This World Migratory Bird Day, learn about some of the annual avian visitors to India. In keeping with the theme of 2025 --Creating Bird-Friendly Cities & Communities--let us work to make our ecosystems more welcoming. In recent years, many migratory bird species have given India a miss due to shrinking habitats and worsening pollution. Now is the time to act and make our neighbourhoods livable for our annual visitors and everyone.

Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, one of the architects of the modern Indian space program and a stalwart of Indian science, passed away on 24 April 2025 at the age of 84.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his tributes on X: "Two days ago, we lost the country’s great scientist, Dr. K. Kasturirangan ji. His contribution in lending newer heights to science, education, and India’s Space Program shall always be remembered. ISRO attained a new identity under his leadership."

On April 7, Colossal Biosciences announced the creation of a "Dire Wolf" species in what they called the “world’s first de-extinction,". They claimed the move was aimed at addressing conservation efforts and plugging the gap of missing species in an ecosystem. 

In an alternate dimension, sentient quantum particles and elements all hang out together, but things can get a little out of hand when a couple of neutrons meet a 'radioactive' uranium.

Across the ages, humans have tried to explain natural phenomena, like earthquakes, through stories and myths. Indian mythology says that when the elephant that holds the world on his back gets tired, an earthquake occurs; Norse mythology describes an earthquake as Loki, the God of mischief and strife, struggling to escape his prison; and Japaneses mythology talks about the giant catfish Namazu thrashing about beneath the earth, causing earthquakes. So what does science have to say?

Human hair texture is extremely varied—from poker straight to twistedly tangled—and although we understand some of the biology behind straight hair, curly hair is a bit of an enigma. It’s not just biology that’s involved here, but interestingly some physics too.

Ever wondered about the genes that produces blood in the human body? Haemoglobin in our blood is produced by the haemoglobin beta gene (HBB) and the haemoglobin alpha gene (HBA). These two genes are responsible for providing instructions for making the proteins, beta globin and alpha globin. Beta globin and alpha globin are an important part of the larger protein called haemoglobin, which is found in the human and mammal red blood cells.

We often hear or read that ‘some species of a bird or animal is going extinct’, or ‘a new species of an amphibian or reptile was discovered in the jungles of the Western Ghats’. However, what exactly do we mean by ‘species’?

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.