Science
Down To Earth
In The Midst Of War, Russia Hits At Patents
As US-EU sanctions deepen, Moscow passes a law to allow free use of patents owned by "unfriendly countries"
4 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
WORLD SET TO CROSS 3.2°C
Long-term benefits of cutting greenhouse gas emissions today outweigh the costs
5 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Virtual loss
BharatNet's broadband revolution in rural India fails to gather momentum even after missing seven deadlines
4 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Star power
The world is close to cracking nuclear fusion energy code, a source of virtually endless clean energy
6 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Unsettled forever
Over 50,000 tribal people moved out of Chhattisgarh in 2005-06 to avoid violence between state-backed civilian militia Salwa Judum and Naxal sympathisers. They settled in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and now, wielding a lesser-known clause of the Forest Rights Act, are demanding land at their current place of stay
5 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Reluctant move
Nine years after the Minamata Convention was adopted, countries agree to eliminate the use of mercury in artisanal gold mining. Can they enforce the decision?
2 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Snapshot from sewage
Wastewater surveillance is a cheap and effective way to map the spread of infection, be it COVID-19 or any other pathogen
6 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
SKINNED ALIVE
Pruning of timber tree species harms both the quality and quantity of wood, and needs to be checked immediately
3 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
FABULOUS FABA
Ancient superfood faba bean is set to stage a comeback
4 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
COOL IDEA
Ahmedabad residents strategically use shade, ventilation and building materials to keep their homes comfortable: and it does not cost the earth
3 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
Fantastic beasts
MAO'S BESTIARYIS A REVISIONIST HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ANIMAL DRUG INDUSTRY IN MAO'S CHINA THAT ALSO GIVES CONTEXT TO THE CURRENT DEBATES ON ZOONOSES AND THE USE OF WILD ANIMALS FOR HEALTH BENEFITS
4 min |
April 16, 2022
Down To Earth
A New Energy Disorder
At a time when the world is moving towards decarbonisation, the Russia-Ukraine war has brought energy poverty on the doorstep of rich nations. Europe's energy ministers are now touring countries of all hues and persuasions to strike deals for supply of fossil fuels to hedge against inflation and future shortages. The new energy order that emerges post this conflict could well be devoid of climate change as its focal point
10+ min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Boots on the ground
The women waste collection workers of Ambikapur have helped the city manage its solid waste problem
3 min |
April 01, 2022
Down To Earth
Mission to cool
Cities are hiring dedicated officers to prepare for extreme heat
6 min |
April 01, 2022
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 |