Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Friday (August 21, 2026) said emerging technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities for progress, and called for stronger international collaboration to ensure that innovation remains accessible, affordable, trusted and sustainable. Delivering the inaugural address at the 14th BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Ministerial Meeting...
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August 20, 2026August 20, 2026Science & Tech
How Gaganyaan’s thermal protection system will survive re-entry | Explained
The atmospheric phase of all space missions is challenging for both ascending rockets and descending space capsules. As the rocket lifts off from the earth and heads towards its orbit, it accelerates slowly through the atmosphere to keep the mechanical loads on the vehicle to a minimum. When a space capsule, like the Gaganyaan crew...
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August 20, 2026August 20, 2026Science & Tech
STS-8: Launching and landing at night, with an Indian connection
There’s nearly half a world between India and the U.S., geographically speaking. You knew that, didn’t you? That means that our time-zones are kind of yin-yang, with most Americans sleeping when we go about our daily duties, and vice versa. If you know folks who work along with American counterparts on a daily basis and...
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August 20, 2026August 20, 2026Health, Science & Tech
A tiny insect, a deadly enemy: how medicine’s discovery of its impact shaped health and town planning
Anyone waiting for municipal approval of a building plan may wonder why a local body should regulate construction on private land. In the Madras Presidency, such powers were formalised under the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919. After Independence, the first Conference of State Ministers on Town and Country Planning in 1960 gave impetus to...
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August 20, 2026August 20, 2026Health, Science & Tech
South Asians are missing from global health databases: why this matters and what needs to change
Globally, more than one in 10 adults now live with diabetes. If you have South Asian roots, that risk is even higher, and it hits earlier than it does in many other populations. In India alone, the number of people with diabetes is projected to reach 125 million by 2045. Yet, when scientists try to...
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August 19, 2026August 19, 2026Science & Tech
The IISERs have a leadership problem
The Indian government created the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) to offer students an intellectually vibrant research environment and to bring them into research at a relatively — vis-à-vis the Indian milieu — early stage. The institutions prize autonomy as an essential ingredient of good science, including in the form of scientists...
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August 19, 2026August 19, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
If solar irrigation is over-drawing groundwater, you’re doing it wrong
“Solar irrigation will worsen the groundwater crisis.” This concern is raised in most discussions about the rapid spread of solar irrigation in India — where heavily subsidised or free electricity has led to unsustainable groundwater abstraction, contributing to falling water tables, depleting aquifers, and growing fiscal burdens on energy utilities. Thus, with solar irrigation offering...
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August 19, 2026August 19, 2026Health, Science & Tech
Sugar power: the full story of brain development in humans
Was it meat or glucose that fueled the growth of the human brain? If evolutionary science told us, hitherto, that human brain expansion relied on meat to grow, a new study has an interesting addition to this theory. Published in a recent issue of Science, the study posits a dual fuel strategy – sugar and...
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August 19, 2026August 19, 2026Science & Tech
All eyes on GISAT-1A mission as ISRO aims to mend faulty launch streak
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the GISAT-1A satellite in September, in a mission that will be watched closely for many important reasons. Since the two successive PSLV mission failures, in 2025 and early 2026, ISRO had paused launches as it investigated the reason why its workhorse rocket had suffered such...
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August 19, 2026August 19, 2026Science & Tech
New studies pursue the ‘perfect’ blend for coffee and health
Every morning, many of us drink one or two cups of coffee and feel good, refreshed, and ready for the day. Some of us drink one or two more cups at work before lunchtime. Some use pure coffee while others add chicory to it. We prepare the powder using a filter, add milk and sugar,...
