In recent weeks, daily power-cuts have reminded Sri Lankans that a steady flow of electricity can be something of a luxury. However, in parts of rural Sri Lanka even interrupted power would be a welcome step-up from having to rely on kerosene. Now, researchers from the Kelaniya University’s Physics Department have hit on what could … Continue reading
Farah Zahir knows that for a parent, not knowing can sometimes be the heaviest of burdens. Still, she is often the last place they go looking for answers when their child isn’t developing normally. A post-doctoral fellow working at the Friedman lab and the British Columbia’s Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver, Canada, Farah studies the … Continue reading
Asha De Vos and her watch have been all but inseparable for nearly 15 years. A gift from her father, well-known architect Ashley De Vos, the watch was an acknowledgement of what her family recognized as Asha’s “strong desire to be at least five minutes early to anything I attended or did.” Punctuality, however, isn’t … Continue reading
Dr. Michael Van der Poorten keeps his garden well stocked with poisonous plants. A few leaves from the patch of Kalanchoe growing in the shade are enough to make up a fatal dose while the slender vine of Tragia spp, a stinging nettle, lies close to the path, ready to inflict intense itching on anyone … Continue reading
Could we have already braved the worst case scenario? It’s small consolation, but new research suggests that something along the lines of the 2004 tsunami, which left such crippling devastation in its wake, is the direst Sri Lanka could face. Using computer modelling, Dr. Janaka Wijetunga, a senior lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering, … Continue reading
I keep a wary eye peeled for religious fanatics and rabid atheists as I lead Dr. Richard Dawkins through the Governor’s Mansion in Galle. Both would only try to hijack my subject, (albeit for very different reasons) and I am intent on shepherding my charge through to where a modest verandah abuts a small garden. … Continue reading
“When one reaches the 80th year, one enters the realm of the legendary octogenarian,” writes Dr. R.O.B. Wijesekera. “There is little to look forward to, save the antics, memorable as they are, of grandkids; and then there looms the danger of ill-health, incapacitation and the manifestations of infirmity. In compensation, however, there is a world … Continue reading
Looking up at the new moon, Leonardo da Vinci imagined something that no one before him had. The sight of the “old moon in the new moon’s arms” had long inspired poets even as it confounded scientists. Looking between the horns of the crescent moon, da Vinci hypothesised that the faint ashen glow that lit … Continue reading
The multiverse: it’s a mind boggling, jaw dropping, spine tingling idea. Despite the many physicists who considered them an intriguing possibility, for decades multiple universes were considered the stuff of science fiction – there was simply no way of proving they actually existed. Now, Sri Lankan-born cosmologist Dr. Hiranya Peiris and her colleagues at the … Continue reading
The robot in action at the Embilipitiya training camp in August 2009 The deminer robot loses its battle with the terrain after a mere 10 minutes – but for Lahiru Jayatilaka those ten minutes represent both an important achievement and a crucial lesson. That a machine designed and tested in the lab survived that long … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 