The word “serendipity” is often used to describe an important discovery born out of random chance rather than deliberate action. Such “happy accidents” pepper the annals of scientific history, from Archimedes’ original “Eureka!” moment to Alexander Fleming’s discovery of antibiotics, to the invention of everyday items like Velcro, Teflon™, and…
The ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has been devastating in its reach and impact. Among my friends, family, and acquaintances, I doubt there is a single person who hasn’t been affected directly. Some had the disease themselves; others saw a loved one suffer from it, and…
Earlier today, the The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing”. CRISPR-Cas9, the technique that brought the duo the coveted prize, has raised excitement and controversy in almost equal measures…
Let us play a game, you and I. I will give you some money – here, have this. Of course, it’s not a joke. You can take that 100$ bill and walk out of here. No one’ll say a thing. Or come after you. Or you could do something nice.…
The Dinosaur Debacle Picture a day millions of years past, in a land as yet untouched by the vagaries of man. Dense forests stretch in every direction from where you stand, and the air you breathe is hot and humid. Now watch, as a magnificent beast, several feet tall, thunders…
Part 1: Going back to Nature The year is 1967. Thirty-two year old Satoshi Ōmura, in his lab at the prestigious Kitasato University in Japan, is giving serious thought to the direction his research career is going to take. In the two years he has spent at the University, he…