In 1981, German scientists Adolf Goetzberger and Armin Zastrow published a foundational paper arguing that dual land use for food and energy could bring significant benefits. They proposed elevating solar modules by about 2 m above the ground to allow crops to grow underneath, giving rise to the concept of agriphotovoltaics (APVs). APVs integrate solar … Read more
Rushikulya, discovered as a mass nesting site in 1994, has since become a focal point of olive ridley conservation in India. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement A new study has revealed that olive ridley sea turtles tend to select mates of similar size, indicating a pattern of size-assortative mating. The research, conducted jointly by scientists … Read more
The large 5,678-acre grasslands in Hesaraghatta are finally under protection from encroachment and development. The Government of Karnataka issued the final notification of the Greater Hesaraghatta Grassland Conservation Reserve recently while conservationists and those who have been crying hoarse to save the city’s remaining green areas heaved a sigh of relief. The grassland region in … Read more
These trees came as immigrants, made friends with the locals and now are upstanding inhabitants of Coimbatore providing priceless service to the city and its people. Architect, Jayashree Raman says trees offer a wealth of natural solutions to various design challenges. “They provide insights into structural strength, energy efficiency, and biomimicry, leading to more sustainable … Read more
European Red Admiral butterfly sighted near Dharamshala in the mountain range of Dhauladhar in Himachal Pradesh. Picture credits: Lovish Garlani In a remarkable first for India’s lepidopteran records, the European Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), a widely distributed migratory butterfly species, has been sighted and documented in Himachal Pradesh. The species was observed near Dharamshala in the Dhauladhar … Read more
Participants experiencing the portable natural history museum by Wilded, a Nature education group, at a residential society in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: K R DEEPAK At the edge of a garden in Visakhapatnam, a carpenter bee once drilled a perfect circular hole into an old log of wood. This tiny act of wild engineering caught … Read more
Puttur city municipality in Dakshina Kannada district uses Bio CNG generated from wet waste to operate its six vehicles since August 2024. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT In a rare initiative in Karnataka, Puttur city municipality in Dakshina Kannada is converting wet waste into Bio Compressed Natural Gas (BioCNG) through private partnership, for the past … Read more
Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Rohan Chakravarty is a cartoonist and illustrator from Nagpur. His series, ‘Green Humour’, consists of cartoons and comics on wildlife, nature conservation, environmental issues, sustainability, and all things green. Published – May 01, 2025 09:30 am IST
For a fleeting fortnight each year, the dense rainforests of the Anamalai in Tamil Nadu are transformed into a realm of bioluminescent magic. As the jungle darkens, it bursts into a silent symphony of light — millions of fireflies synchronising their flashes in one of the most enchanting natural phenomena one can witness. It is … Read more
Mango fruits dropped from trees owing to gusty wind accompanied by hailstorm and rain, in Wadagera taluk of Yadgir district in Karnataka. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The recent unseasonal rains accompanied by gusty winds and hailstorm damaged the mango crop in Yadgir district of Karnataka, particularly in Wadagera taluk. Mango growers expected a good … Read more
The online workshop will be held between May 11 and June 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: Early Bird Early Bird, a not-for-profit initiative to bring children closer to birds and nature, is geared to launch the 6th edition of The Young Birders’ Workshop. This online workshop aims ‘to help children delve deeper into the world … Read more
Kallukoppa (Shivamogga) It is 10.30 a.m. and four government officials have just reached Kallukoppa, a village in Sirigere, a gram panchayat in Shivamogga taluk. One of them is armed with a rover to record GPS location, while others are carrying documents. The team, comprising officers of both the Revenue and Forest Departments, with residents as … Read more
The rejuvenation was implemented under the Central Government’s AMRUT 2.0 scheme, with Biome Environmental Trust, a non-profit organisation, playing a pivotal role. | Photo Credit: Photo for representation only A rejuvenated recharge well drawing from a shallow aquifer at Gollahalli village in Bengaluru has significantly eased water scarcity during the blistering summer. Drawing water from … Read more
Snipers in helicopters have shot more than 700 koalas in the Budj Bim National Park in western Victoria in recent weeks. It’s believed to be the first time koalas have been culled in this way. The cull became public on Good Friday after local wildlife carers were reportedly tipped off. A fire burned about 20% … Read more
An egret perches on a mango tree on the outskirts of Kumarakom, Kerala, on April 10. | Photo Credit: PTI The story so far: “There is a drop in mango harvest. Mangoes no longer taste that sweet. Mangoes are expensive. Mangoes are arriving too early in the market. The mango pickle doesn’t last through the … Read more
