Tag Archives: disease

The zombie obeys: a note on host manipulation by parasites and its ecological consequences

In 1858-59, as AR Wallace, one of the founders of the modern evolutionary theory, was exploring the Sulawesi Islands, he collected an ant, Polyrachis merops, that he sent over to England. Years later, the naturalist W Fawcett studying these ants … Continue reading

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Pandemic days: bālabodhana

As the pandemic grinds to a close or at least to a pause in some parts of the world, there is a certain fear from new mutants threaten that threaten break current the status quo. The strain that arose in … Continue reading

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Pandemic days: Vaccines and war

In American history-writing we come across various attempts to the justify the use of nuclear weapons on Japan in the closing phase of WW2. We often hear the claim that by using the nukes they avoided a large number of … Continue reading

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Pandemic days-4: viruses get new hosts

That we have come to be in these pandemic days evokes some wonderment or even disbelief among laypeople. The general thinking of a large section of the populace is that this event is something completely unexpected or out of the … Continue reading

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The culmination of Galtonism or pandemic days-2

Ensconced in the apparent safety of the 4 walls the mind looks out into the completely silent streets with hardly a soul or even a passing ratha — a mere 120 days have made the world look and sound different. … Continue reading

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The culmination of Galtonism or pandemic days-1

While many thoughts crowd our mind we have hardly felt the drive to put them down on a more visible medium. Such is the nature of the times when things happen reminding you of the inexorable turning of the yuga-cakra. … Continue reading

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The Plague: historical, biographical and current: a brief roundup

Globalization is not a new thing. The Indo-European empire of the steppes was perhaps the first one. In addition to having a serious component of our genetic ancestry and most of our memetic inheritance in it, we can still see … Continue reading

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A case report in bhUtavidyA

S has a remarkable collection of tales concerning her observations at the interface between disease, folk tAntrika ritual and the high realms of mantra prayoga. With her permission I retell a few. She had agreed to revisit this topic many … Continue reading

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