A new study from the National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, has thrown some light on the mystery of how flies can land on vertical and upside-down surfaces. Sanjay Sane’s group at NCBS has shown that fly landing maneuvers have two distinct modules of behavior – deceleration and leg extension. The team has found that deceleration or slowing down, is like a reflex action, and sets in at a distance proportional to the speed of flight. In other words, at higher flight speeds, deceleration sets in earlier and further away from the landing surface.

Researchers have discovered a new species of non-venomous burrowing snake in Arunachal Pradesh, named Trachischium apteii.

Thanks to efforts from the Bengaluru Butterfly Club (BBC), Karnataka Forest Department and the Indian Foundation for Butterflies (of the National Centre for Biological Sciences - NCBS), the awareness, conservation and detailed documentation of butterflies has helped to have on record more than 170 species found in Bengaluru alone.

In aquatic environments, like the inland rivers in India, the waters are muddy. The visibility is poorer in these parts from more clearer blue oceanic waters. Many of the animals living in these waterways rely far more on sound than sight for their survival.

Pests continuously adapt and become resistant to our efforts to eliminate them, and as ecologists at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) discovered recently, this happens in nature too, in the fight between plants and insects.

 What exactly is a forest? India’s green cover is not easy to understand. There are different types of greenery, lands where trees shouldn’t crop up even if they can, and the definition of forests, savannas, and other green ecosystems vary across the country. 

An interview with Dr Vinothkumar of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore Life Science Cluster, who works with the cryo-electron microscope (Cryo-EM) on membrane proteins and disease. 

Read more and watch the interview.

Dr Dimple Notani of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore has been selected as one of the first life scientists from India to join the European Molecular Biology Organization’s Global Investigator Programme.

The cause of a disease often affects its treatment plan. The need to fill this gap in our understanding of disease biology is further exaggerated in the case of ‘rare’ diseases.

Prof. Satyajit Mayor, Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS-TIFR) was conferred the distinguished Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite (National Order of Merit), by the Ambassador of France to India, Mr. H.E. Emmanuel Lenain on 19th November, 2019.