News / Author / Dipanjan Sinha

Dipanjan Sinha

Articles by Dipanjan Sinha

Trying to spot a liar? Give them something to do as they fib, a new study finds

Since lying taxes the brain more than telling the truth does, an added task — a sort of cognitive load; numbers to remember or a list to memorise — could make it harder for a smooth talker to lie convincingly, a new study out of Portsmouth suggests.

A still from the series Lie to Me (2009), about a psychologist who uses his skill at reading faces to help the police with criminal investigations.

lifestyle

Updated on Sep 23, 2022 07:41 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Lore enforcers: Meet the artists taking folk icons to a new generation, via NFTs

A children’s writer and an illustrator are bringing Kerala’s folklore icons to life as NFTs, so that new generations can meet the Santa-like patron deity of villages, the traditional jester.

Muthappan, the kind and jolly patron deity of north Kerala villages. “He is our equivalent of Santa Claus. Similar in appearance, he listens to the woes of every village and solves their problems. More children should know about him,” says Deepak Sivarajan.

lifestyle

Updated on Aug 20, 2022 04:59 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Is Assam’s NH715 our deadliest highway? Ask the local animals

A study has found that a single 64-km stretch of this highway saw 6,036 deaths in one year. Take a look at the consequences, when a road goes where it has no business going.

Rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park. The NH715 cuts through Kaziranga on one side and the North Karbi-Anglong Wildlife Sanctuary on the other. Small-animal fatalities are not tabulated, but a study has found that hundreds of frogs, snakes, birds and lizards are ending up as roadkill. (Herve Lethier / Unesco)

lifestyle

Updated on Aug 06, 2022 08:51 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Motor imagery: Can the mind flex the muscle?

Studies show that imagining an exercise, in great detail, over and over, can actually affect muscle performance. Olympic athletes have been using this kind of motor imagery practice since the 1980s. Now, it’s being used in sports medicine, motor rehabilitation, even to ease phantom limb pain.

lifestyle

Updated on Jul 15, 2022 06:23 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Inside Kerala’s goal mine: A new documentary tracks the state’s football frenzy

An academy funded by the church, an octogenarian who still coaches, a man who rides 200km to watch local games — Misha Kumar’s Malayalam film focuses on the people in the stands, on the pitches, behind the commentators’ mics.

The energy of the game becomes a tool in the film. There’s the joy of young boys practising on the beach; the gladiatorial atmosphere of Sevens; roaring fans enraged by a loss.

lifestyle

Updated on Jul 09, 2022 01:26 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

In a rare event, Tagore art work turns up at auction, fetches ₹9.36 lakh

Most of Rabindranath Tagore’s art works are preserved at national institutes. Bird, an undated painting in ink on brown paper, is from the private collection of another illustrious artist, the late Nandalal Bose.

Bird; undated ink on paper by Rabindranath Tagore.

lifestyle

Updated on Jun 24, 2022 10:22 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Remembering Ali Peter John: Veteran film journalist known for his compassion for ‘strugglers’

John was well-known among the film fraternity — actor Anupam Kher referred to him as the “Dilip Kumar of film journalism” on a condolence post on Twitter on Wednesday

John had friends across the industry. When he suffered an accident in 2016, newspapers reported how Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan paid his hospital bills. (HT Archive)

cities

Published on Jun 10, 2022 12:27 AM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Expert ease: Meet the researcher raising a hue and why about colour

Fashion-trend analyst and colour researcher Kaustav Sengupta is on a journey to explore India’s relationship with colours. What makes brands averse to certain hues? How does this differ from country to country?

After three years of research in colour psychology, Sengupta found that young Indians were rebelling on a chromatic level. They were subconsciously drawn to a palette that set them apart from the rest of the colourful country.

lifestyle

Updated on Jun 04, 2022 04:28 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Ruskin to the rescue: Lessons on life and love, from Ruskin Bond’s new book

From his home in the mountains, the writer offers advice on heartbreak, ambition, writing. Think of How to Live Your Life as a letter addressed to young people everywhere.

lifestyle

Updated on Jun 03, 2022 08:25 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

A new sea monster: See how light pollution is disturbing the ocean depths

Coastal megacities and LED lights emerge as the biggest disruptors in a new world atlas of oceanic light pollution. See which regions are worst-affected.

