With each passing year, floods in Assam have become increasingly catastrophic, driven by a combination of socio-political factors and climate change The Udalguri district in Assam, which shares an international border with Bhutan, has historically been an area largely unaffected by extreme climate. But in recent times, this district, like many others across the […]
How pollutants like microplastics and fertilisers are damaging riverine ecosystems It’s 2022, which means that if the word “river” crops up in a conversation among college students, it would most likely be in the context of a Buzzfeed quiz that seeks to categorise them into a type of river. With the vast number of […]
Researchers at IISc are working on innovative solutions to improve water quality In August 2011, K Kesava Rao, Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, visited the village of Yellampalli, about 100 km north of Bangalore. The residents of the village were faced with a huge problem: water scarcity. To make matters worse, the […]
The tiny molecule that wears many hats inside our body A memory brings a smile as I gulp down water to quench my thirst. School, science class, and tiny desks. Our teacher was explaining to us that “water is colourless, odourless, and tasteless.” “But miss, I can taste water!” one of my classmates piped […]
What it takes to recycle sewage and rejuvenate the city’s lakes In 1993, when I first visited Bangalore, it felt like a different country to me. I was coming from dry and hot Nagpur, where the sky fades to almost white in summer, and the colour of the Gulmohar flowers is yellowish orange. Here, […]
The soil under our feet is teeming with life, and understanding and nurturing it has a positive impact on our lives A memory. My friend and I followed the ball as it bounced towards the pit in the backyard. Heat wafted up, and the air was saturated with a warm, earthy smell that wasn’t […]
How geologists connect the dots to tell stories of the Earth’s evolution It was a clear but cold July evening in the Kumaon Himalayas in Uttarakhand. Prakash Chandra Arya and his younger brother, Vikas, were on day one of their 15-day trek from a village called Munsiyari to the Milam glacier, more than 4000 […]
Seismologists have their work cut out when it comes to understanding and predicting earthquakes and their impact Beneath the serene snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas, danger lurks. Scientists are increasingly worried about a big earthquake overdue in the Himalayan region, anticipated to have a magnitude greater than 8.0 on the Richter scale. To give […]
Geotechnical engineers, who investigate soils and their properties, play an important and sometimes overlooked role in civil engineering A vacation on a Spanish beach in the 1960s sparked a revolution in the construction industry. French engineer Henri Vidal was piling up sand to build a sand castle when he realised that no matter how […]
Several researchers at IISc are working on technological solutions to tackle some of the causes of climate-induced disasters, and reduce carbon emissions A sizzling heatwave across North India, prolonged power outages, and 20 million dead. Fortunately, this is a work of fiction, the setting in the first chapter of The Ministry for the Future, […]
