Scientific India
Novel molecules fight viruses by bursting their bubble-like membranes
Antiviral therapies are notoriously difficult to develop, as viruses can quickly mutate to become resistant to drugs. But what if a new generation of antivirals ignores the fast-mutating proteins on the surface of viruses and instead disrupts their protective layers?
2 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Six Foods to Boost Cardiovascular Health
A study led by McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences researchers at the Population Research Health Institute (PHRI) has found that not eating enough of six key foods in combination is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
How Breast Milk Boosts the Brain
A new study by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University suggests that a micronutrient in human breast milk provides significant benefit to the developing brains of newborns, a finding that further illuminates the link between nutrition and brain health and could help improve infant formulas used in circumstances when breastfeeding isn't possible.
2 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
New exoplanet discovery builds better understanding of planet formation
An international team of scientists have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a low-mass star called TOI-4860, located in the Corvus constellation.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Grow-your-own households eat more fruit and vegetables and waste less
Household fruit and vegetable production, in allotments and gardens, could be key to a healthy and food-secure population, a new study from the University of Sheffield has found.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Top fish predators could suffer wide loss of suitable habitat by 2100 due to climate change
A study of 12 species of highly migratory fish predators including sharks, tuna, and billfish such as marlin and swordfish finds that most of them will encounter widespread losses of suitable habitat and redistribution from current habitats in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA) and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) by 2100. These areas are among the fastest-warming ocean regions and are projected to increase between 1-6°C (+1-10°F) by the end of the century, a sign of climate-driven changes in marine ecosystems.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
About 1 in 3 vertebrate species is used, eaten or traded by humans, study finds
A cheetah pouncing on a gazelle. A bear snatching a fish out of the water with its claws.
2 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Mars: new evidence of an environment conducive to the emergence of life
The surface of Mars, unlike the Earth's, is not constantly renewed by plate tectonics.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
How to overcome the multi-drug resistance (MDR) in bacteria?
Multi drug resistance (MDR) is a major hurdle faced by medical personals around the globe while treating severe bacterial infections. Such infections may either arise due to some diseased condition or as a result of postsurgical side effects.
3 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Gene therapy hope for children with kidney disease
Researchers at the University of Bristol have made a remarkable step forward in finding a potential cure for a type of childhood kidney disease.
2 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Indian long pepper (Pippali): a wonder plant
Long pepper (Piper longum L.) commonly known as Pippali, Indian or Javanese long pepper is a slender, aromatic plant grown for its small red spikes which are tremendously used in traditional medicine systems.
1 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Using big data on livestock farms could improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance
A new study suggests that using big data and machine learning in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance in livestock production methods could help inform interventions and offer protections against germs that are becoming resistant to antibiotics.
2 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Pig kidney xenotransplantation performing optimally after 32 days in human body
Surgeons at NYU Langone Health have transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney that continues to function well after 32 days in a man declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating heart on ventilator support.
3 min |
July-August 2023
Scientific India
Researchers discovered that various species share a similar mechanism of molecular response to nanoparticles
Researchers at FHAIVE FHAIVE (Finnish Hub for Development and Validation of Integrated Approaches), Tampere University, have discovered a new response mechanism specific to exposure to nanoparticles that is common to multiple species.
2 min |
July-August 2023
Down To Earth
Climate Change Behind July Heat
ANTHROPOGENIC EMISSIONS made the heatwaves seen in North America and Europe 1,000 times more likely, according to latest analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA).
1 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
Forests up for grabs?
The amended Forest Conservation Act opens up large swathes of forestland for different non-forest activities
7 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
On the precipice
A collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may put other climate systems at risk
6 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
17 MILLION MISSING
India has missed as many as 16.84 million artificial inseminations of cattle and buffaloes during the two years of COVID-19 pandemic, shows an analysis by Down To Earth. This is likely to have a long-lasting impact on the country's milk production. An analysis by SHAGUN
10+ min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
Plastic solutions
India needs robust data, along with recycling infrastructure to curb plastic pollution in rural India
4 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
Silent saviour
A single-handed mission to ensure that Kashmir's majestic chinar trees do not disappear from its landscape
2 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
HOW ROBUST IS INDIA'S TIGER CENSUS
During the 50th anniversary celebrations of Project Tiger on April 9 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the animal's population in India had increased to 3,167. Less than four months later, on July 29, a new set of numbers were released that pegged the population at 3,682 tigers; over 500 more than the April estimate. This has sparked debates over the accuracy of tiger census. RAJAT GHAI speaks to government officials and independent experts to decode the riddle of tiger estimation:
5 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
Frittering away Nehru's momentous legacy
India initiated production of critical drugs in 1951 with the aid of UN bodies to keep out patent blocks-a model we have forgotten
4 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
World of the gazer
For editor, author and bibliographer Aasheesh Pittie, birdwatching is a lifelong philosophical pursuit rather than a pastime. His latest book, The living air: The pleasures of birds and birdwatching, is a set of essays on his birding journey, written over 30 years. Excerpts:
4 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
BOOKS
Book Review
1 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
SAPLING SOLIDARITY
Punjab and Haryana are witnessing a first-of-its-kind farmer solidarity movement. Cultivators in flood-hit villages of the states have received free supply of paddy saplings from their counterparts in safer areas to tide over the losses and avoid a crop-less rice season. RAJU SAJWAN travels to the two states to document the help initiative.
4 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
Waterborne monster
A lethal marine bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, could become a major threat to coastal populations, with warmer oceans and high rainfall creating ideal condition for its proliferation
5 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
ROAD TO CITY COOL
Urban India is a heat trap, but road orientation, building materials and zone-specific master plans can drastically enhance thermal comfort
4 min |
August 16, 2023
Down To Earth
'So many problems with the Anthropocene definition'
The world recently got closer to accepting that it is in the Anthropocene-the age of humans. On July 28, the Anthropocene Working Group, set up in 2009 by a UNESCO subcommission to assess geological \"reality\" and the most suitable timing of the epoch's beginning, announced 1950 to be the starting year. The group's study on a dozen sites found the presence of radionuclides, especially plutonium, in geological materials of early 1950s, showing the impact of nuclear tests by nations in the period, and indicating a date to mark the transformative effect humanity has had on Earth's ecology and climate. While the final acceptance of the Anthropocene Epoch is subject to its ratification at the International Geological Congress in South Korea next year, author AMITAV GHOSH is conflicted about the development. At the launch of his book, Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey Through Opium's Hidden Histories, in Delhi, Ghosh talks to RAJAT GHAI about the problems in the framing of the issue, the narrowness of the definition, the missing voices and histories in the narrative, and his latest book. Excerpts:
6 min |
August 01, 2023
Down To Earth
CEMENTING POSSIBILITIES
After water, cement is the most widely used material on the planet. It is also the second largest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide. Little wonder the sector is a priority target for decarbonisation to meet India' climate commitments. But the very nature of cement production makes elimination of carbon emissions a difficult, if not impossible, task. Here is a step-by-step strategy to turn this carbon-intensive industry into a carbon-lean one.
10+ min |
August 01, 2023
Down To Earth
DON'T SHIFT THE CONFLICT
Translocating elephants from their home range does not end the human-animal conflict, but intensifies it
3 min |