Tag: Science

Researchers at the BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus have developed a new graphene-based electrode that could improve the performance and lifespan of supercapacitors, an emerging energy storage technology used in portable electronics, wearable devices, and microelectronic systems. The work was carried out by scientists at the MEMS, Microfluidics and Nanoelectronics (MMNE) Lab and published recently in...

Fires have burnt beneath the Jharia coal fields in Jharkhand for decades now, releasing smoke and gases through cracks in the ground. And according to a new study, parts of this underground fire system may burn hotter and release more greenhouse gases than previously estimated. Researchers from the U.K. and India, including the CSIR-Central Institute...

A: The solar wind is a stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the sun. As the solar wind nears the magnetic field of a planet, it becomes compressed near the magnetic boundaries. This creates a difference in pressure, or pressure gradient, that squeezes the charged particles along the magnetic field, away from the stream....

Nuclear reactions are processes that alter the identity of an atomic nucleus. Atoms in itself are incredibly small, and the atomic nucleus occupies less than one ten-trillionth of an atom’s volume, despite containing almost all of its mass. While chemical reactions involve the rearrangement of electrons, nuclear reactions alter protons or neutrons. Be it fission...

A: There is no one ‘best’ way to reach the moon because space travel always trades off between time, fuel, and payload mass. If a mission carries a human crew, mission designers will prioritise speed to minimise the astronauts’ exposure to space radiation, at the expense of burning more fuel. Conversely, a robotic cargo mission...

People who lived and died thousands of years ago have left behind their skeletal remains as a legacy. In recent years, scientists have isolated and sequenced the DNA from more and more of these remains. A team of researchers led by scientists at the Harvard Medical School in the U.S. has compared 15,836 ancient DNA...

For almost 25 summers, Sunita (name changed) gets a severe ‘sweat rash’ on her neck in the hot and humid weather of Mumbai. The rash turns black, looks almost burnt, and stays that way until the monsoons arrive. Then, as if miraculously, the dead skin is shed and her neck looks just fine all over...

Older dawn of horse-riding could have changed Eurasia Scientists have challenged the claim that horse riding began after 2100 BC. They have reported archaeological evidence showing humans rode horses at least 1,000 years prior after analysing three early horse populations in Eurasia. Those at the Botai site indicated horse use by 3500 BC; skeletons of...

Sperm whales communicate using short sequences of clicks known as codas, which they exchange while coordinating within their groups. Scientists have long classified these sequences using the number of clicks and the timing between them. A study published on April 15 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B has however reported that there’s more to...

Along a meandering river in ​a warm and arid region that is now Thailand roughly 113 million years ago, a plant-eating behemoth almost 90 feet (27 meters) long browsed on ‌the treetops without much fear of predators due to its sheer size. This was Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, ​the largest-known dinosaur from Southeast Asia. Researchers have unearthed...