Category: Science

Gluten is infamous for the allergic reaction it induces in some people. Representative image. | Photo Credit: Victor Rodríguez Iglesias/Unsplash Many cereal grains — but in particular barley, wheat, and rye — contain specific proteins that, when mixed with water and kneaded, create an elastic mass. This mass is called gluten. Two important types of…

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Pedestrians walk in front of the venue for COP 29 summit in Baku on November 10, 2024. | Photo Credit: Alexander Nemenov/AFP With the U.N. climate talks tackling complex topics from energy policy to global financial aid, the annual summit has developed its own ever-growing lexicon. Here’s a guide to some of the terms in…

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The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity recently concluded in Cali, Colombia. Representatives from U.N. countries tried to negotiate measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, which threatens both human well-being and the stability of human societies. A key sticking point was who’d…

Read More “COP16: Will financial roadblocks continue to hinder conservation efforts? | Explained” »

Lightning strikes above the city skyline in Mumbai. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI Climate change is making lightning strikes around the world more common and deadlier. Every year, around 24,000 people around the world are killed by such strikes; in India, lightning strikes killed 2,887 people in 2022. There have been petitions to declare this…

Read More “How do lightning rods prevent lightning strikes from reaching people?” »

Since the world eradicated smallpox in 1980, scientists have known that the battle against poxviruses was far from over. Of the multiple types that exist, scientists have been wary of one in particular: mpox. In fact, one of the points in the World Health Assembly’s post-eradication policies was the “continuation of monkeypox surveillance in West…

Read More “Mpox clade Ia has evolved to jump from humans to humans: new study” »

Even in 2023, India has not met the 2020 milestones of the End TB Strategy for both TB incidence and deaths In March 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an ambitious goal of “eliminating” TB by 2025, five years ahead of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) deadline set for 2030. Mr. Modi reiterated the…

Read More “India will fail to meet 2025 TB ‘elimination’ target” »

By the 1990s, it was clear that the so-called Yixian Formation contained uniquely well-preserved remains of dinosaurs, birds, mammals, insects, frogs, turtles and other creatures. Unlike the skeletal and often fragmentary fossils unearthed in most other places, many animals came complete with internal organs, feathers, scales, fur and stomach contents. It suggested some kind of…

Read More “Did the world’s best-preserved dinosaurs really die in ‘Pompeii-type’ events?” »

Since October 2023, the reassortant virus has caused 14 human cases and three deaths | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL More than 10 years without any H5N1 case, Cambodia suddenly witnessed a spurt of H5N1 cases in humans, with 16 cases reported between February 2023 and August 2024 caused by A/H5 clade 2.3.2.1c viruses. If the…

Read More “Why Cambodia’s novel H5N1 reassortant virus needs close monitoring” »

A study published in the journal Frontiers of Medicine has found an association between the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac from Sinovac Biotech and immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). The study presents two cases of TTP occurring after the administration of the vaccine, highlighting the potential association between this type of vaccine and TTP. The article also provides…

Read More “Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac associated with TTP” »