The United Nations has declared 2026 to be the ‘International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists’. In 2022, a group of scientists from institutions in Tanzania, Zambia, the U.K., the U.S., Germany and Canada wrote an open letter urging the parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) to broaden their goals to be...
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January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Science & Tech
Why ISRO’s next big challenge is to succeed on an industrial scale
The record of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) over the last decade has been remarkably broad for an agency of its size and budget. Its rockets, especially the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), have sustained reliable access to orbit, rendering operations with multiple satellite classes almost a matter of routine today. And ISRO is...
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January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Science & Tech
ISRO invites proposals from Indian scientists to analyse data from Aditya-L1 mission
On the second anniversary of India’s maiden solar mission, Aditya-L1 reaching the Lagrangian point (L1), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday (January 6, 2026) made the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) soliciting proposals for the first AO cycle observations. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft reached the L1 point on January 6, 2024, 127 days after it...
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January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Science & Tech
Does research strengthen teaching?
The 2019 draft version of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 made two sweeping assertions in seven words: “teaching is strengthened through research and vice-versa.” Are these assertions supported by evidence, however? This article restricts itself to the first part of the assertion — that teaching is strengthened through research — because of its direct...
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January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Science & Tech
What remote-sensing reveals about plants, forests, and minerals from space
Say you’re on a desert island on a quest for buried treasure. You’ve lost your map and run out of clues. Now you have two options: you could walk around with a shovel, digging holes at random and hoping for the best, or you could fly a drone overhead equipped with special cameras that can...
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January 6, 2026January 6, 2026Science & Tech
Hydrogen ‘tests’ basic physics more precisely after theory update
The hydrogen molecule H2 is the simplest stable molecule, with two protons and two electrons bound together. Scientists have studied it for more than a century because it’s small enough that theory can try to predict its behaviour from basic physics yet it’s rich enough to include many features found in larger molecules. This said,...
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January 5, 2026January 5, 2026Science & Tech
Scientists obtain first 3D images from inside Mexican volcano
In the predawn darkness, a team of scientists climbs the slope of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world’s most active and whose eruption could affect millions of people. Its mission: figure out what is happening under the crater. For five years, the group from Mexico’s National Autonomous University has climbed the volcano with kilos...
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January 5, 2026January 5, 2026Children, Science & Tech
What is Siberian High?
SH. Siberian High. Siberian Anticyclone. The presence behind this name can hardly be missed. Winter will tell you why. Siberian High is a wind system; an intense, robust, massive system of biting cold, dry air that controls winter weather over Eurasia. This system of high atmospheric pressure has its centre in Siberia, hence the first...
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January 5, 2026January 5, 2026Science & Tech
Unusual genetic code in Antarctic microbes yields rare amino acid
The dictionary of life has a new update. A DNA sequence that signals cells in almost all other organisms to stop synthesising proteins instead encodes a rare amino acid in some archaea, according to a study published in Science in November. Archaea are microbes that resemble bacteria in shape and size but are biologically distinct....
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January 4, 2026January 4, 2026Science & Tech
What is a wolf supermoon?
A “wolf supermoon” is a nickname that combines two distinct ideas: a wolf moon and a supermoon. The January 2026 wolf supermoon occurred late last week, reaching the peak of its brightness on January 2 evening (IST). ‘Wolf moon’ is a traditional name for the first full moon that happens in January. In fact many...
