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The draft patent amendment rules made public on August 23 this year could hugely benefit big pharma but turn out to be disastrous for patients in India and in countries in the global South, which rely on generic drugs manufactured in India, in accessing affordable drugs and vaccines. The draft rules released by the Department for…
Read More “Draft patent amendment rules undermine pre-grant opposition” »
The levels of cyclic sugar alcohol in breast milk is high during first two weeks of lactation | Photo Credit: Getty Images “Human breast milk is not only a perfectly adapted nutritional supply for the infant, but probably the most specific personalised medicine that he/she is likely to receive, given at a time when gene…
The neural circuitry underlying the responses of mouse mothers to calls from their pups has now been studied by researchers. The results were published in Nature. This mechanism may be important for sustaining mouse maternal care over time, the authors suggest. The hormone oxytocin is known to be important for maternal physiology and behaviour; for example,…
Read More “Neural circuitry of mouse mothers to pups’ calls deciphered” »
Since 2017, India’s Tuberculosis (TB) programme has been undertaking active case finding (ACF) outside the healthcare settings among high-risk populations. | Photo Credit: AP Since 2017, India’s Tuberculosis (TB) programme has been undertaking active case finding (ACF) outside the healthcare settings among high-risk populations. Recently, a team led by the Chennai-based National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE) undertook…
Read More “Quality of active TB case finding suboptimal nationally: study” »
Taxpayers fund a lot of university research in the U.S., and these findings published in scholarly journals often produce major breakthroughs in medicine, vehicle safety, food safety, criminal justice, human rights and other topics that benefit the public at large. The bar for publishing in a scholarly journal is often high. Independent experts diligently review and comment…
There is nothing quite like a diamond. For many they are the ultimate “I love you” gift, and jewellers will tell you the ultra-hard stones have unmatched “fire” and “brilliance”. The sentimental and aesthetic value of the gems is matched by their price, which can run to tens of thousand dollars per carat – and…
Gertie, an endangered Bolson tortoise, is shown to a group of state and federal wildlife officials during a trip to Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch in Engle, N.M., on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The Turner Endangered Species Fund has been working to build a population of the tortoises for more than two decades in hopes of…
Caribbean box jellyfish are barely a centimetre long and have no brain. | Photo Credit: AFP Caribbean box jellyfish are barely a centimetre long and have no brain. But these gelatinous, fingernail-sized creatures are capable of learning from visual cues to avoid swimming into obstacles — a cognitive ability never before seen in animals with…
Read More “No brain, no problem: Tiny jellyfish can learn from experience” »
In an exciting milestone for lunar scientists around the globe, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down 600 km from the south pole of the moon on August 23, 2023. In just under 14 Earth days, Chandrayaan-3 provided scientists with valuable new data and further inspiration to explore the moon. And the Indian Space Research Organisation has…
Read More “Pragyan rover finds an unexpected surprise on the moon: sulphur | Explained” »
Come September 24, and debris from an alien world will land on the earth. NASA’s asteroid hunting spacecraft OSIRIS-Rex – short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer – will drop a capsule containing pristine asteroid material in the Utah desert. OSIRIS-Rex, which is currently winging its way towards the earth after a close encounter with Bennu,…
Read More “What will ‘cosmic detective’ OSIRIS-Rex bring back on September 24? | Explained” »