Praying mantids prey on smaller insects and sometimes the odd frog or lizard. Now, it looks like they’ve added fish to their menu too, for naturalists have observed one catching and eating small ornamental fish in a garden in Bengaluru. Guppy-catcher It was on the evening of March 7 last …

Natural recharge during monsoon may not help much if groundwater depletion becomes acute, as rainfall of past years controls current storage With 230 billion metre cube of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater. The …

The pH and salinity of the waters exceeded permissible limits for ecologically sensitive zones The water quality at the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary might be unsafe for avifauna to feed and breed, notes a study that examined different pollution indicators in water. Researchers from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli compared their results …

Sensitivity for pulmonary TB and pleural TB were 94% and 93%, respectively. A highly sensitive diagnostic test for pulmonary TB and pleural TB has been developed by a multi-institutional team led by Jaya Sivaswami Tyagi from the Department of Biotechnology at AIIMS. The diagnostic test makes use of a DNA …

In the month or so preceding Remembrance Day, which marks the anniversary of the end of the First World War, red poppy badges are a common sight across Britain. This year, however, some of them come with a difference. Prime Minister Theresa May is among the high profile figures to …

Caught in the demographic pincers of a declining birth rate and an ageing population, notoriously immigrant-shy Japan is being forced to open its doors to foreign workers. Its current position on immigration is, at best, tepidly welcoming to highly skilled workers, while sceptical of allowing in job-seekers from lower down …

After a 40-year ride of economic reforms, Shenzhen is now looking for answers to spur an artistic renaissance. “Many questions of creativity have come to the fore,” says Ole Bouman, director of the Sea World Culture and Arts Center, a head-turning icon in the Shekou area of Shenzhen. It was …

Since April 2016, all oral polio vaccines (OPV) across the world contain only two of the three polio serotypes — Type 1 and Type 3. Type 2 is banned because the wild, disease-causing version of this virus was eradicated globally by 1999, and because OPV itself can cause polio in …

The killing of five Bengalis in eastern Assam’s Sadiya on November 1 has led to an uneasy calm in a State divided over language amid a bid by the Central government to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Why the controversy? The Assamese and the Bengali, the two largest linguistic …

Late on Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved the Sri Lankan Parliament and called a snap general election for January 5. The announcement came within hours of his party spokesman publicly admitting to lacking a majority in Parliament. Mr. Sirisena’s front was aiming for a majority to push its controversially installed …

A National Monogenic Diabetes Study Group has been formed to identify cases of monogenic diabetes across the country. Supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) and Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre (DMDSC) will be the national coordinating centre for the study group. …

Seeks experiment ideas from space agencies, universities and researchers An 18-month-old pitch for what could be the first Indian orbiter mission to Venus has just been refreshed and relaunched, opening it up now for international experiments. Tentatively marking the yet to be named ‘Mission Venus’ for mid-2023, the Indian Space …

After changing the names of Mughalsarai, Allahabad and Faizabad, BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh are demanding renaming of more places associated with Mughal and Islamic rulers. While many names are being whispered about, Muzaffarnagar, Agra and Sultanpur are among those being discussed openly. Sangeet Som, Meerut MLA, has said Muzaffarnagar …

From the time President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Mr. Wickremesinghe on October 26, till he dissolved parliament exactly two weeks later, doubts about the constitutional validity of his moves have been a recurring theme. The dissolution of the House in particular, shortly after Mr. Sirisena’s party declared it lacked numbers for …

Devastated orchard owners try to mend trees felled by untimely snowfall, say compensation announced is just a speck in comparison to the losses November is the peak wedding season in south Kashmir’s ‘apple bowl’ Shopian. But Riyaz Dar, an orchard owner from Hirpora village in the district, has decided to …

Two years after demonetisation, the fake currency notes seized so far are not of a high quality, a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found. Another Home Ministry official said the network of same fake currency operators was still intact as two years ago, that pushed fake notes …

The 24th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), which opened in the city on Saturday, will not only celebrate 100 years of Bengali cinema but also cinema from the faraway land of Australia that is more than a hundred years old. Cinema in Australia goes back to 1906, much before Bengali …

Opposition parties in Maharashtra demand arrest of Sudhir Mungantiwar and investigation by CBI Opposition parties today demanded the arrest of Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who has been under pressure for allegedly ordering the killing of tigress Avni. The Congress, Shiv Sena and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanded his dismissal …

The credit goes to the Shia community of Kashmir for keeping alive papier mache art — colourful, exquisite, highly decorative and delicate — in the Valley since the 14th century. “This wealth has been handed down to me by my father who inherited it from my grandfather and so on. …

Decision to reject T.N.’s appeal for release of Rajiv case convicts taken by Ministry The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has admitted that Tamil Nadu’s proposal for premature release of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was not sent to the President and the decision (not to concur with …