For a fruit fly, flying is just about everything. It is the most important innate behavior that helps the fly reach out to food sources and mates, escape predators, and find secure sites to lay eggs. But what gives the fruit fly its ability to fly relentlessly and reach out to your fruit bowl? A recent study from the lab of Prof.

It is believed that exaggerated response to bad memories is similar for all negative memories. A team of Indian scientists, namely, Mohammed Mostafizur Rahman, Ashutosh Shukla and Sumantra Chattarji from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inSTEM) have shown that exaggerated response and difficulty to get rid of bad memories could depend on whether the bad memory was formed before or after a stressful event.

Sumantra Chattarji, professor of neurobiology at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, says, “Even a month of social interactions, playtime, exercise, and sensory stimulation can make a two-month-old rat a better learner.” Other studies by Chattarji and his team of researchers have found that if these young rats are stressed for ten days, they lose those connections in the hippocampus. 

A team of researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, Fergusson College, Pune and Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Gujarat, have unravelled the taxonomy of Hemidactylus triedrus, a gekkonid lizard belonging to the g

"A team of researchers, including Kiran Marathe and Krushnamegh Kunte from National Centre for Biological Sciences, and Allen F Sanborn from Department of Biology, Barry University, Florida, have collaborated to describe two new species of cicadas as well as sorted out the taxonomic problem related to the cicada genus Rustia."

A new cicada insect species, named ‘Rustia minuta’ recently discovered in the Western Ghats by Kiran Marath of NCBS, and colle

• A recent study documents a relatively r

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A new study has found that mixed agriculture-forest landscapes near protected areas can also be used to promote conservation of bird biodiversity. The study was conducted by Biang La Nam Syiem, a student of the postgraduate programme in wildlife biology and conservation, jointly conducted by the National Centre for Biological Sciences and Wildlife Conservation Society India Programme. Syiem, along with Dr. Divya Vasudev and Dr. Varun R. Goswami of WCS, has published a report on the study in journal PLOS ONE.

The paper, titled "In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings: Woodlands in an agricultural matrix maintain functionality of a wintering bird community", explores the potential of an agricultural landscape in Meghalaya to support a wintering bird community.