This picture released by the Schmidt Ocean Institute on September 14, 2023, shows a Grimalditeuthis near Ecuador’s Galapagos archipelago. These squid were only observed alive in the wild for the first time in 2005. | Photo Credit: AFP Squids are some of the smartest and most agile animals in today’s oceans, but their evolutionary history … Read more
From Instagram reels to supermarket shelves, kombucha — the fizzy, fermented tea drink — has found a growing audience among health-conscious consumers in India. Promoted as a probiotic powerhouse, it’s touted for its supposed benefits to digestion, immunity, and metabolism. According to one estimate provided by Indian company Sbooch, the kombucha market in India grew … Read more
This image made from video shows Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H2A rocket in Tobishima, Japan, Sept. 25, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP Japan on Sunday (June 29, 2025) successfully launched a climate change monitoring satellite on its mainstay H-2A rocket, which made its final flight before it is replaced by a new flagship designed to be … Read more
Former foes cooperate Fuelled by the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the space race saw the two nations compete to achieve superior spaceflight capability. The end of the Cold War, however, saw the Soviet Union collapse and form independent nations, including Russia, which had been at its core. Less than … Read more
An elephant is seen on wayside of the Chandaka Elephant sanctuary just outskirts of Bhubaneswar. File photo | Photo Credit: The Hindu Odisha would lose about 390 sq km of area used by migrating elephants as foraging ground and corridor in one district on account of massive coal mining alone in Angul district, says a … Read more
Cramps can hurt for a few seconds to several minutes. | Photo Credit: Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Unsplash A: A cramp is a sudden, involuntary tightening of a muscle or a group of muscles that a person can’t immediately relax. Because the muscle locks up all at once, it often feels like a sharp knot and can hurt … Read more
The health and wellbeing of adolescents across the world has reached a tipping point, a Lancet Commission report has found, with focus on obesity, overweight, and mental disorders as significant causes for concern. Developed by 44 Commissioners across geographies and disciplines with inputs from 10 youth Commissioners, the report projects that in 2030, 42 million … Read more
India is the world’s largest groundwater guzzler. It extracted around 245 billion cubic metres (BCM) for irrigating cropland alone in 2011 – about 25% of the world’s groundwater consumption. More recently, as of 2023, the annual groundwater recharge was around 449 BCM while the extraction rate was 241 BCM, meaning India is drawing roughly 60% … Read more
The story so far: A major new investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published by The Hindu has revealed that cancer drugs shipped around the world to more than 100 countries have failed quality tests. But what are these drugs and how are they used? Cancer is a disease characterised by uncontrolled cell growth. … Read more
Deaths due to liver diseases have been rising steadily in India. While this trend has been evident for some time, three patterns — across sex, age, and States — may offer some clues as to why. Diseases of the digestive system, with liver diseases accounting for a substantial share, was the eighth leading cause of … Read more
What the AXIOM-4 Mission aims to achieve at the International Space Station India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts entered the International Space Station to warm hugs from the crew members of the orbital laboratory on Thursday. The space station crew welcomed Axiom-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson as she floated into the station soon after … Read more
Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla with Crewmates — veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson (U.S.) as commander, Polish engineer Sławosz Uznański, and Hungarian researcher Tibor Kapu — during the welcome ceremony aboard the International Space Station on June 26, 2025. | Photo Credit: X/@Axiom_Space via ANI India’s Shubhanshu Shukla became the 634th astronaut to travel … Read more
IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla carrying a soft toy swan during an in-flight update onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, on June 26, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI A new ‘crew’ member of the Axiom-4 mission — a toy swan named Joy — was seen floating in the Dragon spacecraft as astronauts interacted with the mission control … Read more
Daily Quiz | On Charles Messier’s objects 1 / 5 | How many objects are there in the Messier catalogue? 2 / 5 | Messier objects are classified as what? 3 / 5 | M45 is an asterism seen in the constellation Taurus. What is its more common name? 4 / 5 | Which constellation … Read more
Dragon SpaceX spacecraft was successfully docked at the International Space Station on June 26, 2025. Videograb: Youtube/NASA Dragon spacecraft carrying Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts achieved soft capture with International Space Station on Thursday (June 26, 2025) Soft capture of the Dragon spacecraft took place when the Space Station was passing over north Atlantic … Read more
