Expect to see more northern lights in unusual places as the sun continues to sizzle, space weather forecasters said Tuesday. Strong solar storms this year have triggered shimmering auroras much farther south than usual, filling skies with hues of pink, purple, green and blue. The sun is currently at the maximum phase of its 11-year cycle, making solar surges and northern lights more frequent. This active period was expected to last for at least another year, though when solar activity will peak won't be known until months after the fact, according to NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This solar cycle has yielded more colorful auroras farther south and more are likely, said NASA's Kelly Korreck. “We still could possibly get some good shows in the next few months,” she said. Such storms can also temporarily disrupt power and communications. Ahead of a solar outburst, NOAA would alert operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit. In May, NOAA issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning. The storm that slammed Earth was the strongest in more than two decades, producing light displays across the Northern Hemisphere. That same month, scientists recorded the biggest flare erupting from the sun, but Earth was out of the way. Previous solar cycles have produced storms more intense than May's so space forecasters are keeping a close eye on the sun to prepare for any major disruptions, said NOAA’s Bill Murtagh. Sunita Williams to vote in US election from Space Last week, a powerful solar storm dazzled skygazers far from the Arctic Circle when auroras appeared in unexpected places including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City.

Schools in New Delhi were forced to close Monday after heavy monsoon rains battered the Indian capital, with landslides and flash floods killing at least 15 people over the last three days. Farther north, the overflowing Beas River swept vehicles downstream as it flooded neighborhoods. In Japan, torrential rain pounded the southwest, causing floods and mudslides that left two people dead and at least six others missing Monday. Local TV showed damaged houses in Fukuoka prefecture and muddy water from the swollen Yamakuni River appearing to threaten a bridge in the town of Yabakei. New Delhi schools close after monsoon floods kill at least 15, Pakistan on alert for more flooding In Ulster County, in New York’s Hudson Valley and in Vermont, some said the flooding is the worst they’ve seen since Hurricane Irene’s devastation in 2011. Although destructive flooding in India, Japan, China, Turkey and the United States might seem like distant events, atmospheric scientists say they have this in common: Storms are forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality now. The additional warming that scientists predict is coming will only make it worse. Heavy rains cause flooding and mudslides in southwest Japan, leaving 2 dead and at least 6 missing That’s because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which results in storms dumping more precipitation that can have deadly outcomes. Pollutants, especially carbon dioxide and methane, are heating up the atmosphere. Instead of allowing heat to radiate away from Earth into space, they hold onto it. While climate change is not the cause of storms unleashing the rainfall, these storms are forming in an atmosphere that is becoming warmer and wetter. “Sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit can hold twice as much water as 50 degrees Fahrenheit,” said Rodney Wynn, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay. “Warm air expands and cool air contracts. You can think of it as a balloon - when it’s heated the volume is going to get larger, so therefore it can hold more moisture.” 'Life threatening' flooding overwhelms New York roadways, killing 1 person For every 1 degree Celsius, which equals 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, the atmosphere warms, it holds approximately 7% more moisture. According to NASA, the average global temperature has increased by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880. “When a thunderstorm develops, water vapor gets condensed into rain droplets and falls back down to the surface. So as these storms form in warmer environments that have more moisture in them, the rainfall increases,” explained Brian Soden, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami. Along Turkey’s mountainous and scenic Black Sea coast, heavy rains swelled rivers and damaged cities with flooding and landslides. At least 15 people were killed by flooding in another mountainous region, in southwestern China. 15 killed by floods in southwestern China as seasonal torrents hit mountain areas “As the climate gets warmer we expect intense rain events to become more common, it’s a very robust prediction of climate models,” Soden added. “It’s not surprising to see these events happening, it’s what models have been predicting ever since day one.” Gavin Schmidt, climatologist and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the regions being hit hardest by climate change are not the ones who emit the largest amount of planet-warming pollutants. Better flood management: China offers assistance for dredging rivers in Bangladesh “The bulk of the emissions have come from the industrial Western nations and the bulk of the impacts are happening in places that don’t have good infrastructure, that are less prepared for weather extremes and have no real ways to manage this,” said Schmidt.

