In Hillbilly Elegy (2020), during the firm week at Yale Law School, when top law firms scout and recruit students for summer internships, the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance finds himself completely out of his depth at a formal dinner. Overwhelmed by the number of utensils laid out before him, he leaves the dinner table … Read more
The World Health Organization has sought to eliminate filariasis, globally, by 2030, a decade later than its original target of 2020. While India’s target year is now 2027, this deadline has been arrived at after several revisions: the National Health Policy had originally set the goalpost for 2015. Filariasis, clearly, has been difficult disease to … Read more
Daily Quiz on | Pope Francis A still from the movie The Two Popes, where Jonathan Pryce portrayed Pope Francis START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | What is the Pope’s birthname? 2 / 6 | Which Argentinian football club was the Pope famously fan of? 3 / 6 | To what topic did the … Read more
Hindi cinema, dominated by profit-driven masala films, often glorifies social elites while sidelining Dalit-Bahujan identities and their concerns. Mainstream Bollywood, criticised for promoting patriarchal and casteist stereotypes, rarely embraces cinema as a tool to challenge social injustices. Additionally, it tends to uphold the cultural and political agendas of traditional social elites while avoiding engaging with … Read more
File picture of workers transporting soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China | Photo Credit: Reuters The story so far: Amid the ongoing U.S.–China trade war, Chinese authorities have reportedly imposed export controls on rare earth elements (REEs) and magnets that are needed in a range of … Read more
On rising temperatures and climate change, India’s air quality, the need for geriatric care services, the landmark agreement on tackling future pandemics, and more This is not old wine in new bottle, this is mulled wine you forgot to throw spices into, but that glass is frothing with all the overheating that is happening this … Read more
In 2023 and 2024, over half a million students were denied visas. In February 2025, the first month of the second Donald Trump administration, the number of student visas issued to Indians by the U.S. dropped by 30% compared to the same month the previous year. This decline was notably higher than the overall 4.75% … Read more
It’s houseful at The Bangalore Room, Indiranagar, on the evening of Easter, 2025. To the packed audience, Asad Hajeebhoy, renowned stained glass artist and founder of Glasscrafters Studio, poses a question. “Which metal oxide gives a rich red while colouring glass?’ The crowd starts guessing — “cadmium, iron…” No one lands the right answer. And … Read more
Representative illustration. A traditional temporary pacemaker requires invasive open heart or endovascular surgical methods to both implant and remove. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have engineered a pacemaker smaller than a grain of rice. The makers of the device say it can be implanted in a non-invasive procedure … Read more
New Delhi, April 21: Water started flowing into the Farakka feeder canal at 11-00 hours this morning. An announcement to this effect was made amidst cheers in the Lok Sabha to-day by the Agriculture and Irrigation Minister, Mr. Jagjivan Ram, at the end of a statement on the Indo-Bangladesh agreement on Farakka reached in Dacca … Read more