currently, she works at the Office of Communications at IISc.  

In today's video, we explore how Bengaluru became India's Silicon Valley: Foundation of Bengaluru as Gandubhūmi or Land of Heroes: Kempe Gowda, a chieftain of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century, laid the foundation of what we now know today as the city of Bengaluru, although at the time, it was called gandubhūmi or Land of Heroes. The chieftain, of course, had no idea how fitting this name would prove to be nearly half a millennium later. Jamsetji Tata's dream to set up a world-class university: Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata group wanted to set up a world-class university in Mumbai but then Viceroy of India Lord Curzon chose Bengaluru to be the right place for this university. But Jamsetji Tata passed away before he could see IISc open in Bengaluru. Role of HAL and ISRO in building Bengaluru as the hub of innovation: IISc played a pivotal role in attracting talent in and around Bengaluru which lead to the formation of HAL – India's first aerospace company and ISRO being set up in Bengaluru in the 20th century. This helped develop Bengaluru into the manufacturing hub of the country and a hotbed for innovation. Ram Krishna Baliga and India's Silicon Valley – India's first electronic city: A student of IISc named Ram Krishna Baliga was busy developing residential colonies for BEL when he realised that Bengaluru was the perfect place to set up India's own electronics manufacturing hub – it had everything talent, innovation and a thriving manufacturing ecosystem. So, he started building India's first Electronic City in Bengaluru – all but cementing Bengaluru's place as the innovation hub of the country. Infosys comes to Bengaluru: Until now, most of the projects and companies were driven by the government and focused on the manufacturing sector but soon Infosys became one of India's first IT companies to set up its headquarter in Bengaluru and with the success of Infosys, more and more companies like Wipro and TCS decided to set up shop in Bengaluru to access quality talent and its thriving ecosystem. More IT companies and more tech talent flocks to Bengaluru: Once India's economy was liberalised in 1991, not just domestic IT companies but international tech giants like Texas Instruments, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Intel flocked to Bengaluru – bringing with them more talent and laying the foundations of Bengaluru as the Silicon Valley of India.

An interaction with mobility expert Ashish Verma Hello people, good morning and welcome to DH Radio Our roads are so unwalkable, our footpaths are so pedestrian. So what's new? Is that your question? Ok, so let's choose a road, upgrade it with a pedestrian-first approach and keep out vehicles during weekends. That's exactly what they did with Bengaluru's Church Street. And boom! the crowds came in massive numbers, yes, walking! So, what happened? To get an answer to that question, Rasheed Kappan talks to IISc professor Ashish Verma, who along with his colleague Hemanthini Allirani, did an award-winning study on the impact of the pedestrianisation project. Listen in.

TBCY features today, the co-founder of Strand Life Sciences who shares his journey, his knowledge, and everything about his vision, difficulties, and his ideas. Tune in to know what's inside. Dr. Vijay Chandru, a Ph.D. in operations research, is currently the Commissioner at Lancet Citizens Commission on reimagining India's health system. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Strand Life Sciences. He was teaching in the US, then moved to Bangalore where he taught at IISc, and finally started his entrepreneurial journey by setting up businesses and his company here. Dive in and listen to this episode to know about the company he founded along with three other friends, the idea and vision behind the company, the challenges faced during the working of those ideas, and his amazing personal journey from an academic to an entrepreneur. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tbcy/support

In this episode Ramesh shares his experience and perspectives related toHis interest in software and programming that was fueled by an IIT professor teaching programmingOne of the very few who did a software project as part of his degree and then joining Tata Burroughs from campus, as the first batchGetting back to academics to get his Master's degreeHow his extra learning at IISc and the work experience in the first couple of years helped him skip a few courses and jump into more advanced topics during the Masters'Joining HCL in their Singapore venture, Far East Computers LimitedHow his experience with facing customers helped in the assignment of setting up a QA environment at Oracle headquartersMoving to management roles in engineering managementJumping at the opportunity to start a development center in India from scratchThinking that he could do that for a year and then get back to the USAHow he had to take on various responsibilities of not just delivering, but also establishing processes, building networks for recruitment etcRealizing the need to take innovative approaches to attract the right talent, when competing with other companies that would hire in large numbersTaking up a teaching role at Anna University How that gave him an opportunity to observe the students over a semester, and not having to learn by interacting for 20 minutes in an interviewExtending this learning through internships Starting to love teachingThe trigger for his getting into writing [and authoring books], some of which are standard curriculum recommendations in about 50 universities across the world“Transferring knowledge to others will have a bigger impact on Society as a whole”Enjoying the role of a teacher at various institutionsHow some interests popped up by necessity, Slicing time every day for work, education and family - to make time for all Taking risks knowing that all options may not progress as desiredSome tips that would help selecting the right candidatesHow everyone should feel comfortable to disagree, but not be disagreeablehow , as a technical guy, you can have all the answers, but as a leader, you should have all the questionsHis career advice:Being passionate about what one doesDo not undervalue the importance of keeping your skills up to dateWhy you should become useless for your jobPlease bear with some audio distractions in the background in patches. You will love this story..Gopalaswamy Ramesh is an independent consultant, eminent author and has served as visiting / adjunct professor in several reputed universities and an acknowledged thought leader in the areas of global software project management, software testing and related areas as well as on soft skills. He has over three decades of experience in industry, consulting and teaching. He played a key role in establishing Oracle's India Development Center and grew it from zero to close to 500 people. His contributions to this phenomenal growth were acknowledged in Oracle International magazine When he left Oracle in 2002, he was their Senior Director, heading the engineering team at Bangalore.Before returning to India in 1994 to set up Oracle IDC, Ramesh worked in Oracle Headquarters in Redwood Shores, California, holding several technical and management positions. He also headed pre-sales and post-sales support of Oracle products in the ASEAN countries while working at Far East Computers, Singapore from 1982 till 1988. During this stint, he actively participated in launching and supporting Oracle in several countries in the region.Since 2002, Ramesh has been an independent consultant, offering consultancy services in the areas of global software project management, software testing and soft skills in India and abroad. His passion for teaching and sharing his vast knowledge and rich experience have resulted in his writing eight books have become best sellers and two of them being also translated to Chinese language. His books have been widely read and used as prescribed or reference books in a number of universities in India and abroad. The book Managing Global Software Projects won the National Award for the Best Book.As a thought leader, Ramesh has been an active invited participant in several well known conferences and workshops. He has played the roles of Program Chair, Technical Review Committee Head as well as an invited keynote presenter in several international conferences.Passionate about interacting with students and imparting relevant practical knowledge and training to students, Ramesh has been an Adjunct Professor in several leading universities and has taught in a number of very reputed institutions like IIIT-Bangalore, IIT Madras, Anna University, Chennai and Amrita School of Business. He was part of the Academic Advisory Board of Project Management Institute, India from 2009 to 2014, during which time he was the Technical Committee Chair for first two Research and Academic Conferences (RAC) on Project Management in India.Ramesh is passionate about inculcating the right value systems in school children and about people with special needs. He has also written books on moral education நிச்சயம் வெல்லலாம் நேரான பாதையில் in Tamil and Virtuous and Victorious – Always in English for school children. He has translated from English to Tamil the best-selling book GIFTED about the achievements of fifteen differently abled people. He and his wife, Lakshmi Ramesh who is a trained special educator are active participants in initiatives on people with special needs.Ramesh holds a B E Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, a M S Degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (the thesis on Automatic Programming won the National Gold medal) and M S Degree in Engineering Management from Stanford University, California.Ramesh may be reached at gopalaswamy_ramesh@yahoo.com

Life on Earth is undergoing its sixth ever mass extinction, one that is entirely driven by humans. Amongst the multitude of “global change” factors causing species' extinctions, climate change and the loss and degradation of natural habitats are major causes. This is especially the case for species in tropical mountain ranges, where most of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity is concentrated, and where species tend to be thermally sensitive. Umesh Srinivasan and his team study how forest degradation combines with climate change to impact Himalayan biodiversity at multiple levels, from geographic range shifts to behaviour and demography. Their main ongoing work is in the eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh, where they have been monitoring bird populations in primary and logged forests for a decade using mist netting and bird ringing. They combine this with behavioural observations to understand how climate change and forest loss are altering the composition of mixed-species bird flocks across the elevational gradient. In addition to the Arunachal long-term project, they work with various institutions to study the impacts of global change drivers on Himalayan birds in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Almost all their work happens in the field. Apart from the research that they do, Dr. Srinivasan also works with the Bugun community of Singchung village in Arunachal Pradesh and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department on a range of conservation issues. These initiatives include wildlife and nature education for schoolchildren from Arunachali tribal communities and the management of the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve, established to protect the critically endangered Bugun Liocichla. Before joining IISc, Dr. Srinivasan was a postdoctoral fellow with David Wilcove at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He did his PhD on the demographic impacts of selective logging on birds in Arunachal Pradesh with Suhel Quader at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. His MSc was in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the Wildlife Conservation Society-National Centre for Biological Sciences. His undergraduate studies were in medicine at Government Medical College, Mysore. Summary of the podcast The Eastern Himalayas are one of the most species rich regions in the world.  Dr. Umesh Srinivasan studies the effects of selective logging on birds. Are there parts of the Himalayas where birds are more temperature sensitive than others? 2:00 What is selective logging and how does it affect primary forests? 3:15 The sixth extinction.  What are the drivers of the sixth extinction? 5:00 What are the survival rates for birds in primary versus logged forests. 7:00 How do bird species respond to selective logging? What are the changes that you see in birds in logged forests? Hint: it has to do with something that humans always want for their bodies. 11:42 What are some of the fascinating birds in Eastern Himalayas? 13:00 Differences in bird species between Eastern and Western Himalayas. 16:00 Western Himalayas are more temperate than Eastern Himalayas which is more tropical.  This affects the species that colonize these regions. 18:00 Which is better?  Birds that are thermal generalists verus thermal specialists? The answer is not straightforward 21:00 What is biotic homogenization? And how does this affect Western Himalayan birds versus Eastern Himalayan birds? How do birds adapt when you convert forests into agricultural land? Again thermal generalists versus specialists. 25:00 Fascinating nuance amongst the Great Barbet. 27:00 The contours of forest degradation in the Himalayas.   28:30 “Himalayas are not like a cone.”  The band of land between 1800 to 2500 metres. 30:00 Tell us a good story and a bad story. 32:00 About the endangered Bugun Liochicla with a global population of 20 individual birds.  In Singchung village.  Tale of how to work with a community. 35:00 An appeal to preserve the 4% of land that is protected in India.

➡Akash Tyagi is Masters from IISc Bangalore, and former IES Officer. He is AIR-18 in GATE 2014 and AIR-33 in UPSC ESE the same year. He has been teaching in the domain of GATE & ESE in top coaching institutes of this country for the past 6 years. Here he shares his experiences. Time Stamps: 1. How to study for exams 2:05 2. Noise in online education 8:45 3. Aspirants complaining about less seats 10:10 4. About research and discoveries 14:14 5. Individual effort is necessary 16:34 6. The Missing Link | Understand the Exams 17:30 7. Value of M.Tech 22:15 8. How are things changing for coaching facilities 28:06 9. Technical Talk: Entropy 35:41 10. ESE 2021 Exam Paper Analysis 39:38 11. Options in Life 46:21 12. Value of struggle 52:48 13. Quality of Study is more important 59:18 ____________________________________________ ⭐️ Qualifications of Guest (Akash Tyagi): ➡ GATE 2014 AIR-4 ➡ UPSC ESE AIR-33 ➡ M.Tech. IISc Bangalore in Heat & Mass Transfer ➡ Former IES Officer ➡ 6+ Years teaching experience in GATE & ESE domain ⭐️ Qualifications of host (Ashish Ranjan): ➡ 3 Times GATE qualified ➡ BARC 2017: Selected & Joined ➡ Former Scientific Officer at D.A.E. ➡ IIT Bombay RA AIR-10: Selected for Masters in Mechanical Design ➡ ISRO 2018 AIR-4 ➡ Former ISRO scientist Social Media: Ashish Ranjan:

Analytics and Data Science have become mainstream career choices for graduating students in India nowadays. Analytics companies are nowadays among the largest recruiters at engineering colleges. How did we get here? How did data and analytics become so big, and so mainstream in India? In order to understand this, we need to understand the full history of analytics in India, and this is a story that goes back over a hundred years. Today's guest is N Dayasindhu, co-founder and CEO of itihaasa Research and Digital. For the past two decades, he has been working on R&D and innovation management especially focused on IT. He is working on the evolution of business and technology focused on IT and related domains in the Indian context. In an earlier avatar, he was a consultant advising MNCs setting up high-performance R&D and IT organizations in India. He was also a researcher in the R&D arm at Infosys and holds a couple of US patents. His research is published in Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Technovation, ACM SIGMIS, etc. He occasionally writes in The Indian Express, The Hindu,The Economic Times, The Hindu Business Line, Founding Fuel, etc. He has guest lectured in the IIMs, the Wharton School at UPenn, NUS Singapore, etc. He has an FPM (PhD) from IIM Bangalore, M.Sc. in Physics from IIT Madras and a B.Sc. in Physics from Loyola College, Chennai. Show Notes: 00:03:20 - PC Mahalanobis returns to India (1910s) 00:12:30 - Using analytics for engineering problems at IISc (1950s) https://ece.iisc.ac.in/index.php/about-us/history 00:23:00 - Analytics in the industry in India (1960s) 00:33:00 - Big tech coming into India (1980s) 00:35:30 - GE sets up captive in India (1990s) 00:39:45 - Analytics services startups; IT firms get into analytics (ealrly 2000s) 00:49:30 - Analytics training institutes in India (2010s) 00:52:00 - How to characterise analytics professionals in India Links Dayasindhu on Twitter Dayasindhu's interview with L^2, the alumni magazine of IIM Bangalore ---------- Data Chatter is a podcast on all things data. It is a series of conversations with experts and industry leaders in data, and each week we aim to unpack a different compartment of the "data suitcase". The podcast is hosted by Karthik Shashidhar. He is a blogger, newspaper columnist, book author and a former data and strategy consultant. Karthik currently heads Analytics and Business Intelligence for Delhivery, one of India's largest logistics companies. You can follow him on twitter at @karthiks, and read his blog at noenthuda.com/blog

IISC in Bengaluru is getting ready for phase 1 trials and has sought financial support from the govt to run toxicity and clinical trials.  __________________________________________________________________________________________ Read the full article here: https://theprint.in/health/animal-trials-done-iisc-bangalore-promises-booster-shot-that-works-for-any-covid-vaccine/687600/

Sundar Sarukkai (Centre for Society and Policy, IISc) speaks at the Oxford South Asian Intellectual History Seminar on 10 May 2021. For more information on the event, see here. For queries, please contact the seminar convenor at saih@history.ox.ac.uk. Please note that there were some unavoidable technical difficulties during this talk, which have impacted the quality of the recording.

