The hydrogen molecule H2 is the simplest stable molecule, with two protons and two electrons bound together. Scientists have studied it for more than a century because it’s small enough that theory can try to predict its behaviour from basic physics yet it’s rich enough to include many features found in larger molecules. This said, … Read more
(1) U.S. attacks Venezuela and captures President The U.S. carried out strikes in Venezuela’s capital city Caracas and other places in the country on Saturday last week (January 3, 2026) in the latest escalation to simmering tensions between the two countries since September last year. Following the strikes, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth … Read more
In the predawn darkness, a team of scientists climbs the slope of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world’s most active and whose eruption could affect millions of people. Its mission: figure out what is happening under the crater. For five years, the group from Mexico’s National Autonomous University has climbed the volcano with kilos … Read more
The presence behind this name can hardly be missed. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons SH. Siberian High. Siberian Anticyclone. The presence behind this name can hardly be missed. Winter will tell you why. Siberian High is a wind system; an intense, robust, massive system of biting cold, dry air that controls winter weather over Eurasia. … Read more
The dictionary of life has a new update. A DNA sequence that signals cells in almost all other organisms to stop synthesising proteins instead encodes a rare amino acid in some archaea, according to a study published in Science in November. Archaea are microbes that resemble bacteria in shape and size but are biologically distinct. … Read more
An image comparison the size of a supermoon (left) and the micromoon, which is the moon at its apogee micromoon (right), as seen from the earth. | Photo Credit: NASA A “wolf supermoon” is a nickname that combines two distinct ideas: a wolf moon and a supermoon. The January 2026 wolf supermoon occurred late last … Read more
A significant telescope If we were to talk about the most popular telescopes of all time, it is unlikely that you will be mentioning the Airy Transit Circle (ATC). You’ll probably recall space observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble, and you might even spare a thought to the early versions made and … Read more
GUWAHATI A study published in the Indian Journal of History of Science a few months ago has challenged long-held beliefs about the origins of mineral acids, suggesting that ancient Indian scholars may have understood and used them centuries before similar knowledge appeared in Europe or the Arab world. For decades, historians believed that Arab alchemists developed mineral … Read more
Vegetation can cool a surface by evapotranspiration, i.e. water evaporating from soil and transpiring from leaves, carrying heat away. | Photo Credit: EqualStock/Unsplash Cities around the world are getting hotter for two reasons: the climate is warming and urban areas often trap heat more than the countryside. Planting more vegetation, especially trees, has become a … Read more
The story so far: Climate change is real, and for India to continue meeting domestic food demands, agriculture needs to cope with the increasing unpredictability of the weather, declining soil health, and growing air pollution. What is climate-resilient agriculture? Climate-resilient agriculture uses a range of biotechnology and complementary technologies to guide farming practices and reduce … Read more
Nearly 4 lakh more women were deleted than men in West Bengal, analysis shows. | Photo Credit: Manvender Vashist Lav In West Bengal, like in Tamil Nadu and Bihar, more women than men were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, an analysis of polling station-level data shows. While 58 lakh … Read more
The Greenland shark can live up to 500 years. The kind of longevity that probably has something to do with its home: cold, dark depths of the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Scientists have been studying the sharks’ biology — from its slow metabolism to cellular repair — to find answers for healthy ageing … Read more
A digital accelerometer from a Motorola Xoom smartphone. | Photo Credit: Raimond Spekking (CC BY-SA) A: Your smartphone knows which way is up due to its accelerometer. It’s a chip whose parts shift slightly when the phone accelerates or when gravity acts along a particular direction. The phone’s software reads the accelerometer’s measurements along the … Read more
President Droupadi Murmu pointed out that skills including data science, AI engineering and data analytics will play an influential role in developing the country’s AI talent pool. File | Photo Credit: ANI Describing Artificial Intelligence as a “big opportunity” for ushering in positive change, President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday (January 1, 2026) said it is … Read more
