The Modern Fable

Cells move around the body using cellular extensions of the plasma membrane like cilia and flagellum. They take the help of fibres outside the cell to provide anchorage. These extensions are made of microtubules, sliding against each other to produce a back and forth motion. These microtubules are a part of the cytoskeleton which will be discussed shortly. Within the cells, motor proteins attach to the receptors on organelles and use their ‘feet’ to ‘walk’ them along the fibers of cytoskeleton to their required location. Source: Campbell Biology, 12th edition  These motor proteins consume ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is the source of energy at the cellular level. It is the energy currency of the cell as it provides readily releasable energy due to breaking of bonds between second and third phosphate groups. Now that we have understood the mechanism for cell locomotion, let’s understand more about the cytoskeleton and how its elements aid in the process. Exis...

Purposeful travel It’s not the destination, but the journey that counts .   //This speech example was given an Excellent grade in high school. When I was kindly awarded the opportunity to orate a speech about purposeful travel, my mind wandered to mull over memories wrapped around planned expeditions. For many, travel is a means to escape the mundane realities of daily routine. Instead of a voyage, travel becomes a snatch of retreat. For such people, travel appears as a breath of fresh air out of the staleness of myriad responsibilities imposed upon them and they desperately grab the opportunity, only to retreat into the comfort of a hotel room. The truth is that people with such an outlook are fleeing, not travelling. While I strongly stand beside the proverb, “Variety is the spice of life”, I feel that many people ignore the benefits that comes with planned educational trips, for fear that it may be unstimulating and boring. They could not be more wrong. They are ...

My journey  I applied for The Knowledge Society in February 2022. Initially, I had opened an application but then decided not to go for it, thinking that I wasn't smart enough to get in. Mia Nguyễn was my application advisor who mailed me about my incomplete application, asking me if there was anything I needed help with. There were few interview slots remaining and she asked if they should close my application. I opened her mail and began typing an apology letter, telling her that I would not be applying. As I finished the letter, my finger hovered over the send button. I sighed, selected my mail and pressed backspace. What was the harm in trying? I typed out a quick message, asking her to hold my slot. I opened MS Word and started on the essays I needed and stayed up all night, only to submit them a few hours before the deadline.  In late April, I was accepted into the 10 month Global Virtual Program as a TKS Innovator with considerable financial aid. Unfortunately, my finan...

  The Knowledge Society is a 10-month global innovation program for ambitious high school students. Students age 13-17 apply and interview before joining and attending weekly sessions. It aims to train the next generation of innovators, scientists, and entrepreneurs who want to solve the world's biggest problems. In this article, I summarize tips for making the NN Full Ride Scholarship Project but these pointers can be applied to any part of the application process.  1. Do pay attention to the examples TKS gives of their successful candidates. That helped me more than anything. While you refer to them, get an idea of how they approached the project rather than trying to imitate their project. That will take away your originality. 2. Try to narrow down the fields you are interested in and find its intersection with technology. For example, I was interested in art and design so I made an algorithm that produces its own images. 3. Now that you have narrowed down your field, use ...

 //This post was a part of my 2022 Application for  The Knowledge Society  for its Global Virtual Program   Why do you want to be in TKS? I want to interact with people who are directing their actions towards solving problems and coming up with solutions. It is important for me to be surrounded with people who have a similar mindset because growing up in a lower middle class family, it was expected from me to accept the financial problems that my family had to face with my father being unemployed a majority of my childhood. To not let despair creep in, I turned my mind away from such distressing situations in which I felt helpless, to devote myself to my school curriculum. Though it helped me to work rigorously for academic growth, I had developed the habit of living in denial whenever a problem cropped up that was not related to my academics, a problem that could not be solved through submitting a paper.  I had labelled my role in society strictly as a stu...

  //This post was a part of my 2022 Application for  The Knowledge Society  for its Global Virtual Program   Teach us about a topic you are interested in. Machine Learning involves computer algorithms that learn by experience, forming patterns from a given set of data to determine possible causes that have led to the current situation. Neural networks come under a subset of Machine Learning which is itself a part of the field Artificial intelligence. Artificial Neural Networks aim to stimulate the working of the biological mind. The algorithms begin to find patterns from a given set of data much like the countless deliberations we are required to do before making a relatively simple decision. (Should I drink Coffee at 9 in the night or go with a decaf?). We mull over seemingly unrelated clauses which could be affecting our decision (a friend who is addicted to caffeine) and recount past experiences (the time when I tossed and turned the whole night) and predict...

 //This post was a part of my 2022 Application for  The Knowledge Society for its Global Virtual Program  Who inspires you the most? I first heard of Elon Musk when I heard that he had become the richest person in the world. Though it was quite an achievement, it did not inspire me enough to regard him as my role model. As I started to know more about him through the internet, what got me hooked was that he built SpaceX because he felt that humanity should be an interplanetary species. He had grown up reading science fiction comics and novels that stressed that it was one’s duty to save the world. It was a childish notion yet backed by logic and determination, he has turned it into a reality.  I realized that my childhood hobby of recycling paper to make papier-mâché dolls was perhaps not so amateurish. I could bring my creative talent to turn waste into something beautiful. It could be my contribution to reduce piling waste and undo the damages of climate change. E...