Artecology Initiative presents a unique performance -- How to be a fig -- to help audience connect with nature and their environment. Involving artists and researchers, this unique performance wishes to showcase the amazing life of a fig tree and its connection with other organisms in its life cycle. Learn more about how to be a fig by attending this unique performance on the 23rd September, 2017 at the J N Tata Auditorium, IISc.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemicals produced after burning wood, coal, garbage, gas and oil. PAHs might occur naturally from sources like volcanoes and forest fire or they might be produced by various human activities. More than 100 PAHs are known and many of them are very common around us. The smoke of a cigarette, meat cooked in high temperature, naphthalene - the toilet deodorizer and asphalt covering the roads, all contain PAHs.

The term vaccine needs no introduction to most people living in the 21st century, but vaccines are also widely used for preventing diseases in animals like cattle and Foot and mouth disease is one such disease, which affects hoofed animals like cow, pigs, goat and sheep.

The push for renewable energy has been greater than ever in the recent past, thanks to the realisation of the fact that fossil fuels and other forms of energy wreak havoc on the environment. India, like many other countries, has ambitious goals for producing electricity using renewable sources for 2022. In our rush to chase this goal, how are our policies crafted? Are they a win-win situation for the producers and the customers? Or are they making renewable energy all the more expensive, thus defeating the purpose of the switch? A new study now examines how renewable energy policies are structured and recommends some changes to make them effective and help us reach our 2022 goals.

Within the body of any multicellular organism, including humans, there is a bustling array of cellular interactions happening at any given point of time. While there are many ways by which cells communicate with each other and other entities in the body, the underlying mechanisms of cellular communication remain fairly unique across species, organs and cells. One such mechanism utilizes the unique interaction between complex carbohydrates and cellular proteins as the “recognition software” for cells interacting with pathogens, toxins, and other cells.

Bangalore of the yesteryears was a city of gardens; cool, pleasant and green. In addition to the 2000+ species of trees -- some natural and some specifically planted -- individual gardens in small households contributed to the large biodiversity here. The undulating terrain of the city allowed formation of lakes -- natural and manmade – that were interconnected. As the ‘Garden City’ transformed into the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, the city’s rapid, uncontrolled growth turned this biodiversity haven to a concrete jungle.

Smart adaptive actuators are sought after for a variety of mechanical and aerospace applications. Commonly used piezoceramic and shape memory alloy actuators produce small displacements, and hence require motion amplification mechanisms. However, these mechanisms are prone to mechanical play, and are susceptible to wear and tear.

It was in the 1970s that the term ‘climate change’ was coined. Agriculture is one sector that both contributes to and affected by climate change, and research around the world is now advancing towards ‘climate-smart’ agriculture. Carbon or carbon dioxide is one of the culprits for the rising temperature across the globe. Agricultural operations such as tillage, fertilization, irrigation, crop protection and so on are responsible for release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from agricultural landscape to atmosphere.