Is US losing human resource in Science?

In response to your news feature (Nature 648, 530-531 (2025), I share a first hand experience of how the US is losing its immigrant pool of scientists and professors who actually are integral part of the shining US science and Technology (1). I was almost offered a lectureship job in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in University of Texas but due to Trump administration new regulations my appointment was cancelled and now with heavy fees imposed on H1B visas ( almost 1 million USD for Indians), I don't see any any remote possibility of joining the US higher education academia. I had given several interviews in US Universities in the past couple of years but now I have stopped applying because the scenario is bleak. Long ago, in 2017, celebrated Physicist Michio Kaku commented that the H1B visa attracts more talent to the USA than anything else (2). Being able to attract global talents to live the American dream has fueled American innovations in the past. Professor Kaku predicted rightly without immigration, "we’d be a third-rate country," (2). Already China has flipped the card by leading Tech Innovations (3) and this year and the number of Indian H1B visa applicants were slashed down by 70% as compared to 2015, hitting an all time low (4). I know several Indian post docs in my circle faced job cuts and this will open a floodgate of exits of talented scientists and professors from the US to reach the greener pastures of China, South East Asia and the Middle East. In fact, China has now introduced a new visa , K visa to attract global talents post Trump visa blockage (5). Overall, the Trump administration is blocking the immigration via Science and Tech which will impact more than fund cuts because of talent shortage. References; 1. Grant cuts, arrests, lay-offs: Trump made 2025 a tumultuous year for science. (2025) Nature 648, 530-531 (2025) 2. This Celebrated Scientist Says Trump Is Wrong About Immigration (2017) https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/beloved-scientist-says-trump-wrong-about-immigration-n719646 3. China leads research in 90% of crucial technologies — a dramatic shift this century 4. New H-1B Approvals For Indian IT Fall To 4,573, Lowest In 10 Years. (2025) https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/new-h-1b-approvals-for-indian-it-fall-to-4-573-lowest-in-10-years-9728775 5. As Trump Tightens Visas, China Woos World’s Science Graduates (2025) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/world/asia/china-tech-workers-visas-us-h1b.html

Will Hand Writing be gone forever?

It was interesting to read a book review by Andrew Robinson on written scripts and its evolution from ancient times (1). As a teacher of science in a career spanning 2 decades and covering more than 4 diverse states of India I have observed the amount of handwritten answer scripts, lab journals etc are becoming less and less as typing on screen and keyboard is increasing more and more. In fact, I wonder how slowly human beings will cease to write with their hands. All the written admission tests and entrances earlier used to be pen and paper based. You had to visit exam centres and write the answers with your hands. Now most of the entrances and tests including international ones like GRE,TOEFL, SAT, GMAT, IELTS have become online with typing on keyboards or screen. India is scrapping handwritten tests by computerising its popular entrances like IIT JEE, NEET,CUET (2). During 2 years of covid lockdown I resorted to taking online exams, mostly MCQs for my students. Earlier in my generation we had to write lab journals and notebooks by hand. Nowadays my students write only observations, results and discussion of a lab notebook with their hands, everything is typewritten or copy pasted. Our offices, workplaces have resorted to online apps or word processing tools so that handwriting is required during signatures on documents only; other than that an adult is writing very less with their own hands. In my time, pens, pencils and stationeries were treasured, we had to write impeccably in reams to fetch good marks in exams. We put a lot of effort into choosing writing tools like ink pens, ball point pens, chiseled pencils etc. The pens used to be costly. Now, even with cheaper use and throw plastic pens available, the art of handwriting is scarce. Except in schools nobody writes with their hands any longer. In higher education and daily life writing by your hands is becoming less and less, which begs the question, Will we slowly stop writing by our hands?This has already been pointed out by the venerable BBC in 2017 (3). Smat phones, tabs and laptops are here to stay and there will be more online tools to increase typing on screen (4). As a seasoned academician I do feel sad to see the decline in handwriting and I see no change unless the teachers start forcing handwritten journals and exams for the students. References: 1.Andrew Robinson (2026) Technology is changing how we write — and how we think about writing. Nature 649, 1099-1101 (2026) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00245-0 2. Sanjay Sharma (2025) From-digital-to-paper-can-pen-and-paper-exams-end-ntas-test-turmoil-and-shape-the-future-of-jee-neet-and-cuet. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/from-digital-to-paper-can-pen-and-paper-exams-end-ntas-test-turmoil-and-shape-the-future-of-jee-neet-and-cuet/articleshow/126032346.cms 3. Ewen Hosie(2017) The uncertain future of handwriting. BBC https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20171108-the-uncertain-future-of-handwriting 4. Chritine Rosen (2025) Signature moves: are we losing the ability to write by hand? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jan/21/signature-moves-are-we-losing-the-ability-to-write-by-hand