Sundar Sarukkai (Centre for Society and Policy, IISc) speaks at the Oxford South Asian Intellectual History Seminar on 10 May 2021. For more information on the event, see here. For queries, please contact the seminar convenor at saih@history.ox.ac.uk. Please note that there were some unavoidable technical difficulties during this talk, which have impacted the quality of the recording.

ETV Bharat Karnataka news in kannada for June 10 2021 12pm is about IISc Bangalore makes every Indian proud - tweets Karnataka CM Yediyurappa, Centre issues guidelines for management of black fungus in children below 18 years, India reports world's highest single-day Covid-19 death toll after Bidar revises data, National award-winning film director Buddhadeb Dasgupta dies at 77 and several other news, for more live news download Etv Bharat Download ETV Bharat on App store – https://apps.apple.com/in/app/etv-bharat/id1453416186 Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.etvbharat.android Or watch us live on – www.etvbharat.com ETV Bharat is d Division of Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. , is a comprehensive digital national news platform conceived to deliver seamless news and information services, using video-centric Mobile App and Web Portals. It is first-of-its kind offering in India in terms of diversity and depth, dedicated journalists network, reach of 24 states with services in 13 languages i.e.– Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia and English. ETV Bharat is the latest initiative of the five-decade old multi-dimensional Ramoji Group. The Group's highly successful media endeavors include : Eenadu - one of the largely circulated language dailies in the country , and ETV Network with Telugu general entertainment, infotainment and news channels. With a strong lineage of the most trusted media house, ETV Bharat would draw on its strengths of decades' long experience and innovation. ETV Bharat will combine the new technologies of mobile and digital media to engage news and information seekers in a new connected world. It will be driven by well-established news gathering setup, technology specialists and other professionals.

ETV Bharat Karnataka news in kannada for June 9 2021 12pm is about IISc Bangalore named top research university in QS World University rankings, Government is ready to talk with farmers on agri acts says Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, New Corona cases, deaths, discharges and other stats in India, World's first Liquid Nano Urea to be introduced to Jammu Kashmir farmers and several other news, for more live news download Etv Bharat Download ETV Bharat on App store – https://apps.apple.com/in/app/etv-bharat/id1453416186 Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.etvbharat.android Or watch us live on – www.etvbharat.com ETV Bharat is d Division of Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. , is a comprehensive digital national news platform conceived to deliver seamless news and information services, using video-centric Mobile App and Web Portals. It is first-of-its kind offering in India in terms of diversity and depth, dedicated journalists network, reach of 24 states with services in 13 languages i.e.– Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia and English. ETV Bharat is the latest initiative of the five-decade old multi-dimensional Ramoji Group. The Group's highly successful media endeavors include : Eenadu - one of the largely circulated language dailies in the country , and ETV Network with Telugu general entertainment, infotainment and news channels. With a strong lineage of the most trusted media house, ETV Bharat would draw on its strengths of decades' long experience and innovation. ETV Bharat will combine the new technologies of mobile and digital media to engage news and information seekers in a new connected world. It will be driven by well-established news gathering setup, technology specialists and other professionals.

While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways.Audio narration by Ad-Auris.  India Policy Watch: The Demarcation Between Science And Ramdev  Insights on burning policy issues in India- RSJEvent 1: May 23, 2021. Yoga guru Ramdev:"Everyone should progress through self-evaluation. Some allopathic doctors too consider Indian medical science, Ayurveda, yoga as pseudo-science, (emphasis ours) which hurts crores of people.” Event 2: May 29, 1919. New York Times (reporting on the event on Nov 7, 1919):I will connect the two events (hopefully) in a bit.Take Event 1. This was Ramdev in his response to the letter he received from Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister for Health. The minister had written to Ramdev about his recent statements about allopathy and doctors. You can read more about it here. Dr. Vardhan was forced to write to Ramdev because of the campaign by the IMA (Indian Medical Association) against the damaging statements made Ramdev about modern medicine. Over the past year, Patanjali Ayurved, a company promoted by Ramdev, has made several claims of curing Covid-19 in seven days through its product, Coronil. He has also, at different times, called Allopathy a ‘stupid science’, falsely claimed over 10,000 allopathic doctors died after taking both doses of vaccines and blamed the global drug ‘mafia’ for conspiring against him, Ayurveda and India in that order. Now you might dismiss the whole thing as a sideshow of which there are plenty at anytime in India. But this isn’t one. Ramdev is a hugely influential figure who has a daily show on the national TV channel watched by millions. He singlehandedly created a packaged goods behemoth in the last five years riding on a deeply held belief among Indians about the ‘purity’ of Ayurveda. There have been many questions on those claims. But that’s another story. Anyway, there are a few real issues to contend with here. First, we are in the middle of a pandemic and our fastest way out of it is to vaccinate people at lightening speed. Any statement or action that stops us from doing this is bad and must be stopped. Second, India has made real progress on key health parameters like infant and maternal mortality rates, malnutrition, life expectancy and disease burden in the past two decades. But the harsh reality is it is still placed in the bottom quartile among nations on these metrics. We have had some hard fought wins in making modern medical treatments acceptable among people. We shouldn’t be frittering away these gains by raising suspicions about it among the masses. Lastly, the frontline workers and doctors have put their lives on line during the pandemic to serve the patients. We were showering flower petals on them a year back. Since everything is political now in India and nationalism can be used to defend the indefensible, the troll armies have turned this episode into a dystopian farce where pharma ‘mafia’ and Christian lobbies are the villains and Ramdev is the one exposing their nefarious plans. Now any doctor speaking against Ramdev risks being labelled a pawn hurting India’s interests and its inevitable rise that these lobbies are hard at work to stop. That we want to alienate doctors, hospitals and pharma companies in middle of a pandemic is beyond my comprehension. This is a self goal like no other. The Demarcation ProblemAnyway, the point about pseudoscience made by Ramdev is of interest to me. Who defines it? If crores of people follow something, does that mean it shouldn’t be called pseudoscience? Palmistry, astrology, homoeopathy, Ayurveda - where do they stand on the spectrum of science and pseudoscience? Since some kind of revivalism is on within the Indian society, it will be useful to explore this further. That brings me to Event 2. Why was the eclipse on May 29, 1919 such an event? Here’s why:A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein wasn’t a household name. He was a professor in Berlin, known to scientists, intellectuals, his divorced wife and the first cousin who would soon become his second wife — but not to the world.His rise to superstardom began on May 29, 1919, when the moon and sun lined up just right for a solar eclipse. Photos of the astronomical event showed something strange: A few of the stars visible during the blackout were in the wrong place.Einstein had foreseen this. Using his theory of general relativity, he made the seemingly crazy bet that the stars’ positions in the sky would shift during an eclipse, and even calculated by how much.As the data came in and the results were confirmed, the general theory of relativity was proven. Newtonian physics was no longer the truth. “Revolution in Science,” the front page of The Times of London proclaimed. “New Theory of the Universe: Newtonian Ideas Overthrown.” The New York Times followed suit with “Men of Science More or Less Agog.” Following this with interest was a precocious 17 year old student in the University of Vienna. His name. Karl Popper. This event would leave a deep impact on him as he thought about the nature of truth and the philosophy of science in his later life. The idea that Einstein could precisely postulate in advance what would happen during a solar eclipse and then have the courage for it to be proven or be ‘falsified’ publicly was in sharp contrast to other ‘sciences’ that were in fashion during those years in Europe, namely, Marxism and Psychoanalysis. For over two centuries, scientists had empirically tested Newtonian laws and it worked in all known cases. New inventions came up based on these laws including the steam engine and the power loom that revolutionised societies. Kepler showed how the laws worked for planets and other celestial objects. Haley predicted a comet would reappear again in 76 years based on it. The scientific method that Bacon had proposed involving observation, hypothesis, test and conclusion was proven over and over again for Newtonian physics. That’s how the universe worked. Yet, when Einstein argued that they didn’t work for the special case of really large objects and it was proven during the eclipse of 1919, the entire community of physicists updated their priors. For Popper this was the ‘demarcation’ between what he called science and non-science (later termed pseudoscience by others ). To him all observation is selective and can be used to prove anything. Psychoanalysis was a prime example. Therefore, he dismissed inductive reasoning as the method of drawing scientific inference. Because every single observation so far has followed Newtonian law, doesn’t mean it is the truth. Because the Sun rises every morning doesn’t necessarily prove it will rise tomorrow. More has to be done.Popper instead offered ‘falsifiability’ as the test to ‘demarcate’ science and non-science. As he put it, you can always cherry-pick evidence to prove any theory. Like psychoanalysts and Marxists of his time were doing or what Ramdev is doing with his claims. That’s not enough. For him what really counted as science was if you could stake your theory on a future prediction that could turn out to be false like Einstein and the physicists did with the solar eclipse. A million instances of something working isn’t enough to prove something is science but a single counter-instance is enough to falsify the claim that it is science. That’s how the claim should be tested. On falsifiability. So, science is always about a provisional truth till someone falsifies it. The moment it is falsified, it is no longer science. Science, to Popper, therefore was a grand pursuit to solve big problems and not about making series of tiny empirical observations and figuring out the cause behind them. The observations were only to be made to serve the grand pursuit of truth.Applying FalsificationNow there were others who debated with Popper on the philosophy of science, most notably, Kuhn who coined the term ‘paradigm shift’ to explain how science evolves and those debates are best left for another day. For now, let’s consider ‘falsifiability’ as explained by Popper and view modern medicine as it is practised today. The entire drug discovery and development process involving identification of likely compounds useful in curing a disease, synthesis, characterisation, validation, optimisation and assays that will make it ready for clinical trials follows the principle of finding a single counter instance that would falsify the results. The clinical trials, multiple reviews by the regulators and then the monitoring of the drug performance after it has been launched in the market are all meant to ensure that any instance of failure is captured and studied to eliminate the root cause. This is a rigorous process to stand the test of ‘falsifiability’ and keep modern medicine as close to true science as possible. I will leave it to you to assess other ‘sciences’ I have mentioned earlier on this scale. For me none pass the muster.To be clear, this isn’t to overstate the primacy of science in our lives. You might find comfort and peace of mind through astrology. Yoga and Ayurveda might help you to stay fit and build your immunity. You might have personal experience of homoeopathy working for you. Some scientist who retired from ISRO (or IISc) or some former Nobel prize winner might believe in past life regression or Vedic chants to cure something. These could all be observable truth for those instances. It won’t make them science. Because they can easily be falsified. And since we are at it, let’s not fall to the usual exaggerated claims that do the rounds on Whatsapp. Yes, China is big on their traditional medicines. But if you dig deeper, most of the traditional medicines sold are for the usual reasons: to make you “strong” (wink), for skin ailments and for common colds and fever. Nobody is claiming it will cure Covid-19. The other argument about modern medicine deriving their compounds from nature like Ayurveda also needs to be understood better. It is true many modern drugs have compounds that are extracted from plants and herbs that we often use in Ayurveda. But the modern medicine process is quite exact about the compound, the amount and how it should be delivered into our system. Eating the same plant or herb as a paste or in food isn’t the same thing though it might occasionally yield the same results. There is a difference. The same as that between Sanjeevani and the Dronagiri mountain. Between specifics and generalisation. And no, searching for Sanjeevani isn’t exactly a scientific pursuit. One of the duties of citizens mentioned as part of the Directive Principles of State Policy in our Constitution is “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. This is good goal for every Indian to pursue. You don’t need to jettison any tradition for it. The two can co-exist. Global Policy Watch #1: When Conspiracy Theory Comes True  Bringing an Indian perspective to burning global issues- RSJThere was this amazing piece in the Newsweek about how a global ragtag band of gumshoes, data scientists, molecular biologists and conspiracy enthusiasts exposed the many false claims of the Wuhan Institute of Virology about the origins of Covid-19. The mountain of evidence collected and meticulously analysed by the group, who now go by the appropriate sounding name DRASTIC (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19), has been enough for the Biden administration to launch an investigation into the source of the virus. The lab origin of the virus was a theory that few believed in even a month ago. But now it is almost mainstream. Conspiracy theories are often used as a label to delegitimise notions and those believing in it are seen as misfits. Calling something a conspiracy theory is to lower its credibility. They have been the bane of many elections, triggered unrest and have kept social media platforms on their toes. But the very public victory of DRASTIC will have an impact on this discourse. It won’t be easy to wave something off as a conspiracy theory. Pranay writes more about this in the next section below. Interestingly (and fittingly, perhaps for this edition), the first philosopher to write about conspiracy theory was Karl Popper. In his book The Open Society and Its Enemies, Popper moves away from science in the realm of nature to the state and the society. He describes ‘conspiracy theory of society’ as an approach to explain a social phenomenon by finding out those who have planned or conspired for it. But Popper argues most conspiracies that are hatched don’t go as per plan and end up with unintended consequences. The role of social sciences, therefore, is to explain these unintended consequences arising out intentional human actions. That sounds like what we strive to do in this newsletter. There will be lot more written as the origin of the virus story progresses. This might be the most consequential conspiracy theory of all time. Global Policy Watch #2: Networks vs Hierarchies  Bringing an Indian perspective to burning global issues— Pranay KotasthaneThis week had its fair share of mind-boggling stuff. To name a few: a court case by a Bollywood celebrity against 5G deployment, a well-known lawyer promoting vaccine hesitancy, and reports documenting how a group of passionate folk forced renowned scientists to eat their words on the virus lab-leak theory.There’s something common to all these events. To borrow a phrase from media analyst Martin Gurri, such instances illustrate ‘the crisis of authority’ in the Information Age. There’s no theory that won’t be questioned by radically connected individuals, irrespective of the evidence backing it. This newsletter has discussed Radically Networked Societies (RNS) many times over in disparate contexts. We have discussed how no issue is local anymore. Even highly-specialised issues are vigorously contested by laymen. Even decisions by authoritative organisations are questioned, debated, and sometimes overturned, in a vastly expanded information sphere. The thesis of Martin Gurri’s 2014 book The Revolt of the Public is along similar lines. He frames the current upheaval as an asymmetrical warfare between hierarchical institutions of the Industrial Age and hyper-networked individuals of the Information Age. In his words:“When judging his government, Homo informaticus can then do so in light of alternative possibilities—different views of the same policy or event, different values invoked for an action or inaction, different performance by other governments, real or imagined. The first step toward skepticism is doubt, and Homo informaticus, exposed to an independent channel, must confront choices and doubts when constructing his story of the world.…Governments of every stripe have had trouble grasping the sudden reversal in the information balance of power. Proud in hierarchy and accreditation, but deprived of feedback channels, the regime is literally blind to much global content. It behaves as if nothing has changed except for attempts by alien ideals—pornography, irreligion, Americanization—to seduce the public. Most significantly, the regime in its blindness fails to adjust its story of legitimacy to make it plausible in a crowded, fiercely competitive environment.…The consequences are predictable and irreversible. The regime accumulates pain points: police brutality, economic mismanagement, foreign policy failures, botched responses to disasters. These problems can no longer be concealed or explained away. Instead, they are seized on by the newly-empowered public, and placed front-and-center in open discussions. In essence, government failure now sets the agenda. As the regime’s story of legitimacy becomes less and less persuasive, Homo informaticus adjusts his story of the world in opposition to that of the regime. He joins the ranks of similarly disaffected members of the public, who are hostile to the status quo, eager to pick fights with authority, and seek the means to broadcast their opinions and turn the tables on their rulers. The means of communication are of course provided by the information sphere.”Gurri, Martin. The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium (pp. 89-90). Stripe Press. Kindle Edition.There’s another way to model this crisis of authority. In edition #11, I had discussed the Overton Window. This framework suggests that for any political issue, there's a range of socially acceptable positions that's narrower than the range of all possible positions. These socially acceptable ideas are seen as being inside the Overton Window — they are mainstream and uncontroversial. On the other hand, policy positions outside it are viewed as shocking, upsetting, and electorally harmful. The key insight of this framework is that, with social pressure, the Overton Window can shift over time; today's radicals may become tomorrow's moderates. In the Information Age, something even more striking has happened. The Overton Window on practically every issue has been stretched such that nearly all possible positions on an issue have become socially acceptable. With that happening, the older institutions, which earlier exuded authority, are shredding legitimacy with every decision they make.This is a value-agnostic assessment of the networked public. In the case of Wuhan lab-leak theory, the effect is a positive one as it has at least thrown light on the geopolitical power play that has suppressed this line of inquiry. The curious case of growing QAnon popularity in the US is the other side of the same coin. But if I were forced to make a ‘bane or boon’ type call on our networked existence in the political sphere, it would be as follows. The backlash of the public is a boon in that it pushes governments towards more accountability. It puts the fear in a government that any wrongdoing will be found out, exposed, and mocked. The bane is that with the multiplication of identity-inspired comradeships across the spectrum, forming coalitions of any kind has become difficult. Every sect is splintering and trust between the splinters is a casualty. The cacophony of conflict spreads to every issue, regardless of how important and urgent it is. Governments become more opaque, more indecisive, and less persuasive in turn. One thing is for sure: our industrial-era political setup is undergoing a fundamental transformation in the Information Age. HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Audio] Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast: Liam Kofi Bright on Knowledge, Truth, and Science. Liam Kofi Bright received his Ph.D. in Logic, Computation and Methodology from Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently on the faculty of the London School of Economics in the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and the Scientific Method. He is well-known on Twitter as the Last Positivist. [Blog] Check out Martin Gurri’s blog The Fifth Wave. Lots to read here. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

