Stem Academia - Blog Posts

My plan to digitalize my notes on my iPad didn't happen today, since the Apple Pencil I bought on eBay is not working at all. Like -this thing is clinically dead. Also I had to move to the living room, since my boyfriend typing on his keyboard is currently the most annoying sound in the world to me. Needless to say, I didn't start my study session in a good mood.

But: I did what any sane person would do and made myself a macchiato and a bowl filled with sweets.

It's a beautiful day outside and I already feel a bit better, now that I've actually started.

Productivity Day #1

Yesterday I went to a cafe and got a little bit of calculus done 🤭. Definitely behind in the course material but I’m proud of myself for putting in the effort. Also super happy I journaled a bit since it’s been months!

2h of calculus

10 pages of Braiding Sweetgrass

2 cups of tea

Hi! I’m Mel, and this blog a project of mine I’ve been thinking about for a while. This is basically a digital archive for all my science thoughts- anything that I feel deserves more attention, published research, or just things I find really cool! Keep in mind that I’m a minor (17 years old) and I’ll be using the block button liberally if I feel uncomfortable 🪐💫

divider by @ianrkives

Nothing is perfect BUT as long as there’s my glasses in every shot it’ll be fine.

The synopsis looked good

the cover looked nice,

You opened the book,

and began a new life.

You found a new home,

you met new friends,

You kept on reading,

hoping it would never end.

You danced through the pages,

you sang out the beautiful words,

You felt all their joy,

all their pain and hurt.

The pages cut your fingers,

the words cut your heart,

Like the author had a knife,

and was tearing your soul apart.

You laughed with the characters,

and with them you cried,

You fell in love with them too,

but with them you died.

A catch in your breath,

as the climax grows near,

You become deaf to the world,

the book's all you can hear.

You're completely lost now,

Or perhaps, you are found

In this strange paper world,

that's far from the ground.

When the book reached it's end,

and your broken heart couldn't heal,

you just suddenly realised that,

all this was not real.

This is what it is like reading a book.

Your world becomes an interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, thoughts and images altogether. Paper and ink. Black and white.

- by Shweta Amirapu

i don't want to be smart, i want to be brilliant

Some dark academia things

textbooks filled with highlighted texts, doodles, annotations and coffee/tea stains from late night study sessions

dry roses on your desks, bookshelves and in random books which you open and discover several pressed flowers

using old cracked teacups as candle stick holders

textbooks being the only books you're not afraid to dogear

dozens of messy to-do lists, scratching the finished tasks and choosing to ignore the remaining ones because you're too busy celebrating your accomplishments

panic because you still have to do the remaining ones

finally taking a breath cuz ur to do list is completely scratched out and you can sleep peacefully

nvm you stayed up all night reading

You know what. I’m starting a new aesthetic, population me.

Romantic Science, AKA Dark Academia for STEM people.

Thrifting a lab coat and embroidering it with your initials and a little insignia, whose significance is known to you and your lab partner only

Watching The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game and Hidden Figures and basically every movie about historical scientists and mathematicians you can find

Decorating your desk with old slide rules and vintage lab equipment. Your prize possession is a set of vintage lenses you found at a thrift store

Wanting an articulated human skeleton far, far too much

Getting a set of (brand new, NOT thrifted, be safe ppl) beakers to drink from, and putting them directly onto your stovetop to boil water for tea or coffee, because borosilicate glass can survive anything.

Secretly relating far too much to Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein, because you too want to do a gay little science experiment that challenges god.

Thunderstorms and late nights in the lab, the light of the Bunsen burner glistening off of your flasks and scribbled chalkboard equations

Papering your walls with vintage scientific diagrams; even if you know that our understanding of the world has evolved since they were made, looking back at scientific history is amazing

Writing code late at night and feeling, in some metaphysical way, as though Ada Lovelace herself is with you in spirit

Being far, FAR too obsessed with the concept of emergent ai sentience and how it has the potential to be Frankenstein irl

Looking through a telescope on clear nights, whispering the names of the constellations and stars, painting a star chart on your ceiling in a burst of creative inspiration

Collecting and mounting samples from everywhere you can think of to pore over in an antique microscope

Bringing a field journal wherever you go, learning how to draw and label botanical samples, preserving plants and flowers for study later

Dreaming of what undiscovered mysteries lie in the deepest depths of the sea, feeling the thrill of discovery whenever you learn about a new species and one day hoping to discover one yourself

Just. Romanticise STEM.

