Science
Down To Earth
'Fitness our evolutionary advantage, not longevity'
Nobel laureate VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN's latest book, Why We Die, covers a journey that starts in the 1800s, when British biologists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace proposed natural selection, and continues to this day, as researchers investigate anti-ageing compounds. But how close are we really to cheating ageing and death? In an interview with ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY, Ramakrishnan, who received the 2009 Nobel prize in chemistry, says the focus of research is on staying healthy for a bigger fraction of life. He also examines the causes of ageing, the drugs being explored to slow down this deterioration, the people involved in the research and a few controversial claims. Excerpts:
7 min |
June 16, 2024
Down To Earth
India capitulates on key accord at WIPO
The WIPO treaty on genetic resources is historic, but it will override vital safeguards in India's law to prevent bad patents
4 min |
June 16, 2024
Down To Earth
Wild guess
Despite being a significant source of greenhouse gases, wildfire emissions remain underestimated
7 min |
June 16, 2024
Down To Earth
A local national verdict
Issues of unemployment, price rise and agrarian distress seem to have shifted voter sentiment in the recent general elections
4 min |
June 16, 2024
Down To Earth
Native nutrition
THE LUNCH menu at the Rani Kajal Jeevan Shala School in Kakrana village of Madhya Pradesh shows a healthy mix of pulses, vegetables and millets.
2 min |
June 16, 2024
Down To Earth
Look Beyond Dust
Reinvent National Clean Air Programme to focus on fine particulate matter and trans-boundary pollution
5 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
PLAN THEM COOL
As urban India turns into a heat trap, the government must focus on improving cities' liveability
5 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
Vision 2030
Economic growth must take into account needs of energy transition, climate mitigation, with action aligned as per India's 2030 climate goals
5 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
FIX OUR FOOD
Chemical-dependent farming, lax labelling laws, rising anti-microbial resistance must top the agenda
5 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
BATTLE THE CAR BULGE
Clean, affordable, integrated and accessible public transport the only solution
3 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
CONSERVE NOW
Disregard for biodiversity conservation over the past two decades needs immediate redressal
3 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
SCRAP THE DUMP
Disincentivise garbage dumping, invest in behavioural change
4 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
THINK LONG-TERM
India needs continued emphasis on flagship programmes, aligned to long-term planning that focusses on water security and circular economy in a climate-risked era
8 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
OVERHAUL OVERDUE
Hold polluting industries accountable for public health risks, environmental hazards, climate change; provide them support for green transition
7 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
IT'S NOW OR NEVER
Clean energy sectors need demand-driven markets and domestic industries that can cater to the entire value chain
5 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
OLD AGENDA WITH NEW IMAGINATION
The new government must rebuild trust by being tolerant to ideas, opinions and information.
4 min |
June 01, 2024
Down To Earth
THE ALCHEMY OF EMOTIONS - SL'OTH
As with all personality traits, laziness is a combination of genes and environment
9 min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - WRATH
Anger is an emotional programme, a part of natural selection that helps us bargain for better treatment
10+ min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GLUTTONY
We have been captured by food and it is driving us to do something that is arguably not good for us
8 min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - ENVY
Envy gives people a fundamental desire for a higher social rank
10+ min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS-L'UST
Love, lust, attachments are basic brain circuits. They are too primitive a system and will never change
10+ min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GREED
Evolutionary biology sees greed as a way to increase your chances of survival
10+ min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS
I felt for the tormented whirlwinds Damned for their carnal sins Committed when they let their passions rule their reason
9 min |
May 16, 2024
Down To Earth
INVISIBLE THREAT
Significant presence of microplastics in Puducherry’s agricultural soil raises concerns for soil and crop health
3 min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
Feeding off each other
VEGETARIAN MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST GREW WITH MUTUAL SUPPORT AND VALIDATION
3 min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
India's unhealthy patent amendments
Despite strong pleas, the Modi regime has changed the rules to impose a cost on those who challenge faulty patents
4 min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
URBAN DISCOMFORT
Poorly planned, heat-trapping infrastructure, along with dwindling natural spaces, turn up the temperatures in major Indian cities
10+ min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
BLAZING SUN IS ON
Rising temperatures are testing the limits of human tolerance to heat. With their predominantly built-up landscape, urban areas offer no respite. A study by the Centre for Science and Environment on the morphology and heat patterns of nine Indian cities over the past decade shows how these urban centres are turning into heat islands with a potentially serious impact on human health. An analysis by Rajneesh Sareen, Mitashi Singh and Nimish Gupta, with Shagun in Haryana and Kiran Pandey
5 min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
"H5N1 may be more severe than COVID-19"
In early April, the US confirmed the first case of avian influenza in livestock, along with cow-to-human transmission of the virus disease.
3 min |
May 01, 2024
Down To Earth
A PSYCHEDELIC HIGH
Driven by surge in global trials and low success rate of current medications in treating mental health problems, researchers call for home-grown clinical trials of psychedelic drugs
8 min |