In an event today, Prof. K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, launched a national program to foster cross-disciplinary leadership in India. Named the EChO Network, it focuses on increasing research, knowledge, and awareness of Indian ecology and the environment. It is hoped that this program would develop a national network to catalyse a new generation of Indians who can solve real-world problems in medicine, agriculture, ecology, and technology.

In a first effort, researchers at the Zoological Survey of India have mapped the habitat of the Indian Grey Wolves in eastern India, particularly in the Lower Gangetic Plains and Chotta Nagpur Plateau to identify suitable habitats and minimize human-wolf conflicts.

Study shows how a species of Indian ants choose the shortest path when they relocate their nest.

Southern India, now battered with the scorching heat, is awaiting the monsoon showers that bring some respite during the month of June. It looks like the wait would not be too long and well worth it. In a press release issued today, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that the southwest monsoon rainfall over the country, on the whole, is likely to be normal.

Graphene, a sheet-like form of carbon, has been hailed as a wonder material owing to its many promising applications in electronics, drug delivery and more. In a recent study, a team of scientists from India and the USA, led by Prof Srinivasan Raghavan and Prof Rudra Pratap from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, has paved the way for new applications of graphene by intentionally varying the defects formed during its production.

Delhi’s winter haze is infamous for disrupting the air, railway and road traffic. With visibility dropping to near zero on a few days, life-threatening accidents spike during this season. Animals, on the other hand, seem to have a trick up their sleeves—they use sounds or visual cues to help them ‘see’ through low-visibility conditions. But what about fish? Can they navigate through turbid waters? Indeed, says a study by researchers at two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), Mohali and Kolkata. The researchers have shown, for the first time, how zebrafish find food in turbid waters.

In a study published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, the researchers collected and analyzed data from various published reports such as the Global WHO FCTC Implementation Progress Reports of 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, WHO reports on global tobacco epidemic 2013, 2015 and 2017, Global Tobacco Surveillance System Data and the WHO-NCI Monograph. They examined the prevalence, trends and policy progress in smokeless tobacco control on the lines of the WHO FCTC guidelines.

Researchers from IIT Bombay and Archaeological Survey of India, Aurangabad studied soil from the Lonar lake and found that the materials from the meteor had a significant impact on the native soil.

Pune researchers take a molecular modelling approach to identify drug targets for the deadly Nipah virus.

The Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru, is hosting the second edition of the Indo-Swiss Meeting Meeting on Evolutionary Biology, held in India this year. The meeting is jointly organised by the Indian Society of Evolutionary Biologists, Centre for Human Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and Swissnex India. The gathering brings together faculty and students from India and Switzerland. The three day meeting begins on the 12th of December and continues until the 14th.