Retraction of Scientific Articles in India

 I read with great interest a news article published in Nature on rising retractions in India (1). Though India doesn't boast of any university or IITs in top 100 list of globally reputed rankings like Times Higher Education, QS etc; it has seen a steady rise of research papers from what we had in 2001. However India's research papers are not cited heavily and there is an overall doubt about the quality (2). No wonder the retraction rate is high. Most of the Indian institutes don’t punish the scientists with retracted papers. I personally know one or two scientists in my circle who have carried on unfettered despite having had several of their papers retracted. Now, Indian researchers are under immense pressure to perform because in most of the places incentive of publication is promotion or increments. Recently India has seen an unprecedented rise in the Private Universities and Colleges whose sole motto is increasing student enrolment and vying for the prized global or national rankings (3). Professors literally perish if they don’t publish; they are given targets to publish and incentives like the salesmen or the corporate. Obviously with so much under stake the numbers of publications will continue to swell with increased retractions, unchecked growth and no real-world impact.

At least 25 papers of one scientist from Saveetha University, Chennai has been retracted in July 2025 (4). This particular Chennai based university is under radar for maximum retractions in the past 4 years with 99,80 and 90 retractions in 2023,2024 and 2025 (5). One Physics professor of IIT Dhanbad has had 34 retractions since 2018, yet he got promoted to Associate Professor recently (6). UGC, the regulator of all Indian Universities and the apex body, a decade ago had prepared a list named UGC CARE list in line with the Beale list to prevent predatory journals and paper mills. However, very recently UGC scrapped its own CARE list creating more confusion, utter dismay and sparking fears about unscrupulous paper mills (7).

Overall, as India is gearing up for burgeoning private education paraphernalia with ever increasing appetite for quantity over quality of research papers and a pressure to perform, it doesn’t appear that retractions are going to stop soon.

 

References:

1.    India to penalize universities with too many retractions

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02364-6

 

2.    https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/high-output-low-impact-why-indian-academic-research-needs-a-rethink-3662387 last accessed on 6/8/2025

3.    https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/university-challenged-behind-veil-indias-private-higher-education  last accessed on 6/8/2025

4.    https://sciencechronicle.in/2025/07/11/25-papers-of-a-chennai-based-researcher-retracted-for-image-duplication-manipulation/  last accessed on 6/8/2025

5.    https://retractionwatch.com/2025/02/10/as-springer-nature-journal-clears-ai-papers-one-universitys-retractions-rise-drastically/  last accessed on 6/8/2025

6.    https://sciencechronicle.in/2025/07/23/iit-dhanbad-researcher-with-34-retractions-gets-promoted-as-associate-professor/  last accessed on 6/8/2025

7.    https://www.thehindu.com/education/ugc-care-list-scrapped-a-move-towards-autonomy-or-a-risky-gamble/article69210502.ece  last accessed on 6/8/2025

Science Haiku

 

2025

Hunger, hunger where you are?

9 billion people, food are scarce.

 

2050

Malthus said All will starve and die

GMOs say all 12 billion are fed with spirits high.

 

2025

Lights are on with incandescent bulbs and electron

LEDs, CFLs and solar panel shine on.

 

2050

GM Plants with GFP and Luciferin are born

Bioluminescence will turn the lights On.

 

2025

Cancer with no answer

Has Small molecules and Monoclonals

 

2050

Cancer has an answer

With Magnets and Laser.

 

2025

High Sugar and diabetes On

Control with semaglutide on.

2050

High Sugar and diabetes On

Show a laser on pancreas and its gone.

 

2025

Genes and Alleles had their time

With recombinant DNA and all

 

2050

Histone Acetylation and DNA Methylation

Will turn the Epigenetics ON.

Asia's contribution to Quantum Mechanics on its centenary

I read with great interest the editorial (1) and essay (2) on celebration of the centenary of quantum mechanics. I was particularly happy about the mention of Lucy Mensing, a woman scientist who contributed to quantum mechanics.

