Normally, this is a reference you would find in Gothic novels or discussions on medieval mythology. Archaeologists have found ancient skulls with a rock clamped between the jaws, and this was supposedly done to prevent the dead from returning as vampires. However, the recent discovery of a body of a …

There is ‘an essential truth in the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. The logic that the collaborative efforts of a community are required to teach a person all the skills they need comes to mind’ when considering India’s hugely ambitious target of rolling out …

More data is needed to prove that intermittent fasting can reverse diabetes Planned, intermittent fasting may reverse type 2 diabetes, suggest doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports . This was after three patients in their care were able to cut out the need for insulin treatment altogether. Findings from …

They represent the collective wealth and clout of India’s corporate titans. When they speak, even Prime Ministers listen. Which is why the silence of India’s powerful industry associations like the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of …

Five years ago, when Alice Munro got the Nobel Prize for Literature, it was a long overdue recognition not just of the sort the Canadian writer deserved, but also of the short story form. It was not clear if the Nobel Committee for Literature, which is now in such bad …

It’s a running joke among my friends and it’s difficult to stop them laughing mercilessly about it, especially when life loads the dice in their favour. The thing is, there is this idea — not at all outlandish — that a writer needs quiet in order to write. Wherefore, in …

In the absence of explicit harm to any group of persons, the wisest course of action in matters of religion is to let communities of believers evolve norms on their own Midway through a documentary ( Kettukazcha ) by the filmmaker and scholar, Madhu Eravankara, a deep truth emerges: “The …

Tuberculosis patients in India are frequently ignorant of drug side-effects Last June, Sunil Kumar, 28, a Delhi-based vegetable vendor, was diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB). The government hospital he visited for treatment prescribed a drug called bedaquiline. That year, even though India was giving bedaquiline to patients as part of …

Pulls and pressuresWorkers pull a line from a cargo ship as it prepares to berth at a port in Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province. China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in nine years in the third quarter, as a campaign to tackle mounting debt and trade frictions with …

Tens of thousands of supporters of the European Union (EU) began marching through London on Saturday as part of what organisers say will be the largest ever demonstration to demand that the British government holds a public vote on the terms of Brexit. The protesters waved the blue and gold …