The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
A study published in The Lancet by field doctors Bob Snow, Kevin Marsh and others of the Wellcome Trust in Nairobi and at the University of Oxford, has sparked off a controversy. The researchers say that insecticide-treated bednets may do more harm than good in the areas worst-hit by cerebral …
The malaise of malaria Malaria, prevalent in over 100 countries, poses a risk to some 2,700 million people across the world. The direct and indirect economic cost of the disease in Africa alone was over US $1,800 million in 1995. Ronald Ross, a British officer in the Indian Medical Service, …
The UK government has been making efforts to get the European Union to ban a self-cooling drink can that uses HFC134a, one of the most powerful human-made greenhouse gases. The aerosol can be packed inside a drinks can. The liquid inside is released into the air when a button at …
Sri Lankan police in Mirigama has filed a case against the management of the Walls Ice Cream for allegedly polluting the environment that has led to health hazards in the area. The Attanagalla court rejected the plea put forward on behalf of the accused company. Attanagalla Magistrate Iranganie Perera conducted …
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has planned to launch 49 projects to phase out 5,000 metric tonne of ozone depleting substances (ODS) in 27 developing countries, including India. The Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund for Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MP) has approved an amount of US …
The infamous Indian bureaucracy beat the turtle literally this time. Two scientists who desired to conduct a study on the endangered Olive ridley turtle on the coast of the eastern state of Orissa were left with no option but to suspend their project because the government delayed its approval beyond …
Consumers in Japan are becoming increasingly wary of genetically modified agricultural products. There has been a steep rise in the use of bioengineered varieties of crops such as soya bean, rapeseed, potato, and corn. Consumer societies have argued that the long-term safety of bioengineered crops cannot be assured. The Japanese …
We take life for granted because that is all we see around us, till death steps in to remind us how easy it is to take life away. The tobacco industry is not dying, but those who smoke are. Slowly but surely they are killing themselves to fill the coffers …
High-level political corruption is today the big story in the Indian media. And in the minds of the politicians, too. At least that is what came out of the special session of parliament held to debate the future agenda for India. But the debate was of such a poor quality …
The purpose of the crossbreeding programmes were two-fold - to upgrade nondescript Indian cattle by crossing them with superior indigenous breeds like Hariana, Tharparkar, Gir, Sindhi and Sahiwal, and to improve the latter by crossing them with exotic breeds like Jersey, Brown Swiss and Holstein to produce superior bulls for …
Zebu, the indigenous breed of cattle, have lower body temperature, which is suitable to a hot climate. This metabolic adaptation allows them to better utilise low quality roughage, making them useful in other countries with a similar climate. Central American countries, Australia and southern states in the US have crossed …
Found in Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, the yak is the most important species for highlanders in these areas. In Ladakh, it faces one of the harshest environments. It feeds on grass with leaf blades barely an inch long at high altitudes in the summer, descending to lower …
Ladakh is one of the coldest inhabited places in the world. Day and night temperatures vary greatly. Low oxygen, dry air, high intensity lightning storms and sudden high precipitation create an extreme environment. This is the home of some well-adapted species and breeds, the most prominent being the yak. Mostly …
The case of the Vechur cow is an example of how vested interests can create obstacles for conservation of a near-extinct breed. It also shows what misdirected crossbreeding can do. The cow, from Vechur in Kottayam district, Kerala, is small and hardy, and its fodder requirements low. It yields 2.5 …
Neglected wealth Crossbreeding programmes have backfired in India. Productivity of crossbreeds has declined, while native breeds are disappearing. Indigenous livestock breeds may not be as productive as the exotic, but they are resistant to local diseases, adapted to climate and have low food requirements. Intermixing has produced nondescript or 'mongrel' …
Saifuddin Soz, the Union minister for environment and forests announced on August 19 that more than 2,000 polluting industrial units across the country had been issued closure notices. He added that all the "polluting units' will have to shut down in the first week of November unless they can show …
when a large deposit of tin was discovered in the Jos plateau in central Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century, expectations were high. Tin mining on the plateau began in 1905 and gradually became the backbone of the economic prosperity of Jos city. Jobs were easily available and …
• DENGUE DETECTION KIT: Casil Health Products Ltd, Ahmedabad in colla-boration with Pan Bio Pty Ltd, Australia has developed a rapid detection kit for the dreaded dengue fever . The detection kit confirms the presence of the dengue flave virus in only five minutes without the aid of any other …
deforestation in the tropics is causing massive extinction of bird species. Many of these species, endemic to insular Southeast Asia, may soon be lost if rapid and effective conservation measures are not undertaken, claim ecologists. During a workshop sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society ( wcs ) and the Bolivia …