Manifesting and Working hard towards THIS🤞🤞

I started out this academic session with lot of determination but it all faded because of distractions so I am hoping to focus on discipline .......and tbh I would give this credit to my new friend who is so smart( and sweet also) but like very smart....looking at her...she inspires me to start studying and be smart as well....so thank you new friend for rekindling my flame of wanting to be an academic weapon.

And ofc I'll keep you all updated :)

DATE : 13-3-25

Aim: IIT Bombay,CS

5/100 So I didn't post anything for the last two days cuz I was exhausted. But anyways yesterday was my last exam and yesterday I also went to my coaching so it was a hectic day. Now even though my school exams are over, I still have my coaching's reshuffling test to worry about and I really need to study properly or else I'll remain behind. I have 11 more days. and it's not even full uninterrupted 11days, no, Holi is day after tomorrow. I have school and coaching both in between and and I have just started with the syllabus, I have to cover everything from scratch cuz I wasted most of my 11th but it changes now. Anyways enough of my ramblings. hours studied on ypt today:

It's easier for my parents to say, speak up more in class, ask more, stop acting dumb but it's just sad that they never thought why I have turned into a very quiet person when once I was known as a chatterbox..... as a kid during PTM, the teacher used to complain that I talk too much but now my teachers say that I don't talk at all. It's sad that my parents never questioned me on this 180 change in behavior

Its 12:55am and I'll study as if my exam is tomorrow...I'll update you on how it goes

honestly, I think all I needed was for my bestfriend to come and scold me and then help me to make a plan to reach my goals...

I just studied for 1 hr today.....my day was wasted 💔

Today was my result day and I got 64%....never in my entire life have I gotten less than 90. But this year I was just plain arrogant , I wanted to get good marks by just studying on the last days and I was getting annoyed that it wasn't working in class 11 because for the previous years it was working out. So in the end I actually failed physics and gave retest for it and barely passed. My parents expressed their disappointment and honestly I'm dissapointed in myself too.....but I FAILED PHYSICS THEN WHY ARE THEY TELLING ME TO GET MATHS TUTION? I mean Ik my maths werent that good but I failed physics not maths besides out of PCM my highest was in maths.........................but idk how to speak about this to my papa

Give up your bad habits and do atleast one thing better than yesterday, improve yourself day by day, don’t ponder much on people’s thought and comments they don’t even know the tip of your inner self. They might know some sides which your parents don’t but realize that they still don’t really know who you actually are, so their judgements are not applicable to you. Just go and become better than yesterday,, DO better than yesterday. This is YOUR success, No one, not even your parents will care that much, You have to take care and pain for your success, No one will give a shit. It is your life, Your goals are something no one would understand not even your parents, your definition of success is different than everybody’s so take care, take pain

I need to study because I want to get in the best college/ university so that I can get good placement and starting package can be good also to have sophisticated and quality education compared to the rest of the people. I really want to be the girl who would make it above average. I want to be that girl who is disgustingly overeducated so that the second anyone has a question I am the first person they turn to and I am able to answer that question surely without a doubt on myself or my answer. I want to be appreciated and known for my knowledge because that is also the one thing that no one could ever take from me. tbh i just want to be that person which other parents use an example infront of their kids.(I swear this is the Indian in me)

I just had my retest today and I would like to thank God , because I passed my retest. Thank you so much god for listening to me. I promise this session I am gonna aim for 96%. I am going to study consistently everyday. I am going to prove it to myself that I can do it. All the mistakes I made in 11th, I'm gonna correct them now. I would just like to retell myself that it's never too late to correct your mistakes or it's ever too late to start studying. You can do it. All the best

(And yes, I'll keep updating..)

I don't want to be a burden to my parents, I really really want to be their pride. The one who fulfills my and their dreams. I want to be a role model for my small brother so that no matter what he has me as the safety net. But here I am, I failed my exam, it's a first and I'm not even studying properly ,the exam is in 2 days and I am just so horrible. I couldn't even keep the promise I made to myself. What if everything turns out so bad that I can't even trust myself?

