In altermagnetic materials, atoms form a regular pattern with their spin and spatial orientation alternating on the neighbouring magnetic sites in the crystal. | Photo Credit: Libor Šmejkal (CC BY-SA) Some materials conduct electricity mainly with one kind of charge‑carrier everywhere: either negative electrons (n‑type) or positive ‘holes’ (p‑type). A rare class can breach this … Read more
In 2010, in the waters of Mono Lake in California, NASA-funded scientists claimed to have found a microbe called GFAJ-1 they said rewrote biology. It had allegedly replaced the phosphorus in its DNA with the toxic element arsenic. The announcement, made at a high-profile press conference on December 2 that year, stunned the world. The … Read more
Agitators being detained during a protest march by members of various student organisations over the death of a college student in Odisha | Photo Credit: Salman Ali Over the past few months, a slew of heinous crimes against women have been reported from Odisha. On Saturday, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, assaulted, and set … Read more
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley Quiz: Easy like Sunday morning | All about proteins What fibrous protein is the main structural material in many animals? START THE QUIZ 1 / 10 | … Read more
When gold is heated really quickly, it seems it remains solid at temperatures far beyond the point where it should have become liquid, a new study in Nature has found. The term for when a solid stays a solid at or beyond its melting point is superheating. Most materials can be superheated only in a … Read more
Bacteria are enclosed by protective cell walls, made from a unique substance called peptidoglycan. This material is absent in other life forms, including humans, which is why many antibiotics target it. A team of scientists led by Manjula Reddy at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, has found that bacteria sometimes make mistakes … Read more
The AIADMK is in a classic Catch-22 situation in Tamil Nadu: the party is damned if it allies with the BJP, and damned if it does not. On the one hand, to consolidate the anti-DMK votes and remain electorally competitive, the AIADMK feels compelled to ally with the BJP. This pragmatic move will prevent a … Read more
From bones to immune cells, vitamin D is everywhere, guiding growth and shaping defence. But could it also have an effect on the mind? A major new study suggests so. Published in The Lancet Psychiatry, the study drew from the extraordinary depth of Danish health data to establish whether neonatal vitamin D levels might contribute … Read more
Image for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan The researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM Pune) have developed a Smart Irrigation Plan to save 10-30% of irrigation water in drought-prone regions, combining weather forecasts, satellite soil moisture data, … Read more
‘Conducting experiments on laboratory-grown anatomical parts would also help the development of the nascent field of tissue-engineering or regenerative medicine’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto As human beings are superior to animals, and as animals instinctively rely on the benevolence, goodwill, and protective nature of man, we must fulfil our obligation to treat our fellow … Read more
HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation, as imaged by ALMA. | Photo Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. When rocky worlds like the earth began to form, dust in the young Solar System was first heated until it vaporised and then cooled so that the very … Read more
The U.S. Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon.com’s Project Kuiper and big defence contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX’s dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on … Read more
School girl of Indian ethnicity seating at corridor with laptop . Coronavirus Outbreak. Lockdown and school closures. Indian school small girl watching online education classes at home. COVID-19 pandemic forces children online learning. | Photo Credit: Umesh Negi Over the past decade, the share of private schools and the proportion of boys and girls enrolled … Read more
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data collected from September 3, 2003, to January 16, 2004. | Photo Credit: NASA, ESA A:The universe has no top, bottom or middle and no centre either. Scientists know today that the … Read more
Rubber plantations in Kerala have been under threat since a beetle-fungus alliance has been attacking trees, causing severe leaf fall and rapid drying. Researchers at the Kerala Forest Research Institute in Thrissur recently identified the parasite to be the ambrosia beetle (Euplatypus parallelus). In their new study, published in Current Science, the beetle has been … Read more
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Axiom-4 crew assisted out of the Dragon Spacecraft onto the recovery vehicle, after their return to earth from the International Space Station 18 days later, on Tuesday. Photo: Axiom Space/ YouTube Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is undergoing a week-long rehabilitation programme to mitigate any adverse effect of … Read more
