Feature Articles

Study by Nikita Zachariah, Renee Borges and colleagues reveals that termites build mounds from anything they can chew and move on

photo-credit: Nikhil More

Photo-credit: Nikhil More

Bower bird nests, bee hives and towering termite mounds have always fascinated architects, naturalists and laypersons alike but we barely know how they are built. A study by an interdisciplinary team consisting Nikita Zachariah (a PhD student) and Prof. Renee M Borges from CES, Aritra Das from the Centre for NeuroScience and Prof. Tejas Murthy from the Department of Civil Engineering, IISc offers interesting clues on how termites build huge mounds.

Its raining bush frogs in the Western Ghats by Kartik Shanker and SP Vijayakumar

Bush Frogs

Its raining bush frogs in the Western Ghats
Kartik Shanker and SP Vijayakumar

Should you find yourself wandering in the cloud-drenched mountains of the Western Ghats, you would be engulfed by a cacophony of frog calls. Many of these will be bush frogs, a group of miniature frogs distributed throughout south and southeast Asia. Some are so small that they can be accommodated on your thumbnail!

The story of a river: tracking lantana's relentless spread by Anjali Vaidya

The adaptable garden plant Lantana camara has been spreading across India and edging out native species for two hundred years now, despite all efforts to control its growth. Scientists suggest that we could more effectively manage the plant by focusing our attention on riverside habitats.

Pages