Dr Kamaljit Bawa, President, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, has been awarded the Linnean Medal in Botany by the Linnean Society of London at its annual meeting.

Every passing day we are exposed to a cocktail of chemicals through medicines, cosmetics, pesticides, aerosols, gaseous emissions, pollens, etc. Many of these affect our health; some are allergens, while others could be carcinogens or cause fatal diseases. Although some products are tested to ascertain their safety for human use, the process is tedious, time-consuming and involve testing on animals.

A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany, and University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany have developed a novel silver nanoparticle-graphene hybrid photodetector device with an increased ability to detect Ultraviolet light.

There exists a theory among economists called the ‘pollution haven hypothesis’ that talks about how foreign investments are related to environmental regulations. It states that companies from developed countries often seek to set up manufacturing units in developing countries not only because they can obtain cheap labour and resources, but also because environmental regulations in these countries are usually lenient, reducing the cost of compliance.  But does empirical data support this hypothesis?

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Mumbai, have developed a new minimum opportunity cost targeting algorithm (MOCTA) to help organizations and institutions select the right environmental and conservation projects to pursue.

Poor kitchens cause household air pollution and along with poor sanitation, results in millions of annual premature deaths globally, says study

Researchers from Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Institute of Urban Environment (IUE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xiamen, People’s Republic of China, and CSIR- Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow have studied the wastewater produced from tanneries and analyzed the pollutants present in it. Their study reveals an immediate threat to the environment from the recalcitrant pollutants present in the wastewater.

After the Microhyla laterite that was described from Manipal in 2016, scientists have found another new narrow-mouthed frog from the city centre of Mangaluru, in coastal Karnataka. 

23rd of May is celebrated as theWorld Turtle Day. Read about the various organisations in India who use an array of methods to ensure that turtles are welcome on our shores. 

Sweden's recent decision to terminate a contract with a scientific publisher, because the publisher was not making sufficient progress towards Sweden's demands for open access, has given rise to much jubilation in some quarters. It is argued that Sweden has stood up for the interests of the broad general public against the pecuniary interests of the scientific publishing industry.