States of matter

This is a written version of a popular science talk for school children given on India's National Science Day 2009 at Mumbai. I discuss what distinguishes solids, liquids and gases from each other. I discuss briefly granular matter that in some ways behave like solids, and in other ways like liquids.Comment: 5 pages, eps figures, written version of a public lecture given at Mumbai on Feb 28, 200

Superconducting and Anti-Ferromagnetic Phases of Spacetime

A correspondence between the $SO(5)$ theory of High-T${}_C$ superconductivity and antiferromagnetism, put forward by Zhang and collaborators, and a theory of gravity arising from symmetry breaking of a $SO(5)$ gauge field is presented. A physical correspondence between the order parameters of the unified SC/AF theory and the generators of the gravitational gauge connection is conjectured. A preliminary identification of regions of geometry, in solutions of Einstein's equations describing charged-rotating black holes embedded in deSitter spacetime, with SC and AF phases is carried out.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, shortened for journal submission, comments welcome :

Book Review: Hindu Wisdom for all God\u27s Children

A review of Hindu Wisdom for all God\u27s Children by Francis X. Clooney