New study uses mathematical analysis of walking patterns for early detection of Parkinson’s disorder.

Ecology

Mysuru
3 Jun 2019

Researchers from the Nature Conservation Foundation, explored organisation of plants and fruit-eating bird communities of the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. They observed 43 plant species and 48 bird species in the region, and have identified the different networks formed between the trees and their avian seed dispersers.

Thiruvananthapuram
18 Jan 2019

A new study suggests that stripes and colourful tails of some lizards may help them ward off predators

Bengaluru
20 Dec 2018

A newly discovered species of ground-dwelling gecko from Karnataka has been named Hemidactylus vijayraghavani, after Prof K VijayRaghavan, the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. Mr Zeeshan A. Mirza, a researcher from Prof VijayRaghavan’s lab at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, is the person behind this discovery.

8 Jun 2019

It is the 21st century, and human beings have transcended their lives far from ordinary. And yet, the origin of life on Earth is still one of the greatest mysteries of all times. Until now, biology explained the origin of life as the formation of the cell, ultimately creating every living organism on the planet. However, the plausibility of this theory has been challenged by a new one that casts the origin of life as an inevitable outcome of thermodynamics—an essential part of physics.

Aizawl
7 Jun 2019

Researchers from NCBS, NHM, WII, Mizoram University, Pachunga University College, and IISc have documented a new genus and species of Natricine snake from Northeast India. 

Kolkata
6 Jun 2019

Researchers from Bose Institute, Kolkata, investigated the effect of air circulation and the varying climatic conditions on the mustard aphids that migrate across the Indo-Gangetic Plains in Northern India. The authors traced the pests’ exact origin by studying the backward courses of air movement along known migratory routes.

Bengaluru
5 Jun 2019

Every year, the 5th of June is observed as the World Environment Day to “encourage worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment”. For 2019, the theme is ‘Air Pollution’, and the host country is China. On this occasion, Research Matters caught up with three leading scientists from the country that are actively pursuing research on different aspects of air pollution. The three researchers, Prof. A R Ravishankara, Prof. S K Satheesh and Prof. Navakanta Bhat shared their work and thoughts on the ‘burning’ problem of air pollution.

New Delhi
4 Jun 2019

Researchers from the IIITD, CSIR-IMT and DU designed NeuroPIpred, a web-based tool that uses machine learning techniques to craft insect-specific pesticides.

Bengaluru
19 Dec 2018

In a recent study, researchers have reported the discovery of yet another species of frog in the Western Ghats of Kerala. This species, named Microhyla darreli belongs to the genus Microhyla, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs because of their triangular-shaped body and pointed snout. The frogs of this genus are widely distributed through Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

1 Jun 2019

Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant, native to the Amazon basin in South America. The beautiful, large, purple flowers make it a favourite ornamental plant. However, its beauty is only surface deep, since it has a bad reputation of being one of the worst aquatic weeds in the world.