Intimacy can be both a protective and a risk factor for overweight and obesity. Credit: Subhra Priyadarshini
- PODCAST
Episode 64: Why Indian couples gain weight together
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d44151-025-00150-x
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Transcript
Study analyses reasons for shared weight gain – plus, farms as carbon sinks, a nasal COVID booster and uranium lurking in Karnataka’s groundwater.
Host: Subhra Priyadarshini; Sound editing: Prince George
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Hello and welcome to This Week in India’s Science. I’m Subhra Priyadarshini. In today’s episode, we’re exploring four stories that connect us through the soil under our feet, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and even the habits we share at home.
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Obesity could be a shared household journey. A study of over 52,700 married couples finds that 27.4% are jointly overweight or obese, using a BMI threshold of 23. In the richest households, that number climbs to nearly half of all couples.
Lead author Prashant Kumar Singh at the ICMR–National Institute of Cancer Prevention & Research (NICPR), says this isn’t about individual choices anymore — it’s shared environments, routines, and risks.
Couples in urban, media-exposed or nuclear households, often eating eggs, fried foods, fish or chicken regularly, are particularly at risk.
The takeaway? Health interventions can’t just focus on individuals. They must include couples, families, and communities, with public awareness, school and digital programmes that shift norms, not just calories.
Read about the research on Nature India this week.
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Let’s go over to a breath of fresh air — quite literally — in how we farm.
India’s farms are usually talked about for producing food — but what if they could also pull carbon out of the air? Scientists Harishankar Kopperi and Srikanth Mekala at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bengaluru argue that croplands could become powerful carbon sinks with the right practices.
They estimate that, even with modest uptake, India could sequester 0.3 to 0.6 tonnes of carbon per hectare each year, translating up to a whopping 0.2 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually. Over 20 years, that could mean 2 to 4 gigatonnes removed from the atmosphere.
The techniques are grounded in nature: using manure, compost, biochar, plus strategies like minimal tillage and crop rotation to lock carbon into soil. Not only does this reduce emissions from field burning and fertiliser use, especially in rice, India’s top agricultural emitter but it can also boost yields and reduce costs in the long run.
Here’s the catch — adoption has been slow. Zero-till farming may mean more weeding and upfront effort, and certification is complex. That’s why community-led models are promising. Over half a million farmers in Andhra Pradesh are already practicing carbon farming, with clear gains in soil health and input use.
To keep progress real, we need secure land rights, inclusive carbon markets, disaster-resistant financing, and policies that reward sustainable food labelling and provide green loans. That’s how fields can shift from carbon-sources to climate allies.
Read a comment by the two scientists on Nature India this week
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Next up: a nasal drop that could strengthen the first line of COVID defence — your nose and throat.
Bharat Biotech’s latest booster, BBV154, is delivered as an intranasal spray, strengthening antibody levels where the virus first enters, a departure from conventional injections.
In recent trials, adults previously vaccinated with Covaxin or Covishield showed robust immune responses in nasal and saliva secretions. The vaccine uses a chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver the spike protein, harmless to humans, potent in triggering local immunity.
This needle-free, easily administered booster could be a game-changer, especially in rural or crowded settings. It’s now moving into Phase 2 trials.
Read about the research on Nature India this week.
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On to water — vital, but sometimes dangerous. In eastern Karnataka, geologists have found uranium levels in well water ranging from 1.9 to 2,744 micrograms per litre, well above safety thresholds.
Lead researcher Arijeet Mitra at Columbia University in the US says:
Arijeet Mitra: What’s fascinating is that the uranium’s own isotopic fingerprint tells us its journey — in some places, oxygen-rich conditions are dissolving uranium and letting it seep into the water we drink, while in others, low-oxygen environments are locking it away in the rocks. Understanding that pattern means we can start predicting where the risks are, before contamination happens.
This understanding allows scientists to generate contamination risk map, spotting which areas are leaking uranium and which hold it fast. Given uranium’s potential to damage kidneys, bones, and reproductive systems, this isn’t just geology, it’s public health in action.
Read the research highlight on Nature India.
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To recap — carbon farming could turn Indian croplands into climate allies; a nasal COVID booster may strengthen our frontline immunity; uranium’s flow into groundwater can now be predicted, and weight gain is increasingly a shared journey in Indian homes.
If you found this episode insightful, do subscribe, share, and leave a rating. I’m Subhra Priyadarshini — thanks for listening to This Week in India’s Science. See you next time.
