The undefeated

Noise or signal, the jury is out

A recent paper by two IISc researchers on room temperature superconductivity has raised questions and charges of fraud over its findings.

The complex business of predicting a flood

It happens every year during the monsoon but there’s precious little planning for the kind of deluge that hit Kerala.

Malaysia's Indian gangsters

Though just 7 per cent of the population more Malaysian Indians are gangsters than any other race, a result of their estate labour history and general state neglect.

Pushed to the margins

The Siddi community, poor and friendless, seems to have no road to the future.

‘Magic is transnational’

It’s the peak of performance art where the eye does not see what the hand does. The magician taps into a deep well of awe and wonder that continues to thrill even though we know it is a trick.

A lady of rare fortitude

As a young widow with four children in the Indian capital Naina Devi found her metier as singer and a patron of artistes. Her contributions to Delhi as a centre of Hindustani music are indelible.

Warming and the task of care

When fake news nearly started a riot

Telangana’s Kalwakurthy was on the boil last year over a viral WhatsApp forward, as the town experienced the might of online hate sparked by a photo.

Washed away in a flash

Floods and flash floods are inevitable facts of climatic fluctuations but new research on the probabilities of weather events shows that neither death nor destruction is foreordained.

'I don't know how producers make money'

Girish Kasarvalli has made 14 films and is the undoubted doyen of Kannada independent cinema. But his job has got harder with the years, as funding dries up.

The unknown Indian

No one knew of Sanjay Pradhan’s death. He was just one of the millions who traverse the country, working where they can, building a nation and dying alone.

The Mahua story

Modern times and an iconic brew.

Left behind by the wayside

India is a country tailor made for communists but they have failed to arouse public enthusiasm due to a complete misreading of the common man's temperament.

Death by nitrogen

We are all familiar with the perils of a runaway carbon cycle but there is a lesser known one that may be worse, the rise of reactive nitrogen to dangerous levels.

In the fight of its life

Brexit and rise of the far right across Europe, along with an assault on democracy threatens the continent’s identity as a liberal, inclusive place.

In the black hole

India has four million drug addicts, one million hooked to heroin. One in five of the latter is a minor. The story of Arman, an 11-year-old who can’t do without his fix.