In a groundbreaking development, scientists have generated synthetic human embryos using stem cells that sidestep the need for eggs or sperm, The Guardian reports. These model embryos, which mirror those in the earliest stages of human development, may offer a significant insight into the effects of genetic anomalies and the biological factors that contribute to recurrent miscarriage, according to scientists. Since lab-grown entities are illegal in the UK and most other nations, the development also poses significant ethical and legal concerns. The structures contain cells that would ordinarily develop into the placenta, yolk sac, and embryo itself but lack a beating heart and the beginnings of a brain, reports the Guardian. Also read: Scientists say taurine, present in meat, may extend life Prof Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz, of the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology, described the work in a plenary address on Wednesday at the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston. “We can create human embryo-like models by the reprogramming of [embryonic stem] cells,” she told the meeting. According to The Guardian, the use of synthetic embryos in clinical trials is not anticipated to happen anytime soon. It is currently unknown if these structures have the ability to continue maturing past the initial stages of development, making their implantation into a patient's womb illegal. The goal of the research is to help scientists better comprehend the so-called "black box" period of development, which lasts for only 14 days in accordance with regulatory restrictions. They then pick up the development's course at a far later stage by examining donated embryos and pregnancy scans. Also read: Alzheimer's drug gets FDA panel's backing, setting the stage for broader use “The idea is that if you really model normal human embryonic development using stem cells, you can gain an awful lot of information about how we begin development, what can go wrong, without having to use early embryos for research,” Robin Lovell-Badge, the head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told The Guardian. Previously, Żernicka-Goetz’s team and a rival group at the Weizmann Institute in Israel showed that stem cells from mice could be encouraged to self-assemble into early embryo-like structures with an intestinal tract, the beginnings of a brain and a beating heart. Since then, a race has been under way to translate this work into human models, and several teams have been able to replicate the very earliest stages of development. The current research from the Cambridge-Caltech lab has not yet been fully described in a scholarly article. However, addressing at the conference, Ernicka-Goetz recounted growing the embryos to a level barely past the point at which a natural embryo would develop after 14 days. Also read: Did humans 3000 years ago have bigger brains than us? The model structures, which were each developed from a single embryonic stem cell, have begun to undergo gastrulation, a developmental stage in which the embryo changes from being a continuous sheet of cells to generating discrete cell lines and establishing the basic axis of the body, the Guardian reports, citing Ernicka-Goetz. The model demonstrated the presence of primordial cells, which are the precursor cells of egg and sperm, although the embryo at this stage does not yet have a beating heart, a functioning gut, or the beginnings of a brain. The development highlights how rapidly the science in this field has outpaced the law, and scientists in the UK and elsewhere are already moving to draw up voluntary guidelines to govern work on synthetic embryos. “If the whole intention is that these models are very much like normal embryos, then in a way they should be treated the same,” Lovell-Badge told the Guardian. “Currently in legislation they’re not. People are worried about this.” Read more: Scientists say taurine, present in meat, may extend life

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday reiterated her call to scientists  to put extra efforts on research to attain excellence in agricultural production. “I always think that without research it is not possible to attain excellence. As we are agriculture dependent country, we have given extra importance on agriculture,” she said. The prime minister was speaking at a programme to mark the 50th founding anniversary of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and inauguration of the ‘Bangabandhu Pierre Trudeau Agricultural Research Center’. She, however, said that the government has given importance on the research work on other sectors too. “Besides we have given emphasis on research works on health, education and science,” she said. Laying emphasis on continuous research on boosting food production, the PM said that Bangladesh frequently faces adverse circumstances due to geographical location and impact of climate changes. “So we have to produce our crops,” she said. Briefly describing various initiatives of the government for agricultural research, she said that Bangladesh not only sets example in food grains production, but also in all vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products. In this regard, she said that the production has to be continued with new varieties of crops in tune with the climate changes and environment. Hasina said that the country is about to enter the fourth industrial revolution and so the government has taken steps to create skilled manpower. She put emphasis on learning and producing bio-informatics, nano-technology, machine learning, internet of things and new agriculture technologies. Liberation War Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Huq and State Minister for Youth and Sports Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel were also present at the event. Read more: Economic dev not possible without agriculture: Food Minister Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akter, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Director General Jean Balié, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiar, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer at Global Institute for Food Security, Steven Webb and BIRRI director general Dr M Shahjahan Kabir also spoke. A documentary titled "50 years of BRRI's pride and success" was screened at the function.    