टेस्लाची गाडी खरेदी करतायं, सावधान.... प्रभावी व्हॅक्सिन बनवण्याचं काम IISC मध्ये सुरु... कोरोना संसर्ग रोखण्यासाठी ब्रेक द चेनची नवीन नियमावली सेट परिक्षा २६ सप्टेंबरला मृतदेहांवर अंत्यसंस्कार करताना अत्याधुनिक तंत्राचा वापर करावा - उच्च न्यायालय कमल हसन यांच्या पक्षाला आणखी एक मोठा धक्का... औषधांसोबतच पंतप्रधान मोदीही गायब - राहुल गांधी दहावीच्या परिक्षेला उच्च न्यायालयात याचिका...

Around 200 years back, Darwin set out on his historic voyage around the world, observing and cataloguing the immense diversity the world had to offer, he laid down the foundation for a theory that shook the foundation of biology, the theory of evolution out of which was born the field of evolutionary ecology which tries to unravel the countless puzzles of life nature has to offer. Our guest for the day is a pioneering expert from this very same field, who has gone on adventures through forests and jungles all over the world, witnessing and explaining the miracles of the wild, trying to uncover the underlying complex relations that connect different species. In our conversation with her, we explore her research which deals with a vast range of topics ranging from fungus farming termites to fig pollinating wasps. Dive in to listen to the ever charismatic Dr. Renee Maria Borges, Professor at the Centre of Ecological Sciences, IISc explain the intricacies of life with the help of scintillating stories from her own treasure trove of experiences. The team for Zeroing In for this episode included Murala Aman Naveen, Kanthan Narayanan, Kriti Raj, Arun S, Shaun Ethan Chaudhary Phanghcho, Shreya Mishra, Naman Jain and Fenil Shah. Featured season poster by Naman Jain. Zeroing In season's theme song featured herewith, 'Kuikkukisu', created by Ethan Phangcho.

To learn more about 'Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power', visit https://www.aiandpower.com/ In part 2 of the discussion moderated by TS Mohan, they discuss India's AI policies, Breaking India forces 2.0 & more from the book 'Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power.' In this stimulating and engaging discussion, Rajiv Malhotra is joined by eminent panelists- Prof R. Vaidyanathan, Cho S Ramaswamy Visiting Chair Professor of Public policy [CRVCPPP] Sastra University, Prof Devendra Jalihal of IIT Madras, and Prof K Gopinath of IISc, Bangalore. The panelists share their views on the battlegrounds discussed in the book. See more on Artificial Intelligence here: http://bit.ly/AIandPower Do check out our YouTube channel 'Rajiv Malhotra Official' and do follow us on Facebook '@RajivMalhotra.Official' and Twitter '@InfinityMessage' and '@RajivMessage'. To support this project: https://infinityfoundation.com/donate/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kurukshetra/support

To learn more about 'Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power', visit https://www.aiandpower.com/ In this thought-provoking panel discussion moderated by TS Mohan, panelists- Prof R. Vaidyanathan, Cho S Ramaswamy Visiting Chair Professor of Public policy [CRVCPPP] Sastra University, Prof Devendra Jalihal of IIT Madras, and Prof K Gopinath of IISc discuss with Rajiv Malhotra his latest book 'Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power.' The panelists share their views on the five battlegrounds discussed in the book. In part 1, they discuss digital colonization, China, and India's education system. Do check out our YouTube channel 'Rajiv Malhotra Official' and do follow us on Facebook '@RajivMalhotra.Official' and Twitter '@InfinityMessage' and '@RajivMessage'. To support this project: https://infinityfoundation.com/donate/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kurukshetra/support

A wide-ranging chat with Dr Uday Balakrishnan (retired from the Indian Postal Service as a Member of its Board), currently teaching governance at IISc Bangalore, who has seen the beast from the inside, warts and all. We discuss:Can the bureaucracy be reformed? What are its biggest problems and sins? Is it attitude, perhaps unchanged from James Mill’s time, ie 1817? Is it the way they are recruited and trained? Does the problem lie in the way there’s a brutal hierarchy in place where lesser babus are humiliated and treated as sub-humans while the elites play God? What about the way babudom is not accountable for results achieved (or not)? Why do they have no skin in the game? How can evaluation be made more rigorous? Do they stick up for each other to the detriment of the national interest? What about all the little jaunts to Harvard etc that they go on: are these useful to India or to someone else? Are they giving away Big Data about India to possibly malign outsiders? A no-holds-barred critique of what’s good and what’s bad with India’s fabled babus. Can babudom be salvaged? The answer: a big ‘Maybe’.And here’s a companion look at the Judiciary, from 2018: Can We Fix The Deeply Troubled Judiciary? Excerpts from Uday’s Bio:Dr. Uday Balakrishnan belongs to the 1975 batch of the Indian Postal Service the world’s most extensive. He has worked across India in areas of logistics, banking, insurance, financial inclusion, child, women and unorganized labour, human resource development, as well as vigilance and anticorruption in the postal services and in the larger Government of India.He has headed two large staff training centres and also served as the administrative head of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) –Bengaluru. To pursue his other interests, Dr. Balakrishnan retired voluntarily in 2010 as Member of the Postal Services Board & Chairman of the Investment Board.Dr Balakrishnan’s academic interests include modern history, International Relations and public policy. Dr. Balakrishnan has been a visiting fellow at prestigious institutions like the Centre for Contemporary Studies-IISc, National Institute of Advanced Study (NIAS) and the Central European University (CEU) Budapest.Dr. Balakrishnan has been teaching a popular public policy and contemporary history course, developed by him, titled ‘Introduction to Governance in India,’ for undergraduate science students at IISc since 2014. It is the only one of its kind in India.Dr. Balakirshnan is a prolific columnist and reviewer of books for ‘The Hindu,’ and the ‘BusinessLine’. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Dhruva Rathod, a Masters in Product Design and Engineering talks about his design journey 00:00 - Introduction 02:05 - Journey into Design 06:27 - Exam preparation 09:32 - Second round & Interview at IISc Bangalore 14:40 - Interview 16:53 - What does IISc offer 18:46 - Semester wise coursework 24:35 - From Designing to launching a product 26:50 - Startup Culture at IISc 30:22 - Career options 32:13 - IISc campus 33:43 - How is IISc different from IDC/NID 35:45 - Suggestions for Design aspirants 40:10 - Observation 43:59 - Summary for aspirants Host - Sanjay Reddy Check out our online courses for UCEED, CEED, NID & NIFT

In this episode, we chat with Geetha Manjunath, Founder of NIRAMAI; one of India's most awarded health tech startups using AI to solve the detection of early-stage breast cancer. Prior to NIRAMAI, Geetha has made her mark at CDAC, HP & Xerox, with her 25+ years of research and innovation background.Set up in 2016, NIRAMAI is India's only startup among CB Insights' 100 most promising AI startups. For anyone exploring health tech, this conversation would be of great value. From identifying the problem statement to creating affordable solutions for the end-user, by leveraging AI & technology, this podcast will guide you through it all.Notes - 01:33 - Her belief in “Karma Yoga”05:11 - Family background and upbringing06:20 - Getting into IISc, learned - “Enjoying the newness of something”07:36 - Joining CDAC -  Member of the team that developed the First Indian Supercomputer10:23 - NIRAMAI's cause - Enabling early-stage detection of Breast Cancer15:16 - Identifying problem statements and creating solutions20:11 - Partnering with hospitals and health startups21:54 - Mammography vs NIRAMAI screening (in terms of OpEx & CapEx)29:06 - Challenges while fundraising as a Healthcare startup34:33 - Opportunities for Healthcare startups in India36:10 - Challenges Healthcare startups should brace up for42:53 - Future plans at NIRAMAI

