Down To Earth
2021 Was Earth's Sixth-Hottest Year
THE YEAR 2021 was the fifth warmest for India since 1901. The "Climate of India during 2021" report published by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on January 15 says annual mean temperature of the country was 0.44oC above the long period average (LPA).
1 min |
February 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Viva Cuba For Its Vaccine Revolution
Punching way above its weight, the tiny nation has developed five vaccines, and offers hope of vaccine equity across the world
4 min |
February 01, 2022
Down To Earth
A GENERATION INTERRUPTED
Children born today might be the next development challenge for the world
4 min |
January 01, 2022
Down To Earth
RESIDUAL PANDEMIC
There is a huge number of people who have defeated COVID-19, but continue to suffer its debilitating long-term effects RAVLEEN KAUR IN SURAT, GUJARAT
10+ min |
January 01, 2022
Down To Earth
UNPREPARED STILL
World enters an endless loop of disease outbreaks and remains dangerously unprepared for such crises even in third year of the COVID-19 pandemic
4 min |
January 01, 2022
Down To Earth
RISING MERCURY IS MAKING NEPAL GLACIERS VULNERABLE
Changing nature of glaciers and glacial lakes make the Himalayas one of the most climate vulnerable regions on the planet. RIJAN BHAKTA KAYASTHA, a glaciologist at the Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate and Disaster Research Center, Kathmandu University in Nepal, speaks to AKSHIT SANGOMLA about glaciers in Nepal and the impact of climate change on them
5 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
We Are Not At Peace With Nature
What can I wish for in the middle of a pandemic? It is not going to be a “new” year if we continue with our foolish ways of managing the planet
3 min |
January 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Omicron Unlikely To Increase Threat In Children
Hasty vaccination of healthy young people will have little benefit
2 min |
January 01, 2022
Down To Earth
SUN, SALT AND SAND
Use of solar-powered pumps for salt manufacturing has not just helped Gujarat's Agariya community fight the rising fuel costs, but also drastically cut their carbon emissions
6 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Protracted struggle
Despite legal win, three tribal villages in Andhra Pradesh are still fighting the state to save their land from mining
4 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Calling out Albert Bourla and Big Pharma
Omicron is the result of leading vaccine makers and rich nations' failure to provide equitable supplies of jabs against COVID-19
5 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
On thin ice
Reduced snowfall and high temperatures have upturned the lives of people in the Himalayan cold desert
7 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
For A Sustainable Farm Sector
A look at strategies and pathways to make Indian agriculture resilient in a changing climate and help the country fulfil commitments it made at COP26
8 min |
January 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Some more unequal
The world today is richer than ever, but the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has also widened to levels last seen at the height of imperialism 200 years ago
7 min |
December 16, 2021
Down To Earth
RAINING FOR 60 DAYS
Incessant heavy rains over south India for the past two months indicate a drastic change in the country’s monsoon system and hint at the new climate extremes of a perpetually warming world
10+ min |
December 16, 2021
Down To Earth
Plant protection authority sets right its potato blunder
A public campaign forced it to revoke registration of PepsiCo’s potato variety, but the agency needs to reset its priorities
5 min |
December 16, 2021
Down To Earth
Virus' Variant Ways
The third year of the global COVID-19 outbreak begins with a new variant, much like the earlier Delta variant that emerged at the start of the second year. Delta caused deadly waves, but the new variant, named Omicron, is more transmissible and shows signs of breaching acquired immunity. The world should be braced for a prolonged pandemic
10+ min |
December 16, 2021
Scientific India
Visiting Viruses
Are viruses good or bad? Should we really visit one? AWell, given the present times, the instant answer would be: viruses are bad and there is definitely no need to visit them. There is a reason why we are urgently following social distancing. The evidence? SARS-CoV-2, of course! We all know that this virus causes the novel coronavirus disease, wreaking havoc across the world since the end of 2019. It has turned our lives upside down because of its rapid infection spree. Not only COVID-19, but viruses also cause illnesses like Ebola, smallpox, influenza, SARS, MERS, and dengue. But, did you know that if it was not for some viruses, there would be no humans? They probably played a crucial role in human evolution. For the last few years, scientists around the world have been exploring these agents of change to unravel several mysteries associated with them.
4 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
PUSA spray: a breakthrough to reduce air pollution in Delhi NCR
Bengaluru-based firm “nurture.farm” is providing technology to aid farmers to spray decomposers over an unprecedented 5 lakh acres which proves to be a boon to the National Capital Region (NCR). The firm is offering a microbial bioenzyme “Boom spray” developed by Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) to help farmers across India to dispose stubble (crop residue) on their farms responsibly. The company is giving free service to farmers where spraying the bioenzyme, named “Pusa Decomposer”, and gets converted into manure, thereby improving the quality of soil. A technologyled solutions provider for sustainable agriculture, has signed up with more than 25,000 farmers, mostly in Punjab and Haryana, covering an area of over 5,00,000 acres. Thanks to IARI and nurture.farm for this innovative solution to poor air quality index.
