In Pursuit of the Unknown

Symbolism is a language in itself. Symbolism, communicates tonnes of information to the cohort. People belonging to several backgrounds relate to Symbolism in different ways. But for those involved heavily in quantitative science, one form of symbolism is predominantly mired into their thought processes. This symbolism relates to, agrees upon, disproves hypotheses or leaves it all in a deadlock situation. As a manifestation of this form of symbolism, equations have survived the odds of multiple centuries and 17 of those survivors have been brought into the limelight in Ian Stewart’s engaging book, “In Pursuit of the Unknown – 17 Equations That Changed the World”, which is insightful journey into the world of equations. Like how cells form the building blocks describing the structure and function of all biotic factors at a rudimentary level, equations seem to be their counterparts in quantitative science. Mathematics as the language of science is expressed in the form of equations. From the mathematician author’s perspective, the book beautifully blends math and history by way of describing the origin of the most significant equations that shook the world – that revolutionized mankind, for better and for worse. The author paints a comprehensive picture of all the stories and myths surrounding each of the 17 equations, the mathematicians & scientists involved in arriving at the intellectual breakthrough, the panegyrists and the naysayers, the geographical and cultural setting that the invention of the equation revolves around.

Ranging from the ever-famous Pythagoras’s Theorem relating the three sides of a right-angled triangle, the book subtly traverses upon the likes of logarithms as our initial step towards speedy calculations, square root of minus one as the key to complex numbers, the evolution of topology as the study of geometric properties unchanged by continuous deformations, Euler’s formula for polyhedra and normal distribution as one of the key players in probability and statistics. The author also portrays a few more striking equations that left an indelible impact in the development of human civilization. The story of the apple falling down leading to Newton’s law of gravitation is said to be for the most part, well, just a story. The importance of gravity in the working of GPS, surveying the earth, sending artificial satellites is how the author has emphasized on one of the most fundamental forces of nature. Interestingly, all of Newton’s invention of the calculus and gravity happened during the disastrous bubonic plague period of the 17^th century London. It’s intriguing to note that this duration of social depression had lead to remarkable scientific breakthroughs. The author also  highlights Einstein’s general theory of relativity as a reasonable depiction of reality, Shannon’s information theory that lead to the technological revolution in today’s communication and Fourier’s heat equations that eventually paved the way for developing the theory of Fourier transforms which are now the basis for most of signal and image processing. One more very interesting note about the financial crisis of 2008 has been attributed to the Black - Scholes equation. Calling it a double – edged sword, the author elaborates that this equation was responsible for the virtual cash transactions. The uncontrollable situation of trillions of virtual money had resulted in inflation.

 Every chapter starts out with a layman’s description of each term of the equation in hand along with its application in a punchline. The style of talking about math equations that are being applied in day-to-day life in a story-telling format is really stimulating and enjoyable. It vaguely brings back fond memories of high school and undergraduate mathematics. This book reminds us that, even as they are most often underrated, looked upon with a morbid fear of them being complicated; equations have played an undeniably significant role in shaping the world as it is today. They will continue to play a pivotal role in any quantitative scientific discovery. 

- For http://thecolloquium.net (Books & Travels)

A blessing

I do not want to emphasize how cliched the "day" concept is. Mother's day, Father's day, Valentine's day, Friendship day and the countless number of  "day"s of celebrating something or someone is such a farce. It should be a day-to-day affair and shouldn't be like deifying one day, degrading the next.
However, I would like to take this opportunity to write about this relationship that holds a special place in everyone's heart. Yet again, it is such a cliched statement to say one's mother is the best person in the world. But more often than not, it holds good under all conditions. She is the ultimate caregiver, protector, teacher and what not. If there is one soul that will be happy for you, praying for your safety, it is her. She will never hesitate to sacrifice anything for you. All of these are universal truths for many people, with a few exceptions.
As for me, it is something more. She shielded me from all sorts of trouble, letting me understand things I ought to know. She encouraged my talents and gave up on professional growth for my well-being. She was (is) a working-woman that juggle(s)d multiple hats, balancing it all with so much of dexterity. She taught me how to be a warm-hearted, humane-being. She showed the other, most-important-dimension of life, the society. That awakening to social issues was truly a revelation. She discussed with me about Vidarbha, P.Sainath, Cuba, Assange...She treated me as an equal. She showed to me the power of writing; and exhorted me to be an avid reader. More than that, she wanted me to be out there experiencing, witnessing the world. She was always a burst of positivity, a ray of hope, an active thinker and doer. She constitutes all the goodness in me.
She created so much of a comfort zone in our relationship that I could openly share everything with her. She is and will be the first person that comes to my mind if I have to talk about my happiness, sorrow, morbid fears, confessions, embarrassing situations I was in, silly encounters...
This small piece of writing is just a tiny reflection of what she means to me. There is more to this bonding. After all, love is (meant to be) ineffable.
Happy Mother's Day. 