On arrival at the BRRI, the prime minister paid homage at the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Earlier, the PM inaugurated the ‘Bangabandhu Pierre Trudeau Agricultural Research Center’ aiming to conduct research in the field of agriculture for ensuring food security system tolerant of global climate change. The centre is expected to increase the existing commercial, research activities, technology exchange, development assistance between Bangladesh and Canada. This is the first time such a research centre set up with the direct support and funding of the government of Canada. The technology centre has been set up at BRRI following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council aiming to cooperate on multidisciplinary research, training and development partnership to ensure sustainable food security. PM Hasina also released balloons and pigeons marking the golden jubilee of BRRI's pride and success. She also took part in different programmes including tree plantations, inspection of BRRI laboratories, its various innovations and a cultural event titled “Dhan-Kabbya”. She unveiled the cover of five research publications of BRRI and BARC. The PM said that the government will provide food assistance to at least one crore people during holy Ramadan. “We have taken that decision.  Our goal is to ensure that the people of our country never suffer from food shortages,” she said. She also mentioned that the government is giving 30 kg of rice free of cost to the poor people in the country.   Read more: Govt’s focus on agriculture to tap its full potential: PM Hasina “This is being mixed with nutritional rice so that they do not get nutrition deficiency", she added. Hasina said that the government provided cash assistance to different sectors during Corona pandemic. She also mentioned that when global inflation went up  after Ukraine-Russia war, sanctions and counter-sanctions, the government distributed TCB cards to provide rice to one crore people at just Tk 30 per kg to ensure food security for the people of our country.   “Moreover, for the poorer section we have made this arrangement for about 50 lakh people who can buy rice for only Tk 15 per kg," she said. She called for involvement of students in agricultural work from school life.  “I think from school life they need to be involved. Working in the field, growing crops is a matter of great pride, not shame.  So that's how we should build the people of our country," she said. Commenting on the change in the mentality of the educated youth about agriculture, Hasina said, “Many boys and girls do not want to go to the farms after finishing their study. Even if their fathers are farmers, they feel ashamed to say that their fathers are farmers. But today that shame is no longer, we have removed that shame.” She said that there is no shame in doing what helps a person eat and live. “It is the matter of pride to do that, So it was absolutely necessary to change that mindset, I believe that we have been able to change mindset to some extent,” she said.

Now you see them, now you don’t. Some frogs found in South and Central America have the rare ability to turn on and off their nearly transparent appearance, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. During the day, these nocturnal frogs sleep by hanging underneath tree leaves. Their delicate, greenish transparent forms don’t cast shadows, rendering them almost invisible to birds and other predators passing overhead or underneath. But when northern glass frogs wake up and hop around in search of insects and mates, they take on an opaque reddish-brown color. Read more: Canadian polar bears near 'bear capital' dying at fast rate “When they’re transparent, it’s for their safety,” said Junjie Yao, a Duke University biomedical engineer and study co-author. When they’re awake, they can actively evade predators, but when they’re sleeping and most vulnerable, “they have adapted to remain hidden.” Using light and ultrasound imaging technology, the researchers discovered the secret: While asleep, the frogs concentrate, or “hide,” nearly 90% of their red blood cells in their liver. Because they have transparent skin and other tissues, it’s the blood circulating through their bodies that would otherwise give them away. The frogs also shrink and pack together most of their internal organs, Yao said. The research “beautifully explains” how “glass frogs conceal blood in the liver to maintain transparency,” said Juan Manuel Guayasamin, a frog biologist at University San Francisco of Quito, Ecuador, who was not involved in the study. Exactly how they do this, and why it doesn’t kill them, remains a mystery. For most animals, having very little blood circulating oxygen for several hours would be deadly. And concentrating blood so tightly would result in fatal clotting. But somehow, the frogs survive. Read more: Oldest DNA reveals life in Greenland 2 million years ago Further research on the species could provide useful clues for the development of anti-blood clotting medications, said Carlos Taboada, a Duke University biologist and study co-author. Only a few animals, mostly ocean dwellers, are naturally transparent, said Oxford University biologist Richard White, who was not involved in the study. “Transparency is super rare in nature, and in land animals, it’s essentially unheard of outside of the glass frog,” White said. Those that are transparent include some fish, shrimp, jellyfish, worms and insects — none of which move large quantities of red blood through their bodies. The trick of hiding blood while sleeping appears to be unique to the frogs. “It’s just this really amazing, dynamic form of camouflage,” said White.

