Mepco bill

For many students, mathematics feels less like a subject and more like a verdict, you’re either “good at it” or you’re not. There’s no escape from maths in school, and for some, every class brings a familiar knot of anxiety rather than curiosity or confidence. You’re not imagining it: the fear is real, and it’s … Read more

A NASA illustration depicting the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars. | Photo Credit: AP NASA has lost contact with its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, the Mars orbiter that has worked for more than a decade to study how the planet’s atmosphere is escaping into space. The spacecraft went silent in early December and … Read more

The Draft Electoral Roll published on December 19 recorded about 97.3 lakh deletions in total | Photo Credit: BALACHANDAR L An analysis of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu’s polling station-level list of over 97 lakh deleted electors in Tamil Nadu reveals several anomalies that require closer examination. The analysis reveals eight distinct categories of … Read more

The chilly waters of the Southern Ocean that surround Antarctica like a moat are among the least explored and least understood of all the world’s oceans. This is stark because we also know that this ocean plays an outsized role in regulating the earth’s climate with its moody currents and its tremendous ability to absorb … Read more

Sirisha K.V., has severe osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder causing brittle bones. The condition requires a person to help the 36-year-old out of a vehicle and into her wheelchair to go to her office in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. Since the disorder can cause bones to break easily she needs to be constantly careful while moving. … Read more

It’s holiday season and plans are in the air for travel, celebrations and get-togethers. It’s also a time when cheat days will abound and exercise may take a backseat. It’s important though to ensure that you come out the other side, well-rested and healthy too! So take the quiz and find out how much you … Read more

The device offers new hope to the 1.7 million Indians who suffer strokes each year, said Dileep Yavagal, professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Miami, who was part of the global trial. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The indigenously developed Supernova stent retriever—approved in India using only domestic clinical trial data— is expected to … Read more

Targeting remission might represent a new approach to cardiovascular prevention, the authors wrote | Image used for representational purpose only | Photo Credit: MAHESH KUMAR A Bringing blood glucose to normal range through lifestyle changes could halve the risk of heart attack, heart failure and premature death among prediabetics, according to a study. Findings published … Read more

What is a superkilonova?

The LVM3-M6 Mission launch is scheduled on December 24, 2025 at 08:54 hrs IST from the Second Launch Pad (SLP), SDSC SHAR. Photo: X/@isro/ANI ISRO’s upcoming LVM3 M6 mission will carry the BlueBird Block-2 satellite into orbit on December 24, as part of a commercial deal with U.S.-based AST SpaceMobile. The historic mission will deploy … Read more

Union MoS Jitendra Singh speaks in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: ANI The story so far: Parliament has brought into force the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act which repeals legislation that governs nuclear activity — the … Read more

Does the sight, or even the thought, of blood scare you? In that case, this one might not be for you. If it doesn’t or if you wish to brave on, you’ll find out more about blood and the means to handle it by the end of this one. Components of blood Human blood takes … Read more

ISRO completed the Drogue Parachute Deployment Qualification Tests for the Gaganyaan Crew Module at the RTRS facility of TBRL, Chandigarh, during 18–19 December 2025. Photo: Screengrab via X/@DrJitendraSingh A series of qualification tests for drogue parachutes, which have been carried out to develop a deceleration system for ISRO’s Gaganyaan crew module, were successful, the space … Read more

The communication satellite developed by the U.S.-based AST SpaceMobile will be launched as part of the LVM3-M6 mission. Photo: X/@isro via ANI The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the 6,500 kg BlueBird communications satellite on December 24 from Sriharikota. The national space agency on Friday (December 19, 2025) announced that the communication satellite … Read more

The company said the satellite, one of nearly 10,000 in space for its broadband internet network, quickly fell four kilometers in altitude, suggesting some ​kind of explosion occurred on board [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS SpaceX’s Starlink said one of its ​satellites experienced an anomaly in space on Wednesday that created a “small ‌number” of … Read more

Thebacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) also infect macrophages, the very immune cells meant to capture and destroy them. Once inside, the bacteria create a niche where they can persist for months or even years, tolerating even powerful antibiotics. This resilience is a major reason TB treatment requires long, intensive drug regimens lasting six to nine … Read more

India’s trade data for November reveals continued resilience in exports despite mounting U.S. tariffs on several key products. This is particularly significant given that the U.S. remains India’s largest export partner by a substantial margin. Interestingly, overall exports have not only grown, but shipments specifically to the U.S. have also rebounded. This resilience is driven … Read more

Science quiz: The discovery of Epimetheus Visual: The moon is named for a titan in Greek mythology who is the brother of Y. Together, Epimetheus and Y stand for Hindsight and Foresight. Name Y, the image depicts him performing a legendary action. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Visual: The moon is named for … Read more

Once upon a time, the thunder of footsteps from lakhs of mighty rhinoceroses echoed across the savannahs, grasslands, and tropical forests of Africa and Asia — but things have gotten pretty quiet lately. As of 2024, fewer than 28,000 rhinos remain on the planet, all five species combined. Relentless poaching has been a major threat … Read more

India ranks a respectable 20th globally for living donors (10.8 living donors per million) among 77 countries | Photo Credit: Getty Images India belongs to a small cluster of nations where living organ donations vastly outnumber deceased organ donations. Ironically, this is not due to a lack of intent; data indicate that posthumous organ donation … Read more

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become President Donald Trump’s NASA administrator. | Photo Credit: Mark Schiefelbein The U.S. Senate on Wednesday (December 17, 2025) confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become President Donald Trump’s NASA administrator, making an advocate of Mars missions and a … Read more

Is it a false alarm or a discovery that solves one of the greatest mysteries in cosmology? This is the question weighing on astronomers as they examine a study published recently in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which claims to have finally detected the elusive ‘dark matter’. Dark matter is believed to have … Read more

The story so far: On December 15, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) announced the launch of DHRUV64, an indigenous microprocessor that it said would strengthen the national indigenous processor pipeline. Its purported applications span the breadth of consumer electronics to industrial automation. What is DHRUV64? The DHRUV64 chip is a fully indigenous … Read more

Dressed in an orange puffer jacket, Japanese scientist Yoshinori Iizuka stepped into a storage freezer to retrieve an ice core he hopes will help experts protect the world’s disappearing glaciers. The fist-sized sample drilled from a mountaintop is part of an ambitious international effort to understand why glaciers in Tajikistan have resisted the rapid melting … Read more

A sample of thorium. | Photo Credit: Alchemist-hp Atomic clocks keep time by counting the ‘ticks’ of electrons moving between two energy levels. Physicists have long wanted to count a nuclear tick instead. A nucleus is more shielded than an atom’s outer electrons, so its energy levels are expected to be less sensitive to disturbances. … Read more

Blame neurogenic inflammation. | Photo Credit: Jack Newing/Unsplash When we eat spicy food containing chillies, a substance in them called capsaicin binds to receptors on the nerve endings in our mouth and nose. These receptors work like sensors. When a specific molecule attaches to them, they send a signal that triggers a response. Capsaicin attaches … Read more

Electrocution is the primary reason followed by lightning and electrical fire  | Photo Credit: lvcandy Electricity-related accidents killed over 18,000 people in India in 2023. Electrocution is the primary reason followed by lightning and electrical fire (Chart 1). Over the years, electrical fatality rate — the number of deaths per lakh population — has risen (Chart 2). In … Read more