Chasing Mercury

Of all the planets in our solar system, Mercury has been the most elusive -- it took astronomers almost 14 centuries to predict its orbit …

Digging its own grave

Despite its glorious past, the future of the Archaeological Survey of India is jeopardised because of internal wrangling and a lack of a concrete …

Population prompts progress

The experience of a Kenyan community contradicts a traditional theory that population and development are inversely proportional

19th century Indian diet: rice fights wheat

The question of what constituted a balanced Indian diet had the British totally confused

Nuclear nemesis

Russian scientists confess to dumping atomic waste near major rivers to hide their Cold War sins

Rice goes against the grain

An Asian staple for over a millennium, rice has become important enough for the North to start raiding and patenting strains

The axe and human civilisation

The use and abuse of wood is a major theme in the history of humankind according to a new book, A Forest Journey

Roman retreat

About 2,000 years ago, when the Romans ruled London, they gave the city its first centrally-heated homes. A look back in time

The ups and downs of a science city

During the Raj, science flourished in Calcutta. But the city's fortunes changed drastically because of warped policies

A people devoid of "genius and imagination"

The curiosity about exotic lands that gripped scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries resulted in the collation of a lot of information, much of …

Slow born on the atomic fast track

In February this year, the United States government publicly admitted to carrying out nuclear radiation tests on completely innocent human guinea pigs

Chill blast

Did American scientists help Russia acquire its atomic bomb? A new book triggers off a major post-Cold War controversy

Egypt's revered donkeys

The hesitant growth of surgery in Bengal

Rapid strides in Western medicine and surgery relegated Indian medical systems to the back seat, especially because of brahmanical abhorrence of …

Elementary order

How did elements come to be tabulated according to their properties?

New coffee house chain by Coke

Temples of irrigation and land management

From the 9th century to the 16th century, south Indian kingdoms did not have irrigation or public works departments. Temples were given the job …

Tracing a path from the sun

Present-day interest in solar power has arisen mainly because of rapidly dwindling energy resources. But the quest for tapping the sun's energy …

From beer to recombinant DNA

...or how the ethical minefield of biotechnology has grown over time

Barbarism to animals has a hoary pedigree

Through the centuries, human beings have tried to establish their dominance over animals, killing them for both food and sport. Even today, …

Checking population growth through the ages

The concept of family planning control dates back to the ancient Greeks. Though many scientific advances have been made in the field since then, …

Tantrums of the "Christ Child"

A weather event which Peruvians once regarded as a boon is now recognised as causing terrible global disasters

A new look at the first great civilisations

The saga of Diego Garcia's Chagossian evacuees

How Diego Garcia became a US military base

The world of french fries and potato salad

The potato, native to South America, invaded England in 1588, the year Elizabeth I's devil-may-care sea-dogs vanquished the Spanish Armada. It …