I started a productivity challenge for myself a few days ago....I was barely conpleting it. Only able to tick off 1 item off my to do list. I was still procrastinating watching tv shows, reading fanfictions, daydreaming. I still started this challenge of productivity, I was falsely trying to convince myself that I'll make it, that atleast I started with baby steps such as thinking about this, then posting the first 3 days of it on tumblr. But the real reason that I did this was because I was afraid I was gonna fail my physics exam. This was the fear inside me that I was trying to hide from myself and the people around me. And that is exactly what happened to me, I failed my physics exam and you wanna know the worst part? I kind of don't really care. And my parents didn't care either. Not in the way that you're thinking but last year in 10th grade, I was always being pushed to do best and my mom did so much for me, she used to teach me but since 11th I've heard it from so many people that 11th goes bad for every pcm kid and everyone suffers a downfall from 10th to 11th. But I literally failed. I went from getting atleast 95% to not even passing. That's how low I have fallen and i haven't cried yet. I feel like since I've been exposed to too many people saying that bad grades are literally a cannon event in 11th, I've grown numb to getting low score. Even though I'm realising this and writing it out, I'm still not feeling the sadness and the determination I know I would have felt in 10th and this is so sad. It is so disheartening. And tbh I'm clueless on how to study now. I have 2 days for the retest. A part of me is still sad about the indifference and the lack of emotion I'm showing regarding this.

DATE : 10-3-25

Aim: IIT Bombay,CS

2/100

I started my day with watching my fav series for like 4 hours straight after that I had my lunch and then I got to work. I completed 1 whole chapter of maths.

5hr 3min on ypt

DATE: 9-3-25

Aim:IIT BOMBAY,CS

1/100

I mostly did physics and a little bit of chemistry.I'm glad I've made the first baby step.

4:32 min on ypt

National Technology Day - 11th May 2025 Tech Tok: The Short Attention Span

Instagram: ABC just sent you a reel. Instagram: XYZ just made a post. Snapchat: DSH sent a snap. Do you also see similar notifications pop up on your screen right after you keep your phone aside after hours of doom scrolling? And what do you do? Subconsciously pick up that phone again, reply and get lost in the world of videos and content again! If you think I spied on you, nah. Most of us are on the same boat, credits to the new favourite on the internet, the short-form content. What probably began as TikTok went ahead with Instagram Reels and Youtube shorts, and now, this short-form content greets us good morning before the people around us do. Constant notifications throughout the day disturb our focus and multitasking while watching these videos ruins the concentration of an individual. Though these videos cover more information in less time and are efficient, they affect the human brain and can be dangerous in the longer run. This micro habit develops overtime and subconsciously, we tend to check our phone in void times, as our brain is addicted that it unknowingly switches from one app to another where you spend hours endlessly scrolling videos and double tapping them to like. The human brain is tricked by features like infinite scroll and auto play, making the user spend more and more time on videos. These videos are smartly shot and scripted to grab the attention of the user in the least amount of time and keep them engaged with hooks or infinite loops, smooth transitions etc. Your social media feeds are tailored according to your interests with the help of cookies, and exploring videos on social media platforms is so easy that all you need to do is scroll to move to the next video. Does short form content have a bright side? Oh, yes. Educational videos have been able to perform well, with the aim to share maximum information in the least amount of time. But, not this doesn’t serve as the most efficient method. There is a difference between learning the information and consuming it. Educational reels do not serve their purpose unless the students are able to learn something rather than just watching it for fun. Though we’re advancing in the field of technology and finding new ways to reduce human work, somewhere in the background, these technological advancements are decreasing human efficiency. Our attention span has decreased over time and the ones who once watched a movie for 3 hours or had study sessions for long hours are now easily distracted within an hour. Learning through short form content is superficial and often lacks the core concepts and understanding, as perfection takes time and is not something that can be covered in less than a couple of minutes. Hours and hours of aimless scrolling through social media increases our mental fatigue and decreases our capacity to think critically. Though technology is a historical invention, it is our responsibility that we don’t get lost in the sea of reels and shorts!

Green Synthesis

Green is a word we have always associated with sustainability, and Synthesis, in chemistry, is the process of forming a product by initiating a chemical reaction. Green synthesis is an eco-friendly approach to making chemical compounds using natural, non-toxic materials like plant extracts, water, or enzymes. It avoids harmful chemicals and harsh conditions, making the process safer for both humans and the environment. This method is widely used in fields like medicine, agriculture, and materials science, promoting sustainability and reducing pollution.

