India first confirmed Rugose Spiralling Whitefly, a pest that attacks coconut, banana, palm and other crops, in Tamil Nadu in 2016. A decade later farmers still report drastic yield declines due to the pest. Florida, where the pest was first recorded, has deregulated RSW after biological control using parasitoids. Indian farmers still experience collapsing…
It includes reducing leakage, improving reuse, harvesting rainwater and managing demand through better planning and pricing. Crucially, it highlights the need for baseline data, clear targets and regular monitoring to ensure that efficiency gains are real and measurable. At the national level, the Bureau of Water Use Efficiency has been set up under the National…
What happened to NASA’s ‘Moon Trees’ after they orbited the Moon on Apollo 14 (Image source: Wikipedia) What NASA accomplished in the early 1970s is a little-known but truly impressive feat. Instead of putting rockets or robots in space, they put seeds there. Seeds of different trees accompanied astronauts on the Apollo 14 mission in…
When Tanzania’s young people poured onto the streets after the disputed October 29, 2025 elections, many observers were caught off guard. The country had long been seen as politically stable, with protests rare and dissent tightly contained. But for a generation already struggling with unemployment, rising living costs and shrinking civic space, the violent crackdown…
Pannotia occupies an awkward position in Earth science. It is described in textbooks and review papers, yet its outline remains faint. The proposed supercontinent is said to have existed around 600 million years ago, before the better-known Pangea. For years, it offered a neat bridge between the breakup of Rodinia and the later assembly of…
In recent years, the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) has begun turning up in some surprising places. If you live in South India, you may have seen one stroll calmly through a field, stand proudly inside a temple, or even wander past houses as if it owns the place. Once upon a time, these birds were shy and…
Indore is ranked as India’s cleanest cities. But just as the year turned to 2026, there was shock; over 400-500 people were rushed to hospital just because they drank water; it is now reported that at least 10 have died and numbers could go up. The condemnation of this tragedy is loud and justified. But…
NASA has completed a series of scientific balloon flights over Antarctica during a campaign that began in early December. Four balloons were launched from a site near McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf and remained in flight for several weeks. The flights were part of NASA’s ongoing Scientific Balloon Program, which supports research using…
Chile wildfires (Picture credit: PTI) SANTIAGO: Wildfires burning out of control in southern Chile have killed at least 15 people and forced more than 50,000 to evacuate, the government said Sunday.Security minister Luis Cordero gave the tolls for 14 blazes burning for two days now in the Nuble and Biobio regions about 500 kilometers (300…
WASHINGTON: The scientists have discovered that the adolescent brain does more than prune old connections. During the teen years, it actively builds dense new clusters of synapses in specific parts of neurons. These clusters emerge only in adolescence and may help shape higher-level thinking. When the process is disrupted, it could play a role in…