Our body has a personal army of dedicated soldiers ready to defend us all the time—our immune system. Its combatants can fend off simple infections like a common cold or a sore throat, as well as life-threatening intruders like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes tuberculosis, or the virus that causes hepatitis. However, sometimes, the cells in our immune system go berserk and find an enemy within—they start attacking cells in our body!

Fertilisers provide nutrients to the soil and enrich its quality. But, increased application of chemical fertilisers to crops to meet the rising food demand has hampered the soil health by affecting its chemical composition as well as soil biodiversity. Moreover, when it rains, the fertilisers wash away from the soil and pollute surface water and groundwater. They also enter the human body through drinking water and the food we consume, having a detrimental effect on our health.

Insects encompass a few of the most intelligent animals such as bees which have the ability to solve problems, socialize, form memories and even use symbolic language to communicate. Plants and many of these insects have evolved together over 400 million years.

Bioluminescence is the ability of an organism to produce light. How does each animal use bioluminescence differently?

If you are a fan of the movie Jurassic Park, you would have noticed the feathery-leaved massive plants, commonly called ferns. Also known as pteridophytes, they once dominated the flora of the Earth.

Every drug has to undergo ‘clinical trials’ to ensure it is safe for use. Clinical trials are medicinal or observational experiments conducted on humans. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pharmaceutical industry, clinical trial registry databases, and policymakers are few of the significant entities that are involved in clinical trials.

Our gastrointestinal tract is teeming with a variety of microorganisms, which we obtain from our mothers during childbirth and also through breastmilk. How do our unicellular gut tenants participate in our lives by being an integral part of the gut-brain axis? 

With a lifespan of just twelve days, the famous line, 'Live like there's no tomorrow', could be the title of a fruit fly's biography. Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, is an important 'model organism' used in biological experiments. A model organism is one that is easy to breed, can survive in laboratories and has an inherent biological advantage. Fruit flies find themselves a part of many experiments from modelling the development of tumour growths in cancer to studying immunity against viral infections. What makes this 3-millimetre-long insect the prefered choice of biologists?

Killer whales, also known as killer dolphins or orcas, are toothed-whales belonging to the Delphinidae family. Being the largest of oceanic dolphins, nothing in the sea dares to hunt them. Killer whales are often mistaken to be ferocious enough to kill any whale and human, earning them the name ‘killer' . But, did you know that these ‘sea pandas’ are far less violent? 

Across the ages, humans have tried to explain natural phenomena, like earthquakes, through stories and myths. Indian mythology says that when the elephant that holds the world on his back gets tired, an earthquake occurs; Norse mythology describes an earthquake as Loki, the God of mischief and strife, struggling to escape his prison; and Japaneses mythology talks about the giant catfish Namazu thrashing about beneath the earth, causing earthquakes. So what does science have to say?