Developed countries, especially the U.S.,need to commit funds to limit climate change The conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok last week, that was to draft a rulebook for the Paris Agreement ahead of a crucial international conference in Poland in December, ran into predictable difficulties …

Alan Rusbridger’s new book captures the troubling reality in the media ecosystem today I am never tired of saying that the best journalism is akin to Umberto Eco’s idea of balancing humility and pride as a means for academic excellence. Academic humility, according to Eco, is the knowledge that anyone …

In reading down Section 377, the Supreme Court has showed the way to deepen democracy In its decision in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India last week, the Supreme Court has finally struck down the colonial-era law criminalising homosexuality and the lives of LGBTQ persons. In a 493-page verdict, …

The government advisory on the use of the word shows its intent to further marginalise the community In pre-Independence India and after 1947, during the several unyielding movements for justice for Dalits, multiple terms have been used to convey the idea of the caste system which B.R. Ambedkar described “as …

Dialogue with the U.S. should not define India’s strategic future or its other bilateral relationships The India-U.S. 2+2 meeting on September 6 between the Defence and Foreign Ministers of the two countries appeared to be a singularly one-sided affair. Washington was calling the shots, and New Delhi was trying to …

The synthesised material absorbs light much like porphyrin in natural chlorophyll Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have developed cheaper and more flexible organic solar cells using a synthetic derivative of vitamin B12. An organic solar cell is made up of acceptor and donor …

The sensor could detect levels of the analytes in spiked human serum and urine Developing electrochemical sensors to detect dopamine and paracetamol in the body is an active field of research. A team from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, has come up with a nanocomposite material made …

Why not convert CO2 into solid carbonate rocks? As we have kept on burning more and more of organic fuel, such as coal and crude oil, over the last century across the world, the amount of the oxidation product, carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere has reached alarming levels, causing …

Despite being an attractive drug target, designing inhibitors against HupB protein has been largely unsuccessful till now By using a small single-stranded DNA molecule (DNA aptamer) that specifically binds to a single protein (HupB) present in TB bacteria, researchers have been able to achieve 40-55% reduction in the bacteria’s ability …

Indonesia’s best defence of its currency may be a cool head. A dramatic sell-off in emerging markets has pushed the rupiah to its weakest level against the dollar since the 1998 Asian crisis. Policy-makers appear rattled, but measured approaches are available.Jakarta is better placed to defend the rupiah than it …