(1) Telangana tunnel collapse: Rescue operations continues on day 10 In a breakthrough, the South Central Railway’s (SCR) mechanical engineering team has managed to cut the platform of the damaged Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) deep inside the collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel late on Sunday (March 2, 2025) night facilitating faster removal … Read more
CICMR Interim Report Links High Levels of Selenium in Wheat to Hair Loss A recent interim report from the Center for Investigative and Clinical Medical Research (CICMR) has raised concerns about the potential link between high levels of selenium in wheat and hair loss. The report, which is based on preliminary data from an ongoing … Read more
Planetary parades are not particularly significant to scientists but they can create a visual spectacle. | Photo Credit: Getty Images In a small window of time around February 28, people on the earth were in for a visual treat as seven planets, plus the moon, lined up in the night sky. These events are … Read more
Nicknamed ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky,’ the mission comes just over a year after the first-ever commercial lunar landing and is part of a NASA partnership with industry to cut costs and support Artemis, the program aiming to return astronauts to the Moon. | Photo Credit: AFP After a long journey through space, a … Read more
Traffic can contribute up to 40% of total organic aerosols at urban roadside A study published in the journal Nature Communications has investigated the sources and health impacts of PM2.5 in Northern India, particularly in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The study has examined PM2.5 composition and oxidative potential, a key indicator of its health risks, using samples … Read more
Living symbiotically with sea anemones that shelter them from predators, anemonefish (Amphiprion clarkii) drive away organisms that nibble at their hosts. Anemonefish have also shown they will provide their hosts with the food given to them by humans. A new study shows such feeding behaviour does happen in the wild by investigating food provisioning … Read more
Intake of excessive selenium leads to a condition called selenosis, which is characterised by sudden hair loss | Photo Credit: CDC Three Zika virus cases in Gujarat detected between November 2016 and February 2017 were kept under wraps till WHO announced the outbreak on May 26, 2017; the Health Ministry had informed WHO about the three … Read more
Scientists have created a new gene therapy for a debilitating genetic disorder called maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). The treatment can prevent recurrence of deadly symptoms in a cow calf born with the disease. Their protocol could one day be translated into a much-needed therapy for patients with two types of classic MSUD, who currently … Read more
Hipposideros srilankaensis a new species of bats endemic to Sri Lanka has been discovered and described by researchers from Osmania University in a global collaborative effort. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement HYDERABAD A team of researchers led by Bhargavi Srinivasulu of Zoology Department of Osmania University here, have identified and described a new species of … Read more
Jammu and Kashmir had 3 instances of Internet shutdowns due to protests in 2024 | Photo Credit: NISSAR AHMAD;NISSAR AHMAD – Globally, there were 88 Internet shutdowns due to communal violence in 2023 and 2024 and all of them were in India. In fact, nearly 95% of all Internet shutdowns ordered by the state due … Read more
Generative AI systems like large language models and text-to-image generators can pass rigorous exams that are required of anyone seeking to become a doctor or a lawyer. They can perform better than most people in Mathematical Olympiads. They can write halfway decent poetry, generate aesthetically pleasing paintings and compose original music. These remarkable capabilities may … Read more
File image of Union Minister Jitendra Singh | Photo Credit: PTI India will overtake the United States in the number of scientific publications by 2029, Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said at a public function on Friday (February 29, 2025) to commemorate National Science Day. “Future projections say that we will overcome … Read more
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and others participate in ‘Vigyan Vaibhav 2025’ programme at Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad on February 28, 2025. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal “Today, Indians are living in cyberspace, working on the cloud, and talking to artificial intelligence,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh remarked … Read more
Aditya-L1 is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun. | Photo Credit: ISRO India’s first dedicated space based solar mission, Aditya-L1, has made a ground-breaking observation as one of its scientific payloads has captured the first-ever image of a solar flare ‘kernel’ in the lower solar atmosphere. The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) … Read more
There are trillions of charged particles – protons and electrons, the basic building blocks of matter – whizzing around above your head at any given time. These high-energy particles, which can travel at close to the speed of light, typically remain thousands of kilometres away from the earth, trapped there by the shape of the … Read more
