SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LECTURES
02 January 2015, 05:30 am
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LECTURES
Programme Type
Talks
The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Plant-Insect Interactions with Giant Silkmoths from NE India
Speaker: Dr. Sudeshna Mazumdar-Leighton, Associate Professor in Botany, Delhi University
Chair: Professor H.Y. Mohan Ram
The old adage “You are what you eat” is particularly suited to caterpillars that grow into butterflies and moths. Plants chosen by caterpillars as food are intricately linked to the history (and success) of their lives as a population, race, and species. Sex, health, war, invasion and communication are all facets influenced by the choice of plants eaten by caterpillars. The giant Saturniid silkworms that feed on endemic species of plants from NE India are a less-understood but a fascinating tropical system to unravel. Lessons learnt from the biology of these insects and their host plants may be useful for improving the traditional vanya silk (Muga and Eri) industries of the region
Two Concepts of Pluralism: A Comparative Analysis of Gandhi and Isaiah Berlin
15 December 2014, 05:30 am
Two Concepts of Pluralism: A Comparative Analysis of Gandhi and Isaiah Berlin
Programme Type
Talks
Two Concepts of Pluralism: A Comparative Analysis of Gandhi and Isaiah Berlin
Speaker: Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo, Iranian philosopher and academic based in Canada
Chair: Dr. Shail Mayaram, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
As history goes, Gandhi and Sir Isaiah never met and the latter never wrote any piece on the former. While Isaiah Berlin considered himself principally as a value pluralist, Mahatma Gandhi was described by some as an “integral pluralist”. Unlike many liberals, Berlin wrestled all through his intellectual life with the tension between pluralism and monism, and also between universalism and particularism. He rejected all monistic approaches to the question of truth, but criticized as well the moral relativism inscribed in the modern tradition of thought. As for Gandhi, his astute understanding of religion, culture and politics was envisaged at each level with an argumentation against monistic views and in favour of value pluralism
RAZOR SHARP: PROVOCATIVE PLAYS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
27 December 2014, 05:30 am
RAZOR SHARP: PROVOCATIVE PLAYS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Programme Type
Cultural
The Dining Room (75 min)
Directed by Feisal Alkazi
A visual enactment of A.R.Gurney's play, with Radhika Alkazi, Nandini Sra, Jagmohan, Meenakshi Arora, Gayatri Khanna, Ashish, Rashmi and Jahanara
A protected, innocent world confronts an entirely different set of values
DNA @ 70
22 December 2014, 05:30 am
DNA @ 70
Programme Type
Discussions
DNA: Not Merely The Secret of Life
Speaker: Prof. Nadrian "Ned" Seeman of New York University, New York, USA, a chemist who is credited with discovering the fields of DNA nanotechnology and DNA computing, and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize
