Vasudevan Mukunth

Vasudevan Mukunth is the science editor at The Wire.

Like all crafts that have presented unique rewards to their practitioners, the hope is that young scientists will use the initial prompt to measure their own research against benefits to society to, in time, enjoy writing about human knowledge for its own sake. Credit: Annie Spratt/Unsplash

Success of New Scheme to Get Scientists to Write More Needs Community Effort

Vasudevan Mukunth 04/06/2018

Laudable as AWSAR's aims are, one of its stipulations...

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How Cut-Throat Competition Forces Scientists to Act Against the Collective

Vasudevan Mukunth 01/05/2018

The paucity of three types of resources in the...

We must nurture reason, not faith, in DNA profiling technology to be able to hold the legislature and the executive to standards higher than their own confidence and interests. Credit: NeuPaddy/pixabay

India’s Blind Faith in DNA and Aadhaar Profiling Will Lead to No Good

Vasudevan Mukunth 27/04/2018

Aadhaar and DNA fingerprinting are both ideas worth considering...

At the March for Science in Bengaluru, August 2017. Credit: Subham Rath

The ‘March for Science’ Should Ask for Structural Reforms, Not Just Money

Vasudevan Mukunth 14/04/2018

The demand that 3% of GDP be spent on...

Cabinet minister and senior BJP leader from Dehi Harshvardhan stands to attention while speaking to Prime Minister Modi in this file photo from 2014. Credit: PMO

A Science Minister – and an Event – That Insults Indian Science

Vasudevan Mukunth 17/03/2018

Harsh Vardhan and the administration to which he belongs...

Stephen Hawking taking a zero-gravity flight in 2007. Credit: Jim Campbell/Aero-News Network/Wikimedia Commons

Stephen Hawking, the Cosmic Bard

Vasudevan Mukunth 14/03/2018

'A Brief History of Time' was a remarkable piece...

By repeatedly exercising doubt, we can reinforce doubt's place in the fight against the hegemonic majoritarianism of modern India. Every “Wait a sec…” and “I don’t get it…” is pushback. Credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The Narendra Modi Government’s Pursuit of Scriptural Authority Is a War Against Doubt

Vasudevan Mukunth 12/03/2018

Wherever there has been room for doubt about interpreting...