Mepco bill

Researchers spot a clue as to why human and mouse genomes overlap

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Eighty million years ago humans, rats, and mice shared the same mammalian ancestor. More recently, researchers made the astonishing discovery that even today our genomes contain close to 500 segments that have remained totally unchanged since then. These segments are called ultra-conserved elements (UCEs). Nearly all the UCEs are also highly unchanged in the chicken … Read more

Why don’t century years get leap days unless divisible by 400?

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Time measurements and calendars have often been refined over the years. | Photo Credit: Alexey Savchenko/Unsplash A: A tropical year is the time (365.242199 days) the earth takes to revolve around the sun once. By having just 365 days in a calendar year, 0.242199 days are lost each year. To correct this error, Julius Caesar … Read more

The Science Quiz | Unusual materials

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Questions: 1. This material is one of the lightest solids known, since more than 99% of its composition by volume is air. Making it involves extracting the liquid component of a particular type of semisolid by supercritical freezing. Name it. 2. In the 1970s, a British hairdresser named Maurice Ward developed a material his granddaughter … Read more

Baboons and human fear: a deep history behind the cruel attacks in South Africa

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Encounters between baboons and people are common in parts of South Africa. WhatsApp groups often share stories of baboons raiding a kitchen and stealing all the food. And stories appear in the media about the torture and killing of baboons. Recently the hashtag #JusticeForRaygun has been widely shared on social media. A young male baboon named Raygun was being tracked as … Read more

Art and science illuminate the same subtle proportions in tree branches

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Do artists and scientists see the same thing in the shape of trees? As a scientist who studies branching patterns in living things, I’m starting to think so. Piet Mondrian was an early 20th-century abstract artist and art theorist obsessed with simplicity and essence of form. Even people who have never heard of Mondrian will likely recognize his … Read more

Chinese rivals to Musk’s Starlink accelerate race to dominate satellite internet

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Space is about to get more crowded for Elon Musk. The billionaire’s Starlink communications network is facing increasingly stiff challenges to its dominance of high-speed satellite internet, including from a Chinese state-backed rival and another service financed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Shanghai-based SpaceSail in November signed an agreement to enter Brazil and announced it … Read more

China aims to eliminate severe air pollution this year

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The sun sets next to a smokestack from a coal-burning power station in Beijing January 9, 2008. | Photo Credit: Reuters China aims to effectively eliminate severe air pollution by the end of 2025, a senior environment official said, as authorities ramp up efforts in pollution control and emissions reduction in the “battle for blue … Read more

Manipur’s GST growth rate declines, inflation surges: Data

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Security personnel stand guard during a protest at in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur in November last year. | Photo Credit: PTI The ongoing conflict in Manipur has had a significant impact on the State’s economy. The revenue flow from GST has slowed down drastically, while retail inflation levels have skyrocketed. The double whammy came … Read more

Physicists propose tabletop experiment to test gravity’s quantumness

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General relativity and quantum mechanics are two highly successful theories. The former explains gravity and the latter teams up with special relativity to describe the other three forces of nature: electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear forces. However, scientists don’t know how gravity fits into quantum mechanics. In fact, they have been proposing experiments that … Read more

First detailed map of moon’s south pole area made from Chandrayaan data

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Astronomers are excited to be poring over the first ever detailed geological map of the moon’s south polar region, where India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar module, Vikram, touched down on August 23, 2023. The map is expected to throw new light on the moon’s origin and evolution. Researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, Panjab … Read more

How does space travel affect astronaut health?

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The human body was not built for spaceflight, with its microgravity conditions, exposure to high-energy radiation and other issues. As a result, trekking beyond the the earth’s confines causes many physiological changes that affect an astronaut’s health. Here is an explanation of some of the effects on human health caused by space travel. Why is … Read more

Condensed matter: a big piece of physics

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The three most common phases of matter or visible in this image: the solid earth, the liquid water, and a vaporous mist encircling the waterfall. | Photo Credit: Joshua Sortin Condensed matter physics is one of the largest, most active branches of contemporary physics research. Simply speaking, scientists in this field study the properties and … Read more

Majorana 1: A quantum phenomenon

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A view of Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip. | Photo Credit: Microsoft In a head-turning announcement earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled a new quantum chip called Majorana 1. According to its press release, it consists of four qubits made of a “new state of matter”. Qubit is short for ‘quantum bit’, the fundamental unit of operations … Read more

Why is Central TB Division pushing an untested AI tool for screening?

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Even as time is running out to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of “eliminating” TB by 2025, the Health Ministry appears to be moving at glacial speed and is largely disinterested. A report submitted by the Health Technology Assessment of India (HTAIn) committee in February 2024 on two indigenously developed solutions to screen people … Read more

What makes us remember our dreams?

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Some people wake up vividly recalling their dreams from the night, and can tell precise stories experienced during the night, while others struggle to remember even a single detail. A new study has explored the factors that influence ‘dream recall’ — the ability to remember dreams upon awakening — and uncovers which individual traits and sleep … Read more

How glacier ice algae accelerate Greenland ice sheet melting

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A new study reveals that dark-pigmented microalgae, which contribute to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, are highly efficient at nutrient uptake and growth, allowing them to rapidly colonise expanding areas of exposed ice. The findings suggest that these algae can persist and spread without the need for additional nutrient inputs, intensifying ice sheet … Read more

Innovators come together in Bengaluru to find ways to ensure access to effective antibiotics 

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The workshop was organised by the Trinity Challenge, a charity supporting the creation of data-driven solutions to help protect against global health threats, and the One Health Trust to explore community access to effective antibiotics. | Photo Credit: Photo for representation only Healthcare leaders, researchers, tech specialists, and other experts came together at a workshop … Read more

Harnessing AI to generate patterns of antibiotic resistance in real time

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Photograph used for representational purposes only | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto A team of researchers from IIIT- Delhi have come up with AI-powered data integration and predictive analytics tools, to understand the patterns of antibiotic resistance in real time, enabling various agencies to act on them speedily.   As part of a collaboration between Indraprastha … Read more

Agricultural protectionism pushes up India’s import tariff: Data

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House, in Washington, DC. | Photo Credit: PTI Tariffs levied on imports into India are five times higher than what the United States levies on its imports. The average duty levied by India was 17% in 2023, compared to 3.3% levied by the U.S. … Read more

The perception shift against the AAP in the Delhi election

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The 2025 Delhi Assembly election was nothing short of a political turning point, reshaping the electoral landscape of India’s capital in ways few had anticipated. Data from Codemo and PeoplesPulse’s survey reveal major shifts in voter behaviour, gender-based voting patterns, and the underlying factors that influenced the outcome at the polls. The survey was conducted … Read more