Somnolence

It's been a while since I changed the pen name to somnolence. Ironically, there are some "sleepy" issues

happening in my current educational pursuit which might possibly turn out to be the path I take for a short-term research. So when I started reading about sleep science, I realize how 'sleep' is one of the most underrated part of (almost) everyone's life. We sacrifice sleep for anything and everything! From a neuroscientist's perspective, it is one of the most dangerous things that one can do to themselves is all I understand. The effects of this kind of self-imposed pain (I am using the word masochism with the right emphasis) due to lack of sleep is not meant to show up immediately, but it will raise it's head and hiss when we don't in the least expect it. For scientists and researchers out there, whatever I've said above might seem like cliched junk. I am consciously avoiding too much of scientific details for all that I'm going to say after this.
I was introduced to the term 'Somniloquy', about three years ago when I discovered I am a somniloquist when under stress. I have been told that I argue in English, which is totally weird considering the fact that I am more comfortable speaking in my native language. It's all entertaining for people who listen to it. Recently, I discovered I have fallen prey to one of the novel lifestyle disorders (for lack of better terminology,) sleep-texting. It so happened that I received a call from my mom, ~8000 miles away at ~5 am in the morning. I did not attend the call, instead sent her a text saying "I'm in class" - these were the exact words, flawless typing. Later when I woke up I noticed the missed call, called her back only to find her asking me in absolutely bewildered tone, "Did you have a class at 5am?!". I ridiculed her and she shot back at me mentioning the text message she received. I was in total denial mode. After finishing the talk, I sheepishly checked my message box, only to get shocked for the rest of the day. Meh, I am still shocked, only that the intensity is less, since it's been a few days after the incident. I apologized to her for the confusion (poor mom, she got freaked out by my text message only to convince herself that I was in an online class or something like that until I called her back in a groggy state). The post-doc in my lab and I had a good laugh, we had something interesting to talk about for a long time. But still, come on, it's shocking to me.
I realize there is so much to understand and uncover when the brain is trying to rest, sleeping being not-so-much-of-a-resting-mode, as it tries to repair and prepare the body for all the trials and tribulations it undergoes for the rest of the day. A sleep test on myself is on top of my to-do list. It seemed kind of obvious that I was in REM sleep when I texted and that I was dreaming about being in a class. Anyhow, there is so much more to 'sleep', the circadian and the physiology behind this behaviour that what we all think it is.
Interesting learning awaits.

Budding beauty

Colours of Spring splashed around! 

A visual treat! 

The stretch

March 5 marks the end of six months of stay away from home. For the most part, I haven't actually gotten adjusted to things at the "new" place. Even after so long, it feels like I'm still transitioning day in and day out. But, there is a vague feeling of gratitude - sense of pride - teeny weeny bit of confidence lurking somewhere in the corner, waiting to grow intense and show up. This nascent form of some sort of positivity seems like a good sign that ll help in the longest possible run further ahead. Accepting things as such and developing an attitude to face different situations, as and when they crop up - this phase is surely adding a dimension to my supposedly ongoing learning curve.

The Pacific Sun captured from The Cliffs, SD

La Jolla is turning warmer. The beaches are inviting. The beauty is awe-inspiring.
With motivating people around, there is so much to keep thinking about - And acting upon.
Hoping to figure out what I want to do in the long run, something that will keep me engaged and excited every single day. Something that will not just seem as the next logical step - but will drive me and keep me stimulated.
Best lesson (still learning/ optimizing): Realizing the value of involving in a serious thought process. And working hard. And learning to figure out the mysteriously efficient way to manage the recurrent(24X7).

Looking forward to (the rest of) March and (literally) Spring ahead.
Looking forward to (enjoyably?) work a lot more and adapt to things I end up getting. Bridging expectations - reality gap will be a continuing exercise.

--Peace-- 

"Quarter"some woes

"Give me some sunshine

Give me some rain

Give me another chance

I wanna grow up once again"

The thing is, I always get here on board when I have to rant. I could as well call this customizing-rants instead of customizing-thoughts. Anyhow, back with another complaining post. Some people can never be happy - contentful - satisfied with their lives. They are grouchy and repel others away, I am slowly inching towards that category. Sigh. Period. 

The issue with quarter system is that it gets over in a jiffy. According to my university rules, classes are taken for a period of 10 weeks. This particular span of ten weeks is, mark my words, SO eventful. The more number of courses you take and the part-time job (paid/ unpaid) workload that you have, the higher the release of epinephrine. Multiple reasons attribute to this slow poison kind of damage to the brain: regular homework - quiz - research papers to read, discuss, comment upon, actual research (an understanding Principle Investigator of the lab will make a lot of difference in letting you breathe a little through the quarter). You can model it as a Gaussian curve -- start off slowly, the peak during the midterm, slack a little after the mid). And then comes the grand finale, the anomalous impulse response shot during the one and only 11th --  the craziest of all Finals week. Do a sneak peak during this last week of the quarter and you will have a compelling urge to admit most of the students in an insane asylum. Such is the mood swing, the pendulum attitude (it exists throughout the quarter, but worse at this time). Or you could administer anti-depression drugs. Not that it might help. But still, worth a try. 

