Comet 10P/Tempel 2, which was last visible from Earth five-and-a-half years ago, can now once again be spotted by observers in Bengaluru in the wee hours till early August. Comet 10P/Tempel 2, which was discovered in the year 1873, completes one orbit around the Sun every 5.5 years. Its last sighting was in 2021. “The...
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July 27, 2026July 27, 2026Science & Tech
How one political term can significantly fix urban India’s water woes
How much can realistically change within the span of a single political term? The answer matters because India’s wider growth and development ambitions now hinge on how its cities handle water. Urban India is expected to drive the bulk of GDP growth this decade — yet many city water systems remain fragile. Utilities lose more...
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July 27, 2026July 27, 2026Science & Tech
Fields Medal: Hong Wang makes history as star mathematicians claim 2026 honours
The Fields Medal — one of the top honours in mathematics — for 2026 was awarded to Yu Deng, John Pardon, Jacob Tsimerman, and Hong Wang. The Medal is awarded every four years and recognises important contributions to mathematics research by people who are younger than 40 at the time they receive it. Of this...
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July 26, 2026July 26, 2026Science & Tech
U.S.-Russian space crew lands safely in Kazakhstan after an 8-month stint on the ISS
A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday (July 26, 2026) after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan....
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July 26, 2026July 26, 2026Science & Tech
PRAXIS: a NASA mission to graze planet rings
PRAXIS is an acronym of ‘Planetary Rings Autonomous EXploration with In-situ Sampling’. NASA has just selected a mission concept called ‘PRAXIS’ for its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) 2026 phase I funding. The mission will consist of a bio-inspired robotic explorer driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) model. It will be capable of directly sampling particles...
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July 26, 2026July 26, 2026Health, Science & Tech
Girl’s death in China reveals human cost of unregulated science
A six-year-old girl in China died in March 2025 after receiving what researchers said they believed was the world’s first base-editing therapy directed at the brain, according to an investigation by Science and Retraction Watch. The investigation has raised important questions about the oversight of an experimental personalised gene-editing trial and the way the researchers...
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July 26, 2026July 26, 2026Science & Tech
India’s first dengue vaccine arrives with a crucial safety caveat
India’s drug regulator just approved the country’s first dengue vaccine, Qdenga. It is designed and claimed to protect against the four serotypes of the dengue-causing virus, called DENV-1 to DENV-4. Young children as well as adults (aged 4-60 years), irrespective of whether they have had dengue before, may be vaccinated with Qdenga. More than 40...
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July 25, 2026July 25, 2026Health, Science & Tech
AI toys are gaining ground, but do they help children’s language skills?
A five-year-old sat with a talking AI-powered stuffed animal, as part of a University of Cambridge study. At one point, the child told the toy, “I love you.” The toy politely replied, “Kindly ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided”. I am a behavioural scientist, and for over 10 years, I have been studying how...
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July 25, 2026July 25, 2026Children, Science & Tech
Mary Anning: the princess of Palaeontology
Mary Anning was born in a little town in South West England in the 18th Century. Her father Richard Anning was a carpenter. When Mary was about a year old, she survived a major lightning strike that killed the woman who was carrying her. This ‘miraculous escape’ soon made her famous in her little town....
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July 25, 2026July 25, 2026Science & Tech
The first definition of the metre
What is your height? This seemingly innocuous question, if you come to think of it, doesn’t always hand you the same answer. No, I’m not talking about the numerical part of the answer that is bound to be different for different people owing to their different heights. I am, instead, drawing your attention to the...
