Down To Earth
‘AFTER FANI, WE FOCUSED ON DISASTER-RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE’
Odisha, one of the most climate-vulnerable states in India, is hit by numerous extreme weather events every year. Cyclone Fani, which devastated the state in 2019, is one such event that forced Odisha to mount a post-disaster needs assessment. This multi-sector assessment on loss and damage provided new insights on building back better, GYANARANJAN DAS, executive director, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), tells SEEMA PRASAD. Excerpts:
2 min |
November 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Collateral casualty
Rise in cardiac ailments in India hints at the role of COVID-19, but in absence of long-term studies there are no definitive trends
6 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Evolutionary Thrust
HUMAN EVOLUTION
7 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Cultivated idea
The potential of urban agriculture in alleviating food insecurity in cities requires holistic policy support from governments
3 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
‘We need to put down oroblem animals for wildlife conservation’
A VETERINARIAN WHO COMES OUT FROM THE COLLEGE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO SHOOT. HOW IS HE GOING TO TRANQUILISE A TIGER? WE HAVE HAD WORKSHOPS TO TEACH PERSONNEL HOW TO HANDLE A WEAPON, EVEN HOW TO WALK IN THE FOREST. THIS IS TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND CANNOT BE GLEANED FROM INTERNET OR FROM READING A BOOK
6 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Organic reinforcement
Direct procurement and cold storages are key to promote organic farming of fruits, vegetables
5 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
A timely fix
India’s lone home-grown crop simulation model can now forecast climate impact on farm yield in real time
4 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Accelerated breeding
Bisohenol A, a chemical used for softening plastics, shortens the mosquito life cycle and leads to population explosion
3 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
India patently way behind on 5G
Policy blocks and poor vision have held up 5G in India, while China’s breakthroughs are helping to set global standards
4 min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
PANDEMIC CONTINUUM
Two livestock viruses have spread across India in an unprecedented manner this year—lumpy skin disease and African swine fever. With changing climate, new infectious diseases will emerge, while existing ones will Ne spread to new areas and sirike with greater severity, like these two have. Such outbreaks have harsh economic and food security implications, and can pose a major threat to human health. The world has not recovered from the previous virus that jumped from animals to humans. A report by SHAGUN from the worst-hit state of Rajasthan and SNIGDHA DAS in Delhi
10+ min |
October 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Chronic floods threaten Niger delta
THE COMMUNITIES living in the oil-rich Niger Delta have been devastated by recurring floods. The lack of effort to safeguard these communities or help them adapt to the changing weather conditions has left people vulnerable and helpless.
1 min |
October 16, 2022
Scientific India
Mars Glaciers Were Slowed By Fast Drainage And Weak Gravity, Scientists Suggest
Mars may be a freeze-dried planet now, but once, it was supposedly (almost) another Earth, with flowing water that froze into hulking mountains of ice.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Mysterious Mineral On Mars
Planetary scientists from Rice University, NASA's Johnson Space Center and the California Institute of Technology have an answer to a mystery that's puzzled the Mars research community since NASA's Curiosity rover discovered a mineral called tridymite in Gale Crater in 2016.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Ice And Dust Ladder On Mars
The image of ice and dust layers on Mars from an orbiting NASA spacecraft may provide a window into the complex, waterfilled history of the Red Planet, a new study suggests.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Aliens Hovering Over Ukraine?
Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs as popularly called, have become an object of public discussion, with several countries going the uncanny phenomenon.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Technology restores cell, organ function in pigs after death
Within minutes of the final heartbeat, a cascade of biochemical events triggered by a lack of blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients begins to destroy a body's cells and organs.
2 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Iran Salt Mountains- Salt Domes
Iran is full of many wonders. One of these is the Salt Mountains.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Hidden Forests Found Deep Beneath The Ocean Cover Twice The Area of India
Amazon, Borneo, Congo, Daintree. We know the names of many of the world's largest or most famous rainforests.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
First Medical Amputation-human organ cut first, evidence found
If the hands and feet of the body are damaged, it is cut off. But do you know when a person's hand or leg was cut off for the first time?
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Nutrient fodder enrichment through crop biofortification
India has largest livestock population in the world, but almost the entire feed requirement is met from poor quality feed resources that lead to declined productivity.
4 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Purple Tomatoes, Rich In Health Protecting Anthocyanins
Scientists have expressed genes from snapdragon in tomatoes to grow purple tomatoes high in health-protecting anthocyanins.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Project Cheetah
Hunted to extinction in India by 1952, the big cat is now being reintroduced in the country. Will the world's first intercontinental translocation of a carnivore in the wild work?
2 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Paris Syndrome
Paris Syndrome manifests itself differently in different people, but amongst the most common symptoms are acute delusions, hallucinations, dizziness, sweating, and feelings of persecution
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Chinese Scientists create world's first cloned wild Arctic wolf 'Maya'
Beijing-based gene firm on 19 Sept 2022 announced the debut of the world's first cloned wild arctic wolf via video, 100 days after its birth in a Beijing lab.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Scientific India
Terrible explosion in the Baltic Sea
The Nord Stream, Ta natural gas pipeline system in the Baltic Sea, has burst.
1 min |
September - October 2022
Down To Earth
Strong start
With free tuition and access to sanitary pads, a non-profit in Prayagraj provides children in low-income areas a chance to complete their education
2 min |
September 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Moderna strikes with a new lawsuit
Moderna is trying to be gatekeeper for the mRNA platform for future drug development, raising monopolistic fears
4 min |
September 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Cost of credit
Information accessed by Down To Earth under the Right To Information Act belies the government's claim that banks give farm loans without any service charge or mortgaging farmer's land
5 min |
September 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Invisibilisation of Dalit scholars
A PERSON READING CASTE AND PARTITION IN BENGAL: THE STORY OF DALIT REFUGEES, 1946-1961 WOULD THINK THAT DALITS HAVE NEVER DONE A CASTE ANALYSIS OF PARTITION, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE
3 min |
September 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Millet might
Odisha's mission to bring millets back to its fields and plates can succeed with greater marketing support and promotion beyond tribal areas
5 min |