Science
Down To Earth
BEYOND PETHA
Whether enjoyed as a sweet treat, refreshing juice or hearty vegetable dish, ash gourd offers a wealth of nutritional benefits
4 min |
August 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Blind spots
Climate models still struggle to keep up with rapid changes in the polar regions
4 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
All in the name
Draft UN resolution on trans-fats elimination fails to distinguish industrial and natural sources, threatening nutrition in poorer nations
8 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
New battlefronts
UN Environment Programme's \"Frontiers 2025: The Weight of Time\" identifies emerging environmental risks in a planet in crisis
2 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Pads with purpose
In Delhi's Azadpur, women champion menstrual health through hand-made, affordable hygiene products
2 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Undamming Europe
EUROPE IS on a river-barrier demolition spree—23 countries demolished 542 barriers in 2024. The continent must pursue this trend more vigorously if it is to meet its target of making 25,000 km of rivers barrier-free by 2030.
2 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
BOUND BY DISASTER
Across South Asia, droughts, floods and displacement are fueling marriages of adolescent girls as a survival tactic
4 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Mistaken identity
A Central Zoo Authority report says confusion in animal identification might have led to selection of wrong deer species for conservation breeding
3 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Silent spread
Unauthorised herbicide-tolerant cotton varieties circulate in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh
5 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
AT A CROSSROADS ROADS
With the right push, air conditioners can shift from energy guzzlers to climate allies in India’s energy efficiency story
6 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Ownership rights
From controlling wildfires to restoring forest health, several Chhattisgarh villages use Community Forest Resource Rights to usher in a new forest management regime
4 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
PUMPED FOR CHANGE
Even though India is a global leader in water pumps, the sector needs urgent efficiency overhaul
5 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
‘Almost every middle-income country is being targeted by Big Food and its scientific agents’
There is a secret world of corporate science out there, where powerful companies and allied scientists shape research to serve industry interests. SUSAN GREENHALGH, an anthropologist and specialist on contemporary China, exposes this hidden world in her new book, Soda Science. Blending investigative storytelling with scholarly analysis, this book reveals how Coca-Cola used front groups to distort science and manipulate public policies to protect its profits. In an interview with SNIGDHA DAS, Greenhalgh offers a glimpse into her decade-long investigation and the workings of “soda science”.
8 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
GAME CHANGERS
Improving energy efficiency of appliances—equipment of everyday use—is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to enhance energy security and avoid carbon dioxide emissions.
3 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
RAISE THE BAR
From consumer incentives to bulk procurement and strict efficiency standards, India has many options to promote efficient appliances
6 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Risky overlap
Fisher communities in Kollam, Kerala, protest India’s plan to commence offshore sand mining
4 min |
August 01, 2025
Down To Earth
HOW INDIA MOVES GRIDLOCKED
India moves is brutally simple: it does not. Urban India is gridlocked and congested, and the problem is not limited to big cities. An analysis by SUNITA NARAIN, ANUMITA ROYCHOWDHURY, SHUBHAM SRIVASTAVA AND SAYAN ROY
10+ min |
July 16, 2025
Down To Earth
China backs open-source AI to circumvent US checks
CHINA IS challenging global artificial intelligence (AI) dynamics by releasing powerful, open-source models developed by its tech giants, including Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and the startup DeepSeek. This strategic move aims to circumvent US export restrictions on advanced chips and to foster rapid innovation within its AI sector.
1 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Yet another washout
UN Ocean Conference sees limited progress, as SDG 14 remains the least funded global goal despite pledges and finance talks
6 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
WHAT IS THE DEBT AND CLIMATE LINK?
Over half of the low- and middle-income nations with high climate vulnerability are either already in debt distress or at high risk of it
5 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
India rolls out guidelines for expired medicine
ON MAY 26, India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation issued guidelines for the safe disposal of expired and unused medicines to drug controllers in all states and Union Territories.
1 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
TAME THE TRADE
Strengthen wildlife protection laws to combat illegal hunting and trade of exotic and threatened species in India
4 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
13 nations battle hunger emergencies
THE WORLD stands on the brink of yet another humanitarian disaster with at least 13 countries facing escalating hunger emergencies-five of which are on the verge of famine.
1 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
HOW LARGE IS SOVEREIGN DEBT?
Its burden on developing countries is growing twice as fast as on developed countries
4 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
A grove revived
It took 15 years for residents of Rajasthan's Sirawas village to bring to life a severely degraded sacred grove, an initiative that has triggered replicative efforts across the region
4 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
WHY SOVEREIGN DEBT RISING IN DEVELOPING WORLD?
Biased sovereign credit ratings and steep interest rates are at work
4 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
WHAT ARE THE SPILLOVER IMPACTS OF EXTERNAL DEBT?
Development priorities put on back burner
2 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
DEBT'S CLIMATE LINK
The world faces an unprecedented debt crisis, which is exacerbating climate emergency in developing countries. As an unfit global financial architecture makes accessing finance more difficult for countries in the developing world, governments are left with the option of either servicing the debt or serving the people.
3 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
WHO GAINS FROM BALLOONING DEBT?
Rising interest and falling exchange rates are driving capital back to developed nations—and closing doors to credit for developing countries
2 min |
July 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Read the signs
Tribal communities believe that nature provides signs of the oncoming season, but climate change has made traditional weather forecast methods unreliable
3 min |