Vinod Kumar Datuslia is a master's in Aerospace Engineering from IISc Bangalore and is currently working in G.E., he was All India Rank 1 in GATE 2013, AIR-4 in UPSC Engineering Services and AIR-3 in Indian Space Research Organization, he also currently teaches Mechanical engineering to aspirants of government exam and has a lot to share with the young and aspiring engineers. Time Stamps: I 1. Kind of work at G.E. 6:47 2. Merchant Navy job profile 9:30 3. How to get AIR-1 in GATE 4. Story of his ISRO Dream 24:16 5. Experience in IISc Bangalore 28:07 6. Placement Scenario for M.Tech. in IISc Bangalore 39:00 7. ISRO Strategy 44:48 8. UPSC Engineering Services Exam Strategy 51:52 9. ESE Interview Strategy 58:29 10. What about Indian Railways Exam? 1:04:04 Instagram: ashish_torq Video Version on Youtube Channel: Torq4712 Title of Video: Vinod Datuslia | GATE AIR-1 | ISRO AIR-3 | ESE AIR-4 | Momentum Podcast Ep. 19

C.V. Raman moved to Bangalore in 1933 to take over as Director of the Indian Institute of Science. There remain a few Bangaloreans who fondly remember having encounters with the man who was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in a science discipline. We speak with Uma Jagannath and K.K.S. Murthy for their recollections of C.V. Raman and learn about their own contributions to the city. We are grateful to the folks at Connect with IISc for helping make this episode happen. A PodMacha Studios production. Contribute to Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre (CARE) at this link. Say hello: Bangalore In Stories on InstagramPodMacha on InstagramResources: 1. If I Had a Smartphone Then, I Would Have Taken Selfies with CV Raman - IISc Connect2. Mars & Beyond - C V Raman : The scientist and his legacy - PIB India

Prof. Santosh Nagarkette is every bit the inspiring and motivating teacher that all engineering students dream of having. He talks about his research with such passion that his excitement is contagious. He takes us along on his journey from being a confused undergrad student to finding his dream job with research and teaching. He further stresses on the importance of good teachers who guide and nurture students to bring out the best in them. https://www.linkedin.com/in/santosh-nagarakatte-7124a64/

In this episode of The Lead from DH Radio, former director, Indian Institute of Science G Padmanaban tells us how IISc came into existence and the people who made it into an edifice. Ahmed Shariff: Bangalore is the hub of technology and science in India. How did this city come to this? Who were the people behind this and what was the role of the Indian Insititute of Science (IISc) in this? We will get to know the answers in today's episode. Hi, this is Ahmed Shariff and joining us today is former director of Indian Institute of Science G Padmanaban. Listen in. Ahmed: Hi sir and welcome to DH Radio. G Padmanaban: Thank you. Ahmed: Sir, my first question to you is: When did the thought of IISc come into being? G Padmanaban: I think the seed was sown when Swami Vivekananda accidentally met J N Tata. In a steamer, they were travelling from Japan and to Vancouver... To know more about the conversation, listen to the podcast.

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, IISc's Professor Rohini Godbole honoured with French Ordre National du Merite; Bharatiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann recuses himself from the Supreme Court-appointed panel and Union Budget to go digital this year. Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com

Samira Agnihotri has worked in the Biligiri Rangan Hills in south India from 2005 when she began to study birdsong while pursuing a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences. She then studied vocal mimicry in racket-tailed drongos, walking through the forests with a mike and recorder, and obtained her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science. She followed up her research on drongos as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. She is keenly interested in the traditional ecological knowledge of the Solega people and has dabbled in ethno-ornithologies, collaborating with linguist Dr. Aung Si, and is intent on documenting Solega knowledge and oral histories. Samira is also interested in nature education, and in exploring different ways to popularise the ecological sciences as well as encourage and aid the preservation of traditional knowledge systems. Samira is a member of Punarchith, a collective that works with farmers and rural youth. Currently, she works at the Office of Communications at IISc.

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Gautam Gambhir feels Virat Kohli must step down as RCB captain; Isro launches PSLV with the Earth observation EOS-01 and nine other foreign satellites; State Bank of India chief says economy expected to bounce back from the next fiscal; IISc-incubated startup developing Covid-19 vaccine which can be stored at higher temperatures and Democrat Joe Biden said he was going to win the US presidency. Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com To read news on the go, sign up to our Telegram channel t.me/deccanheraldnews

Hello Everyone, Our today's guest, is a Data Science and Strategy leader with 11+ years of rich experience in leading Tech, Media, and Retail companies. He is currently Head of Data Science at SONY. Earlier he has worked for Disney, Target, Wipro, Grab, and Spice. He is also a Visiting Professor at top IITs, IIMs, IISc etc. He is a P.hD. and MBA topper from XLRI, and a Computer Engineering graduate. He was awarded LinkedIn Spotlight 2019 for being one of the topmost inspiring and engaging leaders. While talking about his passion, he mentioned that, how much time he invests in learnings, which enables him more to share knowledge to with others. Also, in tips and advice segment for aspirants he mentioned that, irrespective of any field, "don't give up and keep trying". Quick summary of the episode - 1. Passion [TimeStamp - 1:49 to 5:26] 2. Questions from Audience [ 5:26 to 18:17] 3. Volunteering [ 18:17 - 21-36] 4. Work Experience [21:36 - 28:37] 5. Leadership[28:37 - 31:59] 6. Summarization and Quick Thank You [ 31:59 - 32:40] So watch complete episode - https://youtu.be/EV5YCCU1RPg Listen to complete episode - https://anchor.fm/vaishali-lambe/episodes/SoLeadSaturday---Episode-48---Dr--Angshuman-Ghosh-datascience-career-ai-machinelearning-elqcmq If you have any more questions for him, please feel free to connect with him on @LinkedIn and @Twitter. Until we meet, happy leading and let's lead together. Stay safe. Bye for now. Find me on - Twitter - https://twitter.com/vaishalilambe LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishali-lambe/ Instagram - @SoLeadSaturday Website - https://www.vaishalilambe.com/soleadsaturday Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Data-analytics-fanatics-by-Vaishali-456634621464863 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soleadsaturday/id1496626534?uo=4 Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMzFiYTA0MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0bFOIm9EGFalhPG8YPBhVp --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vaishali-lambe/support

After Securing All India Rank 18 in GATE 2014 and 33 in ESE 2014, Akash Tyagi did his Mtech from IISc Bangalore with a specialization in Heat Transfer. He also has experience of working as an IES officer. Discussed here: (1.) General introduction of Akash Tyagi 0:00 (2.) Advice to undergraduates 6:05 (3.) Life at IISc 9:41 (4.) Experience as an IES officer 16:10 (5.) What is Xoombook 20:49 (6.) Message to depressed in lockdown 24:06 (7.) How to Relate Multiple subjects 26:24 (8.) What were your most frustrating moments 29:46 (9.) Is IES worth anymore/ about IRMS 35:32 (10.) ISRO privatization 38:29 (11.) Guidance to Entrepreneurs 41:26 (12.) Concluding Message 43:58   Instagram: ashish_torq YouTube: Torq4712 (Video version of this podcast available here)| Akash Tyagi Social Media Instagram: xoombook, Youtube: Xoombook

Esya's Mohit Chawdhry discusses issues associated with access to and use of Non-Personal Data by academicians and researchers with Mr. Chaitanya Murti, a computer engineer currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems, IISc. Bengaluru. This is the second episode in our series on the topic: 'Non-Personal Data.' To know more on this, read our Policy Brief here. Follow us on twitter: @esyacentre

While scientists the world over are trying their best to develop a vaccine and an anti-viral for Covid-19, governments are looking to arrest the rapid decline in the global economy by lifting the lockdown in phases. In such a scenario, in which the number of Covid-19 cases has been rising unabated, and suitable preventive and therapeutic solutions to the pandemic are yet to be discovered, a second wave of the infectious disease could turn out to be a nightmare. First, what is the second wave of Covid-19? By now, you must be aware that pandemics are caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. And since these are new, the human body invariably has no immunity against them. Also, pandemics are uncommon but influenza, or a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system, is one of the more frequent causes. One of the most common features in many of the pandemics that we have had in the recent past is influenza-like symptoms in which the viral infection attacks the respiratory system.  Now the novel variant of a flu virus that has acquired pandemic proportions wreaks a great deal of havoc before retreating temporarily due to factors like changing weather conditions or an extraordinary curb on movement induced by lockdowns that aim to contain the spread of the virus.  However, once there is a another change in the weather or the lockdown is lifted fully or in phases, it can start spreading around the world again. According to scientists, the trajectory of Covid-19 cases in India may have plateaued and could even fall for some weeks after the lockdown is lifted. However, the country is likely to see a second wave in late July or August, with a surge in the number of cases during the monsoon. The timing of the peak will depend on India's ability to sustain social distancing and the extent to which the infection spreads once the restrictions are relaxed, they said. But why exactly is the second wave being made out to be such a big deal? Last month, China reimposed restrictions in certain parts of the country because of a wave of new cases, indicating that a second wave is in the offing. Countries are rigorously practising social distancing and have announced lockdowns to contain the further spread of the virus. However, once the lockdown is lifted, it will leave many people vulnerable to infection as they begin to venture out again. This is because the virus was only contained, and not treated. Sundaresan, corresponding author of a working paper by researchers at IISc and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, confirmed this in an interview with PTI. He said, "Once we return to normal activity levels, there is a chance that the infection may begin to rise again. China is seeing this to some extent post easing of some restrictions on travel.” While there are many reasons including changing weather conditions and movement restrictions that cause the phasingout of the first wave of infection, we should not forget that the second wave of the historic influenza outbreak in 1918 caused most of the deaths in the pandemic. According to a media report, some researchers believe the second wave of the 1918 outbreak was brought about by a mutation that once again made the virus unrecognizable to most people’s immune systems. Another important variable is the movement of the virus to populations that haven’t been exposed before and don’t have immunity. In fact, reports suggest that there are cases of people who have recovered from coronovirus being infected with the disease again. The fact that many of them asymptomatic, meaning that they aren't showing signs of extreme weakness, fever or difficulty in breathing, makes the scenario quite frightening.  Yet there is hope. A disease from the coronovirus family called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, infected parts of Asia during the 2002-2003 outbreak, but never acquired the stature of a pandemic.  So,

