Memories of grandma
Not just parents, but even the genetic makeup of our grandparents account for the traits we inherit
Big and mysterious
The current theory of planet formation has just been proved wrong. It is time astrophysicists got back to the drawing- board
The missing element
Niobium, an element scientists searched for in the Earth's mantle, is found in the core instead
Drenched by doubts
Officials dismiss green rain in Bengal village as bee droppings, but experts find flaws in the theory
Impossible ispossible
Cold nuclear fusion has been observed during a recent experiment. If this holds ground, energy harnessing process would become much easier
Unsuccessful copycats
Mutations in cloned monkey embryos prove that a lot has to done before primates can be cloned successfully
"Inputs of social scientists are critical"
John R Seager, research director, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa, speaks to Atanu Sarkar on interdisciplinary aspects of …
"Brown clouds are a transcontinental issue"
Asian Brown Clouds created a lot of heat in South Asia, a few years ago (see: 'Aerial Raid,' Down To Earth, August 15, 2002). Now the chief …
Reboot: moon
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the moon was a focus of much interest in the US and the erstwhile USSR. But that politico-scientific Cold War …
Lab manual
Book>> A Guinea Pig's History of Biology by Jim Endersby Random House 2008 Indian Price Rs 495
I learned the language without references
Pramod Kumar researches a language spoken by only 273 people in the Andaman islands. A PhD candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, he …
Jungle raj
CAG memo shows IFS officers are administering country’s premier forestry research body like a fiefdom
Putting out new shoots
Whether it's increasing yields, cutting growth time of plants, increasing their resistance to disease or preserving genetic resources, scientists …
Faceless Figures
The status of cancer data in India is as scary as the killer itself. The most recent data on cancer by the Indian Council of Medical Research is …
Pesticide industry thriving on legal loopholes
The CSE's recent expos has blown the lid off the bottled water industry's tall claims on the purity of its products. Simultaneously, it has …
COVID-19: Lucknow lab to sequence SARS-CoV-2 strains
The research lab has inked an MoU with King George’s Medical University
Harvesting joy or sorrow?
Global warming would decrease crop production in developing countries but increase it in the industrialised world
Blame climate change! UK heatwaves became 10 times more likely
Climate models are unable to keep up with actual observations & other climate change predictions may also be much more severe than previously …
Medical volunteers in rural Zambia: Learning from attitudes to angels and vampires
Presence of outsiders has often produced powerful anxieties. White medical doctors in central Africa were often identified as vampires, and …
What the budget holds for the agriculture sector in Kenya
The agriculture sector, which has received a slightly bigger share of the budget, remains vital to the country’s economic recovery strategy
Research sheds new light on garlic
Sulphur compounds in garlic, believed to have medicinal properties, alter the levels of gaseous signaling molecules, which can reduce disease …
Parasite that killed millions of UK’s songbird found in mynas in Pakistan
Although the parasite that carries the disease Avian trichomonosis was discovered in myna, it may not prove fatal for them
Scientists in India develop biosensor to detect diabetes-related complications
Till date, there has been very little effort to quantify levels of Methylglyoxal in the blood or food products we consume
Nudge for nature
A nudge can be a promising new tool to encourage people to act in an environmentally benign way
CSIR announces the winners of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize for 2019
The prize carries a cash component of Rs 5 lakh and is awarded for outstanding research, both fundamental applied