off-beat

A new study demonstrates the stones did not arrive through natural ice movement.

Once silenced by the Islamic Republic, Googoosh now voluntarily withholds her voice in solidarity. The 75-year-old Iranian megastar’s refusal to sing is not a sign of hesitation but a conscious political gesture—one that draws its force from her singular position in Iran’s cultural history. Many see this refusal as a reclamation of her agency; with Iran again roiled by mass mobilisation and protest, her silence resonates as loudly as her songs once did.

Historically, it has been thought these volcanic arcs were the primary culprits of injecting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The new findings challenge that view. Instead, researchers suggest that mid-ocean ridges and continental rifts have played a much more significant role in driving Earth’s carbon cycles throughout geological time.

Frogs are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. One in five species of Australian frogs—almost 50 species—are threatened with extinction. Disease, habitat loss and climate change are their greatest threats.

These plant names are more than just vocabulary items in endangered or undocumented languages. They provide researchers with leads to a treasure trove of medical knowledge, cultural history, and unrecorded oral traditions.

We may have reached “peak mutualism” in India’s cities. Despite daily nuisances everyone suffers—the barking, the chasing—millions still feed these dogs. Yet the same dog that wags its tail at familiar feeders may bite someone new. This is not irrational aggression; it is territorial protection born of deep association with a specific human community.

Many cultures have practiced cremation, and the bones, ash and other residues from these events help archaeologists piece together past funeral rituals.

Past couple of years have been more than happening for India’s live music space and the organisers and industry insiders are not ticking them off as a one-off instance. There have been global guests galore; from Lionel Messi to Coldplay, they all came, we saw and while some were celebrated, others courted. But amidst all of this, it is the live tourism that India solidified its equation with.

This year the biennale is larger and more ambitious compared to its previous editions. It is spread across Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Willington Island and Ernakulam.

Using a pseudo-scientific formula, the third Monday in January was determined to be the “bluest” day of the year, marked by sadness, low energy and withdrawal from social interaction.

The team of researchers used special audio recorders that could capture bird songs over long distances and for long periods without them being there. These recorders picked up all the singing from the start to the end of the dawn chorus.

Times have changed. The diktat of militants has dissipated as militancy has begun to fade in the Valley. Though artists still find shadows of those days chasing their creative pursuits to curtail their freedom.