One of the most regrettable impacts of this kind of a system is that there is minimal scope for true learning. There is not enough time to understand, let things sink in, munch and think about it deeply. Applying concepts can happen mostly when we have that sweet little gap to absorb, not merely read and work on assignments. The second, extremely regrettable issue is the lack of freedom to select courses of one's choice. This arresting rule is restricted to very few departments to be specific. When it is hard to see the usefulness of the course to what one actually wants to do, it is difficult to cope up. In addition considering the time frame (time crunch) one cannot take all the courses that they want to specialize in. Again, like undergrad, it's all spread out and vague and muddy and blurred for good. There is absolute time crunch, this being a two-year program. On top of that, if one is "required" to take such random courses, then what is the point of doing a "Masters"? What am I mastering? I can't specialize in what I want to specialize!!! (Boohoo!) Being force-fed is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. It's intoxicating! It's all the more sad when you have to pay truckloads to get yourself sick. All that I truly wanted grad school to be like, is missing. I find a big gaping hole between my expectations and reality. A gap that seems unbridgeable.  

You may wonder and strongly condemn me for what all I've said so far. Because nobody forced me into pursuing this stream or study further at all. I understand I have made some serious mistakes of not researching deeply, imagining the situation ahead. But still, may be this is worth a try. It's teaching me some lessons the hard way. Which is good, as I will never forget these all through my life. (until I get Alzheimer's)

The best-est lesson I've learnt so far: people here take their time to decide their career path. They never see what they do as the next logical step (unlike most of us back home). And, they are so passionate about what they do, which is influentially inspiring. By observing them, it feels like I have a lot of time to decide and do anything later! :-D Such is their thought process. A deep calm understanding of what they want to be. 

There...I see a beacon of hope. 

Looking forward to more positively eventful quarters. And writing (less) rant-ful posts. 

--Peace--

What not to do as an undergraduate major - Fatal Error #1

Or what not to choose to do as an undergraduate major.

Disclaimer: Most of the thoughts expressed here are highly personal and experiential and consensus from a set of fellow suffering graduate students of the same field. You might have been a highly motivated successful individual belonging to this area, that doesn't mean you have the right to insult/ arrest/ throw stones at me/ us. Thank you in advance. 

Biomedical Engineering. Or Bioengineering. It is such a freakish umbrella term. Interface of Biology and Engineering. Solving biological problems with engineering tools. Creating novel applications and coming up with innovative solutions that have mass impact. Sounds exciting! Diagnostics-Therapeutics-Equipments-Image Processing-Signal Processing- Electronic Circuits-Analog and Digital ICs-Microprocessors and Microcontrollers-Biomechanics-Medical Instrumentation-Medical Physics-Sensors-BioMEMS-Biocontrol Systems. Name it what! You touch upon every goddamn thing under the "bio"-"medical" sun! Depth? Nil. Zero. Shoonya!!!

The biomedical curriculum in India is majorly electronics as far as I know. But the knowledge level can never be equal to any electrical engineering undergraduate student. Take programming, no, cannot be on par with computer science. Cannot even think of comparing. Ok, atleast Biology?? No way, what do you think? A biotechnology or a pure biology student will know truck loads more than you, an unfortunate biomedical "engineer". And yes, please understand the world of difference between biotechnology and biomedical engineering. Everything boils down to making you feel as if you know nothing at all and leave you with an empty feeling of having done something vague for precious-four-odd years of your life. That thought of having no skill-set, scary isn't it? Atleast, to me it is, and this is what I am stuck with. Again, this may not be true for everyone.

If someone is "passionate" about biomedical sciences/ biomedical engineering with a focus on medical devices or applications that focus more on engineering - say, prostheses, brain computer interface, human computer interaction, image guided surgical tools, imaging modalities, fabrication of microsensors and so on, it would be extremely wise to major in electrical and computer engineering or instrumentation and control engineering or any core engineering discipline for that matter, like even chemical engineering which gives a decent understanding of materials science and thermodynamics OR pure mathematics, pure physics (it is all built on top of physics, communicated via mathematics). Even as you pursue a course on these core areas, it is very much possible to work on biomedical applications. That is the best example of extrapolation and translating core knowledge in a related domain. An interdiscplinary undergraduate major like biomedical does not lay a solid foundation on anything. Yes, it gives an overview of everything, which is okay, but never good enough. When it comes to working on something specific, it's like learning everything from the scratch, from the core subject perspective. If the ultimate aim is on learning, understanding, feeling satisfied about what you do later on in life, it might be good to refrain from BME while thinking of undergraduate major options. 

May be an encouraging sign.

Neeya Naana - Jan 6 2013

The last episode of Neeya Naana is a classic example of how to bring people together by creating better awareness and understanding of the issues daunting both sides. Just by sharing thoughts openly, magic happens. It is definitely possible to make the upper middle class empathize is one thing I see. I do not know if anything will be executed, but a change of heart is clearly noticeable. The bottomline is (telling myself): societal thoughts can be instilled in the common upper middle class. Make some effort. Period.