Why are school buses yellow

Back to school | Photo Credit: Si-Gal A school bus approaches, and even from far away, its bright yellow coat catches your eye, gleaming in the sunlight. There’s a reason you rarely see school buses in red, blue, or green. And it’s all yellow In the VIBGYOR spectrum, yellow falls in the mid-to-long wavelength range … Read more

Sky Teamwork: Why do birds fly in V formation?

Bar headed goose (Anser indicus) in a V formation. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri The V-formation we have all seen growing up is commonly seen in migratory birds like cranes, pelicans, and ducks. It consists of a bird leader up front and the others trailing behind. Each one keeps a precise position relative to the … Read more

Sky Teamwork: Why do birds fly in V formation?

Bar headed goose (Anser indicus) in a V formation. | Photo Credit: GIRI KVS/The Hindu The V-formation we have all seen growing up is commonly seen in migratory birds like cranes, pelicans, and ducks. It consists of a bird leader up front and the others trailing behind. Each one keeps a precise position relative to … Read more

Scientists find spaceflight affects immune genes, deforms the brain

A new study has found that genes related to heart function, the nervous system, and the senses of vision and smell became overactive during spaceflight. Representative image of a NASA astronaut working outside the International Space Station. | Photo Credit: NASA As humans prepare for longer missions to the moon and eventually Mars, scientists need … Read more

Science quiz: On vexillography – The Hindu

Q: This ‘infographic’ from an 18th century work explains the famous rule of ________, by which heralds may be designed. Fill in the blank. A: Tincture Q: The half or edge of the flag nearest to the flagpole is called the hoist. In vexillography, this is considered to be the leading edge. The fly is … Read more

‘Rest of the world rooting for Gaganyaan mission,’ says Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, right, with Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair. File | Photo Credit: ANI Space is for everybody, and space is going to epitomise what deep tech is going to be, said Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Indian Air Force Group Captain who is one of the astronauts selected for India’s first crewed spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan.  He was speaking at the third edition of Deep Science Forum, a … Read more

What an edible insects stall revealed about acceptance, ‘normal’ food

Why does the idea of eating insects provoke discomfort, even before taste or nutrition enters the conversation? At an edible insects stall during a food mela at the Science Gallery, Bengaluru, this question surfaced repeatedly as visitors negotiated curiosity, disgust and the boundaries of what they considered “normal” food. Many assumed they were encountering a … Read more

What is the NASA Artemis II mission?

(From left) Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch greet the crowd at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Centre, April 3, 2023. | Photo Credit: NASA A: Artemis II is the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis programme. It will be the first time humans will travel to the vicinity of … Read more

Supreme Court denies bail to Umar Khalid, U.S.’s push for Venezuelan oil, Anti-regime protests in Iran, and more: The week in 5 charts

(1) Supreme Court denies bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam The Supreme Court on January 5 declined to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, notwithstanding their incarceration for nearly six years without the commencement of trial. A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria, however, granted … Read more

If data is the new oil, what does that make data centres?

Many think the idea of ‘dumping’ in global trade is a red herring. The reason is obvious: if country A is able to dump certain goods in country B, it’s not because A has smuggled them in. It’s because someone in country B was interested in receiving those goods, and B’s laws allowed for them … Read more

China’s EAST fusion reactor beats density limit, widens path to power

Scientists at a nuclear fusion reactor in China recently surmounted an important obstacle in operating reactor vessels at high density. They pushed plasma density 65% beyond a special threshold, entering a stable state that overcomes a long-standing barrier to achieving burning plasma, the stage where a fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining. Fusion power mimics what happens … Read more

Troubling repeat: On ISRO’s failed PSLV-C62 mission

On January 12, as the PSLV-C62 mission rose from Sriharikota into the morning sky and its third stage kicked on, the live telecast abruptly stopped showing the rocket’s performance and trajectory. As it became evident that its third stage had suffered an anomaly, putting paid to the C62 mission in a manner similar to the … Read more

DRDO successfully flight-tests indigenous third-generation MPATGM with top-attack capability

DRDO’s Defence Research & Development Laboratory, Hyderabad, successfully flight-tests Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile with top attack capability against a moving target, in KK Ranges in Ahilyanagar on Monday. | Photo Credit: ANI The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Sunday (January 11, 2026) successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed third-generation fire-and-forget Man Portable Anti-Tank … Read more

Erich von Daeniken, Swiss author who popularised ancient‑alien theories, dies at 90

Von Daeniken addresses a press conference in Bern, Switzerland, in October 1999. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Best-selling Swiss author Erich von Daeniken, who built a lucrative career on his argument, rubbished by scientists and archaeologists, that humanity owes much of its development to the intervention ‍of extraterrestrial beings, has died aged 90. Chariots of the … Read more

PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission encounters anomaly during end of PS3 stage

PSLV-C62 will carry EOS-N1 and 15 co-passenger satellites. Photo: YouTube/ISRO Official The PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission encountered an anomaly during end of the PS3 stage, following lift-off on Monday (January 12, 2026). A detailed analysis has been initiated, ISRO said “Today we attempted the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission. The PSLV is a four stage vehicle with two solid stages … Read more

Astronaut Shukla urges youths to own dreams for India’s space missions

Astronaut and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla speaks at Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue, in New Delhi on January 11, 2026. | Photo Credit: ANI Describing them as future makers of the nation, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla urged youths to start owning dreams, whether in human spaceflight missions or other spheres, and work collectively towards realising them. … Read more

What is the context window?

AI models don’t read words; instead they read chunks of characters called tokens. | Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash A: In the context of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs) like GPT-5 and Claude, the context window is the maximum amount of text the model can consider at any one time while generating a … Read more

Countdown for launch of PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission begins

The launch of the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission will be the 105th launch from Sriharikota. File image for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: PTI The 22.5 hour countdown for the launch of the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission commenced at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Sunday (January 11, 2026). The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is … Read more

Turning a death sentence into a long-lasting health condition

What is diabetes? Ask around in your circle, and chances are that there is someone you know who has diabetes. A chronic disease, diabetes is closely related to insulin, a hormone that regulates blood glucose. Diabetes occurs either when enough insulin is not produced by the pancreas, or when the insulin produced cannot be effectively … Read more

How every ₹100 is spent by Indian households

The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoS&PI) captures spending pattern of Indian households across various consumption categories. Conducted every five years, the HCES provides granular estimates of Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) for both rural and urban populations, covering a wide range of goods and services. The … Read more

DRDO achieves breakthrough in hypersonic missile development with long-duration scramjet test

A long-duration ground test of ‘Actively Cooled Scramjet Full Scale Combustor’ conducted by the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) at its Scramjet Connect Pipe Test (SCPT) Facility, in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: PTI Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), the Hyderabad-based laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has achieved a milestone … Read more

Do plants listen to music? How do they respond?

‘Do you play music to your plants?’. This was asked of the famous plant biologist James Wong of Kew Gardens in London. He said that it is the vibrations that open the plant’s epidermis. So did the physicist J.C. Bose of Kolkata. What has the latest research into this evergreen question shown? First, the obvious: … Read more