  Episode 002 | March 20, 2020 Enabling Rural Communities to Participate in Crowdsourcing, with Dr. Vivek Seshadri Crowdsourcing platforms and the gig economy have been around for a while. But are they equally accessible to all communities? Dr. Vivek Seshadri, a researcher at Microsoft Research India, doesn’t think so, and is trying to change this. On this podcast, Vivek talks about what motivated him to focus on research that can help underserved communities, and in particular, about Project Karya, a new platform to provide digital work to rural communities. The word “Karya” literally means “work” in a number of India languages. Vivek primarily works with the Technology for Emerging Markets group at Microsoft Research India. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from IIT Madras, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University where he worked on problems related to Computer Architecture and Systems. After his Ph.D., Vivek decided to work on problems that directly impact people, particularly in developing economies like India. Related · Microsoft Research India Podcast: More podcasts from MSR India · iTunes: Subscribe and listen to new podcasts on iTunes · Android · RSS Feed · Spotify · Google Podcasts · Email Transcript Vivek Seshadri: If you look at crowdsourcing platforms today, there are a number of challenges that actually prevent them from being accessible to people from rural communities. The first one is, most of these platforms contain tasks only in English. And all their task descriptions, everything, is in English which is completely inaccessible to rural communities. Secondly, if you go to rural India today, the notion of digital work is completely alien to them. And finally, there is a logistical challenge here. Most crowdsourcing platforms will assume that the end-user has a computer and constant access to internet. This is actually a luxury in many rural communities in India even today. (Music plays) Host: Welcome to the Microsoft Research India podcast, where we explore cutting-edge research that’s impacting technology and society. I’m your host, Sridhar Vedantham. Crowdsourcing platforms and the gig economy have been around for a while. But are they equally accessible to all communities? Dr. Vivek Seshadri, a researcher at Microsoft Research India, doesn’t think so, and is trying to change this. On this podcast, Vivek talks about what motivated him to focus on research that can help underserved communities, and in particular, about Project Karya, a new platform to provide digital work to rural communities. The word “Karya” literally means “work” in a number of India languages. Vivek primarily works with the Technology for Emerging Markets group at Microsoft Research India. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from IIT Madras, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University where he worked on problems related to Computer Architecture and Systems. After his Ph.D., Vivek decided to work on problems that directly impact people, particularly in developing economies like India. (Music plays) HOST: Vivek, welcome to the podcast. Vivek: Thanks, Sridhar. This is the first time I am doing anything like this, so I am really excited and a little bit nervous. Host: Oh, I don't think there's anything to be nervous about really here. You guys are used to speaking in public all the time. So, I'm sure it'll be fine. Vivek, you are a computer scientist and you did your PhD in Computer Science in Systems, right? What made you gravitate towards research that helps underserved communities, typically the kind of research that one associates with the ICTD space? Vivek: So, Sridhar, when I finished my PhD in 2016, I sort of had two decisions to make- should I stay in the US or should I move back to India? Should I stay in the same area that I am doing research in or should I move to a different field? Both these questions were sort of answered when I visited MSR and had interactions with people like Bill Thies. The kind of research that they were doing impressed me and also influenced me to make the decision to come back to India and work on similar problems that directly impact people. Host: That's interesting. So this is something that was brought upon by meeting people in the lab here rather than something that was there in your mind all along. Vivek: Absolutely. Actually, when I started my PhD, I wanted to come back and become professor in places like IIT or IISc. And when I moved back, I was actually introduced to MSR by one of my friends who actually visited MSR before me. And I just thought I'll pay a visit. And the conversations that I had with people here, sort of made my decision absolutely easy. Host: And the rest is history, as they say. Vivek: Absolutely. It’s been three years since I moved here and I couldn't be happier. Host: Great. So Vivek, walk us through this project called Karya, which I know you have been associated with for quite a while. What exactly is project Karya and what are your goals with that project? Vivek: So, there are two trends that enables or motivates the need for a project like Karya. The first trend is that there is a digital revolution in the world today, where improvements in technologies like Machine Learning are allowing people to interact with devices using natural language. The second trend is specific to India where we are trying to push towards a digital future which is creating a lot of tasks like audio transcription, document digitization, etc. Both these trends are going to result in a huge amount of what we call digital work. And the goal for project Karya is to take this digital work and make it accessible to people from rural communities who typically have very low incomes today and are predominantly stuck with physical labor. We believe completing these digital tasks and getting paid for them will be a valuable source of supplemental income for people from rural communities. Host: Crowdsourcing and crowdsourcing platforms have been around for quite a while now. And they are also well-established methods of gig work. So what's the need for another approach or a different framework like Karya? Vivek: That's a great question. If you look at crowdsourcing platforms today, there are a number of challenges that actually prevent them from being accessible to people from rural communities. Specifically, let me describe to you three challenges. The first one is, most of these platforms contain tasks only in English. And all their task descriptions, everything, is in English which is completely inaccessible to rural communities. Secondly, if you go to rural India today, the notion of digital work is completely alien to them. In fact, when we went to rural communities in our first visit and told them we will actually pay some money for completing some set of digital tasks, they looked at us in disbelief. Like they actually didn't believe that we are going to pay them until we actually did. So, there is this huge issue of awareness. And finally, there is a logistical challenge here. Most crowdsourcing platforms will assume that the end-user has a computer and constant access to internet. This is actually a luxury in many rural communities in India even today. Host: So, does Karya enable people to use their existing skillsets and knowledge to earn supplemental or extra income? Vivek: So, Sridhar, like I mentioned, there are two sources of digital work that we are looking at currently. One is creating label data sets for models like automatic speech recognition, and other language-based machine learning models. The second source of digital work that we are looking at is things like speech transcription or document digitization, which the government is very extremely interested in. Now depending on what type of task we are going to do, people may have to be able to read in their regional language or type in their regional language. Now, when it comes to reading, we find that most people from rural communities are adept at reading in their regional language. When it comes to typing, as you can imagine there are not many good keyboards that will allow you to type in your local language. This is something that most people in rural communities have never done before. In fact, even though, most people in rural communities are not familiar with English, they actually use a very crude form of transliteration to actually communicate in their regional languages. That's what we observed- most people used WhatsApp and when communicating with each other they actually use transliteration in English and not type in their native language. Host: So, you are saying that there is a large number of people who are actually typing in the English script, but the language that they are representing is their own vernacular. Vivek: Exactly. And the transliteration is very crude. They know what sounds each English alphabet corresponds to and they just put together a bunch of characters next to each other and it's almost like they have created a whole new script for their local language. Host: Right. Vivek: But something like that wouldn't actually be useful for us. We would want them to type in their local language. For instance, let’s take an example of document digitization. The idea there is, the government has a whole of government records which contain hand-written words in their local language. It could be names of people, it could be addresses, etc. When I want to digitize these documents, I may actually want someone to type out the names that they see in the document in the local language. Now, there, I would actually want them to use the native script. And not, some crude form of transliteration. Host: Sure. Vivek: So, in this particular case, we actually used a keyboard that was developed by IIT Bombay called Swarachakra. And our users actually learnt to use that keyboard within a very short span of time and they were able to perform extremely well in the task that we had assigned them. Host: So, it sounds like there is a lot of work that is readily available. What is required is to actually deliver it and make it possible for people to leverage that work in order to earn extra income. Vivek: Absolutely. Actually, the government of India has its own crowdsourcing platform, where they outsource text digitization like I mentioned to anyone in India who wants to do it. Unfortunately, even that platform is not accessible to rural communities. If I go to rural India and ask anyone about that platform, they wouldn't know anything about it. So, in some sense, there is work that is readily available, but there is this huge gap in access. Host: And the gap in access is because these platforms work on their traditional paradigm of needing a desktop computer with an internet connection? Vivek: Exactly. In fact, the platform that the Government of India has, it’s a website that you have to access and you need internet connection to receive tasks and complete tasks. And our goal is to sort of eliminate that requirement. In fact, the goal of project Karya is to enable anyone with just a smartphone to be able to perform digital tasks on their phone. (Music plays) Host: I know you've already conducted some experiments with Karya. And you've also published a paper in Chi in 2019. Can you walk us through some of the results of the experiments that you've conducted? Vivek: So, one of the biggest challenges in creating a platform like Karya is the perceived lack of trust in rural labor. When we actually spoke to many potential work providers on whether they would be willing to outsource their work to rural workers, one of the first questions that they ask is if they can trust the quality of labor that we get from rural workers. So, in the Chi paper, what we wanted to sort of evaluate was the accuracy and effectiveness with which workers from rural India can actually complete a specific type of digital task. So, in that particular paper, we actually looked at text digitization, where the task is as simple as the user is shown an image of an hand-written text and all they had to do was type out whatever word they see in the particular image. And of course, they will be given thousands of images that they have to digitize over a period of two weeks. And what we actually found in the paper was that workers from rural India actually did fantastically well. In fact, in a crowdsource setting, they outperformed a professional transcription firm to which we gave the same data set. So, that was very interesting for us. Host: That’s really interesting. Do you have any insights into why that might have happened or, how this community of people that you engaged with were able to outperform professional services? Vivek: So, with respect to the performance of the transcription firm itself, we could only guess, because it was a black box for us. We just gave them the data set and asked them to provide the results and the results that we got were not that good. But we can definitely guess why workers from rural communities did so well. First of all, the additional income that workers from rural communities are getting out of completing these tasks is significant. So, for them there is actually a fear that they may not get paid if they don’t complete the tasks accurately. So, from that point of view, most users paid extreme attention to completing the tasks accurately. And these workers also found it a lot of fun. Like I mentioned before, most of their current work is typically physical labor, be it farming, many of them are actually unemployed. So, for them, this is actually a fun activity that they can do together with their friends where they also get some money. So, from their point of view, it was both fun and it gave them very very valuable supplemental income. I think both these were significant factors in the rural workers performing really well in the task that we gave them. Host: Your Chi paper was based on text digitization by members of rural communities. But have you looked at other types of tasks that can be completed through Karya? Vivek: Yes. Actually, as we were working on the platform, we realized that there is a real need for speech data sets in various languages in India. In fact, in our very lab, Kalika Bali, who is a researcher, is working on this project called Ellora, whose goal it is, is to create voice technologies for all the languages in India. One of the fundamental bottlenecks in achieving this is labeled speech data sets. A labeled speech data set is essentially a data set that contains various audio recordings, and the transcripts that correspond to those recordings. We actually found a mechanism to use Karya to collect such a data set for various languages. In fact, we have an ongoing study where we are collecting hundreds of hours of speech data for languages for which there is almost no data today. Host: So, when you give out these speech collection tasks, what is the actual process, how does it actually work? Vivek: So, at the lowest level, the task is essentially for the user to read out, record themselves reading out a sentence. However, to make the task more fun, we actually made them read out stories. Some empowering stories, some stories about history of our country, some stories about popular figures like Buddha, and users really liked reading out stories as opposed to reading out random bits of sentences. Host: So, we've been talking about Karya as a project in which we are helping or building a new paradigm in crowdsourcing. What are the actual components that go into Karya as a system? Vivek: So, Sridhar, if you look at any crowdsourcing platform that is out there today there are two major components. One is the server that actually contains all the tasks that have to be completed, that is the component that work providers interact with to submit the task that they want to get completed. The second component is actually the client that the workers will use to actually complete the tasks. In a typical crowdsourcing platform where internet connection is assumed, the client will directly talk to the server, get the tasks and the responses are also directly submitted to the server. Host: Right. Vivek: Now, like I mentioned, most rural communities in India do not have internet connectivity. In fact, two of the three locations that we have worked with have absolutely no connectivity. Which means a platform that assumes internet connectivity is going to exclude those people from participating in the platform and get paid for completing valuable tasks. Host: So, how do you bridge that? Vivek: So, the way we bridge this gap is by introducing this third component that we are calling a Karya Box. Now, the Karya Box is essentially a device that we will place in the village where we want to work with people. And you can think of the box as a local crowdsourcing server for that particular village. Host: Okay. Vivek: So, the Karya Box will essentially act as a local crowdsourcing server in the village where we have placed it. Users in the village can directly interact with the box through the Wi-Fi access point that the box will expose. So, anyone with a smartphone can just connect to the Karya box Wi-Fi and then interact with the box to get tasks and submit their responses as well. Now the question is, how does the box communicate with our server? Host: Yeah. Vivek: So, in most villages which do not have connectivity what we observe is there are definitely people who go to nearby cities for work or even to get digital content that they can get back to the village. What we need to do is to employ someone like that who can carry the box to a location where is internet connectivity, periodically, maybe once a day or even once a week. And at that instant, when the box gets connectivity to the server it can exchange, both the responses that have been submitted already by the rural workers and also get any new tasks for the village, if any. Host: That seems to be a smart and inexpensive way to get around the lack of connectivity issue. Vivek: Absolutely. Actually, I can tell you a story around this. Host: Oh, please, we love stories. Vivek: When we did our recent study, we actually deployed the box in the village. That village actually has really good connectivity. So, we were actually expecting the box to be in regular contact with our server. But due to various reasons, there was an internet shutdown in the village for the first one week after we deployed the box. But there you go. Our system actually worked because it does not assume that the box regularly talks to the server. Host: I am assuming and correct me if I'm wrong, that a lot of the people who are interacting with the system, the Karya app especially on the phone, right, they'd be doing something of this nature for the first time. How did people typically find working with the Karya app and were there significant hurdles, were there issues in the communities that you went and did your experiments with? Vivek: So, like I mentioned before, most people actually found doing this kind of an activity a lot of fun. So, from that point of view, there was not much boredom even though the tasks were extremely repetitive. Now imagine, looking at words screen after screen and typing them out or sentences screen after screen and reading them out. This is probably a very mundane task for people in urban communities. But for people in rural communities, where they don't get to do this kind of thing very often or even interact with a smartphone very often, they actually found it a lot of fun. In fact, many people actually found some sense of pride in actually completing tasks in their local language. (Music plays) Host: It seems like this kind of digital work has the potential over time to provide people with livelihoods and enhance existing incomes. Do you think there is a potential downside to digital work or a potential downside to the online gig economy? Vivek: Definitely, there is a limitation, similar to any other gig economy, like your, cab-hailing services where it's a physical gig work that you are doing, or delivering food, it's again a physical gig economy. As more people join the platform, the amount of work that is going to be available for every individual person is going to go down. So in that sense, one should not think of even the digital gig economy as a sustainable source of livelihood. So from that point of view, one of the limitations is the excitement that workers in rural communities have for such kinds of tasks. These tasks are much easier to complete than the task that they are involved in right now. And they also pay much higher than the task that they are doing right now. So there is definitely the possibility that some of them may think this is a much more lucrative job that will provide a full-time income for them. But we have to warn them in advance, saying, this is not the case. Host: So expectation setting is going to be key. Vivek: Expectation setting is, in fact, a huge part of what we need to do when we actually scale out the platform. In fact, even for the small studies that we conducted in these villages where studies were for a period of two weeks, during which time people may earn let's say 3000 rupees, their question at the end of the study is, "When are you going to come back?" Right? So, that sort of enthusiasm is both encouraging and scary. Because, if you don't have a sustainable source of work that you can provide to these villagers, it can end up in disappointment. Host: Was there anything that surprised you when you were working with and when you were talking to various communities during the experiments with Karya? Vivek: Yes. Actually, two things stood out for us. The first thing is, how inclusive the notion of digital work can be when it comes to employing people from diverse backgrounds. What we observed was, women who were typically not allowed to get out of their house in rural communities for various reasons were able to participate on our platform and actually earn income for the first time in their lives. People with physical disabilities were able to participate on our platform. Host: That must have felt extremely empowering for them. Vivek: Absolutely. And the second thing that we observed is like I mentioned before, this sense of pride that they had when they were completing tasks in their local language. Like I mentioned before, this is not something that they get to do often. In fact, in one of our studies where the task involved was recording themselves reading out stories, many people actually went over and did the tasks all over again, just so that they can read the stories to their kids or to the community. This is something that was completely surprising to us. Now imagine if someone in an urban community would actually be willing to do that. Host: Yeah. That's good food for thought. So it certainly seems like your experiments with Karya show that it's got a huge amount of promise and potential. Over time, where to you see or where do you hope to see Karya? Vivek: So Sridhar, like I mentioned, as language technologies keep improving the need for creating these technologies for various Indian languages is only going to increase. There are going to be many startups which would want data sets for creating the models that they want in local languages. We believe, with our insights and solutions that we have built for creating a crowdsourcing platform for rural communities, Karya can be the platform that these organizations, both private startups or even the government, can come to, to get their valuable task competed. Host: Vivek, this has been an extremely interesting conversation. Thank you for your time. Vivek: Thanks a lot, Sridhar for giving me this opportunity to both talk about the project and also do my first podcast. Host: My pleasure. To learn more about Dr. Vivek Seshadri, the Technology for Emerging Markets Group, visit Microsoft Research India.  