However the focus on the development of the subject of quantum mechanics was shown to be mainly Euro Centric. Though it is true and many American scientists like Oppenheimer indeed congregated in Europe to study the new science of quantum mechanics, there were two major centres outside Europe which played a crucial role in the development of the theory of Quantum Mechanics. Self-taught Physicists from Calcutta, India and Osaka, Japan, independent of the European stalwarts developed theories in Quantum Mechanics which became part of the subject matter and its history. For example, Satyendra Nath Bose trained in Calcutta University and while working as a young professor in Dacca, now called Dhaka, developed Bose - Einstein Statistics (3). This statistical model had a far reaching impact in categorising sub atomic particles as Bosons and in Bose Einstein Condensate research. Though many Nobel laureates owe their award to Bose Einstein Condensate and Bosons, S.N.Bose himself never got a Nobel. Also, trained in Cambridge, another Indian nuclear physicist, Homi J Bhabha used quantum mechanics to explain the cascade showers in cosmic rays. 

Similarly, Hideki Yukawa of Osaka University combined quantum mechanics with nuclear forces to predict Meson, a subatomic particle. Yukawa Potential results from an analogy of quantum field theory.  When Mu Meson and Pi Meson were proved to exist by experimental physicists in 1936 and in 1947, Yukawa was awarded a Nobel prize in 1949 (4). Bhabha and Yukawa attended the immensely eminent Solvay Conference of Physics with master proponents of Quantum Mechanics.

So, it appears that outside Europe there were Asian centres of excellence where quantum mechanics theory was developed without training from Europe. Very often, these Asian masters are overlooked however it must not be forgotten that S.N.Bose and Yukawa were homegrown talents who played a crucial role in the development of quantum mechanics in the very beginning. Both of them later on went to Europe and the USA for further work; however their formative years when they formulated their contributions were totally independent of the then European stalwarts.

 

References :

1.     Quantum mechanics 100 years on: an unfinished revolution. Nature 637, 251-252 (2025)

2.     Kristian Camilieri. (2025) How quantum mechanics emerged in a few revolutionary months 100 years ago. Nature 637, 269-271 (2025)

3.     Sahana Ghosh (2024) As the world looks for quantum solutions, Bose statistics turns 100 https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-024-00018-6

4.     https://www-yukawa.phys.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/university

 

Need for more Psychological Counsellors and First aid in mental disease

 The way we are behaving is increasing the rate of mental illness day by day. The stress, the relationship issues, the constant hook up and break up culture, financial distress all are adding up to our constant misery. Modern life is no longer easy. We pay the price of living by depression and anxiety. 

India has now >15% population suffering from mental illness. However help is scanty with less doctors and counsellors available mostly in urban set up. I feel, instead of making too many engineers ( IT Jobs are the most attractive) we have to start making more psychiatrist and counsellors. The days are coming where common mental disorders like depression and anxiety will become as regular as Common Cold. There is so much to tell but nobody to listen. Tele counseling services are overflooded with suicidal calls. In India where mobile internet penetration is very high we should now add more tele counselors to save the distressed souls. Already like weight reduction apps India started Tele Manas, Mindpeers, Rocket Health etc for Counseling. Tele Manas the GOI initiative is spreading its network to different states in India.

https://telemanas.mohfw.gov.in/home

Click to get help

If you can pay by GPay and Phone Pe then you should be able to unburden your chest by a phone call. IT jobs are always popular, but next big lucrative jobs will be in Psychological health ( Mental Health Care). With every passing year, being a teacher I see many students crying for help. Since I am safe, non judgmental and highly approachable, most students favor to call upon me; however I am ill equipped to treat them. Hence I channelize them to campus doctor and counselors. 

We are short of mental health care staff in our country and it is urgent that many more personnel should be trained in counseling and psychiatry. Next big lucrative career will be Psychology professionals because robots and AI cannot touch the soul of a human being. Common mental disorders will be the next pandemic unseen but known to all and with no help nearby the patients will feel helpless, frustrated. Even if they forget the stigma there will be no one to approach because of shortage of trained mental health care professionals.

In this regard I suggest a book " Where there is no Psychiatrist" by Dr Vikram Patel which can be a First aid for mental health. The link is given, free to download.

https://asksource.info/pdf/30256_wherethereisnopsych_ch1_2003.pdf

I also think it is time to increase enrolling of psychological counselors.

Hope is eternal and things will change.

