India’s environment ministry has come out with a set of rules which facilitates any industrial project that starts in an ecologically sensitive coastal zone without required permissions, to compensate by…
The Kole wetland in Kerala is popular for its paddy cultivation that dates back to 300 years. The wetland gets its name from its high productivity - ‘Kole’ literally translates…
In the early hours of the day, when the sky is clear and blue, swarms of jellyfish wade through the waters surrounding Kavvayi islands, some four kilometres from the nearest…
When Super Cyclone Amphan hit 24 South Parganas district of West Bengal in May last year, it broke embankments, allowing seawater to directly enter the rice fields destroying the crop.…
When Malayalam’s celebrated poet Sugathakumari, a pioneer of environmental activism in Kerala, reached the state’s tribal heartland Attappadi during the early months of 1980, the region looked like a barren…
A 60 percent rise in India’s leopard population has been recorded in 2018, compared to 2014, but there is one area in the country, the northeastern landscape, where its population…
Resembling a camel's hump, Vavul Mala, at 7,677 feet, is the highest point in Kerala’s northern Kozhikode district. It is also one of the most ecologically sensitive portions of Western…
In a serendipitous discovery, researchers have described a tiny, cryptic species of tree-spider crab found climbing the mangrove trees of Kasargod district in the southern state of Kerala. Covered in…
Though over one-third of the world’s population still lives in homes made with mud, somewhere in the mid-20th century, this trend took a sharp decline. A recent survey conducted by…
Almost a year ago, a survey initiated by two scientists of Thrissur-based Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) had identified 33 stone quarries in the ten-kilometer radius of Kavalappara, a highly…
Sloth bears are the world's only bears built to eat ants. They love their occasional meat tidbits of course but thrive mostly on ants, insects, fruits and wild berries. Their…
For E. V. Soniya, a scientist with the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, science, and especially molecular biology, has been a lifelong passion. Her expertise in the basic…
While Kerala's contentious Athirapilly dam may be temporarily on hold due to peoples' resistance, a smaller 7.5 megawatt hydropower project in the vicinity has got both environmentalists and indigenous communities…
A day after May 20, 2020, when cyclone Amphan had ravaged parts of India’s east coast and Bangladesh, Saptarshi Gayen, a computer science student ventured out with his camera to…
Global warming causes rapid intensification of cyclones originating in the north Indian Ocean, a study has said. Scientists who studied cyclone Ockhi that hit India’s west coast in 2017 said…
Underlying cultural and religious beliefs in serpent deities has played a role in protecting iconic animals such as snakes and other species dwelling inside the Western Ghats’ sacred groves. But…
After effectively handling COVID-19 for about five months since the pandemic was first reported in India and winning praise from the international community, Kerala's pandemic curve is now defying all…
With its long, scaly body and delicate, veil-like fins, the Gollum snakehead captured quite some attention when discovered last year in south India. Now, scientists have found that it is…
Some 126 years after British police officer Fred Fawcett’s chance discovery of the famous Edakkal Caves and their ancient rock carvings in Wayanad district of Kerala, the mountain which houses…
The rains have eased in Thrissur in Kerala. The sun stays longer than overcast skies. Flowers have opened bright - different sizes, different colours. The pollinators are busy, moving from…