Anusha Krishnan

Earth observation satellites (EOSs) are spacecraft equipped with sensors to monitor Earth’s atmosphere and surface, providing data on weather, land-use patterns, vegetation, and water bodies.
EOS data have revolutionised our understanding of global warming, climate change, environmental degradation and contributed to key findings about the rise in global temperatures, shrinking polar ice caps, and the impact of deforestation and urbanisation on ecosystems.
EOSs can also track air pollution an...

Meliodosis is an emerging tropical disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Though curable, it kills 10%–50% of those affected, mainly due to missed detection, misidentification, delayed identification, and antibiotic resistance.
Mapping the occurrence of meliodosis in Odisha shows that infections are seasonal and tend to be highest during heavy rainfall, high humidity, high cloud cover, and low sunlight conditions, at temperatures of 23 to 29 degrees Celsius, and in coastal...

Standing about 10 m tall, Humboldtia brunonis trees look like most other understorey trees. Also called hasige mara in Kannada and kaadu Ashoka (forest Ashoka) in Malayalam, they have brown branches, green leaves, and pretty pink and white flowers that give off a pleasant fragrance. Sounds about average, right? But these trees that grow only in the wet evergreen forests of the lower Western Ghats, lead rather strange lives. They house mini zoos in their stems.
Free housing and cafeterias on l...

Have you ever seen a cluster fig tree and wondered how the tree suddenly has fruits when it never seems to flower? This is because figs grow clusters of flowers inside round, pot-like structures called syconium that eventually ripen into fruits. Each syconium bears hundreds to thousands of tiny flowers in a secret garden. The only entrance to this secret garden (fig) is a tiny opening well-guarded by overlapping leaf-like flaps. The fig’s secret gardens do not welcome any insect — each specie...

The Linnaean or binomial system of nomenclature for naming organisms has been in use for over 200 years and is a cornerstone of taxonomy.
The conventions followed in naming species have recently come under scrutiny, especially in cases of eponyms or scientific names based on people’s names.
The Indian scientific community often uses a combination of eponymous names and local names when naming species.
The science of biology would be nothing without names.
One of the first steps in studies inv...

A new study shows that wild populations of Indian star tortoises, one of the most trafficked species in the world, exist as two genetically distinct populations – one in northwestern India and the other in southern India.
This study also shows that the biogeography of wild Indian star tortoises is well-structured and that the two populations have moderate to high genetic diversity; this contradicts previous findings.
Integrating genetic data into the management of Indian star tortoises can le...

Welcome and unwelcome guests, ranging from emerald-coloured beetles to moths and butterflies, are not uncommon in this big city bedroom

Extremely resourceful and intelligent, several rodent species live close to humans, often outsmarting efforts to get rid of them

In our cities, bats may roost anywhere — under window shades, overhangs, tree branches, buildings, temples, bridges, tunnels and even the undersides of tiled roofs

An international team of scientists has developed a new decision-making tool to identify high conservation-value areas (HCVAs).
Using this tool, the researchers have identified HCVAs for 50 rare, endemic, and threatened species in the high altitude Changthang landscape in India.
More than 60% of the total geographical area of the Changthang plateau has been identified as HCVAs for these species, and much of these areas fall outside of the Changthang Wildlife sanctuary.

Mutualisms are positive interactions between two species. However, this term is not the same as cooperation or symbiosis.
Mutualisms are some of the most common ecological interactions. They are also responsible for some of the key events in the evolution of life on earth, such as the formation of eukaryotic cells, which are the modern-day cells that all animals, plants and fungi are made of.

Researchers in Gujarat have developed a model to identify individual mugger crocodiles using artificial intelligence.
The research team used drones to collect images of muggers in three different locations in Gujarat with very different ecosystems – Vadodara, Kachchh and Anand.
The model could be useful in rescue and relocation efforts to minimise human-crocodile conflicts and in analysing mugger biology.

Diabetes is a common disease in India; however, many myths about the disease are still prevalent even amongst educated people in the country. This popular science article aims to provide an in-depth look at the different kinds of diabetes in India to people with no medical background.

Greenwashing is a term commonly used to indicate deceptive marketing and advertising tactics to deceive stakeholders into believing that a particular product is environmentally friendly.
One of the major motives of greenwashing is to create public confusion and manipulate public opinion to sway consumer markets.
Currently, strong backlashes in public opinion against greenwashing have been keeping this practice somewhat under control. Strong social accountability and a tripartite system have b...

Humans being the social creatures that we are, we thrive on interaction. While many of these interactions are pleasant, many are not. ‘Unpleasant’ interactions can be highly variable – from those causing mild discomfort to others involving outright conflicts.
Non-conflict situations
Since most of us are not formally trained to handle ‘unpleasant’ interactions, we either turn to confrontation, or to pre-existing ways of tackling such situations of which we are already a part. Most of these pre...