Zeroing In

How do you connect the tiniest particles of universe to macro systems — what do you find common in a bunch of strongly interacting atoms and a flock of bird? 

All these systems are brought under the same hood by Condensed Matter Physics! Perhaps a seemingly complex and advanced topic for a non-field person, condensed matter physics is one of the most active fields of physics, given the diversity of natural systems and phenomena existing to study it.

We made our attempts in unravelling this phenomenal research field with an extremely enthusiastic physicist, Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy FRS, Professor, IISc Bangalore. 

Stay tuned as we bring you an enthralling conversation on this subject with such a brilliant mind on the other side! 

Background track credits: Lobo Loco - Take my Hand

The episode comes out this weekend!

“Science is like a Pandora box – It is a never ending quest” 

Quoting Prof. Joshi from our conversation with him, where he simply yet elegantly points out the most fundamental idea of science – more the questions your try to answer, the more you find ‘yet to be’ answered. 

Curiosity is the true nature of science and it can never walk on a single line, it demands multiple facets to pool in together to unravel the mysteries or to even create newer ones. It seeks adventure, exploration, invention and diversification. Perhaps, one of the most direct field of science that bring out these ideas is Astronomy – where we indulge in quest of our own universe only to find how much more is yet to be understood.

Prof. Joshi's research explores vast and varied fields of astronomy and astrophysics, mainly addressing the questions about neutron stars and pulsars, and his expertise spans further beyond to building extremely elaborate and detailed instruments & facilities like the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to delve deeper into those questions. After being trained as an electrical engineer at IIT Roorkee, Prof. Joshi went on to pursue his doctoral work in astronomy and astrophysics, and has produced very vital research works, along with making seminal contributions to building the GMRT facility with the veteran Prof. Govind Swarup. His deep understanding of the principles of fundamental physics is as deftly complemented by his expertise in the fields of engineering and instrumentation, bringing out a nourishing world-view and the essence of scientific explorations.

Tune in to the second part of our recent conversation with Prof. Joshi where we discuss upon what amazements contribute to living a life of scientific pursuits, the need for multidisciplinary influences for diving into the novel research directions, and how building on fundamental sciences changes the world, one step at a time, just as how it should be.

What does it take to pursue observational astronomy and how does it look like? For all these stars, and the exotic (anti)matter that lies all across our universe— how do we even muster the courage to embark on a journey that leads to deciphering these puzzles that lie far, far, far away?

Listen in to the beautiful excerpt from our discussion with Prof. Bhal Chandra Joshi, an astrophysicist who deals with addressing a plethora of these fascinating questions, and in turn, discovering new mysteries— he talks about what the nourishing excitements that such an odyssey brings along.

Second part of the episode releases this weekend! Stay tuned and listen in to the first part if you haven’t yet on zeroingin.org

Music credits: 'Echomimetic' (Album: 'Onomatopoeia') by 'REW<<'

The universe we inhabit is teeming with remarkable mysteries, far removed from the extraordinarily insignificant corner that the Earth occupies. Mysteries of which, we can only see the traces of, and they still, very beautifully, cradle answers to the questions of our very existence — we talk about the process of discovering these answers, and delve even more into the journey of setting out to seek out further questions with our guest for this episode, Prof. Bhal Chandra Joshi, from the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) - TIFR, Pune, India.

In the first part of the two part episodes from our conversation with him, we discussed about the faraway objects in the universe, specifically the most precise natural clocks ever known to humankind - pulsars, which happen to harbour extremely challenging and long-standing open questions in our understanding of these exotic objects. We discover how these questions span far and wide, and how on the other end, these objects can help us realize very useful technologies in the current scenarios. Dive in to the conversation to clock further perspectives on this and more!

Music credits to Sankalp Hongal and Ethan Phangcho. Episode artwork by Akshita Arora.

Looking up at the night sky, how do you identify the difference between all the twinkling objects above? 

Among those stars are the kinds that revolve with such precision that they act as very stable clocks and give a competition to the precise atomic clocks — the Pulsars. Pulsars are rotating neutron stars which emit radiations in a wide range of spectra and observing them reveals a plethora of exciting details which offer scientific understandings beyond measures. 

Studying these fascinating objects of the sky in his everyday life, in our recent conversation, Prof. Bhal Chandra Joshi talks with an infectious passion about the world beyond the sky.

Stay tuned for this fascinating conversation coming out this week!

