Ever since the invention of video games, they have been the target of criticism when it comes to appropriate gender representation. From the early days, the only female representation in video games has been that of princesses calling upon the hero to …Continue reading
We are all mosaics
Asifa Akhtar, born in Karachi, Pakistan, became the first international female Vice President of the Biology and Medicine Section in the Max Planck Society in 2020. Akhtar received the European Life Science Organization (ELSO) award for significant contribution in the field in …Continue reading
Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture
In 2016, when the United Nations established Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a key objective was to focus on attaining environmental, social, and economic growth through green and clear production techniques. The goals were established keeping in mind the fact that, despite global …Continue reading
The internet has a language problem
The internet–one of the biggest technological revolutions, and a force for good–speaks nearly exclusively in English, the language of the Pakistani elites. This has left millions of hardworking men and women, who are the backbone of our country, unable to ride the …Continue reading
Digital art and brown bodies
When one thinks of Pakistani or South Asian art, the image of a porcelain-skin woman in traditional Mughal clothes comes to mind. It wouldn’t be surprising if you also thought of her holding a parrot or a sitar, or perhaps you would …Continue reading
Astronomers find surprisingly mature galaxies in the early universe
When the universe was only a tenth of its current age, its galaxies experienced a “growth spurt.” It was this period that the scientists in the ALPINE project focused on when they used the ALMA telescope of the European Organisation for Astronomical …Continue reading
Designing precision irrigation systems by calculating water consumption for trees
In 1995, the severe drought that devastated Spain left some farms using irrigation agriculture without water supplies. Though it has not happened again since, climate change increases the chance of this threat. For farmers growing annual crops, an occurrence such as this …Continue reading
Beating the heat: Novel passive cooling device for surfaces and enclosed spaces
If you have ever stepped into a car parked under the sun, you would be familiar with how hot it can get inside it. This occurs because although sunlight can pass through the transparent windows, the thermal radiation re-emitted by the interior …Continue reading
Indirect effects of the covid-19 pandemic coincide with a heavy mental health burden
The covid-19 pandemic is taking a heavy mental health toll even on people who are not directly impacted by the disease, shows a new study in Frontiers in Psychiatry. In a first-of-its-kind Australian mental health survey, researchers found that people in countries …Continue reading
Consuming high-sugar beverages while breastfeeding affects cognitive development in children: study
A diet high in sugar during adulthood is associated with weight gain, and has also been linked to risk of type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. New research shows that when consumed by mothers during the breastfeeding period, a …Continue reading