In his new book Computing in the Age of Decolonization, MIT-based historian Dwaipayan Banerjee uncovers the overlooked history of India’s computing industry from the 1950s to the 1980s, and analyses why the efforts to build self-reliance failed. The story unfolds at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), where scientists found computing to be integral...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Science & Tech
India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket Vikram-1 set for July 18 lift-off
India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, Vikram-1 will be launched on July 18, 2026, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. Private space launch company Skyroot Aerospace on Thursday (July 16, 2026) announced that it will attempt to launch Vikram-1 from the space port’s first launch pad at 11.30 a.m. “We have done everything...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Science & Tech
The marine crab that grew too big for its plastic shell
In July 2022, a group of scientists recovered a seemingly unremarkable barnacled, opened plastic bottle bobbing off the coast off Okinawa in Japan; but something piqued their imagination This bottle, investigated by Hiroshima University researchers indeed contained a story: living inside it was a large female crab, missing a leg, its body larger than the...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Health, Science & Tech
What prolonged fasting can do to the human body | Explained
The story so far: As Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite fast entered its 19th day on Thursday (July 16, 2026), concerns have emerged about his health. As the 59-year-old Mr. Wangchuk protests the continuation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in his position, in solidarity with the protests organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and the central government is yet to engage with them, experts have flagged...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Health, Science & Tech
When does the brain first respond to music?
The intriguing evolution of musicality in humans, that primal form of artistic expression across cultures – that elevates in celebration, is an empath in grief, a rally cry in protests, a companion in solitude – remains enigmatic to scientists. This phenomenon has now become the subject of study of a group of psychologists, who have...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Science & Tech
New damselfly species discovered in Kerala’s Western Ghats
A team of odonatologists has discovered a new species of spreadwing damselfly, Lestes paloti, from the Western Ghats in Kerala. The discovery has been published in the International Journal of Odonatology, an internationally reputed peer-reviewed journal dedicated to research on dragonflies and damselflies. The discovery marks a significant addition to odonate taxonomy. Lestes paloti is the first new species...
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July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Science & Tech
ISRO issues memo to curb exodus of scientists and engineers from Gaganyaan and other key missions
With about 100 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) personnel quitting the space agency in various centres across the country, the Department of Space (DoS) has issued a memorandum to curb the exodus of scientists and engineers who are working in critical missions of national importance, like the Gaganyaan. In a memorandum issued on July 14,...
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July 15, 2026July 15, 2026Science & Tech
Power grids face unexpected slow-burn threat from solar storms
As countries electrify more of their economies and increasingly interconnect their power grids, understanding space weather has become crucial. One particularly adverse form of space weather is a geomagnetic storm: temporary disturbances in earth’s magnetic field caused by charged particles from the sun. These storms produce beautiful aurorae but also induce strong yet short-lived currents...
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July 15, 2026July 15, 2026Science & Tech
How water shaped Earth’s evolution three billion years ago
A recycling process between the Earth’s deep, scorching mantle and its surface water occurred some three billion years ago, generating magma-forming volcanoes that built continents, a new research paper has revealed. The phenomenon occurred much earlier than previously assumed, said geologists in a research paper published inNature Communications. An international team of researchers studied the...
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July 15, 2026July 15, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
China’s ’Great Green Wall’ tames desert growth, but scientists say fight is not over
For half a century, millions of workers have repeated a task across the deserts in northern China: inserting forearm-length sticks into shifting sand, first in a row, then in an intersecting line, gradually forming a grid. Then saplings are planted at the centre of each small square. The technique, known as “straw checkerboards”, is a...