Light pollution in the North Atlantic, as recorded in the new world atlas of oceanic light pollution. (Photo courtesy Earth Observatory; Image by Joshua Stevens, using data courtesy of Smyth TJ, et al (2021))

lifestyle

Updated on Apr 09, 2022 06:51 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Flash drive: Meet the mother and son touring India anew every summer

Last year, Mitra Satheesh and her 10-year-old son Narayan drove for 51 days, across 28 states, living only in villages. Now, they’re on the road again.

Mitra Satheesh and Narayan at the Puducherry promenade. Bastar was the highlight for her, Satheesh says. ‘People there live ecologically from birth. Things like plastic would be an intrusion in their system.'

lifestyle

Updated on Apr 02, 2022 03:35 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Le Petit Bengali: A newspaper that offers a Franc look at the past

The French-language daily was published over 140 years ago, in what was then the French colony of Chandernagore. It was recently rediscovered by an Indian researcher in Paris. It’s a window into a past that looks distinctly different and decidedly familiar, he says.

The French daily, first published in 1879, carried news from French India, British India, France and other French colonies. It also featured announcements about Durga Puja, debates on caste and colonialism.

lifestyle

Updated on Mar 04, 2022 06:30 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

At a boiling point: Meet the IIT Patna professor who is a bubble whisperer

Rishi Raj, an associate professor with the department of mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, is using AI and machine learning algorithms to predict when a boiler is set to explode

Rishi Raj and his team believe that bubbles could hold the key to predicting boiler explosions. Thousands of boilers explode around the world, causing an estimated 2,300 accidents worldwide each year.

lifestyle

Updated on Feb 25, 2022 10:52 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Updating the doggie dictionary: A ruff guide to language

New research suggests that dogs can respond consistently to an average of 89 words, with service dogs responding to more words than house pets, and some breeds being more “proficient” than others.

lifestyle

Updated on Jan 29, 2022 12:52 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

War, peace and faith in the US: An atheism study

To what extent is the sustained practice of a faith linked to following cues from those that came before? Fresh research is finding surprising answers.

lifestyle

Updated on Dec 18, 2021 05:29 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Meet the man on a mission to save the wild berries of Maharashtra

Pravin Thete has tracked down 54 species of wild berry tree so far and is leading plantation drives to restore their numbers. It’s ironic that people will pay so much for avocado and kale, but pay no attention to what is so close by, he says.

lifestyle

Updated on Nov 20, 2021 12:56 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Word for word: A dictionary to take Sanskrit to the world

What does it take to concise an ancient language into a modern dictionary? Wknd sits down with Shashi Bala, who is heading a unique effort.

The English-to-Sanskrit dictionary Bala is working on will be published by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan foundation.

lifestyle

Updated on Oct 23, 2021 03:28 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Sound symbolism: Can Pokemon help linguists see why a chair is called a chair?

What is it about words that indicates their meaning? Are there common threads that run across cultures and languages? Linguists are looking for answers, in the 800 made-up words that constitute the names of the set of animation characters called Pokemon.

How do we process language? Why is it that you can tell, for instance, that Squirtle is the littlest of the Pokemon above; Blastoise the big one with the weaponry? (The middle one is Wartortle; all are evolutions of the same character.)

lifestyle

Updated on Oct 09, 2021 04:24 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Following centuries of neglect, will Magadhi finally get its due?

The Bihar government has said it will introduce Magadhi, Maithili and Bhojpuri as mediums of instruction at school level, a major boost for Magadhi, which has no film industry or formal recognition, and is therefore largely spoken only in homes.

An Ashokan edict on the Delhi-Topra pillar. Many of Ashoka’s edicts were composed in Magadhi Prakrit, the older version of Magadhi that was also the language that the Buddha spoke. (Creative Commons)

lifestyle

Published on Sep 10, 2021 06:58 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Meet the researcher trying to give Gangetic dolphins their due

The International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the Gangetic dolphin endangered in 1996. Ravindra Kumar Sinha has been instrumental in stabilising the population of the species

Ravindra Kumar Sinha decided that, alongside his research, he had to act to save the Gangetic dolphins. “What would I do with research if the species didn’t even survive,” he says. He began taking long trips down the Ganga, talking to fishermen, students, local leaders and policy makers about how all the life in it would suffer if the dolphin was lost.

lifestyle

Updated on Aug 30, 2021 12:30 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Meet Mumbai’s first photojournalist from the transgender hijra community

Freelancer Zoya Lobo’s images have appeared in publications across India and beyond. ‘I have a message. I want to take this chance to say there is nothing a trans person can’t do,’ she says.

