A LEGO building blocks set — complete with bricks, cars and bridges — is the highlight of my toddler’s toy cupboard. It has been in my family for over three decades, surviving rough play among cousins, flooded homes, and years locked away in an attic. Its continued usability is no accident: LEGO is made from tough,...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
Earth Day 2026: Unwrapping India’s plastic packaging problem — from boom to burden
In 1957, an Indian plastic-packaging maker chronicled the happy fate of a hosiery brand that had begun wrapping its products in plastic. The result, he wrote in an Indian daily, was a 65% jump in sales. Paper, wood, aluminium, tin and other containers had been on the market for decades, but were opaque. “It is...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Health, Science & Tech
Pathogens without payback: when sharing isn’t caring
When contagions don’t discriminate, why should cures? That question encapsulates a bitter irony of global public health. Countries that contribute the most pathogens to medical research are often the last to benefit from the outcomes. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where new pathogens often emerge, are expected to...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Science & Tech
How are ethanol-blending and India’s energy security linked? | Explained
The story so far: On April 21, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said India should try to achieve 100% ethanol blending in the near future. He was speaking against the backdrop of India’s quest to become self-reliant in its energy needs. Four days earlier, a government notification had also extended the use...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Science & Tech
Science Snapshots: April 26, 2026
Invertebrate Cretaceous ‘krakens’ were apex predators The earliest finned octopuses were top predators that rivalled giant marine reptiles. By analysing large fossilised jaws, scientists have found two species — Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti — that lived 100-72 million years ago and could have been 7-19 m long. Wear on the jaws indicated the octopuses...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Science & Tech
Space Wrap: Six ISRO launches remain unfulfilled as March ‘deadline’ passes
In December last year, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) upcoming missions that the Department of Space had scheduled seven major missions by March 2026. Of these, only one — the LVM3 M6 mission by NewSpace India, Ltd. (NSIL) — was...
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April 23, 2026April 23, 2026Science & Tech
Two Pakistanis to be China’s first foreign astronauts: reports
China announced on April 22 that it had selected Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud of Pakistan to be its first batch of foreign astronauts. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement that the two men will come to China as reserve astronauts for training, Global Times and Xinhua reported. After completing...
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April 22, 2026April 22, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
Unwrapping India’s plastic packaging problem: from boom to crisis
In 1957, an Indian plastic-packaging maker chronicled the happy fate of a hosiery brand that had begun wrapping its products in plastic. The result, he wrote in an Indian daily, was a 65% jump in sales. Paper, wood, aluminium, tin and other containers had been on the market for decades, but were opaque. “It is...
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April 22, 2026April 22, 2026Science & Tech
Societies embrace gene therapy but resist genetic change in crops
This article is part of Examined World, a contemplative series exploring what the sciences reveal about us. Our debates and discussions on technology are currently dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). Conversations around this subject are rarely about whether AI will envelop our lives or not, but about how and when it will do so.
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April 22, 2026April 22, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn
Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the U.N.’s food and weather agencies. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense and...
