In 1959, the American biochemist Walter Kauzmann proposed a radical solution to the problem of protein structure. At the time, it was unclear how proteins, the workhorses of the cell, fold into their unique three-dimensional forms. Every protein is made up of a set of 20 amino acids, rather like beads on a string. The … Read more
Tech talk The Discoverer 13 was an Earth-orbiting satellite designed to test a number of aspects. Bear in mind that this was in 1960, the early years of the Space Age. Among other things, the Discoverer 13 was designed to test engineering techniques and to attempt deceleration and reentry through the atmosphere. If the deceleration … Read more
Elevators include components such as hydraulic lifting motors, ventilation pumps, and control panels that together demand a balanced power supply. | Photo Credit: Sung Jin Cho/Unsplash Because elevators are critical systems, downtime is expensive and dangerous. To avoid this, elevators need three-phase electrical power to meet its high power demand without compromising their reliability. Elevators … Read more
A fishing cat among mangroves in the Godavari river at night, 2018. | Photo Credit: Srichakra Pranav (CC BY-SA) In the wild, India has 15 species belonging to the cat family. Much attention has been given to our large cats, the lions and tigers. Not much is known of the smaller wild cats – the … Read more
James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died pn Thursday (August 7, 2025) in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. “Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon … Read more
U.S. President Donald Trump. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers. U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money … Read more
A blockbuster study published in top science journal Nature last year warned that unchecked climate change could slash global GDP by a staggering 62 percent by century’s end, setting off alarm bells among financial institutions worldwide. But a re-analysis by Stanford University researchers in California, released Wednesday (August 6, 2025), challenges that conclusion — finding … Read more
“Italy is going to Mars!” Italian Space Agency president Teodoro Valente said on X [File] | Photo Credit: AP Elon Musk’s SpaceX has agreed to carry Italian experiments on its Starship megarocket during planned future missions to Mars, according to a new deal announced on Thursday. “Italy is going to Mars!” Italian Space Agency president … Read more
Migrant workers walk along a railway track to return to their home state of eastern Bihar, during an extended nationwide lockdown in 2020. | Photo Credit: ADNAN ABIDI An analysis of Bihar’s draft electoral rolls released on August 1, prepared after the completion of the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, shows that more women than … Read more
ISRO/NRSC used Cartosat-2S data to assess the devastating Aug 5 flash flood in Dharali & Harsil, Uttarakhand. Source: X/isro The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) National Remote Sensing Centre has done a “rapid assessment” of the damage caused by the flash floods in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand using very high-resolution images from the Cartosat-2S satellite. … Read more
How does your body protect itself? How does the immune system fight threats? And how much do you know about this process? Take this quiz and find out. Science Quiz: On the immune system 1 / 6 | A number of organs and cells make up your body’s immune system. What are the small, bean-shaped … Read more
India suffered a substantial net loss in forest cover between 2015 and 2019, revealed a new study conducted by researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and SASTRA Deemed University. The study said that for every 1 square kilometre of forest gained during the four-year period, the country lost nearly 18 square kilometres—an alarming … Read more
A blockbuster study published in top science journal Nature last year warned that unchecked climate change could slash global GDP by a staggering 62 percent by century’s end, setting off alarm bells among financial institutions worldwide. But a re-analysis by Stanford University researchers in California, released Wednesday (August 6, 2025), challenges that conclusion — finding … Read more
A general view of a cogeneration plant in Schwerin, Germany. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Germany’s Cabinet approved a draft law on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) aimed at fast-tracking the rollout of geothermal energy projects, as part of its goal to eliminate fossil fuel-based heating by 2045. Interest in geothermal energy has surged since Russia’s … Read more
U.S. President Donald Trump. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers. U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money … Read more
The Great Barrier Reef has experienced its greatest annual loss of live coral across most of its expanse in four decades of record-keeping, Australian authorities say. Also Read | Australia’s Great Barrier Reef off UNESCO danger list, still under ‘serious threat’ But due to increasing coral cover since 2017, the coral deaths — caused mainly … Read more
As per the draft roll published on Friday, the number of voters in Bihar had dropped by 56 lakh. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP On August 1, the draft electoral rolls for Bihar, following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, were released. A total of 7.24 crore electors are part of … Read more
When Rajula Srivastava was first notified about a prestigious prize, she was quick to dismiss it. All she got was a cryptic email from the personal email address of mathematician Terence Tao asking if she was free for a chat. Tao, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, is widely considered one of … Read more
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and others during book launch of “The Man Who Fed India” by Priyambada Jayakumar, a book that offers a detailed work of M.S. Swaminathan, on the occasion of his birth centenary, at India International Centre in New … Read more
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), through the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), conducted field surveys along India’s coastline between 2022 and 2025 to assess microplastic and marine debris levels. Image for representation. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The major sources of ‘microplastic’ pollution along India’s coasts are “riverine inputs” and abandoned, lost, and … Read more
U.S President Donald Trump upped the ante on tariff pressure on India, by saying that he would raise it more than the 25% already imposed on imports from a country which is now seen as a major U.S. ally. He specifically cited India’s high dependence on Russia for cheap crude imports as a major reason … Read more
Representative image. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K./The Hindu Conflicts lurk inside every flower with multiple seeds. The embryos jostle for food, the maternal and paternal genomes bargain over control, and pollen grains compete to be fertilised. Scientists have therefore wondered whether natural selection encourages one-parent broods that keep such quarrels to a minimum and, … Read more
Teak defoliator larva (Hyblaea puera) killed using HpNPV | Photo Credit: special arrangement A revolutionary technology developed by the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) can transform the way teak plantations are protected from their most notorious pest – the teak defoliator moth (Hyblaea puera). The institute has successfully identified, mass-produced and patented a naturally occurring … Read more
Some events are etched so deeply in history that each time we recall them, we pause with a sigh. It’s as though we’re watching a silent film, one that aches, teaches, and lingers. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is one such moment. As time passes, the memory of what happened on those two days … Read more
(1) U.S. slaps 25% tariffs on Indian imports U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariff rates for imports into the U.S. from countries across the world on August 1, 2025 after a 90-day pause ended. On Indian imports, Mr. Trump announced a 25% tariff. He pointed to India’s trade with Russia in oil and military equipment, … Read more
A meticulous new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 4 has warned that systematic scientific fraud is no longer a fringe concern but a pervasive, organised, and rapidly growing threat that jeopardises the foundations of research worldwide. The study has revealed a fine-grained break-up of the actors, methods, … Read more
The latest World Bank report has commended India for pulling 171 million people out of poverty. Using the formulation of $2.15 a day as the poverty line, it has said that extreme poverty fell from 16.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23. However, how has the consumption basket of India changed? The Household Consumption Expenditure … Read more
In September 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that American and British intelligence agencies had successfully cracked much of the online encryption internet users used to keep their personal data private. Snowden’s solution appeared ironic to many: to adopt end-to-end encryption en masse, rendering mass surveillance prohibitively expensive and cumbersome. In end-to-end encryption, an algorithm converts … Read more
A parachute lets you float in the sky, gazing at the vast lands below, before gently landing back on your feet. For adventure lovers, it’s an adrenaline rush and a moment to cherish forever. The purpose: Slow and steady A parachute’s main purpose is simple but life-saving: it slows you down in mid-air. When someone … Read more
A SpaceX Falcon Nine rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A carrying NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., August 1, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters Seeds of seabuckthorn and buckwheat grown in the cold desert of Ladakh are part of the experiments on board the International Space Station … Read more