Gauri Gharpure is currently in North Sikkim with Geetha GT and a team of intrepid young scientists. You might have heard of “field to lab” research, but this is lab IN field research! Performing insect physiological recordings in the back of a field vehicle at 3500m above sea level in the Himalayas is quite the task. But like all NICE…
Summertime at a water hole
by Aditi Prasad – The ultimate summer parties happen at water holes in Indian jungles. Summers in India are infamous for high temperatures and sweltering heat. Water bodies in forests dry out causing animals to congregate at a few large water holes. Finding water in such conditions is similar to hitting a jackpot! One can find several different species of…
WHY HUMANS TOLERATE SPICE
by Megha – Chillis and bell peppers add a good, spicy edge to our meals. Some people even seek out extreme spices, so much so that there are spicy food eating challenges held across the globe, and loads of videos on YouTube of people reacting to eating them. Surely then, spicy flavors should be a pleasant feeling? Well, no. A…
Deep-Sea microbial-host interactions might hold keys to deadly pandemic diseases (like COVID-19)
by Anshika Singh: The whole world is going through a tough time and everyone is interested in finding answers to only one question: when will this pandemic end and what can be done in the future to keep this from happening again? Different researchers have come up with various concepts such as herd immunity, protection of wild habitats, bans on…
A tale of cuckoo(fish)
by Gauri Gharpure – We all have heard of the famous cuckoo bird (koel in Hindi). The male is jet black and is famous for singing at the advent of spring. The female is infamous for laying eggs in others birds’ nest (especially the house crow). The cuckoo’s eggs then develop quickly and hatch before the host’s and the chicks…
Spidey the vampire slayer
by Aditi Mishra – A web developer, long jumper, and skilled hunter – the East African jumping spider Evarcha culicivora is a lot of things. It has a taste for the finer things in life, like extra floral nectaries, but when it comes down to business, this spider relies only on blood. No surprises then, that this creature has a…
Our research featured in the UK’s top magazine for beekeepers!
The NICE Lab was proud to have our research featured in BeeCraft Magazine, the UK’s “best-selling monthly beekeeping magazine”. Our research, lead by postdoc Geetha G Thimmegowda on the impact of air pollution on the Giant Asian honeybee, was featured in a brilliant story by co-editor Stephen Fleming. The goal of our study was to increase awareness of this important…
Conservation of shore birds using smell as a misinformation tactic
by Hinal Kharva: The effect of misinformation can bring a lot of trouble for human society. All animals try to make better choices using accurate information. However, this new study from New Zealand in Science Advances provides a new perspective on using misinformation as a tactic in saving endangered bird species. In New Zealand, the predation by invasive species like…
Scent of a Species – in the news!
The NICE Lab is proud to congratulate Cheyenne Tait and Hinal Kharva on their publication this past week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. As noted in the press release: “One of the most fundamental questions in biology is how new species evolve, creating the vast biodiversity on our planet. Here, we present a story 160 years in the…
Marine Brainiacs
by Gauri Gharpure : If you do a quick Google search typing “octopus camouflage”, you get a number of videos about their amazing ability to blend in with their surroundings, both in terms of colour and texture. They use a few types of cells in their skin to generate a vast array of hues, patterns and texture [1]. What is…
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