So, here's a simple metaphor. We're all familiar with the ways of gardening. Green synthesis is like gardening with compost instead of chemical fertilisers. Just as we use kitchen scraps and leaves to enrich the soil naturally, green synthesis uses plant-based materials or safe, natural methods to create chemicals without harming the environment. It nurtures progress while respecting nature, growing useful compounds the way a plant grows—with patience, balance, and care. This method avoids toxic shortcuts and instead works in harmony with the Earth, proving that chemistry, like gardening, can flourish sustainably when we choose to work with nature instead of against it.

Entropy and Monday Mornings

It’s a Monday morning. You reach work to find 25 unread emails, a messy house, 5 essays due, a broken coffee machine, and you’re not sure if you locked your door on the way here. And it doesn’t end there. There’s more work piling up! When there’s chaos all around us, it is only natural to feel overwhelmed. What if I tell you, every object (yes, the non-living ones) experiences this too! 

Only at a very atomic level. Each task in our mind is a microstate, a unique arrangement of thoughts at that point of time. The greater the microstates, the greater the number of tasks, the greater the chaos. Chemistry defines a microstate as an instantaneous arrangement of atoms or molecules in a system. And just as our task list increases, the chaos increases. Similarly, for a system, as the number of microstates increases, the entropy increases. Entropy is the measure of disorder or randomness or the possible number of microstates a system can have. It’s just chaos, where lower entropy means greater order and less chaos(Friday Nights), and higher entropy means more disorder and more microstates(Monday mornings).

Entropy tends to rise with time in an isolated system, such as an overloaded brain on a Monday. This implies that things naturally transition from order to disorder in the absence of outside input. Now, imagine some Lo-fi music playing in your headset as you work through the e-mails, sipping on the perfect coffee that you ordered, powering through your day. Maybe you even wrote a to-do list, helping you stay organised. Doesn’t seem so bad when an external effort is made. Similarly, in isolated systems, entropy usually tends to increase over time, meaning things usually go from a state of orderliness to disorderliness unless an external energy is put in to maintain structure.

S = k. ln(W)

Mathematically, the Entropy (S) of any isolated system can be measured by multiplying the Boltzmann constant (k) by the natural logarithm of the number of microstates it possesses (lnW). Entropy isn’t a bad thing—it’s just a natural tendency of systems to become more disordered over time, unless energy is added to maintain order. In your case, a little bit of organisation (external energy) can help you manage the entropy in your Monday morning.

To Science is to innovate.

To Science is to inspire.

To Science is to develop.

While science seeks the truth, leadership converts that truth into action. The role of a leader in science would be that of a catalyst, accelerating the process of bringing together theoretical ideas and practical reality.

Science cultivates essential skills like analytical thinking, problem solving and creativity - traits that shape individuals and the world around them.

But what is leadership in science?

At its roots, it begins with teachers — the school faculty who ignite curiosity and instil scientific thinking in young minds. They lay the foundation for all future innovation.

At a community level, leadership is manifested in colleges, innovation hubs, policy making bodies that work relentlessly on bridging the gap between talent and opportunity. They work on empowering the students to share, refine and realise their ideas.

At the national and international levels, we see leaders like Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Benjamin Franklin — figures who have left their mark in both science and governance. They not only lead by example but also uplift and inspire the public, proving that science and leadership together have the power to shape history.

So, no. Leadership in science is not merely about holding a powerful position while carrying a science degree. It is about innovating - and using that innovation for the greater good. For the self. For society.

Alchemy

Where the glow of the burners set and the vapors rise, Chasing the silver of moonlit skies. The alchemy flows in the chemist's hands, An elite crafter from the marble stands.

Colors of twilight glow and Jasmine's breath, How love has brought about death. With chemicals pumping in my veins And a soul scarred with chemical stains

The echoes of silent screams filled the room, An obsession leading to doom. A pulse now beating in the molecules, a breath of a bond unbroken, In chemistry's embrace, a soul had last spoken.

woaaahhhh sig figs

I SWEAR IT WAS WORKING FIVE SECONDS AGO AAA