Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive take shelter in a tent camp as Israeli forces escalated operations around Gaza City, September 2, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters More than 4,400 scientists worldwide have signed a statement urging immediate action to address the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. The signatories include 14 Nobel laureates, five … Read more
For more than three decades, the phrase “cold fusion” has carried a whiff of promise as well as scandal. In 1989, chemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced that simple tabletop experiments with palladium electrodes in heavy water seemed to produce more heat than chemistry could explain. If true, this meant nuclear fusion, an energy … Read more
Punjab faced its worst floods since 1988 in August this year. Waters overflowing from the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers have destroyed several villages in the State. Around the same time, at least 34 people died after intense rainfall lashed India-controlled Kashmir and several parts of Pakistan. Early in August, the village of Dharali in … Read more
Managing traffic in rapidly growing cities remains one of the biggest challenges for urban planners worldwide. Traffic signal lights and other network control systems are crucial for preventing urban chaos, yet testing the effectiveness of new traffic management algorithms has remained a time-consuming and resource-intensive task. In a step towards smarter urban mobility, researchers at … Read more
A lifelong teacher and researcher Born in Cranleigh, Surrey, England in 1877, G.H. Hardy came from a teaching family. Hardy’s first names were Godfrey Harold, but he never really used them, preferring the initials “G.H.” instead. Hardy’s father was an administrator and art master at Cranleigh School, while his mother was a senior mistress at … Read more
In the race to make quantum computers practical, scientists have found themselves drawn to some of the strangest ideas in physics. Few are stranger — but also more promising — than the notion of using particles that are their own antiparticles to store and manipulate information. This is the concept behind Majorana particles. In the … Read more
Satellite image of the Himalaya with the location of the Himalayan foreland basin highlighted in purple. | Photo Credit: Mikenorton (CC BY-SA) Many scientists and policymakers are counting on storing CO2 deep underground as an important way to fight climate change. Such known as geological carbon storage involves capturing CO2 from sources like power plants … Read more
The Olympiad, hosted this year in Mumbai from August 11 to 21, is a competition for high school students. Picture: YouTube/@hbcsephysicsandastronomy6788 A sharp divide has emerged within India’s scientific community after the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) decided to ban Israel from the event starting in 2026. The Olympiad, hosted this year in … Read more
The skyscrapers of the Shinjuku area are pictured as Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain at 3,776 metres, looms in the background of Tokyo, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP Mount Fuji hasn’t erupted since 1707. But for Volcanic Disaster Preparedness Day, Japanese officials have released computer- and AI-generated videos showing a simulation of a potential violent … Read more
Deep in the Swedish forest, where reindeer roam and scientists ski in winter, lies one of Europe’s hopes for a spaceport that can ultimately compete with the United States, China and Russia. For decades, Europe has relied upon the U.S. for its security among the stars. But the Trump administration’s “America First” policies, plus a … Read more