At 12.01 pm IST on June 25, a crew capsule containing four astronauts, including India’s Group Capt. Shubhanshu Shukla on his first spaceflight, lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s spaceport in Florida. The lift-off marked the start of the long-awaited Axiom-4 mission. The launch was smooth. By the time the rocket’s two … Read more
Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla with three of his crewmates — veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson (US) as commander, Polish engineer Sławosz Uznański, and Hungarian researcher Tibor Kapu onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft after Dragon has separated from Falcon 9’s second stage. Photo: X/@SpaceX X/ANI Photo Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on Thursday (June 26, 2025) said … Read more
Image used for representation | Photo Credit: Luisa Gonzalez (This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found a way to make a classic lab reaction, called the Lossen rearrangement, happen … Read more
Astronaut Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to journey into space in 1984, said that space travel alters the mindset of humans, making them see the world from a perspective where “this planet belongs to everyone” and is not the sole preserve of anyone. He shared his thoughts in a recorded podcast shared by the Ministry … Read more
Rapidly increasing heat due to climate change and the concomitant reduction in green cover have together significantly affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in tropical countries. These effects are more pronounced in rapidly urbanising cities. India’s cities are setting new temperature records with each passing year. In a study published recently in … Read more
Vital chemotherapy drugs used around the world have failed quality tests, leaving cancer patients in more than 100 countries at risk of ineffective treatments and potentially fatal side effects, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) can reveal. The drugs in question form the backbone of treatment plans for numerous common cancers – including breast, ovarian … Read more
The Axiom-4 crew, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary, Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., and Mission Specialist Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, take a selfie before their mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., on June 24, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters After a textbook launch … Read more
Parents, relatives of IAF Group Captain and astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla celebrate as Axiom 4 Mission lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, U.S., in Lucknow on June 25, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI Amid cheers and shrieks of joy, the crowd at the City Montessori School in Lucknow, the alma mater of Group … Read more
“Kya kamaal ki ride thi (what an amazing ride),” India’s astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla remarked as SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft entered the orbit around the earth within 10 minutes of launch from NASA’s spaceport in Florida. Group Captain Shukla, who became the second Indian to travel to space, spoke in chaste Hindi to announce India’s return to … Read more
Climate change appears to be making some of Switzerland’s vaunted glaciers look like Swiss cheese: full of holes. Matthias Huss of the glacier monitoring group GLAMOS offered a glimpse of the Rhone Glacier, which feeds the eponymous river that flows through Switzerland and France to the Mediterranean, shared the observation with The Associated Press this … Read more
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others aboard the Dragon spacecraft ahead of the launch of the Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station, at the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, USA. (X/@Axiom_Space) Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space … Read more
For representative purposes. | Photo Credit: iStockphoto On June 14, the results of the NEET-UG, India’s most competitive medical entrance examination, were declared. Among over 22 lakh candidates, Mahesh Kumar, a student from Rajasthan, stood out with a score of 686 out of 720. Yet, his percentile was reported not as 100 but as 99.9999547. … Read more
Candida tropicalis is an important fungal pathogen in India and many parts of the world. Its infections are associated with a mortality rate of 55-60%. Anti-fungal drugs called azoles, such as fluconazole and voriconazole, are used to treat its infections. But there is a growing concern in medical circles that clinics are seeing an increasing … Read more
A new global index has been launched to assess how 25 countries perform across five technology sectors: AI, biotechnology, semiconductors, space, and quantum. India lags significantly behind the top three — U.S., China, and Europe — across most technology sectors. Developed using public and commercial data, the Critical and Emerging Technologies Index allows policymakers to … Read more
Axiom Mission 4 crew, from left to right, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. File. Photo: @NASASpaceOps via PTI After multiple delays, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others are all set to travel … Read more