Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
THE NEXT time you pluck a flower, take care: you could hurt it. And, if you are a plant-lover, stop talking to them and try touching them instead. Researchers say seemingly passive plants can feel and react to touch in their own special way (New Scientist, Vol 136 No 1843). …
The one-man inquiry commission appointed to investigate reports of poaching in the Ranthambhore tiger reserve has turned out to be a sham, say conservationists. The report has indicted the park's management for poaching, but has stopped short of actually pinning blame and recommending action. The report has generally criticised the …
VICTIMS of Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases have reason to cheer: scientists may soon be able to treat -- if not cure -- their illnesses. Cyto Therapeutics, a US firm that develops cell implants, has signed an agreement with biologists Sam Weiss and Brent Reynolds of the University of Calgary …
The public humiliation of B D Sharma, social activist and former Commissioner of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, has stirred up a hornet's nest. "It has come as a shock to all of us... But what else can you expect from the fascist regime of (Madhya Pradesh chief minister) Sunderlal …
DOCTORS in Africa are debating whether severely anaemic children should be given blood transfusions because of the risk of their getting AIDS-infected blood. Researchers, however, have found ways to reduce the frequency of transfusions by 55 per cent without increasing mortality (The Lancet, Vol 340 No 8818). Severely anaemic children …
For officials in the power sector, setting targets for electricity generation has become a leap in the dark. Because of environmental considerations, all targets for producing power from conventional sources have been upset and several hurdles have been placed in the way of securing international assistance for power projects. Prime …
After years of inaction, things seem to be moving with lightning speed in Bhopal. The Supreme Court has directed the Reserve Bank of India to transfer the money paid by Union Carbide as compensation to welfare commissioner A G Qureshi for payment to victims after the processing of claims. Almost …
GUAYULE is an arid-zone crop that is one of only two species yielding rubber in quantities substantial enough for commercial use. Unlike the rubber tree, guayule can be cultivated in marginal lands and provide income to desert dwellers. The whole plant, except the leaves, produces rubber. Scientists at Haryana Agricultural …
The Indian government has once again rejected an allegation that 27.5 tonnes of heavy water produced in Norway was diverted from Romania and Germany to India. Atomic Energy Commission chairman P K Iyengar said in his reply last month to the Norwegian foreign office India produces and even exports heavy …
ZOOLOGISTS have always wondered why the females of two African antelope species repeatedly mated with only certain males. A further clue was provided by James Deutsch and Rory Nefdt of Cambridge University who discovered female antelopes always chose mates who occupied certain territories in the mating grounds. The researchers then …
NEXT YEAR, a longer-lasting and more efficient bulb known as the electronic light, or "E-Lamp," will hit the US market. A magnetic coil generates a radio signal that interacts with the gas inside the bulb, as a result of which a phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb starts …
IN HIS Independence Day address this year, prime minister P V Narasimha Rao vowed to eliminate scavenging from the country within a year. But mere administrative fiats will not make life easier for people like Rameshwari, who estimates she is 35 and has been a scavenger for 15 years in …
CRITICISING or condemning lopsided developmental priorities and highlighting their consequences is one thing; outright rejection of the very concept of development, science and technology is quite another. Propagating extremist ideology -- one that goes to the meaningless extent of rejecting even the Second Law of Thermodynamics -- is the sum …
MY GRANDFATHER was young when he died of tuberculosis and our family was quite traumatised by the event. Thank God no one has to die of that terrible disease in today's world -- or so I thought, before I started my medical practice in Kumaon. My first lesson about TB …
Anna in Marathi means brother and Kishan Baburao Hazare is lovingly known as Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi, the village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district that he helped transform from poverty to plenty. Yet, though life in the village has changed, Anna continues to live in a small room in the …
FROM VERY small children we receive an education which is very different from white children, ladinos. We Indians have more contact with nature. That's why they call us polytheistic. But we're not polytheistic... or if we are, it's good, because it's our culture, our customs. We worship -- or rather …
HEADLINES about Ranthambhore sanctuary in Rajasthan are usually about its vanishing tiger population, but it was recently featured in the news for a very different reason. Artists from villages neighbouring the tiger park came to New Delhi's Taj Mahal Hotel to display their creations of the majestic big cats. The …
THREE, thematically unrelated films though off-beat are of interest because they deal with ecological activism, alternate lifestyles and informal banking. The first is Plastic! Plastic! and to see it is to is to appreciate the vital role the kabadiwala plays in Indian society. Mussoorie has no kabadiwala and the result …
ON AUGUST 9 the nation was observing the golden anniversary of the "Quit India" movement; that day, in Neralakuppe (A), a settlement of 40 Jainu-Kuruba households near the Nagarhole sanctuary in Karnataka, a different drama took place -- all the villagers fled to the jungle in fear. They were frightened …
Why did you form the GVMS? Women need remunerative work so they can be economically independent and take better care of their family's needs. We want to learn new things, this contributes to our development. We got the idea after observing the work of the BKS. While the BKS has …