‘I enjoy being a journalist. I love walking the streets purposefully with my camera,’ says Lobo. (Satish Bate / HT Photo)

lifestyle

Updated on Jul 23, 2021 03:36 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

A life of turtles, trails and deep-sea tales: Ecologist Kartik Shanker

A magical hour spent watching an olive ridley decided what he would do with his life. Now 52, Shanker has spent decades working on sea turtle biology and conservation. He’s still as amazed by them as he first was, he says.

Shanker with a giant leatherback turtle.

lifestyle

Updated on May 22, 2021 12:22 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha & Riddhi Doshi

Meet Arora Akanksha, the 34-year-old who wants to be head of the UN

An audit coordinator at the United Nations since 2016, Arora now wants to run for secretary-general. Because it is time for the old ways, the old systems, to change, she says.

‘Lip service is no longer enough. Tweets ‘condemning’ tragedies are not enough. The UN has a responsibility,” Arora says.

lifestyle

Updated on May 22, 2021 12:11 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha & Stuti Johri

How elder-care services are filling in for family in the pandemic

The organisations are helping with groceries and errands, doctors’ visits, even last rites, stepping in for children trapped abroad and unable to visit. Sometimes, they say, all the seniors want to do is talk and know that someone is nearby.

An Aaji Care attendant helps a senior out on a walk.

lifestyle

Published on Apr 30, 2021 04:28 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

A geologist’s journey from rocks to oceans, via lost penguins in Antarctica

Sugata Hazra switched specialties early in his career, after a 22-day voyage by sea. He now studies the impact of climate change on oceans, coasts and human populations.

lifestyle

Published on Apr 23, 2021 03:39 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

DocuSafe: An app that acts are your own secret evidence room

Launched in the US and available in India, it is designed to help victims of abuse collect data and evidence from a range of platforms and store it in one secure location.

lifestyle

Updated on Apr 11, 2021 06:21 AM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Meet the Indian researcher uncovering clues to the formation of the galaxies

Astrophysicist Kanak Saha recently won an award for discovering AUDFs01, which sits 9.3 billion light years away and is the first known distant galaxy to be emitting extreme-ultraviolet light.

lifestyle

Published on Mar 26, 2021 03:54 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Bringing home the bacon: Pork is seeing a surge across India

In East UP, Dalit butchers are turning cooks, selling prepared pork items by the roadside. Hyderabad has taken to bacon. In Delhi and Mumbai, bacon fries, bacon jam and pork chops sell well.

Breakfast masala oats with Goan choriz by Rhea Mitra-Dalal of the Facebook page The Porkaholics.

lifestyle

Published on Mar 19, 2021 07:39 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Make your spaces fit you better: Tips from environmental psychologist Lily Bernheimer

Bernheimer helps people and cities plan their spaces better. Wherever you are, it’s possible to alter your world to suit you, she says.

lifestyle

Published on Mar 12, 2021 07:10 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

Why we fidget... and should you stop?

There can be benefits to all the foot-tapping and twiddling of thumbs. It can even help focus the mind. So how much is too much?

lifestyle

Updated on Mar 06, 2021 07:36 PM IST

ByDipanjan Sinha

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Dipanjan Sinha

Since lying taxes the brain more than telling the truth does, an added task — a sort of cognitive load; numbers to remember or a list to memorise — could make it harder for a smooth talker to lie convincingly, a new study out of Portsmouth suggests.

A children’s writer and an illustrator are bringing Kerala’s folklore icons to life as NFTs, so that new generations can meet the Santa-like patron deity of villages, the traditional jester.

A study has found that a single 64-km stretch of this highway saw 6,036 deaths in one year. Take a look at the consequences, when a road goes where it has no business going.

