In 2021, the Government of India had said it will move to 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025 with the two-pronged goal of cutting carbon emissions and reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil. While vehicles modified to be compatible with the new composition started rolling out in April 2025, the government’s push for … Read more
For almost two centuries, biologists have divided the earth into large biogeographical regions. Each region hosts a unique mix of species shaped by its own history, climate, and barriers, such as oceans and mountains. Because those histories differ, many scientists assumed the inner layout of species inside every region would be idiosyncratic — that South … Read more
Many anaesthetics enhance the production of GABA, the brain’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter. | Photo Credit: Mufid Majnun/Unsplash General anaesthesia is a medically induced state that allows doctors to perform surgeries without the patient having pain, awareness or memory. It achieves this by inducing a loss of consciousness, relaxing muscles, and producing amnesia. Anaesthesiologists typically begin … Read more
Israeli soldiers exit a tunnel underneath the European Hospital at Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on June 5, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters In an article published in the journal BMJ Global Health on August 5, researchers from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon coined a new word: healthocide. The authors wrote that … Read more
Rice is the staple food for over half of the world’s population. Before a rice grain can be made edible, the outermost layer of husk covering it has to be removed. Often the next layer, called the bran, is also removed to whiten the rice. Traditionally, these layers have been removed by pounding the paddy … Read more
A scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli bacteria. | Photo Credit: US CDC In a step towards building cheap and programmable bioelectronic devices, Imperial College London and Zhejiang University researchers have shown in a new study that genetically engineered bacteria can be turned into self-powered chemical sensors that interface directly with electronics. According to the … Read more
The anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries respectively supply the yellow, red, and blue parts of the brain. | Photo Credit: Frank Gaillard, Patrick J. Lynch The brain is a guzzler, burning through about a fifth of our resting energy and keeping almost nothing in reserve. When a few thousand neurons suddenly burst into activity … Read more
The new palm species Phoenix roxburghii | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A palm originally described in the monumental 17th-century botanical treatise Hortus Malabaricus continues to fascinate botanists more than three centuries later, leading to the discovery of a new species and the reclassification of existing ones. Recent studies on the palm, named Katou-Indel in the … Read more
representational image only | Photo Credit: AP In a remarkable addition to Kerala’s biodiversity records, researchers from the Shadpada Entomology Research Lab at Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, have identified nine species of solitary bees from the subfamily Nomiinae (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) – all documented for the first time in Kerala. Unlike the social honeybees that … Read more