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
The United States’ involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict has sparked concerns of an escalating regional conflict in West Asia. However, the U.S.’s stance isn’t new. Data shows that it has supported Israel’s offensive acts steadfastly amid calls for ceasefires and even when the latter was accused of war crimes. Only last year, the International Criminal … Read more
Is the Centre financially squeezing the States? The question arises as the Union government has been increasingly sharing less revenue with the States at a time when the ability of the States to generate revenue has weakened and their borrowing capacity curtailed. In 1962, several States complained to the Third Finance Commission (FCIII) about a … Read more
From sugar plantations in Brazil to tea estates in India, crushed rock is being sprinkled across large stretches of farmland globally in a novel bid to combat climate change. The technique is called enhanced rock weathering (ERW) and aims to speed up the natural capture and storage of carbon dioxide — a planet-warming greenhouse gas. … Read more
Dark clouds loomed over the skies of Palakkad, Kerala. | Photo Credit: K K Mustafah The summer kicks in and sets in hard, with the scorching sun right above us. Then we wait — eyes on the skies, hoping for the first splash of rain. And where does it fall first? On the lush, green … Read more
People find different escapes from their busy lives. For some, it’s a walk in the park. For others, it’s a quiet moment with trees rustling overhead, birds calling in the distance, and the earthy scent of soil after rain. A calm environment with nothing but nature, fresh air, and the rhythm of birdsong has a … Read more
This photo provided by Axiom Space shows Shubhanshu Shukla from India, Peggy Whitson from the U.S., Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. | Photo Credit: AP Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station is now eyeing a launch on June 25, NASA announced on Tuesday (June 24, 2025). … Read more
The researchers built a real mattress with flexible plastic panels joined by thin metal strips. Representative image. | Photo Credit: Hush Naidoo Jade/Unsplash Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, happen when the same spots on a person’s skin are squashed for too long, cutting off blood flow and killing tissue. Today’s alternating-pressure mattresses try to … Read more
It was the clash of two intellectual titans that left behind a trail of ambiguity on the scientific and philosophical landscapes of the 20th century. It muddied the waters more than it helped clear the air surrounding the discourse about the nature and meaning of something they disagreed on: time. Both suffered blows. Albert Einstein … Read more
The year 2024 was the warmest year on record in Asia, with widespread and prolonged heatwaves, the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report states. In 2024, heatwaves gripped a record area of the ocean, the report said. The global mean temperature in 2024 was the highest on record for … Read more
The newly discovered gecko species | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement A new species of gecko, believed to be present only around Coonoor, has been discovered in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. Published in ‘Bionimina’, Dravidogecko coonoor is the formal name of the “…distinct population of Dravidogecko in Coonoor Hills of the Upper Nilgiris, Western Ghats, … Read more
Traditional livestock production systems have severe environmental consequences, including high greenhouse gas emissions, extensive land and water use, and risk of fostering antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Together with the steadily rising demand for nutrition, global and regional food systems have been exploring alternative ways to sustainably maintain their supply chains. Insect-based feed has emerged as one … Read more
India could be technologically capable of “quantum communication” using satellites in the “next half a decade” Professor Bhaskar Kanseri of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, whose team recently reported an instance of quantum key distribution one kilometre apart — the farthest such transmission in India, without any connecting cables — told The Hindu in … Read more
Close-up view of air bubbles in a variety of shapes frozen inside a mass of ice. | Photo Credit: Dominic Bazinet/Unsplash For as long as humans have lived, they’ve found ways to store information for others to find. Cave paintings were perhaps the first examples, followed later by messages in bottles, semaphore, books, persistent URLs, … Read more
Charon’s discovery The story of Charon’s discovery takes us back to 1978 – a time when even astronomers were still thinking that Pluto was a planet. Little was known about Pluto and its system, but all that was about to change in the decades that followed. On the morning of June 22, American astronomer … Read more
By the time Nishant Narayanasamy joined Shashi Thutupalli’s lab at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru in 2019, the lab had a new guest: a yeast colony that had seemingly grown way beyond its expected size. The snowflake yeast had been shipped from William Ratcliff’s laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology … Read more
A farmer works at a maize field in a village bordering Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, April 20, 2025. | Photo Credit: G.N. Rao/The Hindu For every 1º C rise in average temperature worldwide, the per person availability of calories will fall 4% of what’s recommended by 2100. Most major staple crops, including rice, wheat, sorghum, maize, and … Read more
The conditions required for a clear ENSO signal only emerge in early summer, so forecasts before then quickly lose value. | Photo Credit: Joshua Eckl/Unsplash A: The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate phenomenon with three phases: warm, cool, and neutral. Depending on the phase in a year, ENSO affects the climate in … Read more