How do you like your Matcha? Why do fine and coarse materials behave very differently? Is surface texture usually a sign of sub-structures? How does rock become clay? Is dry clay enough to understand wet clay? Could tea be smoked? Is it simple to keep every spoonful of your morning cereal mix similar? Do pure dry solids ‘flow’ in layers and parts? Is soil a definitive sign of life? How are dust and coarse-leaf teas different? Does mechanical agitation organize matter differently from Brownian motion? How/why does swelling happen? Can mechanical grinding lead to fine structural (chemistry) changes? Does fineness evolve life ‘around’ it by offering its ample ‘surface area’? What is a tea bag? Would you be able to easily tell (moving) life & non-life apart under a microscope? Could microbes induce life into fine matter? How does refinement happen? Why do water drops jump to contact when brought close together? What flocks? What ‘flocs’? What lies ahead? Would we deploy small active rotors & ‘swimmers’ to change materials? &, will we one day understand the fundamental physics of all open pattern-forming systems? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from active matter physics (Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy, IISc, Bangalore), geotechnical engineering (Prof. D. N. Singh, IIT Bombay, Mumbai), & chemical engineering (Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Trans-Disciplinary University, Bangalore). Listen in...

How difficult is it to pick berries from a tree? Do green flowers exist? Is blue still blue if it is not being known? ‘Where’ are your eyes? ‘Who’ needs colour vision? Is colour an elemental, physical, measure of the world? Is colour also mind- (or, sensor-) dependent? Do name-ability and know-ability go together? Is lustre similar to colour? Why is there a ‘three-ness’ to colours? How is it even possible to mix colours to get new ones? Are certain colours harder to make than others? Does every quality reside in a substratum? Do you confuse intensity and colour? Do you find B&W films compelling? Why do we see colour illusions? Are dreams colourful? What is the role of colour ‘in’ imagination? Where is the Self (& colour perception) located in wakeful, dream, & deep-sleep states? How does one establish this? Are visual imagination and perception different only in degree (& not in kind)? Why are ibogaine induced hallucinations invariably described in colour? Do we ever see true colours? Why do we differentiate red and green so clearly? Do colours cause things (including evolution)? Can we imagine colours we have never seen? &, would there be a perfect black in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from neuroscience (Dr. S. P. Arun, IISc, Bangalore), philosophy (Dr. Mrinal Kaul, Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal), & chemistry (Prof. Nalin Pant, IIT Delhi, New Delhi). Listen in...

Gadhadar Reddy is working towards a dream of making space accessible to everyone by creating the cocoon that will protect us from the harsh ravages of space. He has started by creating the ideal material for space structures; Carbon Nanotubes. He is a Chevening Fellow, an INK Fellow, an Alumnus of Singularity University, IISC 35 under 35 in space 2018. “to be bold, to go out and do things and to be very focused and disciplined about what they are creating not to waver from their goals”…[Listen for More] Click Here for Show Notes To Listen or to Get the Show Notes go to https://wp.me/p6Tf4b-78G

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಗರ ಉದ್ಯಾನಗಳ ನಗರಿ (ಗಾರ್ಡನ್ ಸಿಟಿ) ಅಂತ ಕರೀತಾರೆ. ಆದರೆ ಒಂದು ಉದ್ಯಾನ ಅಂದರೆ ಏನು? ಮನೆಯೊಳಗಿನ ಗಿಡಗಳೆ, ವಿಶಾಲವಾದ ತೋಟವೆ, ಅಥವಾ ದಟ್ಟವಾದಂತಹ ಮರಗಳ ಸಂಗ್ರಹವೇ? ನಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಡಿದು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿರುವಂತಹ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಮರಗಳಿದ್ದರು, ಇವೆಲ್ಲರ ಜೊತೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಗರದ ಪರಸ್ಪರ ಸಂಭಂದವಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಈ ಸಂಚಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಡಾ|| ಹರಿಣಿ ನಾಗೇಂದ್ರ ಅವರು ಪವನ್ ಶ್ರೀನಾಥ್ ಮತ್ತು ಸೂರ್ಯ ಪ್ರಕಾಶ್ ರವರ ಜೊತೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಮರಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಈ ಮರಗಳ ಇತಿಹಾಸ, ಈ ನಗರದ ಕೆರೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಇರುವಂತಹ ಪ್ರಭಾವದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಹರಿಣಿ ಅವರು ಅಝೀಮ್ ಪ್ರೇಂಜಿ ಯೂನಿವರ್ಸಿಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರೊಫೆಸರ್ ಆಗಿದ್ದರೆ. ಇವರು ಹಲವಾರು ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಬರೆದಿದ್ದರೆ: Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present, and Future ಮತ್ತು Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities. Bengaluru has been called a garden city before, but what is a garden? Is it a manicured lawn, or something closer to a Thota, something in between a home garden, orchard and plantation? Even as public and private trees are being mown down, the city retains an important connection with its trees, many of which have originated from all over the world. Dr Harini Nagendra joins Surya Prakash BS and Pavan Srinath to talk about trees, their connection with cities, and their history in Bengaluru and elsewhere. They also take a look at how a lake and its surroundings have changed in Bengaluru over the last 200 years. Harini is a Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University, and is the author of several books, including Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present, and Future (OUP 2016) and her latest, Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities (Penguin 2019). ಫಾಲೋ ಮಾಡಿ. Follow the Thalé-Haraté Kannada Podcast @haratepod. Facebook: https://facebook.com/HaratePod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaratePod/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/haratepod/ ಈಮೇಲ್ ಕಳಿಸಿ, send us an email at haratepod@gmail.com. Subscribe & listen to the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Castbox, AudioBoom, YouTube, Souncloud, Spotify, Saavn or any other podcast app. We are there everywhere. ಬನ್ನಿ ಕೇಳಿ!  You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/

Can India's higher education system thrive when the teaching profession has lost most of its status in society? What is necessary for India to educate millions of its citizens who turn college-going age every year? Pushkar joins Pavan Srinath on Episode 106 of The Pragati Podcast to share his thoughts. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talkshow on public policy, economics and international relations. Pushkar is the Director of the Goa International Centre and a political scientist with a PhD from McGill University who has taught in both India and Canada. He writes regularly on higher education for The Wire, and other publications.   If you have any questions or comments, write in to podcast@thinkpragati.com. Follow The Pragati Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pragatipod Follow Pragati on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinkpragati Follow Pragati on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkpragati Subscribe & listen to The Pragati Podcast on iTunes, Saavn, Spotify, Castbox, Google Podcasts, AudioBoom, YouTube or any other podcast app. We are there everywhere.

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to Charles Worringham, an Australian academic and clean energy evangelist, who shares his experience of traveling with a purpose. Listen on!Today's destination: Around India, exploring some of her energy challenges and innovative solutions!Nearest Airport: Indira Gandhi International airportNearest Railway Station: NAPrerequisites - Be open to travel, be open to learning!Packing - NATime of the year - NovemberLength of the itinerary: 1 monthItinerary Highlights: - Charles tells us about the objective of the trip and how one can look for a purpose in travel, be it history, culture, adventure or just learning about something you love!- More about the planning and preparations, the books Charles read up before the big trip: India calling - Anand Giridhardas (https://www.amazon.in/India-Calling-Intimate-Portrait-Remaking/dp/1250001722)Looking away - Harsh Mander (https://www.amazon.in/Looking-Away-Inequality-Prejudice-Indifference/dp/9385288458)Inspite of the Gods, the strange rise of modern India - Edward Luce (https://www.amazon.in/Spite-Gods-Strange-Modern-India/dp/0349123462)The City of Djinns - William Dalrymple (https://www.amazon.in/City-Djinns-Delhi-William-Dalrymple/dp/9385936557) - The trip begins in Delhi where Charles meets some interesting personalities, experiences the local Delhi food, the Delhi metro and as luck would have it, the phenomenon called 'demonetization'!! - Charles also makes an impromptu visit to Unnao, UP to see an interesting energy project- Ahmedabad was next on the itinerary, even though Charles gets a stomach bug, but he still manages to do some sight seeing through a heritage walk around the old city and a visit to the Sabaramati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi!- Following this, Charles makes his way to Mumbai where he meets more interesting people, experiences the Mumbai local and a visit to IIT Mumbai! - Charles then stops by in Pune, where he sees some first hand innovative ways in which energy efficiency was being achieved at the grassroots.  - Hyderabad is next on the itinerary where Charles meets an energy efficiency expert and learns more about commercial building standards. Stops at IIIT Hyderabad and Golkonda fort were also part of the trip although he misses out on the Hyderabadi biryani!- As he descends further south, Charles visits Bangalore to meet some very interesting people at IISC and discovers a local Australian connection in a very innovative startup in Bangalore. - The trip slowly begins to wrap up with a final stop at Kochi, where Charles engages in some touristy things as he discovers the wonderful history of Fort Kochi and the surrounding areas! Notable mentions in the episode:Debi Goenka (https://twitter.com/mangrovesindia?lang=en)Himanshu Thakkar (https://www.indiawaterportal.org/author/himanshu-thakkar)Brookings India, Delhi (https://www.brookings.edu/center/brookings-india/)Simran grover - boond energy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/simran-grover-238b8918/?originalSubdomain=in)IIT mumbai Rangan Banerjee - (http://www.ese.iitb.ac.in/faculty/rangan-banerjee)Rajkiran Rilolikar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajkiranbilolikar/?originalSubdomain=in)Harish Hande - Selco foundation (https://www.selcofoundation.org/selco_team/harish-hande/)TV Ramachandran IISC (http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/new/?q=user/31)Pollinate energy (https://pollinateenergy.org)Links: Link to the Charles' blog (https://indiapowerreview.com/)Follow the Musafir stories onTwitterFacebook Instagramwebsite: www.themusafirstories.comemail: themusafirstories@gmail.comCover Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplashitunes -  https://apple.co/2LPtTA3Google podcasts - http://bit.ly/2toY7lj or voice or google search "Ok Google, play The Musafir stories podcast"website - http://bit.ly/2xFZqOV Saavn - https://bit.ly/2J5rIqiSpotify - https://spoti.fi/2HLPSVipocketcasts - https://bit.ly/2xu3Ewgcastbox - https://bit.ly/2sqBDQiOvercast - https://bit.ly/2LN9wnfStitcher Radio - https://bit.ly/2JiBbhwaudioBoom - https://bit.ly/2oZZowSTuneIn - https://bit.ly/2xyQH4aRadioPublic - https://bit.ly/2snY9u0 iHeartradio - https://ihr.fm/2xvOG8RDeezer - https://bit.ly/2L7GmOo

