Tag: Science

The recent disruptions in India’s aviation sector, in particular IndiGo’s wave of flight cancellations, have placed the spotlight firmly on the new fatigue and rest norms developed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The public frustration is understandable. The cancellations appear to have stemmed from IndiGo’s scheduling gaps and inadequate crew planning rather...

Energy leaders and policymakers have called for creating a diversified portfolio of future-ready power system technologies, including advanced transmission networks, flexible generation resources, and modern distribution systems to ensure reliability, resilience, and security of supply, with India steadily moving to achieve a target of 500 GW non-fossil capacity. At the conclusion of the Global Energy...

Cosmic or galaxy filaments are the largest ‘threads’ in the universe’s cosmic web. A single cosmic filament is a structure spanning hundreds of millions of lightyears, formed as a result of gravity pulling in gas, dark matter, and galaxies into long, thin strands that link giant clusters of galaxies. Filaments also surround large, empty regions...

Science quiz: Tools of writing Visual: Name this insect. The natural dye carmine is derived from an acid it secretes to protect itself. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Name this insect. The natural dye carmine is derived from an acid it secretes to protect itself.

Why is the leaky faucet – that most irksome domestic malaise – so universal? A new scientific breakthrough seems to have cracked the physics of this incessant drip-drip. A new paper published in Physical Review Lettershas explained how a water jet breaks up into unstoppable droplets. Researchers from the University of Amsterdam found that the...

Nuclear activities worldwide generate around 200,000 m3 of radioactive waste every year. Of this about 10,000 m3, less than 5% by volume but containing most of the radioactivity, needs deep, long-term geological storage in the form of geological disposal facilities (GDFs). These caverns purpose-built hundreds of metres underground are packed with waste containers, cement backfill,...

Helical paths are everywhere in the microscopic realm. Many bacteria and parasites don’t simply swim or glide in straight lines. In three dimensions, they trace corkscrew-like tracks through their surroundings. Malaria parasites, for example, glide through soft 3D gels and, in the skin of a bitten host, on paths that look like stretched springs. For...

In the 1920s, Albert Einstein proposed a twist on the double-slit experiment. Rather than a wall with two fixed slits, he imagined a very light slit that would recoil when a single photon passed through it. If one could measure that recoil, one could in principle tell which path the photon took. At the same...

Science quiz: The natural artists called minerals Visual: This photo shows various minerals displaying ____________. Fill in the blank with the name of a phenomenon where they absorb UV light and reemit it as visible light. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | This photo shows various minerals displaying ____________. Fill in the blank with...

When you’re nervous or scared, your body enters its fight-or-flight mode, controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Adrenaline levels rise, your heart races, palms sweat, and blood flow and muscle tone are redistributed to prepare you to act. Your bladder and bowels are controlled by smooth muscle and sphincters. Stress hormones can make the bladder...