Science
Down To Earth
Revenge Of The Rich
Trump's election reflects the anger of the rich who did not get richer. This inequity is also at the core of the climate change challenge.
4 min |
December 01, 2016
Down To Earth
A Sniff To Save
It can detect a person buried under six metres of snow. PERVEZ CAMA, who travelled to the Swiss Alps, traces the history of St Bernard, a dog groomed to rescue travellers, and now part of popular culture.
4 min |
December 01, 2016
Down To Earth
Bonds To The Rescue?
Urban local bodies across India are floating bonds to raise money. This may render them unviable and make city living costly
4 min |
April 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Was The Met Office Napping?
Hailstorms have once again damaged crops in the drought-prone Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra as well as the credibility of the India Meteorological Department.
5 min |
April 01, 2017
Down To Earth
Era Begins Without Plan
NITI Aayog formally begins its business without a vision or an action plan.
4 min |
April 01, 2017
Down To Earth
Champaran Satyagraha Continues
A century ago, Mahatma Gandhi tested the idea of satyagraha for the first time to fight for indigo farmers in Champaran. While the crop is seeing a revival in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Champaran in Bihar is in the throes of another peasant struggle.
10+ min |
April 01, 2017
Down To Earth
Measles Is Back
With outbreaks reported from across the world, measles' eradication by 2020 seems difficult
4 min |
May 16, 2017
Down To Earth
Bitter Medicine
It is time to treat pharma waste more rigorously. The waste contains active ingredients used in antibiotics and may be contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance
6 min |
May 16, 2017
Down To Earth
A Setback To Struggle For Health Rights
Amit Sengupta's optimism and persistence have inspired generations of public health activists in India and abroad.
2 min |
December 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Brain-Teaser
A device that uses electricity to pass through your brain is believed to cure a range of diseases. But the jury is still out on its safety.
3 min |
December 16, 2018
Down To Earth
The Lament Continues
The Alma-Ata Declaration failed to ensure health for all. Will Astana succeed?
3 min |
November 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Recycling Wheel
How Gujarat succeeded in co-processing plastic waste in cement kilns and promoted a circular economy
4 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Install Windmills, But Not At Cost Of Birds
Buoyed up by wind power, Germany has been the frontrunner in the global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Lately, wind power organisations are lobbying to increase their number even faster, particularly in the sensitive North Sea and the Baltic. This has posed a dilemma for conservationists who generally support renewable energy. The windmills, with massive blades, are known to kill birds and bats. KATHRIN AMMERMANN, who heads the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), tells JITENDRA how the government is trying to curb environmental impact of clean energy.
3 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
US Trading On Thin Ice
As Trump escalates the trade war with China, the key question is what constitutes theft of intellectual property
2 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
More Out Than In
Central government's maternity benefit scheme excludes more women than it covers
5 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Sealed With Trouble
Faulty policies have allowed industries to use multilayered plastic packages without the responsibility of retrieving them
3 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Loo And Behold, But Beware
The countdown to meet the target of an open defecation free India has begun. Though it seemed like we were once again going to miss another development goal, we will achieve the target within the next 25 weeks, much before the deadline of October 2019. India's first-ever experience when all of us will have a toilet of our own is worth a grand applause. However, we have just crossed the first hurdlethe easiest milestone of constructing toilets. SUSMITA SENGUPTA and RASHMI VERMA take a hard look at the challenges that need to be addressed
10+ min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
A Dig At The Poor
District Mineral Foundations were set up to improve the lives of people affected by mining. But maladministration is defeating its raison d'etre.
2 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Of Funds And Fallacy
Poor implementation of the District Mineral Foundation has excluded some of the worst mining-affected people, whom it was supposed to benefit.
6 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Will Africa Meet Its Sanitation Target?
More than 600 million Africans still lack access to safe sanitation. This will ultimately determine the well-being of the continent.
3 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Lessons From Beijing
In just four years, Beijing has improved its air quality by setting time-bound targets and implementing a comprehensive regional action plan
2 min |
November 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Drive The Extra Mile
India is not only directly moving from BSIV to BSVI, it is also not allowing vehicle manufacturers extra time to sell the stock of unsold BSIV vehicles
4 min |
November 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Listen... Plants Too Speak
As early as in 1880, Charles Darwin demonstrated that plants could sense light, moisture, gravity, pressure and possessed several other qualities. Over the years, many scientists have proved that plants are sentient beings and move and respond to sensation. The subject is still controversial among the scientific community. Monica Gagliano is research associate professor of evolutionary ecology and former fellow of the Australian Research Council who has pioneered a brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics. In her latest book, Thus Spoke the Plant: A Remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters with Plants, she, for the first time, has experimentally demonstrated that plants emit their own ªvoicesº and detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. In these excerpts, Gagliano writes about how the pea plant responds to acoustic vibrations to locate water
10+ min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Wild And Nutritious
Gaithi, a tuber variety that grows in the hills of Uttarakhand, has both nutritive and medicinal properties
2 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
The Right Pill
Africa will be setting up its first agency to check the spread of spurious drugs
3 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Reign Over Rain
Rainfall deficit can be a challenge as well as an opportunity. Last year, Dhanbad faced a rainfall deficit of 60 per cent. EKLAVYA PRASAD narrates his personal experience of catching rainwater where it falls in his home, Uttarayan. By constructing rainwater harvesting structures, Uttarayan not only showed the way to address urban water scarcity, it also helped recharge groundwater with 1.06 million litres of rainwater
4 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Try Some Salt, Fresh And Seasoned
Uttarakhand's age-old flavoured salts loaded with micronutrients are not only a healthy option, but can also tickle your taste buds
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Corridor Catharsis
The proposed Similipal-Satkosia wildlife corridor in Odisha can be connecting link for the survival of endangered species. But mining activities need to be eliminated
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Anthropocene In The Arctic
A behind the scenes account of how the scientific community came to terms with the changing landscape of the Arctic
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Who Is Economically Secular?
The rich have the chance to get richer in an economic crisis, while the poor face the prospect of sinking deeper in poverty
2 min |