Sayantan Datta

Kolkata

Science Writer, Journalist and Communicator at Freelance

They/them | Award-winning journalist | Bylines: @queerbeat_media, @the_hindu & more | Assistant Professor @kreauniversity | Opinions my own

Articles

Does AI still hallucinate or is it becoming more reliable?

1 month ago | thehindu.com | Sayantan Datta

When people on the internet searched Google for “cheese not sticking to pizza” in May 2024, the newly launched “AI Overviews” feature of the popular search engine replied “you can … add about ⅛ cup of non-toxic glue to the sauce to give it more tackiness.”In a series of strange answers, the artificial intelligence (AI) tool also recommended that people eat one small rock a day and drink urine in order to pass kidney stones.
I am not good at sharing

1 month ago | datta-sayantan.medium.com | Sayantan Datta

I can love you as my own,And hold you as close as would make it hard to breathe,I take myself to the edge of the cliff,And take a step further if it would, to your benefit be,I can take on the world, it’s wild beasts,And be your shield from it as long as my heart beats,I can make you in my image,If my image were to you, your wish to be. I cannot however, for anything in the world,Share you with another to love you as me,Because, for all my virtues and all my sins,I am not good at sharing.
AAP Reshuffle: Manish Sisodia’s Punjab Play, Saurabh Bhardwaj’s Delhi Fight, Kejriwal’s Last Stand

2 months ago | thequint.com | Sayantan Datta

When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept Punjab in 2022, it was a triumph of Arvind Kejriwal’s vision—a grassroots rebellion against the old guard, promising clean governance and farmer-friendly reforms. Fast forward to March 2025, and the party’s Delhi fortress lies in ruins, toppled by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after a decade of AAP dominance.
Sisodia’s Punjab Play, Bhardwaj’s Delhi Bid: AAP Rejig is Kejriwal’s Last Stand

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Sayantan Datta

2 hours agoComedian's jokes about an Indian state leader are being investigated as potential defamationNEW DELHI (AP) — A comedian popular for his biting political humor is being investigated for possible defamation over jokes made about an Indian state leader who is an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in yet another case raising questions over freedom of speech in the country.
Two campuses within one

2 months ago | thelifeofscience.com | Raunaq Saraswat |Sayantan Datta

On 8 March 2023, the Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitisation (IGES) at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) organised a “Women’s Night Walk”.
In Odisha, coal dust is clogging leaves and blocking carbon uptake

Jan 27, 2025 | thehindu.com | Sayantan Datta

The Bengal Nagpur Railway had been tasked by the British Indian government with developing rail networks in eastern and central India. In 1900, when its workers were digging in Jharsuguda, now a district in Odisha, they stumbled upon large coal deposits. Nine years later, Jharsuguda’s first coal mine was established and a century later the region was producing more than 15 million tonnes of coal in a year. Coal is a fossil fuel produced by the decomposition of dead plants trapped in layers of soil.
In breakthrough, scientists find pressure sensor in fat tissue

Jan 22, 2025 | thehindu.com | Sayantan Datta

In a video uploaded to the internet in November, Ardem Patapoutian, who shared the medicine Nobel Prize in 2021, unbuttoned his cuff and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo near his elbow. As he flexed his arm, the tattoo came to life. The tattoo was of the PIEZO mechanosensitive channel – a class of proteins that helps us sense pressure – and the flexing demonstrated how the channel opened and closed in response to pressure.
Saurashtra fossils say early humans didn’t stick to coast as they moved

Dec 10, 2024 | thehindu.com | Sayantan Datta

Genetic studies have painted a neat picture of human evolution and migration around the world. By studying how frequently DNA in the mitochondria (the cellular structure responsible for producing energy) mutates, scientists have found that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa for millennia, then emigrated to different parts of the world.
Team at Kolkata institute engineers bacteria to solve maths problems

Nov 12, 2024 | thehindu.com | Sayantan Datta

At the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, synthetic biologist Sangram Bagh has a major and somewhat unusual goal: to build intelligent bacteria. Despite being single-celled, bacteria are very sensitive and responsive to their environments. Organisms that are generally called intelligent — including dolphins, chimpanzees, octopuses, crows, and humans — are on the other hand multicellular, with brains composed of billions of specialised cells called neurons.
Navigating STEM with Bittu K. Rajaraman

Nov 1, 2024 | thelifeofscience.com | Bittu K Rajaraman |Dhruvi Nirmal |Sayantan Datta

Bittu K. Rajaraman (he/they) is an associate professor of biology and psychology, and a genderqueer trans man who believes that the annihilation of caste, class, ableism and gender are necessary for queer and trans liberation. A distinguished figure in the Indian STEM community, they are known for their pioneering work in neurocognition and insect communication.