In a recent study, researchers from Canada, Brazil, China, Mexico, India and Switzerland have tried to uncover the reasons behind this alarming statistic by analysing the causes of deaths in these children from India, China, Brazil, and Mexico. These countries have an estimated 40% of kids aged 5-14 years and report an estimated 200,000 deaths annually at these ages. The findings of their study were published in the journal The Lancet.

As kids we were fascinated seeing magnets and its property of attracting iron towards it. We always had these questions in our mind - Why does iron get attracted by the magnet, unlike other materials such as wood or plastic? What is so strange about iron? To find the answer, we have to understand a bit about magnetic properties of materials.

This week, from the 10th to the 16th of March, is observed as the World Glaucoma Week globally, to spread awareness of glaucoma—a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve and lead to total blindness if left untreated. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world accounting for upto 8% of total blindness.

Researchers from the USA, Australia and Canada identified some of the ‘hotspots’ and ‘coolspots’ of human activities in the world and analysed the impact of these activities on threatened and near-threatened wildlife.

Tiny RNA lost during domestication created robust rice varieties, shows study by NCBS, Bengaluru. 

Today’s world has more adolescents—children in the age group of 10-24 years—than ever in history. Of the 1.8 billion adolescents, a third of them, or 622 million, live in India and China. With this fraction of people growing up to be future citizens, are we doing enough to have their needs met? No, says a worldwide study on adolescent health and well-being, published in The Lancet.

Researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, University of Washington, USA, and Oklahoma State University, USA, have reported the economic losses and associated health risk caused by stubble burning in some parts of north India. 

Study from the Ashoka Trust from Research in Ecology and the Environment details the importance of a global standard to curb the adulteration of herbal medicines.

An international collaboration of researchers, including two from IISc Bengaluru, have described a new starry frog Astrobatrachus kurichiyana from the Western Ghats.

Researchers from IIT Bombay build low cost, easy to maintain arsenic filters for rural communities.