CATEGORIES

NOT ONE TO BUDGE OR HIDE

More than a priest, Father Stan Swamy was a fearless activist

A POOR REPLICA

Hailed as Patna’s Marine Drive, the 20 km-Ganga Pathway Project will only make the capital city prone to flash floods and render the riverfront project redundant

Accidental protagonist

JANE JACOBS’ FIRST CITY IS A BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTION OF THE EVOLUTION AND SURVIVAL OF THE SMALL INDUSTRIAL TOWN OF SCRANTON, MAKING THE CITY THE REAL PROTAGONIST IN THIS OTHERWISE HAGIOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF JANE JACOBS’ LIFE

Covaxin Data Silent On Protocol Breach

INDIA-MADE Covaxin shows 77.8 per cent effectiveness in symptomatic infections of sars-cov-2, as per the phase-3 clinical trial data released by the vaccine's manufacturer, Bharat Biotech. The preprint paper, uploaded to the online archive and distribution server medRxiv on July 2, says Covaxin has an efficacy of 93.4 per cent against severe covid-19 infections and 65.2 per cent against the Delta variant.

Development of Food grade Edible Growth Media Using Food processing by-products: Production and Delivery of Probiotics

Vegetarian probiotic foods by meaning must be free from all animal-derived ingredients. This not only includes the product ingredients but the probiotic inoculum as well.

Role of Backyard Poultry in Sustainable Rural Livelihood under Indian Perspectives

It is fact that people are becoming much health-conscious and they are incorporating more animal protein in their diet due to its beneficial effects.

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.