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Shubhanshu Shukla gets rousing welcome in Lucknow

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Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla waves upon his arrival at the airport, in Lucknow on August 25, 2025 | Photo Credit: PTI Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla arrived in Lucknow on Monday (August 25, 2025) amid a rousing welcome by children and admirers. Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak was present at the airport to welcome … Read more

Is India underestimating the cost of dealing with invasive species?

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Damage from non-native plants and animals expanding into new ecosystems has cost society more than $2.2 trillion worldwide, a new study by an international team of researchers has said. Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the study used numbers from InvaCost, a public database that records the economic costs of biological invasions by country, and … Read more

ISRO completes first integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan

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In this image posted on August 24, 2025, ISRO embarks on the first integrated air drop test (IADT-1) of its Gaganyaan programme. Photo: ISRO via PTI The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-1), a critical milestone in preparations for the country’s maiden human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, … Read more

IISc team finds ancient proteins that hint at life’s leap in complexity

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Project members Saravanan Palani and Jayanti Kumari. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement One of biology’s biggest mysteries is how simple cells evolved into the complex cells we see in animals, plants, and fungi. Simple cells like bacteria and archaea usually have fewer parts and simpler machinery. Eukaryotic cells, on the other hand, have elaborate internal … Read more

Tobacco control laws are out of step with smokeless tobacco

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In 2017, the annual economic costs of all tobacco products for the population aged 35 years and above in India were estimated at ₹1,773.4 billion (1.04% of GDP), in addition to ₹566.7 billion (0.33% of GDP) in annual healthcare costs attributable to second-hand smoking. (These costs include “direct medical and nonmedical expenditures, indirect morbidity costs, … Read more

What are the uses of wastewater surveillance? | Explained

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Representative image | Photo Credit: The Hindu The story so far: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will initiate wastewater surveillance for 10 viruses across 50 cities over the next six months. Currently, five cities are being monitored. The move is aimed at identifying any increase in virus growth trend at the earliest, said … Read more

Indigenous clocks delay ISRO’s plans to replace defunct Navic satellites

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NVS-02 undergoing a vibration test. Photo: ISRO Officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) say they are looking to launch at least three satellites before 2026-end, to replace defunct satellites that are part of the ‘Indian GPS’ or Navic (Navigation with Indian constellation) system. However, there seems to be a key element impeding the launch … Read more

Real Money Gaming ban: India’s gaming industry without RMGs

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Of India’s 148 million gamers, 25% are paying gamers. | Photo Credit: macrovector The Parliament passed a Bill banning the advertising and operating of all kinds of real money games (RMGs) through any channel, imposing penalties and imprisonment on violators. The move has triggered praise and criticism from different players in the gaming industry.  Whether … Read more

Who gets to own the moon? India is uniquely positioned to answer

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At around 6 pm IST on August 23, 2023, the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) gently touched down on the moon. Thus, India became only the fourth country with a national space agency that had executed a controlled lunar landing. In honour of the occasion, Prime Minister … Read more

How do scientists determine the temperature of planets or stars?

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An artist’s rendering of the seven planets that orbit the star Trappist-1. | Photo Credit: NASA Astronomical temperatures are usually estimated from spectroscopic measurements. The spectroscope was invented in 1859 by two German scientists, Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff. It was first used to analyse the elements in a substance heated to incandescence. Each element … Read more

Reshaping during healing in plants

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When we cut our fingernails every so often, using a nail clipper, for convenience or in a cosmetic procedure, they grow back. Made of the protein keratin, nails offer us protection from damage. When an infant’s fingertip is amputated, but only the part beyond the last joint, it grows back to its original shape. A … Read more

The Hindu’s Science Quiz | Absurd units of measurement

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This plot between the absorbance (y-axis) and concentration of a solution illustrates the X-Lambert law. X, named August Beer, whose last name is also a popular beverage. Students often use it as a humorous measure of absorbance. Q: Radiation exposure is usually measured in sieverts, but scientists sometimes explain tiny doses in a lighter way, … Read more

What’s the issue with the way Africa is shown on maps? | Explained

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The story so far: The African Union (AU) has endorsed the ‘Correct the Map’ campaign to replace the Mercator map projection with alternatives such as the Equal Earth map. At the heart of this demand is the charge that the Mercator projection, still widely used in schools, media, and online platforms, systematically distorts the sizes … Read more

Defence Minister meets Shubhanshu Shukla, says his journey will motivate young people

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS), in New Delhi on August 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (August 21, 2025) met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to board the International Space Station (ISS), … Read more

Bihar SIR: Latest ECI data raises more questions over higher deletions among women

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A Booth Level Officer (BLO) checks documents during Special Intensive Revision at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP A granular look at deletions in the special intensive revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission (EC) in Bihar shows women electors significantly outnumbered men in … Read more

Why India needs a national space law urgently | Explained

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“A nation with a strong base in science and technology is a nation with a strong backbone” — these words of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ring truer than before as India celebrated its second National Space Day on August 23. Following Chandrayaan-3’s soft-landing near the lunar south pole to the upcoming Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan missions, the … Read more

How charge-coupled devices revolutionised digital imaging

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A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a remarkable electronic component used to capture images by converting light into electrical signals. Its invention marked a significant milestone in technology, influencing fields such as photography, astronomy, medicine, and many others. What is a CCD? At the time it was invented in 1969, the CCD was a pioneering technology … Read more

A bistable gene in a deadly bacterium offers a clue to beating it

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The French biochemist Jacques Monod (1910-1976), who won a Nobel Prize in 1965 for discovering how cells regulate the expression of genes, famously said, “What is true for Escherichia coli is true for the elephant.” He meant the same fundamental mechanisms of molecular biology, such as protein synthesis, DNA replication, and cellular metabolism, are shared … Read more

India successfully test-fires Agni-5 ballistic missile from Odisha

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A file image of Agni-5 missile | Photo Credit: ANI India on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) successfully test-fired its intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-5 from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the launch validated all operational and technical parameters and was conducted under the aegis of the … Read more

Astronomy Olympiad, held in Mumbai this year, suspends Israel from future editions

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The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education in Mumbai. | Photo Credit: KSL The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) opened in Mumbai this week, bringing together high-school science students from 64 countries. At the Olympiad’s international board meeting on August 18, representatives of the 64 participating countries voted by a significant majority to … Read more

China’s Ejiao boom kills six million donkeys a year

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According to a report published in June by a U.K.-based charity, nearly 6 million donkeys are killed every year globally to produce a traditional Chinese medicine called Ejiao. This problem of animal cruelty, according to data and reports, is fuelled by a gap between demand and supply in China. It has also led to many … Read more

Entangled clocks may reveal where quantum physics and gravity meet

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One of the deepest puzzles in modern science is how quantum mechanics and general relativity — the two great pillars of 20th century physics — fit together. Quantum mechanics governs the microscopic world of atoms and subatomic particles. General relativity describes gravity and the structure of spacetime. Both theories are stunningly successful in their domains, … Read more