Life on the earth depends on plants. Microscopic aquatic plants and algae make most of the oxygen on the planet. The land plants are the primary producers of human and animal food. This is why it’s important to understand how they grow and reproduce. In the last 450 million years, as plants slowly evolved from … Read more
Daily Quiz | On movies pegged on health Netflix series called The Sandman showed Encephalitis lethargica in a dramatic way to explain the sleeping sickness of the early 1900s START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | The highly successful and entertaining movie Patch Adams starring Robin Williams in the eponymous character, and had its own … Read more
(1) Plastic nurdles wash up on Kerala coast after container ship sinks Several containers washed ashore along Kerala’s lower coast after a container vessel – MSC ELSA 3 – sunk over 30 nautical miles away from Kochi port on Monday (May 26, 2025). The vessel had 643 containers, 13 of which had hazardous cargo. The … Read more
(This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) When you press on a toothpaste tube in the morning, you’re sure some paste is going to spurt out if you’re squeezing hard enough. But how much is enough? Toothpaste … Read more
Every summer, a familiar question surfaces across India, echoing from homes to newsrooms: is it genuinely hotter, or have we simply become more sensitive? This isn’t just some nostalgic lament or biological quirk. The evidence is clear and uncompromising: India’s heat is intensifying, creeping in earlier, stretching longer, and striking deeper than ever before. What’s … Read more
Jared Isaacman, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) testifies during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he is withdrawing the nomination of … Read more
Elon Musk | Photo Credit: Reuters Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on May 29 he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year. Musk presented a detailed Starship … Read more
The Mediterranean Diet, much lauded by health researchers as an ideal one, uses plant-based foods and avoids red meat. Representative image. | Photo Credit: Odiseo Castrejon/Unsplash Across the world, the population of older adults has increased over time. And over 80% of them suffer from at least one chronic health disorder. The U.S. Centre for … Read more
Bats are important animals that help maintain ecosystem balance and human well-being. They play key roles like pollinating plants, dispersing seeds, and controlling insect populations. But of late they have become popular for a different reason: their unique ability to harbour viruses without succumbing to disease. SARS, MERS, Ebola, COVID-19 — some of the most … Read more
A path to pursue Born on August 30, 1884 at Flerang in the parish of Valbo near Gavle, Sweden, Theodor (The) Svedberg was the only child of Elias Svedberg and Augusta Alstermark. The fact that his father was a works manager at different ironworks in Sweden and Norway meant that the family lived at a … Read more
Gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, envy, lust and anger are traditionally seen as the root of all evil. But can these undesirable behaviours actually stem from the biology of our brains? Neurologist Guy Leschziner believes so. Last November, when he launched his book Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human, and delved into the neuroscientific … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Levels of black carbon — ultra-fine particles of carbon that come from vehicles, stoves and wood-fire — in the Himalayas have been rising for most of the past two decades, according to a study by the think-tank Climate Trends. This is contributing to warmer snow, increasing the risk … Read more
Children of mothers suffering from domestic violence in India are significantly associated with mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression in teenagers, a study has found. The findings, published in the journal PLOS One, underscore the need for school programs sensitive to trauma and improved prevention of domestic violence in India. Researchers from the cVEDA … Read more
Daily Quiz | On the monsoons Edmond Halley was an astronomer and mathematician who edited the work of Isaac Newton. A comet and a research station in Antarctica are named after him, who published a treatise on the Indian monsoon. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | In which State does the south-west monsoon arrive … Read more
Nilgiri Chilappan | Photo Credit: Special arrangement At the intersection of art and science, lies the realm of botanical illustration. For Suresh Ragavan, a bird artist, who has served as a botanical illustrator at the Botanical Survey of India for over 33 years, this realm has not only been a source of his bread and … Read more
Director General BrahMos, DRDO and CEO and MD BrahMos Aerospace Dr Jaiteerth R Joshi The Director General of BrahMos Aerospace, Jaiteerth E. Joshi, has emphasised the urgent need for a robust collaboration between defence research, academic institutions and industry to create hands on ready engineers, particularly for the Indian Navy and defence services. Speaking to … Read more
This bird’s eye view shows the severely contaminated Adyar river flowing into the Bay of Bengal after cutting through Chennai’s Marina beach. Less than half a kilometre on either side, the river mouth is flanked by urban settlements. | Photo Credit: Google Earth Through history, human civilisations almost always erupted near bountiful rivers. The waters … Read more
Watch | Rain before its time, what’s really going on with the 2025 Monsoon? | Video Credit: Sabika Syed | Shikha Kumari A | Tayyab Hussain S M The Southwest Monsoon arrived in Kerala a full week early this year—on May 24, 2025. While early rain might sound like good news, this sudden shift raises … Read more
This article forms a part of the Data Point newsletter curated by The Hindu’s Data team. To get the newsletter in your inbox, subscribe here In May 2025, the world watched India and Pakistan edge into yet another military stand-off, following years of strained ties rooted in history, politics, and trade. The Pahalgam terror attack and … Read more
Awake all night? Taken a flight across time zones? Each of these events makes us tired, grumpy and out-of-sorts. A short nap may not be enough to catch up on either sleep or a sense of wellness, because the biological rhythm of the body has been disrupted. There are many biological rhythms in nature, one … Read more
The Democracy Perception Index survey revealed that most countries have a more favourable view of China compared to the U.S. this year. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has been withdrawing from several key international commitments it had long supported and invested in. It announced its departure from the World Health Organization (WHO) and then … Read more
Major study says malaria reinfection creates special immune cells
The roots of addiction medicine began in the ancient civilisations of Africa and Europe. Special methods to care for persons addicted to alcohol were developed in ancient Egypt. There are references to individuals considering chronic intoxication as a sickness that enslaved the body and soul dating back to the fifth century BC. Native American healers … Read more
Lucknow Super Giants’ Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the IPL 2025 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants, Lucknow, May 27, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI Quickly shaking the hand may briefly feel better. But depending on how hard the ball has struck the hand, instinctively shaking it may or may … Read more
In this undated photo, hieroglyphs are revealed in the three new graves of senior statesmen found in the Dra’ Abu al-Naga necropolis area in Luxor, Egypt. | Photo Credit: AP Egypt unveiled three new tombs of prominent statesman in the Dra Abu al-Naga necropolis in Luxor, officials said Monday. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered tombs dating … Read more
Representational image. File | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam The story so far: On April 17, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai, approved the Space Industrial Policy, thereby following Karnataka and Gujarat in formulating a State-specific document to stimulate development and woo investments in the space … Read more
The story so far: Last week, the India Meteorological Department said the southwest monsoon set in over Kerala on May 24, a week ahead of its normal onset. Since 1975, the earliest monsoon onset over Kerala occurred on May 19, 1990, 13 days ahead of schedule. Is there a secret sauce to the monsoon’s early … Read more
The share of Indians dying from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes has surged, while deaths from malaria, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, and perinatal conditions have declined. Notably, the share of deaths from fevers of unknown origin has increased over the years. In contrast, the share of deaths due to cancer has remained relatively flat. Over time, while more … Read more
An Indian army soldier stands next to artillery shells in Poonch sector of India’s Jammu region, on May 20, 2025. (Photo by Mukesh GUPTA / AFP) | Photo Credit: MUKESH GUPTA While India effectively utilised many of its indigenous defence systems during Operation Sindoor, it also relied on weapons built in collaboration with Israel, such … Read more
SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, on May 27, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP SpaceX’s prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday (May 27, 2025), capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of colonising Mars. The biggest and most powerful launch … Read more