Cloudy weather delays SpaceX Starship’s latest launch to overcome testing troubles

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX postponed the 10th launch of its Starship rocket due to cloudy weather in Texas on Monday (August 25, 2025), another slight delay in its efforts to overcome development setbacks and achieve several long-sought milestones essential to the Mars rocket system’s reusable design. The 71-metres tall Super Heavy booster and its 52-metres tall … Read more

IIT Bombay researchers use microbes to unlock nature’s hidden rules  

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Prof. Supreet Saini’s research group at IIT-Bombay uses microbes to understand what makes evolution unpredictable and deterministic at the same time. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement In a breakthrough that sheds new light on one of biology’s most puzzling questions, researchers at IIT-Bombay have shown that subtle differences in how nutrients are presented can push … Read more

Air-drop test success a big step in Gaganyaan mission: ISRO scientist

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A. Rajarajan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, displays a scale model of the crew module for the Gaganyaan programme on August 25, 2025. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-01) conducted successfully at Sriharikota on Sunday (August 24, 2025) marks an important step for Gaganyaan, India’s keenly watched programme for … Read more

IIA and French team develop new method to compute more realistic properties of stellar atmospheres

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The new method developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, France, is said to open the door to more realistic simulations of stellar spectra. A researcher from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), working with collaborators from Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, France, have … Read more

IIT Bombay charts path to cool data centres using deep ocean water 

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  As the world’s digital appetite grows, so does its energy bill. Data centres — the backbone of streaming, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and cloud services— already consume around 1–1.13% of global electricity and are projected to use far more in the coming years. Nearly 40% of this power goes into cooling the massive server farms, … Read more

Shubhanshu Shukla gets rousing welcome in Lucknow

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Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla waves upon his arrival at the airport, in Lucknow on August 25, 2025 | Photo Credit: PTI Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla arrived in Lucknow on Monday (August 25, 2025) amid a rousing welcome by children and admirers. Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak was present at the airport to welcome … Read more

Is India underestimating the cost of dealing with invasive species?

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Damage from non-native plants and animals expanding into new ecosystems has cost society more than $2.2 trillion worldwide, a new study by an international team of researchers has said. Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the study used numbers from InvaCost, a public database that records the economic costs of biological invasions by country, and … Read more

ISRO completes first integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan

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In this image posted on August 24, 2025, ISRO embarks on the first integrated air drop test (IADT-1) of its Gaganyaan programme. Photo: ISRO via PTI The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-1), a critical milestone in preparations for the country’s maiden human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, … Read more

IISc team finds ancient proteins that hint at life’s leap in complexity

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Project members Saravanan Palani and Jayanti Kumari. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement One of biology’s biggest mysteries is how simple cells evolved into the complex cells we see in animals, plants, and fungi. Simple cells like bacteria and archaea usually have fewer parts and simpler machinery. Eukaryotic cells, on the other hand, have elaborate internal … Read more

Tobacco control laws are out of step with smokeless tobacco

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In 2017, the annual economic costs of all tobacco products for the population aged 35 years and above in India were estimated at ₹1,773.4 billion (1.04% of GDP), in addition to ₹566.7 billion (0.33% of GDP) in annual healthcare costs attributable to second-hand smoking. (These costs include “direct medical and nonmedical expenditures, indirect morbidity costs, … Read more

What are the uses of wastewater surveillance? | Explained

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Representative image | Photo Credit: The Hindu The story so far: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will initiate wastewater surveillance for 10 viruses across 50 cities over the next six months. Currently, five cities are being monitored. The move is aimed at identifying any increase in virus growth trend at the earliest, said … Read more

Indigenous clocks delay ISRO’s plans to replace defunct Navic satellites

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NVS-02 undergoing a vibration test. Photo: ISRO Officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) say they are looking to launch at least three satellites before 2026-end, to replace defunct satellites that are part of the ‘Indian GPS’ or Navic (Navigation with Indian constellation) system. However, there seems to be a key element impeding the launch … Read more

Real Money Gaming ban: India’s gaming industry without RMGs

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Of India’s 148 million gamers, 25% are paying gamers. | Photo Credit: macrovector The Parliament passed a Bill banning the advertising and operating of all kinds of real money games (RMGs) through any channel, imposing penalties and imprisonment on violators. The move has triggered praise and criticism from different players in the gaming industry.  Whether … Read more

Who gets to own the moon? India is uniquely positioned to answer

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At around 6 pm IST on August 23, 2023, the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) gently touched down on the moon. Thus, India became only the fourth country with a national space agency that had executed a controlled lunar landing. In honour of the occasion, Prime Minister … Read more

How do scientists determine the temperature of planets or stars?

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An artist’s rendering of the seven planets that orbit the star Trappist-1. | Photo Credit: NASA Astronomical temperatures are usually estimated from spectroscopic measurements. The spectroscope was invented in 1859 by two German scientists, Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff. It was first used to analyse the elements in a substance heated to incandescence. Each element … Read more

Reshaping during healing in plants

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When we cut our fingernails every so often, using a nail clipper, for convenience or in a cosmetic procedure, they grow back. Made of the protein keratin, nails offer us protection from damage. When an infant’s fingertip is amputated, but only the part beyond the last joint, it grows back to its original shape. A … Read more

The Hindu’s Science Quiz | Absurd units of measurement

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This plot between the absorbance (y-axis) and concentration of a solution illustrates the X-Lambert law. X, named August Beer, whose last name is also a popular beverage. Students often use it as a humorous measure of absorbance. Q: Radiation exposure is usually measured in sieverts, but scientists sometimes explain tiny doses in a lighter way, … Read more

What’s the issue with the way Africa is shown on maps? | Explained

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The story so far: The African Union (AU) has endorsed the ‘Correct the Map’ campaign to replace the Mercator map projection with alternatives such as the Equal Earth map. At the heart of this demand is the charge that the Mercator projection, still widely used in schools, media, and online platforms, systematically distorts the sizes … Read more

Defence Minister meets Shubhanshu Shukla, says his journey will motivate young people

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS), in New Delhi on August 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (August 21, 2025) met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to board the International Space Station (ISS), … Read more

Bihar SIR: Latest ECI data raises more questions over higher deletions among women

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A Booth Level Officer (BLO) checks documents during Special Intensive Revision at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP A granular look at deletions in the special intensive revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission (EC) in Bihar shows women electors significantly outnumbered men in … Read more