Category Archives: Science / Philosophy

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Silk is Mother Nature’s extraordinary, also astounding, creation — more so, because the little spider, by a biological happenstance, was given the talent to making silk, a fabric like no other. As Robert Boyle, the renowned Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor, extolled, we are beholden to the petite caterpillar — along […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR To know the world around us, as our ancient philosophers espoused, was analogous to a personalised, or ‘bespoke,’ connect — with our mind, senses and intellect. Modern science suggests that the whole portrait of such a reality is cerebral, also conceptual, although its basic purport is unlike the reality web that we all […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR It’s a given that anyone who has been ‘initiated’ into the etymologies of science would know that the universe, at the beginning of time, was a blaze of radiation, too hot for any atoms to survive. In the first few moments, thereafter, it cooled down somewhat for the nuclei of the lightest elements […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Symmetry is not just a word; it is a concept like harmony. It not only attracts our visual sense; it also plays a major role in our sense of beauty. It holds a paradox too. Perfect symmetry, for instance, is often repetitive and predictable, although our minds favour surprises. This explains why we […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The philosopher Aristotle thought of a fundamental political unit, or ‘polis,’ as a state having both authoritative control and a civil society of organised communities with varying degrees of congregating interests. His political theory does not reflect the idea that the ‘polis’ should possess the essential stamp of approval alongside a framework trespassing […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The fact is — there is more to intelligence than what meets the mind, eye, or the ear. This is because the whole fulcrum of noted psychologist Daniel Goleman’s articulation for emotional intelligence [EI] highlights a perceptively original synthesis of research with insights into the brain architecture that propels our emotions and rationality, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Most of us, despite our best efforts, feel out-of-sync, or balance, at times. This is, perforce, normal in the troubled times that we now live in — or, what our ancients articulated as their own essence of ‘troubled’ times. Whatever the epoch, a sense of a creeping, eerie feeling for adversity, or difficulty, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The expanding realm of neuroscience has spurred a luminous surge — scientists have turned their compass and radar to brain activity that represents our emotional ‘flow.’ So, what in more ways than one, did not so much engage our ancients has, thus, undergone a huge sea-change. As neurologists define emotions as a brain […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Abraham Maslow, the noted psychologist and celebrated visionary, once wrote, “Life is moving far more rapidly now than ever before… in the rate of growth of facts, knowledge, techniques, and inventions.” He also added, “We need a different kind of human being, able to live in a world which changes perpetually, who has […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Most of us feel that our observations are often a precise interpretation of things. We also believe that such annotations are outcomes of verified interpretations. Picture this — for a person with no knowledge of using the stethoscope, the consequence of what each heart beat conveys is inconsequential. It takes a physician to […]