In late 2019, a wave of billions of desert locusts flew into western India through Pakistan. Their journey had already spanned several thousand kilometers since they first erupted in the arid plains of East Africa. Locusts are grasshoppers that, in the right conditions, multiply rapidly. They grow larger and change colour in response to their … Read more
As climate change accelerates, tree plantation and carbon sequestration are essential for environmental sustainability. For India, a rapidly growing economy reliant on carbon-intensive industries, expanding tree cover is crucial for mitigating climate change while supporting industrial growth and rural livelihoods. India’s forest and tree cover is 25.17%, significantly below the 33% target set by the … Read more
Despite covering less than 1% of the world’s ocean area, the Bay of Bengal provides nearly 8% of global fishery production. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Strong and weak monsoons can influence marine productivity in the Bay of Bengal, a study exploring fluctuations in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) over the past 22,000 years has … Read more
Rajeev K. Varshney from Murdoch University with a clutch of peanuts. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A team of 19 researchers from Australia and China have unlocked the genetic key to developing higher-yielding varieties of peanut or groundnut, a major food and oilseed crop in India. Their pan-genome analysis, revealing the structural variation associated with … Read more
The next time you sweep away a cobweb without a second thought, consider this: the silken structure is an engineering marvel. According to new research published last week in Current Biology, a North American spider species can change how its webs transmit vibrations. The authors have reported that spiders in urban environments can build webs … Read more
Every year, farmers battle an invisible, relentless, formidable enemy: plant viruses. Unlike bacteria or fungi, which can be controlled with pesticides or fungicides, there is no straightforward way to cure crops of viral infections. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), plant pests and diseases destroy nearly 40% of the world’s annual crop, … Read more
Malabar Flash butterfly | Photo Credit: Vinod Sriramulu Butterfly pioneer Wynter Blyth MA mentions a butterfly in his book Butterflies of the Indian Region that came out in 1957. He talks of it as a rare one, observed in the Mettupalayam Ghats and Sri Lanka, in thick jungles often at an elevation between 1000 and 3000 ft. … Read more
Museum specimens, the Zoological Survey of India used to unlock morphological mysteries of the South Asian treeshrews. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT GUWAHATI Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have resolved longstanding taxonomic ambiguities surrounding South Asian treeshrews – small, insectivorous mammals often misidentified due to their superficial resemblance to squirrels. Drawing upon … Read more
A mother and child making observations in a garden. | Photo Credit: Getty Images Visakhapatnam is all set to join a global celebration of curiosity and conservation as the City Nature Challenge (CNC) 2025 kicks off from April 25 to 28. A worldwide citizen science event powered by the iNaturalist app, this initiative invites Nature … Read more
MLA and BEMUL Chairman Balachandra Jarkiholi speaking to reporters in Belagavi on April 15, 2025. | Photo Credit: P.K. BADIGER “Belagavi District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (BEMUL) has achieved a profit of ₹13.20 crore in the last year. This is unprecedented since the establishment of the union in 1985,” Balachandra Jarkiholi , Chairman of BEMUL, … Read more
Minister for Forests, Ecology, and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre holding a review meeting with the forest department officials at Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district on Thursday. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Taking note of the use of low-intensity crude bombs to kill wild boars in villages bordering forests, Minister for Forests, Ecology, and Environment Eshwar Khandre … Read more
A tagged Curlew sandpiper spotted and photographed by birder Jithesh Babu at Kelambakkam backwaters on April 18, 2025. | Photo Credit: Jithesh Babu When a wintering bird doubles back to its breeding grounds to attend to the visceral business of procreation, it becomes essentially “unreachable” for the human friends it has made in its wintering … Read more
“My first sighting of a male blackbuck was ethereal. This huge, big male with horns sticking out like swords, body glistening, standing against the sun in the morning,” remembers the Bengaluru-based natural history filmmaker and the co-founder of Trailing Wild Productions, Sumanth Kuduvalli. It was in 2013 at Maidanahalli at the Jayamangali Blackbuck Reserve, in … Read more
Kannada and Culture Minister and Koppal in-charge Shivaraj Tangadagi inspecting crop damage in Koppal district of Karnataka on April 13, 2025. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Recent hailstorms have caused significant damage to agriculture in Koppal district in Karnataka, affecting 12,722.46 hectares of paddy crops. “Of this, 4,895.33 hectares of crop damage occurred in Karatagi … Read more
Like it or not, it’s clear: every year, India must face down intense heat waves and erratic but also often intense bursts of rainfall. In a bid to find as many ways out of the consequences — or at least their ability to surprise governments — as possible, the country has turned to artificial intelligence … Read more