6 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
Plastic and microplastic in marine environment
Modern lifestyles and Malmost all product categories incorporated plastic. It is one of the most widely used materials on earth. In contrast to metals, plastic is lightweight, strong, malleable material that is cheap. As useful as these characteristics are when plastics are used in everyday life, they can also be very hazardous when they are discarded into the environment. Because plastics are nearly indestructible and contain toxic material, plastic can seriously damage the environment (UNEP, 2005).
3 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
Fish exposed to Microplastics pollution since 1950s
Plastics is an avoidable thing for modern Pcivilization, it is impossible to picture a future without it. Plastics are ubiquitous and it is included in food packaging, automobiles, clothes, fishing gear, and medical devices. Plastics are highly used because of its features such as lightness, strength, durability, and low cost, among other alternatives. Plastics benefits are overshadowed by their drawbacks, such as their strong resistance to deterioration and the real fact that they get accumulate in nature due to poor management of waste in many parts of the world. This can be particularly noticeable on beaches and in oceans, where currents and wind carry plastic trash.
4 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
Use of Insects as a protein source for broiler production under Indian conditions
Poultry meat contributes more than 50% Pof total meat market in India (DAHD, 2019).
4 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
The Importance of Evidence in Medicine
Experience is a person's biggest asset. Often in our Edaily life, our actions are dictated by the way our previous decisions panned out. With experience, we can estimate the consequences of our actions, making it easier to decide the manner in which we carry out a certain task. While two people can have similar experiences, identical experiences are hard to come across. There is always a variation in the way different people carry out their tasks, which is owed to the difference in their experiences. Therefore, while one person may be able to carry out a task perfectly, the other may make errors causing a delay in completion of the task. This is where 'science' or 'evidence' becomes crucial.
5 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
Egg: good source of choline supplement
The egg is one Cof the rich sources of choline. The importance of choline is tremendous in the body during the different physiological processes. Choline is necessary for the normal functioning of all cells in our body.
3 min |
November - December 2021
Scientific India
Era of large air purifiers
Pollution is nothing but some un-wanted or un-acceptable level of Pan item. Pollution in all its forms in air, water and land have reached to alarming levels and people are feeling its harmful health effects. Though, sound pollution, corruption, loss of humanity due to changing thoughts/mind sets, growing population, growing unemployment, increasing hunger/malnutrition, widening economical, academic & digital divide/gap of society, and many more are no way less than air, water and land pollution which are affecting the mankind severely. The present way of civilization/modernization based on technology is said to be the root cause of all these various types of pollution. Though, we all at individual level are responsible for each type of pollution but we always prefer to point fingers towards others and rest hope on others to find the solution for all the evils including pollution. Developing technology to tackle or control pollution is way behind than the need to “nip the evil in the bud”. Thus, there is great need to control, minimize or stop all such activities which leads to the generation of pollution but without scarifying our comforts based on technological development, we want to develop pollution control solutions either towards post mitigation of pollution or making pollution controlled technological assisted development.
6 min |
November - December 2021
Down To Earth
POLAVARAM DAM "FROM HEAVEN TO HELL"
Under the serene backwaters of the Godavari are 72 villages of Andhra Pradesh that got submerged, some completely, this June because of the under-construction Polavaram dam. SHAGUN KAPIL visited some of these villages in East and West Godavari districts as well as seven rehabilitation colonies, and found serious flaws with the resettlement process that has caused agony to countless families
8 min |
December 01, 2021
Down To Earth
AEDES THE MENACE
The latest outbreaks of Zika fever in India indicate that mosquito-borne diseases are fast spreading to new populations and regions. They are also no longer restricted to the monsoon season. Aedes mosquitoes that are responsible for transmitting a range of diseases are particularly becoming invasive in a rapidly warming world. An analysis by VIVEK MISHRA and VIBHA VARSHNEY in Delhi with NEETU SINGH in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
10+ min |
December 01, 2021
Down To Earth
Moderna's brazen patent rab on a COVID jab
The US administration is finally putting its foot down on the appropriation of public research by drug firms
4 min |
December 01, 2021
Down To Earth
Bitter sweet
Petha production in Agra leaves behind waste and pollution. The city must develop strategies to reduce their impact
6 min |
December 01, 2021
Down To Earth
India's successes at COP26
Collaborative, not competitive, approach can save our planet
5 min |