Episodes

  • How Metallurgy Is Helping Us Piece Together Our Past

    How Metallurgy Is Helping Us Piece Together Our Past

     The Intersection, Episode 30
    Jun 27 2019
    A few decades ago the curator of the Government Museum in Madras approached nuclear scientist Dr. Baldev Raj with a problem; bronze Chola idols that were stolen were being returned or retrieved but there was no way to identify if they were real. This posed a challenge not just to Dr. Raj but all other scientists in India: how to identify the origin of a historical artifact? How to tease out its ‘fingerprints’ and find out the era it belonged to? And can you use science to tell fake ones from real? Music by Chirs Zabriske and Josh Woodword
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    16 mins
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  • Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Say Hello To The Doomsday Clock

    Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Say Hello To The Doomsday Clock

     The Intersection, Episode 29
    Jun 27 2019
    How do you think the world will end? Nuclear war, zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion? While we may argue about the brutal method through which our race will perish, meet the 15 people whose job it is to debate the actual possibilities of total destruction of human kind, through a Doomsday Clock. This is an invention that measures symbolically how long our world will survive by taking into account various factors that threaten the world’s survival. On the latest episode, we tell you how very close we are to our own end. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Music by: Josh Woodward and Chris Zabriske
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    14 mins
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  • The Fault In Our Taj

    The Fault In Our Taj

     The Intersection, Episode 28
    Jun 27 2019
    It is said that the artists and craftsmen who built the Taj Mahal had their arms chopped off on the orders of Emperor Shah Jahan, so they could never build such a structure again. The Taj Mahal is known for its perfection, Rabindranath Tagore thought it was “a tear on the cheek of time” and for centuries the architecture of this monument has fascinated both experts and the lakhs of tourists who flock here every day. However Dilip Ahuja, a scientist, also made a startling observation — that the monument known around the world for its perfection, wasn’t actually perfect. Music: Josh Woodward and Chris Zabriske
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    15 mins
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  • Snakebites, Anti-Venom And A Country That Lets The Problem Slither Away

    Snakebites, Anti-Venom And A Country That Lets The Problem Slither Away

     The Intersection, Episode 27
    Jun 27 2019
    Only a month ago, Chirag Roy, an experienced naturalist and passionate snake rescuer, was bitten by a venomous snake near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. The region, home to the four most venomous snakes in India was typically under-resourced. Rushed to a hospital 2 hours away, Chirag didn’t survive. India suffers the highest occurrence of deaths and loss of limbs due to snakebite. Regarded as a ‘poor man’s problem, the situation is compounded by superstition, ignorance and just plain apathy. Samanth and Padma talk to experts across the field about different types of venom, the aftermath of a cobra bite, the use of horses in the making of anti-venom and raising awareness about this very avoidable cause of death. Music: Chirs Zabriske and Josh Woodward
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    15 mins
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  • On Biomimicry: How Scientists Observe Nature For Inspiration

    On Biomimicry: How Scientists Observe Nature For Inspiration

     The Intersection, Episode 26
    Jun 27 2019
    Biomimicry is the imitation of models and systems that already exist in nature, through various means, for the purpose of human usage. Several useful inventions that we rely on today are a product of seeking inspiration from nature, such as Velcro, LED lights and turbines; by seeking inspiration from natural species as varied as crickets and hawks. This growingly popular science acknowledges that nature can be, more advanced in design than what humans can conceive. Music: Music: Josh Woodward & Chris Zabriskie 
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    14 mins
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  • Scientific Take On The Indian National Identity: Mahalanobis' Profiloscope

    Scientific Take On The Indian National Identity: Mahalanobis' Profiloscope

     The Intersection, Episode 25
    Jun 27 2019
    In the 1930s, P.C Mahalanobis built the ‘profiloscope’, which attempted to determine a person's race, using an instrument that was primarily a modified version of a camera. It used the facial features of the subject to determine his race, using a rudimentary version of what we now know as biometry. This now-forgotten apparatus never had an established purpose for its invention, but it did raise the important question: Who is an ‘Indian’? Amidst the backdrop of a nation that was struggling to establish its national identity, in the face of communal tension and colonial rule, P.C Mahalanobis' instrument attempted to assimilate India on the basis of national identity, in a scientific manner. Music: Josh Woodward & Chris Zabriskie
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    11 mins
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  • BIrder, Swindler, Soldier, Spy: Colonel Meinertzhagen’s Ornithology Fraud

    BIrder, Swindler, Soldier, Spy: Colonel Meinertzhagen’s Ornithology Fraud

     The Intersection, Episode 24
    Jun 27 2019
    Chairman of the British ornithologist club, Richard Meinertzhagen was once the most eminent authority on South Asian birds. In 1954, his collection of over 25,000 bird skins was even acquired by the prestigious Natural History Museum in Britain. Thirty years after his death, it was found that he had stolen birds and passed them off as his own. A lot of his data was also found to be was false. Samanth and Padmaparna speak to Pamela Rasmussen in this fascinating new crime-thriller-science-detective-mystery. Chairman of the British ornithologist club, Richard Meinertzhagen was once the most eminent authority on South Asian birds. In 1954, his collection of over 25,000 bird skins was even acquired by the prestigious Natural History Museum in Britain. Thirty years after his death, it was found that he had stolen birds and passed them off as his own. A lot of his data was also found to be was false. Samanth and Padmaparna speak to Pamela Rasmussen in this fascinating new crime-thriller-science-detective-mystery. Music: Chris Zabriske and Josh Woodword
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    12 mins
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  • A New Window To The Universe: The Discovery Of Gravitational Waves

    A New Window To The Universe: The Discovery Of Gravitational Waves

     The Intersection, Episode 23
    Jun 27 2019
    Albert Einstein first came up with the concept of gravitational waves, with the Theory of Relativity as the basis for their existence. A century and countless scientific discoveries later, Einstein's theory has been confirmed -- gravitational waves have been detected by LIGO. This has been labelled as one of the biggest astrophysical discoveries of the century. Picture: SXS, The Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS project) Albert Einstein first came up with the concept of gravitational waves, with the Theory of Relativity as the basis for their existence. A century and countless scientific discoveries later, Einstein's theory has been confirmed -- gravitational waves have been detected by LIGO. This has been labelled as one of the biggest astrophysical discoveries of the century. Picture: SXS, The Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS project) Music: Chris Zabriskie and Josh Woodward
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    13 mins
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