Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, known for his work on the conservation of Western Ghats, has passed away in Pune after a brief illness. He was 83.
A young ecologist from Tamil Nadu is transforming water hyacinth, a fast-spreading aquatic plant, into a sustainable solution for food packaging. Sushmita Krishnan has developed a unique, chemical-free paper from water hyacinth that can be used for food packaging, turning an ecological challenge into an innovative opportunity.
The Supreme Court has kept in abeyance its previous verdict on the definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges and proposed a high-powered committee to examine the issue.
In Professor Sulochana Gadgil's passing, India has lost a scientific giant, a fierce intellect, and a compassionate soul, remembers Dr Madhavan Nair Rajeevan.
A new analysis has shown that hate speech on the social media platform 'X' spiked by almost 50 percent in the months following Elon Musk's purchase, compared to the months prior. Researchers found that the number of bot and bot-like accounts did not decline during Musk's tenure as CEO, until June 2023. The study, published in PLOS One, also revealed a heightened engagement with hate-related content, with about a 70 percent increase in the average number of 'likes' on such posts.
The use of Plaster of Paris to make huge Ganesha idols has been a bone of contention amongst devotees, organisers and ecologists. Nithya Ramani finds out that for the common man, it is more a question of faith and his pocket than environment when it comes to choosing his Ganesha murti.
The Centre has issued a fifth draft notification to declare over 56,800 square kilometres of the Western Ghats across six states, including 13 villages in Kerala's landslide-hit Wayanad, Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), inviting suggestions and objections within 60 days.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
'Heavy rains are not the primary reason for landslides in Wayanad.' 'There are all sorts of (human) intervention going on in that area.'
'The space required for wild cheetah populations to thrive was grossly under-estimated.' 'Cheetahs, because of their social system and ecologically fragile nature, live at only 1 cheetah per 100 sq kms even in the best habitats of Africa.'
'Usually, we are always worried that we are missing out something in life.' 'We are very keen for the audience to have this as a cinema experience in theatres.' 'You get the rare chance to be patient.'
'The planning and implementation has gone horribly wrong.' 'What they are doing is in effect, establishing a large cheetah zoo.'
Overburdening of hills with construction coupled with saturation of soil and seepage seem to be responsible for landslides in Shimla city, said Principal Scientific Officer, Himachal Pradesh Council for Science Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE) S S Randhawa.
'The question is, which is worse?' 'Is it worse that he would be resting in peace or is it worse that he's being held by these terrible people who have attacked and killed babies and raped women?'
Gadgil and the report prepared by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him are back in news after over two dozen people lost their lives in landslides and flash floods in the past few days in the hilly regions of Western Ghats in central Kerala districts of Kottayam and Idukki.
The first study used spatial analysis to show that the earliest known COVID-19 cases, diagnosed in December 2019, were centered on the Wuhan market.
a team led by ecologist Uma Ramakrishnan and her student Vinay Sagar from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, have discovered that the coat colouration and patterning which make the wild cats appear dark boil down to a single mutation
'An earthquake of a slightly higher magnitude in the Western Himalayan region is going to be catastrophic -- not just because of the fragility of the region but because of how densely we have occupied it.'
The same team of scientists had last year dismissed the lab leak idea as a conspiracy theory in a report also published in The Lancet.
'The administration started intruding into the kitchens and bedrooms of the local community.'
'For the first time in 50 years the people of Lakshadweep who have till now never raised their hands, got out on the streets and started raising their voices.'
There can be no one answer to the question at the centre of an anxious debate across a world coping with COVID-19 and wondering what will happen if another one comes, but the global scientific community has been working on multiple tracks to ensure that humankind is better prepared.
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, submitted by ecologist Madhav Gadgil last year, was further delaying the Rs 30,000-crore (Rs 300-billion) refinery project of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in Maharashtra, a senior official of the state-run oil marketing firm said. The project has already been delayed due to bureaucratic red tape.
Use of Plaster of Paris at Ganesh festivals has been a bone of contention amongst devotees, organisers and ecologists. Abhishek Mande travels to Pen, where the Ganesha making industry finds itself entangled between faith and business viability.
Urge them to end 'avalanche of plastic'
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Lakshadweep Research Collective said it along with 60 other signatories from the scientific community have written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention to withdraw the "incautious draft" Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation of 2021.
A study by Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK, says men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practiced polygamy lived on an average 12 per cent longer than monogamous men
Wangari Maathai is an environmentalist and human rights campaigner.
Prani is both a home for rescued animals and a habitat classroom for kids.
'Man-made interventions vastly increased the magnitude of the tragedy.'
'But one of the important things to remember is that what we are seeing today in India -- the destruction of the forests, the opening up of the forests to mining companies.' 'It's a horrifying thing that's going on.' 'Yet, if you look at who owns the mining companies, you will see that almost always they are vegetarians!' 'They are people, who in their own lives would probably not even hurt an insect, but yet have no qualms about destroying an entire ecosystem.'
Calling the Supreme Court order 'unjust' to the tribals as well as against the interest of wildlife conservation in India scientists have demanded cancellation of SC order
"Built on what was a series of islands, the city's historic downtown core is particularly vulnerable," the NYT said.
A new study has indicated that methods commonly used in censuses of tigers and other rare wildlife put the accuracy of such surveys in doubt.
'I have a voice and must use it to do as much as I can.'
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
Under political fire and ecologists' ire, the group hires Suhel Seth, who will work closely with the promoters and the social media, corporate communications and external public relations team.
Mangalyaan has been named among the best inventions of 2014 by Time magazine which described it as a technological feat that will allow India to flex its "interplanetary muscles."
Close on the heels of Kenya, which recently set on fire over a hundred ton of its ivory stockpile, experts in India are mulling a similar provision to destroy the "white gold" to send a strong message against poaching.
Govt's decision comes two days after the National Green Tribunal had warned of strict action if clarity was not provided on the issue.
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