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Escherichia coli, commonly called E. coli, is a bacteria that can be found in the gut of many warm blooded animals, including humans. Although many strains of the bacteria are harmless, a few strains of E. coli are pathogens that causes diseases like food poisoning, urinary tract infections and pneumonia.

The Education and Research Network or better known as the ERNET project was initiated in 1986 by the central government with the aim of connecting the different academic institutions across the country and introducing research in networking in the country. By 1992, ERNET had become the country’s first internet service provider. In January 2016 it was mutually decided to end the agreement between ERNET and IISc, thus bringing to an end a three-decade long effort in data networking.

The body’s immune system is one of the robust defense mechanisms. Now, scientists are exploring to use our immune system to fight some of the deadliest diseases including cancer by understanding how immunotherapy works and how drugs that are based on immunotherapy help our body fight cancers. In a recent study, researchers are working on understanding how Yervoy, a common immunotherapy drug against cancer, works in fighting against the disease. They are also looking at manufacturing similar cost-effective drugs that promise to bring down the cost of cancer drugs.

Rare-earth elements, despite their names are quite common on the earth’s crust, but are often difficult to find, as they tend to clump together to form minerals. They are a group of seventeen elements including Scandium, Cerium and Neodymium, which share chemical properties.

Social Capital is the various networks a person can form throughout his life time, with his relatives, friends, co-workers etc, which could become economically valuable.

Have you ever wondered what billions of years of evolution has left us with? Incredible answers to some of the toughest questions, say scientists. In fact, it has given rise to a new field called biomimicry that aims to provide some of the incredible solutions to design problems inspired by nature. Think of the aeroplanes, super fast bullet trains, artificial glues for bones, climate controlled buildings -- all these are a result of us looking close into nature’s way of dealing with problems and drawing an inspiration from them. But there are more such examples that are gamechangers. Read more to know how biomimicry is all set to influence our lives more than ever.

Foot and Mouth Disease is a highly infectious viral disease affecting hoofed animals like cattle, deer, sheep and goats. The disease is often fatal, mostly affecting  domesticated animals and causing huge losses to their owners. The contagious nature of the virus quickly destroys  entire herds.

The Research Matters team caught up with Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt, Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, when he was in Bengaluru in June, 2017. Having won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae, our team wanted to know his views about the recent discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO and the Virgo Observatory. Read on to know more about his work on type 1A supernovae and share his excitement for the future of cosmology, after the discovery of gravitational waves.

Cyanide is any chemical compound that contains a carbon atom triple bonded to a nitrogen atom, called a cyano group. Some of the cyanide compounds are known to be extremely toxic with the ability to cause death within minutes.

Asteroids bring an image of shooting stars streaking across the sky. But did you know, they were the reason behind one of the biggest mass extinction events in the history of life? Often harmless, asteroids have been striking the earth for millions of years and there are still millions out there, wandering in outer space. On the occasion of International Asteroid Day, let us learn about these incredible space rocks and why it is important to track and study them.