The Latest Breaking News from PLOS ONE

6 Facts About Organ Donation in India Every Family Needs to Know Before It's Too Late

India's deceased donation rate is among the lowest in the worldIndia records fewer than 0.8 deceased donors per million population, according to data compiled by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO). Spain, by comparison, manages over 40 donors per million. The gap is not explained by religion, studies…

Times Life · 6h ago

Dialysis Three Times a Week: The Real Kidney Treatment Burden Indian Families Carry

The numbers behind the scheduleIndia adds roughly 2.2 lakh new end-stage renal disease patients every year, according to data published in the Indian Journal of Nephrology. Of those, fewer than 10 percent receive any renal replacement therapy at all, dialysis or transplant. For the families who do manage to get…

Times Life · Sep 27

Floating Amazon Forest Islands: Study reveals how matupás sustain life; local knowledge shapes science

The captivating floating islands of the Amazon, called matupás, are created through layers of plant matter and sedimentation. These unique ecosystems embrace towering trees and boast rich soil capable of supporting agriculture. They are vital for local communities who fish for prized arapaima and provide a sanctuary for wildlife like…

The Times of India · Sep 23

Spaying and Neutering Your Cat or Dog: What the Evidence Says About Timing, Health and Behaviour

The timing question has a more complicated answer than most vets used to giveFor decades, the standard advice in India and globally was simple: sterilise your dog or cat at six months, before the first heat cycle. That recommendation was built on population control logic, not individual health outcomes. The…

Times Life · Sep 3

Your Puppy's Vaccination and Deworming Schedule in India: What Each Shot Actually Protects Against

Why the First Eight Weeks Are a Biological WindowA puppy is born with borrowed immunity. Maternal antibodies passed through colostrum, the first milk, give a newborn temporary protection against diseases the mother has been vaccinated against or exposed to. According to research published in the journal Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology,…

Times Life · Sep 3

How Cleaner Shrimp Run Ocean Stations That Show Symbiotic Fish Behavior at Work

The Cleaning Station Is a Real PlaceOn a coral reef, certain spots function like appointment desks. Cleaner shrimp, most commonly Lysmata amboinensis, the Pacific cleaner shrimp, and Ancylomenes pedersoni, the Pederson cleaner shrimp, set up at fixed locations on the reef and stay there. Fish learn where these stations are.…

Times Life · Sep 2

Archaeologists discover evidence of an ancient “brand” 3,000 years before modern marketing

More than 3,000 years ago, potters working in the desert oasis of Qurayyah in what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia were producing a distinctive painted pottery that eventually travelled beyond the settlement where it was made. A new study titled Creating a brand. Genesis, transformation and diffusion of Qurayyah Painted…

The Times of India · Sep 1

What Returning Wolves to the Deccan Could Do: The Trophic Cascade Evidence From Yellowstone

What Yellowstone Actually ProvedFourteen grey wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park in January 1995. Within a decade, the park's river channels had shifted course. That outcome had nothing to do with the wolves physically moving water. It had everything to do with where elk chose to stand. The mechanism…

Times Life · Sep 1

India's Asiatic Wild Buffalo Is Losing Its Genetic Identity to Domestic Cattle Interbreeding

The animal most people think they knowThe Asiatic wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is not the domesticated water buffalo pulling a plough through a paddy field. It is a separate species, larger, faster, and genetically distinct from the domestic buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) that Indian farmers have kept for thousands of years.…

Times Life · Aug 30

The Malabar Giant Squirrel Is India's Most Reliable Indicator of Forest Fragmentation

A squirrel that cannot cross a roadThe Malabar giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) is the largest squirrel in India, stretching up to one metre from nose to tail tip. It spends almost its entire life in the upper canopy, leaping gaps of up to six metres between trees, and descends to…

Times Life · Aug 30