A close hard look

Blame's on chimps

It is agriculture that brought malaria with it if humans had not abandoned their nomadic ways for agriculture, two important events would be missing from the history of civilization: deforestation and domestication of animals. Man would also not have heard of diseases like aids and swine flu.

Science & Technology - Briefs

marine sciences Cloning's expensive

The Gates accounts

Foundation's funding misses priorities, favours private sector Foreign funding plays a crucial role in India's healthcare system. But, over the years, the public health fraternity has observed that the funding does not make much difference in improving people's health. They say there is often a lapse in understanding the real problem at hand.

The mosquito catchers

Scientists go door to door to bring the pests in, PCR test tells them which ones are dangerous OVER the last few years, people from some villages of Orissa got used to a team of researchers knocking on their doors at five in the morning. The team was on a mission to collect mosquitoes to study the insects' role in the transmission of malaria in the area. The team would enter houses and use sucking tubes to collect mosquitoes. Mosquitoes outside the houses were collected in the evening using

More floods, no winter

Arnab Pratim Dutta ...as Mumbai faces more natural disasters

Let the young ones be

A new anti-malaria strategy: Target the older mosquitoes 'nip it in the bud' is a maxim that does not go with killing malaria-causing mosquitoes. The trick is to target older mosquitoes that have laid their eggs. Andrew Read and his colleagues from the Pennsylvania State University, US, explain.

It's on the map now

Not all died of poisoning

Avian malaria also responsible for decline in vulture numbers diclofenac poisoning may not be the sole cause for the drastic decline of vulture populations in central and south India. A two-year long study says avian malaria had a part to play as well.

What's plan B?

Mosquitoes are getting better at evading pest control for long mosquitoes have been resisting pest control. They are only getting better at it. From 1977 to 1997, India spent more than a quarter of its health budget on malaria control. Yet it remains a formidable public health challenge in the country.