Scientists discovered the oldest known DNA and used it to reveal what life was like 2 million years ago in the northern tip of Greenland. Today, it’s a barren Arctic desert, but back then it was a lush landscape of trees and vegetation with an array of animals, even the now extinct mastodon. “The study opens the door into a past that has basically been lost,” said lead author Kurt Kjær, a geologist and glacier expert at the University of Copenhagen. With animal fossils hard to come by, the researchers extracted environmental DNA, also known as eDNA, from soil samples. This is the genetic material that organisms shed into their surroundings — for example, through hair, waste, spit or decomposing carcasses. Studying really old DNA can be a challenge because the genetic material breaks down over time, leaving scientists with only tiny fragments. But with the latest technology, researchers were able to get genetic information out of the small, damaged bits of DNA, explained senior author Eske Willerslev, a geneticist at the University of Cambridge. In their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, they compared the DNA to that of different species, looking for matches. The samples came from a sediment deposit called the Kap København formation in Peary Land. Today, the area is a polar desert, Kjær said. But millions of years ago, this region was undergoing a period of intense climate change that sent temperatures up, Willerslev said. Sediment likely built up for tens of thousands of years at the site before the climate cooled and cemented the finds into permafrost. Read more: Section of destroyed shuttle Challenger found on ocean floor The cold environment would help preserve the delicate bits of DNA — until scientists came along and drilled the samples out, beginning in 2006. During the region's warm period, when average temperatures were 20 to 34 degrees Fahrenheit (11 to 19 degrees Celsius) higher than today, the area was filled with an unusual array of plant and animal life, the researchers reported. The DNA fragments suggest a mix of Arctic plants, like birch trees and willow shrubs, with ones that usually prefer warmer climates, like firs and cedars. The DNA also showed traces of animals including geese, hares, reindeer and lemmings. Previously, a dung beetle and some hare remains had been the only signs of animal life at the site, Willerslev said. One big surprise was finding DNA from the mastodon, an extinct species that looks like a mix between an elephant and a mammoth, Kjær said. Many mastodon fossils have previously been found from temperate forests in North America. That’s an ocean away from Greenland, and much farther south, Willerslev said. “I wouldn’t have, in a million years, expected to find mastodons in northern Greenland,” said Love Dalen, a researcher in evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University who was not involved in the study. Because the sediment built up in the mouth of a fjord, researchers were also able to get clues about marine life from this time period. The DNA suggests horseshoe crabs and green algae lived in the area — meaning the nearby waters were likely much warmer back then, Kjær said. By pulling dozens of species out of just a few sediment samples, the study highlights some of eDNA’s advantages, said Benjamin Vernot, an ancient DNA researcher at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology who was not involved in the study. “You really get a broader picture of the ecosystem at a particular time,” Vernot said. “You don’t have to go and find this piece of wood to study this plant, and this bone to study this mammoth.” Based on the data available, it’s hard to say for sure whether these species truly lived side by side, or if the DNA was mixed together from different parts of the landscape, said Laura Epp, an eDNA expert at Germany’s University of Konstanz who was not involved in the study. But Epp said this kind of DNA research is valuable to show “hidden diversity” in ancient landscapes. Read more: Zombie ice from Greenland will raise sea level 10 inches Willerslev believes that because these plants and animals survived during a time of dramatic climate change, their DNA could offer a “genetic roadmap” to help us adapt to current warming. Stockholm University's Dalen expects ancient DNA research to keep pushing deeper into the past. He worked on the study that previously held the “oldest DNA” record, from a mammoth tooth around a million years old. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you can go at least one or perhaps a few million years further back, assuming you can find the right samples,” Dalen said.

