Why GMO food activists in East Africa say the debate on modified maize in Kenya won’t be won or lost in courts
Kenya is in the middle of its worst drought in 40 years. In the parched north of the country, rivers have run dry and millions of livestock have perished due to lack of food. Around 5.4 million Kenyans don’t have enough to eat, and the situation will worsen if this...
Big Pharma tyranny: Hungry US corporates are now bullying Mexico into buying GMO maize
Today under a new – free but not fair – trade agreement, the US aims to force Mexico to not only accept genetically modified corn but also to overturn their ban on the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), a probable carcinogen. Corporate money has always corrupted the political process in order to...
Despite progress, fieldwork and research remain a stumbling block for Indian women in science
It was a scorching summer morning in 2018 in rural Purulia in West Bengal, when geologist and palaeobiologist Sanjukta Chakravorti, who was working on her PhD thesis then, had taken a break from her excavations and was approached by two school girls. “Didi, what are you doing?” one of them...
Why the hippie weed is gaining approval in medicine for squashing anxiety, spurring appetite and salving seizures
The 1960s was a big decade for cannabis: Images of flower power, the summer of love and Woodstock wouldn’t be complete without a joint hanging from someone’s mouth. Yet in the early 1960s, scientists knew surprisingly little about the plant. When Raphael Mechoulam, then a young chemist in his 30s...
Why science is revisiting ‘21 Grams of Life’ theory to back up ‘mystery of flight of human soul’ after death
After centuries questioning the religious mantra that every human body has a soul, scientists are gradually acquiescing to the mystery of metaphysics that supports religious belief that there is something in the human that departs the body moments after death. The phenomenon is known as “The 21 Grams of Life”...
Analysts identify complex mixtures of botanical resins, other materials used to embalm Egyptian mummies
Labelled pots found in a 2,500-year-old embalming workshop have revealed the plant and animal extracts used to prepare ancient Egyptian mummies – including ingredients originating hundreds and even thousands of kilometres away. Chemical analysis of the pots’ contents has identified complex mixtures of botanical resins and other substances, some of...
Social media: Tools for spreading fantastical theories have never been more powerful than they are today
That frictionless glide on social media from one post to the next, video after video, tweet upon tweet, plays tricks on the mind. Spend enough time in that realm and even the most absurd theories and narratives start to acquire the patina of logic, the ring of reason. How else...
The Internet is like an ancient city, its latest incarnation resting atop ruins of so many civilisations
We all do it. Make little snap judgments about everyday strangers as we go about our lives. Without giving it a second’s thought, we sketch minibiographies of the people we pass on the sidewalk, the guy seated across from us on the train, or the woman in line in front...
How UK science fails Black scholars: Number of minority ethnicities dwindles at every stage of academia
In 2018, Robert Mokaya – from Kenya – discovered that he was the only Black chemistry professor in the United Kingdom. For a decade, he’d assumed there were others who he hadn’t met until investigations by the UK Royal Society of Chemistry revealed his lonely status. “Somebody said to me,...
Curtains fall and light goes out of Congolese ‘Queen of Mutuashi’ Tshala Muana’s eyes at 64
The famous Congolese singer and dancer Tshala Muana has died at the age of 64, according to her producer and companion, Claude Mashala. “In the early hours of this morning the good Lord has made the decision to call back Tshala Muana,” he posted on Facebook. Tshala Muana is considered...
