Tag: Science

The story so far: Parliament has brought into force the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, which repeals previous legislation that governs nuclear activity: the Atomic Energy Act 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act 2010. Why is SHANTI significant? SHANTI encourages private companies to participate...

A series of qualification tests for drogue parachutes, which have been carried out to develop a deceleration system for ISRO’s Gaganyaan crew module, were successful, the space agency said on Saturday (December 20, 2025). “These tests were completed at the Rail Track Rocket Sled (RTRS) facility of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh,...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the 6,500 kg BlueBird communications satellite on December 24 from Sriharikota. The national space agency on Friday (December 19, 2025) announced that the communication satellite developed by the U.S.-based AST SpaceMobile will be launched as part of the LVM3-M6 mission. “The launch of LVM3-M6 is scheduled on...

Thebacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) also infect macrophages, the very immune cells meant to capture and destroy them. Once inside, the bacteria create a niche where they can persist for months or even years, tolerating even powerful antibiotics. This resilience is a major reason TB treatment requires long, intensive drug regimens lasting six to nine...

Science quiz: The discovery of Epimetheus Visual: The moon is named for a titan in Greek mythology who is the brother of Y. Together, Epimetheus and Y stand for Hindsight and Foresight. Name Y, the image depicts him performing a legendary action. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Visual: The moon is named for...

Is it a false alarm or a discovery that solves one of the greatest mysteries in cosmology? This is the question weighing on astronomers as they examine a study published recently in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which claims to have finally detected the elusive ‘dark matter’. Dark matter is believed to have...

The story so far: On December 15, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) announced the launch of DHRUV64, an indigenous microprocessor that it said would strengthen the national indigenous processor pipeline. Its purported applications span the breadth of consumer electronics to industrial automation. What is DHRUV64? The DHRUV64 chip is a fully indigenous...

Atomic clocks keep time by counting the ‘ticks’ of electrons moving between two energy levels. Physicists have long wanted to count a nuclear tick instead. A nucleus is more shielded than an atom’s outer electrons, so its energy levels are expected to be less sensitive to disturbances. The main candidate for a nuclear clock is...

When we eat spicy food containing chillies, a substance in them called capsaicin binds to receptors on the nerve endings in our mouth and nose. These receptors work like sensors. When a specific molecule attaches to them, they send a signal that triggers a response. Capsaicin attaches to receptors that normally react to actual heat....

Dr Harsh K Gupta remembers the sequence of events that led to the establishment of Dakshin Gangotri, India’s first permanent research station in Antarctica, as if it happened yesterday. A year after he had moved to Thiruvananthapuram as director of the Centre for Earth Science Studies in 1982, a call for proposals to carry out...