In India, society has traditionally been stratified according to the caste system. Caste has its roots in scripture, but over the years it has expanded into many spheres of Indian life: work, education and, most recently, politics. Today, many urban Indians ignore caste, except when it comes to choosing a marriage partner. But abroad, some upper caste Indians have a nostalgic affection for a system that favored their forefathers.
India isn’t the only source of these lethal bacteria. They are present all over the world. These bugs and their genes are spreading so rapidly around the world that some scientists regard the resistance genes as a new kind of environmental contaminant.
Nearly one-fifth of the world’s reefs are already gone due to the combined effect of global warming, pollution and overfishing. But a handful of new and ongoing studies are starting to suggest a less gloomy picture for the future of the world’s reefs [...]
For the Geo Quiz, we are looking for the location of the Wonderwerk Cave, where archaeologists have found evidence of early use of fire.
Researchers in Stockholm have now conducted a detailed examination of the 17th century vessel and have found new clues as to why it sank.
A new study by British scientists shows that baby goats develop different “accents” depending on the groups they associate with.
New research shows that what we hear can influence what we taste. British researchers have found that listening to high- or low-pitched music can alter the perceived sweetness or bitterness of food.
An international team of scientists has reconstructed the sound of an insect, a katydid, that lived in China about 165 million years ago.
I can’t remember when or where I first came across the word ‘earworm,’ but I can never forget the first time I used the word in this newsroom [...]
How often does a tune intrude on your thoughts and plays and replays in never-ending loops? Scientists call these intrusive musical thoughts “ear worms.”
We are looking for a vast, but sparsely-populated territory of Australia. It borders the Timor Sea to the north and to the south it abuts South Australia.
Hawking on the Future of Humankind: To mark his 70th birthday, physicist Stephen Hawking answered a selection of questions from the listeners of BBC Radio 4′s Today Program.
Sound travels much faster in water than in air, and thus plays an enormous role in the lives of marine species. Reef fishes rely on sounds to communicate. So do whales and dolphins [...]
Scientists are establishing a worldwide network of deep-sea listening posts connected to the Internet. It allows researchers — and the public — to hear whales, ships, and other underwater sounds. But the US Navy is uneasy because these sounds might reveal the location of its submarines.
In the 1940s, American medical researchers intentionally infected Guatemalan prisoners and mental health patients with syphilis. After news of this experimentation came to light last year, President Obama’s bioethics commission launched a review of government research on human subject.
