Topic: Biodiversity
Interspecies social distancing — we need to give nature some space to save biodiversity
On International Day of Biodiversity 2020, we must recognize that biodiversity is the ‘toolbox’ that can provide us cures & solutions to crises like Covid-19.
International Day for Biological Diversity — we need to recognise our solutions are in nature
This year's celebration is all the more timely given the Covid-19 pandemic and the major environmental changes needed to heal.
Bird species today are dying out a hundred times faster than we thought
Based on Red List numbers, the expected lifespan of a species living today is only about 5,000 years — this is six times worse than the historical rate.
Extinction is normal but plants going extinct 350 times faster should alarm us
Earth is seeing an unprecedented loss of species, which some ecologists are calling a sixth mass extinction. More recently, 571 plant species were declared extinct.
33 years after nuclear explosion, Chernobyl has become a wildlife paradise
The biodiversity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone shows wildlife is more resistant to radiation than previously thought.
‘Plant a tree, save the climate’ isn’t good enough
Many countries seem to assume that commercial tree plantations or planting trees amidst crops is enough. Yet only natural forests trap ample quantities of CO2.
The microbes inside your garden wall have clues to ancient earth’s biological evolution
The amoebae can be predators, but they can also be grazers, or even harbor symbiotic algae that produce their food, making them primary producers.
This researcher has named his latest find after Modi govt’s top science official
Zeeshan Mirza, a researcher at the NCBS, has over 35 discoveries to his name but says he’s always had trouble with academics.
Study traces how the British ruined Western Ghats, one of India’s most unique ecosystems
A biodiversity hotspot, Western Ghats continue to be done in by the British belief that its grasslands were wastelands.
Prince William shows conservation still has a problem with ‘white saviours’
Decades after independence of many countries in the Global South, conservation still has this (neo-)colonial undertone.
India pioneered TV education, but smartphone classes during Covid let down its poor students
Trauma faced by students for being able to afford smartphones and laptops for online classes could have been avoided if the govt implemented the DTH scheme.
Why loan restructuring is any day better than a moratorium — HDFC’s Deepak Parekh explains
Deepak Parekh says at ThePrint’s ‘Off The Cuff’ that by giving a loan moratorium, the RBI is creating a problem for later on.
Defence
Army to call special selection board to screen women officers for permanent commission
Some women officers said the process is still ambiguous and more clarity is needed as many have been asked to undergo a junior command course next month.
Modi govt’s NEP is out of touch with reality, Indian voters want English-medium education
State leaders with their ear to the ground, like Nitish, Mamata and Yogi, have shown that the push for native language education is not what voters want.