Studies show that imagining an exercise, in great detail, over and over, can actually affect muscle performance. Olympic athletes have been using this kind of motor imagery practice since the 1980s. Now, it’s being used in sports medicine, motor rehabilitation, even to ease phantom limb pain.

An academy funded by the church, an octogenarian who still coaches, a man who rides 200km to watch local games — Misha Kumar’s Malayalam film focuses on the people in the stands, on the pitches, behind the commentators’ mics.

Most of Rabindranath Tagore’s art works are preserved at national institutes. Bird, an undated painting in ink on brown paper, is from the private collection of another illustrious artist, the late Nandalal Bose.

John was well-known among the film fraternity — actor Anupam Kher referred to him as the “Dilip Kumar of film journalism” on a condolence post on Twitter on Wednesday

Fashion-trend analyst and colour researcher Kaustav Sengupta is on a journey to explore India’s relationship with colours. What makes brands averse to certain hues? How does this differ from country to country?

From his home in the mountains, the writer offers advice on heartbreak, ambition, writing. Think of How to Live Your Life as a letter addressed to young people everywhere.

Coastal megacities and LED lights emerge as the biggest disruptors in a new world atlas of oceanic light pollution. See which regions are worst-affected.

Last year, Mitra Satheesh and her 10-year-old son Narayan drove for 51 days, across 28 states, living only in villages. Now, they’re on the road again.

The French-language daily was published over 140 years ago, in what was then the French colony of Chandernagore. It was recently rediscovered by an Indian researcher in Paris. It’s a window into a past that looks distinctly different and decidedly familiar, he says.

Rishi Raj, an associate professor with the department of mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, is using AI and machine learning algorithms to predict when a boiler is set to explode

New research suggests that dogs can respond consistently to an average of 89 words, with service dogs responding to more words than house pets, and some breeds being more “proficient” than others.

To what extent is the sustained practice of a faith linked to following cues from those that came before? Fresh research is finding surprising answers.

Pravin Thete has tracked down 54 species of wild berry tree so far and is leading plantation drives to restore their numbers. It’s ironic that people will pay so much for avocado and kale, but pay no attention to what is so close by, he says.

What does it take to concise an ancient language into a modern dictionary? Wknd sits down with Shashi Bala, who is heading a unique effort.

What is it about words that indicates their meaning? Are there common threads that run across cultures and languages? Linguists are looking for answers, in the 800 made-up words that constitute the names of the set of animation characters called Pokemon.

The Bihar government has said it will introduce Magadhi, Maithili and Bhojpuri as mediums of instruction at school level, a major boost for Magadhi, which has no film industry or formal recognition, and is therefore largely spoken only in homes.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the Gangetic dolphin endangered in 1996. Ravindra Kumar Sinha has been instrumental in stabilising the population of the species

Freelancer Zoya Lobo’s images have appeared in publications across India and beyond. ‘I have a message. I want to take this chance to say there is nothing a trans person can’t do,’ she says.

A magical hour spent watching an olive ridley decided what he would do with his life. Now 52, Shanker has spent decades working on sea turtle biology and conservation. He’s still as amazed by them as he first was, he says.

An audit coordinator at the United Nations since 2016, Arora now wants to run for secretary-general. Because it is time for the old ways, the old systems, to change, she says.

The organisations are helping with groceries and errands, doctors’ visits, even last rites, stepping in for children trapped abroad and unable to visit. Sometimes, they say, all the seniors want to do is talk and know that someone is nearby.

Sugata Hazra switched specialties early in his career, after a 22-day voyage by sea. He now studies the impact of climate change on oceans, coasts and human populations.

Launched in the US and available in India, it is designed to help victims of abuse collect data and evidence from a range of platforms and store it in one secure location.

Astrophysicist Kanak Saha recently won an award for discovering AUDFs01, which sits 9.3 billion light years away and is the first known distant galaxy to be emitting extreme-ultraviolet light.

In East UP, Dalit butchers are turning cooks, selling prepared pork items by the roadside. Hyderabad has taken to bacon. In Delhi and Mumbai, bacon fries, bacon jam and pork chops sell well.

Bernheimer helps people and cities plan their spaces better. Wherever you are, it’s possible to alter your world to suit you, she says.

There can be benefits to all the foot-tapping and twiddling of thumbs. It can even help focus the mind. So how much is too much?

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