Vijee Venkatraman

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Anna Mani, Indian weather scientist

A few years ago, independent journalist Nandita Jayaraj came across an anthology of essays on Indian women in science. Titled Lilavati’s Daughters, the collection featured stories of nearly 100 female scientists – from the Victorian era to contemporary times – but what caught Jayaraj’s attention...

Making ketchup glide, pesticides stick

Drops of water bead up or roll right off the leaves of the lotus, making for that metaphysical metaphor – live like a lotus in the water. But the leaves of plants such as wheat, onion and cabbage are also water-repelling, or hydrophobic, and this...

Virtual Walk Through Sowcarpet

Sowcarpet is often described as Chennai’s “Little North India,” in tourist book style. Bustling and bazaar-like, this old neighborhood is not too far from the city’s iconic Central Station. This area is home to the city’s first Jain temples and shops and eateries that...

Dilip Kumar, Improbable Tamil Anthologist

Dilip Kumar, Booksellers and Exporters, was the name of the Tamil literary bookstore he ran in Mylapore, Chennai. For over a quarter century research scholars and avid readers dropped in here to discuss books with the genial owner. This was till 2016. He also shipped...

Measuring Blood with Light

Some components of blood can be measured without a needle stick. Now an innovation in light-based methods could make even more of them visible. For about 40 years, physicians have been able to measure some qualities of blood using pulses of light. A recent breakthrough...

My Friend from Islamabad

Summer vacation did not mean days off for graduate students in the United States but in those warm months we could take longer-than-usual coffee breaks without feeling guilty. Pocket Park, our campus coffee shop, tiny and transparent, was wedged into a far corner of a...