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In this Punnett square, the colour green in unripe pods is determined by the dominant allele ‘G’ and the colour yellow in unripe pods is determined by a recessive allele ‘g’. The little four-square grid we drew in school while learning about genetic crossing has a name: the Punnett Square. These squares are a way…
Anthropogenic climate change is turning ambient heat, a relatively banal manifestation of the sun, into an inevitable environmental hazard. In 2023, with the atmospheric carbon dioxide level reaching new heights of 425 ppm, we witnessed the warmest decade on record spanning from 2014 to 2023. Until a few decades ago, hazards of high heat largely existed…
Read More “As India’s summer begins, understanding the heat and health conundrum” »
Elon Musk’s N1 implant, introduced to facilitate operating devices by just intending it in the brain, has jolted many into realising how far seemingly exotic neuroscience has been put to practical, commercial use. While the implant may be the outlier in neuroscience, what’s common and par for the course today is mapping the brain to…
Read More “How neuroscience reshapes marketing strategies in India” »
Human activities have caused the earth to slowly heat up, and now it looks like war – another very human phenomenon – is preventing scientists from accurately measuring how rapidly our climate is changing. Global temperatures are rising, but temperatures in the Arctic region are rising even faster. Studies suggest a grim reality: that the Arctic is…
Read More “Russia’s war is weakening scientists’ ability to track the climate” »
Passage through the digestive system of birds is good for the seeds as they germinate quickly and have better chances of maturing into trees Sandalwood hardly needs an introduction to the readers of The Hindu. It has been valued for many centuries, for its fragrant oil, its prized wood, and the many medicinal uses it has…
Researchers have recovered remarkably preserved microbiomes from two teeth dating back 4,000 years, found in an Irish limestone cave. Genetic analyses of these microbiomes reveal major changes in the oral microenvironment from the Bronze Age to today. The authors identified several bacteria linked to gum disease and provided the first high-quality ancient genome of Streptococcus mutans, the…
Read More “When did an uptick in dental cavities in humans begin?” »
Administering ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) can stave off the tendency of statins to induce glucose intolerance and diabetes, a study by a group of researchers in China has found. Statins are prescribed to people with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. They work by blocking the activity of an enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway that…
Read More “Naturally occurring bile acid can blunt statin-induced diabetes” »
A bottle of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.’s atorvastatin calcium tablets arranged for a photograph, February 20, 2014. | Photo Credit: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg Administering ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) can stave off the tendency of statins to induce glucose intolerance and diabetes, a study by a group of researchers in China has found. (For top health news of the…
Read More “Naturally occurring bile acid can blunt statin-induced diabetes” »
Tropical cyclones are powerful and destructive weather systems that form over warm tropical ocean basins. where sea surface temperatures are above 26.5 degree C. These storms are characterised by strong winds, heavy precipitation and storm surges and can cause significant damage to coastal communities and infrastructure. Climatologically, tropical cyclones form mainly in the North Atlantic,…
Read More “Increasing tropical cyclones of higher intensity necessitates a new category” »
Questions: 1. In 2000, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) incorporated a feature in the then 500- and 1,000-rupee notes. On the obverse of each note, the note’s numerical value was printed such that, when the note was flat, the numbers were green but blue when observed from an angle. Name the ink used to…
Read More “The Science Quiz | Security features of rupee notes” »
