IQ Labs

Fadil Iqbal

Ayubowan! Fadil here :D Welcome to the IQ Labs Podcast! You can find all the Science Talks and some of Research Advice episodes here. All the videos of these episodes can be found on the IQ Labs YouTube Channel. My Channel playlist makes things more organized.

  1. 12/05/2025

    වැටිලා ඉන්න වේලාවක ආපහු නැගිටින්න, ඉස්ලාමීය ඉගැන්වීම් Sheikh Nasik Farook

    Mental health, suicidal thoughts, depression can occur to anyone. How can we build mental resilience to the point where we see our problems in a positive lens? Muslims across the world and in Sri Lanka have one of the lowest suicide rates (N. Thalagaha et al). What makes their worldview different from others? How do they process things when adversity strikes? In this podcast I invited Sheikh Nasik Farook to talk on this. In this episode we will dive into the Islamic worldview, practical teachings for anyone to do that enhances mental resilience.    Nasik Farook holds a BA in Arabic Literature and Arabic Language from the Islamic University of Madina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He recently completed his MA in Pali and Buddhist studies from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Many thanks to Jayashan Bandara for hosting the discussion and preparing questions.    Nasik Farook is an experienced Islamic educator and language teacher since 2015, with expertise in teaching Islam and Qur'an to new converts, and instructing Arabic and Sinhala languages. He is skilled in Quran translation and creating educational content to promote cultural understanding. He is committed to supporting diverse learners and fostering cross-cultural communication. Nasik’s YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@nasikfarookofficial   Reference: SUICIDE TRENDS IN SRI LANKA 1880- 2006; SOCIAL, DEMOGRAPHIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS  N Thalagala   Time-stamps 00:00 About podcast 01:13 About Sheikh Nasik Farook 06:51 Learn from each other 07:38 No clergy in Islam 09:13 About Jayashan 12:25 The Islamic world view  23:16 Life is test 25:21 Try your best – but Allah decides the result  29:05 Exam stress  35:32 There is good in failure 36:58 Death of a child    39:19 Life after death  40:22 Muslims have lowest Suicide rates  41:18 We all have the same problems 42:01 Raising children 43:17 Divorce  44:04 All matters are good  45:24 Everyone has problems  45:51 Problem: We are living for others  48:35 Intention behind actions 51:18 Charities are done Anonymous  52:14 Don’t seek praise from others  55:00 Ego is the enemy  56:31 Not sleeping on time 1:00:38 Waking up early 1:01:43 Start from a young age 1:05:25 Friday afternoon prayers  1:06:24 Identity plays a role in habits  1:08:55 Mindfulness – look at nature   1:13:54 daily prayers & fasting  1:17:25 Step by step 1:18:13 Small changes – make a big difference 1:20:46 Thank the people  1:22:51 Values come first 1:25:52 Be the first to greet others 1:27:17 How to be consistent 1:32:47 Addictions – drugs and pornography  1:41:01 Natural feelings are abused 1:44:38 Buddhist meditation techniques 1:48:03 Rat race and children 1:51:59 With hardship comes ease 1:54:05 We need to be better parents 1:56:19 Be content with what you have  1:59:56 Compare yourself others who have less 2:03:49 Prophet’s advice to a person who wanted to commit adultery

    2h 7m
  2. 11/27/2025

    Electro Ceramics, අනාගතයේ බැටරි සහ බලශක්ති අර්බුදයට විසදුම් Power Storage - Dr. Chandima Pradeep

    Dr. Chandima Pradeep is a Ceramic Processing Engineer working with electro ceramics for Fuel cell & Electrolysis cells, Piezoelectric transducers, solid batteries. He is currently working at Technical University of Denmark (DTU). In this episode we will talk about future of batteries and energy storage technologies. Dr. Pradeep did his Bachelors from University of Colombo (UoC), then he did a MSc in Analytical Chemistry from UOC. While in Sri Lanka, he worked at HayCarb, PLC. In year 2013 he went to Japan to pursue his PhD from Kochi University of Technology under the mentorship of Prof Kazuya Kobiro. The focus of his PhD was synthesis of metal oxide materials using supercritical fluids. After the PhD, he did his first postdoc on thin film electronics with Prof. Toshiyuki Kawaharamua. Then worked in Faculty of Technology, University of Ruhuna in 2018-19 as a senior lecturer and also as the Head of Department of Biosystems technology, before coming to Denmark to do his second postdoc in supercritical hydrothermal synthesis. From 2023 to date, he is working as a ceramic processing engineer and ceramic lab manager at DTU Energy.     Key words: green hydrogen, Power to X, and Ceramics   00:00 Childhood motivation 02:46 Why Chemistry? 04:32 About Ceramic Engineering 06:44 What is Power to X technology? 08:43 Discovery of steam engine 10:41 Renewable Energy  14:45 Are Hydrogen cells efficient? 17:24 Carbon capture technologies 18:28 Metal organic frameworks  21:04 Will Electric cars be the future? 22:45 Using Ammonia as a fuel 26:46 What are Redox flow batteries? 36:00 What is Green Hydrogen? 37:18 Ceramic Engineering – Tape casting 48:23 Academic journey  49:54 Valuable lessons 55:26 Advice for students Time stamps

