Ethics before profits: What it will take to have global access to COVID-19 vaccine

Experts worry that any COVID-19 vaccine is likely to have a high price tag and, as a result, be unequally distributed 

Plastic recycling: What it means

What do we really mean by recycling? What happens to the waste we can’t recycle?

COVID-19, climate change, inequality: Centering rights and environmental protection

Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-induced disasters and extreme weather have continued to wreak havoc in the Global South, adding to the burden of poor countries  

The Green Revolution and a dark Punjab

Punjab has paid a price for food security. The use of pesticides and fertilisers has resulted in a number of health issues for the state’s population

Drought, literature and the lessons

It is imminently important for us to spend considerable time researching the water woes plaguing India and the indigenous solutions, existing in the wealth of literary sources that we possess

How ‘good’ does a COVID-19 vaccine need to be? A new study has answers

A vaccine with an efficacy as low as 60% could still stop the pandemic. However, most, if not all of the population, would have to be vaccinated

COVID-19: Developing countries in unprecedented debt situation

Demand for a ‘global debt deal’ picks up

Lockdown, relax, repeat: How cities across the globe are going back to coronavirus restrictions

While there are increasing examples of a return to some lockdown measures, there are no examples demonstrating the success of a second lockdown — other than in Beijing

A new epoch: Human population to peak in 44 years

Global population estimated to touch 9.73 bln in 2064, then decline to 8.79 bln in 36 years

How we found the earliest glass production south of the Sahara and what it means

This research has illuminated an aspect of Africa’s past that is often misrepresented or completely obliterated

The paradox of cooling

For a tropical country like India, there is not much to cherish about. The number of unbearably hot days experienced by India and Bangladesh will rise

Planet of the humans: Is green energy enough to save the day?

The film is a depiction of what can go wrong if we do not address the energy question. What it does not address is the monstrous scale of energy use 

The mystery of the mouse that died of smoke inhalation, but went nowhere near a fire

The mice didn’t die immediately after inhaling the smoke. When temperatures in Canberra spiked at more than 40℃, they went into respiratory distress and died

Did ancient Americans settle in Polynesia? The evidence doesn’t stack up

Indigenous Americans have no history of open ocean voyaging. Similarly, there is no archaeological evidence of pre-Polynesian occupation on any of the islands of Polynesia

Summer bushfires: How are the plant and animal survivors 6 months on? We mapped their recovery

Australia roared into 2020 as a land on fire. The human and property loss was staggering, but the damage to nature was equally hard to fathom

Draft Electricity Amendment Bill: Centre crosses federal boundaries

The Centre seems more concerned over profitability of private solar power companies than protecting consumer interests

Independence is at the heart of the African Development Bank’s ability to be effective

African Development Bank was first and only organisation to offer support to regional member countries’ effort at managing COVID-19 crisis

COVID-19 and medicine’s misguided romance with machines

The history of a controversial syndrome linked to COVID-19 shows the risk of letting technology dictate treatment

Wanted: An urban equivalent of MGNREGA

Such a programme is the need of the hour not only as a measure to revive the urban economy now, but also to mitigate any further shocks to it in the future

COVID-19, war and hunger: Yemen’s humanitarian crisis is becoming worse

Over 10 million are on the brink of famine; as many as 400,000 children are at the risk of dying, according to UN  

Dangers of a nationalist vaccine

In the time of COVID-19, the Indian government has shown an embarrassing readiness to cut corners by seeking to push through a vaccination by conducting clinical trials at breakneck speed