How did kissing evolve in humans?
A symbol of affection and intimacy, a kiss is one of the few gestures in most human cultures and carries similar symbolism.
Science Snippets
Animals have a taste for alcohol, too
Our primate relatives had a penchant for alcohol in their genes at least 10 million years ago: a critical gene mutation created the ADH4 enzyme, which helps digest ethanol up to 40 times faster.
Sea cucumbers: The moppers of the ocean floor
Sea cucumbers, as part of their scavenger diet, devour coral disease-causing bacteria and the decaying ‘food’ that the bacteria thrived on. As a result, corals growing around them were relatively disease-free and healthy.
Who names cyclones and how?
In the late 19th century, an English-born Australian meteorologist called Clement Lindley Wragge began the first convention of naming tropical storms and low-pressure areas.
A twist in genes turns fish into better fathers
A new study reveals that this parenting tale—and the gene involved in the behaviour—has an unexpected twist.
Depression leaves its imprint on the brain
In the biggest neurological study of its kind, scientists used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)—an imaging technique that lets them study the brain’s neurons and measure the synapses that pass through the nerve cells—over a period of time.
Bird embryos eavesdrop on parents
Eggs that heard their chatty parents also became chattier as chicks—begging for more food and ensuring their parents cared for them better.
The viral origins of seaweeds
Scientists studying seaweed fossils believe macroalgal red and green seaweeds evolved more than a billion years ago, while brown algae entered the scene about 2,00,000 years ago.
A sauna for fungus-infected frogs
Although present on all continents, the chytrid fungus has infected frogs primarily in parts of the world where the temperature hovers between 17C and 25C. Studies show frogs exposed to higher temperatures are less likely to be infected with the fung...
A fern that rises from the dead
Flowering plants were just entering the scene when giant dinosaurs roamed the earth. Back then, ferns — plants that produce no flowers or seeds but reproduce by spores — dominated our planet’s plant life.
How our cities impact birds
The incessant low-frequency noise in our cities is drowning out bird calls and songs, disrupting their mating and feeding behaviour.
Body or the brain: Where does Parkinson’s begin?
Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative condition that affects the nervous system and the brain, is the world’s fastest-growing brain disease. India currently ranks among countries with the lowest disease prevalence, but experts warn of a 200-300% rise in the next few decades. Characterized by symptoms such as hand tremors and stiff and slow body movements, the disease progresses toward speech slurring and difficulty breathing and swallowing over the years.
Although Parkinson’s was first described
Although Parkinson’s was first described
Diving into sperm whale societies
Sperm whales, found in most of the world’s oceans, are incredible giants with the most enormous noses and the biggest brains in the animal world. They hunt deep in the waters using echolocation clicks like bats do. Their underwater clicks have the highest sound pressure. Sperm whales take their name after spermaceti, a unique organ inside their curved heads, which acts like a sonar to produce echolocation clicks and contains a waxy liquid called sperm oil.
Before humans discovered fossil fuels,
Before humans discovered fossil fuels,
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels
![]()
Sun’s radiation decides the dragonflies you see
Sun’s radiation decides the dragonflies you see
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels
![]()
Melting sea ice and starving polar bears
Melting sea ice and starving polar bears
Cells that make up our body
Life, in short, is a complex melange of cells. According to recent estimates, on average, there are 36 trillion cells in men, 28 trillion in women, and 17 trillion in a child. In this medley, scientists recognize 400 types of cells in the human body, each with its distinct shape, size and function, perfected over billions of years through evolution. Recently, scientists created the first human cell tree map to understand how cells are distributed throughout our body. The insights give us a sense
Lab-grown ‘beef rice’ for a healthy planet
Exciting things are cooking, quite literally, in some research labs worldwide—offering a delectable menu of poultry, red meat and seafood. As the world tries to find alternatives to unsustainable industrial animal farms and overharvested seafood, lab-grown meat is emerging as a top contender. Touted to be sustainable and tasty, meat grown in petri dishes is slowly filling supermarket aisles, offering consumers a healthy and sustainable choice devoid of significant methane emissions, biodiversity
The tiny but mighty microfossils
Rare and buried deep inside the earth for thousands of years, fossils inspire awe and tell a tale frozen in time. Although visible to the naked eye, dinosaur, whale, mammoth or human fossils are scant and hard to find. On the other hand, microfossils—tiny remains of bacteria, diatoms or protists—are ubiquitous on every continent and ocean. The oldest record of life on Earth, discovered in the hydrothermal vent precipitates off the Canadian coast in 2017, are 4.28 billion years old microfossils.
Photo by Jan Kroon on Pexels
![]()
Microplastics menace the food we grow
The search for fertile river plains to grow enough food has driven most human migrations, and desertified lands have displaced millions. As agriculture became more intensive and industrialised, many of our inventions, including plastics, have infiltrated farmlands.
From irrigation pipes to greenhouse films to mulch that suppresses weeds, plastics are ubiquitous on farms today. As the use of plastic implements increases in agriculture, tiny, microscopic fragments—called microplastics—wither off
From irrigation pipes to greenhouse films to mulch that suppresses weeds, plastics are ubiquitous on farms today. As the use of plastic implements increases in agriculture, tiny, microscopic fragments—called microplastics—wither off
What’s on the space menu?
Sky-dining may sound fun and fancy, but cooking a good meal without a functional kitchen, limited supplies and scant resources makes most airline meals passable. As passengers, we must eat to survive the few hours of flight and hope to indulge in our favourite cuisine once we land. But what about astronauts, who often spend days, if not months, cramped inside spaceships thousands of miles away?
Since humans burn more calories in space, they need high-calorie food packed with micronutrients like
Since humans burn more calories in space, they need high-calorie food packed with micronutrients like
Common cold, uncommon facts
Sniffly red nose, incessant sneezing, a hoarse voice and an occasional fever and headaches—even the healthiest amongst us have experienced these annoying symptoms of the common cold. Scientists believe that humans have endured this disease for thousands of years, as many ancient civilizations have records of cold-like symptoms and approaches to treat them, some of which are now debunked by medical science. Yet, even to this day, there’s no known medicine or vaccine to treat this bothersome malad
Crab-castrating barnacles
The ocean is a strange home to many bizarre life forms. One such fascinating marine organism is the barnacles—shelled crustaceans that attach to a surface and filter out the nutrients in the water with their feathery legs. In the world’s oceans, there are around 1,400 species of barnacles. They use their extremely strong adhesives to stick to almost anything interesting—ship hulls, buoys, pilings, rocks, boats and even gigantic whales like the humpbacks and the grey whales. But the barnacles bel
Plastiglomerates: The toxic human legacy
Let’s time-travel to 3023 on Planet Earth. Fossil hunters, belonging to a more intelligent life form than us, are digging up an archaeological site near a future coast. They are spurred by the discovery of some unique rock-like structure—a mix of sand, corals and sediment rocks held together by molten plastic—hidden deep in the ground. While the discovery might seem like a fictional scene from the Indiana Jones movies, that perhaps is a legacy humans may leave behind on the planet, say scientist
Death caps: The world’s deadliest mushrooms
Mushrooms, a delight in the fungi world, are full of flavours—earthy, musty, woody and even slightly meaty—satiating the palette with savoury gust. But some mushrooms, like the death cap mushrooms, are born to kill, quite literally. Death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) is the world’s deadliest mushroom. Just half a mushroom can kill an adult within hours. About 90% of mushroom-related deaths globally are due to this mushroom. Bravehearts who have tasted the death cap say it has a pleasant tas
Load More
