Columns

• In conversation with K VijayRaghavan: The making of the Lodha Genius Programme

  

  The Lodha Genius Programme at Ashoka University, Haryana, started in May 2023 with the vision for nurturing bright students during their high school years. In this article, K VijayRaghavan, former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and the Chair of the Science Advisory Council at Ashoka University, discusses the programme in a conversation with Debraj Manna.
  

  Posted on Sep 30, 2024 in Other, Education, Science, Teaching & School Education

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• IBRO-Dana Brain Awareness Week grant: Bridging neuroscience and society

  

  Shriya Naidu, a Program Associate at India Science Festival (Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology India), received the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)-Dana Brain Awareness Week grant in 2019, which enabled her to organise an impactful online neuroscience event. In this article, she shares insights from the experience, emphasising the importance of public engagement in brain science awareness.

  Posted on Sep 02, 2024 in Neuroscience, Science, Outreach & Science communication

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• 10 Women, 10 Questions: Akriti Sondhi

  

  Akriti Sondhi is a contemporary artist currently working on a bio-art project called ‘soft-earth’. She is also a commercial and fine art photographer and explores alternative photography methods. In this interview, she reflects on her experience of working with living organisms as an artistic medium and the intersection of science and art.

  Posted on Aug 26, 2024 in Microbiology, Other, Science Communication, Women in Science & Personal Experience

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• Sowing the seeds of innovation — The precision agriculture initiative

  

  India's agritech sector shows significant promise, with initiatives like the BeST (Bengaluru Science and Technology) cluster's agritech program leading the way. As new technologies and sustainable practices emerge, the landscape offers vast potential for improving farm productivity, resource efficiency, and farmer incomes.

  Posted on Aug 23, 2024 in Agriculture, Other, Science, Policy, Research & Interdisciplinarity

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• Emerging biosecurity threats in the age of AI

  

  As artificial intelligence (AI) enables the transformation of biology into an engineering discipline, an effective governance model that uses threat forecasting, real-time evaluation, and response strategies is urgently needed to address accidental or deliberate misuse. This article talks about the risks at the interface of AI and biosecurity and what could India do to better prepare for potential AI-biorisks.

  Posted on Aug 12, 2024 in Other, Science, Policy & Ethics

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• Implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 at IISER Kolkata: An interview with Anindita Bhadra

  

  Anindita Bhadra is a behavioural biologist at the Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata. She also leads the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 at the institution. In this email interview with IndiaBioscience, she throws light on the steps taken to implement the policy, the changes that this has brought, and the challenges ahead.

  Posted on Jul 29, 2024 in Policy & Education

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• Guardians of the night: Conservation dogs fostering human-elephant coexistence

  

  In the heart of Bannerghatta National Park, Karnataka, A Rocha India has introduced the Elephant Anti-Depredation Dog Squad (EaDDS) to tackle rising human-elephant conflicts. Utilising trained Belgian Malinois dogs, this initiative aims to preemptively detect and deter elephants from entering farmlands, fostering harmonious coexistence between communities and wildlife.

  Posted on Jul 05, 2024 in Environmental Sciences, Ecology & Wildlife Biology

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