Numb, bruised and in pain, she tried getting up. It was a cold night, and the hallway was dark. The last thing she remembered was she being pushed down the stairs after an argument about who would do the dishes. The dinner was a happy time. There was her special biryani and his most-liked murgh makhani. Their favourite sit-com was running on Netflix—something they enjoyed from their dating days. They were discussing her thesis and his semester exams—both due in a couple of days. But, it soon turned ugly, nasty and violent.

Did you know that a humble bacterium influences  chickpea's yield?  While chickpea is believed to have come to India from Turkey a few centuries ago, from where did it get its microbe partner? Did the original rhizobium strain from Turkey hitch a ride along with its host, or did it find other local strains here? In a recent study, an international collaboration of researchers, including those from India, may have answers.

Study finds, online streaming platforms flouting tobacco imagery rules.

In an earlier episode of The Joy of Science Shambhavi Chidambaram spoke to Professor Shravan Vasishth about, among other things, the joy of psycholinguistics. In this interview, Professor Vasishth talks in detail about teaching statistics and the need to understand uncertainty both to students and the general public. He is the author of “Shravan Vasishth’s Slog”, a blog about statistics. This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness and has been run past Prof Vasishth for accuracy before publication.

Researchers show how free-ranging dogs modify their behaviour and personalities based on our presence in urban areas.

Ever looked at those tiny, green, olive-like capers in your pasta and wondered where they come from? Capers, also called Capparis, is the largest genera in the Capparaceae plant family and consists of around 139 species spread across the tropics. Found in arid habitats, these plants are mostly shrubs, and their flower buds and fruits are widely used as a pickled condiment. In a recent study, researchers from Pune's Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) and China's Zhejiang University have explored the genetic traits of two varieties of capers—spinosa and herbacea. 

In a recent study, herpetologists have discovered three new species of geckos belonging to the genus Cnemaspis. These geckos are thought to be endemic to the rocky granite boulders found in the Mysore plateau region of Karnataka.

COVID-19, the pandemic that has shaken the world, will perhaps change our lives forever. Often, we now talk of a ‘pre-COVID’ world, where business was as usual, and a ‘post-COVID’ world which is the new normal. While the disease, caused by a tiny virus, has affected millions, it has also brought to fore some often-ignored challenges and opportunities to build a better tomorrow. Science has been in the forefront, driving these monumental changes across the world—from understanding the virus and designing a vaccine, to throwing insights on how we could prepare for and prevent the next pandemic.

Nanomaterials are revolutionising the way we do things with applications in medicine, electronics and biocompatible materials, to name a few. Scientists are studying various nanoforms of carbon—nanotubes, nanocones, nanohorns, two-dimensional graphene and even carbon onions! Now, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have added a new form to this list called nano carbon florets. These nano-sized florets, shaped like marigold flowers, have much more than just good looks to flaunt; they can help keep the environment clean by removing harmful heavy metal pollutants from industrial effluents. In a study published in the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, Prof C Subramaniam and his team from the Department of Chemistry have designed nanocarbon florets that can remove up to 90% of pollutants containing arsenic, chromium, cadmium and mercury.

A recent study by researchers at National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) in Pune, India, explains the anomaly in the sun's atmospheric temperature.