May 2025
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The Symphony of Peace
In the midst of life’s noise, have you ever paused to listen—truly listen—to the world around you? Peace isn’t always something to be sought; sometimes, it’s something to be heard. Nature composes its own music, one that soothes the restless mind and speaks to the soul. The rhythmic tick-tick sounds of the forest, the croaking Continue reading
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The War of the Stray Dog
History is full of monumental wars fought over ideology, land, or power. But every so often, it throws up a story so bizarre, so weirdly absurd, that it makes you pause and wonder: Did that really happen? One such tale unfolded on the tense border between Greece and Bulgaria in 1925, when a soldier’s stray Continue reading
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When Scientists Duel: How to Roast a Rival with a Scientific Name
In the late 1800s, two American paleontologists—Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope—engaged in one of the most ferocious rivalries in scientific history. It was called the Bone Wars, and it was as dramatic as it sounds. Both men were brilliant but fiercely competitive. Their feud started over a simple mistake: Cope reconstructed the skeleton Continue reading
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When Science Got Personal: How Linnaeus Immortalized His Critic as a Weed
Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, once famously got his revenge on a critic through scientific naming. The critic was Johann Georg Siegesbeck, a Prussian botanist who harshly criticized Linnaeus’s sexual system of plant classification, calling it “loathsome harlotry” because it described plant reproduction in terms of male and female parts. In response, Linnaeus Continue reading
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Thinking from First Principles: The Art of Breaking Things Down
In a world full of assumptions, trends and borrowed ideas, first principles thinking is a way to clear the noise and see things as they truly are. At its core, first principles thinking is about breaking a problem down to its most fundamental truths—things that cannot be reduced or disputed—and building your understanding from there. Continue reading
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War is Coming: The World of Post-Truth
“The world is changing. Truth is vanishing. War is coming.” This is not just a line from a blockbuster movie (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One)—it feels like a grim prophecy unfolding in real time. As we move deeper into the 2020s, we are witnessing a volatile mix of forces reshaping global order: the Continue reading
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Fractals: Life & Nature’s Soul
Look closely at a fern leaf, the branching of trees, or the snaking veins of a river seen from the sky. Now zoom in. You’ll find the same patterns repeating again and again, like a quiet mantra whispered across scales. This is the world of fractals—a language through which nature writes its poetry. A fractal Continue reading
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When the Rain Comes, I Listen
It begins without warning—a hush falls across the afternoon, like the sky drawing a long breath. A grey veil lowers itself gently over the world. And then, the first drops. Not loud, not hurried. Just a soft tapping on the roof, the leaves, the skin of still puddles. It’s the kind of rain that doesn’t Continue reading
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Don’t Die ‘Brand-New’
Most people die brand-new. Yes, the majority of mankind never try to reach for the distant stars or cross the high seas. What’s sad is that they don’t even attempt to experience new things—paralyzed by the fear of the unknown and the presumptive belief that they will fail. But failure isn’t bad. In fact, failure Continue reading
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Speaking to Young Minds: Why I Chose to Tell a Story
Today, I’m speaking with schoolchildren on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity. I spent some time thinking about how best to help them connect with this year’s theme: Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development. One thing I know for sure—traditional speeches rarely excite kids. So instead, I decided to tell them a story. Continue reading
bhaskar saikia 