THE BOX MOVE

Navigating through the world of science, the fourteen of us, students at the LUMS School of Science and Engineering (SSE) decided to pen down what the study of Science represents to us in terms of Music, Art, Literature, Politics or Popular Culture. Here you will find original Blog pieces ranging across the General Sciences, as well as more incisive essays in the Work section, and even personal musings in the Profiles. Watch this space as we put pieces together, make links, and break into the box move.

The Box Move blog is no longer active since the founding team has all graduated, but we'll keep our archives up. The Box Move publication, released every year by PLUMS, is still going full speed ahead, with the 2nd issue soon to be released. Check our Facebook page for updates.

On Physics Envy

01/24/2013

Every discipline in academics acquires its own share of stereotypes and jokes that often satirize its methods or practitioners – mostly in good humor. Equally common are the grievances of various disciplines that lament how the field is either not taken seriously or completely misunderstood by non-experts. The term Physics envy also has such a lighthearted ring to it – making you think it’s a witty reference to a disgruntled Biologist’s inferiority complex.

On August 25 2012, Neil Armstrong – the first human ever to have stepped on the moon passed away. His demise was mourned all over the world as that of a hero of humanity, who having been a part of the Apollo mission in 1969, represented one of the most stunning adventures ever undertaken by our species.

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Citizen Science
06/10/2012

Citizen Science essentially involves projects where a professional research facility allows its research tasks to be performed by non-scientists and amateurs.

As I sit here in my final class at LUMS, I am struck by a number of things. This is not merely the reflection of a sentimental graduating student – although it clearly is...

The deleterious effects of stress are no mystery, but there is a need for people to understand what stress really is and its importance.

Our curiosity of the unknown has pulled us towards this subject and our irrepressible need to formulate explanations has lead to a myriad of theories being laid across the table.

The Kinect device opens before us this exact possibility amongst dozens of others. Kinect allows us to see the world just in terms of differences in depth.

The Box Move began as a blog, but since October 2010, has had plans to expand (ambitiously) into Pakistan’s first popular science magazine.

When a camera takes a picture, it’s “flattening” the world it’s viewing. So while it might be pretty obvious to us looking at this picture that the building is upright, and the ground is not, it is not that obvious to a computer.

The idea, which is by all means an acceptable one calls for a top down approach. Unfortunately science tends to work bottom up, connecting pieces of a puzzle together and then zooming out to try and figure out what the bigger picture is.

I recently did a summer internship at CERN and this article is about sharing that experience.

I worked on Mean-Shift segmentation over this summer. This is a brief summary of my experience.

The whole story is an anagram of sorts, you can dissect it in so many different ways, arranging and rearranging the parts, giving importance here, disregarding there, and every time coming up with something that makes some sense.

ON THE FRINGE
Further links in the world of Science and Technology:
Find more in the On the Fringe side-column of the Blog

NewYork Times: What is this mysterious thing called self-control? Psychologists Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney discuss this and more in their book Willpower. Read a review here.

Economist: Scientific misconduct as blogged about by us earlier. The plot thickens. Read more here.

Nature: All of us should know that 2011 is the Year of Chemistry and all of us should know about carbon nanotubes and graphenes. Find out here.

ScientificAmerican: Tasmanian Devils, not just the stuff of Looney Toons, are fast becoming extinct due to a facial tumor disease. Read more here.

The Economist: Protein folding now uses computer gamers. A game called FoldIt might increasingly eclipse the Rosetta protein-folding algorithm. Play the game here and read the Economist article here.

ScienceDaily: Where we find out that giant pulsating stars can host other hot giant exoplanets. Read more here.

UPDATE: Our Publication is now up as an e-zine. Take a look at the Publication page here.

Contributors:

NIMRA ASI
Cranky Biology Major bibliophile sock-enthusiast with a visceral hatred for cheese and a penchant for gypsy attire.

HASSAN BUKHARI
Clumsy rugby-playing Physics Major with a particular fondness for radicalism, baldness and being awkward.

KAMIL AHSAN
Pretentious Biology Major debater with a tendency towards snobbery, indie music and forced intellectual conversation.

MEHR UN NISA
Sporty, foul-mouthed Physics Major with an inappropriate comfort level with integrals, onions and making short films.

MAHEEN RASHID
Quirky Computer Science Major with difficulties ranging from being understood, taming hair and resembling a lizard.

WAFA VELJEE
Irritatingly bubbly Math Major songstress with emphases on promiscuity, SAFA-organizing, and inappropriate fondling.

NAYAB ABIDI
Straight-laced Biology Major fine artist with a liking for being unnecessary, nitpicking and dwelling on her OCD.

ASADULLAH NAWEED
Loud-mouthed Computer Science Major MUN-er with authority issues and a tendency to rave about courses.

HARIS BAIG
Self-assured Computer Science Major excessive hugger with a passion for Bob Dylan, bragging and text messaging.

MEHDI MUJTABA
Federer-loving Electrical Engineering Major with a strange liking for strawberry cheesecake, Twilight and Freakonomics.

ANUM KHAN
Uncouth Biology Major who spends much of her time denying the existence of cute babies, being demanding and too old.

SAFA MEHMOOD
Prudish Electrical Engineering Major MUN-er with a proclivity for long mid-semester holidays, giving sermons and being scandalized.

SYED ALI RAZA

RABIA ASLAM

ALI RAZA

ABDULLAH KHALID

On Physics Envy

Ramblings on Pakistan, the moon and beyond
08/29/2012

Citizen Science
06/10/2012

All is Well
06/09/2012

Managing Stress
02/03/2012

Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
12/27/2011

Between Man and Machine
12/25/2011

Launching The Box Move Publication
11/15/2011

Unflattening Pictures
11/07/2011

Psychology's Freudian Slip
10/29/2011

The CERN Experience
09/26/2011

Mean-Shift Segmentation
09/13/2011

Crop Rag Hearts
08/28/2011

Contributors: