Category: Environment

The ‘blockbuster’ drug, Ozempic, was created with the help of a most unlikely source: the saliva of a humble lizard. And spiders and scorpions have led to the development of life-saving medicines. But, of the 1.5 million animal species known to live on planet Earth (with many more yet to be discovered), just a fraction...

In the heart of Rajasthan’s Thar desert, on the outskirts of the agro-pastoralist landscape of Bikaner, is a dumpsite of livestock carcasses where, traditionally, a feeding frenzy plays out among multiple species of beasts and birds everyday. Importantly, every winter, a large number of migratory Himalayan and Eurasian griffon, whose numbers have dwindled catastrophically in...

On October 5, the Niño 3.4 region recorded a sea surface temperature that exceeded 30° C for the first time in recorded history. | Photo Credit: ClimateReanalyzer.org For most of this year, climate scientists have been closely monitoring the Niño 3.4 region in the central-equatorial Pacific — the primary index area to define the phases...

A few weeks ago, an email arrived from the Marine Mammals Consortium, the kind of routine update I usually skim and file away. This one had a link to a global database of blue whale strandings, and out of curiosity I clicked it. A world map loaded, dotted with blue circles, and my eyes went...

People sit in the shade on the Spanish Steps during a heatwave in Rome, Italy, August 3, 2026. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Heat waves have evolved from sporadic, isolated episodes to massive, ‌cascading weather events that can blanket vast swaths of the planet for months or even years ​at a time. To continue calling such...

A staggering 80 per cent of the world’s vibrant coral reefs experienced extreme levels of heat stress from warming oceans between 2023 and 2025, exacerbated by the 2023 El Niño. Swathes of reefs were struck by bleaching and mortality, and India’s corals were no exception in this fourth global mass coral bleaching event in recorded history. Lakshadweep...

A male western Hoolock gibbon hangs from the lower branches of a tree in the Hoollangapar Gibbon Sanctuary. | Photo Credit: Krunal Desai (CC BY-SA) The Hoolock gibbon is India’s only ape other than us humans. Found in Northeast India, mostly to the south of the Brahmaputra river, the western and eastern hoolock gibbon populations...

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemical compounds that contain multiple carbon-fluorine bonds. PFAS materials are used in coatings, textiles, and several industrial products. They are also notorious for resisting degradation and can contaminate the environment for a very long time. Many studies from different parts of India have already found PFAS in water sources. Conventional...

Some fish can switch sex more than once over a lifetime. In lizards, genetically male hatchlings can be born looking and functioning as females. In some frogs, genetically female individuals can develop into fertile males. This phenomenon is called sex reversal. It is well documented in the animal kingdom, from invertebrates to amphibians to birds,...