If increasing cigarette taxes is a public health measure to discourage smoking, then lowering beedi taxes to ‘protect’ rural workers ignores the long-term cost to their lives. While most tobacco products are taxed at the highest Goods and Services Tax (GST) slab of 40%, beedis are taxed at just 18%, making them significantly cheaper than … Read more
An optical colour composite image of the viewing field taken from the PanSTARRS survey. The yellow cross-hair indicates the position of the star. | Photo Credit: DOI: 10.1126/science.adt485 When a sufficiently massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses and triggers a supernova, a dramatic explosion that scatters the star’s outer layers into space. … Read more
A panel discussion on ‘Building Innovation-First GCCs: AI, R&D & Digital Transformation’ was organised as part of BioAsia 2026 in Hyderabad on Wednesday (February 18, 2025) | Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR Hyderabad is emerging as a key hub for building artificial intelligence-driven capabilities for global pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, with several multinational firms developing … Read more
The Science Quiz: The science hidden in proverbs and idioms 1 / 6 | Name this hydrocarbon. It’s the reason “one bad apple spoils the bunch”: as an apple ripens, it releases more of this compound, which causes nearby fruit to ripen faster. 2 / 6 | What’s the proverb based on the following fact? … Read more
India’s direct tax system has undergone a significant expansion over the last decade, marked by a sharp rise in the number of taxpayers as well as sustained improvements in administrative efficiency. Time-series data released by the Income-Tax Department indicate that this expansion has been broad-based and persistent, reflecting deeper formal participation rather than a short-lived … Read more
India’s textile sector has been steadily losing ground in global export markets. In contrast, Bangladesh has woven together a remarkable export success. Given the recently signed India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and with Bangladesh poised to lose its Least Developed Country (LDC) status, this is an opportune moment for India’s textile industry. Within the textile … Read more
The linear no-threshold (LNT) model and the ALARA principle have served as the conceptual and operational foundations of the global radiation protection framework for many decades. The LNT model is a risk estimation framework that says any amount of ionising radiation, no matter how small, carries some risk of causing harm, especially cancer. In other … Read more
Passive human structures like roads and settlements sometimes reduced animal vigilance, an Indian Institute of Science release said. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Humans have climbed to the top of the food chain by skillfully hunting, trapping, and fishing for other animals at scales that far exceed other predators, altering how the animals behave … Read more
Collaboration between Australia and India in life sciences and biotechnology is beginning to yield early results following the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, with Queensland positioning itself as a key partner for Indian companies and institutions across clinical research, translational science and healthcare innovation. This momentum was highlighted during an exclusive media roundtable held … Read more
(From left) Winselow Tucker (president and GM of Lilly India), Stefan Miltenyi (founder CEO and president of Miltenyi Biotec, Germany), G.V.Prasad (co-chairman & MD of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories), Eric Mansion (GM, India & South-East Asia of Sanofi, Singapore) and Shreehas Tambe (MD and CEO of Biocon Biologics) at a panel discussion during BioAsia 2026 in … Read more
SpaceX, xAI and the Pentagon’s defense innovation unit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its wholly-owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secret new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarming technology, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. SpaceX, … Read more
(1) BNP sweeps Bangladesh elections The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by chairman Tarique Rahman, is set to return to power in Dhaka after two decades, following a landslide victory in the February 12 Parliamentary election, winning over 210 seats out of the 299 seats that were contested. The 11-party alliance led by the Jamaat-e-Islami has won 77 seats. This was the … Read more
In 1974, Antony Hewish won the physics Nobel Prize for discovering pulsars. His graduate student, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, had actually spotted the first one in the data; she’d also built parts of the telescope herself, analysed the charts, noticed the anomaly, and helped confirm that it was real. But she didn’t win the prize. At … Read more
Every instinct tells you to lean back. You’re standing at the top of a slope that drops away beneath you like the edge of the world, and every fibre of your being screams to press your weight into the mountain behind you. To hold on. To stay safe. And that’s exactly how you fall. Something … Read more
With rising temperatures, longer heatwaves, and a rapidly growing urban economy, cooling in India is rapidly shifting from a lifestyle choice to a basic need, driving up air-conditioner use in homes and workplaces. This surge is now a major part of cities’ power demand, in turn raising concerns about blackouts and higher emissions and about … Read more
