In a series of collaborative studies, researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru; Villanova University, USA; and the Natural History Museum (NHM), London, have discovered eight new species of bent-toed geckos from Northeast India.

We are made up of trillions of cells and they use endocytosis to take up nutrients and growth factors. Endocytosis is a process by which a cell makes small vesicles or bags to take in nutrients from outside environment. In order to maintain its shape and size, a cell has to maintain the area of its plasma membrane.

In a recent study, Mr Joseph Thottacherry of NCBS, along with his collaborators from other Indian and Spanish institutes, has tried to understand how cells maintain their shapes in spite of expelling material from their membrane.

In the backdrop of climate change, the National Centre for Biological Sciences, a subsidiary of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, has taken up a study on the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption by evergreen forests of Western Ghats.

A 30-member scientists team, led by Dr Mahesh Shankaran and Dr Jayashri Ratnam, is conducting such studies in four places across the country.

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This year Dhara Mehrotra spent time as our Artist-in-Residence outreach program at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

If you were to ask if we should grow more forests, a typical reply would be, “Of course, forests help fight global warming” or that “forests harbour life.” However, did you know that “growing” artificial forests, which replace the existing landscape, is not always the best of choices? Yes, although it seems counter-intuitive, artificial forests may sometimes do more harm than good.

Researchers set out to understand how the island’s biodiversity might have been influenced by its shared geological history with India, by studying the evolutionary history of the common house gecko and its close relatives in India and Sri Lanka.