Author: Deshwale Science and Environment Desk

Cancer treatment has made major advances. Yet one of the biggest challenges remains the return of tumours after treatment. Modern therapies can destroy millions of cancer cells. However, a small population of cells can survive. These surviving cells can allow tumours to return, spread to distant organs and develop resistance to treatment. Scientists have long focused on rare cancer stem-like cells because of their role in tumour recurrence, metastasis and treatment failure. Detecting these cells, however, has been difficult. They are extremely rare and can constantly change their identity. Researchers from the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences…

Anyone can pour concrete that looks solid on the day it’s poured. The harder test comes thirty, fifty, even a hundred years later, when a structure still has to perform exactly as it was designed to. Very few countries manage that consistently, and the ones that do share a surprising insight: quality control during construction and strict maintenance after occupancy aren’t two separate concerns. They’re treated as one continuous obligation. Singapore makes this principle almost impossible to miss. Since 1989, its Building and Construction Authority has run CONQUAS, a national scoring system that grades every major project on structural work,…

By: Pratyush Bardoliwala Many of you might be reading this article in your head right now. As you read these words, you may be silently hearing a voice saying them inside your mind. But have you ever wondered what actually helps you hear your own thoughts? There is no one speaking, no sound travelling through the air and no vibration reaching your ears. So how can you “hear” something that produces no sound? Let’s find out what science has to say about this fascinating phenomenon. To understand the voice in our head, let’s first look at how sound actually works.…

By: Pratyush Bardoliwala We often overlook the origins of things that are now so common that we barely think about them. Fire is one of them. Humans did not invent fire. It existed in nature long before us, caused by events such as lightning and volcanic activity. What humans eventually learned to do was far more important. We learned how to use, control and eventually make fire for our own benefit. There is no exact date for when humans first began using fire. Archaeologists have found evidence of ancient hearths dating back at least 790,000 years. However, it is difficult…

By: Pratyush Bardoliwala Imagine a storm finally clearing over a small town in Honduras. The rain has soaked the roads, the clouds are beginning to break and people are slowly stepping outside again. Then, scattered across the wet ground, they find something that should not be there: small fish. This strange sight has been reported for generations in Yoro, a town in the Honduran department of Yoro. Locally, the event is known as Lluvia de Peces, or “Rain of Fish”. According to local accounts, the fish are usually discovered after periods of heavy rain and storms. Some reports describe residents…

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Jitendra Singh, said India is set to become an essential player in the next industrial revolution, which he said will be driven by biotechnology and artificial intelligence. He noted that unlike the previous industrial revolution, which was led by information technology and where India joined the global transformation at a later stage, the country is now positioned to be among the early participants in emerging technologies. Speaking at a media conclave, Dr. Jitendra Singh said India is among the first few countries in the world to…

This week, a story went viral about Singapore. The tiny island nation has grown nearly 28% larger since 1965, almost entirely by importing sand and dumping it into the sea to create new land. Its neighbours, tired of watching their coastlines vanish, shut the tap one by one. Malaysia banned exports in 1997 and again in 2018. Indonesia and Vietnam followed. Cambodia made its ban permanent in 2017, after activists proved the country had shipped out far more sand than official records showed. It’s a dramatic story. But if you live in India, you don’t need to look that far…

By: Pratyush Bardoliwala At least once in your lifetime, you may have felt the hair on your body suddenly stand up. Maybe it happened in the cold, during a scary moment, or even while listening to a powerful song. But why does this happen? The answer lies in a fascinating scientific phenomenon known as goosebumps. Goosebumps are a physical reaction triggered by cold, fear, excitement, stress and strong emotions. When this happens, tiny muscles attached to our hair follicles contract, making the hairs on our skin stand upright and creating the small bumps we see. This reaction is controlled by…

By: Pratyush Bardoliwala Octopuses are fascinating creatures. They are fast, flexible and highly intelligent. But beyond these remarkable abilities lies something even more extraordinary: an octopus has three hearts, and its blood is blue rather than red. Many octopuses can also produce and release a dark ink from inside their bodies when threatened, using it as a defence against predators. Sounds crazy, right? There is, however, a fascinating scientific explanation behind these unusual features. The answer begins with the way an octopus breathes. Unlike humans, octopuses do not have lungs. They use gills to extract oxygen from water. Their circulatory…

Journalists uncovering the world’s most critical climate and ecological crises are facing an unprecedented wave of violence, intimidation, and legal persecution. A damning report by UNESCO, titled Press and Planet in Danger, reveals that at least 749 journalists and news outlets reporting on environmental issues were attacked across 89 countries between 2009 and 2023. The crisis has intensified sharply in recent years. More than 300 of these attacks occurred in the final five years of the study alone, representing a staggering 42 per cent surge in violence and harassment compared to the previous five-year period. A Deadly Beat: Killings and…