After a few months of a hectic summer, the rains are here. The IIT Kanpur campus is green and nature’s colours abound once more. With monsoon, however, comes alive the age-old tradition as well: Sunday evenings of guilt-free laziness, together with the music of the rain’s patter, a Bollywood classic on the TV, and some … Read more
Earthquakes are usually natural — but not always. Sometimes some natural factors can combine with human activities to lead to earthquakes as well. Quakes induced by human activities are called human-induced earthquakes. According to one estimate researchers discussed in Seismological Research Letters in 2017, more than 700 human-induced earthquakes have been recorded around the world … Read more
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), the first joint satellite of the Indian and U.S. space agencies, will be launched by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on July 30 at 5.40 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. | Photo Credit: RAGHUNATHAN SR The … Read more
(1) At least 72 people killed and over 470 roads closed as torrential rains ravage Himachal Since the onset of the monsoon on June 20, 72 people have died and 34 have gone missing in rain-related incidents across Himachal Pradesh. Of the 471 affected roads, the maximum (310) were in disaster-hit Mandi district, while 1,199 … Read more
Daily Quiz | On the first moon landing ‘Armalcolite’, a portmanteau word made from the names of Astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, is a moon rock brought back by the Apollo XI crew. Photo: Wikimedia Commons START THE QUIZ 1 / 7 | Easy one to begin with. What was the mission called, and what … Read more
After two weeks of negotiations, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is still far from finalising rules for extracting coveted metals on the high seas despite heightened pressure triggered by US efforts to fast-track the controversial practice. Following a meeting in March and the current session in Jamaica, the 36 members of the ISA’s executive council … Read more
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan taking part in the convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing in Kurnool on Sunday. | Photo Credit: U SUBRAMANYAM Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V. Narayanan has announced that India will establish its own space station by 2035 and will send an astronaut to the moon … Read more
After a long day at work, it’s easier to flop on the couch than hit the gym. Scrolling over social media wins over reading a book. Our exhausted brains favour easier tasks, even if — according to a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience — those tasks offer fewer benefits. Even sedentary work can … Read more
In a significant breakthrough in the study of limbless locomotion, an international team of scientists has documented and modelled a previously unrecorded escape movement used by newborn yellow anacondas. Dubbed the ‘S-start’, the motion represents a novel, non-planar locomotion that the snakes employ briefly to flee from perceived threats. The discovery opens new avenues in … Read more
Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu India will be able to address the apprehensions of the private sector globally about investments in the civil nuclear sector, which was opened up to achieve the ambitious target of producing 100 GW of atomic power by 2047, Union Minister Jitendra Singh … Read more
An aircraft passes in front of the moon, with a red glow attributable to smoke particles in the upper atmosphere from North American wildfires, a day ahead of the full super moon, August 18, 2024. | Photo Credit: Reuters A: International Moon Day is celebrated every year on July 20 to commemorate humankind’s first landing … Read more
Proteins aren’t rigid sculptures. They twist, flex, and sometimes unravel — movements essential to understanding their function. Some proteins, like enzymes, open like clamshells to grab molecules. Others such as signalling proteins shift shape to control cell processes. Still others briefly reveal hidden gaps where drugs can bind. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools like AlphaFold have … Read more
Dr Aviru Basu’s research group. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) in Mohali, IIT-Dharwad, and IIT-Kharagpur have designed a cheap, reusable water filter. Industrial plants release dyes such as Congo Red and Methylene Blue into rivers and groundwater, from where they can cause stomach, skin, and … Read more
Microscopic image of cross-sectional calf muscle from a person with Duchenne muscular dystrophy showing extensive replacement of muscle fibres by fat cells. | Photo Credit: US CDC About 10,000 rare diseases have thus far been identified in the world, and new ones are discovered every now and then. Some 80% of these conditions are genetic … Read more