Down To Earth | Latest news, opinion, analysis on environment & science issues | India, South Asia

NEWS

Health

New bioactive dental filling material promises to be teeth-friendly

New bioactive dental filling material promises to be teeth-friendly

A team of Indian scientists has developed a new technique that promises to help produce …

Science & Technology

Scientists see link between oxidative stress and neurological disorders

A gene known to play a role in neurological disorders, is also involved in mitigating …

Science & Technology

Has ISRO found its humanoid for space travel?

Representational Image. Credit: Getty Images

If India's space agency has a bot ready, why are its scientists scouting for another

Food

Canada’s new food guide promotes plant-based proteins, instead of meat

Canada's food guide

The latest food guide came after cardiovascular disease became the second cause of death …

Governance

Mine collapse kills six in Jharkhand, 12 feared trapped

The caved in mine saw illegal extraction of coal

Climate Change

Greenland’s ice melting rate increases four times in nine years

Ice melting in Greenland

A research finds that this is a tipping point, which means global warming has brought …

Energy

‘India’s renewable energy plan lacks vision’

Representational Image. Credit: Getty Images

The target of achieving 175 GW green power capacity by 2022 is ambitious; but what’s …

Wildlife & Biodiversity

Fishing trawler with dead sharks seized in Odisha

Coast Guard seized the trawler carrying the carcasses of 250 endangered bull, hammerhead …

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Videos

Climate Change

The magnetic North Pole is shifting and that too very rapidly

There is unusual activity at the North Pole. The magnetic north pole is sliding away from the Arctic region of Canada into Siberia. It has always tended to drift at about a few kilometres every year. From 9 km/year in the mid 1990s it picked up speed to 55 km/year.

Environment

IMD's India 2018 weather report

Science & Technology

China became the first country to sprout a seed on the moon

Pollution

National Clean Air Programme is a half hearted policy

Climate Change

Oceans are warming at a faster rate than predicted

डाउन टू अर्थ

Representative image: Getty Images

Science & Technology

कामगारों को तकनीक से अलग होने का अधिकार मिले : आईएलओ

ग्लोबल कमीशन ऑन द फ्यूचर ऑफ वर्क नए नियमों और डिजिटल कार्यस्थल पर अधिकारों की मांग करता है

ऑटोमेशन कौशल खत्म करेगा, इंसानी हस्तक्षेप जरूरी : आईएलओ

Science & Technology

ऑटोमेशन कौशल खत्म करेगा, इंसानी हस्तक्षेप जरूरी : आईएलओ

ग्लोबल कमीशन ऑन द फ्यूचर ऑफ वर्क का कहना है कि ऑटोमेशन और अन्य तकनीक कम दक्ष लोगों को काम से बेदखल कर देंगी

Water

बारिश की एक बूंद बेकार नहीं जाने देते ये गांव

चिड़ावा पंचायत क्षेत्र में बारिश के पानी का भंडारण कर 66 गांवों की प्यास बुझाई जा रही है

Sunita Narain's Desk

Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Editor of Down To Earth magazine. She is an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindsets

Recent Editorials

2018 a year of revolts

Time up for reinvention?

Revolt of the rich and the poor

A vicious nexus

A vicious nexus

Breathless silence

Factsheet

Sub-Saharan regio

Health in Africa

SDG remains a distant dream in Sub-Saharan region

Africa's progress is crucial to the world achieving the 37 health-related indicators under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. But the slow pace of progress in most nations,…

Photo Gallery

Photo: Abdalla Barghash/UN Environment/The FlipFlopi Project

Waste

Onboard the FlipFlopi: A boat made of used plastic

A traditional dhow made of trash, collected from beaches and towns in Kenya, is set for its maiden voyage from Lamu to Zanzibar in Tanzania

Photo credit: Gajanan Khergamker

Environment

Death by a thousand cuts

Kites may add colour to the sky but at the same time, they are fatal for birds that get caught in the strings and suffer severe injuries. As Gujarat celebrates Uttarayan/Makar Sankranti by flying kites, here's a reminder on the harm caused by the deadly Chinese glass-coated manjha

It says that the most expensive natural disaster was the “Camp Fire” in northern California with overall losses of US$ 16.5bn and insured losses of US$ 12.5bn. Image credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Taylor Workman

Natural Disasters

In photos, the cost of a natural disaster

A new report by reinsurance giant Munich Re reveals that natural disasters caused global economic damage upto $160 billion in 2018. As per the report, around 10,400 people lost their lives in 2018 due to natural disasters. It says that 29 natural disasters in 2018 caused more than $1 billion in damage each.

Credit: Anne Vatén/Stanford University

Science & Technology

In a different light

Here’s what Stanford University research papers, focusing on areas ranging from supermassive black holes to the intricacies of the human brain, look like when illuminated by light!

Infographics

Climate Equity: Whose CO₂ emissions are more than their share?

Climate Change

Climate Equity: Whose CO₂ emissions are more than their share?

Climate change poses the greatest threat to those least responsible for it–generally people that are already vulnerable to deep-rooted challenges such as poverty. Conversely, those who have …

Narendra Modi government

Health

India's Health Crisis

Insufficient allocation for the health sector pushing 7% of Indians below the poverty line and about 23% of the sick can't afford healthcare

Blogs

Jessica Franklin

Jessica Franklin

West Papuans: An indigenous people that the world forgot

V Sundararaju

Raging Bull: How the controversy over Jallikattu ended up saving the Pulikulam breed

Anumita Roychowdhury

Anumita Roychowdhury

Volkswagen scandal: India must fix responsibility on manufacturers

Cartoons

In-Depth

Agriculture

India's cow crisis

India's cow crisis: The full coverage

January 16, 2019

All that you need to know about what's wrong with India's cow laws and the problems …

Environment

Why Indian automobile industry needs to walk extra to clean up toxic emissions

November 27, 2018

By jumping from BSIV to BSVI, India's not allowing vehicle manufacturers extra time …

Health in Africa

Why pregnancy brings distress for women in Sierra Leone

November 29, 2018

A crumbling health system deters women from going to hospitals, making the West African …

DTE In Print

Economy

Pressed for sharing

The Uttarakhand high court order on Ramdev's firm to pay for use of bioresources has put …

Food

Animal feed ingredient from US with GM corn can hurt India's livestock industry

Photo: Vikas Choudhary / CSE

As lower yield pushes up maize prices feed makers turn jittery; but importing …

Mining

Dumped in a pit

rat-hole mining

The 2014 National Green Tribunal ban has not only failed to contain rat-hole mining, but …

Economy

No worries? Ask Simba

A furore over Disney's trademark on the Swahili phrase Hakuna Matata heats up the cultural appropriation debate

A furore over Disney's trademark on the Swahili phrase Hakuna Matata heats up the cultural …