Recorded 2nd June 2019 This week I am joined by Suffolk Pete (@Hermboy) in what is an odd sort of Limbo - we are recording this the day before WWDC, but it's unlikely the show will be posted until after. So although we talk a little about WWDC we try not to make it the main point of discussion so we don't just make ourselves look silly. GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019 use the coupon code EssentialApple at checkout for your extra discount! Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter! We can now also be found on RadioPublic, PlayerFM and TuneIn as well as all the other places previously available. On this week's show: SUFFOLK PETE @Hermboy on Twitter very occasionally. APPLE WWDC - Mac Pro? iOS 13, macOS 10.15, iTunes breakup, Marzipan... The new Mac Pro is Apple's chance to make a PC – The Verge Apple Marzipan will bring iPhone apps to your Mac: Everything you should know – CNet An original Apple I built into a briefcase just sold for nearly $500k – Tech Crunch Apple releases new iPod touch featuring A10 Fusion chip, 256 GB storage option – 9to5 Mac Apple Expected to Remove 3D Touch From All 2019 iPhones in Favor of Haptic Touch – Mac Rumors Apple Wipes iTunes Pages on Facebook and Instagram Ahead of WWDC – Mac Rumors Apple increases iPhone cellular download limit from 150 MB to 200 MB – 9to5 Mac TECHNOLOGY Huawei CEO says China shouldn't punish Apple – CNN Facebook's engagement is sinking with no end in sight – Mashable Laptops are getting weird and wonderful again – The Verge Computex 2019: Every announcement you need to know – CNet SECURITY & PRIVACY Older versions of Windows have critical vulnerability, should be updated ASAP– Digital Trends 1Password on Mac Updated With Easier and Smarter Drag-and-Drop Password Functionality – Mac Rumors Flipboard database hacks exposed users' account information – CNet Slack, WhatsApp, Snapchat And Ghost Protocol All Security Risks, Says Wickr CTO – Forbes Tech companies and security experts pan U.K.'s encryption backdoor proposal – Digital Trends WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS Alfred 4 brings Dark Mode, Rich Text expansion, and more to the powerful macOS productivity app – 9to5 Mac Elecjet launches AnyWatt USB-C MagSafe adapter for old MacBook/Apple display chargers – 9to5 Mac JUST A SNIPPET For things that are not worth more than a flypast Finally, IISc team confirms breakthrough in superconductivity at room temperature – The Hindu Nemo's Hardware Store No store this week as John is travelling Essential Apple Recommended Services: Ghostery - protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing. 33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again. Sudo – Get up to 9 “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity. Free for the first year and priced from $0.99 US / £2.50 UK per month thereafter... ProtonMail – End to end encrypted, open source, based in Switzerland. Prices start from FREE... what more can you ask? ProtonVPN – a VPN to go with it perhaps? Prices also starting from nothing! Fake Name Generator – So much more than names! Create whole identities (for free) with all the information you could ever need. Wire – Free for personal use, open source and end to end encryted messenger and VoIP. Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start from nothing. Essential Apple is not affiliated with or paid to promote any of these services... We recommend services that we use ourselves and feel are either unique or outstanding in their field, or in some cases are just the best value for money in our opinion. Social Media and Slack You can follow us on: Twitter / Slack / EssentialApple.com / Spotify / Soundcloud / YouTube / Facebook / Pinecast Also a big SHOUT OUT to the members of the Slack room without whom we wouldn't have half the stories we actually do – we thank you all for your contributions and engagement. You can always help us out with a few pennies by using our Amazon Affiliate Link so we get a tiny kickback on anything you buy after using it. If you really like the show that much and would like to make a regular donation then please consider joining our Patreon or using the Pinecast Tips Jar (which accepts one off or regular donations) And a HUGE thank you to the patrons who already do. Support The Essential Apple Podcast by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/essential-apple-show This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರ ಜೇವನ ಹೇಗಿರುತ್ತೆ? ಅದೂ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಪ್ರಖ್ಯಾತವಾದಂತಹ ಸಂಶೋಧನಾ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ? ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ಪ್ರಗತಿಗೆ ಅನೇಕ ರೆಟಿಯ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ ಆದರೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಲು ಬೇಕಾದಂತಹ ನಾಡಿನ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ, ಮತ್ತು ಪಾಂಡಿತ್ಯದ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗಳು ಏನು? ನಮ್ಮ ತಲೆ-ಹರಟೆ ಪಾಡ್ಕಾಸ್ತಿನ 21ನೆ ಎಪಿಸೋಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ ಗುಟ್ಟಲ್ ಅವರು ಪವನ್ ಶ್ರೀನಾಥ್ ಮತ್ತು ಗಣೇಶ್ ಚಕ್ರವರ್ತಿ ಅವರ ಜೊತೆ, ಐ.ಐ.ಎಸ್.ಸೀ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಸೋಸಿಯೇಟ್ ಪ್ರೊಫೆಸರ್ ಆಗಿ ಸೇವೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ವಿವರವಾಗಿ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ ಗುಟ್ಟಲ್ ಅವರು ಭೌತಶಾಸ್ತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಿ.ಎಚ್.ಡಿ. ಪಡೆದು ಪರಿಸರ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಕೇಂದ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ, ಗುಟ್ಟಲ್ ಲ್ಯಾಬ್ ಅಂತಹ ಒಂದು ಲ್ಯಾಬೋರೇಟೋರಿಯನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಈ ಎಪಿಸೋಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶ್ವೇಶವರು ಭೌತಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ, ಪರಿಸರ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಹಾಗೂ, ಒಬ್ಬ ಸೋಂಶೋದಕನ ಜೀವನದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಚರ್ಚೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. What is the life of a professor like, at one of the India's top research institutions? We need more cutting-edge research happening in India, but what do we need to do to make it happen? Vishwesha Guttal joins Pavan Srinath and Ganesh Chakravarthi on Episode 21 of the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast to talk about his life as an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Vishwesha Guttal has a PhD in Physics and heads the Guttal Lab at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at IISc. He and his lab members apply physics and mathematical tools to understand important problems like ecosystem collapse and group behaviour of animals. On the podcast, Vishu talks to the hosts about physics and ecology, and the questions they try to answer in their lab. He also talks about the life of a researcher in academia, and how to enable the best scientific minds to do world class research in India. ಫಾಲೋ ಮಾಡಿ. Follow the Thalé-Haraté Kannada Podcast @haratepod. Facebook: https://facebook.com/HaratePod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaratePod/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/haratepod/ ಈಮೇಲ್ ಕಳಿಸಿ, send us an email at haratepod@gmail.com. Subscribe & listen to the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Castbox, AudioBoom, YouTube, Souncloud, Spotify, Saavn or any other podcast app. We are there everywhere. ಬನ್ನಿ ಕೇಳಿ!  You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/

How can great academic research lead to building a great tech company? Listen to Vijay Chandru talk about his life, work and journey as one of India's first academic entrepreneurs on Episode 84 of The Pragati Podcast. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talkshow on public policy, economics and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. Shambhavi Naik, Fellow at the Takshashila Institution, joins this episode as a co-host. Vijay Chandru is the Co-founder and Director of Strand Life Sciences, one of India's top biotech companies, which focuses on next-generation precision medicine and diagnostics. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was an academic researcher and professor of Computational Mathematics at Purdue University and the Indian Institute of Science. He is also currently a Distinguished Technologist and Adjunct Faculty at IISc. Dr. Chandru has a wide range of expertise and experience ranging from artificial intelligence to computational biology to precision medicine. On this episode, he shares how good academics make for natural entrepreneurs, and how different paths can be taken by them. He also shares his own journey, where he and his colleagues took a leap from academia into the tech startup world at a time when few others were taking the plunge. The episode also includes discussions on how computational biology and gene sequencing technology has evolved, and how modern medicine is getting shaped by new research and new solutions. The Pragati Podcast is now on Instagram! Follow at https://instagram.com/pragatipod Follow Pragati on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinkpragati Follow Pragati on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinkpragati/ Kannada barutta? Check out the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast, co-hosted by Pavan Srinath. This week there is a new Budget special podcast out, on the Karnataka state government budget. ಬನ್ನಿ ಹರಟೆ ಹೊಡಿಯೋಣ! http://ivmpodcasts.com/harate-kannada-podcast-episode-list/2019/2/13/ep-10-2019-karnatakas-budget-matters-more

How are you experiencing time now? Is everything moving? Is the Still merely an ‘extract’ from the flux? Do images constitute both matter and memory? Can a 3D representation be created from several 2D images? How is motion detected? Is the interrelationship between the cameras themselves crucial to figuring out the structure of space? Is the moving image (truly?) a composite of still images? What lies between the moving and the still – GIFs? Is the perceptual world constituted by our senses? Is sensory stimulus itself always ambiguous? Can moments be appended if they are not already there? What exactly does exposure do to a photograph? Can you make stories out of whatever images you see? If Word is Photograph, then what is Articulation? Is cinema an art of time? Why do we have two eyes? Why is sports photography also physical? Do you bother lizards? Are dreams a field of action? Are still pictures ‘deeper’; why do they hold our gaze? Can only interesting things be perceived? Is high-level, purposive, & affective robotic vision possible in the future? What is our future like? &, will we belong, think, remember, & act differently in the world? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from photography (Arko Datto, Kolkata), computer vision (Dr. Venu Madhav Govindu, IISc, Bangalore), & critical theory (Dr. Rajan Kurai Krishnan, Ambedkar University, New Delhi). Listen in...

Can we avoid fractals if we want to? Are our fingers irregular? Is there thumb cancer? Or, toe cancer? Are all regular objects ‘algebraically’ representable? Are cones manifolds? Do cubes have an algebraic description? Can algebraic equations catch everything (?) that topology cannot? Might two visually indistinguishable manifolds vary dramatically? Can circles have a ‘complex’ structure? Do biological objects (including virus) have edges or points? Do multi scale interactions make hearts or kidneys regular? Do biological objects always (always) live in time? Can the open Euclidean space be put ‘inside’ another space? Can shape, volume, and size (say) tell us whether a biological organ is regular? Might there even be regularity across species? When/is cancer growth predictable? Can fractals only be approximated (algebraically)? Why can’t biological objects be thought of only computationally? Is it easy to tell irregularity and complexity apart? Is ‘too complex’ as good as irregular? Can irregularity be no-where-dense? Why is 3-dimensional space much more complicated than spaces with both higher and lower dimensions? Will biology have to take the material properties (hardness, etc.) into account in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from cell biology (Dr. Ramray Bhat, IISc, Bangalore), & algebraic geometry (Dr. Amalendu Krishna, TIFR, Mumbai). Listen in...

Are younger systems faster? Do elephants mate slowly? Is a plastic ruler always ageing? Is only glass glassy? Why are processes slow or fast, & how do they speed up or slow down? Do all systems have an internal clock? Is water fast because it acts like a large correlated spring? Is there such a thing as fully-dissolved? Are certain social systems stable because they remain ‘useful’? How does fashion change fast? Is slowness a sign of highly connected groups? ‘How’ does inter-caste marriage happen? Is the past more important only for systems that are undergoing change? Do external disruptions lead to a revival in interest in the past? What is the opposite of revolution? What changes predictably – science or technology? How do languages die? Does protein misfolding tell us about its past? Are the biasing forces blind? Is friction a memory function? Is swapping like catalyzing? Is speed synonymous with forgetting? How do the ‘same’ human beings exist in different states? Could an umbrella theory uncover secrets of all slow dynamics? Will we remain addicted to speed? &, what will not change much in the long run? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from physical chemistry (Prof. Biman Bagchi, IISc, Bangalore), literary theory (Prof. Sachin Ketkar, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara), & glass physics (Prof. Jorge Kurchan, École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris). Listen in...

Mr Kiran Kumar studied physics, physical engineering and electronics in educational institutions in India including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. He specialised in electro-optical imaging systems and in 1975 was recruited by Dr Yash Pal (one of a few key individuals who played a pivotal role in the early days of India’s space […] The post Episode 78: ISRO’s early Earth Observation Cameras with former chairman Mr Kiran Kumar appeared first on AstrotalkUK.

Rob Alexander is the current Executive Director of the International Institute of Space Commerce.He has worked in various capacities and projects associated with human space flight for the last 20 years, including at NASA where he was involved with the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. He has also worked on the commercial side of aerospace having been involved with United Space Alliance (a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin), McDonald Dettwiler (the Canadian space robotics company), and Science Applications International Corporation (an international engineering and science contractor). Topics covered in our conversation:> Some of the challenges of space travel.> Issues associated with travel to the moon and mars.> The vastly different effects of the two most recent presidential administrations on the progress of space exploration.> The primary purpose of his current role at IISC… leading the world’s leading nonpartisan think-tank dedicated to the study of the business, economics, and commerce of space.

How far are you? ‘What’ is a place? Are they a moment of ‘realized’ relationships? Are (say) air pollution, hospitals, hydraulic systems, temperature, diseases, real estate prices, and species distributed similarly spatially? Does it take a lot of work to make a place? What does it mean for places to be similar? Have we always been placed the same way? Why aren’t there tigers in Sri Lanka? Are habitats and species always strongly correlated? Might India be closer to Madagascar than Africa in some respects? Can geological history be inferred from phylogeny? Can noise have a spatial structure? Is all data spatiotemporal, & does proximity (often) strongly imply relatedness? Are real estate prices continuous? Are context and history key to understanding spatiality? Are interactions and relations primary, & location or identity secondary? Do cities emerge to manage (or control?) exchanges at scale? When are places hybrids? Why do Gaussian processes work for multidimensional interpolation? Can we understand spatial dependences better? Would there be fewer places in the future? Would places remain tied to the notion of permanence, and the ‘pretence’ continue? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from anthropology (Dr. Nikhil Anand, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia), statistics (Prof. Sudipto Banerjee, UCLA, Los Angeles), & biogeography (Dr. K. Praveen Karanth, IISc, Bangalore). Listen in...

The most significant innovation in computer technology in 2001 was not Apple's gleaming titanium PowerBook G4 or Microsoft's Windows XP. It was the Simputer. This is computing as it would have looked if Gandhi had invented it, then used Steve Jobs for his ad campaign. Source: Bruce Sterling in a The New York Times article published December 2001 Was Simputer ahead of time? Was it a failure or success? Depending who you ask, the answers can be as varied as possible. To understand what happened with what the NY Times once described as the product of the year, I decided to sit down with IISc professor, scientist, and entrepreneur, V. Vinay, for this episode of the Outliers Podcast.

