As the Kerala floods have shown, the diaspora can shape political and economic responses Between August 8 and 20, the devastating floods in Kerala claimed nearly 500 lives, displaced over a million people, and directly affected over a sixth of the State’s total population. The State government’s latest report estimates …

Proposed changes in the Electricity Act could leave the poor behind A few months before the next general election, the Central government has proposed a set of changes to the Electricity Act 2003. The amendments seek to enable a market transformation in electricity. The link between political power and electrical …

The Congress and non-NDA regional parties must forge ‘a practical accommodation to reality’ With the Election Commission having announced the schedule for elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana in November-December, the stage has been set for a ‘dress rehearsal’ of the elections to …

It learns signatures from MRI, genetics and clinical data Scientists — including one of Indian origin — have created an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can accurately predict whether a person’s cognitive decline will lead to Alzheimer’s disease in the next five years. Researchers from the University of Toronto in …

RMIT varsity developed Sans Forgetica Researchers have created a new type font, called Sans Forgetica, to help people remember more of what they read. Sans Forgetica is believed to be the world’s first typeface specifically designed to help people retain more information and remember more of typed notes, said researchers …

Next influenza outbreak ‘could kill up to 150 million people’ It was the disease to end all others, infecting a third of humanity, killing tens of millions in their beds and prompting panicked talk of the end of days across continents still reeling from war. One hundred years on from …

The Hubble space telescope, which has been in orbit since 1990, is currently out of action because of a gyroscope failure, the U.S. space agency said on Monday. NASA said Hubble went into “safe mode” on Friday because of the failure of another of the six gyroscopes used to orient …

After munching on berries that fermented due to an early frost, they get ‘typsy’ and fly into windows They fall out of trees. They fly into windows. They stumble along branches and wobble their small feathered bodies as if they’ve had one marg too many. Have the drunk birds come …

Takes Rs. 100 crore hit; disallows fresh investment in the scheme till October 31 In what could perhaps be the first such instance of a mutual fund writing off its entire exposure towards troubled IL&FS, BOI AXA Mutual Fund has decided to take a hit of a little more than …

To tap into the festive season sales The battle between retail giant Amazon and homegrown e-commerce firm Flipkart is getting intense to tap the upcoming festive season. Walmart-backed Flipkart said it had added 30,000 direct jobs in its supply chain and logistics arm. The company is expecting its seller partners …