In the guise of development, what allows us to be callous with earth's resources? A study conducted by Indian Institute of Soil Science shows that majority of the soil in India is deficient in secondary nutrients, such as sulphur, and micronutrients, such as zinc, boron, iron, copper and manganese. The question then is how nutritious can our food be if it is grown on malnourished land? Many other villages are suffering, like Jaduguda and Kolaghat, because the polluter does not take the responsibility of the waste, burdening locals with unseen consequences...

Why is the Indian monsoon so slippery? The monsoon of the Indian subcontinent is also shaped by the heating of the Tibetan plateau, the shape of continents and mountains, Eurasian snow cover, temperature difference between eastern and western flanks of the Indian ocean, and, arguably the most important, El Niño (“little boy” in Spanish as this event occurs around Christmas), a weather event triggered by a greater heating of the eastern Pacific near Ecuador than its western counterpart. A strong El Niño, more often than not, implies a weak monsoon. In the last 100 years, 19 out of 43 deficient monsoon years were …

D Suresh lives in Kilpauk in Chennai in his green and sustainable home. An IIT and IIM graduate, 71 year old Suresh has managed to set up a rooftop solar plant, biogas plant, rainwater harvesting, rooftop kitchen garden and a bamboo forest in front of his house. Solar Suresh as people call him today is the face of sustainable living in the new Urban India. Watch to know more! 

Don't become couch potatoes and gadget slaves this summer. Make the best of your summer holidays, move around the house, and assess how you consume resources with the help of some interesting activities.

A science fairytale: The home of the Butbut tribe is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Every morning, when the first rays of sunlight shower upon the steep mountains of Buscalan and its lush green rice fields, the village looks nothing less than a paradise. The Butbut is one of the 110 odd tribes which resides in Philippines, an island country made up of more than 70,000 islands. But their home is not the only thing the Butbut are proud of... 

The girl would remember that winter fondly as the one when they made their last snowperson. Her elder brother and sister and two girls and another boy from the neighbourhood had developed a ritual over the years. Every time it snowed substantially, they would leave all but one of their kãgers at home, put on their Duckback boots and homemade woollen gloves and head for the clearing between the walnut trees behind their mohalla.

Yossi Yovel and colleagues at the University of Tel Aviv have discovered that the shrill cries of bats, which so often pass into ultrasonic, are filled with a lot of information. 

Down To Earth travels to the desert state of Rajasthan to find out about the traditional food habits of the people in one of the driest regions of the country. We discovered that so many things grow in the wild and traditional knowledge of these will ensure that you have plenty to eat in the harsh desert environment. But is this traditional knowledge losing its ground slowly?. Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi...

As usual, I woke up in the morning thinking about what I would do that day. It wasn't a special day, my routine was all planned-up like other days. It was a holiday, I didn’t have to go to school. I was determined to do something new, see something different. I was thinking about going with my family to watch a movie or something like that. I don’t watch movies often but my exams had just ended the day before. Many ideas came to my mind, but that day I don’t know why...