Category: Science & Tech

Researchers have found that certain peptides — short chains of amino acids that make up proteins — are not only stable in 98% concentrated sulphuric acid but also fold into the complex 3D shapes required to perform the functions central to life. Thus, the findings, published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September...

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...

The United Nations on Friday (September 4, 2026) voted for ⁠a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting countries’ true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent ‌is peripheral. Togo led the initiative to further the African Union campaign to limit use of...

Scientists have used the world’s largest telescope to study the sun to capture the highest-resolution pictures yet of the sun’s surface, revealing small, violent plasma whirlpools moving across it. The discovery could change how scientists understand the way energy and magnetic fields move through the sun’s atmosphere. These whirlpools seem like an efficient way to...

The story so far: Following sustained local protests and pressure from civil society groups, Google has reportedly said its planned 1-GW data centre in Visakhapatnam district will use air-cooling technology to cool its servers. While air-cooling requires less water, it comes with its own trade-offs. Why does a large data centre generate heat? A large...

A year after the launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission and the Axiom-4 mission that sent astronaut-candidate Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station, the U.S. space agency has formally extended an invitation to India to join its ambitious ‘Moon Base’ programme under the Artemis Accords. At the ninth meeting...

The recent catastrophic flash floods in Nepal, apparently triggered by the collapse of a glacier rock mass that sent ice, rock, and sediment downstream, causing a sudden surge of water and debris in the river, highlight the destructive power of such events. A vastly larger outburst flood occurred on Mars during the Late Hesperian to...

The United Nations on Friday (September 4, 2026) voted for ⁠a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting countries’ true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent ‌is peripheral. Togo led the initiative to further the African Union campaign to limit use of...