Drug booster

ONE of the most challenging features of malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum is its ability to evolve and render anti-malarial drugs ineffective. The emergence of multidrug resistant strains of the parasite in South-East Asia and other tropical countries in recent years is undermining international efforts to eradicate malaria.

Watch the clock

MOST heart attacks occur in the morning. Depression and suicidal thoughts peak in the middle of the night. Travelling across time zones makes people feel out of sorts. While these appear to be different observations, there is one interesting phenomenon common to them all: a clock that constantly ticks inside of us.

Gut reaction

MALARIA kills over a million people each year, most of them children below five. Ninety per cent of these deaths are caused by the deadliest malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. An international team of researchers has taken the fight against this parasite a step further by solving the age-old puzzle of how it survives inside the human body.

Bitter is better

BITTER food might be bad in taste but is good for health. Scientists at University of Massachusetts Medical School in the US have found bitter substances can halt asthma attacks and respiratory problems, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

New science policy brings in PPP

Web unravels

Perfect model

Why do we need a wide variety of experimental models? Interviewee:  Jessica Bolker

The inside story

EMERGENCE of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis bacteria has rendered most TB drugs useless. Scientists are now scrambling to find new antibiotics to treat the disease. A study on how a popular TB drug works has come as the first step towards developing better strategies to fight the bacterium that kills millions every year.

GM maize and its health implications for humans

What are the major takeaways from the research? It shows multiple impacts, most acutely in liver and kidney function and immune system disturbances. Most worrying is the extraordinarily large number of tumours developing earlier and more aggressively in the rats. I am shocked because it was so unexpected. Interviewee:  Michael Antoniou

Make way for Indian probiotics