Opportunists among plants

Chef, scientist come to blows

A bird scientist interviewed by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for his TV series has posted a letter on Facebook saying she was portrayed in an “unfair light” on Fish Fight.

Why scientists don’t back Novartis claim

The past two weeks have been marked by significant decisions on lawsuits that have put India’s patent regulations to the test. The case in the headlines has been one related to Natco’s compulsory licence for the manufacture of German drug giant Bayer’s cancer treatment drug Nexavar.

Novel Therapy

You suggest beta lactams, used in antibiotics, are effective anticancer drugs. How did this idea come to you? Interviewee:  Bimal K Banik

Catching them young

KOUSHIK CHAKRABORTY Plant Physiologist at Directorate of Groundnut Research, Junagadh Salt-resistant oilseeds

Perfect model

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

All birds in one tree

AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists has ruffled the feathers of old beliefs on evolution in birds.

Letters - December 15, 2012

Leave Them Alone This is with reference to the article, “Tourism in Jarawa buffer, officially” (November 16-30, 2012). The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been home to several distinct tribes for tens of thousands of years. But the administration, first the British and later the Indian government, brought nothing but disaster for the tribes. Only the Sentinelese tribe remains untouched by the devastation due to their isolated location and aggressive behaviour towards outsiders.

Researchers’ horror act

In a research station in Antarctica, things go wrong. Cut off from the outside world, the small community gradually becomes fractured and antagonistic and a killer emerges. In the isolated group, members are picked off one by one, paranoia ensues and no one is safe.

When supervisors cheat

The book under review is about a sordid chapter in the history of medical invention. In the 1940s, US president Roosevelt launched an initiative to develop antibiotics to treat animals and humans, and to deal with the potential threat of biological warfare. Among the graduate students in the department was Albert Schatz, who was analysing soil samples to find an antibiotic that would cure tuberculosis.