For much of the past decade, study abroad was discussed in India in terms of momentum. Numbers rose year after year, destinations multiplied, and overseas education came to be seen as an almost automatic pathway to global opportunity. In 2025, that narrative began to change. Applications softened across several markets, visa rules tightened or were … Read more
Frail participants were more likely to be female, have higher body weight, live with multiple long-term conditions, and lower educational attainment. They were also 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with dementia |Image used for representational purpose only | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT Older adults who are frail and have depression could be at … Read more
Over the last two decades, a small shelf of Indian nonfiction has treated the city itself as an environmental object. Jyoti Pande Lavakare’s Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health and Siddharth Singh’s The Great Smog of India explored North India’s atmospheric pollution as a human-made crisis with human costs sustained by official short-termism and … Read more
AI technology concept. 3D render | Photo Credit: BlackJack3D Generative AI is rewriting the tech career playbook. Programming, once the gold standard for high-paying jobs, is now viewed as a secondary skill that is ‘less essential’ to the future workforce. Because learning AI is more accessible to beginners, the disruption to traditional coding has multiplied. … Read more
A cloud of pollution released by an industry. | Photo Credit: rui_noronha The Indian banking sector plays a critical role in industrial growth. It channelises household savings to provide funds to firms at affordable rates. A review of the growth of credit to industries shows four facts and a puzzling observation. Fact 1: The share … Read more
In October 2020, when the world was beginning to come out of a global lockdown, a spacecraft more than 3 lakh km away performed a pogo-stick jump on a small asteroid called Bennu and collected samples of its surface. The craft, part of NASA’s OSIRIS REx, then launched itself away from the asteroid and towards … Read more
Researchers from the University of Guelph in Canada have reported an astonishing discovery: that the number of chromosome sets in their bodies’ cells seems to be linked to the rate at which the species’ mitochondrial genome evolves. This is unusual because mitochondrial DNA sits in a separate genome from the chromosomes in the nucleus and … Read more
India’s space journey has evolved beyond a string of spectacular missions. It has the national pulse and is a source of daily inspiration. In June 2025, when Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla displayed the Tricolour aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was a moment of pride for every … Read more
Science quiz: Chemistry’s foul fellows Visual: Name the molecule depicted by this ball-and-stick model. It’s responsible for vinegar’s odour and imparts its sour taste. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Name the molecule depicted by this ball-and-stick model. It’s responsible for vinegar’s odour and imparts its sour taste. 2 / 6 | X is … Read more
Medical researchers have traditionally viewed ulcerative colitis as a disorder driven by an overactive immune response or damage to the gut’s epithelial barrier. But a new study has argued that the disease may actually start earlier, when a normally hidden layer of immune cells just beneath the gut lining begins to become thinner. Specifically, the … Read more
Modern healthcare is fundamentally dependent on a constant supply of known and new drugs, making their discovery and manufacture a profitable business. The Indian pharmaceutical industry plays a key role in making drugs available globally at low prices, reflected in its projected revenue of about $130 billion by 2030. However, it largely manufactures generics that … Read more
On December 30, astronomer Jonathan McDowell posted on X.com: “The abandoned Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module, left in a 125000 x 305000 km orbit in 2024, had a bit of a tussle with the Moon in November and has now been found in a 365000 x 983000 km x 22 deg orbit”. Dr. McDowell is well-known for, … Read more
The Trump administration has seized two oil tankers of Venezuela so far After announcing a naval blockade and seizing two oil tankers, the Donald Trump administration has now ordered U.S. military forces to focus on enforcing a ‘quarantine’ of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, amping up economic pressure on Caracas. The … Read more
All major discoveries in cosmology underline the maxim that the universe is not only stranger than we suppose but that it is stranger than we can suppose. The latest example of this is a study by researchers at the Yonsei University in South Korea that said the expansion of the universe is slowing down. The … Read more
Image used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: ANI The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired the Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket (LRGR–120) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Odisha’s Chandipur on Monday (December 29, 2025). Earlier in the day, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, … Read more
