Quantifying global contribution of scavengers in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions — Vultures are one of the most efficient terrestrial scavengers and play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by dead animals. A recent study conducted by a group of scientists, has quantified the global contribution of vultures in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by consuming organic material. …

Nature-inspired solutions are revolutionizing our life Biomimetics, also known as biomimicry, is the practice of designing and engineering systems inspired by nature. The goal of biomimetics is to create sustainable and efficient solutions for various industries by mimicking the natural processes and designs found in the natural world. One example…

Surprisingly, the color doesn’t come from a pigment — As opposed to a usual consideration, pigments don’t give butterfly wings their striking color. The wings have thousands of transparent micro and nano-structures. But if the wings are transparent, what gives them such beautiful colors? The wings of butterflies consist of multiple equally spaced layers of nano-structures sandwiched with air…

You’re definitely thinking of the wrong body part! — Many people know the importance of personal hygiene in daily life and how it affects our health. Some parts of our body are home to bacteria where they thrive and can cause infections and serious complications. A common ballpark guess of the body part hosting most bacteria would be the…

5 traits of Flow defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — Do you wish to improve your creativity, well-being and stay productive? If yes, you might consider cultivating flow, a phenomenon when you’re completely immersed in challenging yet doable work. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was the first to define and research the flow. The best moments usually occurs when a person’s mind or…

And how hunger is different than craving — All of us felt like slaves to our food cravings at one point or the other until we caved in and ate it all. It can be from pizza, burgers, and noodles to coffee or chai. But why do we crave specific food all of a sudden? Most of us…

Frugal and sustainable innovations can address many issues and create big impact . As a frugal science enthusiast and interest in paper microfluidics , water activated disposable paper battery developed by Swiss institute Empa is quite fascinating. With such device a wide range of low power, single use disposable electronics…

A threat to marine ecosystem — Climate change is biggest threat to the ecosystem of coral reefs. A recent study has found that at 1.5°C of warming, 99% of the world’s reefs will experience heatwaves that are too frequent for them to recover. …

A way forward for Organ-on-a-Chip Technology — Animal models provide great complexity compared to simple cell culture, but still, they struggle in recapitulating the human pathophysiology. Despite these shortcomings, animal models have been continuously used for preclinical studies for over a century. For a significant amount of time, preference for animal models was a necessity as they…