Tea is the world’s most popular drink, except for plain old water. Whether we’re talking matcha, Earl Grey or oolong, it’s all made from the leaves of one species of plant, Camellia sinensis. (Any other tea-like brew is technically a tisane or herbal tea.) That one tea plant yields teas in an astonishing rainbow of...
Tag: Science
Science Snapshots: April 12, 2026
Night time lights are not just getting brighter New data challenge the traditional view that nightlights are becoming brighter everywhere. Based on satellite data from 2014 to 2022 of artificial nightlight, researchers found a nightscape both brightening and dimming. While global brightening, mainly due to urban expansion and rural electrification, increased radiance by 34% from...
Artemis II: how NASA scientist, senior official Amit Kshatriya helped U.S. moon mission
From admiring rocket launches as a child growing up in Houston to steering the operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientist Amit Kshatriya has had a stellar innings at the space agency that has set on a mission to land astronauts on the moon. As NASA’s Associate Administrator, Wisconsin-born Mr. Kshatriya serves...
Prototype fast breeder reactor | Nuclear paradox
A fast breeder reactor (FBR) gets its name from two features. First, it ‘breeds’ more nuclear fuel than it consumes. Second, it uses fast neutrons — ones that haven’t been slowed — to initiate nuclear fission. France began building an FBR called Superphénix in 1976. After spending around $10 billion, the reactor became critical in...
Artemis II: Indian-American Amit Kshatriya, senior NASA official behind U.S.’s moon mission
From admiring rocket launches as a child growing up in Houston to steering the operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Indian-American scientist Amit Kshatriya has had a stellar innings at the space agency that has set on a mission to land astronauts on the moon. As NASA’s Associate Administrator, Wisconsin-born Mr. Kshatriya...
After Artemis II, NASA looks to SpaceX, Blue Origin for Moon landings
With Artemis II successfully completing its historic lunar mission on Friday (April 10, 2026), NASA is banking on billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for the next step: landing astronauts on the Moon. The Apollo programme — which sent the first and only humans to the Moon’s surface between 1969 and 1972 — was designed...
Artemis II spotlights engineering of human spaceflight and ISRO’s progress
On April 10, the Orion crew capsule of the Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, at the end of a 10-day mission that carried four astronauts around the moon and back. The crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian...
In Pictures | Artemis II’s voyage to the moon and back
On April 10, 2026, NASA astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, splashed down in the Pacific, successfully concluding their journey to the moon and back. It was the first time in over 50 years that humans had been in the...
‘A perfect mission’: Artemis II astronauts return to Earth
The NASA spacecraft carrying four astronauts splashed down as planned Friday (April 10, 2026) off the California coast, capping the US space agency’s successful crewed test mission around the Moon, the first such flyby in more than 50 years. Mission commander Reid Wiseman reported that the crewmembers — himself along with Christina Koch, Victor Glover...
Artemis astronauts splash down into Pacific Ocean
The NASA spacecraft that carried four astronauts around the Moon splashed down as planned Friday (April 10, 2026) into the Pacific Ocean. The crew members — Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman — are to be met by recovery teams and flown to a U.S. military ship for medical evaluations. “We have...
