Random Curiosities Blog

. Our new publication [ 1 ] just got accepted recently. The paper deals with the statistical distributions of the measures of spatial spreading of roads and building over the urban zone. I am very happy for my team, composed of Camille, Ardie, and Michelle, for this has been the culmination of year of their undergrad work. 😊 In this post, I would like to go back to the series of decisions that led me to do work on urban zones. I will also discuss some insights about our primary data set, which is the capital region of our country.  A view from the east of the Metro Manila region. Working on something new. In 2014, after my postdoc, I rejoined my former university and started my research group on complex systems. Back then, my main concern was in the discrete models of complex behavior, with particular application to natural hazards, which are large-scale nonlinear events in nature.  Going back to the Philippines, where studies on complex systems was (and still is) a relative...

.  Okay, so I admit that the title of my blog is a feeble attempt at making something that makes sense out of my initials. R andom C uriosities B log. Even I find it lame sometimes. 😜 But as a scientist, I am also well aware of the fact that my entire field (in fact, it can be argued that the entire collection of all human knowledge and all systematic human endeavors) originated from random curiosities.  We often use the question Why is the sky blue? (which, presumably, is one question that kids like to ask, but which I also find surprisingly unanswered or, worse, wrongly answered, based on the responses of my now-adult students 😐) to illustrate our natural curiosity about things around us. If you think about it, there is no practical benefit that will be gained from knowing the answer to that question. Humans can still live and go about their lives without really understanding the source of the sky's bluish hue. Other animals have z-e-r-o idea and z-e-r-o motivation to eve...

I am Dr. Rene C. Batac. I am currently an Assistant Professor from the Physics Department, College of Science, De La Salle University - Manila.  That is how I usually introduce myself. In cover letters for research works, formal emails to colleagues I have yet to meet, even in reference letters for students. I know. Plain and boring for a blog post. Probably not the best way to start.  Or, more accurately, to start over . Again. I have been blogging since 2006, and I have created blogs more than my fingers (and toes) could count. It started with my Filipino blog , channeling my rebellious and emo side (don't blame me; I was doing my undergraduate thesis and was heartbroken at the time 😅). It later on evolved into a record of random observations with simple life lessons, with the posts generally reflecting my current state of mind and heart at the time of their writing. Needless to say, I would write sporadically , sometimes just blogging for the sake of having an entry for an...