Tag: Science

The story so far: On April 21, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said India should try to achieve 100% ethanol blending in the near future. He was speaking against the backdrop of India’s quest to become self-reliant in its energy needs. Four days earlier, a government notification had also extended the use...

Invertebrate Cretaceous ‘krakens’ were apex predators The earliest finned octopuses were top predators that rivalled giant marine reptiles. By analysing large fossilised jaws, scientists have found two species — Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti — that lived 100-72 million years ago and could have been 7-19 m long. Wear on the jaws indicated the octopuses...

In December last year, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) upcoming missions that the Department of Space had scheduled seven major missions by March 2026. Of these, only one — the LVM3 M6 mission by NewSpace India, Ltd. (NSIL) — was...

China announced on April 22 that it had selected Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud of Pakistan to be its first batch of foreign astronauts. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement that the two men will come to China as reserve astronauts for training, Global Times and Xinhua reported. After completing...

This article is part of Examined World, a contemplative series exploring what the sciences reveal about us. Our debates and discussions on technology are currently dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). Conversations around this subject are rarely about whether AI will envelop our lives or not, but about how and when it will do so.

Science Quiz on rivers and cities Name this iconic city of 32 million in China located where the Jialing and Yangtze rivers come together. START THE QUIZ

With 1 in 10 adults in India living with diabetes, and 62% of all deaths in the country due to cardiovascular disease, research has now begun to focus on tracing the genetic mechanisms that predispose Indians to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. A new paper on this subject from the U.S., by Dharambir...

Researchers recently reevaluated a famous fossil known as the Hahnöfersand frontal bone. It was first found in Germany in 1973, with scientists dating the bone to 36,000 years ago. Scientists’ early descriptions of the bone suggested that, going by its robust appearance, the individual who had it was a hybrid between a Neanderthal and a...

Inherited peripheral neuropathies (IPN) are cruel genetic diseases that affect around 1 in 2,500 individuals. A person affected by IPN develops high foot arches, curled toes, thin calves, and walks awkwardly or trips. Their fingers may become clawed and, because they lose sensation, they may not notice minor injuries. In some cases, the weakness of...

Even though phones now provide an inexhaustible source of entertainment, going to a nearby movie theatre to watch a film still has its own charm. The shared loud laughter, the annoying phone calls of neighbours, and even the endless paan-masala ads featuring fitness-enthusiastic Bollywood actors remind us of simpler times when only humans were sometimes...