When superstition gets under the skin
In Africa, people living with albinism are perceived as ghosts and live with constant fear of being killed. Down To Earth talks to those who …
Can you really be poisoned by green or sprouting potatoes?
Many people think of potatoes as root vegetables because they grow underground like carrots, parsnips and other root crops. But in actual fact …
America’s first ‘climate refugees’ and a vanishing island
The island, which had over 22,000 acres of land in 1955, has lost about 98 per cent of it due to sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and subsidence
Record number of environmental activists killed in 2015
Mining companies, land-grabbers and even state forces have stepped up attacks against activists and indigenous people standing up for their right …
Rubbish for Remain or Bins for Brexit? How the EU affects your garbage
There is a chance that the average Briton might have to pay more for his or her bendy banana skins to be picked up if the UK does leave the EU
Canada’s commercial seal hunt begins
India and China urged to help stop the killing with a trade ban
Explainer: what is pain and what is happening when we feel it?
Pain scientists are reasonably agreed that pain is an unpleasant feeling in our body that makes us want to stop and change our behaviour
International Mountain Day: Highland people to face vagaries of weather, food insecurity
Released on the occasion of Mountain Day, two reports highlight climate threats to high altitude areas
Three scientists share Nobel for Chemistry for research on DNA repair
Tomas Lindahl of UK’s Francis Crick Institute, Paul Modrich of USA’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Aziz Sancar of the …
Animal sacrifice at Nepal's Gadhimai temple banned
Sustained campaigning by animal rights activists leads the temple to scrap the 300-year-old practice
Increasing ocean acidity will hit the marine food chain, says study
Increasing acidification impacts phytoplankton, which in turn will drastically affect the fish population
Pluto flyby: The mystery deepens after New Horizons’ encounter
The NASA mission is the first-ever foray into the “third region” of the solar system, also called the Kuiper Belt, containing …
The global environmental fiasco
After six meetings on how to restructure the Global Environment Facility, a consensus remains elusive.
USA - all love lost
Neither the World Bank nor the US and the United Nations (un) are popular around the world. While there is still some hope of the World Bank …
World Malaria Day: How Africa plans to fight the disease
Malawi becomes the first African nation to roll out landmark vaccine, Ghana and Kenya to join the league soon; Uganda adopts a new mass action …
SDG 7: World still off-track from achieving universal energy access to all, says UN report
High inflation, debt distress, policy inactions and lagging financial flows slowing access to electricity, clean cooking in developing economies
Corticosteroid can be used for effective treatment of children hospitalised with MIS-C: WHO
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome has been seen in several children exposed to or recovering from COVID-19
Asia Climate: India, China, Japan lose billions to extreme weather annually, says WMO report
India, China and Bangladesh recorded most of the disaster-related displacement recorded globally in 2020, according to State of the Climate in …
By 2030, early warnings on floods and droughts to be available for all: WMO
World Meteorological Congress endorses Water and Climate Coalition for promoting sharing and access to integrated hydrological, cryosphere, …
WHO approval to South Africa’s vaccine regulatory body
South African Health Products Regulatory Authority ranked at maturity level 3 out of 4 classification levels
Global pandemic fund to open for investment proposals in November
The treasury will help boost pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in low- and middle-income countries
Occupational hazard: Exposure to ionising radiation affects over 24 million workers globally
Behavioural risk factors plays an important role in the worldwide cancer burden and 44% of global cancer deaths are preventable
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: How global and local experience would play out in WTO top job
Okonjo-Iweala would be in a position to use her multifaceted experiences to energise the WTO’s 164 members to work harder to achieve the …
AMR week: Antimalaria drug resistance not alarming but growing fast, says WHO report
Three states in India’s North East reported resistance to commonly used drug against malaria
Will a new and ‘improved’ WTO be in India’s interests
The World Trade Organization needs an overhaul, but the reform will leave even less space for developing nations