A young girl was born in the early 1900s in Kolkata, an era when girls were barely given an education and were often pushed into marriages at a very young age. She, however, stood out and went on to become one of the first Indian women to obtain a postgraduate degree in physics. This is...
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March 16, 2026March 16, 2026Science & Tech
Sex bias: key to a DNA puzzle
For years, scientists noticed that modern humans carry very little Neanderthal DNA on their X chromosomes. To understand why, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania reversed the perspective and looked for early modern human DNA within ancient Neanderthal genomes. In a study published in Science on February 26, they reported that interbreeding between Neanderthals and...
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March 16, 2026March 16, 2026Science & Tech
How red marks liminal thresholds between life, death, sacrifice and renewal
In 1823, English geologist William Buckland discovered a skeleton in a limestone cave in Paviland, southern Wales, which he identified as a prostitute from the Roman era, as the bones were coated in red ochre. Nearly a hundred years later, further studies, including that of grave goods, also painted in red, proved that the skeleton,...
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March 16, 2026March 16, 2026Science & Tech
Government clears 23 institutions to set up ‘quantum labs’
Twenty-three academic institutions across India have been approved for setting up quantum teaching laboratories under the National Quantum Mission (NQM), with another 100 proposals currently being evaluated, according to details that emerged from the joint monthly meeting of Secretaries of the Science Ministries held in New Delhi on Monday (March 16, 2026). The NQM, approved...
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March 16, 2026March 16, 2026Science & Tech
Cholesterol makes cells’ nuclei squishy, helping melanoma spread
Melanoma is one of the most dangerous common skin cancers. It starts in melanocytes, the skin cells that make melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour. Cancer doesn’t appear overnight. A normal cell becomes cancerous in steps, as its DNA and its gene-control systems pick up changes over time. These changes push the cell...
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March 16, 2026March 16, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
The environment, another casualty of war in West Asia
From the jet fuel used in bombing raids to acrid smoke from burning oil depots, the conflict in West Asia is inflicting a significant toll on nature and the climate. US and Israeli aircraft use a considerable amount of fuel reaching the Gulf and flying sorties over Iran, said Benjamin Neimark at the Queen Mary...
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March 15, 2026March 15, 2026Health, Science & Tech
Remembering Rosalind Franklin, whose photograph was crucial to discovering DNA’s structure
For a discipline so wedded to reason and fact as science is, it has fiendishly guarded its gender bias. Over centuries, pioneering women in science have been ignored, their achievements overlooked or usurped by male colleagues, their names left out of scientific publications; they have been underpaid and undervalued, denied promotions and advancements in careers,...
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March 15, 2026March 15, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
Ice patches on melting glaciers greater threat than thought: ISRO scientists
A new study by scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), published in NPJ Natural Hazards, examines the August 5, 2025 flash flood that destroyed Dharali village in Uttarakhand and killed six people. It sheds light on how warming temperatures affect glaciers, especially exposed ice patches on retreating glaciers, and highlights the need to...
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March 14, 2026March 14, 2026Science & Tech
Failure of atomic clock cripples ISRO’s NavIC system
The last atomic clock aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)-1F satellite has failed, ISRO has said in a statement. This further weakens the country’s indigenous ‘GPS’ system, informally called NavIC. Atomic clocks are critical to satellites being able to offer positional, navigational, and timing services. Since the first...
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March 14, 2026March 14, 2026Science & Tech
Pi Day 2026: significance of the mathematical constant π
Pi Day is observed every year on March 14, marking the significance of the mathematical constant π (pi). The day is commemorated by mathematics enthusiasts around the world in recognition of the subject’s enduring legacy. March 14 is chosen because the first three digits of π — 3.14159 — match the date 3/14. What is...
