Archive by category | COVID19

Nature India Photo Contest 2020: Finalist #2

Nature India Photo Contest 2020: Finalist #2

“The annual Durga Puja festivities end with the immersion of the gods’ idols in river Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges. Every year thousands of people take part in the idol immersion processions. Following COVID-19 restrictions, the West Bengal government created temporary water bodies to ‘immerse’ the clay-made idols by dissolving them with high power water jets, like in this picture taken at the Tridhara Sanmilani Puja Pandal, Kolkata on 26 October 2020. The benefits were two-fold – no processions, and no pollution of the Ganges’ waters.” — Amitava Chandra  … Read more

A conscience-stirring pandemic

Debanjan Banerjee in his PPE.

Another ‘ahead of print’ issue was out. I was anxiously scanning it for my article. There it was! The next obvious thing to do would be to announce this exciting news on all possible social media channels, ‘humbly’ displaying my scientific and literary skills, proud of my name leading the decorated list of authors.  Read more

NI Special Issue on COVID-19 Engineering Solutions is out

NI Special Issue on COVID-19 Engineering Solutions is out

Very early on it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was not just a challenge for scientists and medical professionals. Almost a year into the coronavirus’s rampage across the world, there’s no doubt about the long-term impact that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to have on every facet of human life — from healthcare to education, social interaction, businesses, environmental concerns, and political processes.  Read more

Nature India Photo Contest 2020 open for entries

Amidst the pandemic, we have been a little hesitant to launch our annual photo contest. When the world is grappling with millions of deaths and infections, professionals and families are facing unprecedented challenges, and movement of people is restricted, is it the right time for a photo competition? But as the year comes to an end, various science-led efforts have yielded results globally in the form of vaccines and drugs for COVID-19, signalling hope.  Read more

Why mental health discourse must transcend the pandemic

Debanjan Banerjee

Being a psychiatrist, I have been overwhelmed with the explosion of data, discussion and debate on mental health even before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. Surprisingly, a virus has suddenly helped peak interest in an aspect of public health that has long been overshadowed in our societies by stigma and neglect.  Read more

Curating during a contagion

A COVID-19 themed exhibition at Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata.

In the middle of a pandemic, imagine planning a science exhibition that explains the contagion to people. What should it feature — test-kits, ventilators, surgical masks and PPE suits? Does the museum have enough supplies to create exhibits? Can the exhibits be sanitised and safely displayed for the audience? Will enough people turn up?  Read more

COVID-19 fuels India’s biotech entrepreneurship

COVID-19 fuels India's biotech entrepreneurship

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently called for self-reliance in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 crisis. Being a biologist by training, the question that came to my mind immediately was: are India’s biologists and biotechnologists self-reliant in their laboratories across the country?  Read more