Category: Science & Tech

Atomic clocks are the world’s gold standard for timekeeping, at the heart of everything from GPS navigation to synchronised networks. A ytterbium atomic clock is so precise it misses one second every 23 billion years. Yet scientists are interested in more precise clocks to detect infinitesimal changes in fundamental forces and further advance navigation. In...

At any gathering, you could easily spot him by his colourful printed shirt or jacket. His tall stature, smiling face, and warm handshakes have put generations of students, researchers, and scientists at ease. Since 1956, when he joined the founding faculty of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, he has never...

Scientists have long known every tonne of carbon dioxide matters to the climate. But governments keep approving new fossil fuel projects – even as climate change worsens. Until now, it’s been difficult to say how much damage and extra warming a specific project will do. Fossil fuel companies – and government agencies approving their projects...

Mathematics always interested 18-year-old Ananda Bhaduri. Growing up in Guwahati, he spent his formative years learning topics not generally covered in school curricula. Last year, he dove into the expansive archives of mathematics problems on the internet, carefully curating the hardest ones and solving them — sometimes in solitude, at others over online meetings with...

(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!) Ancient grasslands, one of the least valued ecosystems, support a phenomenal diversity of wildlife, create livelihoods of billions of pastoralists, and store one-third of Earth’s terrestrial carbon. But they are often...

If I were to leave a blank after the word “Andromeda”, then chances are that you would be filling it in with the word “galaxy”. This is because the Andromeda galaxy is the nearest major galaxy next to our own Milky Way, making the association natural. A little over 100 years ago, however, nobody would...

The scale of a project often determines the size of the problems too. Agreed, all or most projects are confronted with hurdles, but overcoming them is often easier in the case of smaller projects. When the stakes are higher and things take a downward turn, problems might seem insurmountable on occasions. The Jodrell Bank Observatory...