Germany opts for the smart card

Why would Germany, the developed country that it is, come to India looking for solutions to deliver its educational subsidies?

Google booked

The US telecom regulator has fined Google $25,000 for stalling a probe into its Street View online mapping service. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) announced the penalty, saying it was dropping the investigation into whether Street View cars gathered data from private wireless networks.

Two decades of hope

When planning Down To Earth as a news magazine, we had two concerns: One, are we fully aware of the rapid changes that are taking place in the world’s technological systems, the kinds of opportunities and problems that these changes are likely to generate, and are we debating enough which of these we want to adopt or letting ourselves through inertia be swept

The humble bird's friend

ONE SPARROWS are ubiquitous. But their populations are declining in many parts of the world, including India, for reasons that are still unclear. Urban areas do not have space for house sparrows and they are also home to a host of predators. The birds are declining in rural areas too. And the problems are similar. There aren't enough nesting sites or food sources for them.

Amazon, a click away

People can now explore portions of the Amazon Basin from the comfort of their homes, thanks to Google’s free online map service. Pictures taken along the Rio Negro in Brazil last year have been woven into Google Maps, allowing users to virtually venture on waterways, trails and in villages.

Traffic samaritan

Since September last year a mystery twitter going by the handle, Gidi Traffic, has been informing motorists in Lagos of traffic jams. In the last week of May, he was nominated for, but did not win, the Life-Saving Hero award at the Shorties—regarded as the Oscars of the social media world. But this resident of Nigeria’s largest city has proved reclusive and even refused to reveal his real name.

Sneaky side-effects at a click

WHETHER it’s the common paracetamol or clioquinol used sometimes to treat skin infections, side-effects of medicines have always been a matter of concern. It is true that pharmaceuticals list the side-effects of a drug on the package, but it is not enough to know all the adverse reactions that a drug may cause.

Eat at your own risk

Art with bugs

INSECTS make up about 80 per cent of the total number of living beings on the planet. Yet we know very little about them, and at times refer pejoratively to them as bugs and creepy crawlies. The site under review implores a rethink. And it uses the unlikely medium of art.

Bowing to web

The volumes once synonymous with the word encyclopaedia are going out of print. When this magazine hits stand, Encyclopaedia Britannica would have gone out of print, bringing an end to a 244-year-old history.