Artwork by: Akshita Arora

Music credits: Living in Hope by Purple Planet Music.

Click, clank, grrrr, hummm— meddling with the symphonies of the mechanical world, our guest for this episode, Prof. Kurien Issac, Senior Professor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, gives us a peek into the extremely fascinating and intriguing field of kinematics and mechanics.

Throughout his research work so far, Prof. Issac, has made significant contributions in the wide areas of mechanics, robotics, and aerospace, and has even created quite a number of novel mechanisms, ranging from variations of four-legged robots to those of ornithopters. Currently a Senior Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIST, his research directions span the wide arenas of optimization techniques and designs, robotics, mechanism control, humanoids and landing rovers.

Dive in to the conversation, as Prof. Issac takes us along a breezy ride through some very internal understandings of the mechanical world, introducing us to the gears of our fast moving lives that are enabled in many dimensions by the excellence mastered by the researchers and engineers practicing in the field. It was an absolute pleasure to uncover some exceedingly intricate ideas, which Prof. Issac articulates with stellar insights, and inspiring humility, lined with equal amounts of fascination!

Discover our conversation with Prof. Kurien Issac, as we uncover the underlying immensities of the functioning behind our everyday world.

Music credits to Sankalp Hongal and Ethan Phangcho. Episode artwork by Akshita Arora.

From the simple act of walking to an elaborate one of performing an elegant ballerina, there are enumerable turns and twists and movements underneath the visible locomotion. So how does one get to the backstage to figure out the strings behind the dancing puppets? 

Tooling and toying with some of the extremely intriguing mechanisms is something that Prof. Issac does on a daily basis. 

Stay tuned to hear our conversation with him where we worked together make and break some complex ideas of the robotic world in the episode releasing this weekend!

String theory is considered as one of most complex theories put forth by our physicists. But what are these ‘strings’ that are being debated on so much? And is this really the theory that will unify everything, bring it all under same hood? Fundamental fields, such as string theory, offer a plethora of curiosities that seem to surpass our understanding of this universe, making it a an equally complex and intriguing subject.

Discover our conversation with the Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences - TIFR, Bengaluru, Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar, where we dive into the immensity of theoretical physics, and in turn uncovering the stories and the treasure trove of ideas from his personal experiences. Our discussion forayed into the broad regimes that the intimidating constructs of string theory aim to address, as Prof. Gopakumar very artfully untangled the intermingling of awe-inspiring ideas, which tapered to the discussions on the state of the field, upcoming excitements and brief portrayal in context of the Indian scientific scene at present. 

This conversation was taken up in collaboration with Shasthra Snehi and Aastro Kerala organisations which also works towards science outreach.

Music credits to Sankalp Hongal and Ethan Phangcho.

Episode artwork by Akshita Arora.

From the very beginning, while we have tried to understand this universe, our explorers have been able to find the underlying links between big ideas. Like Newton united the sky above with a spinning wheel on Earth, explaining how the two could be were linked by the same laws. Following the road of unification, Maxwell united electricity and magnetism— illustrating how they are facets of the same force. The next big one came with Einstein when he linked space and time. But is there a thread that would link it all?

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” 

Humankind chose to explore the wide space and its objects not because it is easy, but because it is challenging.

Continuing to explore the technological marvels and the way that the Indian Space Program shaped itself amidst all the challenges with the man who has been a part of each of the space vehicle launches that ISRO has undertaken up to date— Dr. B.N. Suresh, currently gracing the Honorary Distinguished Professor position at the ISRO Headquarters in Bengaluru, is also the Founding Director and Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology – Asia’s only space university. Dr. Suresh was formerly the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the lead center of ISRO in launch vehicle design; former President of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE); and former member of the Space Commission of India. His role in defining the activities for advanced technology development and their planning for space transportation in India has been very significant. 

In this final part of the two-part episode, he discusses at length the history of the Indian Space Program, and how the Indian Space Research Organisation has risen up over the years to brilliantly shape and take forward India's technological expertise by the development of highly complex space systems, to the international acclaim that it currently commands. Through the course, he also shares his exceptional insights, in conversation with Prakhar Agarwal and Naman Pain, and a few of the curious young minds from high schools across the country, which makes this conversation a treat to hear, as they ask their probing questions to an eminent space scientist directly.

If you have not discovered the first part of this podcast, we'd recommend you start there.

Happy listening!

Sketch of Dr. Suresh by Sambuddha Majumder.