    1h 1m
  3. 11/12/2025

    ලංකාවේ කරන Material Science Research - Dr. Jaliya Manuda

    Dr. K. R. Jaliya Manuda obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Colombo. He received his education from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, Nalanda College - Colombo 10, and Ananda Central College - Elpitiya.  He is an experimental physical chemist and a materials scientist who has published multiple international publications based on his doctoral research. Currently, he is looking forward to opportunities to further explore his research interests to make the world a better place. PhD Thesis title: Direct monitoring of photoinduced degradation of organic molecules at TiO2 and TiO2-rGO nanocomposite interfaces PhD Supervisor: Professor Dilushan Jayasundara   Email - krjaliyamanuda@gmail.com Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XNFobv8AAAAJ&hl=en LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/k-r-jaliya-manuda-72b41a174/ ResearchGate - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/K-R-Jaliya-Manuda?ev=hdr_xprf ORCID - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3333-6649   Jaliya also has a YouTube channel where he talks about Chemistry: https://youtube.com/@thechemslayer?si=wIGX8bhpTiFQAhm3   00:00 About Jaliya 01:39 Chemistry is the central science 04:58 Educational journey  09:21 Deciding on research area 10:18 What is Physical chemistry? 14:20 Searching for PhDs in Sri Lanka 17:34 Picking a good supervisor 20:07 What qualifications did they look? 22:19 Research intro – Photocatalytic degradation  33:27 Quartz Chrystal Microbalance 45:23 Research question 56:17 Interesting side project 59:27 Accidental discovery 1:03:18 Conclusion 1:08:19 Discovery #2 1:14:49 Discovery #3 1:19:21 Collaborative study #1 1:22:16 Collaborative study #2 1:23:50 Collaborative study #3 1:25:54 Milestones 1:28:28 Royal Society of Chemistry backcover image 1:29:08 Outside lab experience

    1h 39m
  4. 09/13/2025

    Bio, Physics, Math, Econ, Psychology ඉගෙනගන්න ආස ළමයින්ට ජනප්‍රිය විද්‍යා පොත් - Dr. M.C.M. Iqbal

    In this Science Talks episode, I invited my dad to discuss some of the Popular Science books he has read. My dad is Dr. M.C.M. Iqbal and he is a retired scientist from the National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy. List of books can be found here:   ජනප්‍රිය විද්‍යා පොත් Books and authors mentioned: 1.        Isaac Asimov 2.        Bill Bryson a.        A brief history of nearly everything b.        The body 3.        Siddhartha Mukherjee  a.        The emperor of all maledies  b.        The gene c.        The song of the cell  4.        David Deutsch – The beginning of infinity  5.        Steven Strogatz  a.        Infinite Powers b.        The joy of finding “x” 6.        Manjit Kumar – Quantum  7.        Sean Carroll – The particle at the end of the universe  8.        Richard Thaler - Nudge 9.        Renee Engeln – Beauty Sick    Time stamps 00:00 About Podcast  02:19 Why should we read these books? 04:32 How my dad got interested 05:38 Isaac Asimov 08:09 Bill Bryson  11:19 Siddhartha Mukherjee  19:33 Use metaphors to simply things 23:30 Philosophy is essential to know Science 26:00 David Deutsch   27:07 Steven Strogatz  29:40 Alex Bellos  32:03 Manjit Kumar 37:54 Sean Carroll 38:50 Check for podcasts and lectures online  39:18 Richard Thaler  42:06 Renee Engeln

    45 min

About

Ayubowan! Fadil here :D Welcome to the IQ Labs Podcast! You can find all the Science Talks and some of Research Advice episodes here. All the videos of these episodes can be found on the IQ Labs YouTube Channel. My Channel playlist makes things more organized.