SpaceX’s Starlink said one of its satellites experienced an anomaly in space on Wednesday that created a “small number” of debris and cut off communications with the spacecraft at 418 km in altitude, a rare kinetic accident in orbit for the satellite internet giant. “The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter the earth’s...
Category: Science & Tech
Could rewiring macrophage metabolism make TB treatments shorter?
Thebacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) also infect macrophages, the very immune cells meant to capture and destroy them. Once inside, the bacteria create a niche where they can persist for months or even years, tolerating even powerful antibiotics. This resilience is a major reason TB treatment requires long, intensive drug regimens lasting six to nine...
Science quiz: The discovery of Epimetheus
Science quiz: The discovery of Epimetheus Visual: The moon is named for a titan in Greek mythology who is the brother of Y. Together, Epimetheus and Y stand for Hindsight and Foresight. Name Y, the image depicts him performing a legendary action. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Visual: The moon is named for...
Rhino dehorning brings poaching in African reserves crashing down
Once upon a time, the thunder of footsteps from lakhs of mighty rhinoceroses echoed across the savannahs, grasslands, and tropical forests of Africa and Asia — but things have gotten pretty quiet lately. As of 2024, fewer than 28,000 rhinos remain on the planet, all five species combined. Relentless poaching has been a major threat...
Why has the claimed dark matter discovery sparked debate, caution?
Is it a false alarm or a discovery that solves one of the greatest mysteries in cosmology? This is the question weighing on astronomers as they examine a study published recently in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which claims to have finally detected the elusive ‘dark matter’. Dark matter is believed to have...
U.S. Senate confirms private astronaut, Musk ally Jared Isaacman as NASA chief
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday (December 17, 2025) confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become President Donald Trump’s NASA administrator, making an advocate of Mars missions and a former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk the space agency’s 15th leader. The vote on Mr. Isaacman, who Mr. Trump removed and then renamed as NASA...
Making sense of DHRUV64 indigenous microprocessor | Explained
The story so far: On December 15, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) announced the launch of DHRUV64, an indigenous microprocessor that it said would strengthen the national indigenous processor pipeline. Its purported applications span the breadth of consumer electronics to industrial automation. What is DHRUV64? The DHRUV64 chip is a fully indigenous...
‘Extremely exciting’: the ice cores that could help save glaciers
Dressed in an orange puffer jacket, Japanese scientist Yoshinori Iizuka stepped into a storage freezer to retrieve an ice core he hopes will help experts protect the world’s disappearing glaciers. The fist-sized sample drilled from a mountaintop is part of an ambitious international effort to understand why glaciers in Tajikistan have resisted the rapid melting...
Why does spicy food make our nose run?
When we eat spicy food containing chillies, a substance in them called capsaicin binds to receptors on the nerve endings in our mouth and nose. These receptors work like sensors. When a specific molecule attaches to them, they send a signal that triggers a response. Capsaicin attaches to receptors that normally react to actual heat....
Counting electrons reveals thorium’s nuclear tick in a solid clock
Atomic clocks keep time by counting the ‘ticks’ of electrons moving between two energy levels. Physicists have long wanted to count a nuclear tick instead. A nucleus is more shielded than an atom’s outer electrons, so its energy levels are expected to be less sensitive to disturbances. The main candidate for a nuclear clock is...
