Mud housing is the key

Mud's low cost and malleability makes it an ideal building material. But its use can be popularised only if such drawbacks as its …

The spirit of the sanctuary

Sacred groves - tracts of virgin forests - are vestiges of an ancient practice in which people protected a forest to avoid the wrath of its …

The other course

Traditional curative systems like ayurveda, homoeopathy, acupuncture... are being revived as alternative medicine. But in India and the Orient, …

Book review: HIV/AIDS and Traditional Medicine

Indian systems of medicine could receive a big boost if they could yield a cure for just one major disease. And, theoretically, there can be a …

Break the Deadlock

In 1995, many in India were outraged to learn that a university in the US was granted a patent to make and sell haldi (turmeric) for its wound …

A friendly air wave

Radio>> Indigenous People • Peru

Rice to hamburgers

Feathers, nails, bones and blood!

Time has come for tribal medication to be revalidated

Campaign

Well worth it

Modifications in a traditional water harvesting system promises to augment supplies

HONG KONG

Progress report

Update

A partial success

But escape clauses weaken radical decisions taken at the recent convention on biodiversity

Rolling back the architect

Durganand Balsavar’s designs incorporate community demands even at the cost of violating architectural principles

A thousand utility leaf

Sudeshna Saha shares benefits and recipes of a herb, sometimes used as an ornamental plant

Exploring the similarities in human action

EXPALANATION AND UNDERSTANDING IN THE HUMAN SCIENCE Gurpreet Mahajan Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: Rs 150

Losing the edge

As the world increasingly resorts to natural, plant-derived cures for illnesses, the wealth of India's traditional medicinal systems lies …

Going back to the past for a better future

The Tarun Bharat Sangh is helping drought-hit villagers of Alwar district of Rajasthan grow crops by reviving a traditional system of dam …

Common sense about common salt

In earlier times, a mixture of salt, herbs and spices or a simple dose of salt by itself was considered a prime cure for a range of illnesses.

Patent fears

Scientists in Karnataka are forced by the administration to abandon efforts towards documenting the biodiversity knowledge of indigenous people

How about some baby crocs?

The fern adds flavour, nutrition to the food of Maharashtra’s tribals

Princely act

Do men fall ill more often than women?

Oriental antidote