#WIISER Spotlight | Dr. Anindita Bhadra: Of flawed humans and cultured dogs

Subhayu Bagchi and Arunita Banerjee

They say, ‘Dogs are a man’s best friend.’ Dr. Bhadra is here to tell us that we, as humans, could learn a thing or two from our friends. Dr. Anindita Bhadra is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean of International Relations and Outreach, at IISER Kolkata. She was the founding chairperson of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) and is presently co-chair of the Global Young Academy (GYA). Alongside her research, she is well-known in academia for excelling in multiple roles as a teacher, scientist, mentor, leader, outreach enthusiast and a thespian among other roles. #WIISER is also a brainchild of Dr. Bhadra.

COVID Vaccine: The Promised Strand

Aditya Dwarkesh

Human emotion has a history of notoriety with regards to clouding our judgement and abilities to make reliable predictions. This clouding is inevitable when concerning something as significant as a vaccination for a pandemic. Our task in this article is a twofold one: To identify precisely which of these elements are undesirables, and to then clear the air around the mirage that is the COVID-19 vaccine of them.

The jewels of Simlipal

Sourabh Biswas

The wonders and colours of nature are a sight to behold as we present to you our first photo-story about the Simplipal National Park.

Prof. Somnath Dasgupta: Four decades of studying the earth

Abhinav Thakur

In a career spanning over more than 40 years and still going strong, Prof Somnath Dasgupta takes us on an unforgettable journey about how he stepped into the field of Earth Sciences and eventually into academia. He shares anecdotes from his many adventures around the world and also shares his experiences as one of the first faculty members at IISER Kolkata.

Menstruation: The cost of being fertile

Reema Jaiswal & Shrestha Chowdhury

The article explores ‘menstruation (aka: periods)’ from scientific and cultural perspectives. Menstruation is still considered a taboo subject to discuss. The authors shine light on the origins of misogyny due to lack of understanding of the female reproductive behaviour and also how the gain in the scientific knowledge has led to the emancipation of women.

A Man of Numbers

Ravi Vishwakarma

This is a biographical article on Dattatreya Ramachandra Kaprekar and his works. Although not widely known, the kind of work he did was not only significant but also fascinating and elementary to understand.