Tag: Science

Industrial salt pans threaten Sambhar Lake’s survival Sambhar Lake is India’s largest inland saltwater wetland. When they analysed satellite data from 1984 to 2023, scientists found the lake depends heavily on seasonal rain, with water levels peaking in late summer and shrinking significantly in the dry season. Between 2022 and 2023, the lake’s surface also...

A group of India’s leading climate scientists has warned that the country has almost lost the ability to build its own scientific instruments, leaving its climate observations dependent on imported equipment that is often run uncalibrated for years. This has led to “incorrect data being reported in national and international journals, often leading to questions...

A group of India’s leading climate scientists has warned that the country has almost lost the ability to build its own scientific instruments, leaving its climate observations dependent on imported equipment that is often run uncalibrated for years. This has led to “incorrect data being reported in national and international journals, often leading to questions...

Every few minutes, aircraft descend over densely populated neighbourhoods near India’s major airports. For the people here, the noise has been almost constant for years, often even continuing through the night. India’s aviation and environmental regulations require airports to map the aircraft noise exposure using decibel contours — maps showing how the air pressure varies...

In 1799, during the storming of the fortress of Seringapatam, British troops broke through the defences of Srirangapatna and killed Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. The palace inventories compiled in the aftermath record jewels, weapons, manuscripts and textiles of startling colour. Officers wrote with particular fascination about the intensity of the dyed fabrics stored in...

Two new studies, published in Nature and Nature Geoscience, have found that as climate change concentrates rainfall into fewer, more intense events, the land below may face a double whammy. In their May 13 paper in Nature, Dartmouth College, U.S., researchers concluded that more concentrated rain can reduce the amount of water stored in soils...

A: A birthmark is a coloured mark on the skin that is either present at birth or develops shortly afterwards. Most are completely harmless and painless. While some of them may fade over time, others stay for life. Birthmarks are essentially ‘mistakes’ in the development of skin cells or blood vessels. They generally fall in...

Physicists have spent more than two decades studying one of the strangest forms of matter ever created in a laboratory: the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quarks and gluons are the smallest pieces of matter. A QGP existed in the first few millionths of a second after the Big Bang, before the quarks bound together to form...

As we grow older, our cognitive abilities begin to wane. We forget names and places, lose trains of thought, and become creatures of habit. A key to overcoming these ageing-induced cognitive deficits may be exercise. “Exercise improves cardiovascular fitness, glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, lipid profiles, sleep, mood, and immune function,” Atefe Tari, a...