Self Certified Genius of the World

  I have been an atheist for most of my life. I have never truly believed that God exists or such thing. More recently, I have started looking down upon people that do believe in God. Not a hatred kind of looking down upon them, but rather a pitiful look down or maybe even a cuter look down upon. Like when you see a child earnestly insisting that Santa Claus exists. You pity the child's ignorance and you find it cute, but secretly you also get a bit tense knowing that his/her ignorance cannot last very long. And, you wonder if that earnest child could really handle the news when it hits them hard.   So, in summary all I am saying is, people who believe in a God are stupid. They should grow up and really think hard about what they mean when they say they believe in God. Half of them will mutter and sputter and fail to come up with what they really believe. Most would say something asinine like "I am sure there is something out there" or "There will be chaos if n...

   For some time now, I have been thinking about stupid science quotes. And here is one I keep repeating "Science is an asymptote to the truth". I like it first and foremost because I believe I came up with it all by myself. Or, it could be a severe case of  Cryptomnesia. In any case, I like the quote and I feel it succinctly and eloquently ties together all the failings and flailings of science. The truth about the Universe when completely known would enable us to predict the past, present and future of all that happened or will happen. Or, it might tell us that we may never be able to do so. But until then, we only get a bit closer to that goal. The quote's wisdom can be best demonstrated by the rise of quantum mechanics. Its rise does not negate classical mechanics. It merely points out that classical mechanics is just a limited version of quantum mechanics. So, in that sense, quantum mechanics brings us slightly closer to the truth of how matter really beha...

" The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more" -Jonas Salk        I first came across this proverb doing my tenth class summer homework. We were supposed to read and write one page every day, and one fine day, I picked up a book on quotations and found this gem. For a very long time, I followed it, thinking the only reward I need is the opportunity to do more. And I did get those opportunities, and I was happy. But lately, I have started craving for acceptance from my peers, awards, and what not. I have been swept away by the rat race around me and I have succumbed to temptation. But, I came across a not so well known scientist who nevertheless changed the world. And all he ever asked was the opportunity to do more.        The first time I heard the name Yellapragada Subba Rao was when I was in primary school, studying in Telugu Primary School. Being an Andhra school, we had to take compulsory Telugu classes, and read about p...

Science magazine has an online feature asking readers to send their ideas on how they will be communicating science to readers in the next fifty years. Now, they gave me only 250 words to vent all my frustration, so I have not done so.  But, I thought this might be a good platform to introduce my feelings. Of course, a lot of what I feel is already on the blog, so I will only touch upon the essentials here and write about what I wish would be true fifty years from now. So, to begin with let me state as clearly as possible for me, what I think is wrong with the system we have right now: Should peer-review reflect the consensus view?        Now this is a contentious issue that needs to be addressed. This issue also lies at the heart of the entire debate. On one hand, crackpot theories like the ‘gyre theory’ should ideally be weeded out. But then again, history is rife with cases of people thinking ahead of their time, most recent example being...

   One of the earliest essays I wrote on the co-translational folding concept. This was for a course on protein folding that Prof Balaram takes at IISc. I am reproducing it in full, with missing punctuation marks added. At one point, I say that I have not been able to find out why it is assumed that refolding is a good substitute for in vivo protein folding. I did know even then, but I chose not to talk about it. I did so, since I cannot talk about the topic without calling everyone involved an idiot. Also, I have omitted the references as I cannot bring myself to format them properly. Rest assured that nothing I said in the essay is without literature support. Co-translational folding Introduction    Protein folding is one of the major unsolved problems of molecular biology. The problem is as follows : given that a gene encodes a unique structure (which performs a unique function), how does this information conversion take place ? it is assumed (barrin...

   Here I was, engrossed in my work (well mostly), and planning the months ahead with crystallization and other things related to a drug that I want to develop in the current lab. And suddenly, I hear that my father had a stroke. His earlier cardiac problems in some sense gave some reason to be afraid for his life. So, abandoning all plans, I came rushing back only to realize that almost all was well. As in any stroke, it is not the near future that is affected. It forces you to think about the far future, and what faculties of the brain have been lost and things like that. I guess everyone copes in their own way with what happens after a stroke. We had our fears and doubts about what may or may not have been lost. I dont have scans of the actual MRI, but it looks very much like this one taken from some sciguru web-site on singing after stroke ( http://www.sciguru.com/newsitem/10176/Singing-after-stroke-Why-rhythm-and-formulaic-phrases-may-be-more-important-melody ) . My fat...