Fingerprints are personal and unique. Even identical twins do not have the same fingerprint. | Photo Credit: George Prentzas/Unsplash We use many features of our bodies to identify ourselves in government records. Fingerprints in particular are widely used, from unlocking phones with sensors to validating Aadhaar cards. But fingerprints can also be fickle. For example, … Read more
In a January advisory, the US Surgeon General urged cancer warnings for alcoholic drinks and called for guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed. The General’s warnings are also important in light of the addictive effects of consuming alcohol, and how contemporary society perceives that addiction and how contemporary science treats it. Most of … Read more
When the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, it started the Space Age as the beeping metal sphere transmitted radio signals. Since then, satellites have grown in complexity but their core functions have remained surprisingly static. Most still function as passive tools: capturing images, relaying communications, beaming GPS coordinates to the earth, and … Read more
Watch: Technology, Science, and Policy: can they together save a warming planet? The Hindu’s deputy science editor Jacob Koshy discusses climate change with IISc professor Sambuddha Misra, Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Suruchi Bhadwal, Director, Climate Change and Air Quality, TERI. “Climate change and economics have to be tied into one … Read more
Representational image. File | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam The story so far: On April 17, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai, approved the Space Industrial Policy, thereby following Karnataka and Gujarat in formulating a State-specific document to stimulate development and woo investments in the space … Read more
Bangladesh is one of the most polluted countries in the world. According to an IQ Air assessment, the country had the second-worst air quality in 2024 worldwide, with PM2.5 concentration more than 15-times the World Health Organisation’s suggested limit. Brick kilns are a major contributor to this air pollution crisis. Previous efforts to improve the … Read more
In December 2024, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs made an important announcement as part of its 2023-2024 annual report. It said the length of India’s coastline had increased from 7,516.6 km to 11,098.8 km, and that the length is also currently under review. The 7,516.6 km figure was first recorded in the 1970s based … Read more
India has shown complete dominance during Operation Sindoor, showcasing its air power and air defence capability, said Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, former Secretary, Research and Development, and Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), while expressing happiness that the majority of them are indigenous systems. He cautioned that technology is changing very fast and the … Read more
Axiom Mission 4 crew (from left to right) European Space Agency astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. File photo: X@NASASpaceOps via PTI Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and other crew members of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) are … Read more
An artist’s reconstruction of what Mosura fentoni may have looked like. | Photo Credit: Joseph Moysiuk and Jean-Bernard Caron Scientists have uncovered a strange new Cambrian sea creature called Mosura fentoni in Canada’s famous Burgess shale. M. fentoni is a radiodont, a distant relative of today’s insects, crabs, and spiders, yet it breaks several rules … Read more