Arvind Gupta: Seeing the simple things around us!
It was in about 430 BCE that the crucial, mind-altering, breathtaking idea of ‘everything’ being made up of atoms emerged. A cheerful Greek philosopher, Democritus, who spent a truckload of time observing nature, eventually figured out the foundational maxim of many sciences today and coined the Latin word “atomos”, which is where “atom” comes from. […]
U.N. approves resolution in support of map that shows Africa’s true size
The Mercator map distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles. It makes Greenland appear roughly the same size as Africa, though Africa is about 14 times larger. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons The United Nations on Friday (September 4, 2026) voted for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator […]
Dark matter could keep tiny black holes alive inside stars: study
A view of a planetary nebula. Image used for representation only. Credit: NASA Dark matter, the unseen substance that makes up most of the universe’s matter, could play a more dramatic role than previously thought. A new study suggests that heavy dark matter particles trapped inside a dense star could accumulate at its core, collapse […]
AI, human insights work together to decode prime number mysteries
Developments in number theory in the last two weeks illustrate how artificial intelligence is helping advance the frontiers of mathematics, but also raising questions about what mathematics means vis-à-vis humans. The first development is about the Riemann zeta function, a mathematical idea connected to the distribution of prime numbers. The prime numbers, 2, 3, 5, […]
Dragonflies are bellwethers of earth’s ecosystems
A blue hawklet in Silent Valley National Park, Keralam, August 2016. | Photo Credit: Jee & Rani Nature Photography (CC BY-SA) In the imagination of children, flying holds a special place. Folded pieces of paper become airplanes ready to be launched, eager gazes follow soaring eagles, and dragonflies are the helicopters of their fantasies. Dragonflies […]
Indian researchers map colonial spider’s venom gland, uncover molecules with potential for future cancer and antimicrobial drug research
A team of Indian researchers has produced the first comprehensive molecular and functional profile of the venom gland of Stegodyphus sarasinorum, a colonial spider species found across the Indian subcontinent, to identify numerous proteins and small molecules that could serve as promising leads for future drug discovery. Published in Springer Nature’s peer-reviewed, open-access journal Scientific Reports, […]
Nepal floods: Engineers in a WhatsApp group are guiding tunnel rescue efforts
An army of experts in a WhatsApp group is guiding rescue workers scouring a Nepali valley after a massive flash flood more than a week ago, as they desperately search for anyone who may still be alive inside the tunnels of devastated hydropower plants. The messaging group was set up by engineers before the wall […]
ISRO’s advanced earth observation satellite launched successfully
ISRO successfully launches the GSLV-F17/EOS-05 mission from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre. (Screengrab) (X/@ISRO) ISRO’s advanced Earth observation spacecraft, India’s first-ever imaging satellite in geo-orbit, was successfully launched from the spaceport here on Friday (September 4, 2026) by a GSLV rocket. The EOS-05 satellite was successfully placed in the intended sub-geosynchronous […]
Scientists built 10 giant chambers around a Minnesota peat bog and warmed it by up to 9°C; within 3 years, every warmed plot switched from storing carbon to releasing it
Pic credit: Misha Krassovski/ORNL,U.S. Dept. of Energy Swamps and peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle and, consequently, in the global climate. Scientists wanted to know if there was a link between climate change and carbon loss in peatland ecosystems. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory looked at […]
Science For All newsletter astrorad vest offers astronauts lighter shield against solar storms
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins evaluates the AstroRad vest onboard the International Space Station, July 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: 2s0ckz (CC BY-SA) Despite their best efforts to settle the moon and later Mars, humans may never become a spacefaring species, more than a few experts have said over the years. An important reason for this […]