This rather odd yet adorable creature may look like a snake with silly little arms, but it is actually the yellow-bellied three-toed skink (saiphos equalis), a species of reptile native to eastern Australia. For many generations now, Scientists have been watching this species give birth by laying eggs, but recently scientists have noticed something very unusual. All the yellow-bellied skinks scientists have been observing in the warm coastal lowlands are […]

Titled as the “queen of tropical fruits” around 1903 by David Fairchild, an Americanplant explorer and botanist, and later in his 1930-book Exploring for Plants, the delicious purple mangosteen has been known by that name since. And it’s not called so without reason. The beautiful sweet and tart pulpy segments, encased in a deep purple cover, can get quite addictive if you like the taste. The shell is soft when […]

International wheelchair tennis player, Prathima Rao has her eyes set on the 2020 Paralympics to take place in Tokyo. The only thing holding her back is an old wheelchair. Bangalore-based Prathima Rao was all of 3 years old when she lost the use of her right leg to polio. She was forced to use a caliper to move around, and continues to do so till date. This has not stopped […]

In particular, the report has cited the death of three journalists and these cases still await closure. A renowned international watchdog agency has said that India is failing to protect its journalists who are threatened or attacked for their work. The Committee to Protect Journalists has chronicled 27 journalists who have been killed for their work since 1992, while also probing more than two dozen other cases to ascertain if […]

I woke up to a rather curious and almost amusing advisory issued by the Union Minister Mahesh Sharma. In the list of dos and don’ts listed out for foreign tourists arriving in India, a prominent point advised tourists not to wear skirts and refrain from going out alone at night in small towns. Speaking to media persons in Agra about safety of tourists, the minister goes on to add that, […]

It is not every day that opportunity comes knocking at your door and when it does, you better answer it! This is exactly what Pratima decided to do. Alas, there was one major decision she had to make – move to another city. The only thing holding her back was her husband, not because he was intimidated by her success but because he had his career to take care of […]

Incidents of crime, hate speech and scams in the news do tend to create a cynical impression of the world around us, as so much negativity can even drive people to stop viewing the news completely. The social media is further filled with controversies, negative responses to news and Twitter spats, as it erupts every time a controversial development is reported. But numerous positive stories from day to day life […]

A 16-year-old Indian-origin boy in the UK has claimed to have found a treatment for the most deadly form of breast cancer which is unresponsive to drugs. Krtin Nithiyanandam, who moved to the UK from India with his parents, hopes he has found a way to turn so-called triple negative breast cancer into a kind which responds to drugs. Many breast cancers are driven by oestrogen, progesterone or growth chemicals […]

A basic question — whether there is a meaning and purpose to our existence — arises in, and perhaps bothers, the mind of every individual, whether the doubt is articulated or not, as he gets through his everyday life. Scholars and philosophers, since long, have mulled deeply over questions regarding our existence. Is there an all-encompassing Over-mind or Absolute Spirit, in which all concepts are unified? The Upanishads say ‘neti, […]

While riding early morning from Narsipatnam to Lambasingi I stopped at a village for breakfast. There was a table set out outside a hut along the village road and an old man was making tea. I asked for a cup of tea and something to eat. The old man pointed to the tea and then said something in his local language that I didn’t understand. I made the sign for […]