ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) said the space agency has been working on a rocket as high as a 40-storey building to place a 75,000 kg payload in low earth orbit. Delivering the convocation address of Osmania University in Hyderabad, Mr. Narayanan said this year, the space agency has lined … Read more
Long Hanging Fruits, an installation by Indonesian artist Elia Nurvista about the palm oil industry | Photo Credit: Special arrangement In the 1820s, French scientist Nicolas Clément introduced the term calorie. In the two centuries since, human beings’ and society’s relationship with food has changed drastically. Today the study of food is a complex subject that … Read more
A comprehensive three-day faunal survey at Thettekad Bird Sanctuary, near Kothamangalam in Ernakulam, Kerala, has added nine species records to its official biodiversity checklist. The findings at Kerala’s first bird sanctuary has reaffirmed its position as one of the richest ecological zones in the Western Ghats. Organised jointly by the Kerala Forest department and Thiruvananthapuram-based … Read more
In this image via PMO, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, at his residence in New Delhi, on August 18, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that there is a lot of interest about India’s Gaganyaan mission around the world and scientists were … Read more
There is nothing like a refreshing bath after a sweaty workout or a hard day outside. The feeling of freshness and the pleasant odour after the bath is the contribution of the ubiquitous soap. In ancient India, soap nuts were crushed and used to clean, as were the bark of certain trees and specific flowers … Read more
When we think of snakes, we often picture their iconic slithering, graceful, wave-like motion — a biological marvel that seems to defy friction and has fascinated zoologists for decades. That’s not the only move these elongated, limbless creatures have mastered. They are also known to climb trees, glide through the air, and navigate uneven terrain … Read more
Aerosols emitted in north India not only increase the pollution levels in that region, but due to anticyclonic wind circulation the emitted aerosols get transported towards the southeast coast of India and Bay of Bengal. The regional transport of aerosols from north India to southeast coastal India occurs for two to four days at a … Read more
An Indian astronaut will herald Viksit Bharat by landing on the moon in 2040, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday (August 18, 2025) as the Lok Sabha took up the discussion on astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s space sojourn. Initiating a discussion on ‘India’s first astronaut aboard the International Space Station — Critical role of the … Read more
(1) Plea for SC/ST ‘creamy layer’ in Supreme Court The Supreme Court sent a notice to the Centre after it received a plea calling for the establishment of a creamy layer system in SC/ST reservations, similar to that seen within the OBC. Currently, a creamy layer is recognised for SCs and STs only in promotions … Read more
Science Quiz: Domesticating and breeding dogs The Soviet scientist Dmitry Belyaev led a decades-long experiment to breed Silver foxes (shown) for tameness. His work proved that selecting for friendliness towards humans could rapidly produce both behavioural and physical changes. START THE QUIZ 1 / 5 | Archaeological evidence has shown that this prehistoric culture in … Read more
The recent auction of a Martian meteorite — for a record-grabbing $5.3 million at Sotheby’s New York — has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens. The hefty 25-kilogram stone is the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on the earth, according to its Sotheby’s … Read more
The first space race was about flags and footprints. Now, decades later, landing on the Moon is old news. The new race is to build there, and doing so hinges on power. In April 2025, China reportedly unveiled plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2035. This plant would support its … Read more
In 2021, the Government of India had said it will move to 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025 with the two-pronged goal of cutting carbon emissions and reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil. While vehicles modified to be compatible with the new composition started rolling out in April 2025, the government’s push for … Read more
For almost two centuries, biologists have divided the earth into large biogeographical regions. Each region hosts a unique mix of species shaped by its own history, climate, and barriers, such as oceans and mountains. Because those histories differ, many scientists assumed the inner layout of species inside every region would be idiosyncratic — that South … Read more
Many anaesthetics enhance the production of GABA, the brain’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter. | Photo Credit: Mufid Majnun/Unsplash General anaesthesia is a medically induced state that allows doctors to perform surgeries without the patient having pain, awareness or memory. It achieves this by inducing a loss of consciousness, relaxing muscles, and producing amnesia. Anaesthesiologists typically begin … Read more
Israeli soldiers exit a tunnel underneath the European Hospital at Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on June 5, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters In an article published in the journal BMJ Global Health on August 5, researchers from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon coined a new word: healthocide. The authors wrote that … Read more
Rice is the staple food for over half of the world’s population. Before a rice grain can be made edible, the outermost layer of husk covering it has to be removed. Often the next layer, called the bran, is also removed to whiten the rice. Traditionally, these layers have been removed by pounding the paddy … Read more
A scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli bacteria. | Photo Credit: US CDC In a step towards building cheap and programmable bioelectronic devices, Imperial College London and Zhejiang University researchers have shown in a new study that genetically engineered bacteria can be turned into self-powered chemical sensors that interface directly with electronics. According to the … Read more
The anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries respectively supply the yellow, red, and blue parts of the brain. | Photo Credit: Frank Gaillard, Patrick J. Lynch The brain is a guzzler, burning through about a fifth of our resting energy and keeping almost nothing in reserve. When a few thousand neurons suddenly burst into activity … Read more
The new palm species Phoenix roxburghii | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A palm originally described in the monumental 17th-century botanical treatise Hortus Malabaricus continues to fascinate botanists more than three centuries later, leading to the discovery of a new species and the reclassification of existing ones. Recent studies on the palm, named Katou-Indel in the … Read more
representational image only | Photo Credit: AP In a remarkable addition to Kerala’s biodiversity records, researchers from the Shadpada Entomology Research Lab at Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, have identified nine species of solitary bees from the subfamily Nomiinae (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) – all documented for the first time in Kerala. Unlike the social honeybees that … Read more
Palestinians pray over the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City’s Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. | Photo Credit: Jehad Alshrafi/AP An Israeli strike on Al Jazeera staff in a tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in … Read more
Every monsoon, a quiet menace surges across India’s waterways, turning glistening rivers, backwaters and lakes into green deserts. This threat is the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), an innocuous-looking aquatic plant which has delicate lilac flowers that belies its destructive power. Nowhere is its impact more pervasive than in Kerala — a State renowned for its … Read more
Image used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: The Hindu First made-in-India semiconductor chip will be launched in the market by the end of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday (August 15, 2025). Independence Day LIVE Addressing the nation on the 79th Independence Day, Mr. Modi said that six semiconductor units … Read more
The model of Gaganyaan crew module, spacecraft that will carry a crew of three astronauts into orbit and back to Earth. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu India is working towards becoming self-reliant in the space sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday (August 15, 2025). “The nation is proud of our space sector, … Read more
A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip, the country’s security cabinet, on August 8, approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. Israel then stepped up its bombardment. While Israel continues to pound one of Palestine’s non-contiguous regions — Gaza — and … Read more
Since Independence, India has drawn on science and technology as key pillars of the nation-building process. The vision of its first leaders, but especially Jawaharlal Nehru, was to foster a rational temper among the populace, empowering citizens not only to adopt technological advancements but also to imbue everyday life and national development with evidence-based reasoning … Read more
Since Independence, India has drawn on science and technology as key pillars of the nation-building process. The vision of its first leaders, but especially Jawaharlal Nehru, was to foster a rational temper among the populace, empowering citizens not only to adopt technological advancements but also to imbue everyday life and national development with evidence-based reasoning … Read more
This article forms a part of the Data Point newsletter curated by The Hindu’s Data team. To get the newsletter in your inbox, subscribe here Welcome back, data enthusiasts! On August 11, the Supreme Court issued a directive asking for all stray dogs in Delhi to immediately be captured and put into shelters. The SC on … Read more