The NASA Artemis II mission is scheduled for liftoff at 6:24 p.m. EDT (3:54 a.m.) on Thursday (April 2, 2026). If the lift-off is successful, the giant rocket will send humans to near the moon for the first time in more than half a century. In so doing, it will make an important milestone for...
Tag: Science
‘I’m really proud’: Ed Dwight — first Black astronaut candidate reflects on historic Moon mission
In the 1960s Ed Dwight was the first Black astronaut candidate — but he never got his chance to go to the Moon. He said he’s now living out that once-denied dream vicariously through Victor Glover, who is set to make history on the Artemis 2 Moon mission that could take off as soon as...
‘I’m really proud’: Victor Glover — first Black astronaut candidate reflects on historic Moon mission
In the 1960s Ed Dwight was the first Black astronaut candidate — but he never got his chance to go to the Moon. He said he’s now living out that once-denied dream vicariously through Victor Glover, who is set to make history on the Artemis 2 Moon mission that could take off as soon as...
Before refrigeration, how did seafarers preserve food on long voyages?
— Prabhakar Jonnalagadda A: To preserve a food item meant to remove moisture, increase acidity and/or to use natural preservatives. Meats and fish would be hung over fires before departure as the smoke deposited antimicrobial compounds into the flesh. Then, sailors would pack meat in wooden barrels with dry salt. Fish, especially cod, was dried...
Qdenga: a vaccine for dengue but not a silver bullet
India’s long wait for a dengue vaccine may finally be coming to an end. Takeda’s tetravalent dengue vaccine, TAK-003 (called ‘Qdenga’), recently received clearance from the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) under the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for use among individuals aged 4 to 60 years. This marks a significant milestone in the country’s...
Artemis II, the international space race, and what is at stake for the U.S.
The NASA Artemis II mission is set to launch no earlier than April 1, 2026. If the lift-off is successful, the giant rocket will send humans to near the moon for the first time in more than half a century. In so doing, it will make an important milestone for the U.S. space programme. Its...
What is quantum entanglement?
Scientists have shown that helium atoms can be entangled through their movement. A team from Australia and the U.S. collided clouds of helium atoms together to create pairs that shared a single quantum state. The achievement showed that even ‘heavy’ particles could follow the same strange quantum physics rules that scientists have mostly observed so...
Earth’s orbits are filling up because governance hasn’t kept pace
Throughout human history, the sky symbolised freedom — vast, open, untouched. Today, that no longer holds. The earth’s orbital environment has become crowded, fragile, and vulnerable, threatened by what is today evidently a failure of governance rather than just of engineering. The language of space sustainability has grown familiar in international forums and policy documents....
Newfound brain network ‘SCAN’ implicated in Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease affects more than 10 million people worldwide. A patient struggles to perform coordinated movement, requiring conscious effort and attention even for a simple task like buttoning a shirt. Natural movements like walking and turning have to be planned as the person will struggle to start and stop actions. Over time, the person will...
What is extracellular RNA?
In a study published in the journal Clean Water on March 28, scientists reported that extracellular RNA (exRNA) from bacteria can persist in disinfected drinking water. They also found that by studying the exRNA, they could figure out what the bacteria were doing just before they were damaged or killed, releasing the exRNA. This way,...