Scientists noticed that loggerhead turtles are getting smaller in size, reducing their reproductive output: smaller females produce smaller clutch sizes. | Photo Credit: Brian Gratwicke (CC BY) The spectre of climate change has come to haunt one of the ocean’s most ubiquitous — yet vulnerable — turtles: the strong-jawed loggerhead, named after its exceptionally large head. These omnivorous marine reptiles have been … Read more
Genetic disorders often stem from small errors in the DNA sequence with major consequences. Many diseases like cystic fibrosis and Batten disease can be traced to changes disrupting the cell’s ability to build a complete, functional protein. One particularly common culprit is the nonsense mutation, where a single incorrect DNA letter inserts a premature stop … Read more
Clarifying the influence of genetic factors that increase the risk of experiencing clinical anxiety may, in the future, help us to identify people who are particularly vulnerable |Image used for representational purpose only | Photo Credit: DrAfter123 Researchers have found 58 genetic variants linked to an increased risk of anxiety, suggesting that the disorder is … Read more
A photo posted by @ispaceflight_in showing a a PLF (Payload Fairing) washed up on an uninhabited island near L. Kunahandhoo, Maldives, found on February 12, 2026. Photo credits: X/@ispaceflight_in Debris of a launch vehicle with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) logo and the national emblem have reportedly been found recently in an uninhabited island … Read more
For representative purposes. The story so far: Bio-based chemicals are industrial chemicals produced using biological feedstocks like sugarcane, corn, starch, or biomass residues, often through fermentation or enzymatic processes. Examples include organic acids (such as lactic acid), bio-alcohols, solvents, surfactants, and intermediates used in plastics, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Enzymes are biological catalysts widely used in … Read more
In 1960, when she was studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, the primatologist Jane Goodall observed one chimp strip a stick of its leaves and use it to extract termites from a mound. She telegraphed her observation to her supervisor, the paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man’ or accept chimpanzees as human,” Leakey … Read more
India’s post-Independence service rules were designed to ensure stability through generalist administrators — an approach that was essential for nation-building. However, governance has since become increasingly shaped by science, technology, and environmental challenges. As scientists joined government service, they remained governed by rules created for a different era. This mismatch has limited the effective integration … Read more
A photo posted by @ispaceflight_in showing a a PLF (Payload Fairing) washed up on an uninhabited island near L. Kunahandhoo, Maldives, found on February 12, 2026. Photo credits: X/@ispaceflight_in Debris of a launch vehicle with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) logo and the national emblem have reportedly been found recently in an uninhabited island … Read more
An artist’s impression of the LHS 1903 planetary system. | Photo Credit: Reuters Astronomers have observed a planetary system that challenges current planet formation theories, with a rocky planet that formed beyond the orbits of its gaseous neighbors, possibly after much of the planet-forming material had been used up. The system, observed using the European … Read more
Crew 12 mission astronauts, from left, pilot Jack Hathaway, Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev, commander Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophia Adenot, of France, leave the Operations and Checkout building before heading to pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 13, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP The International … Read more
Prof. LaFrance, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Alpert Medical School, Brown University, said that neurobehavioural therapy has demonstrated measurable changes in functional and structural brain connectivity. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Functional neurological disorders, long dismissed as purely psychogenic conditions, are now understood as disorders of neural network dysfunction shaped by cognition, emotion and … Read more
Did you know that there was a time in history when diamonds were believed to exist only in India? The hardest natural material on Earth, diamonds were first discovered in India nearly 3,000 years ago. For more than a millennia, India remained the only source of diamonds for the world, a monopoly that the country … Read more
A team of physicists from various universities has teamed up with the artificial intelligence (AI) model GPT-5.2 to arrive at a new result in theoretical physics, OpenAI announced on February 13. While the result itself is obscure, although valuable to physicists working on the topic, the methods that the team and the model used to … Read more
Kadhambari S. Viswanathan, assistant vice-president, Vellore Institute of Technology, in conversation with L.V. Navaneeth, Chief Executive Officer, The Hindu Group, at The Hindu Tech Summit 2026 on Friday (February 13, 2026). | Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ Online education is one of the biggest finds of the last decade, Kadhambari S. Viswanathan, assistant vice-president, Vellore Institute … Read more
