Science
Down To Earth
INSTITUTIONAL OVERSIGHT
Though hospital births have seen a record rise in the past 15 years, maternal and infant mortality rates remain high
10 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
TWIST IN THE LANTANA TALE
The Soliga tribal community of Karnataka makes handcrafted items from lantana, helping curb the spread of the invasive shrub that now covers 40 per cent of the Western Ghats S
3 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
NATURAL NUDGE
Employ beneficial and cost-effective microbes to improve crop yield
3 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Plastic endgame
The world's adoption of the resolution to end plastic pollution by 2024 is only the first step in a long battle
4 min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Drug debacle
Sixteen years after India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac to save its vultures, three other drugs revive the old challenge
5 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
GOOD WHILE IT LASTED
Earth is losing species at an unprecedented rate, which, many believe, is the planet's sixth mass extinction. Since the biodiversity loss this time is the doing of humans, the event also marks the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch, a self-aggrandising nomenclature that highlights our disproportionate and irreversible impacts on the surroundings
10+ min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Dung deal
Chhattisgarh's plan to purchase cow dung to boost the rural economy, ensure clean villages and solve the problem of stray cattle destroying crops had success initially, but things have not gone as per plan
4 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
'Compromise' on TRIPS waiver is a sellout
Tough new conditions emerge in the compromise deal to ease WTO intellectual property barriers to production of COVID-19 medical tools
4 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Climate Justice, Now
IPCC's latest climate report provides evidence that climate-justice needs to be at the centre of global policymaking
4 min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Bizarre Patent Tussles Over A Covid-19 Jab
Moderna's many intellectual property disputes over its vaccine highlight the need for a patent-free regime to fight the pandemic
4 min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Urban ladder
Safely managing faecal sludge is India's new sanitation challenge. In the absence of adequate rural treatment plants, a few states rope in underutilised urban facilities
8 min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Organic boost
Farmer producer organisations can help organic farming initiatives overcome marketing hindrances
4 min |
March 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Endemic Not The End
We know that the novel coronavirus will be with us forever. Without undermining the threat it poses, we must learn how to live with it by adapting strategies developed in previous pandemics
10+ min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
To what end
West Bengal has decided to mine coal from a reserve so deep and unreachable that the extraction might turn out to be financially unviable, and still end up displacing 21,000 people
6 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
‘Observations will help trace our cosmic roots'
Early last month, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) opened its 18 golden mirrors to the universe and captured its first image-ofa sun-like star called HD-84406, some 260 light years from the Earth. The telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, and took 30 days to travel 1.5 million km from Earth in a direction opposite to the Sun to reach its destination-a gravitationally stable point named L2—from where it will orbit the Sun, slightly changing its position every three weeks to stay in a halo orbit.
6 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Pre-emptive strike
The popularity of anti-hail cannons among Himachal Pradesh farmers has made the state build an indigenous version, though the efficacy of such devices is unproven
5 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Bullish turn
Post mechanisation, for the first time there is innovation in farm equipment to revive bullocks and aid small farmers
6 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
South Africa's vaccine advance brings hope
The WHO-aided tech transfer hub in South Africa is set to change the outlook for a continent deprived of COVID-19 vaccines
4 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Space for nuclear
From fuel to outer space power plants, the world is developing different usages of nuclear energy to explore the deep space
7 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
FAULTY GROUND
The stretch of the Cauvery where Karnataka plans to build the Mekedatu dam lies alonga fault plane and in a geologically unstable region
3 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Blue hydrogen not really green
Reliance Industries on February 12 announced an intent to become "the world's top blue hydrogen producer" by repurposing a 30,000 crore synthetic gas plant to manufacture the fuel.
1 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
BIOLOGICAL GOLD MINE
An emerging science explores how faecal analysis can revolutionise disease diagnosis and treatment
5 min |
March 01, 2022
Down To Earth
United they stand
Women farmers in 30 villages of Madhya Pradesh join hands to command a higher price for their groundnut produce
3 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Rewarding incompetence
India's new star-rating system to promote state agencies that give hasty environmental clearances to projects
5 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Natural option
Organic and natural farming approaches are not only profitable and sustainable, but also productive
6 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
WHITHER AMRIT KAAL
The Union Budget 2022-23 did not talk about the developmental targets promised for this year under the Strategy for New India@75, but set the country on a new journey of hope till 2047
5 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
NET GAIN
In its journey to the Bay of Bengal, the Brahmaputra carves out different types of waterbodies along Assam's landscape.
3 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
India trips on its patent waiver proposal
Delhi has not backed its WTO proposal to suspend intellectual property rights on COVID-19 pharma products with robust action
4 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Glorious oversight
ABOUT AMERICAN POP CULTURE FIXTURES AND PRIVILEGED WAY OF LIFE PRESENTED AS A REVIEW OF THE ANTHROPOCENE
3 min |
February 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Heritage erased
Kashmir's highly fertile alluvial soil deposits called karewas are being destroyed in the name of development, much to the peril of local people
3 min |