rationalape

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BJT based sensors for chemical and biological sensing

BJT based sensors for chemical and biological sensing

The invention of transistors has been one of the greatest breakthroughs in science & technology and over the years, they have become an omnipresent component of all technology. In this review of the paper BJT based sensors for chemical and biological sensing , we explore the possibility and significant advantage of constructing sensors based on bipolar junction transistors(BJTs) over the widely…

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Thoughts on the state of Human Rights in India...(Short Read)

Thoughts on the state of Human Rights in India…(Short Read)

The state of human rights in India is a reflection of our current global positioning and the mentality of us as a society. On paper, I would say that it is as perfect as any other, for, the legislation is the trickier part. The political (and sometimes ideological) goals are often seen to be given higher priority than the basic rights of the people. Psychological studies have shown that people…

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Digital Censorship & fine lines (Short Read)

Digital Censorship & fine lines (Short Read)

Social media has become an integral part of our lives especially in the current decade. But exactly because of the novelty of the matter, I believe we all were caught off guard on how intrusive or potentially dangerous it can be. The people in charge of legislation were too slow to realize and counteract the threat it posed which has led to us treading a vague line in terms of where, what and how…

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Computational oncology & The future of medicine...

Computational oncology & The future of medicine…

PS: This is written in a slightly technical language so if you’re in for lighter reads on books, philosophy, science and society, check out my previous posts/podcast episodes. The basic idea of computational oncology is to use mathematical models to come up with more effective means of cancer treatment in humans than the ones existing at the moment. The relatively recent advances in…

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The Happiness Hypothesis - Jonathan Heidt

The Happiness Hypothesis – Jonathan Heidt

THOUGHTS: An insightful read exploring our perceptions of happiness from psychological and philosophical standpoint, this book is a breath of fresh air in many ways amidst the swerving tornadoes of façade and circular reasoning that surround us today in the name of “self-help”. Though at times the book gives off an academic flavour, the contents are solid and practical & a holistic approach to…

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Deep Work-Cal Newport

Thoughts Deep Work is a phenomenal book in the self help genre not just because of the amazing insights into how one can improve the quality of their work, but also because of the no-nonsense way in which it has been presented which is even more credible coming from an MIT researcher. I’d even go as far as to say it is one of the best self-help books out there and is certainly worth a read.…

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Ego is the enemy-Ryan Holiday

Ego is the enemy-Ryan Holiday

Thoughts A great read! This best-selling book by Ryan Holiday sheds light on the dangers that ego causes in our lives and effective ways to deal with them. It takes ego not from the Freudian (or purely academic) sense, but instead on the more colloquial sense and highlights numerous instances where it has caused the downfall of many a person. But I also felt some downsides to the book. It is…

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Computational Oncology-The next step in cancer therapy

Computational Oncology-The next step in cancer therapy

The way we perceive and treat tumors has significantly changed over the last century but what is the next step towards advancing the field of oncology? Well according to a team of 5 French scientists, one of the possible answers is introducing mathematical modelling into the equation and propelling the timeline for inclusion of computational oncology into the routine treatment regimens. The basic…

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#Deep Dive: Odyssey Planning

#Deep Dive: Odyssey Planning

Inspired by the iconic Greek poem Homer’s Odyssey, this technique was developed by the life design labs of Stanford to help the students of Stanford Business School better plan their lives post-college. While our traditional method of linear planning is far more popular than Odyssey Planning, this is the one that actually helps you plan more realistically. With Odyssey plans, you’re not made…

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#DeepDive: Pomodoro Re-Visited: Does it live up to the hype?

#DeepDive: Pomodoro Re-Visited: Does it live up to the hype?

If you’ve heard of anything related to productivity, then I’m sure you must have come across the word “Pomodoro” at least once. What started as a interesting time-management experiment by an 80s’ Italian College student Francesco Cirillo quickly became one of the most famous techniques in the fields of productivity and self-help. The simplicity of the idea coupled the amazing results meant that…

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#Monthly Favorites: May & June combined Edition

#Monthly Favorites: May & June combined Edition

May 2020 was a month in which I focused more on getting the most out of the things I was already using. Because of this, I did not tinker around with loads of new material which I could present to you as my monthly favorites and I rather not post something than blogging a half-honest opinion. All this is obviously an elaborate way of saying I’m sorry for not putting up the May edition(to the two…

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#TOPIC: On Death-A catharsis from the living

#TOPIC: On Death-A catharsis from the living

Let me tell you a secret…listen up close…ready? You’re gonna die! So am I and so is everyone you know. From the moment we are born, the prospect of death looms largely over our lives. It is in many ways, the perennial and omnipotent force of nature, “the great equalizer”, & the one destination we all share. The idea of death has been with us since our inception and has

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#Monthly Favorites: April 2020 Edition

#Monthly Favorites: April 2020 Edition

BOOK:

Just like there is more content being uploaded on YouTube in a day than we will probably watch in a lifetime, there are more books existing in our markets than we will read in two lifetimes. So an important question every reader asks themselves at some point is about the direction, genres and niches in which they should read because for someone who does not know to which port one is…

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#TOPIC: My God Died Young

#TOPIC: My God Died Young

“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

(Karl Marx in his critique of Hegel’s philosophy of right

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Superheroes without capes

Whatever I have written till day, and most of what I’m going to write in the future, is because I want to write. But this one is different. This is something that has inspired me so much that I felt I must write. I couldn’t do anything but write.

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#TOPIC: Ideological echo chambers and the strange death of freethinking

The date was 9th of November 2016. I sat stunned before the telly as the news broke. Donald John Trump was elected as the 45th president of USA. It was the first time in my life that I witnessed such a stark contradiction between the statistics I consumed and the outcome of the process. But I mark this as one of the most eye-opening events in my life. For the very first time, I had to start being…

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The stories we tell: perspective, perception and reality

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” _ Wayne Dyer

It is quiet and dark. The theater is hushed. As Cob goes to embrace his children, the screen blacks out with the totem still spinning on his table leaving the audience bewildering if Cob was in a dream or in reality. A neurochemical cocktail of vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins are released…