My Perspective

In the name of tradition, people waste lot of food resources - both in the west and in the subcontinent. It is a Halloween tradition to carve a big pumpkin to make it look scary. But then they throw it away afterwards. It leads to a lot of food waste. Instead of throwing away a good Pumpkin, try to make a pumpkin pie or soup instead?  If you insist on carving then there is a better alternative. Try carving a smaller turnip instead of the bigger pumpkin. Turnip carving also happens to be a old tradition in some places in northern England for that matter. Similarly, in the Indian context, I would discuss ash gourds. There is a tradition of hanging ash gourds or breaking those at the entrance of a house during religious ceremonies to ward off evil spirits. It is just a waste of ash gourds. Instead make a sweet dessert? In this regard small lemons are a better alternative to ash gourds. People typically quench lemons under the wheels of an automobile to ward off bad luck. Being sm...

People with age-related hearing-loss commonly experience difficulty in understanding speech in noisy situations, like social gatherings e.g. cocktail parties, café, or restaurants.  Earlier scientific studies have established that the ability to segregate and group overlapping generic artificial sounds (not words in any language) is related to the ability to understand speech in social chatter. In my recent study [1], I non-invasively recorded electrical activity from the brain (using EEG technique) while the subjects performed a relevant task (sound segregation and grouping) and irrelevant task (a visual task). I compared the electrical signals evoked from the brain during segregation and grouping of non-linguistics artificial sounds against when trying to understand speech amidst (babble) noise. I established that the electrical brain activity generated during real-world listening is similar to that of artificial sound segregation done passively without paying atte...

Pranayama (literally means 'lengthening of life') is a practice of yoga that focusses on breath control to improve health and wellbeing. How does it work? Since our mood affects our breathing, hence we control our mood by regulating our breath. This is achieved by rhythmically performing inhalation and exhalation. In fact the power of meditation comes from its focus on breath modulation. A number of scientifically conducted studies show that breathing techniques alleviate anxiety, stress, and insomnia while improving mood. In fact, cardiac coherence breathing exercises can stabilize [1] the heartbeat and have a powerful ability to dampen anxiety. One recommended way to practice breathing technique is  365 method . At least three times a day, breathe at a rhythm of six cycles per minute (i.e. five seconds inhaling, five seconds exhaling) for five minutes. And do it every day, 365 days a year. Reference:  [1]  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-bri...

This article by former Under-Secretary General of United Nations, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, is about a letter written on August 27, 1947, by a young American woman, who had the rare privilege of being present at the independence ceremonies of both India and Pakistan. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/independence-in-the-words-of-a-young-american/article65761341.ece She wrote to her friend two weeks after witnessing the event: "The memory of the feelings that surged up within us as we watched their excitement and awe still brings tears to my eyes." It is striking that someone who, by nationality, had no direct emotional stake in the events she witnessed, still found them so exciting that thoughts of what she had seen kept her awake for two weeks. "The memories of the first Independence Day may have faded, but the power of that magical moment must never be forgotten." Wish a very happy and inspiring 75 years of independence!

Here is my idea for an instant Mail (iMail) service through an electronic Post Office.  In this service, any one can send a email to a physical (snail-mail-) address with a ZIP or PIN-code upon payment of requisite charges online. The local post office would then take a print out of the email message and deliver to the physical location as a letter.  Similarly, writing a physical letter to an email address would be made possible by posting a letter addressed to this electronic Post Office where they scan the letter and send it digitally to the concerned email address. My motivation is very simple - to enable those folks to communicate with rest of the world who either do not use or do not have access to computers or smartphones as they reside in remote rural or tribal areas without internet connectivity. This will be a great way to bridge the digital divide in the world.

How does one answer the question on whether animals, other than humans, count from left to right like us? The authors of this paper [1] come up with an ingenious way to test this. Here is their approach. Animals could be trained to interact with an object at a particular position in a long series of such identical objects for a reward. During training the series of objects need to be placed in such a way that counting from left to right or right to left requires interacting with the same object. This can be achieved by placing the series of objects sagittally - such that only one object (closest) is facing the animal and the rest are positioned along a single long column till the farthest object.  However, while testing the animal for directional preference, the series of objects need to be placed coronally - such that all objects are arranged facing the animal in a single row. Here counting from right to left or left to right results in choosing an object at different positions. T...

Today is observed as Earth Day. So let us discuss some of the ways that each of us are indirectly contributing to global carbon emissions. Everyone is online all the time these days. Be it for work or leisure. Be it on a desktop or on a mobile phone. Nothing gets done without the internet. So this raises an important question on whether the Big Tech companies run their services on clean energy? Here are some of the efforts on

Today is the last day of your past and the first day of your future. Today is the oldest you have ever been but the youngest you will ever be. Today is the day of resolution. Today is the beginning of a new tomorrow.

The best diet for those of us who wish focus on our improving health, or increasing fitness and achieving high performance is a plant based one. We just need to avoid all sources of animal protein in our diet.  Please watch