Mérida in Mexico has been rated the friendliest city on the planet in the Friendliest Cities Index 2026, a ranking commissioned by travel platform Fernwayer, with a score of 95 out of 100. Second and third places went to Glasgow, Scotland (94.9) and Bogotá, Colombia (94.5).
India's first scientific trial on curbing leopard breeding through immunocontraception has started in the Junnar forest division of Pune district, Maharashtra, where two vaccinated female leopards were released into the wild. This non-lethal method uses a vaccine to block pregnancy for a time, without lasting harm to fertility.
The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has got under way in Yerevan, Armenia. The meeting will take stock of global efforts to implement the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), agreed in 2022.
To fight hidden hunger, India has developed Kufri Jamunia, a biofortified, purple-coloured potato variety. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research–Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI) bred it and released it in 2024. Every 100 g of the potato supplies vitamin C at 42.75 mg, iron at 3.22 mg and zinc at 2.28 mg.
KAUMARACON-2026, the third International Conference on Kaumarabhritya, was opened by the Vice-President. The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) hosted the event under the theme "Shaping the Future of Child Health: Global Perspectives, Research Innovations, and Clinical Frontiers in Kaumarabhritya." Kaumarabhritya is the Ayurveda discipline focused on the health, nutrition, growth and development of children and on preventing their illnesses.…
World Osteoporosis Day is marked every year on October 20. The day seeks to build public awareness about osteoporosis, the value of detecting the condition early, and the importance of keeping bones healthy.
The Sub-Commission for the Indian Ocean (IOCINDIO), which functions under UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), has elected Dr. T. M. Balakrishnan Nair as its Chair. Dr. Nair heads the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) as its Director.
NASA has picked Bengaluru-born astronomer Dr. Ramya Anche as Principal Investigator for PUFFINS, a space telescope mission worth $20 million. The acronym PUFFINS expands to Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in Interstellar dust. Designed as a small satellite mission, it will fly a 10-inch ultraviolet space telescope positioned in low Earth orbit, with Dr.
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