CATEGORIES

Life span of the host increased by the parasite

Worker ants live longer if they are infected with parasite tapeworm. Tapeworm (Anomotaenia brevis) infected ant (Temnothorax nylanderi) workers have a longer life span than uninfected workers in the same ant colony.

Researchers identified the molecular basis of soybean seed coat color

Gene silencing is the process by which the activity of the genes is regulated so that a particular gene's expression can be prevented.

CANDIDIASIS: Management Through Probiotics

Candida yeast is a normal inhabitant of our skin, gastrointestinal tract, and mucous membranes, including the vagina, mouth, and nasal passages. These eukaryotes naturally live in the vagina but they are only problematic when the bacterial balance is exasperated.

Host range of SARS-CoV-2 holds the clue for prediction of future outbreaks

The pandemic- COVID-19, has completed its one year since its inception from the seafood market of Wuhan, China. Till to date this has taken 2.75 million human lives all over the world. Scientists are working round the clock to come with an effective vaccine.

Canadian geologist found the oldest water on earth

Dr Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto has extracted from a Canadian mine water that is 1.6 billion years old.

Zombie Genes: Genes That Come To Life In The Brain After Death

In the hours after we die, certain cells in the human brain are still active. Some cells even increase their activity and grow to gargantuan proportions, according to new research from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail – An Exceptional Game Changer For Covid Treatment In India

Immunity against a pathogen occurs either naturally or as a result of exposure to it. Vaccination is a biological procedure that stimulates the immune system of a person.

COVID-19. MAD SCRAMBLE

Inequitable distribution amid acute shortage has derailed the global vaccination drive against We need to act fast to win the race against emerging virus variants

Why is India afraid of compulsory licences?

While rich nations are discovering virtues of CLs, India has turned its back on this tool despite nudges from the court

‘Vapour on Venus will tell us if it's alive'

More than two-and-a-half decades after its last missions to Venus, NASA has planned a trip to Earth’s nearest neighbour. On June 2, the US space agency announced DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions to the planet in 2028-30 under its Discovery Program, going on since 1992. Space agencies have explored Venus since the 1960s, but focus shifted around mid-1990s. Venus regained interest after researchers from the UK detected phosphine, a gas released through organic processes, in the Venusian atmosphere. A week after NASA, the European Space Agency announced a Venus mission later this decade. India and Russia, too, have been planning Venus probes. Described as Earth’s twin due to its similar size and density, Venus’s atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulphuric acid with a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. NASA’s DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) will drop a descent sphere to measure the gases in Venus’ air, while VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) will orbit the planet to map its geological features. We’ll also learn about phosphine, THOMAS P WAGNER, who leads the Discovery Program, tells DAKSHIANI PALICHA in an interview. Excerpts:

WAGING CHANGE

Guaranteed employment is an effective poverty alleviation tool. But it works only when governments know how to use it

PLAN FOR THE WORSE

A slew of administrative and land reforms initiated in Lakshadweep pose an existential threat to the islands and have provoked widespread protests

MAY GET LOST IN DETAILS

That’s the concern among environmentalists as Uttarakhand sets the gross environmental product in motion

CAUGHT UNAWARES

Even as India attempts to understand the sudden rise of COVID-related mucormycosis, its treatment throws up a different set of challenges BANJOT KAUR NEW DELHI

Talking, thinking trees

Can trees communicate, have consciousness or memories? German forester PETER WOHLLEBEN’S new book explores the latest research in the field. Excerpts from the book:

TUNNEL VISION

Slot canyons and rock cliffs define the water-whittled landscape of southwestern Utah’s Zion National Park.

THESE CREATURES COME WITH SPECIALIZED STORAGE

ENGLISH BIOLOGICAL anthropologist Alice Roberts had so often ridiculed the human form’s shortcomings that in 2018 a colleague gave her this challenge: Redesign the body by improving upon its parts. Finding inspiration in nonhuman species, Roberts speculated that we might be better off with some of their features, including the marsupial’s pouch. No human mother will be pocketing her little Joey like a joey anytime soon, but many animals—and not just marsupials—have vital uses for their built-in storage containers. Here are five.

