Are we living ‘beings’? Or are we living ‘becomings’—constantly changing due to life processes occurring across levels of time and space? In the second (and final) part of this article series, Vasudev Menon, an Assistant Professor of Biology and Performing Arts (Theatre) at the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, explains the worldview held by a school of philosophers that is central to understand the diversity and dynamicity of our biosphere.

What is the living world made up of? In a series of two articles, Vasudev Menon, an Assistant Professor of Biology and Performing Arts (Theatre) at the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Pune, contrasts the way two philosophical views answer this question. He opines that understanding these views would help students place what they study in the ‘life sciences’ in context. This article is the first part of the two-part series.

Food spoilage is covered in undergraduate biology courses with limited scope for practical experience. This article describes a simple module that not only helps students explore the topic experimentally but also develop a deeper understanding of various scientific concepts and gain experience in design thinking.

A mention of 'neuroscience' might stir up thoughts of cutting-edge brain scanning and imaging techniques and other complex, expensive and highly specialized procedures. However, such techniques might be inaccessible to undergraduate students and educators of basic sciences due to financial constraints or challenges of technical training. This article describes a simple, budget-friendly assay that can be used in such a setting.

Students of science tend to learn about scientific breakthroughs through textbooks and scientific journals, with a focus on the end result – the main discovery. But most of the research work underlying a discovery begins with a hypothesis – a key element of the scientific process that is often neglected in a classroom. So what is a hypothesis and how to frame one? This article shares some key points.

This article was first published by Editage Insights, Cactus Communications.