Rhitu Chatterjee
De-Worming Program Set to Launch in India
The Indian state of Rajasthan is about to launch a large-scale program to treat intestinal worms among its public school students. The idea isn’t simply to make the kids healthier – it’s to enable them to study harder and get ahead in life.
Just Trying To Get By
As a journalist living and working in a foreign country, I like to think of myself as being culturally sensitive and aware regardless of where I’m reporting from. But I hadn’t realized that the pressures of being a journalist can dampen some of that sensitivity.
Sri Lanka: Kidney Ailment Linked to Farm Chemicals
Thousands of people in the Asian island nation of Sri Lanka have been struck by a mysterious and deadly form of kidney disease. A new study points to a likely cause: pesticides and fertilizers. This story was reported as part of a joint investigation with the Center for Public Integrity.
Curiosity Sends Self-Portrait from Mars
NASA’s Mars rover has been taking pictures not only of its new home on the red planet but also of itself. Check out the otherworldly self portraits Curiosity has beamed back to Earth.
How Plantain Trees Could Become an Energy Source
For the world’s rural poor, electric lighting is often an unaffordable luxury. Scientists in Sri Lanka have devised a possible solution – a way to, in essence, grow an electric battery in the garden.
Why the South American Chinchorro People Made the First Mummies
Seven thousand years ago, people of the Chinchorro culture in modern-day Chile and Peru made the world’s first mummies. Why did this primitive group of hunter-gatherers adopt such complex mortuary rituals? A new study attributes the practice to a shift in the climate.
A Flower Market Wrapped in Chaos and Monsoon Muddiness
The World’s Rhitu Chatterjee sends a snapshot of a whole-sale flower market in the Indian city of Kolkata.
Musical Evolution Shaped by Consumers
A team of scientists in London has set up an online experiment site DarwinTunes that shows that music can evolve through processes similar to those that have shaped living organisms.
Who Were the Ancient Artists in Spain’s El Castillo Cave?
Scientists have discovered cave art in Spain that dates back at least 40,000 years – around the time, or even before, modern humans arrived in Europe. The researchers suspect the ancient artists may have been our more primitive cousins, the Neanderthals.
Life Expectancy: The Grandfather Effect
A study conducted in the Philippines raises an interesting possibility: your lifespan could be influences by how old your grandfather was when your father was born.
Stem Cells Restore Sight in India
Stem cells are often touted as potential treatments for conditions like spinal cord injury, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. Two Indian doctors are already putting stem cells to use, curing some cases of blindness.
Beyond Class Part V: Indians in America – Caste Adrift
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.
Farm Animals Breed Antibiotic Resistance
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.
Winners and Losers: How Climate Change Affects Coral Reefs
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 [...]
Evidence of Early Use of Fire Found in South Africa Cave
For the Geo Quiz, we are looking for the location of the Wonderwerk Cave, where archaeologists have found evidence of early use of fire.
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