The COVID-19 pandemic is upon us! The nation has been through prolonged lockdowns, yet the rising case numbers have kept up the relentless demand on testing.

We all remember the early days when the news of the COVID-19 pandemic was being discussed over chai. Months have passed since the pandemic has turned into a worldwide crisis bringing daily routines to a grinding and extended halt.  In a country that numbers over a billion, the second most populated nation of the world, India was standing at a precipice, staring down at an unimaginable healthcare crisis fearing morbidity and mortality. Then came the lockdown and the slow ticking of the numbers on the ever-climbing graph of COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Manu Prakash, renowned for his frugal science approach, was the speaker of the third WebGyan session, on ‘From Volcanoes to bicycles: Roles and responsibilities for inventing in crisis mode’.

Prof. Rob Phillips (Caltech) took the audience through a fascinating journey of viral dynamics in the webinar, ‘Where is Euler Now That We Need Him?’. Prof. Phillips used questions which have arisen in biology and physics to illuminate the current systems of understanding the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. He dedicated the talk to an analogy between the history of celestial mechanics and the history of “viral mechanics”, harkening back to the 1750s when Euler, d’Alembert and Clairaut were engaged in a careful study of the lunar orbit.

The National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being is an ambitious initiative that aims to bring biodiversity and conservation to the forefront of Indian science, policy, and society’s attention. The Mission has been visualized to be as inclusive as possible, with components that involve scientific institutions, government agencies, and non-government organizations at the national, state, and local levels. The people who will power the Mission will include scientists, farmers, industrialists, students, policy makers, and citizens from all walks of life.     

On 13th February 2020, Prof Smita Srinivas delivered a keynote speech at the National Law School of India University on "Global South Classification Challenges in Economic Development Plans". The keynote was part of the international seminar at the NLSIU's Institute for Public Policy and a project led by Dr. Anjali Karol, funded by the Urban Studies Foundation with Indian and Colombian scholars looking at urban, regional, and national considerations of planning and policy.

This press release is in reference to media reports that grossly misrepresent the facts concerning a study of bats in Nagaland. We are issuing this statement to correct the record, in the public interest. We strongly appeal to the media, stakeholders, and the public, to only obtain information from reliable and verified sources, and to help prevent the spread of misinformation and panic during a global public health crisis.

     The sequencing of human genome has raised much excitement about the possibility of understanding the blueprint of life. Further, the development of low-cost high-throughput DNA sequencing has facilitated the analysis of large numbers of human genomes and revealed the diversity in DNA sequence within and between human populations.

     The Honourable Dutch Health Minister, Mr. Bruno Bruins, accompanied by a delegation of nearly eight other health officials visited the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSc) on May 25^th, 2018.