Vijee Venkatraman

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Pey Nayanar

On a dark night, the poet Karaikaal Ammaiyar—believed to have lived in the sixth century A.D.—made her way to the cremation ground, a space shunned then as now, to witness Lord Shiva dance. Her impressions crystallized into two ten-verse poems known as the “Patikams from...

The mRNA Nobelist

In 1997, at a University of Pennsylvania photocopier, molecular biologist Katalin Karikó met immunologist Drew Weismann — a chance encounter that would change her career, and medicine, forever. At 42, Karikó had made little headway with her radical idea: that messenger RNA, the fleeting molecule...

Physician to the Bronze Gods

“Archaeological Chemist, temporary … at a cost of Rs 1,500 for the year 1929–’30 … required for work connected with the treatment of bronze images in the Museum,” read the job description, which would be placed in the “wanted” columns of newspapers printed in...

Vera Rubin

VERA RUBIN began her career at a time when women were denied access to telescopes at leading observatories. Eventually her work helped scientists rethink the content of the cosmos. In Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond, science writer Ashley Jean Yeager traces the journey of this...

Science at Sundance 2023

This year I had a chance to review two science-related films screened at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah — two vastly different films, but both struck a chord. Illustration by Islenia Mil for Science Poacher A gunshot pierces the skull of a tusker, an adult...

Goodbye, Pittsburgh

by Ramesh Mahadevan I have lived in Pittsburgh for almost an eternity. And now it is time to move on. In a matter of weeks, I will be relocating to the Denver/Boulder area. (look me up folks, I will be in a village called Louisville) I...