Australia's national science agency has made a commitment to help reduce the country's plastic waste by 80 percent over 10 years. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on Sunday announced a further investment in its Ending Plastic Waste Mission. The initiative will receive 50 million Australian dollars (37.1 million U.S. dollars) in funding from the CSIRO, industry, governments and universities to develop cutting-edge innovations for how Australia makes, uses, recycles and disposes of plastics. Australians currently use 1 million tonnes of single use plastic every year, only 12 percent of which is recycled. READ: Plastic waste increases from 178 tons per day in 2005 to 646 tons in 2020 in Dhaka Larry Marshall, chief executive of the CSIRO, said that without significant action the plastic waste problem would continue to grow. "The Ending Plastic Waste Mission will bring together the whole innovation system, from government, industry and academia to turn science into solutions that will benefit the environment and create economic opportunities for Australia," he said in a media release. "By turning plastic waste into a renewable resource, the Mission will deliver collaborative scientific and manufacturing capabilities to drive new technologies across the entire plastics supply chain and grow Australia's circular economy." The CSIRO launched its "Team Australia" missions project in August 2020 with an aim of using major scientific and collaborative research initiatives to solve the country's biggest challenges including plastic waste, climate change uncertainty, pandemics and natural disasters. 

The coronavirus mutant widely known as “stealth omicron” is now causing more than a third of new omicron cases around the world, but scientists still don’t know how it could affect the future of the pandemic. Researchers are slowly revealing clues about the strain, a descendant of omicron known as BA.2, while warily watching it become ever more prevalent. “We’re all keeping an eye on BA.2 just because it has done particularly well in some parts of the world,” including parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas. This week, a technical advisory group for the World Health Organization advised public health authorities to monitor it as a distinct omicron strain. Early research suggests it spreads faster than the original omicron and in rare cases can sicken people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection. There’s mixed research on whether it causes more severe disease, but vaccines appear just as effective against it. Overall cases are falling in some places where the variant is becoming more prevalent, offering some hope that the latest troubling version of the virus won’t send cases skyrocketing again as experts try to learn more. WORLDWIDE SPREAD BA.2 has been found in more than 80 countries and all 50 U.S. states. In a recent report, the WHO said BA.2 was dominant in 18 countries and it represented about 36% of sequenced omicron cases submitted in the most recent week to a publicly available international database where scientists share coronavirus data. That’s up from 19% two weeks earlier. Read: Why Putin uses WWII to justify attacks in Ukraine In the United States, BA.2 caused about 4% of COVID cases during the week ending Feb. 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage was lower in some regions and higher in others – hitting about 7% in New England. WHAT’S KNOWN BA.2 has lots of mutations. It’s been dubbed “stealth” because it lacks a genetic quirk of the original omicron that allowed health officials to rapidly differentiate it from delta using a certain PCR test. So while the test can detect a BA.2 infection, it looks like a delta infection. Initial research suggests BA.2 is more transmissible than the original omicron — about 30% more contagious by one estimate. But vaccines can protect people from getting sick. Scientists in the United Kingdom found that they provide the same level of protection from both types of omicron. A bout with the original omicron also seems to provide “strong protection” against reinfection with BA.2, according to early studies cited by the WHO. ADVERTISEMENT But getting BA.2 after infection from the original omicron strain is possible, says new research out of Denmark. Study authors noted 187 total reinfections, including 47 with BA.2 occurring shortly after a bout the original strain, mostly in young, unvaccinated people with mild disease. They concluded that such reinfections do occur but are rare. Like other early studies on BA.2, this one has been posted online but not reviewed by independent scientists. DOES BA.2 MAKE YOU SICKER? A Japanese lab study suggests that it could, based on experiments with hamsters. Researchers concluded that the risk for global health “is potentially higher” from BA.2 and proposed that it be given its own Greek letter – a designation for globally significant “variants of concern.” WHO’s technical group said BA.2 should remain under the omicron umbrella. Though the severity experiments were conducted in animals, the study is “not something to discount,” said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research Translational Institute. “We should keep an open mind and keep assessing this.” But scientists are finding something different when they look at people. An initial analysis in Denmark showed no differences in hospitalizations for BA.2 compared with the original omicron, which tends to generally cause milder disease than the delta variant. More recently, researchers in South Africa found much the same: a similar risk of hospitalization and severe disease with the original omicron variant and BA.2. “We always have to interpret studies in animals with caution,” Long said. “I place more weight in studies of actual patients and what they’re experiencing.” HOW WILL BA.2 AFFECT THE PANDEMIC? No one knows for sure. COVID-19 cases are dropping globally, including in some of the places where BA.2 is prevalent. “The timing of the upswings and downswings in cases remains unclear,” said Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. It’s difficult for researchers to predict how much BA.2 will change caseloads because it is spreading in communities with varying levels of protection from vaccines and prior infections. Some experts believe BA.2 is unlikely to spark new surges but may slow COVID declines in some places. WHO officials stress that the pandemic isn’t over and urge countries to remain vigilant. Doctors said individuals should do the same and remember that vaccines and boosters offer excellent protection against the worst effects of COVID-19, no matter the variant. “For people who aren’t boosted, please get boosted. For people who aren’t vaccinated, it’s never too late,” Long said. “Your best defense against COVID is still the vaccine.”