Why don’t you help all your relatives? Why do people marry? Do you know your pedigree? Can relatedness be measured or recognized with precision? Are close relatives the best organ donors? Who guarantees your loans? Who can the closest relative be? Do four first cousins equal one sibling? Would altruism evolve in the absence of kinship? Does the environment impact the benefit/cost of helping? Can organisms self reproduce? Is it possible for males to have neither a father nor a son? Do all off-springs have mothers? Do plants have relatives? Is incest prohibition the Universal Law of Kinship? Is there an elementary unit of kinship? Is outbreeding a ‘superior’ natural selection method? Does a certain kind of exchange economy and an idea of ‘difference’ emerge with marriage? Do phases of a-/sexual reproduction (equivalent to in-/outbreeding?) alternate in certain cultures and species? What is a joint family? Are identical twins clones? C/would we clone ourselves in the future? Does marriage have a great future? Would kinship stay relevant in the long run? If yes, where would it begin? In the petri dish…? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from sociobiology & ecology (Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar, IISc, Bangalore), statistical genetics (Prof. Partha Pratim Majumder, ISI, Kolkata), & social anthropology (Prof. Deepak Mehta, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida). Listen in....

Did H. M. lead an eventless life? How was your last beach holiday? How do languages make events granular? Can events in texts be ‘inferred’ computationally? Do events always occur in the past? Is evental time modal? Are events objects? Are places facts? Is a decaying apple evental? Are all events spatiotemporal? How do recent events become long term episodic memories or facts? Are events and facts stored in the same region? Are space and time encoded differently? What is the role of relevance? Is the amount of encoding directly proportional to the amount of surprise? How accurately do we remember (or even annotate) orders and intervals? How do we relate to events in stories? Could certain events be like knots in time? What renders an event impossible? Do some surprises (trauma?) get encoded 'elsewhere’? Do our brains work in reverse gear in a dream (generating images 'from' thoughts)? What would the new kinds of events in the future be? Will we get nothing from everything? How would we tend to the right signal? Will we en/de-code or summarize differently? Would a new ‘form’ find us? Is it already here? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from psychoanalysis & philosophy (Prof. Anup Kumar Dhar, Ambedkar University, New Delhi), neuroscience (Dr. Balaji Jayaprakash, CNS, IISc, Bangalore), & computational linguistics (Dr. Inderjeet Mani, Chiang Mai, Thailand). Listen in....

Do we often misunderstand ourselves? Can we be aware of everything? Is introspective knowledge reliable? Can we be mistaken about being hungry? Might the gap between successive thoughts be increased until there is complete thoughtlessness; can this be measured? Is introspection voluntary or involuntary? Is awareness a general relational state (& not a 'happening’)? How does global consciousness emerge in the ensemble state of neurons? Do animals develop conceptual self understanding? Why do we have the introspective faculty? Do introverts and extroverts introspect differently? Is introspection culture-bound? Do you feel your body during silent speech? Is inner speech unstructured or does it have linguistic features such as pronunciation and syntax? Can introspection sometimes get to concepts parallel to those reached via scientific empiricism? Does awareness necessarily involve directed representations of reality? Does introspection need distance? What is the structure of inner awareness? Would there be more accurate ways to understand which types of introspection are more reliable? Is the future of understanding introspection very bright? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from philosophy (Prof. Christopher Hill, Brown University, Providence), linguistics (Prof. Pramod Pandey, JNU, New Delhi), & physics (Prof. Sisir Roy, NIAS, IISc, Bangalore). Listen in....

Is all making curating? Is the location of a maker a fiction? Are there always rules to making? Is any expression preceded by an act of repression? How, then, is black magic different from magic? Is alchemy possible? Why can’t every molecule be made? How are some isomers easier to make? Can experience be created without materials? Does architecture help us carve an address in this vast universe by housing rituals in space? Are films different because it is a temporal medium and does not ‘exist’ in nature? How was Vitamin B12 synthesized? Are chemical reactions (always?) rhythmic and minimalistic? Why did Mies want to take his architecture to almost nothing? Can time (& making) be controlled? In documentary (unlike in feature) films, is God the director? How does one experience life? Does any language constantly surprise the user? Can one be provoked by a building to make a choice between virtue and vice? When everyone makes, then what makes some making special? Might all making be co-making? Can chemical materials be made for any desired property in the future? Would it be possible to predict what can be made? Do you know how to swim? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from architecture (Prof. Kazi K. Ashraf, Bengal Institute, Dhaka), film-making (Prof. K. P. Jayasankar, TISS, Mumbai), & chemistry (Prof. Eluvathingal D. Jemmis, IISc, Bangalore). Listen in....

What cannot be abstracted? What was Grothendieck up to? Does abstraction exist all around us; as notions of (say) numbers, distance, money, & more? Further, is there a way of abstracting the notion of distance across different kinds of geometries? Is labour (power) abstract? Is it surprising that we are able to think of 2 apples and 2 oranges as just 2? Does cinema & art usually give a concrete body to abstract things like emotions? What is the method of abstraction across realms, & does it involve turning ‘inputs’ into ‘commodities’? How does the orange-seller know how to efficiently pack the oranges? How is abstractness embodied, and what role do materials play? Is the concrete an instance of the abstract? Does the word ‘room’ (say) signify a concept in our heads? Can cinema (a la ‘absolute films’) be concrete without (the artifice (?) of) actors, sets and dialogues? What role do aesthetic & philosophical principles play in the process of abstraction? Can there be/is there a method of ‘rising from the abstract to the concrete’? Why did art turn abstract? Is all art, in a sense, abstract? However, is the making of all art very concrete? Might a sculptor ‘know’ a result before a topologist does? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from film studies (Prof. Moinak Biswas, Jadavpur University, Kolkata), mathematics (Prof. Gadadhar Misra, IISc, Bangalore), & art (Pushpamala N., Bangalore). Listen in....

What comes first - matter or space or time? What is the structure of space? Why did Paul Cezanne go 'flat'? How did Picasso turn the artistic conception of space on its head with cubism? Is there a link between colour and space? What is it like to be in Matisse's The Red Studio? What happens when you walk into a room that you have not been in before? Are there specific neurons in your brain for every space that you have ever been to? How do place cells within the hippocampus represent the physical space as a cognitive map? Is space the same everywhere in the universe? Is it possible to represent empty space? How does an artist create the pictorial space on a 2-dimensional canvas? Is the perception of space always relative to matter (& objects)? Is episodic memory anchored in space (the 'where')? What is space like at sub atomic scales? Does nature really have more than 3 dimensions? Has theoretical physics completely missed incorporating gravity of all the matter in the universe? Is matter essentially primary, time derived, and space essentially relational? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions, about the manifested space around and within us, using concepts from physics (Prof. C.S. Unnikrishnan, TIFR, Mumbai), art (Atul Dodiya, Mumbai), and neuroscience (Dr. Sachin Deshmukh, IISc, Bangalore). Listen in...

SynTalk thinks about the (sometimes?) subterranean world of things, and wonders how the world might look from the standpoint of the Thing. We also tentatively wonder if things indeed have a social life, and if the composite affair of thingness is highly linked to the notion of permanence. The concepts are derived off / from Akka Mahadevi, Rumi, Marx, Coomaraswamy, Heidegger, Adorno, Thomsen, Derrida, Jane Bennett, Maturana, Varela, Bruno Latour, & Bill Brown, among others. What (if any) is the difference between an object and a thing, and can one think of it using the framework of phase transition (& change of property)? Is materiality the primary level of reality? What is it like to be a thing from the past (when one looks at an archaeological artifact)? How a thing cannot avoid being involved in history, & there being a ‘historical ontology’ of things. Can we even posit ‘thinghood’ to something that existed before we existed? Does a water bottle have a meaning in itself? What does it mean to be a solid? Is the pyramid (today) an object or a thing? Is the distinction between a thing and ‘the elemental’ more interesting? Does the object always need a subject (with language & semantics)? Is the integrity or singularity of a thing always porous? Is it highly likely that the self organizing tendency of matter serves a social function? Does this provide a clue that things may in fact have a social life? How (& why) did inanimate (inorganic) matter create human beings, and whether we are likely to be recreated (sooner) by things left behind were we to go extinct? Does every thing get to be objectified? The links between rubber, ~23% beta bronze, atoms, CD ROMs, stainless steel, crystals, Challenger disaster, birds, robots, lotus leaves, & nano materials. ‘Why we should weld but the welding should not be seen’? In what sense is a poem a thing? ‘I died as a mineral and became a plant…’. The SynTalkrs are: Prof. Pushan Ayyub (material sciences, TIFR, Mumbai), Prof. Stathis Gourgouris (philosophy, literature, Columbia University, New York), & Prof. Sharada Srinivasan (archaeology, dance, NIAS, IISc, Bangalore).

SynTalk thinks about the meanings, implications and the future of coexistence between & amongst the several biological species on earth. The interaction space between species is explored via known strategies such as symbiosis, predation, parasitism, antagonism, mutualism, commensalism, & competition, while constantly wondering if ‘nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of ‘selfishness’’. The concepts are derived off / from Sushruta, Charak, Hegel, Malthus, Darwin, Hamilton, Kropotkin, Gandhi, Dobzhansky, Hawking, & Dawkins, among others. Is there often selfishness in nature without the ‘self’. Why does the host change its genetic makeup to coexist with the parasite? Why do most species exist in communitarian groups? Why does a predator never run out of prey in nature (in stable equilibrium)? How it may be unavoidable to ‘tolerate the most intolerable’. How sickle cell anaemia developed as a response to malaria. What is the difference between the antibiotic and aseptic conditions, in the context of the coexistence of different species? The links between human beings, mosquitoes, Chernobyl disaster, raptor birds, Ayurveda, dinosaurs, consciousness, natural selection, Tom & Jerry, oranges, sibling rivalry, wolves, & tribes. How do dominant & exploitative social structures result from the ensemble of unevenly evolved groups (in terms of techno economic capacity). How autonomy of certain groups (the weakest doing menial jobs, say) that had their pristine existence can be annihilated, incorporated, subordinated, subjected, or even destroyed institutionally. How cooperation amongst the uneven develop? Does consciousness promote cooperation? Is culture (merely) a survival strategy? How (bacterial) mitochondria and chloroplasts (green alga) getting incorporated into eukaryotic cells was a significant evolutionary event. Are plants and animals also cruel? How Toxoplasma gondii insidiously finds its way back into the cat (the definitive host) from the rodents (the dead end). Can there be sacrifice in the Darwinian world? How culture is a complex mix up of both material & ideological practices. Can we truly understand the concept of queen bee (without the metonymy)? Is resource abundance always temporary in the biological world? Why kids don’t always agree with their mothers? Why does each orange segment often have one dominant seed? Does the critical self reflexive faculty of human beings make them fundamentally different? Is techno capitalism likely to be a key actor? Will human beings go out and colonize other celestial bodies, even as we coexist on Earth with other species? How human consciousness, survival instinct and (the bacterial) gut instinct could be the ultimate assets for the future? The SynTalkrs are: Prof. K.N. Ganeshaiah (agricultural sciences, writing, UAS, Bangalore), Prof. Rajan Gurukkal (history, social theory, IISc, Bangalore), & Prof. Swati Patankar (molecular microbiology, IITB, Mumbai).

SynTalk thinks about the unidirectional nature of time and wonders if time is a separate ‘category’ at all. We dip into cosmology, computer science, neuroscience, quantum physics, & philosophy. We wonder whether time is essentially a (background) variable. Is time nature’s way of preventing everything from happening at the same time (a la Wheeler)? The concepts are derived off / from Newton, Fred Hoyle, Maxwell, Dirac, Planck, Godel, Bohr, Einstein, H G Wells, Wheeler, Feynman, Prigogine, Landauer, Roy Kerr, Everett, Novikov, & Zeldovich, among others. How has the notion of time changed with digital watches? What is ‘logical time’, & the importance of multiple systems synchronizing with each other? What would happen if we hit an electron with a hammer? Do we get ‘it from bit’, and what is the possible link of time with (quantized) information? Can neurons be thought of as being probabilistically synchronized oscillators? We also discuss the concept of Planck’s time as the fundamental unit, & the resultant notion of whether time is discrete or continuous. What is the link between causality and time? We discuss the fascinating links of time with thermodynamics, entropy, ‘action at a distance’, & closed / open systems. What would happen, surprisingly, if a hot star were to be connected with a cold star via a conducting wire? The nature of neurological time, and its links with octopuses, crabs, speeding cars, a ‘cache of situations’, & reflex actions. How do (memory) space & time tradeoffs impact computer algorithms? Can time be lost? How ‘branching time’ creates possible worlds that are not known a priori? Is time travel possible (via a worm holes), and does it need a conception different from ‘state-based’ time? Do animals ‘have’ time? The SynTalkrs are: Prof. Jayant V. Narlikar (astrophysics, IUCAA, Pune), Prof. Krithi Ramamritham (computer science, IITB, Mumbai), & Prof. Sisir Roy (theoretical physics, NIAS, IISc, Bangalore).