THE LURE OF TRIESTE

Northern Italy’s elegant and vibrant border city has long been an overlooked cultural gem. Now renewed interest in its port could bring a new era of prosperity.

PLANET POSSIBLE

Want cleaner water? Two ways to help. Want to cut waste? Three more ideas. Now it’s in your hands.

GENERATIONS LOST

A century ago, a white mob massacred as many as 300 people in the prosperous Black district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today the city is finally coming to terms with the devastation.

KARINE AIGNER

Every day in the Ecuadorian Amazon can be magic.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

AQUACULTURISTS IN OREGON are developing a specialty food industry centered on a marine alga that’s been called “the most productive protein source on Earth,” “the superfood of the future,” and—intriguing to many people—“bacon of the sea.” Dulse (rhymes with “pulse”) is a seaweed found in the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Difficult Conversations

RECKONING WITH THE PAST

Dear Fermi: A Fan Letter

MY FAVORITE SPACECRAFT? THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE, WHICH CAPTURES A COSMOS SO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT OUR EYES SEE.

BAKING IN POMPEII

In A.D. 79 the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash and pumice, and carbonized many of their organic contents—including the bread in Pompeii’s bakeries. Farrell Monaco, a culinary archaeologist, researched one popular bread’s history and has re-created the recipe.

ANCIENT ROME'S FIGHT CLUB

REAL GLADIATORS WEREN’T QUITE LIKE THOSE IN MOVIES. THEIR BATTLES WERE MORE ABOUT PUTTING ON A GOOD SHOW THAN KILLING ONE ANOTHER.

A GLASS SEA MENAGERIE

The detailed models a father and son made in the 19th century as research tools are now in museums.

क्या ऑक्टोपस सपने देखते हैं?

ऑक्टोपस सपने देखते हैं या नहीं, यह तो अभी पता नहीं चल पाया है लेकिन वैज्ञानिक इस गुत्थी को सुलझाने की ओर बढ़े हैं। आईसाइंस (iScience) में प्रकाशित हालिया अध्ययन बताता है कि मनुष्यों की तरह ऑक्टोपस भी नींद की दो अवस्थाओं का अनुभव करते हैं -सक्रिय नींद और शांत नींद । लेकिन मनुष्यों और ऑक्टोपस, दोनों में इस दो अवस्था वाली नींद का विकास स्वतंत्र रूप से हुआ होगा, क्योंकि ये दोनों जैव-विकास में लगभग 50 करोड़ वर्ष पूर्व अलग-अलग हो चुके थे।

जानलेवा बीमारियों के विरुद्ध जंग में रुकावट बना कोविड

मार्च 2020 में भारत में तालाबंदी के बाद से टीबी जैसी जानलेवा बीमारी में प्रतिदिन रिपोर्टेड मामलों में 70 प्रतिशत की कमी देखी गई। एक ऐसी बीमारी जिससे प्रति वर्ष 14 लाख लोगों की मृत्यु होती है उसमें अचानक इतनी गिरावट आना हैरत की बात है। लेकिन वर्तमान में कोविड-19 के चलते चिकित्सा संसाधनों का फोकस टीबी के निदान तथा उपचार से हट गया है। ऐसे में टीबी के संचरण में वृद्धि होने की आशंका है क्योंकि टीबी निकट संपर्क से फैलता है और लोग घरों में बंद हैं।

टीके से जुड़े झूठे प्रचार को रोकने की पहल

हाल ही में ट्विटर ने अपने सोशल मीडिया प्लेटफार्म से ऐसे अकाउंट्स को निलंबित या बंद कर दिया है जो नियमित रूप से कोविड-19 टीकों से जुड़ी भ्रामक जानकारी फैला रहे थे। इसी तरह की एक पहल के तहत अमेरिकी वैज्ञानिकों ने कोविड-19 टीके के बारे में भ्रामक जानकारियों के विरुद्ध मोर्चा खोल दिया है।