“You might think some of these are AI-generated or a different animal species but I want you to tell me if these are bats,” Rohit Chakravarty, asks a room of full people sipping wine, cocktails and beers. He proceeded to show a series of pictures featuring tiny wrinkly faces, lopsided heads and creatures that frankly … Read more
Over-speeding remains top cause of death in road accidents, according to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives Over 1.7 lakh people died in road accidents in 2023, the highest since 2005, according to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. … Read more
A comprehensive analysis of the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Assembly part-wise list of over 65 lakh deleted electors in Bihar reveals multiple anomalies. The patterns suggest potentially problematic issues that demand deeper investigation. Our analysis of the deleted voter data reveals eight distinct categories of anomalies. The ECI has provided the information of deleted … Read more
Something unusual has been going on in the wild. Many members of the largest species of dolphins, commonly called killer whales (Orcinus orca), have been found sharing freshly killed prey with humans. And they don’t just offer their prey: the dolphins have waited for the humans to respond. In a new study reported in the … Read more
Rising seas are a major consequence of global warming, with many implications for low-lying coastal areas. Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to their environment, are also particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in sea level. When the sea level rises, sunlight may no longer penetrate the water to reach a coral reef that it could reach … Read more
A labelled diagram of the human pelvis. | Photo Credit: Public domain Walking on two legs is the single most distinctive trait that separates humans from other primates. Unlike apes, our pelvis is short, broad, and bowl-shaped, and thus stable for walking upright while supporting internal organs and holding space to deliver large-headed infants. For … Read more
The Jinshajiang River ravine in Yunnan province in China, November 2018. | Photo Credit: Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA) A range of natural and human-induced factors have caused declines in the flows of at least 70% of hydrological stations in China, the most comprehensive analysis of this kind attempted in the country has found. Changes in … Read more
Plastic is cheap, versatile, and used almost everywhere, from packaging and textiles to medical supplies. But unlike natural materials, plastic doesn’t simply decay; instead, it breaks down into smaller fragments called microplastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics (<1 µm). These particles persist for decades or longer, accumulate in water bodies, and attract other pollutants like heavy … Read more
Picture shows Gaumukh, snout of the Gangotri glacier, surrounded by the Bhagirathi peaks of Garhwal Himalayas, at an altitude of over 4255 metres. | Photo Credit: Vidya Venkat The story so far: A recent study has reconstructed the long-term discharge flow of the Gangotri Glacier System (GGS), the source of the upper Ganga basin which … Read more
Life as a Dream Born on March 14, 1854 at Strehlen, Germany (now Strzelin, Poland), Paul Ehrlich was the son of Ismar Ehrlich and his wife Rosa Weigert. Educated at the gymnasium at Breslau, he went on to study at the Universities of Breslau, Strassburg, Freiburg-im-Breisgau and Leipzig. With a dissertation on the theory and … Read more
The Starship megarocket lifts off on its 10th test flight from the SpaceX Starbase in Texas, August 26, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP On a humid Texas evening on August 26, after many weather delays and ground system hiccups, the world’s largest rocket finally rose from its pad as part of Flight 10. The 379-feet-tall … Read more
People walk at Marine Drive as dark clouds hover in the sky, Mumbai, August 20, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI A: A cloud is not a big pool of liquid water but consists of minuscule droplets (~10 microns each) and sometimes ice crystals. These particles are so small and light that they are easily suspended … Read more
Odonatologists have reconfirmed the presence of the elusive dragonfly species, Crocothemis erythraea, in the high-elevation regions of the southern Western Ghats. The species had previously been misidentified or overlooked in this region due to its close resemblance to the more widespread lowland species, Crocothemis servilia. The genus Crocothemis in India includes two known species—C. servilia … Read more
The DBT, which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), has been running the Biocare programme since 2011. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Almost five months after being selected for the DBT Biocare programme, an initiative by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to encourage women scientists, none of the 75 chosen candidates has received … Read more
A protest in Berlin in solidarity with the children of Gaza | Photo Credit: NADJA WOHLLEBEN In a post on X criticising the Dutch Foreign Minister, Caspar Veldkamp, who resigned after failing to secure new sanctions against Israel over the war in Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote, “Europe must choose: Israel or Hamas. … Read more
IN-SPACe said the transfer is aimed at enabling wider applications of space technologies in sectors such as automotive, biomedical, and industrial manufacturing. | Photo Credit: REUTERS The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) has facilitated the transfer of five technologies developed by ISRO to five Indian companies. IN-SPACe which is the single window … Read more
Five ISRO technologies transferred to private companies
International Space Station (image used for representation) (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!) Wherever humans go, they need oxygen to breathe — and soon enough humans are going to go to new parts of space and … Read more
CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology scientists have discovered a novel method to accelerate tissue repair and regeneration. This discovery opens a new frontier in cell biology, with significant implications for regenerative medicine and cancer biology. Led by Santosh Chauhan, the scientists showed that cells have a built-in way to revive from the brink of … Read more
Jana Ayad, a malnourished Palestinian girl, during treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital, in Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, June 2024. (File photo) | Photo Credit: Mohammed Salem A. On August 22, 2025, the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that conditions in Gaza Governorate, including Gaza City, … Read more
When the Delhi High Court ordered internet service providers to block access to Sci-Hub and its mirrors, it closed a chapter in one of the more fraught debates in contemporary research: who gets to read research papers, and who must pay. The verdict followed years of litigation by Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society … Read more
Journalists have an unending stream of stories to tell. Nicholas Nugent, who switched off his audio suite in the BBC as a broadcast journalist in 1999, continues to enthral listeners (in small conversations) and readers (of his seven books and the once-in-a-while newspaper column). Not with the “when-I-was-there” genre, however. In his elegant country house, … Read more
First contact: K.N. Viswanathan | Anmol Agrawal | Tamal Biswas | Harilakshmi M. Physics of staying airborne When the engines of this aeroplane were removed, heavy winds were able to tilt it backwards. This is because the centre of gravity in its body shifted to the rear. START THE QUIZ 1 / 5 | The … Read more
Proceedings of the Lok Sabha are underway during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday. | Photo Credit: ANI An analysis of MPs and MLAs across India shows that 31% of MPs and 29% of MLAs have declared serious criminal charges against them. As the analysis was conducted immediately after the most … Read more
A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 10th test flight at the company’s launch pad in Starbase, Texas, U.S., on August 26, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters SpaceX launched the latest test of its mega rocket Starship on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) night and completed the first-ever deployment of … Read more
A landmark study by Indian researchers has not only found evidence of cells recovering from the near-death stage but has also found the molecular mechanism that drives the recovery process, the opposite of programmed cell death. Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad, call the survival mechanism that they uncovered as … Read more
When an animal learns to navigate a new environment, certain brain cells begin responding at specific locations. These neurons have long been seen as key to how spatial memories form. Once a memory is established, it’s often assumed to be stable. But a new study in Nature Neuroscience has challenged that view. Researchers tracked more … Read more
When the court lights flicker on at the U.S. Open, tennis stars shine under illumination designed to cut light pollution. The wedge-shaped lamps around the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows direct light onto the players without spewing it into the surrounding skies. The stadium complex is the only professional sports … Read more
(1) Parliament bans all real-money games The Rajya Sabha passed a Bill that banned the advertisement and operation of all games where money is used for betting, regardless of whether it was skill-based or chance-based, on Thursday (August 21, 2025). The Bill came after reports of suicides in the country of people who had taken … Read more
Watch: Did you know 40 per cent of Australia’s energy comes from solar power?