Scientists at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) have invented a highly suitable and affordable rice harvester - Combine Harvester. Hailing the achievement at BRRI area in Gazipur on Friday, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said, “This is a remarkable achievement. Its rice harvesting capacity is comparatively high, suitable for use in small lands of the country.” The cost of various combine harvesters in the South Asian countries, including Myanmar, is Tk 25-30 lakh but this will cost Tk 12-13 lakh. Besides, the harvest loss is also low, said the minister. Read: Quinoa rice noodles keep diabetes under control: SUST study “If we can produce the machine invented by BRRI locally and use it all over the country, then there will be a revolution in agricultural mechanisation in Bangladesh,” he said, adding that it will play a unique role in increasing agriculture products and making it more profitable. Meanwhile, BRRI scientists said that the engine of their invented BRRI Whole Feed Combine Harvester was brought from abroad while the other equipment is locally made. Its engine power is about 87 horsepower. And so, the machine can collect paddy in 3-4 bighas of land per hour. Fuel consumption is about 3.5-4 litres per hour. Moreover, harvesting loss is less than one per cent. BRRI scientists also said it’s better than any combine harvester imported from abroad. Later, the minister inaugurated a new five-storey residential building 'BRRI Shramik Colony Bhaban' for BRRI workers at BRRI Chattar. Read: Bangladeshi scientists unveil full genome sequence of salinity, flood-tolerant rice He said agricultural workers have an important contribution in inventing new varieties of crops and technologies. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute has been able to invent hundreds of high yielding rice varieties in the country thanks to talented scientists and agro workers which are making a significant contribution to the food security of the country. He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took various initiatives for the housing of working people marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Outgoing Senior Secretary of the agriculture ministry Md Mesbahul Islam, his successor Md Sayedul Islam, Director General of BRRI Shahjahan Kabir, senior officials of the ministry and heads of agencies were present.

Three Bangladeshi scientists, all of them women, have made it to the list of "best and brightest" 100 Asian scientists for their contribution to research. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh's Dr Firdausi Qadri, Model Livestock Advancement Foundation's Dr Salma Sultana, and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology's Professor Saima Subrina have been included in the sixth edition of the list published by Singapore-based magazine Asian Scientist. Read Legendary Women in Bangladesh with Pioneering Contribution in Diverse Fields Scientists from China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have also secured a place on the prestigious list. Researchers and inventors from across a range of scientific disciplines have been picked based on their role in tackling this year's key challenges, including Covid-19 and climate change, said Asian Scientist. Read 2 Bangladeshi women named in BBC 100 Women 2020 list All three Bangladeshi scientists previously received an international award for their leadership and role in effective discovery. Dr Firdausi, an emeritus scientist at icddr,b, won the L'Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science Award 2020 for her work on understanding and preventing infectious diseases affecting children in developing countries and advocacy for early diagnosis and global vaccination. Read Bangladeshi young medical scientist shines in Japan Dr Salma, the founder of Model Livestock Advancement Foundation, previously won the Norman E Borlaug Award 2020 for field research and application by the World Food Prize Foundation for her work with Bangladeshi small-scale farmers – namely her efforts involving veterinary outreach, treatment, and education.  Professor Samia received the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award 2020 for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World for her research on the properties and uses of nanomaterials. Read Women continue making amazing contributions in STEM fields.