A: In weather science, ‘visibility’ is a colloquial term for a quantity called the meteorological optical range. It’s defined as the distance a beam of light can travel through the atmosphere before its intensity drops to 5% of its original value. In an older time, a human observer would stand at a point and look...
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January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Science & Tech
What happened to ISRO’s PSLV-C62 mission? | Explained
The story so far: On January 12, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV-C62 mission lifted off from Sriharikota carrying the EOS-N1 satellite along with 15 co-passenger satellites. Within minutes, ISRO said the mission had “encountered an anomaly during end of the PS3 stage”, and that a detailed analysis was initiated. What was the anomaly? In a televised briefing after the launch, ISRO chairman...
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January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Children, Science & Tech
The “biggest blunder” of Einstein’s life
If there’s one scientist that everyone, or at least most of us, know, then it has to be German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. As someone who has fundamentally altered humanity’s understanding of space, time, gravity and energy, Einstein enjoys fame and popularity unlike anyone else from the realm of science. The greatest achievement of a...
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January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Science & Tech
Satellite launching facility will come up on Hope Island in the Kakinada Bay, says Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on January 17, 2026 (Saturday) announced that the Andhra Pradesh Government was preparing to develop a satellite launching facility as part of the Space City project on the Hope Island in the Kakinada Bay. Hope Island, which is a part of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in the Godavari...
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January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Science & Tech
Mysuru: The Hindu in School Science Festival inspires young innovators
The Hindu in School Science Festival and Ramanujam Spark Quest elicited an overwhelming response from students of various schools in Mysuru city as well as Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts. The annual event, held at the Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry on Vinoba Road here on January 17, witnessed a vibrant congregation of children driven by a zeal...
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January 17, 2026January 17, 2026Science & Tech
NIMHANS study proposes new model for early protein deposit formation in Parkinson’s disease
Researchers at NIMHANS, Bengaluru have shed new light on early molecular events that may trigger Parkinson’s Disease (PD), proposing a shift from conventional theory that has guided drug development for decades. Their study has suggested that disease-specific chemical changes in α-Synuclein (αSyn) — a protein strongly linked to Parkinson’s — may promote the trapping of...
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January 16, 2026January 16, 2026Science & Tech
Assam scientists probe Sun to rethink gravity
The Sun may be doing more than warming planet Earth. It may also be helping scientists rethink one of nature’s most fundamental forces. Researchers at Tezpur University in north-central Assam have used observations of the Sun’s internal movements to test a new concept on the nature of gravity, marking a step towards understanding the hidden...
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January 16, 2026January 16, 2026Environment, Science & Tech
Why participatory science is crucial to tackling coconut root wilt disease
Coconut is one of the largest horticultural crops in peninsular India, and an increasing number of farmers are taking up coconut plantations due to a lack of labour availability and the intensive attention required to raise annual crops. The three States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala together account for about 82-83 % of India’s...
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January 16, 2026January 16, 2026Science & Tech
Wikipedia inks AI deals with Microsoft, Meta and Perplexity as it marks 25th birthday
Wikipedia unveiled new business deals with a slew of artificial intelligence companies on Thursday as it marked its 25th anniversary. The online crowdsourced encyclopedia revealed that it has signed up AI companies including Amazon, Meta Platforms, Perplexity, Microsoft and France’s Mistral AI. Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of the early internet, but that...
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January 15, 2026January 15, 2026Science & Tech
Can datacentres in orbit solve for AI models’ soaring energy demand?
Datacentres are a growing share of global electricity consumption, and artificial intelligence (AI) is driving those power demands up. This is because AI datacentres use dense clusters of graphics processing units (GPUs) for running machine learning workloads, both when training large language models and deploying them. Since the generative AI boom shows no signs of...
