Odisha needs to make apposite effort to have toilets in all its school

Who cares for toilets in school? 34% of schoolchildren in Odisha do, finds new study

What’s the record for how long it’s ever rained without stopping?

Rainfall is “measurable” if it adds up to 0.01 inch (0.25 millimeters) or more

Genomic sequencing: Here’s how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants

When an organism replicates, it makes a copy of its entire genome to pass on to its offspring. Sometimes errors in the copying process can lead to mutations 

James Webb Space Telescope: How our launch of world’s most complex observatory will rest on a nail-biting knife edge

If all goes well, humanity will have a new eye on the cosmos, with capabilities that far surpass anything that has gone before

When the Himalayas lose: Assessing Char Dham Pariyojana judgment

The route, which connects 4 ancient Himalayan pilgrimages, runs through fragile valleys of Bhagirathi: The Ganga, Alaknanda, Mandakini and Yamuna

Blue-sky thinking: Net-zero aviation is more than a flight of fantasy

Only battery, hydrogen electric options significantly reduce non-CO₂ climate impacts such as oxides of nitrogen, soot particles, oxidised sulphur species and water vapour

South African movie dives into the complexity of poaching

Award-winning South African film, Sons of the Sea, explores the moral universe of forced choices 

Lateral Thoughts: The uncomfortable science of booster vaccine

The disjoint between research and policy has never been so evident than in the case of vaccine boosters  

Will Madhya Pradesh retain its ‘Tiger State’ tag this year?

This year, 40 tigers died in MP — the highest in India

Delivering climate action: The road ahead for India after CoP26

We need many more important and concrete measures to drastically reduce emissions.

How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers 6 questions

Melissa Hawkinsan epidemiologist, explains the way researchers calculate how well a vaccine prevents disease, what influences these numbers and how omicron is changing things

As told to Parliament (December 15, 2021): Mobile network connectivity in over 95% villages

All that was discussed in the House through the day

Plant protection authority sets right its potato blunder

A public campaign forced it to revoke registration of PepsiCo’s potato variety, but the agency needs to reset its priorities

Moving African rhinos: What it takes to translocate an endangered species

Addressing security issues remains paramount as it can undermine all the best introductions

Zero the way to go

Great change for Little Rann: Finance for solar panels and the road ahead

Salt farmers cannot apply for bank loans to buy pumps and subsidies promised are delayed

The warning lights are on for malaria medicines in Africa

Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, an alternative drug, was also showing signs of failure

Tornadoes and climate change: What a warming world means for deadly twisters and the type of storms that spawn them

To answer whether climate change influenced likelihood of tornadoes in the December 2021 outbreak, it remains difficult to attribute any single event like this one to climate change

Mainstreaming climate resilience through MGNREGS: Learning from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai

The district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days in September 2021, in line with the recently launched state climate mission

Bonded labour, child labour: Manual scavenging in India far from being eradicated

More than 90% manual scavengers were never recorded through the PEMSR Act

Stop patronising the adivasis, Mr PM; they need dignity, not charity

The government needs to recognise that forest laws need to be flexible enough to accommodate and invite collective participations of local stakeholders within an overarching, supportive state setup