Science
Down To Earth
SOME OVERLOOKED ASPECTS
Increasing night-time temperatures and rapid intensification of cyclones already happening
1 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Excessive groundwater extraction can cause subsidence
Subsidence is a global phenomenon seen not just in coastal regions, but also in inland areas. Natural subsidence progresses slowly, but anthropogenic activities, like excessive groundwater extraction, can significantly accelerate the rate, says LEONARD OHENHEN, assistant professor, department of earth system science, University of California, Irvine, US. In an interview with SUSHMITA SENGUPTA, Ohenhen says that climate change intensifies the problem through multiple pathways.
3 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
2025 IS UNPRECEDENTED
Never heard about so many such exceptional rainfall events as have occurred this year
1 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
GOVERNING THE CLOUDS
In the absence of evidence, replicability, funding and transparency, cloud seeding languishes as an imperfect science
6 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Heavier footprints
Investments and capital owned by the world's wealthiest few are driving the climate crisis, according to a first-of-its-kind report
3 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Views on the annual Delhi pollution debate
This is in response to the \"Photo of the day: A game of soccer in post-Diwali Delhi\" published on the website on October 21, 2025.
2 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Climate change fuelled hurricane Melissa
ON OCTOBER 28, category 5 hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica with maximum sustained wind speeds of 298 km per hour (kmph), making it one of the strongest hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean.
1 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
ICAR's claims exposed by its own data
Why has ICAR flouted crop testing rules and ignored data red flags to push gene-edited rice strains that will not benefit farmers?
4 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
COMMUNITY RIGHTS BEFORE RELOCATION
Union tribal ministry releases policy document on rights of communities in tiger reserves marked for relocation
2 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Stork sanctuary
Villages in Uttar Pradesh mount efforts to protect painted storks and inspire a conservation movement
2 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Defined to exclude
Kerala has declared itself free of 'extreme poverty', even as people employed in the informal sector, tribal populations and coastal communities continue to live in extremely impoverished conditions
3 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
WE MAY SEE MORE
As the number of extreme events keeps increasing, chances of compound extreme events also grows
2 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Resurgence of diseases across world regions
CANADA MAY be on the brink of losing the measles-free status it gained in the year 2000, after recording more than 5,000 cases since October 2024, according to government data.
1 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
'Tax the carbon content of investments of the rich'
The world's billionaires hold more capital than many governments, and wield greater political power to influence future growth trajectories. The transition to a carbon-neutral future is a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebalance private and public investment in ways that can reduce both wealth and climate inequalities, say Lucas Chancel and Cornelia Mohren, editors of the \"Climate Inequality Report 2025\". Excerpts:
3 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Uncle Sam's hunger pangs
IN THE first week of November, thousands in the US were out seeking food-from hotel leftovers to food bank supplies and even donations from near and dear ones.
2 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
EARTH IS WARMING FASTER
Changes in weather systems, once expected decades hence, appear to be unfolding now. In India the consequences are intensifying
10+ min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
End the annual charades
IT'S THAT time of the year again. Hordes of government diplomats, civil society and academics have headed to discuss climate change. This time, the UN Conference of the Parties (coP30) is in Belém, a Brazilian city on the edge of the Amazonian rainforest.
3 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
INHERITED CURES
The ethnomedicinal practices of the Sumi Nagas are a living knowledge system transferred orally through generations. Unless protected through legal frameworks, the knowledge may be lost and faces risk of biopiracy
4 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Belém or bust
COP30 may be humanity's last chance to act as warming accelerates and adaptation funds falter, warn a series of reports released ahead of UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil
7 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Researchers find new cure-all for snake bites
A TEAM of researchers led by the Technical University of Denmark report to have found a broad-spectrum anti-venom that targets venom from many snakes using a specific kind of small-sized antibodies called nanobodies.
1 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
It's all in the name
The Delhi High Court has ruled that no product in India can carry the label 'ORS' unless it strictly adheres to the formula recommended by the World Health Organization
4 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
Setback in Hasdeo
Chhattisgarh high court order upholds mining in the state's Hasdeo Arand forest over community claims, challenging core tenets of Forest Rights Act
5 min |
November 16, 2025
Down To Earth
The life of water
A THREE-PART FILM SERIES THAT LOOKS AT ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF WATER IN INDIA THROUGH A SOCIO-ECONOMIC PRISM, HIGHLIGHTING THE NATURAL RESOURCE'S INTEGRAL LINK TO AGRICULTURE, HEALTH AND POLITICS
4 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Rays of change
From dark nights to uninterrupted electricity, rooftop solar has brought independence, health and prosperity to a Maharashtra village
3 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
FATAL NEGLECT
A spate of child deaths from contaminated cough syrup exposes deep flaws in India's drug oversight
5 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
In unsettled state
Battered by disasters, land- scarce Uttarakhand must relocate villages deemed unsafe. Forestland is the only available option, but the state faces resistance from forest department
5 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Battle for reefs
Scientists are helping corals fight back against warming seas
10 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Green shoots in wreckage
Even with deepening ecological collapse, from vanishing species to fractured habitats, signs of hope emerge
3 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
Back to the roots
Over 200 tribal villages in Madhya Pradesh are turning to forests to restore food security, breaking free from years of market dependence
5 min |
November 01, 2025
Down To Earth
How to slash a drug price by 97 per cent
Rulings that bar patent extensions on flimsy grounds by drug giants are opening the gates to dramatically cheaper generic medicines
4 min |