RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Science has, for long, used empirical data to estimate how close a theory is to the truth. But, not all theories, however, can be evaluated in that manner — for a plethora of reasons. In areas, such as string theory, cosmology, and evolutionary biology, for instance, arriving at how close a theory is […]
Author Archives: Rajgopal Nidamboor
01
Jan
Jan
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Colour is, perhaps, the rainbow synthesis of our lives. There’s also a paradox — although we are incessantly fascinated by different colours, hues and tints, we do not always think of their power. We do not also sometimes notice the colours around us. Yet, as research testifies that — consciously and subconsciously — […]
01
Jan
Jan
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Music, said Ludwig van Beethoven, the legendary composer and pianist, is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit. It is also a powerful catalyst in the creative process of the genius, the connoisseur, the proficient, and the average, among us. It is the art of thinking […]
01
Jan
Jan
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR As the cool waft of winter caresses our face, it ushers in an early nightfall. To use a metaphor, winter strikes a chord. It reminds us that it is time for leaves to wobble in the air and bring in more radiance into our life. Yet, when the leaves slowly shed, it tells […]
01
Jan
Jan
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR His name is Mark O’Meara. He was to golf what Arjuna Ranatunga was to cricket — a matter of steadfast temperament, perseverance, constancy, and professional design. The quaint similitude did not, however, end there. O’Meara, like the former Sri Lankan Test and one-day skipper, had every asset that champions are made of – […]
01
Jan
Jan
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR You are caught in a traffic jam. No big guess. You have an important meeting lined up. No real surprise. Welcome to the stress labyrinth — an inevitable part of our life and existence. Stress is more than just a warped logjam. It has biotic and functional nitty-gritties and psychosomatic outcomes. It changes […]
01
Dec
Dec
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When Linus Pauling, the legendary chemist and two-time Nobel laureate, discovered that a specific heritable protein variation in a single component of haemoglobin protein complex resulted in sickle cell anaemia, it initiated a new era in biomedical sciences. Years later, the gene responsible for the haemoglobin variant was discovered — including an entire […]
01
Dec
Dec
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Your happiness quotient has a positive immune base — the true reflection of a strong immune system. This is because negative responses affect our immune response — while long periods of stress and negativism are evidenced to be a major risk for illness. To highlight virologist Ronald Glaser’s words, “Nobody believed, in the […]
01
Dec
Dec
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Our brain is an extraordinary engineering marvel — it does thousands of tasks without getting into boredom. Think of it — the thumping of our heart, lung function, or the surge of oxygen into our blood stream. The list is endless. The brain is a ‘pharmaceutical’ wonder — it maintains and processes hundreds […]
01
Dec
Dec
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Picture this: Charlie Chaplin’s memorable film, City Lights [1931], where he plays the little tramp, as usual. He saves, in one hilarious sequence, a drunk from leaping to his death. The drunk turns out to be a millionaire who befriends Chaplin and the two spend the evening together, drinking and partying. The next […]