‘It’s absurd to blame litchi for AES, malnourishment the real cause’

Arun Shah, a Muzaffarpur-based paediatrician who has researched on the syndrome, says the fruit is only a triggering factor for malnourished children

‘We need to treat the mountains gently and with respect’

Down To Earth speaks to Peter Hillary, the son of the legendary Sir Edmund, who was the first to scale Mt Everest on May 29, 1953 with Tenzing Norgay

‘Globotics could disrupt lives of millions of skilled workers’

Richard Baldwin, professor of International Economics, talks to DTE on protectionism, globalisation and the rise of robotics

'Green Party’s rise is a response to the rise of nasty populist movements'

Newly-elected Member of European Parliament from the British Green Party, Catherine Rowett speaks to Down To Earth about the significance of the party's gains in the recent polls to the continental body

Now drug-resistant genes can be identified in less than half the time

A researcher in California talks about FLASH, her new gene-based technology that can help doctors tackle antibiotic resistance better

'Oxfam’s used clothing trade in Africa opened employment, cut waste'

Second-hand clothing business has changed peoples’ lives for the better — they get a fair wage, steady employment, health care and pensions

'The sugar sector is highly politicised'

Sandip Sukhtankar is associate professor, department of economics, University of Virginia, USA. He has authored a critically-acclaimed paper Sweetening the Deal? Political Connections and Sugar Mills in India. He spoke to Down To Earth

‘Developing a Red List of India’s fungi is imperative’

NSK Harsh of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, talks to Down To Earth about the Red List of India’s Fungi that he is preparing

‘Indigenous people have been effective stewards of biodiversity globally’

Down To Earth speaks to University of Connecticut professor Prakash Kashwan about his book, Democracy in the Woods

Meet satellite Aeolus; it may better predict the next Fani

Josef Aschbacher of the European Space Agency talks about the only satellite dedicated to measuring wind speeds after localised winds made it difficult for the IMD to forecast Cyclone Fani

'Frogs are beautiful'

Wildlife filmamker Ajay Bedi talks to Down To Earth about his recent documentary, 'The Secret Life of Frogs' that released commercially recently

‘Yeti is a vehicle to connect with our wild past’

While the India Army claims to have seen tracks of the mythical Himalayan monster in snow, here’s an interview of American scholar Daniel C Taylor, whose 60-year Yeti quest ended with him discovering that Yeti is actually a bear

'Indian elections will always be unpredictable'

For 25 years, economist Ruchir Sharma has travelled the length and breadth of India analysing voting paterns, sociological landscapes and nuances of elections. In his new book, Democracy on the Road, He has chronicled his experiences. He spoke to Down To Earth on the 2019 General Elections

'UN does not have real powers to execute its decisions'

As the United Nations observes 100 years of the International Civil Service, Down To Earth speaks to Henning Melber of the University of Pretoria about the UN's relevance in today's world

World Malaria Day: ‘If we don’t become complacent, we can eliminate malaria like 1965’

PL Joshi, former head of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme talks to Down To Earth about how malaria vaccination, surveillance and drug resistance

‘Konkan’s rich biodiversity has lured poachers to its pangolins’

Vishwas Katdare is the founder of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra, a non-profit operating for the last 26 years, mostly in Maharashtra's coastal Konkan region towards 'conservation for the benefit of environment and locals'. The non-profit was recently awarded a grant by The Habitats Trust, a foundation …

'Innovators of medical diagnostic tools can approach us for finances'

Mohammad Aslam, managing director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, tells Down To Earth how the government-aided non-profit hand holds researchers when it comes to medical diagnostics 

'Both, solid waste and faecal sludge must be tackled for clean cities'

The policy advocacy head of international non-profit WaterAid’s Bangladesh unit, Abdullah Al Muyeed talks to Rashmi Verma about how a small town, Sakhipur, around 60 kilometres from Dhaka, successfully manages its faecal sludge sucked out from septic tanks and solid waste simultaneously

‘The IFA amendment is a zero draft; all stakeholders will be involved later’

Director General of Forests, Siddhanta Das tells DTE that the proposed amendment in the Indian Forest Act is a mostly techno-legal exercise and has a long way to go before it is finalised

'Animals and humans have shared spaces in India long before 1972'

In the aftermath of a tragic incident in Maharashtra's Junnar, where 5 leopard cubs were burnt to death unknowingly by a farmer in whose field they were in, Down To Earth talks to leopard expert Vidya Athreya about how humans and leopards can share the same space 

'Crocodiles are affected by low frequency vibrations'

Down To Earth interviews crocodile expert Adam Britton on impact of noise on the breeding and behaviour patterns of crocodilians