Category Archives: Science

Rain Havoc in Tamil Nadu

Posted on December 5, 2015 by rgeeta

In the context of the Chennai deluge, All India Radio (AIR) had a discussion on climate change, urban impacts and resilience in its regular feature, Current Affairs. VK Sharma, Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration Nagraj Adve, Member, India Climate … Continue reading →

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Pink bollworm on (Bt) cotton: Spurious seed? Wrong gene? Evolution? Cultivation practices?

Posted on December 5, 2015 by rgeeta

Keeping track of news on Bt cotton in India Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm) is one of the pests of cotton in India, but in the past >30 years has been less important than Helicoverpa armigera (American bollworm). Following sightings in 2010 on Bt cotton … Continue reading →

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The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection

Posted on November 24, 2015 by rgeeta

The Origin of Species was published on 24 November, 1859 Like Dislike

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IAAT conference 2015, University of Calicut, Kerala

Posted on November 23, 2015 by rgeeta

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Climate changes, flowers decline, bees start foraging short flowers…tongues shorten

Posted on October 10, 2015 by rgeeta

Miller-Struttman et al. 2015. Functional mismatch in a bumble bee pollination mutualism under climate change (Abstract). Science 349: 1541-1544.  Alpine plants with long tubed flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees. In this paper, Dr Candace Galen and her collaborators use a combination of historical and … Continue reading →

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Giraffes and their necks

Posted on October 8, 2015 by rgeeta

The standard story of how the giraffe got its long neck may not be as straightforward as we usually think of it (or teach it) — a continuous increase in neck length, reaching the incredible length we see today. There is … Continue reading →

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Sustainable Development Goals

Posted on October 1, 2015 by rgeeta

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “The Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet: People: We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms … Continue reading →

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Leishmaniasis cure, sterol: Pentalinon andrieuxii, Mayan medicinal plant

Posted on October 1, 2015 by rgeeta

Centuries of knowledge explored, exploited and … acknowledged. Should there be more? Do patents trump everything else? Does history mean anything? Does the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing mean anything? Does it apply in this situation (the USA is not a signatory to … Continue reading →

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Prosopis juliflora

Posted on September 16, 2015 by rgeeta

Goat-killing menace mutates to clean energy source in rural Kenya “The plant was first introduced into the area about 25 years ago by the Kenyan government and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to serve as a windbreak to cut … Continue reading →

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(Phenotypic) plasticity is in!

Posted on September 16, 2015 by rgeeta

Heredity has devoted the whole of its most recent issue to this topic. Below is a figure from one of the papers in the issue that shows the increase in studies on plasticity since the 1990’s.   Like Dislike

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