SEEDS OF TROUBLE

Countries and economic blocs across Africa are on a legislating spree to regulate the continent's seed markets, ostensibly to overcome chronic hunger. The real reason, many believe, is the corporate push that is driving nations to facilitate and promote trade of hybrid seed varieties. The fear is that the new laws will destroy not only the continent's food diversity, but also its indigenous practices of seed conservation.

Chilli under attack

A new species of thrips destroys chilli farms across six states, triggering market shortage and farmer suicides

A charged view

Using discarded solar panels to make buildings can help deal with PV waste and give the cells a new lease of life

"Indian vegetarians do not eat vegetables"

FROM A RACE OF TALL, GRACILE PEOPLE WITH GOOD HEALTH AND LONG LIVES, INDIANS HAVE NOW BECOME OBESE AND UNHEALTHY. FOOD HISTORIAN AND PHYSICIAN MANOSHI BHATTACHARYA TELLS ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY THAT THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE WAY OUR DIETS HAVE CHANGED OVER THE CENTURIES.

Shark whisperer

WHITE SHARKS HAVE A PERSONALITY BEYOND THE ANTAGONIST BEAST THEY ARE PORTRAYED AS IN MOVIES. THIS IS WHAT RAJ SEKHAR AICH, A NEW ZEALAND-BASED MARINE ANTHROPOLOGIST AND RESEARCHER OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH IN HIS BOOK IRIDESCENT SKIN. THE SOCIALLY INTELLIGENT MARINE ANIMAL HAS BEEN TRAVERSING THE SEAS FOR ABOUT 400 MILLION YEARS, BUT IS CURRENTLY A VULNERABLE SPECIES IN NEED OF CONSERVATION. THIS INTIMATE ACCOUNT LOOKS AT THE HUMAN WHITE SHARK RELATIONSHIP THROUGH THE EYES OF CAGE-DIVING TOURISTS IN NEW ZEALAND, AND BRINGS OUT TRAITS OF THE FISH THAT ARE RARELY ASSOCIATED WITH IT. THE AUTHOR'S PERCEPTION SURVEY OF TOURISTS BEFORE AND AFTER THEIR INTERACTION WITH THE SHARKS SHEDS LIGHT ON HOW CAGE-DIVING CAN HELP IN CONSERVATION EFFORTS. EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:

Shot in the dark

India's precautionary dose rollout indicates that the world is reluctant to move beyond vaccines in the fight against COVID-19. How practical and viable is this booster-shot strategy?

Climate's Trafficking Connect

Disasters and poverty fuel human trafficking. Increase in extreme weather events makes millions more vulnerable to this trap. TARAN DEOL and SHUCHITA JHA travel to the frequently battered parts of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra to capture this often ignored aspect of climate change

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"

WORLD SET TO CROSS 3.2°C

Long-term benefits of cutting greenhouse gas emissions today outweigh the costs

Virtual loss

BharatNet's broadband revolution in rural India fails to gather momentum even after missing seven deadlines

Star power

The world is close to cracking nuclear fusion energy code, a source of virtually endless clean energy

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

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?

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

SKINNED ALIVE

Pruning of timber tree species harms both the quality and quantity of wood, and needs to be checked immediately

FABULOUS FABA

Ancient superfood faba bean is set to stage a comeback

COOL IDEA

Ahmedabad residents strategically use shade, ventilation and building materials to keep their homes comfortable: and it does not cost the 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

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

Boots on the ground

The women waste collection workers of Ambikapur have helped the city manage its solid waste problem

Mission to cool

Cities are hiring dedicated officers to prepare for extreme heat

INSTITUTIONAL OVERSIGHT

Though hospital births have seen a record rise in the past 15 years, maternal and infant mortality rates remain high

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

NATURAL NUDGE

Employ beneficial and cost-effective microbes to improve crop yield

Plastic endgame

The world's adoption of the resolution to end plastic pollution by 2024 is only the first step in a long battle

Drug debacle

Sixteen years after India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac to save its vultures, three other drugs revive the old challenge

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

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

'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

Climate Justice, Now

IPCC's latest climate report provides evidence that climate-justice needs to be at the centre of global policymaking