Category: Science & Tech

Most digital security relies today on random numbers to generate cryptographic keys. Think of a cryptographic key like a long, complex password. If that password is truly random, an attacker has to guess every possible combination. But if the ‘random’ process used to make that password has a pattern, the attacker can use that pattern...

The sun may well add to this year’s Deepavali celebrations, if predictions made by solar physicists come true. A solar flare that occurred on the Sun has triggered a magnetic storm which scientists predict will arrive at the Earth in the early hours of November 4, and this can give rise to spectacular displays of...

‘Aurora Borealis’, more popularly called ‘northern lights’, is expected to be visible in India on June 8, 2026. A massive solar storm is expected to make the beautiful phenomenon, commonly seen in Nordic countries such as Switzerland and Finland, a reality in the country. When and where to watch auroras?  The auroras are expected to...

Pyroprocessing is a way to change a solid material physically or chemically using high temperature. It is a dry process and very energy-intensive. The three sectors that use it most are cement-making, metallurgy, and nuclear power. Of these, cement-making uses pyroprocessing the most. First, finely ground limestone, clay and iron — the raw materials —...

For much of modern history, human evolution was thought to progress in linear fashion, with one species replacing another, one by one. The famous ‘ape turning to human’ cartoon illustrating a stooped primate gradually straightening into a modern man essentially captures this idea. That picture began to change in the second half of the 19th...

NASA on Friday (June 5, 2026) ordered astronauts to take shelter after a fresh leak was detected aboard the International Space Station. The five astronauts moved into the SpaceX capsule that is docked at the station while cosmonauts worked to fix the leak, which is on the Russian side of the orbiting laboratory. The decision was...

Astronauts aboard the International ​Space Station ⁠were ordered by NASA to shelter in their ‌spacecraft and prepare for potential ‌evacuation on Friday (June 5, 2026) as ‌a ⁠Russian crew ⁠attempts to fix a worsening leak of air ​on its portion ‌of the orbital laboratory, NASA said. The four astronauts of ‌NASA’s Crew-12 mission ​on the...

Industrial salt pans threaten Sambhar Lake’s survival Sambhar Lake is India’s largest inland saltwater wetland. When they analysed satellite data from 1984 to 2023, scientists found the lake depends heavily on seasonal rain, with water levels peaking in late summer and shrinking significantly in the dry season. Between 2022 and 2023, the lake’s surface also...