The quality of sleep a mother gets during pregnancy may be linked intimately with the health and development of the child, even after birth. In a new study using rats as model systems, researchers show that disturbances in sleep during the final trimester of pregnancy results in altered sleep profiles and delayed brain maturation in the offspring.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), an aquatic fungus, has been implicated in the decline or extinction of nearly 200 frog species worldwide. Now for the first time, researchers have mapped and assessed the spread of this deadly pathogen in Indian frog populations, performing extensive field studies in locations ranging from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats to the Anadaman and Nicobar islands.

In this next article in our series on research ethics, Anant Bhan, bioethicist and global health & policy researcher, speaks to IndiaBioscience about the landscape of clinical trial malpractice in India and the need for pharmacovigilance, which is the science of monitoring, evaluating and understanding adverse effects associated with drugs and medical devices even after they have been released into the mass market.