Author: Akshat Rathi

Akshat Rathi is a senior reporter for Bloomberg News. He has previously worked at Quartz, The Economist and The Conversation. His writing has appeared in Nature, The Guardian and The Hindu. He has a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University and a BTech in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai.

Get off me

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In recent years water-repelling materials have gotten better and better at their job of fearing water. But even the best hydrophobic surfaces still take their time when repelling water. This becomes an issue when the surfaces you want to keep water-free operate in freezing conditions. If water is not repelled quickly, it can freeze and end up stuck there. Now Kripa Varanasi, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has come up with a way of speeding up the process of repelling water. (Featuring an incredible GIF)

Water-repellant surface so efficient that drops bounce back off, Ars Technica, 29 Nov 2013.

Image credit: Adam Paxson, Kyle Hounsell, Jim Bales, James Bird, Kripa Varanasi

Transition

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At a London pub in November, I had the chance to tell a story to an audience of about 50 people. The event, called Story Collider, was organised as part of the SpotOn conference. The story is about how I moved from India to the UK and went from engineering to chemistry to ending up as a journalist. All this is interspersed with some humour about how Indian stereotypes played a role in shaping me.

Transition, 7 November 2013. (10 minutes 39 seconds)