Forest Minister and Bidar In-charge Eshwar Khandre addressing a media conference in Bidar on February 27, 2025. 11 deliberative sessions would be held at the three-day conference. Traditional healers from across Karnataka and beyond would participate to share their rich healing experiences in these sessions. | Photo Credit: GOPICHAND T. Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said … Read more
Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) will celebrate National Science Day on March 2 as IIA Open Day. The campus at Koramangala in Bengaluru will be open to everyone from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) will celebrate National Science Day as IIA Open Day on … Read more
National Science Day is celebrated in India to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by physicist C.V. Raman. File National Science Day is celebrated in India to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by physicist C.V. Raman on February 28 in 1928. India has been celebrating National Science Day since 1986 when the … Read more
Therapeutic proteins are increasingly becoming an indispensable part of healthcare, with their applications found in treating both infectious diseases, and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer. What are they and how do they work? Proteins are the largest class of biomolecules that drive cellular activities essential for life. Any aberration in their synthesis, processing … Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File photo | Photo Credit: ANI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (February 28, 2025) greeted people on the occasion of National Science Day and called for leveraging science to build a Viksit Bharat. He said on X, “Greetings on National Science Day to those passionate about science, particularly our young … Read more
An illustration shows NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer approaching the moon as it enters its orbit in this artist’s concept. | Photo Credit: Lockheed Martin Space/Reuters A dishwasher-sized NASA satellite was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to identify where water – a precious resource for lunar missions – resides on the moon’s surface in places … Read more
Photographers record images of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Intuitive Machines’ second lunar lander as lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on February 26, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP A private company launched another lunar lander Wednesday (February 26, 2025), aiming to get closer to the … Read more
According to new research led by researchers at Stanford University in the US, coal-fired power plants are quietly depleting India’s rice and wheat output, destroying up to 10% of the yield in several states. The emissions from coal power plants include carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, fly ash, soot, suspended particulate matter, and other … Read more
America has already lost its global competitive edge in science, and funding cuts proposed in early 2025 may further a precipitous decline. Proposed cuts to the federal agencies that fund scientific research could undercut America’s global competitiveness, with negative impacts on the economy and the ability to attract and train the next generation of researchers. I’m an astronomer, and … Read more
A popular model of evolution concludes that it was incredibly unlikely for humanity to evolve on Earth, and that extraterrestrial intelligence is vanishingly rare. But as experts on the entangled history of life and our planet, we propose that the coevolution of life and Earth’s surface environment may have unfolded in a way that makes the evolutionary … Read more
“Who wants to live forever?” Freddie Mercury mournfully asks in Queen’s 1986 song of the same name. The answer: Quite a few people – so much so that life extension has long been a cottage industry. As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I’ve found the quest to expand the human lifespan both … Read more
Militaries that have taken power in Africa’s Sahel region – notably Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – have put pressure on western mining firms for a fairer distribution of revenue from the lucrative mining sector. Gold is one of the resources at the heart of these tensions. West Africa has been a renowned gold mining hub for … Read more
Fragments of an explosive device, a radiation warning sign in the foreground, are displayed by Ukrainian authorities after a drone attack at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine, Friday, February 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP Questions: 1. There are four ways to measure radiation dose. Of these, gray and X measure the absorbed … Read more
In this undated image released by Intuitive Machines, their newest lunar lander is displayed. | Photo Credit: Intuitive Machines via AP Intuitive Machines is “ready to go” with its second moon landing mission, a company executive said on Wednesday (February 26, 2025), a day ahead of the scheduled launch of its lunar lander. The … Read more
Prof. B D Vishwajit and Mahesh Tanwade at work in the animal house in Sharnbasva University, Kalaburagi. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI An advanced laboratory studies on rats and mice on reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruptive compounds by two scientists of Sharnbasva University has revealed disturbing facts of how harmful contents in some cosmetics and herbicides … Read more