Women Safety and Men’s Upbringing in West Bengal

Recent rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata has raised nation wide alarm just like Nirbhaya rape case did in 2012. It is evident even after the Nirbhaya case perpetrators were hanged there is no deterrence in rape crime. There is no doubt the issue of women’s safety bugs the nation. Kolkata with its prominence in social reforms, culture and intellect has failed to make it safe for its women. Kolkata women are educated and progressive in nature. Bengali women have joined workforce since long. Widow remarriage is nothing new in this part of the country and it is said Women are Stree Shakti and the people here pray to goddesses every year with such pomp and glory. However the same feeling of respecting women is not reflected on the streets. The shocking incident of RG Kar is a testimony of what is wrong regarding women safety. 

 There are protests being organized, social media is flooded with anger and memes to create awareness against hate crime against women, but the authors feel this armchair protest and keyboard warriors achieve nothing to curb the crime. The current author has left Kolkata in 2005 and stayed in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Guwahati for last 19 years. His maximum time was spent in Mumbai (10 years), Pune (5 years), Guwahati (2 years). Snob high nosed Bengalis from Kolkata had always jeered “Non Bengalis” and passed snide remarks about their culture. However I saw no eve teasing and roadside Romeos in Mumbai, Pune or Guwahati for last so many years. Kolkata and Bengal is still a hotbed of eve teasing. There is a strong undercurrent of dowry, domestic violence, eve teasing and lack of support for working women beneath surface veneer of cultural sophistication in Bengal. Many Bengali women are still trying to break the glass ceiling. However, the so called “Uncultured” states of India according to Bengali genteel bhadralok, do not exhibit eve teasing culture. Mumbai, Pune and Guwahati are safe for women according to me. In Mumbai, at midnight female passenger is safe in a local train. At any time of the day Mumbai is safe for women. I have stayed for a pretty long time in Powai, Navi Mumbai and taught in Xavier’s Mumbai. I never seen fear in the faces of my girl students in Pune, Mumbai or Guwahati. In Pune I had stayed in Viman Nagar and Lohegaon without seeing any eve teasing cases. In Guwahati I never see boys in groups teasing women and passing lewd comments, however in Bengal it is still the case. “Rokbaji” they say is rampant in Kolkata. Groups of young men with teacups and cigarettes in hand are seen to tease any passing girl. In localities or “Para” as they say boys find vicarious pleasure in making lewd comments, ogling, jeering and teasing women. In the lanes and bylanes of Kolkata eve teasing is a common pastime of young men. Staring is not an offence. These are the same boys who join plum IT jobs out of Kolkata and want submissive women to marry them and take care of their domestic work. Boys are not trained from young age to take care of their daily household chores. Most of the Bengali educated families train their boys to excel in study and get plum jobs. They are all dubbed as “Brilliant” “Gem” “Studious” and then they behave as entitled men bossing over their women. Most of them marry not for a loving partner but for someone who will settle in happy domesticity and take care of their “Sansar”. I have seen many of these bachelors accommodation in Mumbai and Pune and I dub them as Pigsty. Only a marriage rescues these high earning bachelors from unkempt household and brings some order. 

 Reams have been written on how to train our men so that rape crime is prevented but nobody talks about the actual methods to train these boys. The actual education comes from the household where parents teach the equality concept and no gender bias to their boys. From the dining table they learn girls have equal share of nutrition. Many mothers try to feed their boys with bigger pieces of fish and chicken than their girls. From the kitchen the boys must learn how to cook and clean as a basic survival skill not to think this is a woman’s job. They must learn how to iron clothes, keep their room tidy and belongings neat. They must understand they can also make a cup of tea when their working wives come home and do the laundry. They can also participate in their child’s school education, most of the mothers actually take care of school level education in India. It is time fathers learn how to educate their child at home and prepare them for school. Going to “Bajaar” should not be the only prerogative of these entitled males, they have to bring in participation in domestic chores. When a parent decides to allocate funds for future education for both boys and girls should be equally dealt with. It should never be like saving for daughter’s marriage and son’s education whereas a daughter’s education takes backseat. The concept of bias free upbringing begins from ancestors. If the fathers stops getting privileges like not cooking, cleaning ; continues watching TV reading newspapers and ordering tea and coffee then the boys will learn how domestic chores are not priority of a woman. The recent rape case may have different cause, there may be ugly details getting unearthed but overall, I feel respecting women begins at home and the society. It is high time our boys learn and the parents advice accordingly.

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 Author Dr Biswa Prasun Chatterji, PhD (IIT Bombay) Professor, Faculty of Science Assam down town University