Tag: Science

‘Do you play music to your plants?’. This was asked of the famous plant biologist James Wong of Kew Gardens in London. He said that it is the vibrations that open the plant’s epidermis. So did the physicist J.C. Bose of Kolkata. What has the latest research into this evergreen question shown? First, the obvious:...

A: The planets are in their present order because they formed from the same spinning disk of gas and dust that became the sun. Parts of this protoplanetary disc that were closer to the sun were hotter, so only materials with high melting points like metals and rocky minerals could stay solid. These solids clumped...

Hiccups are essentially involuntary contractions (or spasms) of the diaphragm, the muscle that aids us in breathing. Each contraction comes with a sudden closing of the vocal cords, creating that familiar sound we all know. There are multiple causes of hiccups. Some include eating too fast, drinking something too hot or too cold, swallowing air...

China’s government has long made efforts to tempt top scientists from abroad, but researchers say its institutions themselves are increasingly attracting talent thanks to their generous funding and growing prestige. State-backed initiatives like the Thousand Talents Plan have dangled fast-tracked hiring and bountiful grants to lure overseas experts in strategically important fields, as China and...

ISRO is gearing up for its first launch of the new year with the PSLV-C62 mission on January 12 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. According to an ISRO official, the primary payload of the mission is the EOS-N1, an imaging satellite built for strategic purposes by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). “The Launch...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission on January 12. The launch of the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-N1) satellite along with other payloads will take place from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 10:17 a.m. EOS-N1 is an earth imaging satellite said...

Imagine a diamond. You probably thought of a clear and flawless gemstone used in jewellery. But to a physicist, a perfect diamond might actually be quite boring. Something magical happens when the diamond is just a little broken. For decades, scientists have been fascinated by a specific type of defect in the diamond crystal lattice...

Science quiz: A millennia-old calendar system Visual: Identify this Roman deity associated with gates and transitions, and identified as the tutelary deity of January. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Identify this Roman deity associated with gates and transitions, and identified as the tutelary deity of January.

To understand how materials work, whether a metal in a car’s catalytic converter or the substances in a battery, scientists need to look at their surfaces at the atomic level. One of the best tools for this is X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A device shoots X-rays at a material and measures the properties of electrons...

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...